And Samuel said,

"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to listen than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22)

Well, I don't have a fiery altar or ram fat, but I do have Bible reading and prayer. They don't sound nearly so exciting, but they're the little "sacrifices" of Christians, the spiritual disciplines around which our lives revolve.

My Christian Spiritual Disciplines:

• read the Bible every day (or close to it)
• pray for myself and others
• write in my flowery little journal from Rite Aid
• listen to sermons, Christian books and worship music
• go to church...every Sunday

Like King Saul, I find myself more consumed with completing a long list of spiritual duties than simply obeying God, doing the things He's commanded me to do. (I'm so thankful that God left us the Bible. Makes knowing God's will a lot easier.)

I'm a Christian, a believer and lover of Jesus. That means I'm a child of God. I'm His little girl, and He expects His children to obey Him, not out of fear but out of love. He loves me and knows what's absolutely best for me. When I obey Him, life just seems to "go better," even when it's falling apart.

So here's to obeying my Heavenly Daddy, trusting that what He says is best and always proves good for me and glorifying to Him.

P.S. Obeying God isn't out of fear, but it's a response to the love He has for us. Also, obedience doesn't gain Christians favor with God. We already have His favor by Jesus' death. Again, our obedience is saying, "You've loved me! I love you, and I trust you."

Reading Old Stories

I don't always want to sit back up in bed and pray before going to sleep. I don't always want to get up before Caleb does and read the Bible. I don't always want to go to Small Group and talk about all the things I "don't always want to" do. 


I don't always have a passion for the things of God. Honestly I'm quite self-absorbed and love sleep and Facebook and my own comfort far, far too much. However, God has been gracious to give me stories--biographies and autobiographies of the saints who've gone before me, living and dying well.


This idea is taken from Pastor John Piper: "Living theology. Flawed and encouraging saints. Stories of grace. Deep inspiration. The best entertainment. Brothers, it is worth your precious hours. Remember Hebrews 11. And read Christian biography."


When I read about the saints from the Bible or history, I'm encouraged and challenged and a fire, though still small, is ignited in my soul. I see their God and how He provided and withheld, gave and took away, and then I see their love and faithfulness toward Him in all of it. (It is quite encouraging to see them not always so faithful, as well.) 


Some who've inspired me:

• Sarah Edwards, SAHM and wife of Jonathan Edwards
• Dr. Helen Roseveare, medical missionary to the Congo
• Gladys Aylward, missionary board reject who saved 100+ orphans in China
• Darlene Deibler Rose, young bride and missionary to New Guinea during WWII
• Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor and great Civil Rights leader
• Harriet Tubman, Moses to the slaves of the Underground Railroad
• Elisabeth Elliot, missionary wife who ministered to the murderers of her husband

I'm reminded that I am the daughter of the same God who gives and takes away, but Who is always working for my good and His glory. He can be always trusted and deserves to be worshipped and cherished in my little ordinary life. 


I'm spurred on toward "love and good deeds." I see my need for the Bible and prayer and community. My heart is softened and made happy again. Reading the stories of the old saints makes me want to know God intimately as they did. Such sweet, sweet fellowship.


One more thing, Sara Groves has a song that renews my desire for God by reminding me of those who've gone before us. It's titled When the Saints. Look it up on iTunes. (I couldn't find a worthy video to imbed.)



    "And all these [saints], though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
     Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 
(Hebrews 11:39-12:2, emphasis mine)


This post is linked up at We are THAT Family and at Women Living Well. 

...one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

• March 9: I chose to limit my use of FB and blogs to give my heart and mind a break from so much stimulation.

• March 18: Scripture Memory for Brittany and me is Psalm 63:1-2. "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory." 

• March 21: While praying for Japan I feel God say to my heart, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor."

• March 22: Luke 12:33-34 is part of my daily reading. "Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

• March 24: Blogged through some of the mixed signals that we send to our children about loving God more than all other things. 

• March 25: Similar mixed signals were discussed in Shepherding a Child's Heart, page 46.

I journaled through of all of this, and here's my current, rather sandy conclusion. God is calling me to: 

1. thirst and faint for Him in a way that I never have.
2. sacrifice all the clutter that vies for my affections and attention.
3. sell whatever I must and give to the poor.
4. find my treasure in heaven and in God alone.

so that I "glorify God and enjoy Him forever," and send only that message to Caleb. 

After all this, I open my Bible to pray through Psalm 146. (It's where I am in reading through the Psalms.) The Psalmist writes that God "executes justice for the oppressed," "gives food to the hungry," and that "The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless..." 

Then I turn to the Gospels to read. I'm currently in Luke 14. 

I read in Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Banquet: “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled." 

Then, Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple...So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

Reading and praying through all of this, I know that God is calling me to renounce and sacrifice whatever I must in order to love and treasure Him above all things.

Now what?

Father, Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven. In Jesus' Name. Amen.