Excuses, Excuses!

But I have a really good one!

I know I haven't posted in a week, but I have been really busy getting ready for my Grade 11 University Math Exam and it's often really hard to get in some quality study time. Overall, my week has been absolutely AMAZING! It started Sunday night when some of us youth had a time of sharing. The discussion just pinpointed all the sin and faults in my life that were standing in the way of a true and intimate relationship with God. But the joy in being surrendered and obedient to the will of God I can't even begin to describe.

In my devotions this past week or so, I've seen what faith and obedience really is. We see this with Abraham when God asks him to offer Isaac. I'm sure he was very grieved, but he did not question God. He just got up in the morning and was faithful and obedient to what was asked of him.

Reading the account of Joseph was really encouraging as well. I'm sure many of you are very familiar with the story and all that Joseph went through; being sold to the Egyptians, being put in prison, then interpreting Pharaoh's dream, and soon he was the governor of Egypt. There were the seven years of plenty and the in the second year of famine his brothers come to Egypt to buy food. So he was there without seeing or hearing anything from his family for a LONG time. In the end when he finally reveals himself to his brothers, he see the "bigger picture" as I like to call it. He tells his brothers not to be grieved and angry with themselves and says, "but God did send me before you to preserve life." No, he may not have understood the trial and hardship that he went through, but it seems that it was worth it in the end when he was reconciled to his brothers.

I know this post is getting long, but I just have to share something else. I was just thinking today about the love of God and I was reminded of the hymn "The Love of God" by Frederick M. Lehman. This man understood that even in writing a hymn about the love of God that there was no way he could describe it. I just love the last verse where it says:

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Tho stretched from sky to sky.

On this earth, I don't think we'll ever grasp how great God's love is. Take this thought with you for the next few days and see where it might take you.

Good-bye for now. No promises on when I'll have a chance to post again but God be with you and uphold you and bless you abundantly.