a f t e r  H i s  h e a r t
  • blog
  • about
  • blog community
  • hand lettering

good friday

4/18/2014

0 Comments

 

"on a bloody friday filled with nails and wood and a man who would do what God only could.
arms open wide to die for the very people who hung Him out and bled Him dry
on a dark friday.  a shout to the sky, a spear to the side, two marys start to cry
as angry earth trembles and black clouds swell.
quietly Jesus goes through hell
dying in our place.
how is it that a day of such evil and pain ever got the word 'good' in its name?
this day of infamy, human villainy. 
when the world showed off it's most evil face
because there, in that blood-stained place, when they pulled the body down like seed to ground
the author of life sprouted roots of grace
that would once and for all save the human race.
this victory death. 
a complete surprise
as demons and devils with fear in their eyes
realize
that once a perfect man died
the law was finally satisfied
the man who lived the way we should
died the way only God could
and that's why we call this friday good.

the day Christ fell
is the day mercy stood."

^^(from this spoken word)^^
Picture
"He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
like one from whom people hide their faces
    He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.
4 Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered Him punished by God,
    stricken by Him, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced for our transgressions,
    He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
    and by His wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us."

isaiah 53:1-6



0 Comments

the best of all, God is with us.

3/24/2014

0 Comments

 
"wesley died on wednesday march 2, 1791, in his eighty-eighth year.  as he lay dying, his friends gathered around him, wesley grasped their hands and said repeatedly, "farewell, farewell."  at the end, summoning all his remaining strength, he cried out, "the best of all is, God is with us," lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again, repeating the words, "the best of all is, God is with us."

-taken from the wesley center online

i found myself with tears in my eyes after reading this, and repeating that phrase over and over on my walk down the hill to class this morning.  and how beautiful!
the best of all, God is with us...
the best of all, God is with us...
best of all, God is with us...
God is with us.
wow.
Picture
0 Comments

you should definitely watch this.

2/24/2014

0 Comments

 
[marriage]

http://www.ajesuschurch.org/loveology-series/?sermon_id=998

^^^ click on this ^^^

i'm not married.  but marriage is something that i have always always desired for my life.  but i think if i were honest, i don't really get it sometimes.  a lot of times.  i get confused about the purpose and have questions.  if you're like me, or even if you're not, this podcast is a 42 minute investment that i promise is worth it.  so so eye-opening to what marriage is, as God intended, and its hardships and its ultimate purpose.
0 Comments

love does

2/7/2014

0 Comments

 
"God has pursued me in creative and whimsical ways, ways that initially did not get my attention.  nevertheless, He wouldn’t stop.  that’s what love does — it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end.  when you go after something you love, you’ll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything."

-- Bob Goff// Love Does
0 Comments

mm.

1/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
"but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."

james 3:17 & 18

0 Comments

something for your day

1/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
proverbs 16:24
0 Comments

a prayer a day: for desperation

1/21/2014

0 Comments

 
"God, put salt on my lips, that i might thirst for You."

saint augustine
Picture
exodus chapter 33 has always meant a lot to me and perplexed me and fascinated me and stirred up desire within me time and time again to know and speak with God like moses.  it says they spoke as friends.  and the one thing that moses asks of God is just to see His glory.  that is his request.  moses pleads that God's presence would go with the Israelites.

and then recently a teaching by jonny hughes really grabbed me & made me think.

he says: "this is our big idol: comfort.  and so we live and as we get older, we try to create these cocoons that are more and more comfortable.  but actually I don't think comfort is the place where we meet with God.  i think actually it's often desperation...
hunger is the soil in which God's presence finds growth."

luke 51:53 "He's filled the hungry with good things, but the rich He has sent away empty"


these words really pulled me and my prayer for you and for me is that we would hunger to meet with the living God and become desperate to know His presence, like moses.  jonny hughes also said, "if Jesus needs to encounter and meet with God face to face, then so do we.  i've tried to live the christian life in terms of spiritual performance, trying to impress God, and it just leads to burn-out.  what we need as christians is to be continually encountering the person of Jesus through the Spirit.

& encounter with God is the bread & butter: sitting in front of Him every day."

a prayer to know intimacy with Him.

p.s. i would love if you would listen to this teaching, too, friend.  click HERE!


0 Comments

let's hold on to this

1/14/2014

1 Comment

 
Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.

For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean,

and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm,

for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Hebrews 10:22,23




Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know Him.


He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn 
or the coming of rains in early spring.


Hosea 6:3

Picture
1 Comment

mm.

12/26/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
God is teaching me more & more about how to love people, and what that even means and what it looks like to love people and love them well, like He does.  what a beautiful thought that He does that & i hope He never stops!  and in the midst of this ongoing lesson, this quote really stuck out to me and i thought i'd share it.  it keeps coming back to my mind and i keep thinking about it and what it means.  not gonna lie, though, this made me realize things about myself that i didn't really like realizing.  and my hope for you, dear reader, is that God would also pull out those hindering and not-so-lovely things within you, and it would convict you in order that you might become more like Christ in this humbling life-long endeavor of loving.
& i was also reminded of this really meaningful song for me, called "safe" by britt nicole... give it a listen.  i hope it speaks.
1 Comment

thirst check

12/23/2013

0 Comments

 
juice doesn't quench...
family doesn't gladden...
food doesn't fill...
cozy homes don't comfort...
movies don't enchant...
instagram doesn't boost...
facebook likes don't affirm...
painting doesn't delight...
music doesn't entertain...
great outfits don't beautify...
people don't please...
friends don't gratify...
art doesn't cheer...
holiday hubbub doesn't brighten...
sleep doesn't restore...

...enough.

never enough. 

with all of these things, there will always come a time when we are empty or longing again,
only be filled for a little while,
and then empty again.
and again.

these things are good, they are not bad, but the minute they become where joy is found, as in, where we turn  to to find joy, is the minute we feel lonely, disappointed, hurt,

and empty.

breaks from school and holidays especially can be really hard times for me because I am tempted to indulge, to do whatever makes me happy.  and whenever that happens it's sort of crazy how fast things can spiral to God feeling so distant, and i've been finding myself empty at the end of these last couple days.

so it's time for me to do some reevaluating of where i'm drinking from, and, friend, i would encourage you to do this with me.
"..but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I
give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
john 4:14
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Skipping like a calf loosed from its stall,

    I’m free to love once and for all
    And even when I fall I’ll get back up
    For the joy that overflows my cup 
    Heaven filled me with more than enough
    Broke down my levees and my bluffs
    Let the flood wash me.

    Archives

    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013

    categories

    All
    Adventure
    A List
    A List
    A Prayer A Day
    Art
    Autumn
    Birthday
    Christmas
    Dear Ones
    Eau Claire Community
    Family
    Favorite
    Food
    Friends
    Hespeaksinthesilence
    Inspire
    Life Lately
    Little Letters
    Love Life
    Music
    My Heart
    One Pic A Day October
    One Prayer A Day January
    Poetry
    Selah
    Spring
    Summer
    Taking Stock
    Thanksgiving
    The Daily
    Thin Spaces
    Thought
    Throwback
    Trip
    Truth
    Video

    RSS Feed


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.