Matchmaker, Matchmaker, (please don't) Make Me a Match

I really appreciate Erica's post over here: it goes right along with some things I've been thinking about lately. Thanks for being so frank and thoughtful, Erica!

My Valentines' thoughts in general are actually summed up beautifully (better than I could!) by a good friend here. I feel so blessed to watch my friend grow by leaps and bounds in Jesus!

 In my life right now, Valentine's Day is not about "my man" and me -I haven't even met him yet (though I love him dearly and pray for him every day...I know, mush mush)! Right now, Valentine's Day is time for me to be patient and content as I wait on God's timing for my future. Right now, Valentine's Day is time for me to remember and grasp a little better Christ's unbelievable love for me--He loved me when I was His enemy!

 Right now is also the perfect time for me to be thankful for my parents' beautiful marriage. Beautiful because it is based in a passionate love for God. Beautiful because it is forever. Beautiful because they choose to forgive each other. Beautiful because they choose to delight in each other.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for modeling a marriage that reflects Christ and the Church.

Abide with Me-Video

This hymn was written in 1847 by Henry Francis Lyte on the day he preached his last sermon; written knowing that he was dying of tuberculosis. It is a beautiful hymn of trust and love for a merciful and compassionate Savior. I've played it maybe five times already today-and who knows, maybe it is what you needed to hear today too.

Christ Our Substitute

While reading Don't Call It a Comeback: the Old Faith for a New Day (edited by Kevin DeYoung), I came across this quote:

"This is the wondrous exchange made by His boundless goodness... Having become with us the Son of Man, he has made us with himself sons of God. 
By his own descent to earth he has prepared our ascent to heaven.
Having received our mortality, he has bestowed on us his immortality.
Having undertaken our weakness, he has made us strong in his strength.
Having submitted to our poverty, he has transferred to us his riches.
Having taken upon himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, he has clothed us with his righteousness."
(Don't Call It a Comeback: the Old Faith for a New Day, pgs 37-38, quote from Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion)


Praise Him for being our substitue!