Strength - Psalm 28:6-8

Psalm 28:6-8
Praise the Lord!
For He has heard my cry for mercy.
7The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust Him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
8The Lord gives his people strength.
He is a safe fortress for His anointed king. (NLT)

One of the things we humans seem to do a lot is try to rely on our own strength. After all, to do something "all by ourselves" brings a feeling of accomplishment... and pride. To feel like you no longer have to rely on someone else to help you.

But the reality is, apart from Jesus we can do nothing. It is He who put the world in motion, and He who continues to make it possible for us to move and do things. Yes, without God, nothing would be possible.

The last couple of days I've been lacking strength. I'm not sure why, but I was just really out of it. This was especially annoying because yesterday I was scheduled to volunteer in the 5 year old class at church, and today I had to work for a few hours at my job.

Just a few minutes before it was time to leave for church, all of the sudden I felt really tired... weak. I laid down for a few minutes, but it didn't help much. I felt better once we arrived, however, during the lesson I felt tired again. I kept saying under my breath, "The joy of the Lord is my strength!" But I couldn't really tell a difference. Then, I got called to the 2 and 3 year old class for a few minutes while one of the teachers was away. I greeted the children, who were playing happily. One 2 year old stopped what he was doing and just looked at me and smiled. He made some car noises, which I imitated, which made him laugh. He was so cute! We continued playing for a little while, and then the teacher came back, so I went go back to the 5 year old class.
As I walked back, I realized that I was not near as tired as I was before. After class was over, I was even able to drive back home! (With my mom in the passenger seat, of course.) But the point is that once I forgot about myself - played with this precious two-year-old even though I'm sure I looked silly - strength came.

This morning I slept in almost an hour without realizing it. Around 9:30 AM that tired, weak feeling came over me again. But this morning I had looked up Scriptures with the word, "shield" in them. I came across Psalm 28:6-8. I spoke it aloud as a prayer, and claimed the promise for myself. I started work with renewed vigor, and all fatigue was gone. Hallelujah!!

So my encouragement to you today is this: God's strength is made perfect in your weakness. (2 Cor 12:9) Next to God, your strength looks like weakness. Instead of relying on your own strength today, even if you "feel" like you can handle it "all by yourself," allow God to work through you. And if you feel like I did - weak and tired - ask Him to be your strength today. He is the One who gives His people strength, and He won't disappoint.


-V4C

P.S. - Sorry again about not posting so long! This wasn't what I was planning on posting about when I wrote the last post. But this just seemed like the right thing to post about today. Oh, and just so you know, I might not have much time to write during November because I'm doing NaNoWriMo for the first time. :)

Been Awhile

Hey all! Just a quick note to say that I'm still here, and I really have been meaning to post more. Really sorry for letting a whole month slip by without a word!

God's been showing me a LOT in His Word lately, that I really want to share with you, but as it is nearing 10 PM, I don't have time to get into it now. Hopefully I'll have time in the next couple days to blog about it!

So did anyone take a Fall break last week? Do anything special?

Blessings!!

Violinist4Christ

Classical Music and other things...

Greetings!

Well, I thought I'd post about what I've been doing lately. Last week I played violin with my youth group's worship band at church for the first time! At first I wasn't sure how it would work out... we don't normally have a violin player in the band, and it would be my first time playing with a band. But it was great. It felt... right. Like I was supposed to be there. It was kind of hard to be heard above all the electric guitars, but I wasn't completely drowned out. Basically I just had the chord charts to go by, so I was mostly just playing whatever sounded good.
The rehearsal went well. I got to meet the band members, and fellowship with them before service started. Our drummer actually plays the timpani in the orchestra I'm apart of! How cool is that?
Then when the actual service started, it was amazing. I could feel God's presence so strongly. God is so good! The songs we played were "I'm Not Ashamed," "Devotion," "Draw Me Closer," and the bridge of "Ready Now." I'm so thankful for the chance to help lead others in praise to our King!

Yesterday I went to an orchestra concert. They played the Farewell Symphony by Haydn. That has got to be one of my favorite classical pieces. Look up the last movement to see why. The musicians do something very unique in mid-song. *is mysterious* :) It was fun to watch them do it live!

Do any of you have any favorite classical music composers? If so, do you have a favorite song by them? I think my favorite composer would have to be Bach, and then Vivaldi. Dvorak is good too, though. His New World Symphony is awesome!

I hope you all have a blessed week!

Happy Labor Day

Happy (early) Labor Day!

So what's everyone doing on the third day of their three day weekend? Anyone traveling out of town, seeing family, spending time with immediate family? Anybody just relaxing at home, enjoying an extra day off? :)

My family and I are going to drive about an hour and a half away to visit my mom's sister's family. It'll be great to see them again! They live out in the country, so the scenery around their house is beautiful. Sometimes I wished I lived out that way - for my backyard to be woods, and to have a road leading up to my house surrounded by woods. It's so much fun to take walks there with them. I always have an opportunity to take pictures. :)

Speaking of which, I have several pictures from past times we've visited if anyone's interested. I was just going through my photobucket and getting rid of a whole bunch of pictures because they changed their photo limit to 500 mb. *sigh* Oh well. BUT, I am saving the ones that I still like onto my computer, and trying to find another image hosting website to put these on. Anyway, some of the pictures are from around their house, and they're really neat. :)

Well, I hope you have a great Labor Day! God bless!

Violinist4Christ

Happy September 1st!

Hi everyone!

First off, many thanks to Araken for making my new banner!! Isn't it awesome? It goes perfect with the layout. :-)

It's hard to grasp that it's already September! Amazing how fast summer went by, isn't it? I'm already into my fourth week of school and am slowly getting used to my new schedule. It's not too bad, though, since I'm home schooled and my schedule is a little more flexible than most. It's been fun so far, as fun as school can be, anyway. :) Physics and Advanced Math are mainly the ones that take up the most time, but Physics has been interesting and Math is... well... math. Lol.
So how is school going for all of you? What kind of school do you go to? (No specific names, please - just public school, private, etc.) Do you like it so far?

Right now, I think i need to start setting some goals for the year - timing all my subjects, getting Physics experiments and English assignments done in a timely manner, setting a time to practice violin every day, etc. This is probably going to be one of the busiest years I've had yet, because I have so many activities I'm involved in! But it's going to be good. God is with me, and I'll make it through. :-)

So how about you? Have you thought of any goals for the school year?

"Proverbs 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life."