Mark Driscoll & James MacDonald In Haiti

I'm overwhelmed.

Please watch.

Please pray.

Please give.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/special/32-hours-the-church-in-haiti

What Romans 8 Taught Me Today

I have been studying Romans in my personal devotion time this past week, and I have been learning so much! Each day the particular chapter I am reading seems to fit in perfectly with what I am dealing with on that day. God Is Great! Today I have been acting like my typical sinful self, but God has displayed His grace for me once again by calming my every fear through His Word.

Here's what I learned in Romans 8 Today...

I was full of guilt for my shameful sins, and God whispered to me..
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

I was feeling stuck, as if there was hope of me ever changing, and God challenged me..
"If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)

I was feeling tired of the criticism I have been facing as a believer, and God reminded me..
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)

I was feeling riddled with sickness, laying in bed all day and waiting in anticipation for the day when sickness is no more, and God healed me..
"We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:23)

I was praying differently, confused and unsure of what to say, and God prayed for me...
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought to, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)

I was stressed about my looming student debt, and my joblessness, and my hazy future, and God calmed me...
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

I was overwhelmed by the prospect of failure, of not making it to the day where I could see my sweet Saviour's face, and God told me the truth, which is hope..
"Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justifed he also glorified." (Romans 8:30)

In one chapter, God calmed my heart seven different unique times. Only a loving Father would do this for His child. I do not deserve such love.

Please Watch This....

I just watched this video and had to share it...

Pastor James MacDonald from Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, IL & Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle were in Haiti this past weekend. They have started a new ministry, http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.com/. This is an amazing organization that is raising money to help rebuild the churches physically and spiritually in Haiti.

Check out this video of footage that Pastor James & Pastor Mark gathered while in Haiti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUu2C6kLu8&feature=player_embedded

Homemaking Internship

What I'm going to say in this blog is going to be very controversial, even to the Christian community, but it has to be said.

My whole life I was raised in a single parent family, where my mother provided financially for our family, cooked every meal, cleaned every room in our home, and loved and disciplined me. I knew there was something wrong with this set-up, but I didn't know any other way. In the past year I have stumbled upon a part of scripture from 1 Timothy 2:8 that has clarified a lot for me, "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." These are strong words against a Father that doesn't provide for his wife and children, but it also provides comfort to the many single families in this world that are suffering such a massive injustice.

So this leads to my point. What is our role as women in this world? Where do we fit in? We do have a mission, and it has not been laid out by our country, or our families, and especially not a on our own, but from our Everlasting and Loving God. The fact is that the majority of us will one day be married with children, and the command from God is that we serve our husbands, and with our husbands lead our children to fear God (Titus 2: 3-5).

This has led me to embark on a Homemaking Internship. I happened upon this term, and concept in an article written by Carolyn Mahaney. I urge daughters and mothers to read this article and embark on this journey with me: http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-11-No-2/Homemaking-Internship

Homemaking is so much more than cleaning a home and preparing meals. Just read Proverbs 31, and you will see that the woman in this passage plays a crucial part in her household.

I'll leave you with Titus 2:4-5, a command for older godly women "they are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, submissive to their husbands, that the Lord of God may be reviled."

Haiti

Please forgive me for not writing about Haiti until now. The people of Haiti have been on my mind and on my heart since I heard about this terrible tragedy. I'm sure that all of you who are reading this have felt compelled to help the victims in Haiti in some way, but the real question is How? It's important that we don't become overwhelmed and as a result choose to do nothing.

Everybody had different resources and capabilities to help in different ways. I've compiled a list, that is no where near exhaustive, of some ways that we can help.

1. Commit to prayer: The next time you're having some quiet time with God make a commitment to pray for the people of Haiti. You may want to schedule a specific time, for example: Every morning before I get out of bed I will commit to 5 minutes of prayer to Haiti. You know what suits you best, and when will be the most effective time for you.

2. Organize a prayer group: Gather a group of friends and spend an hour in prayer for the people of Haiti. This can be a one time thing, or a weekly meeting.

3. Fast: The most common form of fasting is abstaining from food. You may want to fast to mourn the deaths of the Haitans (see 2 Samuel 1:12). As a result of fasting your prayers will become more passionate as you pray ferverntly for Haiti. You may also choose to fast from TV and spend that time in prayer or communion with God. For more on fasting visit: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1564_the_crazy_idea_of_fasting_in_09/

4. Focus on the church & be specific: Galatians 6:10 says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the faith." Pray specifically for the church community in Haiti. Also, pray for individuals who are in Haiti now bringing aid to the church and the people of Haiti.

• Mark Driscoll & James MacDonald are in Haiti now and you can find out how to pray for them at: http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.com/

5. Donate: Be a steward of your finances, and give to organizations that are providing relief in Haiti. Specifically those that are also contributing by spreading the Gospel. Some excellent organizations that are providing physical and spiritual aid are:

• Compassion Canada http://www.compassion.ca/


• Churches Helping Churches http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.com/


• Samaritan's Purse http://www.samaritanspurse.org/


• Feed My Starving Children http://www.fmsc.org/


• World Vision http://www.worldvision.org/


• Salvation Army (Canada) http://www.salvationarmy.ca/

6. Give up Speciality Drinks: For the next month, everytime you have a craving for a London Fog or a Cappucino, put the money that it would cost for your drink into an envelope or can. At the end of the month donate your savings to a God-fearing organization.

Please remember the people of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in your prayers. This is going to be an ongoing situation that will need the world's attention, we must not forget the people of Haiti.

Much Love,

Brianna

Reading List: The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life

I'm hoping to get a good collection of books that I think are valuable for Christian women to read (also men, I'm just assuming mostly women will be reading my blog).

The first book I'd like to include in one of the most powerful and encouraging books I have ever read. This is for anyone who wants to seriously grow in prayer.

The Book: The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This book contains little jewels that will convict and challenge you in your prayer life. Some points that hit home for me:

• Prayer is not an excuse for laziness: "There are many believers who appear to be very mighty in prayer and wondrous in supplication, but then they require God to do what they can do themselves, and therefore, God does nothing for them at all." (Page 57)
• Pray for the big and the small: "Prayer is not merely for spiritual but for everyday concerns. Take your smallest trials to Him. He is your household God as well as the God of the sanctuary." (Page 69)
• God will not respond to lukewarm prayers: "'For our God is a consuming fire' (Heb. 12:29), and He will not have communion with us until our souls grow to be like consuming fires, too. Unless we are warm with love for God, we cannot expect the love of God to manifest itself in us to its highest degree." (Page 85)
• We must yearn for God's Will in our prayers: "The man of obedient heart prays like a prophet, and his prayers are prophecies. Is he not one with God? Does he not desire and ask for exactly what God intends? How can a prayer shot from such a bow ever fail its target? If your soul is in harmony with God's soul, your wish will be God's own wishes." (Page 116)

Read this book if you want to grow in your prayer life, and you will see your whole life transform.

I'll leave you with this quote:

"Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying." Paul E. Billheimer

Much Love,

Brianna

My Testimony: God's Carefully Planned Blockbuster

Every testimony is a riveting, compelling and awesome story. A testimony is way more exciting than any blockbuster hit, because every testimony's central figure is the greatest hero we could ever imagine: Jesus Christ. This is why I'm sharing my testimony, although it will help readers to get to know me better, my goal is that this real-life blockbuster will bring Glory to God.

I was born on November 11, 1989. I can only imagine the emotions my mother felt as she held me for the first time, tears flowing down her cheeks as she finally gazed upon the child she had been imagining since she had first dreamed of being a mother. Most girls dream of motherhood well before we are even capable of having children, and my mother is no exception! There is no doubt in my mind that there are tears on my mother's cheeks as she holds me, but I wonder if some of those tears are not of joy but of sorrow. She wonders if I will have my father in my life, if he will be there to see my first steps, teach me to ride a bike, and how to drive when I turn 16. It turns out he isn't there for any of those things, and so much more...

(My Mother Rose & I, Age 2)

My mother raised me on her own, with some help from my Grandparents at the beginning. From the moment I was born she had to take on the duty as mother, father, sister and brother. I'd sleep in her bed almost every night. She painted every house in our room, and fixed anything broken in our home. She brushed my hair, painted my nails, and talked to me about boys. She even had pillow fights with me. It's from my mother that I learned to be strong, to pick myself up when everything seemed to be pushing me down. But, as I got older I began to learn that no human-being can be my superhero. Because really, nobody does it on their own. I've always had a Father, I just didn't acknowledge him the way he deserved, and my Father in Heaven has always protected and loved me.

(My Best Friend Ashley & I, Age 13)

As a child I grew up in a Catholic home. I attended Catholic school until Grade 8, although I don't remember reading the Bible or praying in my home as a child. But, God always makes provisions, and he provided for me spiritually as any good Father should. My mother was able to get a government subsidy at a daycare for me when I was about 15 months old. The daycare was part of a Baptist church. For the first 5 years of my life I learned about Jesus' love and studied the Bible from the numerous Christian women that took care of me from 9-5 everyday. I was growing up in a Christian environment by the Grace of God.

When I was 11-years-old I attended a Vacation Bible School at the very same church that I had once gone to daycare in. By this time I was not being nourished spiritually, and I had a longing in my heart to grow deeper in my understanding of Jesus Christ. During that week I accepted Jesus Christ in my heart, and began attending Bramalea Baptist Church, mostly on my own since my mother worked most weekends. By 12 I was baptized, and had a very close group of Christian friends. I served during the summer at many summer camps, spending nearly 10 hours a day teaching about Jesus' love and learning from the children myself. I was growing spiritually, becoming a prayer warrior, fostering life-long friendships, and yearning to serve my God.

Every testimony has a climax. The part where God circumcises your heart, changes it completely, and gives you his Holy Spirit to guide you through the rest of your life. I truly do not believe that I had the Holy Spirit or understood what it meant to follow Jesus, even while I lived the picture perfect Christian life in my early teens. When I was 14-years-old my life took a turn for the worse, and little did I know, but I was about to enter a 5-year battle with addiction that I would never think I could escape. The summer I was entering Grade 10 I met a young man from my church who changed my life. We began dating, and I was officially on cloud nine. He was significantly older then me (I was 14 and he was 17), however, I didn't feel that it made much of a difference because in my heart I felt that my maturity surpassed people my age, and even his own age. This young man was from a Christian home, and I was ecstatic. I felt like I was finally a part of a real Christian home, where divorce was never an option and everybody prayed before they ate together. During this time my relationship with my own mother crumbled. She didn't have what I needed anymore, so I neglected her. She also didn't know what was best for me because she didn't have the wisdom I had as a prayer warrior and ambassador for Jesus Christ (Note my sarcasm!)

My life during this time was in a downward spiral. I stopped spending time with my friends, I idolized my new boyfriend. I vowed to never forsake him, to always love him and one day marry him. I was going to have the life his parents had, I was going to be taken care of financially, and in exchange for my security I would bear many children and be a wonderful and doting wife. Quickly, I stopped caring for my boyfriend, and simply cared for the lifestyle I would one day have. I stopped idolizing him and began idolizing his family situation. When I stopped caring about him, I stayed with him so that I could continue to be part of his Christian family. This lasted for nearly 2 years, but by that time I realized that there were other men just like him who could offer me the same thing.

For the next 5 years, from about 14 to 19-years old I spent my life bouncing from boyfriend to boyfriend. I couldn't last a month without finding a new crush, or multiple crushes. I stopped praying out of guilt, my Bible collected dust under my bed. My relationship with my Christian friends ended. I started spending time with people that didn't serve Jesus Christ, who didn't understand the Gospel. My mother and I grew more and more distant. I gave away my teenage years to undeserving boys; my heart, my mind, my body was no longer mine, and definitely not Jesus'. I was broken and lonely and hurt, but I was so afraid to stop my destructive cycle. My dream of finding a doting Christian husband was shattered, who would love me after what I had done to myself?

(Mom & I at my Grade 12 Prom. Our Relationship
was under an incredible amount of stress at this
time: Age 17.)

When I was 17-years-old I moved out of my house and into a dorm room. My roommate was a Christian. This year was the most rebellious and destructive year of my life. I was malnourished spiritually, and seeking nourishment from boys who didn't have a clue who Jesus was. My roommate and I fought constantly, I made fun of her for being so uptight. I was furious that I had to live with such a straight-edged Christian. I caused such a sweet girl immense suffering and frustration because of my own selfishness. I started going to Campus for Christ, and even accepted Christ into my life again, only to reject him and continue in my own addiction and destructive behaviour. Throughout these five years of self-inflicted heartache, I would often remember my favourite verse as a preteen:

"Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you sit down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (ESV)

By the time I was 19-years-old I was completely depressed. My soul longed for something deeper, something meaningful. I had put my whole life into the pursuit of my education, but now I felt little meaning in it. I had longed to find a suitable husband, but I had wasted 5 precious years polluting my heart and my body. I didn't even know what a suitable husband was anymore, what should someone as defiled as me expect from a man? I had found a few guys that had even expressed interest in marrying me, but I couldn't see myself ever spending my life with these boring and dull men. Little did I know that God was just protecting me from a miserable life and marriage with men that didn't know a thing about fearing the Lord.

Christmas 2008 marked a transformation that only God could have initiated. I did not pray The Prayer, you know, where you commit or re-commit your life to Christ. I prayed a million prayers, prayers that did not come from my lips, but the depths of my heart.
I repented
I begged
I cried
I gnashed my teeth and bashed my head against my fists.
I lay on the floor, all energy zapped from my muscles, pain seeping into my bones.
I continued to pray.

Finally, after a month, I got off the floor. I began to study. I took my dusty Bible from under my bed and I studied my Father's Word. My school books were pushed to the side, the pile growing larger as each week passed. I watched sermons online. I learned about theology, and decided that I was a Charismatic Calvinist. My Father introduced me to his friends, and so I learned from them too. I studied the Word, and listened to Mark Driscoll, and John Piper, and Charles H. Spurgeon. I praised God for such godly men. I begged God for one just like them, "Oh God, please let me meet a Charismatic Calvinist! Someone who knows what it means to be a godly man, who yearns to serve you." I prayed particularly for a man who wanted to be a pastor. I felt a calling to be a pastor's wife. The end of March soon arrived, marking 3 months of extensive biblical study. Exams would start soon, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd gotten off my knees and gone to school. Around this time, my best friend Ashley, a beautiful, Christian, and godly woman (and now wife) introduced me to her dear friend Daniel. He was a godly man, he was accepting of my past because he too had been God's enemy, but God had still adopted him as His son. And little did Daniel know, but he would become a Charismatic Calvinist too.

It's been 9 months since I first began a relationship with Daniel. We first started to fall in love in April, when my exams had started. I had spent the last 3 months ditching school to fall in love with Jesus, and now Daniel. But, God was gracious and I passed with a B- average. I now have 3 short months left until I graduate with a B.A. in Religious Studies (yep! I changed my major!) I'm no longer a scholar of higher education, instead I'm a child of God, and a student being taught by my Heavenly Father. I've been forgiven, and set free from the bondage of sin. I've received the Holy Spirit, and I pray that he guides me in every step that I take.

As for Daniel, he changed his major too. He's becoming a pastor.



My beloved, Daniel. (Age: 20).

Jesus, The Only Reason I Can Find To Blog!

I've decided to start a blog.

Not because I think that there is something particularly interesting about me that others will be intrigued by, but because I want to grow and share my journey towards a deeper joy in my Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 31 contains a poem about a woman who fears the Lord. She is also an excellent wife, her children call her blessed, her entire family praises her. This woman is a great cook, is money-wise, has entrepreneurial skills, is a great interior decorator, is compassionate towards the poor, she's also gardener, and had boundless energy. Just reading about this woman makes me tired.

When I read this chapter about 3 months ago I needed to take break. I printed it and put it on my fridge, but I rarely read the exhausting verses. However, God has bigger plans and is merciful. He imprinted these words on my heart, causing them to creep up into my mind often throughout my day. I yearn to be this woman, although I do not know where to begin.

My prayer is that as I journey to become like the woman in Proverbs 31, other young women will also long to embark on this journey with me. This blog will only be used to bring God glory, to honour the Most High, and to blog praises in Jesus' name.

Please join me in praying that God will change our hearts and transform us into Proverbs 31 Girls.

Much Love,

Brianna