God is so good...

... He really is. I cannot say just how wonderful He has been to me. I cannot fully explain to any of you just how kind and loving He has been this past week. He's been holding out His hand to me for so long, pointing out sin and inviting me back to His loving arms. I've known the sin, I've known it WAS sin, and I just kept returning to it, like a dog to its own vomit.

My head knew it was sin, and my wayward heart just. kept. on. sinning!

God in His grace and mercy just keeps calling to me - my loving Father calling me to come back to safety and back to a loving, whole relationship with Him. And, so I have. I feel the pull, but I am going to rely on God's strength to say "no" and be obedient to His will rather than my sinful nature. It may be difficult to stay on God's path for my life, but I know that I can do it because it is God's power working in me, not my power. It is God who began this work in me and who will complete it. It is God's power in me that is greater than the power of my sin.

I am blessed with so many good and godly people in my life: my parents, my grandmother (who is with the Lord), several friends, and many people I've met through the internet. I am blessed with a wonderful family - a husband and daughter who I dearly love and who bring joy to my heart and a smile to my lips EVERY SINGLE DAY.

But, in particular, I want to thank my pastor and my church for being unafraid to preach the Gospel without shame:

Thanks, Hank. Thanks also to Roger, who told me of this local Church, who is also my Bible Study teacher, and who has been teaching God's word with simplicity and strength. I learn more about God, I grow closer to God, and I want to serve God more because of my church's encouragement and instructions.

Along with Pastor Hank and Roger, I also want to thank Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle for his sermon on Predestination. I just finished listening to it, and it was so humbling and yet incredibly uplifting that I need to post it as well. It is long, yes, but well worth a very careful listen. In particular, if you only have limited time, listen to the last half - and then marvel at the wondrous grace and love and mercy and kindness of the one true God: