Delight yourself in the Lord...

Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Has anyone heard this verse quoted? Or quoted it to yourself? I have. And quoted it poorly. I remember when I was younger I felt like this was a jackpot verse. God was going to give me what I wanted! That's what I heard when I read it. The part that stood out to me was NOT "delight yourself in the Lord"...it was "he will give you the desires of your heart."
Wow.
It's amazing what selfish and self-centered beings we are.
It's so obvious in my own heart and mind.
I was born ALL ABOUT ME.
But, because of God's good grace, He has given me a heart that's for Him.
And while I still battle the sinful, selfish flesh, (and some days I am feeling the intensity of that battle) my heart is for Him.
God has been ripping me away from selfishness and pride, and showing me how to make the Gospel the "obsession of my heart", as Milton Vincent puts it in "A Gospel Primer" (BUY THIS LITTLE BOOK!!!)
Today I read "And He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul's delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways."
Some wonderful verses that went with this section:
Psalm 16:11 "...in your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever."
Psalm 37:4 (I already quoted above)
Romans 11:36 "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever."
I glorify the Lord when I am delighted in Him alone.
And here's the thing...I can be delighted and filled with the "fullness of joy" Psalm 16 is talking about, even when my life feels topsy-turvy.
Even when I don't know what the next day is going to bring.
Even when I feel on the outside, unimportant, unpopular, or uncool.
God and His gospel is my satisfaction and joy. In HIM is all fullness of joy.
I am so pleased with that Word this morning.
Thank you God for coffee and for reading this before I start my day. How I need it!

Register for Run For Compassion!

I'm so excited to say that registration for Run For Compassion is up! You can register or donate today! 100% of registration fees go to the Child Survival Project of Compassion in Ethiopia and Haiti. In fact, when you register or donate, you will be giving us your race info. on our site, but then you will be taken to the Compassion site where you donate the required registration fee directly to them. ($20 for the 5K and $25 for the 10K.) That's the way I wanted registration to work this year. I didn't even want to touch the registration money. I wanted all of our participants to have the joy of knowing exactly where their money is going. Because I feel so passionate about what the CSP is doing in saving lives of babies and children ages five and under, sharing the gospel with their families, teaching Moms and Dads how to take care of and nurture their children, and providing food, medicine, clean water, job training...there's so much! I've seen some amazing videos where people testify as to what God has done to transform their lives physically and spiritually through the CSP and I cry every time. It's overwhelming.

You can pray in faith with me that we find enough corporate sponsors to cover the costs of the race. But I feel so confident that God will provide that and that Run For Compassion will be so much fun for us and for every participant.

Please, help us reach our goal of $8,000 to send to the CSP in Haiti and Ethiopia! Register or donate today! Early registration really helps us, as we purchase things like bibb numbers, t-shirts, etc. And recruit a friend to do it with you. You can know that $20 is being used in an amazing way!

If you are interested in volunteering for the race, there is a place for that on our registration page as well! We'd love to have you!