You have come to bring hope to this world for You're honor and name

You have come to take sin, to bear shame, and to conquer the grave.

Emmanuel! Our God is with us!

Our Deliverer! You are Savior!

In your presence we find our strength

Over everything, our redemption

God with us!

Our Emmanuel!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

The Kellenbergers

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

    your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

    your judgements are like the great deep;

    man and beast you save, O Lord.

7 

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 

They feast on the abundance of your house,

    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9 

For with you is the fountain of life;

    in your light do we see light.

10 

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

    and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.

 

Why spend money on what is not bread,

    and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

 

Give ear and come to me;

    listen, that you may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

    my faithful love promised to David.

 

See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

    a ruler and commander of the peoples.

 

Surely you will summon nations you know not,

    and nations you do not know will come running to you,

because of the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel,

    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call on him while he is near.

 

Let the wicked forsake their ways

    and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

 

You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

 

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.”

I need my faithful blog peeps to say a prayer for me tonight please!
I will be leading worship for the CRI (crisis response international) team
that is helping out in Washington, IL.
Pray that God will be glorified and that people will be encouraged and strengthened
by the Lord's presence.
And pray that the Lord will heal my sore throat and scratchy voice. :)
Thanks!!!

"O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together."  Psalm 34:3

Sunday was a heartbreaking day for all of us.  Lots of prayers went up to the Father on behalf of the tornado victims in the Kellenberger house.  We continue to pray that there will be a Spiritual rebuilding as well as physical.  That this tragedy will turn hearts to Jesus- the true Healer and Restorer.

There has been some good discussions in our home about how we shouldn't put our trust or joy in our things.  They can be taken away from us in an instant.
And about how God is still good even though bad things happen.  Oh how good He is.

His goodness has been so apparent to Dave and I over these last few months.  We cannot stop praising Him and thanking Him for His goodness.
We tuck our kids in bed and sit down together on our couch and just recount all the ways He has been good to us. We thank Him, we worship Him together, and even this in itself is another reason to thank Him.  He changes hearts.  He transforms lives.

I sit on my chair right next to the torn up carpeting by the aisle in church and I see His goodness.
I see it in the single mother a few rows back who just gave her life to Him and is soaking Him in as fast as she can. She listened to me speak on Wednesday night on being a servant at home, and this is all new to her. She wants to meet with me and hear more. He is good.

I see it in the woman who was a crack addict and a prostitute.  She gets overwhelmed. She has so much to learn and she falls back sometimes but now she knows there is more for her.  There are days all she can do is kneel in front of the alter and know that He is meeting her where she is and that He has never stopped loving her.  I love to watch her worship her Savior.  Sometimes she joins the kids and will hold Tekoa's hand and they dance together.  2 beloved daughters of the King dancing before Him....He is good.

I see it in our good friends whose children tell their teachers that "Miss Michelle" is their best friend :)
The couple who was living together, raising 2 children, and expecting 2 more when they heard the gospel message in its fullness.  They were weeping for days under the heavy conviction of the Holy Spirit.  They instantly stopped sleeping together and planned a wedding.  Living with 4 kids on one fast food income, but in the joy of the One who has saved them.  Husband is training now to be a pastor.  He is good.

It's in the couple who has been wounded so deeply by adultery in their marriage.  The wife through the power of the Holy Spirit who was able to calmly and peacefully call the "other woman" and extend forgiveness.  And then tell her that the power to do this comes only from the Lord.  What a testimony to both women.  He is good.

It's in the prominent couple in the church who is not too proud to tell us that their marriage is struggling and they need prayers and counsel.  It's in the way the Holy Spirit leads us to share some of our past pain that we never thought we would ever share, and then the way we watch Him use that pain to minister to them...He is good.

It's in the man whose mother killed his father and yet the Lord has been a Father to him and has lifted him from the chains of abuse, drug use, and sex outside of marriage.  He is now a powerful proclaimer of the Word.  God is so good!

I see it in the man who was a former introvert passive Christian and he now makes his way around the church boldly praying for his fellow believers.  He has seen the Lord administer healing while he prays. He has recently seen for himself the freedom that Jesus offers through the power of His name. He has seen the Lord bust through lifelong strongholds. What a God!!

And I see it in the girl who has led worship most of her life and is learning for the first time what it truly means to be a worship leader.  This is the same girl who used to think she was better because of what side of town she lived in. She thought that her life had more value because of the family she was born into.  She had a self righteous, selfish heart and still does, but now she is allowing the Lord to break off chains and strongholds and empty her of herself even though it is a painful process that not many of her friends understand.   She is seeing the ugliness of her sinful heart and how it is just as ugly if not more ugly than the hearts of the prostitutes, adulterers, drug users.....
It's easier to hide the sins of haughtiness, pride, idolatry, gossip, envy, fear and laziness.  You can hide a critical, judgemental heart if you never voice the criticism and judgement.  But the sin is still there.  In all it's ugliness.
But through the goodness of her God she is seeing for the first time how deeply and intimately He loves her and it is changing her.  What an amazing Savior!!!

And I see it in the 2 children that have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and now are desiring to be baptized.  He is so good.

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

2 yBless the Lord, O my soul,

and zforget not all his benefits,

3 who aforgives all your iniquity,

who bheals all your diseases,

4 who credeems your life from the pit,

who dcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who esatisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like fthe eagle's.

6 The Lord works grighteousness

and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his hways to Moses,

his iacts to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is jmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 kHe will not always chide,

nor will he lkeep his anger forever.

10 He does not deal with us maccording to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For nas high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his osteadfast love toward pthose who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he qremove our transgressions from us.

13 As ra father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion pto those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame;1

he sremembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like tgrass;

he flourishes like ua flower of the field;

16 for vthe wind passes over it, and wit is gone,

and xits place knows it no more.

17 But ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on pthose who fear him,

and his righteousness to zchildren's children,

18 to those who akeep his covenant

and bremember to do his commandments.