What a beautiful and wonderful Lord's day today is! We are alive, breathing, and spending time with our Saviour...nothing beats that :)
As many of you know, my hearts desire is to be a missionary once I have completed my training to be a Physical Therapist Assistant, well, there is one organization that encourages me to pursue my missionary calling and it is Travel the Road, and here is something from their website that really encouraged me today...I guess it is my missionary heart, but I pray that this blesses you as well:
"A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8). If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His. Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”
Be entirely His!
Charity
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Another Graduation, therefore Congratulations are in Order!
Well, as you know, Joshua graduated from army basic training in July, his twin brother (but yes of course, my dear brother too) Jacob has graduated as well! After a very trying and grueling 9 weeks, he has come through, and we are extremely proud of him! Poor thing, for a while he was on crutches, because of various things, but I love how his spirit stayed strong to the end and that he has finally made it. So now he is stationed at Fort Leonardwood in Missouri. Just continue to keep him in your prayers.
Much love in Christ,
Charity
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Learning to Thrive at College
Dear Friends,
As some of us consider college and such, we need to look at our motives for why we want to go...to have fun? Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord? Flirt? Take a look at your motives as you prepare for this time in your life.
This blog post from desiringgod.org sums up absolutely everything I believe is true about this season in our life:
College should be a temporary season of academic preparation and personal growth to propel a lifetime of effective service to God and neighbor. It should be a launching pad into all that goes with responsible Christian adulthood. Yet for some, it’s a time when they abandon the Christian faith, displaying that they never really belonged to Christ (1 John 2:19). For others, their faith remains intact, but they waste their college lives with video games, partying, and other frivolities—an expensive vacation funded by Mom, Dad, and debilitating student loans.
Today, seven out of ten high school graduates immediately go on to college, but about 30% will never become sophomores, and about 50% will not have graduated even six years later.1 Many who do graduate move right back home with their parents, assuming little responsibility and armed with little ambition for Christ.
Thrive at College
I’m convinced that you should not just survive college but thrive at college. Don’t just maintain your faith, but really come to own it — growing thick, strong roots (1 Timothy 4:12). Don’t just squeak by classes with as little effort as possible, but strive to discover your calling — what God uniquely wired you to do — and to love God with all your mind by giving it your very best (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Socially, college is a season for making life-long friendships — not just the kind you have a great time with (good as that is) but the kind that spur you on to love, trust, and follow God. Pursue relationships that help you put away childishness, grow in maturity, increasingly make wise choices, and “expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” And who knows? Maybe one of these friends will become a fabulous husband or wife.
College is a time for assuming responsibility, for becoming a disciplined steward of time and money, for recognizing that recreation is a gift of God to be enjoyed in measure but never to dominate our lives. Rather, when properly pursued, recreation empowers us for our work rather than distracting us from our work.
As a student, remember that your work is learning (studying) so that you can, for a lifetime, increasingly love God with a well-trained mind, a mind that can identify key questions, pursue understanding, dissect arguments, discover logical fallacies, and communicate effectively.
Be Trained to Make a Difference
College is an opportunity to get the training you need to make a difference in the world — by becoming a business person, an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, a historian, a physical therapist, a husband, a wife, a parent, who sees God’s lordship extending to every area of life and every corner of the globe.
It’s a time to take the gifts God has given you and develop them into finely-tuned skills — the kind that can really serve and benefit other people (some of whom may even pay you). It’s a time to become a man or woman with unshakable character and faithfulness — the kind that can be given increasing areas of responsibility, and who can eventually rise to leadership. It’s a time to honor all that your parents did for you by learning to own your decisions, even your mistakes, as you embrace a full-orbed, God-dependent adulthood
This post taken from John Piper's ministry desiringgod.org
So spend some time in prayer before you endeavor on the journey through college.
God bless!
Forever in Him,
Charity
As some of us consider college and such, we need to look at our motives for why we want to go...to have fun? Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord? Flirt? Take a look at your motives as you prepare for this time in your life.
This blog post from desiringgod.org sums up absolutely everything I believe is true about this season in our life:
College should be a temporary season of academic preparation and personal growth to propel a lifetime of effective service to God and neighbor. It should be a launching pad into all that goes with responsible Christian adulthood. Yet for some, it’s a time when they abandon the Christian faith, displaying that they never really belonged to Christ (1 John 2:19). For others, their faith remains intact, but they waste their college lives with video games, partying, and other frivolities—an expensive vacation funded by Mom, Dad, and debilitating student loans.
Today, seven out of ten high school graduates immediately go on to college, but about 30% will never become sophomores, and about 50% will not have graduated even six years later.1 Many who do graduate move right back home with their parents, assuming little responsibility and armed with little ambition for Christ.
Thrive at College
I’m convinced that you should not just survive college but thrive at college. Don’t just maintain your faith, but really come to own it — growing thick, strong roots (1 Timothy 4:12). Don’t just squeak by classes with as little effort as possible, but strive to discover your calling — what God uniquely wired you to do — and to love God with all your mind by giving it your very best (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Socially, college is a season for making life-long friendships — not just the kind you have a great time with (good as that is) but the kind that spur you on to love, trust, and follow God. Pursue relationships that help you put away childishness, grow in maturity, increasingly make wise choices, and “expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” And who knows? Maybe one of these friends will become a fabulous husband or wife.
College is a time for assuming responsibility, for becoming a disciplined steward of time and money, for recognizing that recreation is a gift of God to be enjoyed in measure but never to dominate our lives. Rather, when properly pursued, recreation empowers us for our work rather than distracting us from our work.
As a student, remember that your work is learning (studying) so that you can, for a lifetime, increasingly love God with a well-trained mind, a mind that can identify key questions, pursue understanding, dissect arguments, discover logical fallacies, and communicate effectively.
Be Trained to Make a Difference
College is an opportunity to get the training you need to make a difference in the world — by becoming a business person, an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, a historian, a physical therapist, a husband, a wife, a parent, who sees God’s lordship extending to every area of life and every corner of the globe.
It’s a time to take the gifts God has given you and develop them into finely-tuned skills — the kind that can really serve and benefit other people (some of whom may even pay you). It’s a time to become a man or woman with unshakable character and faithfulness — the kind that can be given increasing areas of responsibility, and who can eventually rise to leadership. It’s a time to honor all that your parents did for you by learning to own your decisions, even your mistakes, as you embrace a full-orbed, God-dependent adulthood
This post taken from John Piper's ministry desiringgod.org
So spend some time in prayer before you endeavor on the journey through college.
God bless!
Forever in Him,
Charity
Monday, July 18, 2011
Congratulations PV3 Robbins!
July 7th was a day of great rejoicing in our family. My brother Josh became a soldier of the US Army! The 9 weeks at basic was challenging, but it has made him into a better man, and I can't even express how proud of him I am! On the 6th we had family day at Fort Jackson and spent the whole day with our soldier, which was a treat.
Here are some photos from the day:
Forever in Him,
Charity
Saturday, July 2, 2011
God is Faithful
Dear Friends,
I just want to testify of the faithfulness of our amazing Savior.
For the past week, I've been feeling so numb to everything around me and so disconnected to reality, that I had no joy, no nothing in my life (at least I felt like it) and yesterday, all of a sudden a great burden was lifted of my shoulders and I was free! I had been praying that whatever was holding me under would be released. And it was! Oh how great is His love!
There its still so much that my Jesus is showing and teaching me. A lot of sin has been "gurgling" up in my life, and it breaks my heart because I know it is breaking His, but I'm excited about being changed by His grace day by day, and falling ever deeper in love with Him, and continually pursuing a lifestyle of set apart femininity in this dark world.
Only and forever His,
Charity
Monday, June 27, 2011
Drama, drama!
Dear Friends,
Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted and boy, do I have a lot to say!
First- couple weeks back we got a phone call from my grandma (affectionately known as GG) that she has cancer. We were beside ourselves because GG is one of the healthiest and strongest women we know! So she took a week off to go to Minnesota to visit my uncle and his two beautiful children. Couple days later we put her on a plane to come here to Virginia and have an appointment at Danville Regional. God, being the wonderful God that He is, had already planned a couple of things for GG's benefit. Mom had emailed a surgeon that we know here in town for recommendations and he emailed back a few hours later with a marvelous recommendation for a GYN that he himself had done surgery with. So we cancelled GG's appointment at Danville Regional and made one here at Carilion (which is 10 whole minutes from our house!) At her appointment, the doctor said that they treat a ton of her conditions a year, and that 75% of all the cases were curable by surgery. What an encouragement to us! GG had her surgery June 24, and the doctor found more cancer cells than were expected. Saturday was an awful day for her, she was feeling so nauseated and so sick. She came home yesterday morning and has been resting a lot, we believe that she is very well on her way to recovery, for which we are so grateful for.
Second- Last week our horses broke some of the fencing and got into the grain. Our thoroughbred Chance, became very sick. We were up late that night checking on him and making sure that the banamine was taking affect.
The most sad thing happened yesterday, one of our horses died. It happened and we are heartbroken. Prelude, who was born on our farm and, was such a loving and sweet horse. She had given birth to a little colt while we were in New Zealand this May. She died last night after the vet came out. Her temperature was at 107 degrees, which is not normal for a horse. But she was strong and tried to hold on as long as she could. I will miss my little Pre-Pre :(
Third- Today has been full of drama too. Prelude's colt, Diego, was sick today, had to get the vet out for him. The diagnosis was salmonella, which was passed on from his mom, Prelude. He had a wee little temperature, but nothing major and nothing antibiotics won't take care of. So now we have to bottle feed him for a while, and then wean him. So that is that. Then, our puppy Ciara, got stuck under our kitchen cabinets and about broke her neck! We were screaming and trying to help her wiggle her way out, which she did, but oh my, what a scare!
Phew! Sometimes the drama just has to stop! lol :)
But through everything that has been going on, God has been so faithful to us. I can't really explain it, but its like in every situation, no matter how hard it may be or has been, He is and has given us a peace that passes all understanding, and it is like, no matter what happens or has happened, He has everything under control. It humbles me. And I am constantly in awe of my Savior.
His bondservant,
Charity
Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted and boy, do I have a lot to say!
First- couple weeks back we got a phone call from my grandma (affectionately known as GG) that she has cancer. We were beside ourselves because GG is one of the healthiest and strongest women we know! So she took a week off to go to Minnesota to visit my uncle and his two beautiful children. Couple days later we put her on a plane to come here to Virginia and have an appointment at Danville Regional. God, being the wonderful God that He is, had already planned a couple of things for GG's benefit. Mom had emailed a surgeon that we know here in town for recommendations and he emailed back a few hours later with a marvelous recommendation for a GYN that he himself had done surgery with. So we cancelled GG's appointment at Danville Regional and made one here at Carilion (which is 10 whole minutes from our house!) At her appointment, the doctor said that they treat a ton of her conditions a year, and that 75% of all the cases were curable by surgery. What an encouragement to us! GG had her surgery June 24, and the doctor found more cancer cells than were expected. Saturday was an awful day for her, she was feeling so nauseated and so sick. She came home yesterday morning and has been resting a lot, we believe that she is very well on her way to recovery, for which we are so grateful for.
Second- Last week our horses broke some of the fencing and got into the grain. Our thoroughbred Chance, became very sick. We were up late that night checking on him and making sure that the banamine was taking affect.
The most sad thing happened yesterday, one of our horses died. It happened and we are heartbroken. Prelude, who was born on our farm and, was such a loving and sweet horse. She had given birth to a little colt while we were in New Zealand this May. She died last night after the vet came out. Her temperature was at 107 degrees, which is not normal for a horse. But she was strong and tried to hold on as long as she could. I will miss my little Pre-Pre :(
Third- Today has been full of drama too. Prelude's colt, Diego, was sick today, had to get the vet out for him. The diagnosis was salmonella, which was passed on from his mom, Prelude. He had a wee little temperature, but nothing major and nothing antibiotics won't take care of. So now we have to bottle feed him for a while, and then wean him. So that is that. Then, our puppy Ciara, got stuck under our kitchen cabinets and about broke her neck! We were screaming and trying to help her wiggle her way out, which she did, but oh my, what a scare!
Phew! Sometimes the drama just has to stop! lol :)
But through everything that has been going on, God has been so faithful to us. I can't really explain it, but its like in every situation, no matter how hard it may be or has been, He is and has given us a peace that passes all understanding, and it is like, no matter what happens or has happened, He has everything under control. It humbles me. And I am constantly in awe of my Savior.
His bondservant,
Charity
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Don’t Make Jesus More of a Mediator Than He Is - Online Bible Study Tools
Dear Friends,
Be sure to check out this wonderful article by one of my favorite bible teachers, John Piper! Oh my word...
His bondservant,
Charity
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