I'm gonna be a teenadultager.
EEK! I'm getting so old!
Much Love,
TessieB
8/25/11
8/18/11
I'm not very creative when it comes to titles...
So there are a couple things I just now realized! I haven't written my thoughts on this blog since February... since before we left Coast.. (our church of 8 1/2 years)
There are several reasons for this. One, I don't have anything I want to say. Leaving Coast was super hard for my family. We love the people so much! What am I supposed to say? How can I make you feel how truely hard it was and still is for me?? I miss them so much!
Another reason is because I don't really want people to know whats going on. Slowly I stopped talking to my friends. First it was because I wasn't allowed to talk about things that were going on. Secondly, I got out of practice and I wasn't as close with anyone anymore. So how could I all of a sudden confide in them? Super hard.
And another reason why I haven't been blogging is because I now have people to tell my thoughts to. So I feel no need to write them on a blog.
The reason I'm writing now is because I haven't in a long long time. And its about time I wrote something!
About a year ago I started learning Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. So far, I can play 20 out of 29 pages. Not all of them very well, but I am getting there! Haven't been working on it lately because my brother is home for the summer, and he plays piano alot (he is a piano performance major..) and he always corrects me :P
I have to go now! Going to help a friend paint and then hangout :)
Thanks for reading!
Much Love,
TessieB
There are several reasons for this. One, I don't have anything I want to say. Leaving Coast was super hard for my family. We love the people so much! What am I supposed to say? How can I make you feel how truely hard it was and still is for me?? I miss them so much!
Another reason is because I don't really want people to know whats going on. Slowly I stopped talking to my friends. First it was because I wasn't allowed to talk about things that were going on. Secondly, I got out of practice and I wasn't as close with anyone anymore. So how could I all of a sudden confide in them? Super hard.
And another reason why I haven't been blogging is because I now have people to tell my thoughts to. So I feel no need to write them on a blog.
The reason I'm writing now is because I haven't in a long long time. And its about time I wrote something!
About a year ago I started learning Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. So far, I can play 20 out of 29 pages. Not all of them very well, but I am getting there! Haven't been working on it lately because my brother is home for the summer, and he plays piano alot (he is a piano performance major..) and he always corrects me :P
I have to go now! Going to help a friend paint and then hangout :)
Thanks for reading!
Much Love,
TessieB
Happiness is a gift....
and the trick is not to expect it but to delight in it when it comes, and to add to other peoples store of it. What did these people do when their families shrank, they cried their tears, but then they did the vital thing, they built a new famiily, person by person, they came to see that family need not be defined merely as those with whom they share blood, but as those for whom they would give their blood.
-From Nicholas Nickleby
Much Love,
Tessie B
-From Nicholas Nickleby
Much Love,
Tessie B
8/15/11
His mercies are new every morning!
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:4-5
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
Lamentations 3:22-24
Thank you Jesus!
No matter how hard I cry the night before, I always wake up refreshed! Praise the Lord!!
Much Love,
TessieB
8/14/11
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
by Rudyard Kipling
Much Love,
TessieB
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
by Rudyard Kipling
Much Love,
TessieB
8/10/11
He is strong. I am weak.
"God is glorified not by calling strong women but by giving His strength to weak women"
I am so weak Lord! Give me Your strength! <3
Paul was struggling with the thorn in his side and he wrote;
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, formy power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Much Love,
TessieB
I am so weak Lord! Give me Your strength! <3
Paul was struggling with the thorn in his side and he wrote;
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, formy power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Much Love,
TessieB
8/2/11
Something we need hear
This quote is from the book Stepping Heavenward.
I know its long, but just bare with me!
After alluding to my complaint that i still "saw men as trees walking," he [the pastor] says:
Yet he who first uttered this complaint had had his eyes opened by the Son of God, and so have you. Now He never leaves His work incomplete, and He will gradually lead you into clear and open vision if you will allow Him to do it. I say gradually, because I believe this to be His usual method, while i do not deny that there are cases where light suddenly bursts in like a flood. To return to the blind man. When Jesus found that his cure was not complete, He put His hands again upon his eyes and made him look up; and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Now this must be done for you; and in order to have it done, you must go to Christ Himself, not to one of His servants. Make your complaint, tell Him how obscure everything still looks to you and beg Him to complete your cure. He may see fit to try your faith and patience by delaying this completion; but meanwhile you are safe in His presence, and while led by His hand, He will excuse the mistakes you make and pity your falls. But you will imagine that it is best that He should at once enable you to see clearly. If it is, you may be sure He will do it. He never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him.
What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act.
I am afraid that you are in danger of falling into an error only too common among young Christians. You acknowledge that there has been enmity toward God in your secret soul and that one of the first steps toward peace is to become reconciled to Him and to have your sins forgiven for Christ's sake. This done, you settle down with the feeling that the great work of life is done and that your salvation is sure. Or, if not sure, that your whole business is to study your own case to see whether you are really in a state of grace. Many persons never get beyond this point. They spend their whole time in asking the question: Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not?
I beg you, my dear child, if you are doing this aimless, useless work, to stop short at once. Life is too precious to spend in a treadmill. Having been pardoned by your God and Savior, the next thing you have to do is to show your gratitude for this infinite favor by consecrating your self entirely to Him, body, soul, and spirit. This is the least you can do. He has bought you with a price, and you are no longer your own. "But," you may reply, "this is contrary to my nature. I love my own way. I desire ease and pleasure; I desire to go to heaven, but i want to be carried thither on a bed of flowers. Can I not give myself so far to God as to feel a sweet sense of peace with Him, and be sure of final salvation, and yet, to a certain extent, indulge and gratify myself? If I give myself entirely away to Him and lose all ownership in myself, He may deny me many things I greatly desire. He may make my life hard and wearisome, depriving me of all that now makes it agreeable." But, I reply, this is no matter of parley and discussion; it is not optional with God's children whether they will pay Him a part of the price they owe Him and keep back the rest. He asks, and He has a right to ask, for all you have and all you are. And if you shrink form what is involved in such a surrender, you should fly to Him at once and never rest till He has conquered this secret disinclination to give to Him as freely and as fully as He has given to you. It is true that such an act of consecration on your part may involve a great deal of future discipline and correction. But as soon as you become the Lord's by your own deliberate and conscious act, He will begin that process of sanctification which is to make you holy as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect. He becomes at once your Physician as well as your dearest and best Friend, but He will use no painful remedy that can be avoided. Remember that it is His will that you should be sanctified and that the work of making you holy is His, not yours. At the same time you are not to sit with folded hands, waiting for this blessing. You are to avoid laying hindrances in His way, and you are to exercise faith in Him as just as able and just as willing to give you sanctification as He was to give you redemption. And now if you ask how you may know that you have truly consecrated yourself to Him, I reply, observe every indication of His will concerning you, no matter how trivial, and see whether you at once close in with that will. Lay down this principle as law--God does nothing arbitrary. If He takes away your health, for instance, it is because He has some reason for doing so; and this is true of everything you value; and if you have real faith in Him, you will not insist on knowing the reason. If you find, in the course of daily events, that your self-consecration was not perfect--that is, that your will revolts at His will--do not be discouraged, but fly to your Savior and stay in His presence till you obtain the spirit in which He cried in His hour of anguish, "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but Thine be done" (Luke 22:42). Every time you do this it will be easier to do it; every such consent to suffer will bring you nearer and nearer to Him; and in this nearness to Him you will find such peace such blessed, sweet peace as will make your life infinitely happy, no matter what may be its mere outside conditions. Just think of the honor and the joy of having your will one with the Divine will and so becoming changed into Christ's image from glory to glory!
But I cannot say, in a letter, the tithe of what I want to say. Listen to my sermons from week to week, and glean from them all the instruction you can, remembering that they are preached to you.
In reading the Bible I advise you to choose detached passages, or even one verse a day, rather than whole chapters. Study every word; ponder and pray over it till you have got from it all the truth it contains.
As to other devotional reading, it is better to settle down on a few favorite authors and read their works over and over and over until you have digested their thoughts and made them your own.
It has been said "that a fixed, inflexible will is a great assistance in a holy life." You can will to choose for your associates those who are most devout and holy. You can will to read books that will stimulate you in your Christian life rather than those that merely amuse. You can will to use every means of grace appointed by God. You can will to spend much time in prayer without regard to your frame at the moment. You can will to prefer a religion of principle to one of mere feeling; in other words, to obey the will of God when no comfortable glow of emotion accompanies your obedience.
You cannot will to posses the Spirit of Christ; that must come as His gift; but you can choose to study His life and imitate it. This will infallibly lead to much self-denying work as visiting the poor, nursing the sick, giving of your time and money to the needy, and the like.
If the thought of such self-denial is repugnant to you, remember that it is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord. And let me assure you that as you penetrate the labyrinth of life in pursuit of Christian duty, you will often be surprised and charmed by meeting your Master Himself amid its windings and turnings and receive His soul-inspiring smile. Or, I should rather say, you will always meet Him, wherever you go.
Thank you for reading
Much Love,
TessieB
I know its long, but just bare with me!
After alluding to my complaint that i still "saw men as trees walking," he [the pastor] says:
Yet he who first uttered this complaint had had his eyes opened by the Son of God, and so have you. Now He never leaves His work incomplete, and He will gradually lead you into clear and open vision if you will allow Him to do it. I say gradually, because I believe this to be His usual method, while i do not deny that there are cases where light suddenly bursts in like a flood. To return to the blind man. When Jesus found that his cure was not complete, He put His hands again upon his eyes and made him look up; and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Now this must be done for you; and in order to have it done, you must go to Christ Himself, not to one of His servants. Make your complaint, tell Him how obscure everything still looks to you and beg Him to complete your cure. He may see fit to try your faith and patience by delaying this completion; but meanwhile you are safe in His presence, and while led by His hand, He will excuse the mistakes you make and pity your falls. But you will imagine that it is best that He should at once enable you to see clearly. If it is, you may be sure He will do it. He never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him.
What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act.
I am afraid that you are in danger of falling into an error only too common among young Christians. You acknowledge that there has been enmity toward God in your secret soul and that one of the first steps toward peace is to become reconciled to Him and to have your sins forgiven for Christ's sake. This done, you settle down with the feeling that the great work of life is done and that your salvation is sure. Or, if not sure, that your whole business is to study your own case to see whether you are really in a state of grace. Many persons never get beyond this point. They spend their whole time in asking the question: Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not?
I beg you, my dear child, if you are doing this aimless, useless work, to stop short at once. Life is too precious to spend in a treadmill. Having been pardoned by your God and Savior, the next thing you have to do is to show your gratitude for this infinite favor by consecrating your self entirely to Him, body, soul, and spirit. This is the least you can do. He has bought you with a price, and you are no longer your own. "But," you may reply, "this is contrary to my nature. I love my own way. I desire ease and pleasure; I desire to go to heaven, but i want to be carried thither on a bed of flowers. Can I not give myself so far to God as to feel a sweet sense of peace with Him, and be sure of final salvation, and yet, to a certain extent, indulge and gratify myself? If I give myself entirely away to Him and lose all ownership in myself, He may deny me many things I greatly desire. He may make my life hard and wearisome, depriving me of all that now makes it agreeable." But, I reply, this is no matter of parley and discussion; it is not optional with God's children whether they will pay Him a part of the price they owe Him and keep back the rest. He asks, and He has a right to ask, for all you have and all you are. And if you shrink form what is involved in such a surrender, you should fly to Him at once and never rest till He has conquered this secret disinclination to give to Him as freely and as fully as He has given to you. It is true that such an act of consecration on your part may involve a great deal of future discipline and correction. But as soon as you become the Lord's by your own deliberate and conscious act, He will begin that process of sanctification which is to make you holy as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect. He becomes at once your Physician as well as your dearest and best Friend, but He will use no painful remedy that can be avoided. Remember that it is His will that you should be sanctified and that the work of making you holy is His, not yours. At the same time you are not to sit with folded hands, waiting for this blessing. You are to avoid laying hindrances in His way, and you are to exercise faith in Him as just as able and just as willing to give you sanctification as He was to give you redemption. And now if you ask how you may know that you have truly consecrated yourself to Him, I reply, observe every indication of His will concerning you, no matter how trivial, and see whether you at once close in with that will. Lay down this principle as law--God does nothing arbitrary. If He takes away your health, for instance, it is because He has some reason for doing so; and this is true of everything you value; and if you have real faith in Him, you will not insist on knowing the reason. If you find, in the course of daily events, that your self-consecration was not perfect--that is, that your will revolts at His will--do not be discouraged, but fly to your Savior and stay in His presence till you obtain the spirit in which He cried in His hour of anguish, "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but Thine be done" (Luke 22:42). Every time you do this it will be easier to do it; every such consent to suffer will bring you nearer and nearer to Him; and in this nearness to Him you will find such peace such blessed, sweet peace as will make your life infinitely happy, no matter what may be its mere outside conditions. Just think of the honor and the joy of having your will one with the Divine will and so becoming changed into Christ's image from glory to glory!
But I cannot say, in a letter, the tithe of what I want to say. Listen to my sermons from week to week, and glean from them all the instruction you can, remembering that they are preached to you.
In reading the Bible I advise you to choose detached passages, or even one verse a day, rather than whole chapters. Study every word; ponder and pray over it till you have got from it all the truth it contains.
As to other devotional reading, it is better to settle down on a few favorite authors and read their works over and over and over until you have digested their thoughts and made them your own.
It has been said "that a fixed, inflexible will is a great assistance in a holy life." You can will to choose for your associates those who are most devout and holy. You can will to read books that will stimulate you in your Christian life rather than those that merely amuse. You can will to use every means of grace appointed by God. You can will to spend much time in prayer without regard to your frame at the moment. You can will to prefer a religion of principle to one of mere feeling; in other words, to obey the will of God when no comfortable glow of emotion accompanies your obedience.
You cannot will to posses the Spirit of Christ; that must come as His gift; but you can choose to study His life and imitate it. This will infallibly lead to much self-denying work as visiting the poor, nursing the sick, giving of your time and money to the needy, and the like.
If the thought of such self-denial is repugnant to you, remember that it is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord. And let me assure you that as you penetrate the labyrinth of life in pursuit of Christian duty, you will often be surprised and charmed by meeting your Master Himself amid its windings and turnings and receive His soul-inspiring smile. Or, I should rather say, you will always meet Him, wherever you go.
Thank you for reading
Much Love,
TessieB
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