Yep. Just so everyone knows, I (along with two of my friends) have kept our goals of working out everyday (pretty much)! And I haven't had a Coke (or Pepsi or Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew or ANYTHING but Sprite when I was sick) since August! I was a hardcore Dr. Pepper addict, so this is impressive for me. Still need to work on cutting out sweets, it's really hard. Overall, I'm very encouraged and excited about these fabulous health goals I've set! Yay! Lauren and I worked out for an hour and played around with a basketball in the gym tonight, so I'm feelin' good! I miss playing basketball with my cousins and brother...can't wait for summer still!!!

Chapter That Made Me Go "hmmm"

I've been reading Holiness, by J.C. Ryle for the past few weeks, and ran across a very interesting chapter this week. The title of the chapter is assurance. I agree with what Ryle has to say ultimately, but I never had thought about it this way. He gives four points that he expounds upon:

I. An assured hope is a true and scriptural thing. (Check, I understand that one for sure.)
II. A man may never arrive at this assured hope, and yet be saved. (Hmmm...)
III.An assured hope is exceedingly to be desired. (Yep.)
IV. Causes why an assured hope is seldom attained. (Yes.)

I followed him on the first point, then the second point is what made me think. He asserts first that a person may have saving faith in Christ, but never reach that full assurance. He says all God's children have faith, but not all assurance. I've always held to the thought that we should strive for assurance, and test ourselves to see if we are in the faith if we didn't have assurance. I can't decide if I agree with Ryle's position of a man having received grace and that he is a Christian, yet they still can never reach full assurance. I would like to think that once a person is saved, of course they will have doubts and fears about death, but ultimately they will not be afraid. Ryle says that there are degrees in our sanctification, which I agree with. In our justification, there are no degrees, once it happens it has happened. I also agree with this. Ryle quotes Romans 10:11 and says this: "'Whosoever believeth on Him'--not whosoever has a strong and mighty faith--'Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." Of course "bare, simple faith saves a man", but shouldn't a true Christian have a degree of assurance? Maybe not all the time, but even faith as small as a mustard seed is still faith, and we can be assured with small faith.

Ryle says faith is the root and assurance the flower. You can't have the flower without the root, but you can have the root without the flower. "Faith is life. Assurance is more than life...it is health, strength, power, vigour, activity, energy, manliness, beauty." I find it hard to swallow the thought that Ryle is bringing forth here. I think that Christians of course are Christians, but I think they have some assurance to hold onto. Am I making sense? Probably not, but this was tumbling through my mind today, and I thought I'd write it down.

I have struggled with doubt, everyone has, of course. But then I overcame it, and had assurance. Doubts come again and again, but I believe that a person can get over it and find assurance, but not after struggling--which just makes us grow stronger. As it says in Acts 17, "He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead." That's assuring to me...and then again..."And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end."

I don't think I misunderstood Ryle-faith is faith, and that alone saves us, but it was just a new concept to me, I guess, to think that a Christian can never reach assurance. It's nice to run across new concepts every now and then and to think about them.

This was a quote that made me go "hmm" (in a good way) in the notes of the chapter:
"This weak faith will as truly apprehend God's merciful promises for the pardon of sin as strong faith, though not so soundly. Even as a man with a palsied hand can stretch it out as well to receive a gift at the hand of a king as he that is more sound, though it may be not so firmly and steadfastly." (William Perkins, 1612)

And I liked this one:
"Faith is not created perfect at the first, as Adam was; but is like a man in the ordinary course of nature, who is frist an infant, then a child, then a youth, then a man." (Richard Ward, 1640)

So to summarize...I know what Ryle was getting at. In the end, this is what he says, "The believer who follows the Lord most fully and aims at the highest degree of holiness will ordinarily enjoy the most assured hope, and have the clearest persuasion of his own salvation." Using Scripture, Ryle exhorted his readers to pursue assurance, and not just sit back and be afraid. In the end, this chapter was thought provoking and good.

--I'm listening to Chris Tomlin's "Mighty Is the Power of the Cross", which is a good theme song to this post. :)

Update

I haven't posted in a few days, I guess I just haven't been inspired. The weather here is not very pretty, and I left my coat at home, so now I have to walk around in lightweight jackets. But I am walking very fast, so it's good exercise. Let me see...for those who don't know, I am waiting at least 6 weeks to hear back from the nursing school to see if I can be accepted, spring break is in two weeks, and I still want it to be summer.

Last night my friends and I went to Harmony House for a Haiti benefit concert. I got an amazing smoothie and listened to some cool music, then came back to campus and sat in my RD's apartment with a bunch of friends and watched The Office while eating cookies and watching my RA Rachel make Valentines. After deciding NOT to work out last night, Rose and I decided to get up this morning and go to the gym. We've made it a habit to get up early and workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I've managed to stay sore for the whole week but I think that's good. Gotta get in shape for summer!! I watched the Notebook the other night, couldn't fall asleep, found my friends who couldn't sleep at 1:30 in the morning, and we had a small party in her room. Then I got tired and went to sleep. I have restrained myself from watching The Notebook again..I just love that movie!

Classes are going good, I still have Hebrews commentaries to catch up on, and class is in a few hours, so I need to get on that I guess. :/ I need to clean my room too. Not that it's dirty...which it's not by the way...I just need to sweep and clean the sink. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I'll get to wake up early and go to the nursing home with some friends, and then there is a ballgame later on, so maybe I'll hit that up. Next weekend is banquet, but my friends and I have decided to skip the banquet, eat in Chattanooga, and join everyone that went to banquet on a riverboat ride later that night. That's exciting, we'll get to dress up hopefully.

That's really all I can think of. Life's been pretty chill here lately, nothing exciting. Hopefully the weather will warm up, and we can actually do fun things outside. That's all!

A Little Lighthearted Calvinist Humor

"I Think My Wife's A Calvinist"
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdoSG0IdNE&feature=related

So after having to keep my mouth shut and not screaming at people who were questioning election, our biblical foundations professor showed us this video and my mood improved. :) The wife the man is singing about will be my husband singing to me one day...haha. Just watch it.
I found it humerous. (Normal people probably won't get the jokes. Just the crazy calvinist people like me.) The related videos on the side are about bashing calvinism, so just ignore those.

And for the people who are questioning election:

Romans 8:28-30
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney

Since I've had nothing too interesting to report in my life, I thought I'd let today's post be about a book. Last night, I finished C.J. Mahaney's book Humility: True Greatness. On my scale, this book would get a fantastic. (That's equal to 9.5, the Bible always being a 10. :)) So it was a pretty good book! If you haven't read it, read it. It can't be too expensive, because it's a small book.

First, I love C.J. (Can I call him C.J.?) Ok. He starts the book out by saying how humbling it is to write about humility. And I'll add that it is also humbling to read about humility, because I see how not humble I really am.

Second, the book was oozing with Scripture. This is always a good thing, especially when you're reading and trusting a human author. But he does a very fine job of staying focused in the Word and not making up his own theories.

Third, his book is very applicable and easy to understand. Even at the end of the book, he summarizes the areas where we can work on humility and weaken our pride. I copied them down and plan on printing them out. He had tips like, waking up and realizing your dependence on God, practicing spiritual disciplines, and encouragin others...things like that. I'll let you read the book yourself to get the rest of the goodness.

Just trust me, it was an excellent book, and didn't take me very long to read. Loved it loved it loved it. So that's my thoughts for today. Now I have to go to Greek, which is also a very humbling class. :/

Effective Singleness?

Singleness is not very fun all the time. At least not for me, and there are days that I just want to give up. I don't want to throw myself a pity party so the whole blogging world can see, but this issue is frequently heavy on my heart. So, since I've been single for 19 years of my life, and I have just recently been connected to high speed internet, I have access to resources that have helped put singleness in a better light.

Sure, it womps to not have that glorious relationship with someone who loves you and who you may marry someday. That's what we were created for, and that desire to have someone is only natural. But what if things aren't working out? It is so hard to trust that God has it all under control and that He is the one we should set our hope in--not some stupid boy. Because ladies, they are all pretty dumb, and a few smart ones will admit it. Don't want to tell all the secrets of girl-world though. But knowing that boys are clueless is a pretty big topic.

So, what do we single girls do? Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters have a wonderful blog called girltalk. I've been reading it since the beginning of the school year. These women post topics that women care about and singleness is one of them. I ran across this quite some time ago, and I have to read it every now and then to get a grip on myself and remind myself where my focus should be. Helpful hint: Chick flicks and mushy songs DO NOT help. Not at all. So don't torture yourself. Instead, I've tried to ignore those temptations to watch a good story that only makes me miserable, and turn to other, more helpful sources. Here are a few good pointers that girltalk gives single girls:

Pursue undivided devotion
--Instead of spending our time worrying about the things of the world, we should be wholly devoted to the Lord. As single women, we do not have the worries of a husband and children yet. No having to fix dinner for a family, no going to the grocery store, doing laundry for everyone, or cleaning up after messy kids (and husbands). So this time can be used solely for the Lord. We can spend time in the Word, prayer, praise, and service. It is our privilege to have time to be focused on learning all we can about our God. Don't let the world in to mess with your minds.

Become a theologian
--(I like this one. Being a Bible major is really helpful for this deal and it's one of my hobbies anyways, so I'll encourage not only single girls but everyone to become a theologian. :))
Theology=the study of God. What better way to spend your single years than digging into the Word and finding out all you can about the attributes of God? Personal Bible study is very helpful. Grab a commentary and take a stab at a book of the Bible that really interests you. I'm required to read a Hebrews commentary for a class, and it's some deep stuff! I'm really learning a lot. Also, find trusted, solid authors that are authorities on a topic you are interested in. Right now, I'm reading through Holiness, by J.C. Ryle, and it is a great book. I love anything written by John Piper (Desiring God, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die), J.I. Packer (Knowing God, Concise Theology), C.J. Mahaney (The Cross-Centered Life, Humility), R.C. Sproul (In the Presence of God, What is Reformed Theology), and C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, and many more Puritan dead guys, but I don't want to take up too much space.

Help the men
--This pointer just encourages single girls to let the men lead-to encourage our brothers in Christ to step up and be men. Give them opportunities to lead. This doesn't mean to follow any man without question. But we can ask advice of our fathers, elders, and guy friends, and give them a chance to seek the Lord and give godly advice. Men should be leaders, and women should encourage them. Show appreciation when a man takes up his role and leads, even if he messes up, we should still encourage.

Choose friends carefully
--Single ladies have great opportunities to build amazing friendships during this time of singleness. I know this from experience. We should seek out godly friends to help us grow, and in turn, we can help them. A women's dorm is naturally the best place for this to happen. We live with each other for months. I won't give too many details, but just know that being around friends constantly has helped me build strong relationships. But while we are working on these relationships, we can also spend our time seeking friends that are not usually in our group of friends. Befriend someone that needs a friend. What better way to show Christ's love? Iron sharpens iron, and while some friends have different opinions, we find that we can learn from them, and perhaps change our way of thinking about things. Also, we should find older women to help us grow. Titus 2:4 says that older women are supposed to train younger women to love their husbands and children. So find a friend in a godly married woman who can train you. (Mothers can count, too.)

Nurture children
--Oh boy. If you have a desire to be a mother someday, why not practice with other people's children? Where can we do this? The nursery at church. Family get-togethers. Friends' homes. Children seem to be everywhere. So single ladies, this means we can spend our time helping and nurturing the children in our lives. My cousin teaches 4 year old Sunday School at her church. She doesn't realize I'm writing this, and she probably doesn't realize that I've noticed, but she is showing such a great example of this concept. She also keeps the nursery, and is devoted to loving her younger brothers. This girl's staying busy nurturing those kids. I'm proud of her.

Prepare for an important career
--This is the big one. Prepare for your future career as a wife and mother. I'm not that thrilled to be writing about this one, because I fail miserably in it. But, as single women, we can be helping our mothers cook, clean, and the like, because hey, that's what we'll hopefully be doing someday! "Rachel, check the laundry!" Ugh. I cringe. I think, well, if it's my husband's laundry I'll do it happily. Oh really.
Get off your butt and help your mother! (Oh, that was painful to type.) I've dug myself a hole now because she'll read this, and expect more out of me. Bring it on. lol
But seriously, we're not little girls anymore. We need to learn responsibility and how to take care of a house and family. Also, keeping your body healthy and being a good steward of your finances is preparing for that important career.

Be devoted to good works
--Finally, be devoted to good works. Spend time visiting a nursing home or helping someone with their chores. Be loving to your siblings. Read the Word and see where you're lacking, and work on being devoted to good works. Of course, I'll have to clarify, that these works don't make you anymore justified before God, but God commands us to be holy. Right now, in our singleness, we can work on becoming more like Christ.

There's a few things we can be working on. It's not a magic formula, and I'm sure there's more that could be added. This has just helped me along, and I wanted to share.

Don't Waste Your Life

Last night at Grace Community Church, we had a commissioning service for Greg and Beth, who will be going out on the mission field in a few weeks. It was a great time of worship and fellowship and it was obvious that Greg and Beth will be greatly missed. (And I'm a little upset because they are both over at our house tonight...and I had to go back to college. Everyone gets to have fun without poor me.)

Anyways, last night, after prayers by elders from different churches, singing, testimonies by the Burnetts, and a message from the ABWE man, Greg announced that we would be hearing something a little different, and that was a song called Don't Waste Your Life by Lecrae. For those who have never heard of Lecrae, he's a Christian rapper-and the song featured Dwayne Tryumf. (Tryumf...triumph...get it? haha. I liked that.)

I was excited...but this was in church with a bunch of reformed old people who hate rap! (Just kidding!...just kidding.) So the music started playing, and the lyrics flashed up on the big screen so everyone could follow along with the words.

First, the music was awesome. Then, the lyrics were even more awesome! Look it up on youtube if you want to hear it.

Here are the lyrics that they printed out for us:

Don't Waste Your Life by Lecrae

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die
couple of em thinking they'll be livin in the sky
but while I'm here livin man I gotta ask why
what am here fo I gotta figure out
waste my life, no I gotta make it count
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about
all of the things in Luke 12:15 down to 21 you really oughta go check it out
Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive
everyday I'm living tryin show the world why
Christ is more than everything you'll ever try
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire ain't no lie
we created for Him outta the dust he made us for Him
Elects us and He saves us for Him Jesus comes and raises for Him
magnify the Father why bother with something lesser
He made us so we could bless Him and to the world we confess Him
resurrects Him so I know I got life matter fact better man I know I got Christ
if you don't see His ways in my days and nights
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights
man I lost my rights I lost my life
forget the money cars and toss that ice
the cost is Christ
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price

Armed and dangerous
so the devil just can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand with us
Livin' n driven, given a vision, fulfillin the commission He handed us
London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
I gotta backpack full of tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac
So are you ready to jam with us
so lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
across the nation lets go
procrastination bes go
hung on the cross in the cold
died for the young and the old
can't say you never know
heaven knows
how many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Suffer yeah do it for Christ if you trying to figure what to do with your life
if you making money hope you doing it right
because the money is God's you better steward it right
stay focused if you ain't got no ride
your life ain't wrapped up in what you drive
the clothes you wear the job you work
the color your skin naw we christian first
people living life for a job make a lil money start living for a car
get em a house a wife kids and a dog when they retire they living high on the hog
but guess what they didn't ever really live at all to live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall
to die is gain so for Christ we give it all He's the treasure you'll find in the mall
your money your singleness marriage talent and time
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine
that's why it's Christ in my rhymes that's why it's Christ all the time
my whole world is built around Him He's the life in my lines
I refused to waste my life he's too true ta chase that ice
here's my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ
If he's truly raised to life then this news should change your life
and by His grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.

Don't wanna waste my life.

Thanks Greg and Beth, good choice :)