"And they were amazed at Him." Mark 12:17

Today for chapel this guy spoke on the passage in Mark with the Pharisees and Herodians trying to trip Jesus up with their question about taxes. i really liked what he said. not only did he adress how the Caesar's image on the coin proved his ownership of the coin (and that the coins should be given to him) and how that parallels to us being made in God's image, how He owns us (and how we ought to give ourselves up to Him!), but he also mentioned how the answer Jesus gave was a winner.... out of a lose-lose situation... he talked about how the people must have walked away, shaking their heads, wondering where Jesus got those wise words. :)

i love the next verse:
And they were amazed at Him.

i bet those who walked near Him felt amazed a lot of the time. i mean, seriously, He ALWAYS knew what to say. i love reading those stories! :)))

but i think its more than stories. i think God is continuing to answer our questions in wise, wonderful ways. and i dare us to be AMAZED.

:O

so i think i like the batman movies.
its a little hard to tell.
basically, i hate all the dark parts. haha.
but guess what:
we needn't fear the darkness :D
and theres always hope.
this makes me very happy.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that even though i get so disturbed by darkness, anger, violence, tension, and pain (and not just talking about movies here, in case you didn't catch that), i am learning to realize how much bigger my God is than all of that. and that He truly does have the whole world in His hands. and He truly does save and He really does heal. He is the way, the truth, and the life :DD

i was thinking about the newish MercyMe song "The hurt and the Healer", so i'm just gonna share some of those words with you guys.

"I'm alive, even though a part of me has died, you take my heart and breathe it back to life. I've fallen into your arms open wide when the hurt and the hearler collide.
Jesus come and take my fear, awake my heart and take my tears. Find your glory even here, where the hurt and the healer collide."

Prayin for all the broken-hearted to be healed by Him! :) Take heart! there is hope, my friends!

"It's hard to look right at you baby"

Sometimes I feel that way about God. lets face it. Our God is BEAUTIFUL... oh, so amazingly beautiful.
 and i'll admit that there are times when i really don't want to look deeper into His beauty and realize, once again, how very disturbingly ugly i am. have you ever felt that way? like, you hear someone pray, and their relationship with the Lord is just so intimate and gorgeous, that afterwards you feel like you have to escape to the bathroom and wash ur hands because of the filth you suddenly realize you live with? or when a friend shares their excitment of learning more about God and you almost gag, wondering where your sense of awe has gone and why you have allowed such dirty things clutter up your life...
i feel that way sometimes.
and its probably good for me.
cause its after we see ourselves in our misery .. "Kicking about in (our) blood" as Ezekiel 16:6 says... that we can better see how pure.. and holy.. righteous... and just plain beautiful our Lord is.
and thats when He can clean us and bring us into the light, like Micah 7:9.

But regardless of the fact that I so often want to hide my face from the beauty of my Savior, rather than squinting my eyes and staring straight into His glory, He has chosen to teach me many great things, and to slowly open up my eyes to the wonderful things that He does....

like this week when He adopted another son.
like how He scoped me up, out of my busy schedule, sent me a song and lovely verses from His word that I could and still will rest in
like the songs in my choir class, that proclaim His glory, and make me cry
like how He asked my teacher to vulnerably share of how God brought him and his wife through such a hard trial
like how He took the victory in my friends anger management issues
or how He taught my friend that she is indeed beautiful
how He showed another friend that she is to go to Him, and He will satisfy
how He brought a healthy boy into the world ... 4 weeks early
how He provided money for my car
how He brought my sister to William Carey
how He gives confidence to the shyest of His children, to accomplish His will
how He answers the persisent prayers for salvation of a friend
how He carries those facing the lost of one they dearly loved
and so much more

I can not even begin to explain all that the Lord has chosen to show me, but i pray that He would only continue to give me sight, and help me find the beauty.
pray that we would turn our eyes to Him, and Him alone.
"O, Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I seek."
Psalm 27:4 "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
let it be!

So i'm at college, and life has been pretty busy. hence the lack of blog posts. heh.
my thoughts haven't been the most profound either. so much for the great Rissa-wisdom. anywayz.
at my dorm we have these cards we use in order to, you know, get in. yeah. so whenever i leave my dorm i usually have a momentary panic attack where i search for my wallet. kinda a bad time to check, because i would already be locked out. but you know how life is. okayyy.. getting off topic. :P how typical of me.
so the point of this story is that one day in the midst of my worries that i would be locked out........ and the RAs would be especially irritated unlocking the door for me cause they have probably had to do it several times already this week for all the freshmen (hehe) it suddenly hit me how grateful i am that we don't need silly keys or cards, or papers with stamps or money, or friends in high places, or good looks, or extremely smart answers, or political smiles, or cool boyfriends and cars and houses and boats, or anything but faith and Jesus to make it into heaven.
how awesome is that?
i'm pretty grateful to know i won't have some panic attack in front of heaven's gates, wondering if i brought everything, or did everything correctly.
i'll know.
i'll know He wants me there.
i'll know He paid the price.
i'll know He has prepared a feast.
i'll know He is gonna tell me He is proud of His "good and faithful servant"
i'll know He is gonna give me a crown. :)
i'll know that eternity is gonna be awesome.
and i'll be awful excited.
see ya there!