Quotes

Authentic

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Throughout history, an authentic faith has been marked by a compassionate response toward those the world tends to forget.

~ Gary L. Thomas

 

This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, “Here I am.”
– Isaiah 58:6-8 (MSG)

 

His is a loving, tender hand, full of sympathy and compassion.

– D.L. Moody

 

Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.

– Francis Schaeffer

 

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Photos taken by Susie Stewart

Most Important

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

If I were to ask you right now,

“What one person or thing is the most important to you?”

what comes to mind first?

 

Does it match up with what you’re doing with your life, how you spend your time?

 

And do people recognize the importance of that person or thing to you?  Would they answer that question the same way about you?

 

Or was that your “right” answer?

– Susie Stewart

 

Whom have I in heaven but You?
I desire You more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
He is mine forever.

– Psalm 73:25,26 (NLT)

 

Do not put any other gods in place of Me.

– Exodus 20:3 (NIRV)

 

Our god is the thing, or person, which we think most precious, for whom we would make the greatest sacrifice, and who moves our heart with the warmest love. He is the person or thing that if lost would leave us desolate.
– Alan Redpath

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

Beautiful Love

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The colored sunsets and starry heavens, the beautiful mountains and the shining seas, the fragrant woods and painted flowers, are not half so beautiful as a soul that is serving Jesus out of love, in the wear and tear of common, unpoetic life.

– Faber

 

Be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve Him. Think of all the wonderful things He has done for you.
– 1 Samuel 12:24 (NLT)

 

…What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

– Galatians 5:6 (NLT)

 

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

Sacred

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

To a man who lives unto God nothing is secular, everything is sacred. He puts on his workday garment and it is a vestment to him. He sits down to his meal and it is a sacrament. He goes forth to his labor, and therein exercises the office of the priesthood. His breath is incense and his life a sacrifice. He sleeps on the bosom of God, and lives and moves in the divine presence.
– Charles Spurgeon

 

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.
– Ephesians 4:5,6 (NLT)

 

The sacred moments, the moments of miracle, are often the everyday moments, the moments which, if we do not look with more than our eyes or listen with more than our ears reveal only…a gardener, a stranger coming down the road behind us, a meal like any other meal. But if we look with our hearts, if we listen with all our being and imagination.. what we may see is Jesus himself.

– Frederick Buechner

 

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Photos taken by Susie Stewart

Perfect

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Self-loathing

Self-consciousness

and

Self-hatred

do not lead to true humility

but lead only to increased self-absorbtion

 

Let us not waste time

being engrossed in how we don’t hit the mark

but focus our energies on Almighty God

the One whose

unconditional

perfect

stubborn

unrelenting

Love

 

desires an accepting of that love

unconditionally

 

– Susie Stewart

 

It used to be that I never felt safe with myself unless I was performing flawlessly.  My desire to be perfect had transcended my desire for God.  Tyrannized by an all-or-nothing mentality, I interpreted weakness as mediocrity and inconsistency as a loss of nerve.  I dismissed compassion and self-acceptance as inappropriate responses.  My jaded perception of personal failure and inadequacy led to a loss of self-esteem, triggering episodes of mild depression and heavy anxiety.

Unwittingly I had projected onto God my feelings about myself.  I felt safe with Him only when I saw myself as noble, generous, and loving, without scars, fears , or tears.  Perfect!

But on that radiant morning in a cabin hidden deep in the Colorado Rockies, I came out of hiding.  Jesus removed the shroud of perfectionist performance and now, forgiven and free, I ran home.  For I knew that I knew Someone was there for me.  Gripped in the depth of my soul, tears streaming down my cheeks, I internalized and finally felt all the words I have written and spoken about stubborn, unrelenting Love.  That morning I understood that the words are but straw compared to the Reality.  I leaped from simply being the teacher of God’s love to becoming Abba’s delight.  I said good-bye to feeling frightened and said shalom to feeling safe.  What does it mean to feel you are in a safe place?  That same afternoon I wrote in my journal:

To feel safe is to stop living in my head and sink down into my heart and feel liked and accepted…not having to hide anymore and distract myself with books, television, movies, ice cream, shallow conversation…staying in the present moment and not escaping into the past or projecting into the future, alert and attentive to the now…feeling relaxed and not nervous or jittery…no need to impress or dazzle others or draw attention to myself…Unselfconscious, a new way of being with myself, a new way of being in the world…calm, unafraid, no anxiety about what’s Going to happen next…loved and valued…just being together as an end in itself.

– Brennan Manning

 

Quit keeping score altogether and surrender yourself with all your sinfulness to God who sees neither the score nor the scorekeeper but only His child redeemed in Christ.

– James Finley

 

 

…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith….

– Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

 

But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

– Ephesians 2:4-9 (NLT)

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

 

Voice of Authority

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

– John 10:27 (NLT)

 

When the Holy Spirit speaks, His voice comes with power and authority. It hits you deep. It grips you. Your heart burns. It’s Him. You know it….When God speaks, His voice is noticeable by its resonance, depth, and impact. It pulses with a calm, steady force that makes a clear impression on your soul….you are moved to stillness as you reflect on what you’ve seen and heard….Truly, you can distinguish the voice of God from any other voice by the powerful influence it carries in your soul.
– PriscilIa Shirer

 

 

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
– Luke 24:32 (NLT)

 

 

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

– John 8:47 (ESV)

 

 

But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord
or speak in His name,
His word burns in my heart like a fire.
It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
I can’t do it!
– Jeremiah 20:9 (NLT)

 

 

“Does not my word burn like fire?”
says the Lord.
“Is it not like a mighty hammer
that smashes a rock to pieces?”
– Jeremiah 23:29 (NLT)

 

 

Photo taken by Arik Stewart

 

 

Not Safe

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

We are not all called to go to El Salvador, or Moscow, or Calcutta, or even the slums of New York, but none of us will escape the moment when we have to decide whether to withdraw, to play it safe, or to act upon what we prayerfully believe to be right, knowing that with all our prayers we may be wrong, and knowing that we will probably be punished by those who do not want universe-disturbers to stand up and be counted. Perhaps what we are called to do may not seem like much, but the butterfly is a small creature to affect galaxies thousands of light years away.
– Madeleine L’Engle

 

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow Me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed Him.

A little farther up the shore He saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And He called them to come, too. They immediately followed Him, leaving the boat and their father behind.
– Matthew 4:18-22 (NLT)

 

Life is short, hell is hot and eternity is forever!!! The world has NEVER been impacted by Christians who spend their whole lives in a car seat and beg God to never let anything bad happen to them!

Ask HIM to set you on fire with HIS plans…and THEN GO FOR IT!

– Perry Noble

 

 

My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him.

– David Platt

 

Photo Taken by Arik Stewart

 

 

Remarkable Existence

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great You are!
You are robed with honor and majesty.
You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
You lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
You ride upon the wings of the wind.
The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.

You placed the world on its foundation
so it would never be moved.
You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
At your command, the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
Mountains rose and valleys sank
to the levels You decreed.
Then You set a firm boundary for the seas,
so they would never again cover the earth.

You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to set.
You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals prowl about.
Then the young lions roar for their prey,
stalking the food provided by God.
At dawn they slink back
into their dens to rest.

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
teeming with life of every kind,
both large and small.

May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
The Lord takes pleasure in all He has made!
The earth trembles at His glance;
the mountains smoke at His touch.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to Him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.

– Psalm 104:1-9, 19-22, 24, 25, 31-34 (NLT)

 

It is absolutely illogical to believe that nothing produces something, or that profoundly intricate designs have come into existence by self-generation. The more simple and natural conclusion is that there is an immeasurably great Creator and Benefactor back of all the remarkable existences which we observe and experience.
-Gordon Olson

 

Photo taken by Andy Stewart

God-Man

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

Jesus was touchable, approachable, reachable. And, what’s more, He was ordinary. If He were here today you probably wouldn’t notice Him as He walked through a shopping mall. He wouldn’t turn heads by the clothes He wore or the jewelry He flashed. ‘Just call me Jesus,’ you can almost hear Him say. He was the kind of fellow you’d invite to watch the Rams – Giants game at your house. He’d wrestle on the floor with your kids, doze on your couch, and cook steaks on your grill. He’d laugh at your jokes and tell a few of His own. And when you spoke, He’d listen to you as if He had all the time in eternity. And one thing’s for sure, you’d invite Him back.
– Max Lucado

 

Christ Jesus… being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
– Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)

 

Jesus is like us in every respect—human body, heart, mind, and will—except for sin.

How amazing that the divine Son of God would not just take on part of our humanity but all of it—and then take that true humanity all the way to the cross for us.

Jesus took a human body to save our bodies. And he took a human mind to save our minds. Without becoming man in his emotions, he could not have saved our emotions. And without taking a human will, he could not save our will. In the words of Gregory of Nazianzus, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed.”

He became man in full so that he might save us in full. Hallelujah! What a marvelous Savior!

– David Mathis

 

For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.

– Hebrews 2:17 (NIV)

 

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.

– Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

Created

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

So many of us are marveled by His majestic power via His nature; the nature that He created and called “good”, but we so often fail to have that same sense of awe with each other…. He created all of us and called us “VERY GOOD”.  The best of all that He created!  Besides His Spirit that He gave us, WE, ALL HUMANS (no matter race, socioeconomic boundaries, culture, religion, or anything that we have done nor will do), are the closest thing we have to experiencing God Himself. That’s a priority changer huh?  Yes, it’s wonderful and perfectly rigtheous to glorify God by marveling at His nature, but there is so much beauty we are missing in our neighbors, people we pass by every day, and we even miss it in our spouses, family, and best friends.  Convicting huh?  I do it all the time, and if you’re honest with yourself, you do to.  We are made in the VERY LIKENESS OF GOD, let’s start treating each other that way (even if they aren’t perfect like He is).  Yes, I know a tree doesn’t talk back to you, drive slow on the freeway, or act selfishly, but a tree also doesn’t have the capability of deep meaningful conversations, loving you, building you up when you’re down, or making you cheesecake either. People are more AWEsome than we give each other credit for.  Be marveled at someone today because God has already said they are VERY GOOD, and afterall, we ARE made in His image.

– Taylor Bodin

 

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

– Job 33:4 (NIV)

 

Then God said, “Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

So God created human beings in His own image.
In the image of God He created them;
male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT)

 

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

– Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT)

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart