We Walk with Uplifted Faces

Psalm 89:14-18 (Amplified Bible)

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!

In Your name they rejoice all the day, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.

For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment], and by Your favor our horn is exalted and we walk with uplifted faces!

For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel."

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Flow with It

Some Friends
Originally uploaded by rachel_titiriga

Boy, this devo really spoke to me tonight. It is so true how the Lord works. Just in the last 2 years here in Romania and leading up to my move here, it has been amazing to see the ways He has lead me. It truly makes life so much easier when you just go with the flow, and trust the Lord even when things don't make sense and even when things hurt. To sit back and rest and trust, instead of always reacting right away.

He has a plan, He loves us, He wants the best for us. If we would just rest in Him and trust Him, life would be so much easier!

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Irritations (1Samuel 9:20)

Looking for the lost donkeys must have been frustrating for Saul. He was looking everywhere, trying to see where they might be. But it wasn’t really about the donkeys. God was using the lost donkeys to lead Saul to Samuel. God was working behind the scenes to bring the future king of Israel to Samuel.

Saul was probably irritated and impatient because he had no idea what God was really up to. Neither do we. Life sometimes seems so frustrating as things aren’t going our way and it seems like we are just wandering around randomly. But God is working behind the scenes; and if we realized what His ultimate plan is, we wouldn’t be nearly so frustrated.

God has a plan, and He will accomplish His will, which will always be best for us. And He generally leads in such natural ways, we hardly notice that He is leading at all. Life presents delays to us, we can’t get something done that we want to get done, and we get irritated because our plans are frustrated. But those little delays and irritations are all a part of God’s plan. We can sometimes see that in retrospect, but it is hard to understand at the time.

If you are God’s child, then He is leading you, even in the mundane events of life. Don’t get irritated; flow with it.

-Pastor Chuck Smith

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*fall is in the air*

*fall is in the air*
Originally uploaded by rachel_titiriga

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
—George Eliot

I LOVE the fall time. It's amazing to me, to have grown up in Southern California and to really dislike the summer time like I do. But then the fall comes!

We have been having much much cooler weather here in Brasov. The leaves on some trees are already starting to change and to fall to the ground. The other night the smell of a few fireplaces filled my apartment. I sat on my couch all curled up in a soft blanket with my yummy candle burning, drinking my hot tea. It was a perfect night.

It's interesting how seasons play a role in how we feel. For me, summer is draining, it leaves me with little energy, I don't like being out in the sun or the heat. But then once fall comes into the air, I'm out walking around, enjoying the cool air and the smell of the season changing....watching the leaves falling and the colors of the trees. I love the position the sun has in the sky in the fall. How the shadows and colors it casts are so different from the summer, so much softer. It's amazing how happy my heart is this time of year!

I've been told we have a short fall season here in Brasov, this will be my first here in the Transylvanian mountains, and I'm hoping that it will last a long time! :)

I'm looking forward to seeing the trees change color across our little mountain Tampa.

Anyway, I know I'm crazy to have grown up by the beach, but to really dislike the summer and the sun as much as I do, but I guess the Lord knew I would be spending so much time in Romania with the lovely weather we have here! :)

happy autumn friends.
xo

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Discipline

TheGettyVilla-118
Originally uploaded by rachel_titiriga

“Bringing into captivity every through to the obedience of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5

Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul says, “I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ” (Moffat). How much Christian work there is today which has never been disciplined, but has simply sprung into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was not a movement of an impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s – “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” Then take ourselves – a vivid religious experience, and every project born of impulse put into action immediately, instead of being imprisoned and disciplined to obey Christ.

This is a day when practical work is overemphasized, and the saints who are bringing every project into captivity are criticized and told that they are not in earnest for God or for souls. True earnestness is found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that is born of undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity but are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has not been spiritualized by determined discipline.

We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ’s view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind.

*bright*

*bright*
Originally uploaded by rachel_titiriga

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" - Philippians 2:14-15

"We use lights to make manifest. A Christian man should so shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in his daily actions. Lights are intended for guidance. We are to help those around us who are in the dark. We are to hold forth to them the Word of life. We are to point sinners to the Saviour, and the weary to a divine resting-place. Men sometimes read their Bibles, and fail to understand them; we should be ready, like Philip, to instruct the inquirer in the meaning of God's Word, the way of salvation, and the life of godliness. Lights are also used for warning. On our rocks and shoals a light-house is sure to be erected. Christian men should know that there are many false lights shown everywhere in the world, and therefore the right light is needed. The wreckers of Satan are always abroad, tempting the ungodly to sin under the name of pleasure; they hoist the wrong light, be it ours to put up the true light upon every dangerous rock, to point out every sin, and tell what it leads to, that so we may be clear of the blood of all men, shining as lights in the world. Lights also have a very cheering influence, and so have Christians. A Christian ought to be a comforter, with kind words on his lips, and sympathy in his heart; he should carry sunshine wherever he goes, and diffuse happiness around him.

Gracious Spirit dwell with me;
I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal
Would thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek
Would for Christ my Saviour speak. "

- Charles Spurgeon

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