“Father, in the name of Jesus I believe you are providing your very best for me. And the man who will be united with me in marriage has awakened to righteousness. Father as you have rejoiced over Jerusalem, so shall my bridegroom rejoice over me. Thank You, Father, that he will love me as Christ loves the Church. He will nourish, carefully protect and cherish me. Father, I believe because he is Your best, that doubts, fears, wavering and insecurity are not apart of him, but he speaks forth the oracles of God, acknowledging Your full counsel with all wisdom and knowledge. He does not speak or act contrary to Your Word. He walks totally in love, esteeming and preferring others better than himself. Father, I believe that everything not of You shall be removed from my life. And I thank You for the perfecting of Your Word in my life that I may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Father, I praise You for the performance of Your Word on my behalf!
In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
"Let us choose together the ideal woman….
First, she must be pure and noble. A truly ideal woman must not be one who is silly or frivolous, nor shall she be guilty of actions that appear vulgar or unfeminine. She must be sweet-voiced and gentle. How a loud, boisterous woman jars on one’s feelings! She must always have a kind word for all. I cannot think of an ideal woman as one who might unjustly criticize me to my back. Her clothing must be modest and becoming – how could an ideal woman wear anything that would cause those looking on her to be offended or astonished. Her person must not be overly adorned with ornaments, but rather she must be known for the beauty of her character. Her face may be pretty or it may not be, but that is of no real importance at all. She must be a good housewife and a good mother, if God so calls her to marriage and blesses her with children. She must be loving, tender-hearted, and sympathetic. She must be the kind of woman to whom you would not be afraid to whom you would not be afraid to tell your troubles. She must be true-hearted and loyal in friendship, never breaking faith. She must be a Christian, serving God with all her heart. If every girl would set up such a pattern for her ideal, how different many lives would be!"
"Oh hallelujah, our Lord is risen! He rose up from the grave! Death is defeated, the stone's been rolled back, the tomb is empty where He lay!"
Here's a small compilation of my weekend's happenings...
On Saturday, my grandparents came up to celebrate Easter with us. Egg dying is an Easter tradition in my family and something which I enjoy doing. My mom however, forgot that there was three kids and not two, so she didn't boil enough eggs. :( But, I did get to dye a couple of my brother's eggs.... =) 'Twas fun!
oh yes! and these are some Jello eggs that Charlie and my mom made. We had fun snacking on them!
On Resurrection Sunday, we woke up bright and early for our "Easter Sunrise Service." I always look forward to this day - it's such a special time! I love the excitement of getting up before dawn and then putting on warm clothes and hauling blankets up to the hill. Then watching the sun rise as we sing hymns and listen to people share how God has been working in there lives. After that, we all gather together for an early breakfast of egg-bake, weiners, cinnamon rolls and orange juice!
However, by nine o'clock everyone's whooped and needing a nap! :P
After we all had our nap and ate some lunch, we children waiting inside while my parents hid the eggs. I think Easter egg hunting is fun, (some might think me too old, but I don't think you're ever too old to have fun with lil' munchkins!). Watching Anna and Charlie running around and yelling is quite amusing....
I watched "The Gospel" when I was back at Ellerslie. It is a video about the Gospel - the saving message of Jesus Christ's work on the cross. Now some of you may be thinking, "Oh, I know what the Gospel is and I'll hear it again this Sunday, so I won't listen to it..." No, this Gospel is not like anything you've heard before. Yes, it's about Jesus dying and being resurrected, however, it's so much more!
I would highly encourage you to take ten minutes out of your day and watch this video.
I recommend setting aside a specific time where you whole mind and heart can be focused on what you're listening to. You might want to bring tissues.
I pray that God would use this message in the life of every person who hears it. I pray LORD, that you would break us, so that we might see our sin, and your glory - that we might see our desperate need for You, and catch the vision for the victorious life that You've called us to live.
Thank You God, that You loved us enough to give us Your only Son, as a sacrifice for our sins.
May we live this life worthy of the calling we have received!
For Your glory and Your renown!
"This is LOVE: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10
It was a sunny, Sunday afternoon, and I hadn't been outside, so I decided to go on walk. Henceforth, (did I even use that word correctly? it just sounded elegant) I donned my purple, wool mittens/gloves; fancy, wrinkled, pink scarf; and my green hat. Then, I grabbed my camera and my little, pink Bible, and began my walk....These are some of the photographs. They're nothing spectacular, but I felt like posting them anyways.....
Hello Friends!
The life of Bailey O'Brien has been a little busy lately, and I realize that you haven't really heard from me in a while. I have posted some articles, and pictures,and videos, however, this post is a little more about me and what's been going on in my life. =)
(just a quick side note: please excuse all improper grammar and punctuation. I'm kinda' on a roll, writing wise, and once I get started I tend to forget grammar and punctuation and all that good stuff. :P)
Where to start? *thinking* Well, for the most part my life has been pretty normal....school....hanging with the family (which I love dearly)....school....seeing friends...enjoying spring....etc. Oh and with spring comes sapping season! At the christian retreat center that I live at we collect sap (from our trees) to turn into syrup. We have about 750 buckets in our woods that we have to collect from about every other day...so that's been taking up some of my time (and you'll see some pics later in the post).
On the spiritual side of things....Jesus has been continuing to draw my heart closer to Him! I love Him so much!! One thing that He has been using in my life to encourage and challenge me in my walk with Him, is "A Place of Quiet Rest," a devotional book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I continued to be awed by the wisdom and insights that God has given to this great woman of faith! I would highly recommend it to anyone in search of a deeper walk with Christ!
And now....PICTURES!!!!! (but not quite yet :P) (I LOVE pictures, for those of you who don't know.)
On Saturday we were planning to collect sap later in the afternoon, and we wanted to call some friends to come and help us with our work, (cause it's always kinda' fun with friends) and we couldn't really think of anybody that lived close enough to call, and the ones we could think of lived two hours away. Well....after some hemming-and-hawing we called those friends that lived two hours away, and much to our great surprise they came!! After saying all our "hi's" and catching up for a minute, we all donned our mud boots and marched out to the woods!
Steps involved in the sapping process:
1) Take the tin bucket off of the tree
2) dump the sap into you five-gallon pail
3) carry your buckets to the bobcat and dump!
Go Mike!
Zach and Charlie are best buds!
Anna and Tabby = Friends Forever!
The whole sappin' bunch!
"Show your braces!" (inside joke)
We had an awesome time with our buddies, the Ottersons! They are a bluegrass family (for those of you not into bluegrass, it means they sing/play bluegrass/gospel music as a family) so after working for a couple hours we jammed for a couple hours! (to jam: to play your instruments with your friends. Bailey's definition )
After cooking six pizzas and scarfing them down our throats, we packed up our instruments and got into our two conversion vans, and drove over to a nearby church where they were having a bluegrass-jam/concert.
It was an amazingly fun night! We watched other bands play.....my brother and I played with our band, Crossed Paths...and then us kids, (Shane, Levi, Hannah and I) played a couple songs (which was really fun!!), and after us, the Otterson family played a few songs (they were a hit! everyone LOVED them!!). Then, us kids played again, and Anna, Tabby and Zach played with us this time too!
Shane, Levi, Hannah and me performing "Blackberry Blossom" and the next one is "Salt Creek."
Anna and Tabby joined us for one of our old favorites: "Whoa Mule,Whoa!"
After playing, eating, listening and playing some more, we got into a circle with our instruments and some friends and did some more jamming!! It was a totally, awesomely, fun night!! My "Otter friends" stayed the night, and we hung out yesterday.....the eventually left, which was sad, but I'm doing my best to survive!
So....that's just a lil' preview about what's been going on. It's been a great 2011 so far, with all the ups and downs but, God has continued to show Himself faithful! "Oh what a Jesus!"
