Loss

The world lost a good person yesterday. Brandon Ward Kohler lost his life in an accident during his first college Spring Break. As I reflect on this tragedy, I can't help but think about the boy I knew. Brandon was a good person. He didn't always make the wisest decisions, but what 19-year old boy does? What I remember most was his smile and how he would go around hugging everyone. He loved his friends and his family and he is sorely missed. I am praying for his family and friends and I ask that you would too. My heart goes out to them and to anyone who has ever lost someone too soon. It breaks my heart that we won't get to see his smiling face again while we're on this earth. But I know that one day we'll meet him in the clouds and he'll be wearing the biggest smile we'll have ever seen. Until then we have to keep toiling here on earth. But while we wait and work, I hope that you'll keep these verses in mind:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for me, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ~Colossians 3:23-24

Please keep Brandon's friends and family in your prayers.
God Bless,
Taylor

Lead Me To The Cross

So, today was an especially busy day. I definitely did not accomplish everything that I had hoped to, but I feel like I was productive, so I guess that's enough. Anyway, I don't have much to say tonight, but I have had this song running through my head all day. So here it is:

Lead Me To The Cross

Savior I come
Quiet my soul
Remember
Redemption's hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord, I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, Lead me to the cross

You were as I
Tempted and tried
Human
The word became flesh
Bore my sin and death
Now you're risen
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord, I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Oh Lead me, Lead me to the cross

To Your heart
To Your heart
Lead me to Your heart
Lead me to Your heart

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord, I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, Lead me, Lead me to the cross


God Bless,
Taylor

Yielding

Sooo... my blog has been suffering severely. I've been busy lately... so busy in fact that more than a couple times I have even forgotten to do my devotional. Shame on me. In that same vein, I wish I could say that everything in my life is going smoothly, but of course, it's not. There is always something for me to worry about or get stuck on. Then there are the personal issues and family concerns. On top of those things, there is always more schoolwork than I would care to be doing. However, I KNOW that if I just turned EVERYTHING over to God, I could spend a lot less time doing/worrying about things that are trivial. I KNOW this. But knowing and DOING are two absolutely different things. I am happy to say that I only have 6 1/2 days, 6 classes, 3 meetings, and 3 hours of mentoring until my Spring Break officially starts. After SB starts, I will be bowling, listening to Michael Buble in concert, and going to Myrtle Beach for 4 days before I hang out with my bestie who goes to a different college. I know that I will enjoy my break A LOT, but I also know that I will enjoy it a lot more if I'm at peace with God.

Peace. The Merriam-Webster dictionary has this to say: A) a state of tranquillity or quiet B) freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions C) harmony in personal relations
I think that all of these are things that I can stand to gain by allowing God to run my life. I KNOW that He will do a better job of running my life than I can. Now I just have to learn how to let Him into my every action, my every thought, and my every word.

Today I'm taking the devotional from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswlad Chambers. It's called "Yielding."

Romans 6:16 - Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I amto blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielding, you become enslaved to that things. (Remember what lust is--"I must have it now," whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escapte from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. "...He has anointed Me... to proclaim liberty to the captives..." (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, "Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like," you wil know you can't. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, "He will break every fetter," while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person's life.


I have to put my life in His hands completely. I know that I haven't turned my life completely over to Him, and I know that it is hurting me along my way. It's easy to say one thing and do another. It is much harder to live the life you know that you are SUPPOSED to. I want my actions to match my words in EVERY aspect of my life.
I know that there are people out there who are in this boat with me. So I challenge you to yield your life to Christ.
I know His grace/mercy/love is sufficient for me.

God Bless,
Taylor