Living is What Matters: A Journal Entry

{by Rachel Roose}

The sound of geese honking resounded in my ears as I leaned back in my chair meditating on Luke chapter twenty-one.

...Flipping to a blank page in my journal I began to write:

O Lord, I really enjoy listening to Your geese honking outside.  They make me happy! Dear Jesus, I loved the verses 14-15, & 19: ¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. ¹⁹ By standing firm you will gain life.

I will work hard not to worry but to trust You, to depend on You to fill me with wisdom for alone I am helpless, I am nothing but with You I can stand firm. Your wit far surpasses that of anyones deepest imagination. Your wisdom is not to be grasped. Your thoughts are profound and Your words a precious to me. I love You. By Your strength I will stand firm and by Your wisdom I will gain life.

Then I felt Him say: Rachel My daughter, this truth is so good. I’m so glad to hear you repeating it. Remember it is much easier to say than to do, you may know it but it is living it that matters. So be on your guard, always be ready, never let Me out of the front of your mind. Rachel, My strength and truth can arm you even today. I know you do not see anyone coming to persecute you, but through the simple things like when one of your younger siblings really irritates you. Pray to Me I will give you the right answer- this will save you from many quarrels and fill your home with much more joy and peace.

Rachel Roose is homeschooled along with her 7 brothers and 3 sisters.  She is passionate about one day serving the Lord by opening her arms to orphans.  Whether teaching dance, painting, running with her sister and mom, or preparing for the future, her aim is to encourage others to experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

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Consume Me From the Inside Out: A Prayer

{by Samantha Roose}

Prayers don’t have to be complicated they just need to be said.  

They don’t need to be long they just need to be real.  Prayers don’t have to be fancy or positive they just need to be heartfelt.  A prayer doesnt not need to be a well thought out, memorized recitation; it’s just you soul speaking to your Creator, explaining the hurts and disappointments, questions and joys, struggles and victories.  A prayer is a conversation between you and God— the One who made you, then bought you, then freed you. Talk to Him like you’re talking to a friend.  It’s okay not to sound smart; just start talking and sharing.  Sometimes the simplest prayers are the dearest to God’s heart.

This is a prayer of mine in response to “The Inside Out,” by Hillsong United.  I’ve been teaching the choreography to one of my dance classes over the past couple weeks.  As a result I’ve been thinking about the words quite a bit lately.  And now they’re becoming 'the cry of my heart.'  

A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains
Should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in Your grace

Lord this is who I am, and this is who YOU are.  I don’t know what I’d do if You didn’t catch me in Your grace again.  Thank You for always catching me one more time.

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing You praise

Oh, God more than anything else I want Your will in my life.  Please teach me to master losing myself completely to You because it’s so hard.  Thank You for being patient with me while I learn and fail and learn and try again.

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

You are from beginning to end.  Your light was here before the world began and will continue to be when the world is no more.  Never ending, Your glory knows no bounds—even nature proclaims Your praise.

My heart, and my soul
I give You control
Consume me from the inside out

How can I not give You my heart and my soul?  Take control of all that I am. 

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

Your light shines even in my darkest moments.  Your glory never ceases in comforting my soul when I am without hope. 

This is the cry of MY heart: that I might bring You praise in everything that I do; in every word that I speak; in every breath that I take; in every step that I make; in every thought that I think.  Lord I don’t want to live a moment that You are not glorified in my life.  

Glorify Yourself in me from the inside out.

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Shooting Stars, Gumball Machines, and Greater Things ((Or, I Could Really Use a Wish Right Now))

{by Hailey Sadler}

I have to say, I’ve never wished on a star… shooting or otherwise.

Because frankly, the cynical, practical side of my nature probably wouldn’t let me; it would laugh me out of it. [If you don’t have a dominating cynical, practical side and can’t relate to this… congratulations! You can do any wholly illogical, romantic thing without that inner sarcastic voice annoying you.] But sometimes, practical or not, all I want is a star to fall out of the sky and make the world right.

So, when in need of a wish [or three] to be granted me, I turn to the more ‘holy’ version of wishing on a star. I pray. I cry out to God. But I’m not really crying out to Him, as a Person, my personal and knowing Savior, as a loving Father who delights in giving His children every good and perfect gift. Instead, I’m wanting to use a sort of Divine Gumball Machine where I stick in my prayer, turn the handle, and out comes the result I want.  My reaching out to Him is not in desire for a relationship or for Him as a Person, it’s more the can-I-please-have-this-like-right-now kind of prayer. Sometimes it feels as vague and faraway and improbable as whispering a wish to the night sky. At times like these, I’m not looking for God; all I really want is a holy shooting star to wish on.

At least that is what I think I want. But sometimes what you feel like you want and what you’re really crying out for from the innermost depths of your being can be two different things entirely. I ask for help in doing my best on a test. I ask for strength in finishing a (fast) race. I ask for that really adorable coat to still be there when I come back next week with my wallet. I want things, I want results, I want answers. Yet that is not all. Beneath the craving for all these external fulfillments, my heart is really crying out for something bigger, something greater, something higher to fill up its hungry, searching depths. Or rather not something but Someone. Is it possible that even if that Divine Gumball Machine were a reality and I could push in prayers like quarters that that would not satisfy me? That maybe while I’m impatiently requesting a minor or tangible change in my reality that what I really want is fulfillment in the beyond-tangible Author of that reality?

I think yes.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” – C.S. Lewis

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Puffed Sleeves and Bosom Buddies

{by Rachel Coker}

When I was ten years old, the only thing I wanted out of life was to be Anne Shirley. She had it all. The romantic tale of an orphaned child sent to live with the most wonderful people on the most beautiful place on earth. She had flaming auburn hair (no, not red, never red!) and a spunky personality and…. (sigh) puffed sleeves. And, to top it all off, a lovely bosom buddy and that rogue Gilbert Blythe who, despite his initial teasing, turned out to be the best leading man literature has ever known. (I still don’t know any guys who compare!) This was my ideal, romanticized notion of how life should be. A world of close-knit friendships, dashing young men, and lots of frilly poetry and italics.

My life at ten years old was nothing like that. Anne was always stately and dignified, regardless of the circumstances. My perception of myself couldn’t be any different. I was awkwardly tall. At 5’4 and only ten years old, I towered over all of my peers, male or female. My hair was kinky and frizzy—not quite curly and no longer really straight. I had glasses, pudgy baby fat, and, pretty soon after that, braces.

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Please Don't Call Me Religious

{by Hailey Sadler}

I was examining the many different hairstyles belonging to the heads in front of me. And listening to the speaker. But mostly examining the hair. I was at the college Bible study I’ve been going to and the speaker was delving into how to get Christ’s “living water” in your life: through spending time with Him and in His word. When he said this, I sat up a little straighter and nodded my head in self-righteous agreement: yep listen up, kids, what he’s saying is absolutely true and the very core of the Christian life! Just kidding, I still slouched some in my chair. But mentally I sat up straighter and nodded my head in self-righteous agreement. After all, I know this. Then the deflating thought came to me… but do I do it? Do I pursue that relationship with Christ as if it matters even close to as much as the other relationships in my life? Or the other goals, things, and activities?

Thinking about this reminded me of when someone described me as a “religious” person. I decided I didn’t like it. Not only does it sound kind of weird, it is unfactual. Because, for one thing, I am not a religious person.


Being "religious" implies that you believe in a religion. And I don't. At least not as "religion" is typically used. Religion is about rules, action on the part of the mortal in order to gain the favor of some Immortal being or a spot in some immortal paradise. Believing in Jesus is about grace, action on the part of the Immortal God in order to bring that mortal freely into the favor of the Father and secure him a place in His presence both now and forever. Above all, I believe in a relationship. That is the epicenter of Christianity and what differentiates it from all other religions of this world.

However… when, intentionally or not, we treat Christianity as just a religion, as a set of rules to follow, or certain standards for our lives, if we treat it as just motions to go through, if we lose sight of the relationship, then it does, in fact, become merely a religion. Because a relationship with God is not only central to Christianity, it is Christianity.

So that makes the question, are you making time for developing that relationship with Jesus, with the God who took action for you when you didn’t even know you needed Him to? Are you investing your whole soul and being into knowing this Person? Or are you just going through the motions of Christianity, content to treat what is meant to be the most dynamic and fulfilling relationship you could ever imagine… as solely a religion?

I’m talking to me. Because right now, in the middle of the craziness of the school year, I find it super easy to fall away from any sort of commitment to investing time in intentionally seeking this God who truly surprises me with His love for me. I follow the rules but I forget the relationship. The relationship, which is the very core of what I believe and without which “the rules” are meaningless platitudes rather than natural outpourings of a life bound up in Him.

It’s not enough for us to sit and nod our heads and agree. We have to actually get up, reorganize our lives, and pursue that relationship. So that’s what I want to do. I don’t want to keep on just going through the motions when there is something so much better available to experience. Even if it means cutting out things I love to do (like stay up late or sleep in) I want a relationship not just a religion.

So please don’t call me religious.

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