2. To Encourage & To Testify. I hope that my babbling and ramblings might be a blessing to someone. We as believers live to tell of the testimonies of grace in our lives and to speak of His marvelous works. God is working in our lives always. His grace is sustaining us at each moment. And there are thousands upon thousands of stories to tell of this constant grace, mercy and love towards us who believe.
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16)
"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!" (1 Chronicles 16:24) (Psalm 9:11)
"Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds." (Psalm 71:17)
"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night." (Psalm 92:1-2)
"One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:4)
3. To promote the beauty and glory of God's good design in biblical womanhood and manhood. God is perfect and His creation is good. His design is good. God has designed men and women in a beautiful way that complement each other. Man was created to be the head of the woman, the leader, and the provider. Women was created to be his helper, child-bearer and rearer, and nurturer (Gen. 2:18, 22-23; Eph. 5:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:11-15). In this blog I hope to testify of the blessing it is to live out God's good and perfect design. In the first chapter of his book "Womanly Dominion", Mark Chanski compares the male and female roles to a game of soccer. He makes the case that it doesn't matter how talented you are, if you abandon your assigned position on the field, it could cost you the game. A good soccer player knows that in order to win the game, he must stay at his assigned position and give it his all. If everyone were to go for the glory of making a goal, the game would become a mess. The best players are those who humbly and responsibly stay at their assigned position, for the good of the team. We women bring much glory to God and happiness to our marriages and families when we "play our position" and "play it well".
4. To renew the mind. I constantly need to renew my mind as Romans 12:1-2 states: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." My mind is corrupt, born in sin. It tends only to evil. My thoughts are evil. My ways of thinking, my logic, what makes sense, my worldview, what I find acceptable or not... all are a mess when I come to Christ. All are based on the values of the world. I value what the world values, I hate what it hates, I follow its counsel. BUT, when I come to Christ all this must begin to change. I must offer my body as a living sacrifice to God. And I must offer up my mind and heart with all of its ideas and desires to be transformed by the Gospel and the Word of God. So that now, as a believer, I might walk in His good, pleasing, and perfect will. I hope to renew my mind as I reflect and meditate on God's Word through this blog.
5. To share eternal joy and life. I want to share my overflowing JOY with those who read my blog. "In His presence there is fullness of JOY" (Ps. 16:11) and His "steadfast love is better than life" (Ps. 63:3) and He has "filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound" (Ps. 4:7), "let all who take refuge in [Him] be glad; let them ever sing for JOY" (Ps.5:11)! God is the source of eternal and true joy. Only in Him can we truly find peace, joy, satisfaction, and salvation.
6. To preach to myself. I often listen to myself. I think stupid things sometimes... okay, a lot of the time. So often, I find the need to preach to myself. I need to give myself little snippets of sermons or Bible passages to "snap out of things" and "get back into reality". Sometimes I have to preach myself out of a pity party, or out of a covetous feeling, or out of feeling like I've gotten the short end of the stick... I must constantly preach to myself the truths of the Gospel to snap out of my fallen, sometimes even satanic ways of thinking (2 Cor. 10:5). Blogging is a way I preach to myself.
7. To glorify God. This is the beginning and the end of all things. This is why I am alive. This is why you are alive. This is why God made me a woman. And this is why I blog. I pray that through this blog, God may be glorified and seen as awesome and beautiful as He is.
