And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

This is such an absolute, all-encompassing promise that it almost seems to great to be true. All our needs are met in the riches of the person of Christ Jesus. To an aching conscience, the person of Christ offers redemption. To the unloved, he offers the comfort of his perfect love. To the lonely, he offers his constant presence. To the hard pressed, his testimony of suffering and victory goes before us. To the weak, his strength. To the fearful, the promise that he is already the victor over this world and the next. What an amazing promise that God's victory through Christ is an absolute defeat over anything that dare stand against us in this world.

anticipation

I have a lot to anticipate in the near future. The end of summer is bringing some exciting and fun things my way and I can't help but be thankful for the simple joys of relationships, changes that are happening in other's lives as well as my own and the opportunity to spend time with people I love. The Lord is so good at giving blessings out.

Here's a highlight reel of the things I'm excited about:

-Chelsa (my older, wiser sister) is coming to visit Columbus!

-first trip to Cedar Point with Mark & Chels (gonna be craaazy!)

-Hannah & Kevin are getting hitched! Yayyy! Mark & I both get to stand up with them on their day :)

-Mallory Peckels returns to Columbus, Ohio. Cause for celebration in itself. I wonder if we can get her to stay here....forever...!?

-A visit to the great northern country of Canada to be with my fam for a week

-My little bro is making the venture south and east to start college in Boston! ROADTRIPS!

-I'm starting a new internship at Westerville North High school (coincidentally (sovereignly?- yes), Mark's alma mater)

-Autumn. The best season in Columbus.

-Football season. Go bucks! (Holding onto the student status one more year gets me a pair of season tickets one last time!)

-Time with some far-away relatives- Mike, Annie & their precious baby Leila

There is undoubtedly more to be excited about, but that's all that comes to mind at the moment. I'm trying to get better at taking pictures these days, so hopefully some of these moments will be visually documented on here in the future.

the Hope set before us

Romans 15:4
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by the endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

This morning I am reminded of words of assurance that point us to Jesus and eternity, offering a hope in Christ and God's promises that is a firm foundation for every struggle in life. These truths fix my eyes on a coming Savior and an eternal inheritance that does not spoil, rust or fade. Is there any struggle or frustration or hardship or evil in life that cannot be combatted with the Word of God? I am convinced that there is nothing.
No, not the ups and downs of relationships and the pain of being distanced from those we love. Nor the pain of disappointment or failure in the plans we set for ourselves. Not even the turmoil of emotion or the lethargy that life's routine can bring. There is hope for all these things in Christ and truth to fight is given us in God's Word.

What encouragement we can find in the lives of those who have struggled and hoped in Truth before us.

Henry Martyn was a young missionary to India and Arabia and Persia in the early 1800's. He had left his fiancé Lydia Grenfell behind in England in 1806 and would never see her again—he died at 31.

On the boat he fought back self-pity and discouragement with the promises of God's Word. He arrived in Calcutta in May and two months later had a devastating experience. One of the veteran missionaries preached a sermon directed against Henry Martyn and his doctrines. He called his teaching inconsistent, extravagant, and absurd. He accused him of seeking only to "gratify self-sufficiency, pride and uncharitableness."

How could this lonely young man endure such a crushing experience, and not only endure but during the next six years have the perseverance to translate the New Testament into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic?

We can hear the answer in his own journal:

In the multitude of my troubled thoughts I still saw that there is a strong consolation in the hope set before us. Let men do their worst, let me be torn to pieces, and my dear Lydia torn from me; or let me labour for fifty years amidst scorn, and never seeing one soul converted; still it shall not be worse for my soul in eternity, nor worse for it in time. Though the heathen rage and the English people imagine a vain thing, the Lord Jesus, who controls all events, is my friend, my master, my God, my all.

Henry Martyn fought the battle against discouragement and hopelessness with the truths of God's Word: "Jesus is my friend, my master, my God, my all!" And that is the way we must fight every day, and never stop until the war is over and the Commander puts the wreath of victory on our heads. -DesiringGod.org
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:2-4

the things i make mark do

Here are just a few of the finer moments in my life created by my funny husband (and perhaps egged on by me at times!)

Yes, this is the first time he has ever worn an apron! (Note that this is a rare time Mark isn't loving the camera on him.)

This pictured was taken from the car window while stopped at a red light. He just couldn't resist running out to grab a bite of that hot juicy burger.

A closer look would reveal a few trickles of sweat running down his brow. Mark has quickly learned that preeminence in the Heywood family comes only after you learn to stop on skates.

And this? I had nothing to do with this. Jordan and I were just helpless bystanders.

I am thankful :)

70's Spiritual Weight Loss

I couldn't resist posting this article from Tim Challie's blog that reviews a classic 70's spoof of a book. It made me laugh many times.

Help Lord--The Devil Wants Me Fat!

Last year I posted a few pictures from the old 70’s classic Soul Winning Made Easy by C.S. Lovett. Recently I came across another of his books, one titled Help Lord—The Devil Wants Me Fat! The book teaches how the devil is able to influence your eating, how to deal with your appetite and how to deprogram yourself from bad eating habits. It is an odd mixture of good and bad, useful information and outright legalism (not to mention poor medical advice).

I enjoy these books as a bit of a guilty pleasure, I’m sure. They’re old, they’re retro and somehow quite amusing.

Here’s how this one starts:

Lovett largely blames overeating and obesity on Satanic activity.

Here’s a great picture of a very Caucasian Adam and Eve. Adam is totally ripped.

One of the best parts of Lovett’s books is that he always has lots of photographs of himself performing the programs he’s come up with (again, see Soul Winning Made Easy). Here he is meditating upon Jesus to see if it’s God’s will for him to undertake a fast.

The heart of the book is a fast. And this isn’t a fast for wimps—it’s 10 days of nothing but water (and heespecially recommends it for pregnant women and says it will cure morning sickness). The purpose of this fast is to take complete control of the flesh. Lovett suggests that for two days you will be hungry but after that your hunger will fade and you’ll be just fine. In fact, you’ll have an increase in energy and certainly an increase in relationship with the Lord.

One strange thing about this fast is that he tells you to spend meal times away from your family. While your family is eating dinner, you are to spend time in prayer and Bible reading.

Here he is enjoying breakfast (or dinner or lunch).

And here he is demonstrating how to tell Satan to go away:

After the conclusion of the fast he introduces a whole section about New Age-style visualization. He says that in order to become thin you have to project an image of yourself at your desired weight into order to develop the faith to actually make it happen.

And then he closes out the diet portion of the book with a section about nutrition, stating that you’ll have to learn to always say “no” to fats and oils, sugars and refined carbohydrates.

The final section of the book talks about evangelism because your fabulous new body, he says, can be a fabulous provoker of conversation. As people declare how good you look, you are to take the opportunity of that conversation to share the gospel. And I guess that takes us full-circle, back to Soul Winning Made Easy.

blog musings

So I've been reflecting on whether I should further extend my hiatus from the blog-o-sphere which has been steadily occurring over the past few months or if I should try to get back into sharing my heart, thoughts and convictions with renewed vigor. The problem I continue to face in consistently writing on here boils down to a greater struggle that currently encompasses most areas of my life- living with holy passion that moves me to action. I initially started blogging to share my life with friends and family while I was abroad in Australia but then picked it up again as a form of recording and sharing what the Lord has been teaching me. It began to serve as a tool to post theological resources or posts that I've come across in my reading, to meditate on scripture and life applications of scripture and to hopefully encourage others to grow and deepen their knowledge and intimacy with Christ. Additionally, it has been a helpful source of personal narrative for me to look back on and recall what the Lord has done in my heart and life at certain points. Blogging has definitely been a beneficial practice for me and besides all that, I enjoy writing and sharing!

As I stated above, my current inconsistency has a lot to do with my lack of zeal in life over the past few months. It's been a struggle to remain in the Word and prayer everyday and to choose to do these things out of obedience alone when I am not emotionally desiring to do them. I know this is the greatest obstacle to my spiritual growth and zeal right now and it needs to be submitted under the authority of the Lord. I've been seeing more and more how rebellious my heart is- marriage can display that pretty quickly! All in all, regardless of my circumstantial struggles with questioning my career path, time consuming work/studies and learning what life looks like post-college and newly married, my source has to be Christ and I know this. Our pastor gave a good illustration at church last week. He asked who of us believes that we need to exercise and eat right in order to be healthy. Most everyone put up their hands. Then he asked us who really does these things- many hands dropped. He maintained that if we say we believe something but we don't actually follow through on that belief by action, then we don't really believe it. In the context of what it looks like to follow Christ, I know that I must seek Him and find Him through prayer and reading the Word. And to neglect these things is to believe that I really don't need them in order to live my life. The state of my heart and lack of zeal for the Lord I am currently battling is direct evidence that I need these things in my life everyday. And not in a legalistic, salvation-earning type of way, but in the way that shows that I believe what the Bible tells me and it moves me to live according to it, regardless of my feelings and comfort.

This is a long way of saying that its time for Jody to get back into the game, to live out my convictions, to follow the Lord by simply seeking Him, to look to Christ for a renewed mind, heart and spirit. He promises that if we seek Him we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13) and that He has the power to restore to us the joy of our salvation and grant a willing spirit within us (Psalm 52).

As for blogging, I'm hoping to pick it up again as I pursue the disciplines of following Christ and find greater inspiration than I can muster up in and of myself. We'll see how quickly that will happen but for now, returning to the joy that I once found in Christ is the thing of most importance.