Joyful And Restful First Week.

Since I can't sleep I figured I would write a quick update.

Things are going pretty well here. The new building is great. The Lord is definitely meeting us there with joy and rest.

He's been teaching me a lot about how rest and grace are available all of the time, even in the wilderness, just because He chose us to receive. Because we are in the wilderness, or some maybe not in the wilderness, we aren't taken away from the opportunity to rest. We can rest. We can enter in. Its available because of the grace we have. We are always able to enter into it, we just have to believe and do so. It talks all about it throughout the Bible, but the main verses I can't get away from, as far as this subject goes, are Romans 9:30-32a. It says, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works..." I mean, just reading that should put us, who have been grafted in at the mercy of the Lord, into thanksgiving.

Righteousness is being right with God. Faith is a gift. He gives us faith to believe we are right before Him, of course by the name of Jesus Christ and through Him only, and saved by grace. So if we believe, we believe we are forgiven and loved by the Father, and should have a confidence then in drawing near to the throne because He understands we are sinners, He knows we are going to mess up already, but at the same time He's not here to count our mistakes or expect us to fall, or to hurt us, but to love us and be with us for eternity. He is for us and able to help. (Hebrews 4)

Its just so great. Hard to actually take into play, not that we have to do anything, but still so good.

Besides all that, finances are tight, and I'm feeling quite the crunch. I am selling paintings for funding. Check them out on my direct link under "pictures" to the right of this entry. If you have questions or are interested in any of them, or having something done specifically for you, or just want to fund me, email me at kimsunday@zhop.org.