My Testimony

I was reading the Bible today and I found my very own testimony in it...

At one time I too was foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. I lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating others. But when the kindness and love of God my Savior appeared, he saved me, not because of righteous things I had done, but because of his mercy. He saved me through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, who he poured out on me generously through Jesus Christ my Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, I might become an heir having the hope of eternal life.

This is a trustworthy saying.

-Titus 3:3-8

Dublin Horse Show

My husband, good man that he is, took me to the Dublin Horse Show last weekend. I grew up riding horses and continue to love them. I started taking lessons when I was 4 and competed in horse shows until I moved up north around age 12. I competed in English and western pleasure, jumping, western games and I even started learning a little bit of dressage on my mom's old dressage horse just before I stopped riding. I use to go to horse shows with my mom at the Washington County Fair Grounds and the in the Colosseum at the Minnesota State Fair. I particularly remember watching the dressage shows at the Washington County Fair Grounds as a little girl with the most beautiful horses. I still love watching dressage and went to the Dublin Horse Show to see some dressage. The show was mostly show jumping, judging of different horses, and a very small bit of dressage. It was not even in a dressage ring but was rather a short demonstration to show how dressage is related to show jumping. The announcer described dressage as "the bit between the fences" and showed how show jumping riders use dressage- the collected canter and counting of strides- between jumps. It was interesting enough but I wanted to see some flying lead changes for crying out loud! (I did at least get to see some extended trots where the horses look like they are dancing on clouds). The Highlight of the Dublin Horse Show has to be the Puissance Wall which is a jump that gets built higher and higher as the competition goes on. Ten horses were involved when the competition begun. The wall went from 5 and half feet in the first round to 6 foot 3in the second round to 6 foot 11 in the third round and to 7 foot 2 in the fourth round. By the end of the fourth round there were only 2 horses left, one from Belgium and one from Ireland. The fifth round the wall was raised to 7 foot 4 and was bested by the Irish horse and rider. It was quite exciting and nerve racking to watch! An American horse and rider took third in the wall so we were proud. Here are some pictures from the regular jumping, the dressage demonstration and the Puissance Wall.

To see some real dressage check out this youtube video. It is absolutley amazing what horse and rider are able to do- I MEAN GLORY TO GOD, PEOPLE!

Quote on Justification

An excellent quote I came across recently in my studies on the epistle of Paul to the Romans.

"If God announces the gift of righteousness apart from works, why do you keep mourning over your bad works, your failures? Do you not see that it is because you still have hopes in these works of yours, that you are depressed and discouraged by their failure? If you truly saw and believed that God is reckoning righteous the ungodly who believe on him, you would fairly hate your struggles to be 'better'; for you would see that your dreams of good works have not at all commended you to God, and that your bad works do not at all hinder you from believing on him, but that justifieth the ungodly!
Therefore, on seeing your failures you should say, I am nothing but a failure; but God is dealing with me on another principle altogether than my words, good or bad, a principle not involving my works, but based only on the work of Christ for me... God, in justifying me, acted wholly and only on Christ's blood shed on my behalf.
First, I know that Christ is in heaven before God for me, and that I stand in the value before God of his finished work; that God sees me nowherelse but in his dead, buried, and risen Christ, and that his favor is toward me in Christ, and is limitless and eternal.
The work of the Holy Spirit in me, my attitude is a desire to be guided into truth, to be obedient thereto, and to be chastened by God my father if disobedient; to learn to pray in the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to be filled with a love for the Scriptures and for the saints and for all men.
None of these things justify me! I had justification from God as a sinner, not as a saint! My saintliness does not increase it, nor praise God, do my failures decrease it!"

-William R. Newell on Romans 1938

Beautiful Germany!

After reading the biography of the Martin Luther and after visiting Germany I have to take pride in my German ancestry. I really enjoyed our trip there last month and would go again in a heartbeat. The people are friendly, the food is good (although some of it can be... an adventure) and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. I have to confess I did not expect Germany to be so. I don't know about the whole of Germany but the Rhine River Valley is breathtaking. It is a land of fairytale castles and enchanted forests- a land where you think you may actually see a unicorn! Riding along the river on the train as we did many times is neat but to see this area of Germany rightly you must float down the river on one of the big river cruisers and watch the castles and vinyards appear before you in all their splendor. If any of you are intersted in going let me know- you won't have to twist my arm!