My heart is not at home...

The more I learn about God and his character, the more I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Also, the more I realize that I will never be good enough. Time and time again I fail to say the right thing and to walk in the Lord's ways, but he is always there saying "I love you anyway."This week I have felt so blessed to perform Christmas music to encourage and uplift our community, but at the same time my heart has not been at rest. My mind is bombarded with busy thoughts that keep me from focusing on my Lord. Through this I have realised that my heart will only be at rest in him. It is so easy to forget!
To be a daughter of the King I must find my rest in him every day and learn to love others as I love him - with all of myself, sacrifically. It is too easy for us to love as the world loves. That is a love made only to satisfy self, but we are called to sacrifice ourselves in love and to serve those we love. I wish my heart could grasp this idea as well as my mind, but sometimes it is so hard to make the two connect. I pray every day that I would be totally satisfied in my Jesus, and that my life would be a reflection of my redemption. This is what has been on my heart lately. Tonight I go to worship him again with music celebrating the joy of the season. Merry Christmas to everyone!
Ruth

Yes, I was tagged :)

Here are 25 things I want to do before I die. They are not necisarrily in order of importance, just as I think of them...

1. Perform as a soloist in Carnegie Hall
2. Live in New York City for a year
3. Move to Germany and impact the hearts of a fatherless nation
4. To be fluent in German instead of having to think so hard about it
5. To love a husband as Christ loves the Church
6. To be a mom with lots of little boys
7. To play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor with an orchestra
8. To understand myself
9. Learn to bless people by being a graceful woman of God
10. See my dad cry at my wedding
11. Live in Israel
12. Read "City of God" and understand it completely
13. Adopt a child
14. Spend a summer hiking in Colorado
15. Lead many to Christ
16. Marry a man of God
17. Be concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, or Vienna Symphony
18. Watch a studio of young students grow to be wonderful musicians
19. Teach violin in Germany
20. Have a baby
21. Love God with a fullness and faithfulness I have not yet known
22. Become someone who is known as a Christ follower
23. Watch the four seasons change (you'll understand if you live in Texas where the first cold front hit yesterday, November 30)
24. Teach a son to be a leader who will change the world
25. Learn to live simply

There you go :)
I'm going to tag some I haven't heard from in a while:
Take Joy and Crossblade