Perfect Love casts out fear

Do you know what the opposite of love is?

Hate?
No.

Anger?
No.

Exasperation?
No.

The Bible says the opposite of love is fear.

1 John 4:18:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 

New Oxford American Dictionary defines fear as:

fear |fi(ə)r|nounan unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat: drivers are threatening to quit their jobs in fear after a cabby's murder | fear of increasing unemployment | he is prey to irrational fears.
If you look at hate, anger, and exasperation, the root of all of them is fear. Fear of rejection,  fear of failure, fear of imperfection, fear of fear.
We've all experienced it. Fear is unpleasant.There is no way you would want fear. Especially when it is keeping you from something as wonderful as perfect love.
But as annoying, paralyzing, and nerve-wracking as fear is, it is not unavoidable. It is not invincible. It is overcomeable.

Isaiah 41:10‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ 

Here's the kicker: if you want to be free of fear and ready for perfect love, you have to trust God.
Let me tell you from experience how hard this is. It is so easy to get sidetracked by the danger,  the worry, the fear.

Matthew 6:34 

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God needs us to trust Him with our everything.

Psalm 55:22Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

God's perfect love casts out all fear. 

these are a few of my favorite things...

So...Clara decided it was my day to post something. And here I am- with no idea what to post about :)

I'll try something simple: a list post. (idea- Maddie)

With lots of pictures- because pictures are fun :)


//favorite places to be:

home

the stable

the barn

heaven hill

the bomhard theatre

the pond

this tower

my church -CBC

this horse show

//favorite things to do

ride

write

dance

read

perform

take pictures

swim

jump

laugh

play piano

fool around with my sibs

//favorite things to wear

these awesome kurtas

this dress

this outfit

these shoes

this hat

socks!!

Voila: first post :)

picture credits: mike (all horse show pics) google images (dance, tap shoes) stage one family theatre (performance picture) southern baptist seminary (susan dress) cbc (cbc pic) kenzi (reading&kurtas)

It's Freezing Out!

Today is what, 18 degrees? It's cold enough to completely freeze my horse's water, anyway. Four kettles of boiling water and me with a hoe were not enough to even partially break the ice on her water trough. At that point, I figured that enough water had been poured on top that she could drink that, and I gave up.

(picture taken a few weeks ago; it's not snowy now, just cold)

Tomorrow it will be Heidi's turn to break the ice and we'll see how she manages, ha-ha. This is one of the only times I have wished that I lived in South America, but perhaps un-frozen water would not be worth that. Oh well.

The above picture is me aggravating Heidi when she was trying to take a good picture of me. ;-)
I have decided that this year I will attempt to grow flowers. Last year I tried vegetables but that did not work. Sometimes the below picture is all I can grow. Beautiful, and I didn't even touch it which is probably why it is alive.

Heidi does not think I will be able to grow anything; probably she is right but it will be fun to try. My main problem will be all the deer. Last year they ate my garden and if they do it this year I think maybe I'll go out and butcher them.

Anyways, Happy Spring, when it comes.

By Me, otherwise known as Clara

Good Morning!

Hello!

This is just a test, and will probably be deleted later. We're just getting used to this blog idea, and I need a filler to try a design. Thanks for your patience!

OK, I'm going to try to add a picture...

ta-DA! Johnson grass on our deck.

Persimmon tree

Boat on Lake Michigan

See ya!