1. Jesus Paid It All (words- Elvina Hall; music- John T. Grape)
2. 
   
3. I hear the Savior say,
   “Thy strength indeed is small;
   Child of weakness, watch and pray,
   Find in Me thine all in all.”
   • Jesus paid it all,
     All to Him I owe;
     Sin had left a crimson stain,
     He washed it white as snow.
4. For nothing good have I
   Whereby Thy grace to claim;
   I’ll wash my garments white
   In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
5. And now complete in Him,
   My robe, His righteousness,
   Close sheltered ’neath His side,
   I am divinely blest.
6. Lord, now indeed I find
   Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
   Can change the leper’s spots
   And melt the heart of stone.
7. When from my dying bed
   My ransomed soul shall rise,
   “Jesus died my soul to save,”
   Shall rend the vaulted skies.
8. And when before the throne
   I stand in Him complete,
   I’ll lay my trophies down,
   All down at Jesus’ feet.

I just wanted to share this with you. It's one of my favorite songs ever and a great reminder to me that I did absolutely nothing and could have done nothing. Jesus did everything for us. He paid it all. I hope you're thinking about that as you celebrate His birth. : ) Merry Christmas! or what we could say, "The Anointed One be celebrated!" (ask me about that if you're confused.)

Oh the odd things...

I don't know why, but it's always from 11:30 on that my brain just takes off and I do all of my spectacular thinking...it's really a little sad, but such is life. ; ) This is may or may not be a shocker, but I finish up this semester on THURSDAY!! And if you don't know your days of the week, that is only 2 DAYS from now (considering it's 12:45 AM, I'm counting it as being Tuesday)!!! I am super excited to be going home and to finally be able to attend my own church! : )

A few weeks ago, I started thinking of all the things that I wanted to do over break and the list just started getting longer and longer and longer and longer...I think you get the point now. My point being, I figured out that I was using the word "I" a bit toooooo much in my list. I've been so focused on my studies here that I have had to put so many other things in my life on hold, mostly things like...music (instrumental), artistic projects (woodworking and such, chainmail), and the most important being, VIDEO GAMES!!! lol, jk. I do enjoy video games, but (yes, you may not be able to believe this, some of you) I CAN LIVE WITHOUT THEM! lol.

Going in complete opposite direction, I decided that (instead of my loooong list) all I wanted to do was sleep 13 hours a day and lay around all day (the other 11 hours) reading and playing video games. I'm pretty sure that that is addressed somewhere significant..but I don't remember....OH! how about the BIBLE!! ; ) Here's a verse from Proverbs that I actually found rather amusing and fitting to this context: "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat" (Proverbs 13:4 NASB). I don't know about you people, but I don't want my soul to be a scrawny, malnourished thing, I want to be FAT!! lol.

So all of this rambling to say, that I've finally realized that my focus should be and remain to be rooted in God's word and to strive to glorify God through my life and my actions. One of the things that I am not focusing more upon is the edification of the Body of Christ. I hope to become more active in my church body while I am at home and build more relationships with those people who are my brothers and sisters in Christ.

With that, I bid thee adieu. Goodnight to all..or goodmorning, if you want to be smart about it. ; )

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God

will come upon the sons of disobedience,

and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

But now you also, put them all aside:

anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,

and have put on the new self who is being renewed

to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--

a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew,

circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman,

but Christ is all, and in all.

So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,

put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,

whoever has a complaint against anyone;

just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bod of unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,

to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,

with all wisdom teaching you and admonishing one another

with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

~~Colossians 3:5-17

Bitter or Sweet?

This semester I have been learning and growing (I hope) in things pertaining to the tongue (speech) and how I have been using it in my life. I believe that I am slowly becoming more sensitive to what comes out of my mouth and how it affects those around me and it's encouraging to me. Some of you may know that I have been going through the book of James this block at school with a phenomenal teacher, Rex, and something he said yesterday in class really hit me. I decided that I wanted to share it with you. : )

"With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?"

--James 3:9-11

After we read the verse, Rex started talking about what James was really getting at with these verses. He used as an example the well of Bethlehem. It's ALWAYS the same, every single time you go get water out of it, it is going to taste the same. It's not going to taste great one day, rotten the next, still bad but not as bad the following day, etc. It is a well that can be trusted. As Rex talked about this, he inspired me to write this in my notes for verse 11 ("Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?"): "Wouldn't it be nice if a person could come to me and always know that the words I would give to them would be refreshing and encouraging? Do I give out bitter and sweet water? Are they in doubt about what I will give to them? Can they come to me?" The underlying thought behind those questions is "Are people afraid that I will judge them, yell at them, put them down? Or do they trust me with their problems and trials, believing that I will have encouraging words to comfort them and help them, at the very least, pray for them? Or are they unsure about what will come out whenever I open up my mouth?"

Rex asked this question and I adapted it to my thoughts, I've been attempting to meditate on it since class.

"What kind of well am I? Bitter, Sweet, or unpredictable?"

This song by the band Downhere really hit a chord in me and I wanted to share it with you...

How Many Kings

Follow the star to a place unexpected.

Would you believe after all we’ve projected

A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all

Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl,

Just a child.

Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many Gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior

All that we have whether costly or meek

Because we believe.

Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure

And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer.

Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?

It’s who we’ve waited for.

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many Gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me.

I still alive, you know!!

Dear Saints,
I am undergoing attempt # 2 at sending an email to let you know how I am doing here at NTBI. Although this time, I am taking a leaf out of Emmerick’s book and typing it out in Microsoft Word first. This way, if my internet stops working, my email will not be lost again.

I am doing well here at New Tribes. I am loving it and learning so much that I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I were to try and tell you. I have had many good classes so far, some of them being Romans, Hebrews, II Corinthians, and Family Relationships. Just today I have started 3 new classes for the next 15 days: Pneumatology (study of the Holy Spirit), Angelology (study of angels, demons, and Satan), and Soteriology (study of salvation). We just went over the introductions today, but I can already tell that I am going to love these classes and that they are going to be really interesting.

God has been teaching me SOOOOO much stuff this semester, through good experiences, bad experiences, classes, and the great people He has surrounded me with here at school. He has taught me a lot this semester between STP, classes, and bible studies about my Position in Christ and the extent at which that covers. He has taught me more fully about my death to sin through Christ and that sin (“King Sin” as my Romans teacher calls it) has no power over me anymore. I don’t know about you, but the knowledge of that just knocks me off my feet. He is so glorious! I have been learning in one of my bible studies about appropriation and what that really means. My leader described it as being in a room full of shelves with awesome, new things that are mine. The next step for me to do is to accept that it is mine and take it off the shelf and use it. That illustration really put it into perspective for me.

God has been working on my heart lately, so that I will choose to step out in faith and use the things He has already blessed me with. Mind blowing! Since I have arrived here at school my brain has felt like a water-logged sponge. I always feel like I can absorb anymore, but He keeps working on me and helping me to grasp so many things. I know that without Him, I would never have been able to grasp anything from His word.

Well, those are just a few of the major things God has taught me this semester. I am not even going to get into what God has convicted me of when we went through Romans 13 ; ) . I hope and pray that you are all well and look forward to seeing you. If any of you have any questions for me, please, feel free to contact me by my email (CMKMacAuley@gmail.com). I also LOVE getting mail through the post. If any of you would feel led to drop me a note or something (like food? Haha, Just Kidding!!), my address is:

Colleen (Callie) MacAuley
1210 E. Michigan Ave. #132
Jackson, MI 49201

Thank you so much for supporting me in my journey as I walk with God! I really appreciate your prayers and support.

Prayer Requests:
† I owe about $1000 on my school account for the rest of the semester. So far God has provided everything I have needed, and I ask that you pray with me that He will provide that last amount of money. I can pay for none of it myself. Praise Him that He has gotten me this far!
† That my laptop will either get fixed and get a new battery, or that I can somehow get a new laptop altogether. It has been rather hindering this semester and just keeps getting worse.

Again, thank you all so much! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with all of you in my life to support and encourage me.

P.S. Please feed my fish. (below)

................cheese?

OK, so I'm going to come right out and say it: This blog has absolutely nothing to do with cheese. I'm sorry, please don't hate me. ; )

I just decided to update with a quick blog about the last 24-ish hours in my life. I will say that I am currently in the middle of a really looooooooooooooooooooooooong blog about what I've been doing since I've arrived here at NTBI (No, I am not saying that I have "arrived." Context is King! Since I've returned to the halls of NTBI. Better?) So that is something that you all have to look forward to in the upcoming........months? Just kidding! Hopefully in the next week, if not the next couple of days.

Anyways, so I'm suppose to be updating you about my last 24 hours! I have gotten three hours of sleep in the last....32 hours. I ended up staying up all night with my wonderful, stressed RA last night because both of us were taking a...little bit..longer than we intended on our 2 Corinthians exams.

*side note* For those of you who don't know what my 2 Corinthians exam consisted of: I had to make four speech outlines that I would be able to teach from on the topics of "Conflict Resolution," "Clay pots/treasure," explaining Paul's 3 comparison questions in Chapter 3:7-11, and about "giving."

*end of side note*

So I believe I have had an interesting day today with my energy and goofiness levels...and the day isn't even over! Dinner with my dorm parents very soon (awesome! Cuz I am starving!) and a Romans Outline over 3:21-5:21 soon after that! I love homework...I just don't like a LOT at one time because it makes it really hard for me to retain all the wonderful information. I always take so long on my Romans Outline because I'm seriously studying what the text book is saying and making notes in my Bible for future reference. I love it, but it takes so long and I kind of would like some sleep tonight..otherwise bad things may happen tomorrow... 8-/.

So, uh.......so much for a short blog today, but it's definitely shorter than my post to come. : )

Catch y'all later! ; ) Drop me a line, or better yet, if you're from home, SEND ME SOME MAIL!!

That would COMPLETELY make my day, if not my entire week. lol.

Bye!

P.S. Prayer Request! 1.) That God will provide the rest of the money that I need to complete this semester at NTBI (about $1500), 2.) that God will give me the strength, stamina, and dexterity to be able to keep up with all my homework, and 3.) that He'll give me the wisdom I need to understand all that the teachers are telling me!

Thanks all!

Praises to Jehovah Jireh!!

I have had this blog for 2 weeks now and I'm just getting on to post an update. And boy, do I have an update! : )
I was due to return to New Tribes Bible Institute by August 6th, 2009, but as many of you know, I was completely broke and had no way to pay for my next semester. At the urging of one of my great friends, I sent out some support letters to 2 churches I'm involved with. On Tuesday, July 28th, I received support money from one of those churches. Jehovah Jireh did a mighty work through those people the previous Sunday!! Let me explain why!
To be able to return to NTBI, I needed an initial payment (which was due August 1st) of $2070. Tuesday (28th), I received $2145!!! Praises to El Elyon!! Thank you, Abba.
God has most definitely answered my prayers and taught me a great many things through this experience. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

P.S. I'll be sure to update again once I get to school. Maybe next week or (if I don't have time until then) when I get settled into my dorm (which, in case you're confused, is NOT right when I get to the school building) :)

One small step for mankind.......one GIGANTORE step for Callie

I can't believe it! I've actually made a blog. I'm laying aside my love for privacy and am willingly giving everyone a blow-by-blow account of my life (maybe not THAT detailed, but you get the picture). I figured since I am horrible at getting in touch with everyone everywhere that I would start this blog so that you can always know what I'm doing. I guess this means I actually have to start behaving! ; )
I hope you all are well and I'll try not to put you to sleep with my future posts.