Passionate Pursuit

Today, I want to share a parable with you by Soren Kierkegaard titled, “The King and His Maiden.” I think it will bless your heart.

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents.
And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know for sure? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.
The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her. Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise—the king took on a totally new identity—he had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.

This parable is such a beautiful reflection of how King Jesus has pursued your heart…has pursued mine. Paul described it this way:

[Jesus] who, being in very nature God,
Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
But made himself nothing,
Taking the very nature of a servant,
Being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself
And became obedient to death –
Even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
And gave him the name that is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:6-11)

Why would God do such a thing? Because He loves you and longs to have an intimate, personal relationship with you. It was a high price to pay, but Jesus knew you were worth it.

The entire Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22:21 is a record of God’s passionate pursuit of the human heart. We end the last chapter of the Old Testament with silence. And then 400 years later, God breaks the holy hush with the cry of a babe in a manger as the story picks back up in Bethlehem.
From God’s first question, “Where are you?” until Jesus’ final words, “It is finished,” we see God drawing mankind with cords of kindness that sometimes appear anything but kind—drawing people back to Himself with ties of love (Hosea 11:4). We’ve wiggled and wrangled trying to break free of those cords, but He continues to lasso us with love and draw us in again.
Passionate pursuit. He’s pulled out all the stops. Moved heaven and earth—literally—to win us back, to reestablish the glory that was lost in the Garden. As Tozer said, “The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of that foul revolt, and to bring us back again into right and eternal relationship with Himself.”
Most of us feel that we have to pursue God continually, as if He is hard to find. And as long as we believe that, our faith journey will be difficult. But didn't Jesus say, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)? God always makes the first move! :) #TrueLove

                

Spiritual Warfare

It's been months since I've had the time to make a post! So much has been happening with school and work and life in general.

I decided to catch up on some of my devotion reading out of my one book I got for Christmas last year. It's called "Voices of the Faithful" by Beth Moore. It's basically a book of inspiring stories of courage from Christians serving around the world. Yes I did just copy that from the front of the book. :P But Beth Moore is one of my favorite speakers, and she writes the intro for each new topic at the beginning of each month. Yes, I'm way behind since I'm just now starting the ones for October....

Anyway, October's devotions are on spiritual warfare, and at the beginning of October, Beth wrote something I thought I'd share.

J. R. R. Tolkien: "The board is set. The pieces are moving."
As we prepare for the return of the real King, the board is set and the pieces are indeed moving. Satan is sly. His motto? "Whatever works." He doesn't come in a red suit carrying a pitchfork. He fools spiritual people most easily when dressed as an angel of light. He comes as a friend. A Judas. Something that comforts our dysfunctional souls, pats our fleshy heads and sympathizes with our strongholds. He tries to gain our trust and assure us of things like this: "I understand you. No one could blame you. You deserve this. No one will ever know. God will forgive you anyway. You can't help it. Go ahead. Don't resist it. It's not that bad. Everybody's like this. No one's really free. Indulge. No harm done." Then one day Judas kisses you on the cheek and betrays you, and you see him for who he is. The result isn't pretty.
Stop flirting with the devil! Stop it before all hell literally breaks loose. Fight the fire. Let God deal with our stuff and surrender completely to Him. He knows best, whether we like it or not.
"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:21-24, NIV).

I really thought that was awesome the way everything was worded here! It's so true! We, as Christians, often need to be "sifted like wheat" (Luke 22:31, NASB) like Peter had to be.
Imagine Christ saying, "You can either let me prune you [John 15], or I can use the devil to scare it out of you." We want the former, not the latter.

(I will try to not be so late with my next post. I originally wanted to post at least once a month, if not twice.)
God bless everyone who reads this!

Lima Peru Mission Trip #2

This entire trip was completely amazing and life-changing! So incredibly blessed that God called me to minister to those beautiful people in that beautiful country again!!! <3

7/22
We made it to Dulles airport with the Team! I had like an hour and a half of sleep. Woot Woot! Before we left, we ate at Denny's for breakfast at midnight with 6 members of the Team and had a great time. We had a devotional and lots of laughs. At the airport, we waited for Tim and Ethan to arrive. They finally came and Ethan went for a handshake to me and I went for a hug so we were confused haha. Ethan and I started harassing each other right away and the old inside joke of I broke his heart came up very often.
Chatted with Tim and about our Peruvian friends and they things we have exciting for the week!
On the flight to Panama City, El Salvador, I saw between Dee and this spanish-speaking lady. We tried to talk to each other and it was pretty funny. We both laughed about the language barrier. Her little girl was adorable though!
Tim kept asking everyone if they're his friend and I guess that meant we'd help with VBS if we said yes. Very funny! :) Then Tim called me name and I turned around and he made the barking duck sound from last year. We wanted to go back and see it. Tim mentioned seeing Jerson again too.
Tim: I wonder if he'll remember me.
Me: Jerson?
Tim: The duck. Or was it a girl? I talked to it. Did the Peruvians eat it?
We had the most weird conversations sometimes, but they were awesome ones!
We had favor all through customs and got into the compound. Found Marcos and Israel! :) I ran up to Neiser and he picked me up and spun me around hugging me really tightly! I was squealing in happiness! <3

7/23
Got up at 7 and got ready for breakfast with the Team, then hung out with Neiser for a while. He told me he wants to destroy Obama at the White House and flush him down the toilet. We laughed and cheered!
The different age groups in the school performed dances for us. It was misting during it, too.
After lunch, some of the Team went on-sight to build the first home, but I stayed to help with the craft and get ready for VBS. The kids kept begging to play tag with me. It was a fun time! :) Those kids make my heart so happy! We ate fresh bread in the morning from the bakery. It was so good it didn't even need butter.
Neiser said my hair is bonita! I met Miguel and he plays guitar, too! We didn't get to play together though, unfortunately.
The rooster would not stop crowing! We thought it was confused.

7/24
Neiser's new favorite word is "weird". He kept walking up to me and putting his hands around my neck saying, "chokey chokey" hahaha! At breakfast Pastor Gary talked about the Book of Philippians and 1 thing in each chapter that can steal your joy.
Chapter 1 - Circumstances
Chapter 2 - People
Chapter 3 - Things
Chapter 4 - Wrapped up everything and said to find joy in the Lord.
We did 1 chapter each morning.
We worked at the house, and they had Inca Kola and crackers for us there. Coming back from the home, Ethan slipped and got his foot caught in the wheel of the motto. He's fine now though. It was so cold that day! Sazaar drove Alyssa and me back to the compound and he is a speed demon on that motto!
We had chicken made with orange juice. It was really good! We also had several other missionaries come and eat with us. After dinner, we all attended a small group meeting in the church with the Peruvians where the new pastor, Tony, was speaking on the 9th Commandment. Neiser sat by me and kept pulling my head down to ay on his shoulder haha. He kept pinching me and playing footsies, too lol. After the lesson, there was a short skit and Neiser volunteered me to go up and be part of it. Then I made him go up when Tony said to do it in Spanish after him and I did it in English. He growled at me and I just smirked and pushed him in front of me. Afterwards, we stayed to watch a video about evangelism. It was awesome! Then we went back into the cocina and played UNO! :D Neiser and I handed each other cards and cheated that way. Had a great time yelling at everyone. When only 5 of us were left, we managed to play a game without cheating! First time in years!!! I said "aww" but it came out as "oww" when Marcos handed me 2 cards and Marcos said "ouch". We all started laughing so hard, and it became our inside joke.

7/25
I had a hot shower finally! My other 2 thus far were cold. The one was so freezing it took my breath away! Welcome to missionary life.
We finished building the house and the family was so grateful. They kept saying it was muy bonita! <3 We took pictures with the family. Took a crazy one where we all made faces and held up something that shows what we did to help. I found a rock that looked like a heart and Tim held up a hammer like he was going to hit it. :O That rock was so heavy, and I was complaining about it, and Tim said I was lifting weights! LOL.
Neiser held me like a baby and said, "mio". lol.
Riding on the back of the motto with Ethan, we watched a little boy running after us and eventually passed the motto!
We went shopping in the city downtown and ate at Norky's. In the restaurant, Neiser set up plates and 3 Liter bottles of soda in front of Nicole and Ben to make it look like they ate it all. Tim gave the cross demonstration to the workers. During shopping, Sazaar helped me count my sole because I'm bad at Peru money. We stopped in the park and took pictures. On the walk to the bus, we passed a show store, and Ethan kept trying to hols us girls back from racing over there. Then he kept picking up the girls randomly and we were all screaming and trying to shield each other and run away. Hilarious moments! I lended the one girl my hoodie since it was really cold. Neiser made a good pillow on the ride back.
When we got back, we learned the dances for the outreach.

7/26
The park outreach got moved to the church. 75 kids came! The Peruvians danced, the kids played musical chairs, and there was a Pooh costume. Clinton was a clown. The Team danced to 2 songs we did last year, then God's Not Dead. The kids had streamers and masks to wear during it. We danced while setting up too and Neiser thought we were crazy. The kids got told about Jesus, woot woot!
We walked out to Liliana's fields and helped her pick crops. Neiser helped me over a ditch and pretended to drop me in.
After dinner, we had a church service for the youth and Tony spoke on sex. Tim did a short message on being worn, and a group of us did a pantomime to Tenth Avenue North's song Worn. Each of us picked something that might be a struggle to the Peruvians and acted it out, then each coming to the cross at the end. We had signs that showed our problem, then had a new sign with words like "Redeemed", "Saved", "Loved", and so on. Cassidy was the self-image, Nicole and Ben and I did relationships, and I was the loner, Clinton did drugs and alcohol, Tim did suicide, and Stephen was Jesus. The cross call at the end was amazing! Most of the church came to the altar to lay down the things they were worn out about. We stayed on the stage to lay hands on and pray with the people who came up. Most of us were crying, and you heard many languages being spoke at once. It's the coolest experience in prayer and worship! We hugged everyone for awhile. Then I saw Alexander by his sister Luce and Tim and I talked for awhile in the church with them. Alexander played guitar for us, too!
Cui (guinea pig) was served for dinner. I didn't eat it again though. I talked to Jerson's aunt and she told me he isn't a believer in God anymore and asked if I'd tell him about Jesus since I keep in contact. I told of course I would. That's very disheartening though. :(

7/27
We ate pork and sweet potatoes with our breakfast. So good! We also did the pantomime again after the Sunday service. The altar call there was amazing as well! The Holy Spirit was really felt this week! So many lives were touched!
Nicole and Cassidy and I gave out a bunch of stuff for the children. I gave Alex his and showed him and his mom the pictures of my life back in the States. They loved it!
We had spaghetti for lunch. I saw Pastor Jacob and his wife and their new baby too! So happy!
Played Dutch Blitz with Tim and Cassidy and Ethan. We all Blitzed at the exact same time during the last game and we were crazy!
We walked to this other church for another service. They really knew how to rock it! We sang in Spanish and English and worshiped God together! We danced and Neiser kept spinning me around. We were laughing and raising our hands cheering for Jesus! There was another altar call that was awesome, too! We watched a group dancing, all wearing black, with white gloves that glowed in the dark. They acted out and spelled words, and all we saw were their hands. It was the coolest thing ever!!! We were so energized after that! I wish more church services were that into it!
The girls rode back in the motto because when it gets dark, it can get bad out.
After dinner, we had cake to surprise Marcos! And Sazaar gave me a massage.

7/28
We cleaned the 3 outside bathrooms today. It was so gross, but the squeegie thing amused me. Pastor Jacob was putting up a brick wall in the boys' bathroom and I talked to Benjamin for a while. He told me his testimony. At the third house that was built, there was a beautiful bird that we got to hold! It pooped on Ethan! :P We got back and I ran around with Alex and /Franco yelling that each other is crazy. Love those guys!
Tony and Gabriella invited each member of the Team into their home one at a time to pray for us. It's their first year there and they wanted to let us know that we could emotionally unload on them and they wanted to encourage us! <3
Had to say bye to the Peruvians. Lots of, "I love you" being said and hugs. It was so hard. Sazaar told me to not cry, but it was so hard not to when he kept telling me how he loves me. Alex and his family gave me a purple hat they made! I ended up losing it when I was running around. We found it in the corner on a bag. I swear it wasn't there when I checked there before. Nicole asked if I prayed for it, and I said I did. She did too. It was a total God thing! It's special to me since it was from my sponsor kid! <3 :) God heard and really cares about the little things that make us happy. It amazes me! Neiser gave me a pencil to remember him by (lol) and he left. Marcos said I'll always be in his heart, too.
Cassidy and I fell asleep in our room for an hour and a half before we had to meet down in the feeding center to leave. Ethan woke us and we walked down to talk and eat popcorn with the Team. Tim lost his passport, but ended up finding it. We left in the bus and checked our bags in. Tim kept saying random things and we were laughing, we were so tired. It was 4am and we met Neiser and Jordan in the cafe. I got ice cream. We said bye to them and Sarah and Marcos. We had a speedy time through customs and waited for our flight back to Panama to leave. Cassidy and I kept saying we smuggled Tiago (Tony and Gabriella's dog) and Axel into our suitcases.
We danced to "Get A Little Crazy" on the plane before we took off. We didn't even care who stared at us.

7/29
We flew from Panama to Dulles and slept most of the way back. We ate on the panes, too. I miss Peruvian breakfasts! We got to the baggage claim and said goodbye to Tim and Ethan. I can't believe the trip is over already! It seemed like we were barely there, but yet we felt like we've known everyone forever! <3

Peru will always have my heart, no matter where God leads me in the future. I'm open for anything. But I really can't wait to return down there next year and see everyone. A week once a year is not nearly long enough!

Why don't I always feel God??

I bet many of you have asked the question "Why don't I feel God with me?" several times before. I know I have!

One Saturday night, I was at church and our associate pastor spoke on this. It was a message that really stuck with me. He gave 5 reasons you might possibly not feel God in your life:

1. You are over sensationalizing it. -John 6:30
Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?

2. Distracted. -Luke 10:38-40

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’[a]feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

3. Your heart has hardened. -Matthew 13:14-15
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,And seeing you will see and not perceive;15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing,And their eyes they have closed,Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,So that I should heal them.’That it cannot save;Nor His ear heavy,That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;And your sins have hidden His face from you,So that He will not hear.

4. Built a wall of sin. -Isaiah 59:1-2 --(not confessing)
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,5. You don't know God. -John 7:28-Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

Maybe one or several of those ideas listed above fit you right now in whatever season you're in. Understanding that is the first step to fixing the problem. But right now, here is some encouragement...

*If you don't always feel God, you're not alone!*
It's going to take FAITH to believe in Him, even when you don't feel Him. Faith pleases God.
Walking with God isn't about feelings; it's about our faith.

There are 3 "presence promises" that God gives to His followers in the Bible that could be helpful reminders to all of us as we go throughout our lives.

Presence Promises:
1. You will find God when you seek God. -Jeremiah 29:13-14 (the way it fits you! Ex. singing, walking and praying audibly, etc.)
"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive."

2. You can do life with God's presence. -John 14:16-17 (talking all day with God about everything in life)
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

3. You can experience God now. -Acts 17:27
"so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us"

It doesn't really matter what I feel. God will always, ALWAYS be with me.More than me feeling Him, I want Him to feel me. My heart, my praise, my worship, my longing to seek Him!<3

"It is finished!" ...it all goes back to the Cross and what He has done! Thank You Jesus!

God bless you all! <3

Be Yourself

I recently started a short book by Ray Comfort that I received at a small group meeting called The Way (tri-weekly meeting) a few months ago. There was a section that I really enjoyed and I will type most of it out and paraphrase and cut some, but here is the basis:

We can see the work of God's Law illustrated in civil law. When there is no visible sign of law enforcement, a motorist exceeds the speed limit on a freeway. It would seem that each speeder thinks to himself that the law has forgotten to patrol his part of the freeway. He is transgressing the law by only fifteen miles an hour--and besides, he isn't the only one doing it.

Notice however what happens when the law enter the fast lane with red lights flashing. The speeder's heart misses a beat and he is no longer secure in the fact that other motorists are also speeding.

Look at the freeway of sin. The whole world naturally goes with the flow. Who hasn't had a lustful thought at one time or another? Who doesn't tell the occasional "white lie"? Who hasn't taking something that belongs to someone else, even if it's just a "white-collar" crime?

The sinner has said in his heart, "God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see" (Psalm 10:11).

Watch the Law enter as the sinner is shown the measure if his guilt in light of the Law. Every man will give an account of himself to God (see Romans 14:12). Law shows him that his mere lust becomes adultery of the heart (Matthew 5:27-28), his white lie becomes false witness; his hatred becomes murder in God's sight (1 John 3:15). "For without the Law sin is dead" (Romans 7:8). He now sees his need for the Savior.

John R. Stott said, "We cannon come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt, and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ."

Scripture tells us that we must be in the world and not of it. Don't follow the flow of what everyone else is doing or telling you to do. Follow your heart and the small voice of God's Spirit inside of you. You will be much happier in the end if you do. It will be worth anything that you might lose in the process!

*[BE.YOU]*RSELF

Vision

I was just watching Session 1 from Passion Conference that one of my all time favorite Christian speakers, Louie Giglio, hosts in Atlanta and Houston. It's my dream and mission to attend one Passion before I turn 25! Anyway, Louie was speaking on Isaiah chapter 6, which I just read a few days ago. Amazing how that timing was! I thought I'd make a post about some of the awesome things that Louie brought up!

The beginning of Isaiah 6 is how Isaiah got VISION! He saw the Lord!

Isaiah 6 starts off,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Can you even imagine a moment like that?! Isaiah SAW GOD! Imagine what you would be feeling! Isaiah probably saw the seraph coming for him with something flaming from the Holy altar of God, and thought he was finished. He was probably frozen in pure terror, not realizing that the thing he thought would end him, really was there to cleanse him and make him new.
It then continues with Isaiah's (and probably what any of our reactions would be upon seeing God) in verse 5:

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah saw the Lord and then saw his sin! He probably felt so dirty and condemned and ruined! The moment where the seraphim touches the coal to Isaiah's mouth is breath-taking! Isaiah's guilt for his sins (along with his sins) were completely obliterated!
     Louie told a personal story of a moment when he first truly saw Jesus and the cross. You may be a believe and feel your faith life is good and strong. Louie was 15 years old and saw the Lord and realized for the first time how much He went through for him! Louie was completely broken before God, and was embarrassed because his guy friends wanted him to go to some banana split place... but that's beside the point.
Think of a time when you were broken before the Lord after finally seeing the cross!
Louie named a few ways to know you really truly saw God!

1.) You don't see Jesus's cross. You see YOURS! Your eyes have been opened by God. Christ died on YOUR cross, not His own! WE are the perpetrators who crushed Jesus!
Isaiah 53:6-9 says
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him  the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.


We can't dodge the blame! We turned, like sheep, to go our own way. It was not just THE cross, but MY cross!
2.) God was not just a passive by-stander at the Cross. He was the instigator! (vs. 10) "Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer..."
At the cross, the curse of our lives was completely gone. There is no traces of it left anywhere. "It is finished!" Condemnation is No More!!
In Galations chapter 6, Paul wrote a letter to the church in Galatia. He saw Jesus and fell down as if dead, and was physically blinded by the light of God! Paul claimed to be the worst sinner and the lowest person in the world, until He saw the cross!
"Amazing Grace,
Jesus was crushed for our sins; I was crushed so that Jesus is the only One I see! He is our vision!





And Jesus accepted it. He had communion with His disciples, then took them up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, which literally translates into "olive press". Jesus asked the disciples to pray with Him because He had this huge weight on His shoulders from a huge decision He had to make. He signed off on His own death! He prayed 3 times to His Father, asking if there was any way out of it. He didn't want to go through all the pain. But while He was there praying, He already started to sweat blood because of the weight of the wrath and sin already starting to crush Him.

Don't let the enemy tell you otherwise!

Verse 14 says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
There isn't ANY value in anything worth boasting in, except the cross of Jesus Christ!

How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost,
but now am found.
Was blind,
But now I see."

Jesus was crushed for our sins; I was crushed so that Jesus is the only One I see! He is our vision!