's wonderful

i stumbled upon this artist named ian carpenter and i really like his paintings. here are some that i really liked. enjoy.

I once was lost, but now am found...

...was blind but now I see.

A sister from my church gave her testimony today. It was truly a testimony of God's amazing grace. 

That sister from my church was born and raised in a Buddhist home. She grew up meditating on emptiness and seeking emptiness as the key to salvation. For her, achieving emptiness through meditation would solve all her problems; it would absolve her from the filth of this world and, eventually, lead to heaven. One day she received a Bible from her Christian neighbor. She thought nothing of it and put it away to gather dust under her bed.

Soon after she received that Bible, she was sweeping her floor when she found a tract on the floor. She picked it up and began reading it out of curiosity and remembers one verse that stuck out to her after perusing the tract's contents: I am the way, the truth and the life. This struck her because she had always known meditating as the way to salvation, not a person like Jesus Christ.

Around that same time the sister was going through bouts of depression, although she did not realize it at the time. As an escape, she went to the theater and watched Forrest Gump. Of the film's characters she particularly warmed up to the character of Lieutenant Dan. She was intrigued and amazed at the relationship he had with God -- his conversations with God, his anger with God for his circumstances, and his eventual reconciliation and return to devotion to God.

She went home that day and looked at herself in the mirror. She had fallen into the habit of looking at herself in the mirror with self-hatred and had returned to the mirror that night. In that spot she decided to talk to that God for the first time. She read the tract for some guidance in her prayer and she began to pray. As she prayed, though she felt as if she could not be fixed in her brokenness and filth, she recalls that there was a heavy peace that fell upon her.

Around this point of the testimony I began to tear up and can't recall all of the details that followed. However, God remained faithful to her and began to cultivate His relationship with her from that day on.

It's amazing to see God's calling in action. There is nothing more humbling or more enrapturing than hearing that God works in our lives despite our actions, our will, our desires. God calls us to be His children according to His will and His desire and His timing -- and He calls us with His amazing grace.

amazing.