My favorite hymn

Today I heard a song, almost by complete accident. It's called "In Christ Alone", and it's one of my favorite hymns (right up there with "Come Thou Fount").

Anyways, it put me in a completely worshipful mood. This is the best mood to be in. Thinking of my Savior in reverent awe, and His wonderful, endless love for me.

The lyrics are amazing. It gives me chills to listen to this song.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
(I hope only in Christ, not in my friends, or even my family. Everyone I'm close to will let me down at one point or another. He never will, not ever.)

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
 (When I am comforted by Him, I feel love and peace beyond my comprehension.)

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
(He was greatly humbled by giving up His majesty, and becoming a helpless Baby. He was scorned by the very people He was saving, all to give me the gift of love and righteousness.)

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
(Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God, so that I wouldn't have to. He experienced the ultimate pain when He took on every sin, and His Father turned His back on Him. I live because of His death. How amazing is that?)

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
(From mourning to triumphant. What a stark contrast. He is the real Light of the world.)

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
(Jesus is victorious, and I am no longer bound by sin. I belong to Him. I don't know about you, but I get a huge feeling of relief and gratitude and love right about here.)

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
(Here, too. I don't have to feel guilty or fearful, because I know He will forgive me. Jesus commands my destiny. Yes.)

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand
(Nobody will steal me away from my God. I am His, for all eternity.)

So that's my favorite hymn. I just put my thoughts about each verse, to maybe help you better understand why I love it so much. I've heard it plenty of times, played it on the piano even more, and I never tire of it. I strive for everything in this song.

Hey! Soo, guess I did pretty good on posting more, eh? ;) I almost did the BEDA (blog every day of April) thingy, but then I thought about it and decided that I wouldn't have enough to say, so I would run out of stuff to post by the 3rd or 4th day.
Anyways, I got my hair cut on Saturday. I took a few pictures, but alas, no good ones to behold. Oh well.
Mom and I worked on Saturday morning, and then went to IL with Liz for a short weekend trip. We stopped at the Cedar Falls Kohl's on the way, so we didn't get to IL until 7pm. We didn't do much out of the ordinary while we were there, but it was a fun trip. Then we stopped at the Coralville Kohl's on the way home (can you tell we like Kohl's?), and I got some sweet new kicks!

They're Nikes (if ya didn't notice, lol), and I love them. I'm kind of a sucker for brands, especially Nike. I used them for Pilates this morning, and they're pretty much amazing. Just have to break them in a little bit before they're really comfortable, but I'll survive until then. They look grey in the pictures, but they're more brown. But wait, I just looked at them and they look grey. Tricky.

Anyways, enough about my shoes, haha. Last Sunday, I hosted my 4-H meeting, so I made these cookies with cookie cutters Liz gave to me:

 They turned out really cute, and were very yummy too! I just didn't have time to frost them. They were ok to make, but the dough was very picky. It had to chill for 3-4 hours, but I didn't have that kind of time on my hands, so I chilled them for 2ish, and had to stick the dough back in the fridge a few times. I didn't use all the dough, so I chilled it overnight, but even then it got really sticky and crumbly really fast when I tried to use it. I like drop cookies a lot better anyways, they're not so fussy.

I have an entire week off from school for Easter! Pretty cool, but I think I'll just work right through it and get done for the year a week earlier.

Last week in an effort to start eating better (mostly for my teeth, but also in an effort to become a healthier person overall) I stopped eating white flour and all sugar. Needless to say, I starved. Then I made whole wheat bread and tortillas, and I've been devouring those. Probably not a good thing. I wanted to get raw milk too, but apparently it's illegal to sell raw milk in IA, and I didn't know that :(
But I'm definitely surviving and thriving, and I've only cheated 3 times in 6 days. Pretty good, I think.

Not sure entirely where I'm at as far as horseback riding goes. Waiting for the arena to dry out, and maybe trying to get a schedule worked out. I left my rubber cow boots at Jenna's, and I miss them and want them now. Nobody appreciates the smell of manure as much as I do though, so they'd probably be banned to the shed as soon as I brought them home.

P.S. look at this adorable picture aw :)