Forgotten or Ignored?

Being back on my blog makes me so happy.  It shows you the power of a little thing.  I skipped one night of blogging and look how long it took me to get back on!  26 days! The Lord has been so great to me.  He has been working so hard in my heart lately, and showing me so many things.  Specifically today, God has been having me look into homelessness.  A couple of weeks ago a young man close to my age, he looks, starting standing at the corner of our busy intersection close to our house.  His sign that he holds reads "HOMELESS ANYTHING HELPS."  The Lord has had homelessness on my heart for a while now, but this young man specifically now.  God gave me the opportunity to buy him some food and water for the day today and just after I gave it to him, a police came down the street, so I saw him start to walk off.  (On a different subject.. what a shame that is, that the homeless have to run from the people who have "To Protect and To Serve" written on their cars.  My mom pointed that out after I told her my story. )  What amazing timing God has and how he places us ever so perfectly in situations blows my mind though.  On my way to Starbucks a little while ago, I saw him again at the corner, he must have come back to try again.  And as I'm sitting in Starbucks
now, it was raining a couple of minutes ago.. I stopped and thought.. every homeless person is out there right now standing out in this.  Meanwhile their valuables they have on them are getting wet, and the clothes they have are getting wet.  I just sat here and thought and thought and thought.  Then, I pulled out my journal, and wrote down every possible way I could help him, and others.  Please pray for what the Lord is putting on my heart, and that I may be able to be guided by him to help this forgotten community that everyone around the world knows about but "forgets."  SO glad to be sharing what the Lord is doing in my life again. 
God,
Thanks so much for your perfectness.  You're so awesome, and have incredible plans for us.  Lord, guide us, and make us servants of You.  Bless us this week, and steer our decisions so that they may be Your will, and pleasing to You.
In Your Son's Name,
Amen!

Stop, Look, and Listen

I'm sitting in my cafe I hangout in between classes.  They have a piano in here, and anyone is welcome to play.  Right now, there's a guy playing, and I have to say, I really am enjoying it.  I am not a big fan of classical music, I consider it boring, but I feel like I have a completely changed perspective today.  It's so peaceful and sounds so glorious, all I wanted to do when he started playing was close my eyes, and talk to the Lord.  It's relaxing and really made me feel like I should put down everything I was doing and just listen.  Well, I had two revelations while thinking about "just listening" to it.  First, isn't it mentioned so many times in the bible to make glorious noise with music to the Lord.  Judges 5:3 says, "Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel."  Isn't this why we worship in song too, I almost feel like music lets so much more emotion out.  and Job 21:12 says, "They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute."  and Ephesians 5:19, says, "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord."  Secondly, I thought about how we should sometimes just stop and listen.  Not just to music, but to anything.  Maybe someone needs to talk to us, but we just don't have time.. well, stop and take the time.  Or maybe God's trying to tell you something but you're just too busy.. stop, take some time to just listen to Him.  That's why I think daily quiet time is so important, it makes such a difference in your day, when you stop, listen, and obey God.  I challenge you to stop and listen to the music today, tomorrow, and for the rest of the week, get into the habit of stopping and listening. 

God,
Please help us to stop and listen to You every now and then.  We want to hear Your voice in our lives.  Help us to look out for You and Your voice, and let us take time for other people.  We love You Lord.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

God is Good, All the Time!

Sunday morning is family morning for our household.  My grandma and I spent some time together last night, so her and I met the rest of my family at church this morning, where we listened to a couple very great speakers in the service.  A couple talked about how God sent them messangers about the future birth of their baby boy, and how He made things work out for this couple on His own time.  And, to conclude the service a dear woman, who is very special to me, kicked off our Stewardship Campaign, talking about her cancer battle, and how God worked in her life through it all.  Hearing her speak was amazing.. the encounters she had with Christ were unbelievable.  She was talking about how she had dreams of Jesus and her spending time together, and Jesus walking next to her throughout this whole process.  The complexity of these dreams, was so unfathomable that it really made me think of my verse in my devotional today.  It comes from Psalm 139:16, and says, "All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old."  I don't know about you, but that always blows my mind when I think about that... when I think about the fact that God has every minute of every day for every person living planned out.  It's just crazy, but it's real, and it feels even realer when I have the opportunity to hear testimonies of people's lives like this one!  This woman had no clue what was in store for her after she found out the news of cancer, but she didn't care, she simply handed it all over to God, and He took care of everything.  The faith she had tears me to pieces in joy, it makes me hunger for faith like hers.  The things God has in store for us, are so incredible, we just have to hand our lives to Him, and remember that He has everything planned out already, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11  He's got it under control, let's stop trying to control our own lives, it's too stressful, and think about it, it would be so much easier and so much more glorifying to God if we just put our trust in Him, and gave it up to Him.  "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not onto your own understanding, in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:5-6  Not only does He have our backs, He'll protect us, help us, guide us, and love us.  As a man named Phillip from a past Galilee by the Sea mission trip used to say... "God is good," and we'd respond with "all the time!"

God,
Thank You, for being good to us.  Thank You for having a plan for us, thank You for loving us.  We thank You for the opportunity to give everything to You and trust You, and Your willingness to make our ways great.  We ask that You help us remember that it is.. that easy.  All we have to do, is believe in Your Son, love You, and trust You, and You will completely conform our lives forever. 
In Jesus Name,
Amen

I have been really getting a lot out of my devotionals lately.  God seems to be putting the perfect verse on each day that I need it.  Every verse has been connected to what I went through that day or what I needed to hear about what happend in the day.  God is so wonderful.  A couple of nights ago, the verse was in Philippians 4:19, it said, "My God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need."  It definitely reminded me that everything that God does in our lives, he plans perfectly, and he gives as a gift.  He uses His love for us, to give us special surprises in our life.  He loves us, how he loves us!

God, Thank You for loving us.  We love You and we thank You for sending Your Son to die on the cross so we could live for You. 
In Your Son's Name,
Amen

Let it show, Let it show, Let it show

Well, I had such a wonderful day yesterday, and was so excited to reflect on it, and when I got to my cousin's house last night, where I was staying, she said their internet was out! How convenient Satan!  SO... I want to share what a wonderful day the Lord gave me yesterday, and reflect about reflect about today later on. 
I was able to go to breakfast with a former teacher, that is so dear to my heart.  She was a huge influence on me in the tenth grade, and I know that the Lord placed her at First Colonial to minister to me in that classroom.  She touched quite a few lives, and I just look up to her so much.  We had been trying to get together for such a long time, and the Lord provided time yesterday, and I am so gracious that we were able to do that.  She had some amazing stories.  Then later on that day I was able to sit at the Young Life table at Regent with two young life leaders whom are training me.  It was really neat to be able to tell them a little bit about myself and get to know eachother one on one.  I love telling my story of my desire for missions, and when I talk about it I get so fired up, and want to just go!  I had Chemistry lab and lecture yesterday too, and the coolest thing happened.  I was wearing a Young Life shirt, and as I was walking out of the lab building in Norfolk, this girl freaks out and yells "Oh my gosh girl!  Is that a YL shirt!?" I answered with a happy yes, (and by the way I got to share about the ministry of YL with FIVE people yesterday because of my shirt!) and she asked me to hold her books as she started digging through her purse and looking for something.  She pulled out a McDonald bag folded up, and said, "LOOK WHO SIGNED MY BAG!?" Now, you have to know, that this women who signed her bag, is an incredible women, a YL leader in Norfolk, who I've had the opportunity to meet but not get to know well, but ALL I always here is how amazing and how faithful this women is to the Lord.  So, I look at her bag and there is this woman's signature, and the girl is just laughing, so happy, and telling how wonderful she is, and how fun she is.  Now, keep in mind, this girl had already created a scene, and it was so funny.  Well then, she invited me to this poetry reading club they have on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and asked if she could do one of the readings for me there on the street.  I was expecting dull, boring, poetry.  BUT, this girl started rapping about Jesus on the side of the sidewalk, and now people were definitely looking.  It was great, what blew my mind about this girl, was how on fire she was about the Lord, that she didn't care who heard, and wanted people to hear!  She made me think of a verse in Matthew, Matthew 5:15, it says, "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."  She was being the light on the street of Norfolk!  She spoke out about her savior and was so excited about it.  I felt to blessed to have encountered her.  To end my day, I was so excited I got to talk my best friend on the phone for the first time in a week! We had so much to catch up on, and I'm so thankful for her being in my life.  I got home and babysat, I got to finish my night off at Sheville, a bible study I go to in Chesapeake on Wendesday nights, it's such a joy to be around those girls, and be able to talk about how the Lord is working in all of our lives.  Just, overall God blessed me with such a glorious day yesterday, I was so thankful, I saw Him so much, and just felt so on fire for Him!

God,
Thank You so much for making Yourself apparant, thank You for putting people in our paths that love You.  Thank You for the life that You gave us to live, and thank You for the opportunity to fellowship with other people.  You are so graceful and wonderful, and just amazing.  Lord, we just ask that You continue to watch over us, and that You continue to overflow us with Your mercy and grace.  We love You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

Clean Slate

Just a quick thought for today... the more I find myself in the Word, and spending time with the Lord, I feel refreshed.  Tonight was my first night back to New Leader Training for YoungLife, and let me just tell you that it was so refreshing to be back.  There is really nothing that tops being able to worship our Lord, learn about Him, and make new friends.  Fellowship is so important, like I have said so many times in the last few days, God is truly showing me this.  I feel so blessed to live somewhere where I can freely worship and love my Lord, and not have to be concerned about anything.  My friend and I were openly talking about how good the Lord is to us today over lunch, and how much we are in love with Him now.  The Lord has really been showing me this new life that He has given me, and has been teaching me how to live accordingly.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.  The old is gone and the new is here."

God,
I pray that you remind us that we have new life in You.  You forget our past, and we start with a blank slate.  We love You so much and we thank You so much for sending Your son to for us so that this could be possible.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

"Aweeesome Dude"

The Lord gave me a very productive day today.  I feel like I felt His presence with me.  As I left my house this morning to go to nanny, I walked outside to get into my car, and I noticed something.  It was peaceful.  I didn't hear one lawn mower, leaf blower, or any other kind of machinery, or even any cars driving by.  All I heard were some birds chirping, it was a serene kind of revelation to start my day off with.  God also gave me the chance to watch the Wave Church t.v. service, which I always record and never watch.  The service was about grace... and wow was it a God thing.  Just last night, I read the verses in Matthew that the preacher spoke about today.  I wasn't sure if I completely understood what Matthew was trying to convey in the Word, so I was going to go back and study it a little more today.  Well, God took care of that for me.. with a full on sermon about it!  I finished off the day with class tonight, and he provided me with time to get help from my professor, and share with my profesor my passion for missions.  God is awesome, and I think that's what I want to center tonight's post about.  I've just been trying to understand, truly how incredible our God is, but you know what?  It's unfathomable, and it's supposed to be like that because He is so great, He is Alpha and Omega, He is holy, He is worthy of awe.  A few years ago, a youth leader of mine taught a lesson on the word "awesome."  How often do we use the word awesome?  I can say without hesistating that I use it all the time!  But, think about the word awesome.  According to dictionary.com, it is an adjective that inspires awe, it is shown or characterized by awe.  Does anything really deserve awe like our Lord does?! No, in fact, no way.  Everything here is temporary, sure maybe it's neat, cool, groovy, or whatever description word you want to use.  But are any of those temporary things here "worthy of awe?"  Only God, is worthy of awe.  Let's try and remember that.  Revelation 4:11 says, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Tell our Lord that He is awesome today.

Lord,
You are awesome, You are worthy of awe. Remind us of who You made us to be in Your image.  We love You God.
In Your Son's Name,
Amen

A Little Bit of This, and That!

Ah, I'm a little scatter brained about what I want to write about from today, so I'm just going to throw it all down!  First of all, God is continuing to show me the importance of relationships in my life, I got to spend four hours at Panera today, spending time with my sister Kristen, helping her with Chemistry and just chatting about so many different things.  Ok, then I was doing my quiet time and reading Matthew 9.  I absolutely have always loved this verse, and want to share the importance of it to me!  Matt 9:37-38 says," Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." "  I just love it, and I think because of my deep desire to be a missionary.  I feel like it is a shoutout to me, saying "hey! we don't have enough people to go out there and work, so we need you!"  It makes me feel special, purposeful.  That verse is for all of us though, if you feel called, I believe it's for you as well!  When I saw it ahead tonight while reading, I just got so excited, and almost found myself skipping ahead to it!..but I didn't ( ; !  I really am enjoying reading Matthew, and I highly suggest it.  Jumping on to another thought, I am a huge K-LOVE fanatic.. and those of you who don't listen, you need to start! They are an amazing  radio ministry.  But anyways, I love to listen online on my laptop, while I'm not in the car or in my room.  And I just spent some time closing my eyes, listening to the words, the music, the power.  All of my Rockbridge Work Crew friends and I fell in love with How He Loves by David Crowder Band, this summer, and I was just listening to those words.  They convict you even more everytime you listen to them.  It's an incredible song.  I'll even put a link, you've got to listen if you haven't.  Definitely a marvelous worship song!  God throws so much at us to use to glorify Him, I think it's just completely up to us, whether we're going to use it or not.  I challenge each of you to use something He gives you tomorrow.  Maybe, it will be the opportunity to serve someone, the chance to spend some quiet time with Him, or maybe it will be as simple as greeting a person He puts in your way.  Whatever it is, use it, glorify Him. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCunuL58odQ&ob=av2e

Lord,
We thank You so much for Your Son, for what You sent Him to do for us, and how much You love us.  It's incredible.  Please remind us to glorify You Lord, remind us that everything we do should be pleasing to You.  It may be difficult, but we can do it with Your guidance, love, and mercy. 
In Your Son's Name,
Amen

Don't Forget The Important Things..

I had this neat idea to make this big picture project for my room.  It was nice to look through all of my pictures and reminisce on all the memories.  I was so consumed with this and excited!  Halfway through I realized we didn't have a single hole puncher, which I needed to finish the project.  My parents went out to a friends house tonight, and Kristen was babysitting, so I told Caroline that I was going to run to Walgreens real quick to get a hole puncher.  She asked if she could come with me so I said sure.  Now rarely do Caroline and I have the opportunity to bond for a full night.  We went to Walgreens, no hole puncher, so we went to Kroger, no hole puncher.  I was getting really frustrated, but then I thought.. maybe God is trying to tell me to stop focusing on this project tonight, and start focusing on the precious time I had to spend with my sister.  So, we came home, I put the project up, and we hungout together. 

I feel like lately, the Lord has been stressing to me to spend more time, and focus on some close relationships with people I have in my life.  I have been working like crazy this semester, along with school, and doing so many other things, and not focusing on the important things in life.  I am pretty aware of the valuable things that I have, like my family and friends, because I am such a sentimental person.  Everything that I had when I was a kid, my mom wouldn't dare to throw away or give away because they're going to my children.  I have a close attachment with everything having to do with my family and my childhood.  I can't stand the thought of moving out one day, and being away from my family, because I love them so much and know nothing other than being with them.  Needless to say, I'll be the one, once I get married, where my husband and I will be buying a house within five minutes of my parents! ( ;  I just really appreciate God bringing this to my attention, the fact that I should really invest more time in relationships in my life.  I am so thankful to have such an amazing family, and friends.  My family is a group of awesome people, and I love them to moon and back!  Dueteronomy 26:11 says, "All you should rejoice in all the good that Lord your God has given to you and to your house, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you."  Be thankful for the wonderful things that the Lord has provided you!

God,
Thank you so much for all of the marvelous things in our life that You have provided us with.  Help us to be appreciative of them, and to thank You for them. We love you Lord.
In Your Son's Name,
Amen

Find a Friend

I had the opportunity to catch up with a friend tonight that I care dearly about.  As we sat at dinner together, talking about the Lord working in our lives, I realized myself feeling so refreshed talking about Him with a great friend who loves Him as well.  It was really amazing to find all of the similarities in the areas of our lives that we were struggling with at the same time.  Kind of piggy backing on yesterdays post, everything happens for a reason, and it had just hit me again tonight as we were talking.  God brought us together to be friends for times like these especially, where we could get what was on our minds off with one another.  We could talk about how the Lord was helping us in these certain areas, and how things were going.  It was just great, and it struck me again this week, as it did last week while meeting with a great Christian women whom I just gotten close to, that fellowship with other Christians is so important.  God put these other people in our lives, so that we can go to them and seek out Christ together, to talk with eachother, to mourn, to celebrate, to do whatever.  It is so important to surround yourself with people who are lifting you up in your faith, as my dear friend I met with tonight, reminded me a couple of months ago.  In Hebrews 10:25, it says, "Let us not give up in meeting together, as some others are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  Right in that verse, it stresses that we have got to make it a point to fellowship with other believers, and we can't give up on trying.  Just for example, my friend tonight, and I have been trying to get together for weeks now, but schedules have been conflicting, but hey, we didn't give up, we kept trying, and and we were rewarded with a great evening of fellowship, which I know we were both so appreciative of.  So try and knock out some time this weekend, or in the next week, to fellowship with some believer that you know you should spend some time with.  If you don't know who, pray, pray hard, and ask the Lord to place that specific person on your heart to spend some time with this week. 

Jesus,
Thank You for giving Your life for ours.  We can never repay You.  We ask You to make time in this next week to be able to fellowship with Your people.  Help us figure out that person that You want us to seek out and spend some time with.  We ask that, that time be pleasing to You.  Thank You so much Jesus, and we love You so much.
In Your Name,
Amen

"Good Plan vs. God Plan" - John Sinacori

I was planning to have lunch with a friend of mine today at Panera at 11:45.  I showed up for my 9:30 class this morning, only to find out it was cancelled.  So I figured I would just go straight to Panera and get some things done on my laptop.  Well, I got some scripture reading done in Matthew, but then I just ended up wasting time on Facebook.  Well just around 10, my friend walked in... she said "Oh we must have had the same idea to come here early!"  It was true, we did, so we decided we'd just sit next to eachother and work on our own stuff for a while then talk and eat like we had planned.  Well... that wasn't what God had planned for us.  Within ten minutes of her being there, both of our internets shut off.  The wifi wasn't letting us sign back on.  So.. we both agreed that it probably meant that we were supposed to start talking.  I'm so glad we did, we got to talk for so much longer than we had planned on, and it was such a great talk, getting to know eachother and talking about how the Lord was working in our lives. 
I think it's so funny, and I just love when the Lord does stuff like this.  He completely intevened and set His foot down to let us know how things were really going to go.  I believe that it wasn't just a coincidence that  my class was cancelled this morning and it allowed more time for her and I to talk and get to know eachother.  God was working!  I had told my friend that I didn't know what I was going to blog about today, and then she said... "well the internet not working!"  And that's what got me to thinking... that He had a plan, and it was so great!  I can't say it enough, everything happens for a reason.  God is good to us, and He has such a unique plan for each of us, He knows what we're going to do, before we even start to think about it.  My friend shared a verse with me, that I really loved.  Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."  He's the same, he's always going to love us, always going to be there for us, always going to watch over us, and always going to have a plan for us. 

Lord,
We thank you for the way you work in our lives.  Your ways are so amusing to us, you always have a different way in surprising us.  Continue to remind us that you are in control, you know our plans.  It doesn't matter what we have planned, you can change all of that in a second in order to make your will.  We thank you that you never leave us, and you always have a plan.  We love you Lord.
In Your Son's Name We Pray,
Amen

Who are you going to turn to?

Right now, I'm studying the book of Matthew, it's really amazing to me, because it's so clear on setting guidelines on how to live your life as a follower of Christ.  Today as I was reading Matt 7:7-12 (talks about asking and you receiving), I was thinking about how we "desire" so many things and we don't have a problem talking to our friends, parents, grandparents, bosses, co-workers, teachers, etc. about them.  Usually they're materialistic things, but they could be things like, I want to lose weight, I want to get first place in my tournament this weekend, I want to get all my bills paid by this date.  We're social human beings and we need to be able to talk to someone when issues arise, or we have these desires.  But who should we turn to?  Instead of depending solely on your friends, family, co-workers, etc, we should try depending on God.  Think about it... in verse 7 of chapter 7 in Matthew, he says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  God is saying "talk to Me, I will listen, look for Me, I'll make Myself apparent, call on Me, I'll let you in!  Isn't that awesome!?  We can take anything to Him... ANYTHING!  We should challenge ourselves to make talking to God as easy as it is to talk to others.  Because, the more that we talk to God, the closer we grow to Him, and the closer we grow to Him, the stronger we are.  We can do all things through Christ whom strengthens us!  Talk to God today, ask Him for the strength and skill to win first place in that tournament, or the focus to get your bills paid on time.  Whatever it is you desire, hand it to Him, call on Him to be visible in any situation.  Anytime, any day, anywhere, His line is always open. (:

Lord, I pray that you guide us to call on you.  Make it clear in our lives, that we NEED you, we have to call on you to get through things, and to live this life on Earth.  We love you so much God and we thank you for this opportunity at life, let us shine today!  In Your Son's name, we pray. Amen