Be You and Only You

Ya know how certain foods are packaged in boxes and their boxes say things like, "Real cheese!" or "Real Chocolate!"?  I always think to myself, gosh, well I would hope they use real this or that.  I don't want any artificial, gross, fake stuff!  And then at the other end of the spectrum... where you see foods with things on their boxes like, "Authentic soup," or "Fine Chocolate!"  Well then I think things like, well what makes it so much more special than normal soup or chocolate, or whatever it may be?  And honestly, usually when you take the chance and see if it actually is any different... it's not. 

Kinda like us, huh?  We try to make ourselves better than one another; or maybe we think there is no way we could be as "cool" or as "pretty" as another person.  When the reality is... we're all the same.  We are all human beings, God's children who have the same insecurities, (different, but we all have them) the same struggles, the same dynamics, but we try so hard to be better, finer, more authentic than someone else.  And with this constant competition against one another, there leaves no room, no time, to love and to truly see the beauty of us as human beings, even in our insecurities, our flaws, our bad days.  We need to use our hearts, to love and to be love to one another.  "Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye." -Unknown  I found that quote, and it's so true... it's probably unknown because it's just blatant, obvious, truth!   Kidding, someone probably said it... but like I said it's so blatantly true, that anyone could have figured it out.  We need to use our hearts a little more than our heads sometimes. 

Something God's been teaching me ever so much lately is to be real.  To stop the show, and to start the reality.  Just like our reaction to the "real cheese," it makes you think about why God would want to see us be anything but real. 

Too often, I find myself being someone I'm not... or at least striving to.  I am who I am, and I want to learn to be ok and happy with that.  Let's be real... let's be ourselves... let's use the gifts that God has given us to share, not what He gave someone else.  Don't try to be more of this or more of that.  Be who you are.

I'll end with this quote... it's always been my favorite.  I have no clue who wrote it, I just stole it somewhere a long long time ago when I made my Facebook profile and needed a quote.  Well, it happened to change my heart a lot more than I would have expected, it's simple, and it's this.

"Be yourself, because everyone else is taken."

xo, Carly

Opportunity for Light

I love when I write out an entire blogpost and then just delete it because I realize that it's nothing close to communicating what I wanted to say.  It just happened.  Yepp. I got aggrivated and just deleted it all.  I start talking about something, get on a rant about it and then realized I could care less about what I just said.

With all of the crap happening in the world lately, I really got to thinking about how easy it is to hate the world.  When I was younger, I could never grasp that concept, that in 1 John 2:15, God tells us, "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them."  Don't love the world?  How am I supposed to hate the place I live and have so many great loving friends?  Slowly but surely, I'm learning how simple it truly is to not love this world, and to love my Father in Heaven instead.  With so much evil, it's hard to love this place we call home. 

Kicking it in Starbucks today, I watched some lady park her car... parallel park it.  She messed up one, two, three, maybe four times, and then pretty much just called it quits and left her car all crooked on the street, as she jumped out of her car with prideful pain.  Not like she was proud of what she did, but more of like a "please, I dare someone to say something to me, because I'll kick their butts" proud.  Ya know that one? 

At the same time, there was an very old, sweet, retired Navy man sitting across from me by himself.  A younger man waved to the lady behind him, and not knowing the younger man wasn't waving to him, the old man waved back and looked excited with anticipation in his eyes... only until the younger man walked right past the old man and to the lady.  The awkward pain in his eyes was very obvious as you saw him feel lightly rejected, and could only make your heart ache.

In the same room, in view of the chair I was sitting in, there was a date meet up going on at the bar.  You could very much tell it was an online setup, by hearing things from them like, "you don't seem like you did on the phone...," or "so, how long have you been on the site?"  It seemed painful, for both of them... forceful and just awkward.  The lady kept throwing herself out to the man, asking question after question, and all she got were short answers and then long blank stares out the window, showing the boredom of the man.  Just another hurtful thing to watch.

I'm not done yet... a girl showed up with two or three guys.  She was blatantly not confident in herself, the language and conversation she spoke to these boys was like a knife to my the heart.  She talked about how annoying her mother was and how her father was sending her mean text messages, and lots of other vulgar things.  She basically just ranted and ranted full of pain inside.   

Ok Carly, any good, encouraging stories today?  Well, I've said this before... but the truth hurts, and it's not all butterflies and rainbows in the world.  There's pain, hurt, evil, and it's everywhere.  Sometimes we just refuse to open our  eyes wide enough in order to see it in others.  But it's everywhere, and we can't ignore it.  That's how I undertand not being able to love the world, it's clear and visible everywhere around us, and it's not of God.  It's of the world, and it's sinful nature.  And it gives us that push to be just a little bit more excited to accomplish the mission Jesus gave us. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19  That's our mission... and (sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but we need a reality check) I'll throw out this one... are we doing that?  To our full ability?  I'm absolutely not, I don't know about you.  I can tell you the days that I'm laying on the couch being lazy, watching Netflix all day... there are so many more glorifying actions I could be taking in order to "go and make disciples of all nations."  I want to leave you with that thought today. 

What can we be doing to fufill our mission instead of just sitting around and being a spectator to all of the evil, hurt, and just down right pain in the world?  "I can do all things through Him (Jesus Christ), who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13  He will give you strength to get yourself off the couch and go make disciples of all nations.  Translation.  Only He can help us go tell people about Him.  Spend time with Him + spending time with His people = He pours out of you and into them. 
Easy as that... let's go tell people about Jesus.  Let's make the light of Jesus brighter than the darkness.

xo, Carly

Slapping Me to See Peace

So, I'm doing some digging into the Advent season.  I've never really understood Advent, or its purpose, and I decided I wouldn't go another year without some knowledge about it.  But it's gone far past knowledge of the topic.  It's teaching me so much and blessing my heart.  I'm doing a daily study on the iPhone bible app "You Version" and also an awesome John Piper daily Christmas countdown app that a friend suggested to me.

What I'm learning- Advent is time to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Each day, I've been able to be challenged spiritually and mentally.  I've been able to see how Good and Faithful our God is to us, and how excited we should be for the celebration of His birth.  Honestly, for the first Christmas ever, I'm actually excited... not for the gifts, food, and party's... but for the celebration each day to learn of the Day of birth of our sweet, sweet Savior.

Today's devotion really slapped me in the face, and I have to share.  It started off by sharing a journal entry from a French battlefield during World War I on Christmas Eve.  It went on in a retelling of how the Germans were singing Christmas songs like, "Silent Night" and "The First Noel," when all of the sudden the British troops began to retaliate, but not with violence, but with singing along with the enemy!  The cool thing that followed this, was the fact that these two opposing nations were singing the same Christmas Carol in the middle of a fierce war and that they were greeting each other in no mans land wishing each other a Merry Christmas.  When I first read that, it was kind of just a feel good story... and then the slapper question followed.  "Who do you need to make peace with this season?"  Two opposing nations at WAR managed to make peace with each other? Why can't we? Why can't I?

Sure, we hear and know we should create peace with all people... the "silly" answer you always hear about wanting world peace... but do we actually do it?  Is it so hard?  I think it is, if we expect the whole world to just become peaceful like that... I also think that's crazy.  But I think it would be much more practical and realistic, if we all just stepped up and took the initiative to create peace... personally.   Do I personally try and create peace between those I don't have peace with? I don't... not for all people at least.  I then, read some scripture going along with this, and it was just the double slap on top of the original slap.  Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought US peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." "

I think about the stupid, stupid things that create the mess I have against some people... how simple and dumb they are.  And then I think about what my Savior did to create peace for me.  Being tortured, nailed to a cross, and crucified, for me.  He created that peace, and I pretty much just walk all over it.  Is that a slap in the face or what?  So I'm going to do something, so that I can walk away from the mess I hold with people and have the opportunity to grow closer to my Savior through it.  I've decided during this Advent season to write letters, notes, whatever fits to the people that I owe peace to.  Sounds maybe corny... but this verse has been running through my mind and it's so true, and is convicting me to do this.  "Live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you." 2 Corinthians 13:11.

Maybe this is something you want to think about doing this season too.  Not because I'm suggesting it, but because it could give you an opportunity to be closer to your God.  Let's live in peace.

I challenge you to really dig into Advent this year too... do it now, act and receive so many blessings.  He has so much to share with us.

xo, Carly      

Overrated Words and Thoughts

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." -Henry Ford

We cannot come close to counting the number of times we say "I am going to do something" and then never do it.  There's the small things... like saying I'll go to the gym, I'll do my laundry, I'll call my friend, and there's the a little bit bigger things... like saying I'll prepare that lesson for you, I'll pray about that, or I'll tell that person about this or that at some point.  We speak, and so often (too often) forget to act.  It doesn't seem like a big deal after forgetting to act, until we start to think through the possible results of our non-action. 

I said the other day, our actions can and do affect others... and I think this is a perfect follow up to that.  Hear me out, I am preaching to myself on this as well, not to just my readers... absolutely not.  I am so guilty of this issue, and so frustrated by it's reoccurring problem in my life!  But again, I have to take action before it can be fixed.

Yes, the little ones definitely have effects but I wanna go in hard and hit the "a little bit bigger things."  Sometimes we just need a big slap in the face.  Chew on this scenario...(which for me is something I watch occur everyday in myself) you're reading twitter, Facebook, your e-mail, a blog, or however you keep up with the latest 'what's going on news.'  You come across a prayer request of some sort, a plea for prayer... someones in the hospital, a friend is going through a rough time, there's a disaster, whatever it may be.  You may(or may not) stop, let it seep in for a second, think about it... and then what?  Do you stop and pray?... or Do you keep on scrolling and put that on your "mental" to-do list (which you know doesn't exist/work because of the hundreds of other things you've put on there and have failed to do)?  I'll tell you what I do... I throw that prayer right up to my "mental to-do list!"

Why don't we stop and act? Why do we just scroll on through life... oh, so we can sit there and be bored with all the dramatic e-mails we're receiving?  Or it must be the trashy tweets that come up on our twitter?  Or oh, maybe it's the live drama we can watch happen as two people argue back and forth over "comments" on Facebook?  Stop. And think about this, can you agree with the next statement I am about to say? I, am one hundred percent, so guilty of this, and it's shameful to say.

Just thinking about that... brings me back to my overall point.  As I sit here and read that last paragraph of the perfect example of what I personally do everyday, I am already making mental "to-do" list things.  And honestly, that's a burden.  I want to change that... I want to act.

Check this out... 1 John 3:18-20 says, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set out hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than out hearts, and he knows everything."

Let us not love with words or tongue,(or mental to-do lists) but with ACTIONS and truth.  Think about that today, and pray about it. Honestly pray about.  Let's ACT in love all together.
Don't let your reputation be about what you're going to do, but do so that you may have a reputation.

xo, Carly

 

Park and Give

I was sitting in Starbucks today, just people watching… a norm of mine, and I was paying attention to different "things" that everyone was doing.  All I could think was… people are so unique.  Every one of our minds is thinking about a certain thing… and most likely they are all different things.  How will I make it to work on time?  What if I don't pass my final?  Do I have anything better to be doing?  Why am I here?  All these questions, and thoughts running through our brains and our hearts.  I love the people who sit by themselves and are in probably the worst mood and then you smile at them, and they look at you like you might have six heads and may have just come from a strange alien planet.  I get that a lot.  To most people, it would probably tick them off, and they'd snap and say something like, "Wow, I was just trying to be nice, what a jerk."  That was totally, one hundred percent me, but now I've learned and been called to look at it a little differently and just laugh.  After I get that strange look, I can't help but think, what on earth is on their mind?  What's happening in their heart?  And I love it, because I know that it challenges me and makes me step outside my comfort zone and think about their heart, instead of me.  Instead of quickly putting all of the attention back on me, suddenly I have the opportunity to step into their shoes and see their heart.

It gives us a first hand chance to give the gift of grace.  It gives us the chance to shut our mouths, park our egos, and give.  We're so wrapped up in ourselves, and we forget that there are other people that are going through things in their lives too. I heard it the best way when I was in high school and we had a man come and speak to our Mentor Group.  He said, "You never know what is in someone's backpack."  We all are carrying backpacks… full of so many different things.  Anger.  Depression.  Hurt.  Heartbreak.  Bullying.  Abuse.  We don't have the ability of knowing ahead of time what's in someones backpack.  It's the same as the old saying that we all know, "Put yourself in someone else's shoes."  We don't do it though, because we're too worried about our own shoes.  I love a specific lyric in the song Forgiveness, by Matthew West… it says, "Even when the jury and judge say you gotta right to hold a grudge, it's the whisper in your ear saying, set it free."  That's grace.  Giving a gift that is undeserved.

Jesus Christ is the ultimate image of grace.  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-" Ephesians 2:8  We don't and never will DESERVE to be saved… it is a gift.  It's grace.  Give to others, as He has given to us.  If he has grace on our messed up, disobedient, heartbreaking lives towards Him, we should be more than willing and desire to give grace to others around us for the most minuscule and ridiculously little things (or the huge) that others do to us.

We all have a role in each others lives, whether we know it or not.  I read a daily quote now, and today's quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne said, "Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important, in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not."  We never know what kind of role that we can play in someone else's life.  Just when you think there's no way you could do any good for someone, you may be doing the most.  And just the opposite, when you think there is no way you can learn something or get something from someone, you may be receiving the most.  Our unique creator uses us in very mysterious ways, and when we look back and observe how He played something out, sometimes all we can say is wow.

I challenge you to this… next time someone cuts you off on the road, says something rude to you, doesn't hold a door for you, or just does something that really rubs you the wrong way… stop, park your ego, step into their shoes, or put on their backpack and have grace.

God, thank you so much for having unfathomable grace towards us.  Let us and show us how to have grace towards others. In Your Sons Precious Name, Amen.

xo, Carly

Trust. Do it.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

That's what I want to leave you all with tonight. Trust Him, think about this and really truly pray and meditate on what that means... to trust Him with everything.

Breathe Love

The other morning, I read this devotional by John North about the air that we are taking in. It was the coolest symbolism for referring to what influences our lives. He talked about whether the air that we were breathing was contaminating us or whether it was refreshing for us. After I really thought about it for a while, I got to really considering why I allow contaminated air in me. Now just to clarify, no, I am not actually referring to the air quality, I'll leave that up to the environmentalists. I'm referring to the influences that I allow to affect and act on my behalf.

The contaminated air... the stuff that gets me thinking negatively, the stuff that makes me feel so angry, the stuff that leads me to be discouraging to others.
The refreshing air... the sightings of beauty, the uplifting people in my life, the overwhelmingly encouraging words from the Lord.

Now, to enhance the mental image of breathing in the contaminated and refreshing air, I want to let you "consider the following." (: Let's talk about an obvious and popular topic, cigarettes. We have a choice to put that contaminated matter into our bodies, we have a choice to breathe in that smoke, knowing that it will do damage to our bodies. We also have the choice to not put that contaminated matter into our bodies, and to choose to breathe refreshing air, knowing that we won't be doing any damage to our bodies.

To wrap up all my rambling... we have a choice to allow or not allow contaminated air into our lives, and we have the opportunity to welcome or not welcome refreshing air. I for one, like refreshing air, there's nothing I love more than rolling down every window in my car in the springtime and just taking in that amazingly refreshing air. I want to welcome uplifting, positive, and encouraging things in my life, that refreshinga air. I also want to choose to not allow negativity, anger, and discouragement to linger in me and fill my lungs with that contaminating air. How do I do this though? I would like to propose this one word, which I believe is thrown around and has such a deeper meaning than what we take it to represent. Love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 says, "Do everything in love." If we use love in every circumstance, we can breath clearly. Just take some time today and think about how this is the answer, you might be surprised.

Pandora God

I often wish that I had this never ending Pandora or Spotify playlist playing in my head.  Why? I guess I'm just silly like that, but I'm sure there's someone out there that wishes that too... I think that it's because when I listen to music that is uplifting and just so encouraging, I want to be surrounded by it... all of the time.  Hey guess what I forget though... there's this guy named Jesus Christ, and if you have Him in your heart, you are surrounded by that uplifting and encouraging feeling in your heart.  When I remember this, I can't help but smile... there's a God who loves ME. A savior who came and gave up His life for me.  A Creator, that designed the entire world and thought of me.  How can you not be surrounded by encouragement after hearing that?  I don't think we are reminded of this or realize this nearly often enough.  We don't give our Lord the credit He deserves... we're incapable of doing that, but we can try our best.  And unfortunately, I don't even do that... I don't even try sometimes.  Those times when we have the choice to do this... but do that instead.  Those times when we hear that voice pushing us that way, but we go the other.  But He loves us and continues to encourage us and push us towards Him anyways.  It's unfathomable.  That word, it gives me chills... unfathomable: not capable of being fathomed.  Fathom: comprehension.  His love is completely out of our comprehension.  We can't wrap our heads around it, it's impossible.  He's that big, and when we invite Him to be a constant part of our lives and ask Him to "surround" Himself around us... He will... and happily will. 
I always catch myself saying... "Oh if I did this, my relationship with the Lord would be better, closer." I'm usually referring to worldly things though... like, "Oh if I had this devotional, or if I knew how to play guitar, or if I had this place to pray, or if I had a quiet time routine."  But I don't realize quick enough, that I don't need any of that... I need Him. I need His constant presence. I need all of Him, around all of me, all of the time. 
Allow, invite, ask God to be your Pandora or Spotify playlist.  LET Him have that constant surrounding protection and presence in your life... today.

Reflect on His gifts

I was reflecting this morning on how much my life has changed in the last year.  The crazy amount of new people I have met- the people that are challenging me, the people that I am mentoring, the people who are closest to me.  It's an amazing thing to think about, that God placed each and every one of them in my life for a purpose.  Even cooler to think about the fact that we try to figure out what the purpose is for them in our lives, but I think we will never cease to be amazed by the numerous purposes they will have in our lives.  
About a year ago I started praying for the Lord to challenge me in new ways.  I constantly doubted my knowledge of the Lords Word and my knowledge of how to teach others.  Well... He soon slammed a lot of those answers in my face.  I was meeting so many people whom had these extremely differn't opinions and thoughts about Christianity than I had ever learned.  The more I thought about what I had heard, I knew they couldn't be true.  These teachings just didn't seem like things Jesus would do and teach, and didn't seem like ways the Lord would want us to be living, and just didn't sound glorifying to Him.  I soon learned after seeking after the Lord, that I had been hearing numerous false teachings, and then from that using His Word to learn the real truths.  I have grown so much in my knowledge of Him just in the last year, and I know that was answered prayer to my asking for Him to challenge me. 
I love spending time reflecting on what He has done in my life, the gifts that He has provided me with, it's glorifying to Him.  Spend some time today just praising Him for the things He has done in your life, whether it be that He has put certain people in your life, put you in new situations, taught you new things, brought you peace... whatever it has been, give Him praise.  Give and you will receive from Him.

Psalm 147:1- "Praise the Lord.  How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!"

Opening a closed door

Wow, it's been a long time since I last wrote, but I'm so excited to get back into the rhythm of it, it's a passion of mine that I long to share!

God has been present and so good. And when I say good, I don't mean, the robotic, "I'm good, how are you?" I mean, He has been GOOD. So good, and all of the time. I love listening, just sitting, thinking, and listening to what He has me processing. I lose track of the things I hear, because He speaks so well and so much. No, I'm not hearing a little man speaking into my ear the truths and wisdom of life, I'm experiencing what He has for me. I'm listening and hearing Him through my actions and responses. It's mind boggling to me, the simplicity of how it sounds, but the magnitude of what it means.
Ah, but the tough spots have come often and harshly lately, and still through these trials, I am learning so much from my Good God. Doors have opened, and many doors have closed. But I am so proud and comforted by being able to say, I know my Good God will get me through! I truly believe that, and it's just another simplistic sentence, but has such strong depth. Trusting Him... it's so hard, please hear me out, it is not easy. It's something for me that I have come to learn after long, harsh, painful, yet exciting experiences He has put me through. But without a doubt, listen up, it has (and that is trusting Him) brought me nothing but complete JOY. I can't stress that enough, He brings me joy, end of story. He is the reason I am able to love, in which love brings so much more to the plate in my life. It opens a door, a door that was closed in my meaningless, dark, loveless life before Christ. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." I can have life to the full! The full, to love, to laugh, to glorify, to speak, to fellowship, to do all these things in the Name of The Lord. I have the blessing of being able to say... He is mine, and I am His.
And so are you. Open the door, it's not supposed to be closed, open it so that the Light can shine in.

xo, carly

Be Still

Not knowing what I'm going to do when I have things to do drives me crazy! On the other hand I can't stand having a plan when I have nothing to do! The Lord is teaching me a lot about patience and being confident in His great power. I have found myself lately wanting to know exactly what I'm going to be doing for Him next. But I've been finding Him saying, "Be still and know that I am God." That references Psalm 46:10, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth." God isn't going to let us see clear every stone in our path that we will step on, but we can trust that He will guide us. Something I have been thinking a lot about, standing still in God and knowing who He is. What on earth does that mean and how do I do it? Be still- stop the hustle bustle of your life and stop and be with the Lord. "Know that I am God"- worship and meditate on who our creator is, realize the unfathomable being that our Lord is, know that there is no one like Him and the crazy amount of love for us He has. We serve a Lord who is greater than all, He has amazing love, grace, and mercy, He is creator and destroyer, He is the beginning and the end, He is our Lord and Savior. I shall be still in the Lord and know that He is God.

He's there: EVERYWHERE

I nanny and I nannied a family recently for the week. So the kids had to get used to the fact that KLOVE was the only radio station that I played. So one day in the middle of the week one of the little girls said, "hey Carly I like that song Oh Sliver!" and I'm thinking to myself what the heck is that?? So I told her I'd tried to figure out what it was and a day or two passed. "Oh Sliver" came on the radio and she got SO excited. I busted with excitement when I found out the Oh Sliver song she loved so much was really called "What a Savior" by Laura's Story! My little one knew most of the words and she was BELTING them out, not caring what anyone thought! It brought tears of joy to my eyes. I explained to her what she was singing and sure she may not have understood but maybe she did and how cool is it that she'll probably be singing that around her friends now. AND the coolest part, she was glorifying God by loudly busting this song and she may have not even known. God is SO good. And cool. And awesome. And amazing. And jaw dropping. And unfathomable. He's OUR savior. How blessed are we? Incredibly. I always say this but it's true, I'm blown away by the things our God does for us to show us He IS present in our lives even in the times where we feel like we're carrying the wait of the world. HE IS THERE! HE'S EVERYWHERE (:
Praise Him for that today! Just take a couple minutes, take a walk, a drive,whatever! Just do it, praise Him for who He is!

Beauty

God made a BEAUTIFUL day today in Virginia Beach! I nanny and right now Im walking down the street with the stroller in amazement of what a beautiful day it turned out to be! When I got up and went to class today it was FREEZING but what a complete 180 it has made! Ya know when you walk outside you usually hear a couple lawn mowers and just all that background noise of work being done? It's silent today, all I can hear is the swaying trees with the light wind and my footsteps on the road! How peaceful right? It's a gift, I wouldn't think twice not to call it that! Whether it lasts just a few minutes or a couple of hours, I will cherish it! "Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar." (4Isaiah 33:17 NIV) That verse in my opinion explains this day. I can see our Gods greatness in viewing the creation of lands in which he has made.

God,
Let us stop and enjoy your beauty today! You have created an amazing world for us, give us the opportunity to fully appreciate it!
In Your Sons Awesome Name!
Amen

Have a spectacular day (:

PRAYse be to God!

So I am continuing to be amazed by God. I truly don't know if there is anything better than getting confirmation from the Lord about something you have been continually praying about. He's so good and shocks me with the plans He has. I have learned recently how much I absolutely love to pray! It is so cool that we have a way of communicating with our creator! Anytime I get the chance I just love to sit (preferably by the water) and just talk to God, pray about struggles, ask for advice and just praise Him for His presence in my life! It's blows my mind how He responds! For anyone who says prayer doesn't work, I beg to differ! (: Praise be to God today for He is awesome!

Set a fire in my heart!

Those six words can sum up how amazing last night and today have been. I've been at Acquire the Fire with my church youth group, but I've been able to experience it from the "adult" perspective! Being able to watch the younger girls and guys just worship with all they have has been simply incredible. I have also met some incredible people, whom God has so smoothly put into my life. How wonderful are Gods plans to intertwine all of us into each others paths. This weekend has been also very spiritually renewing to me, and in a few different ways! Worshipping with my full heart just putting away everything around me and completely focusing on God. I've had this feeling in the pit of my stomach all day long (holy spirit!) that's just been making me SO happy. I've talked to a couple people who have just been encouraging me with what I have been facing lately and I'm so thankful God provided those people to advise me! Lastly the messages in which are being spoken to the whole group are incredibly perfect timing for me! And the neatest thing is hearing how those messages were perfect for someone else and me at the same thing referring to two different things! I know that God so purposely planned for me to be put on this trip after not thinking I would be able to because of conflict of work or not being able to afford it, but God provided and I feel so blessed to be here this weekend! Romans 5:8 says "but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That sums up this weekend, just experiencing the grace of Jesus Christ.

Why worry?

Why on Earth do we worry so much? Truthfully it's an insult to God because we're so obsessed with controlling our own lives! We have got to get it through our heads that God has COMPLETE CONTROL, no matter what we do our way, Gods WILL will always beat it! This verse always makes me stop and think STOP WORRYING! ..."Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34 NIV) God says it straight up... today already has too much trouble, so why add any?? Instead of worrying, push all of it on God and LEAN on Him, He will scoop up your worries and comfort you, heal you, guide you, speak to you. Whatever it is, God will come through! Yes, much more simple said than done! But I challenge us to turn to God when we catch ourselves starting to worry, this week. See where God takes you.

Countless People Who Care

As I have been freaking out studying this last week about my first anatomy and physiology quiz, God has showed me so much. My best friend Rachel, gave me a new bible study devotional to do that she did, and through doing it the last couple of days, I have seen God showing me exactly what I have been learning. The theme is leaving everything behind and simply leaning on God but the book started out with a lesson in Philippians talking about having strong faith and knowing that God has put people in your life that are praying for you and care so much about your journey with the Him. And I have to tell you in these last couple of days through my worries about my quiz, God has showed me many people who are praying for me and care dearly for me. And i even got a text from my best friends mom this morning that had 2 Timothy 1:3 in it, which says, "I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers." Coincidence? I don't think so. And then my friend sent his daily bible verse to me today and it said, "Consider it PURE JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the TESTING of your FAITH develops PERSEVERANCE." James 1:2-3 That was no coincidental verse to be sent to me either. Studying for this quiz has been quite a "trial" for me and I sure have felt my faith tested. I thank Gid so much for being present in my life!

Inspiration

Do you ever get an inspiration to do something and want to immediately do it? It's happened to me so much recently, and I think God's using it to teach me to pray! Instead of just jumping on it, I've been learning how important it is to spend time In prayer asking the Lord of it is His will first! It's so important to make sure you are doing something because it's pleasing to God and not do it just because you want to and it pleases you! Think about that, and what a difference we would make in our lives if we took everything to God first. Matthew 7:8 says, "For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." From now on join me in seeking God when we have inspiration, talk to Him, ask Him to talk to you and guide you! He will.

Judgement

Wow, have I been struggling with that nine letter word. Judgement, according to dictionary.com means: a decision as in a court of law. How many times do you look at someone and judge them right of the back each day? I can tell you I do, countlessly!! It's sad, but it's just one of the infinite things we can thank Jesus for forgiving when He died for us! I am obsessed with stumble upon, for those of you who don't know, it's a wacky website that takes you to random web pages. Well today when I was stumbling, I came across this quote from C.S. Lewis, "It is not for us to say who, in the deepest sense, is or is not close to the spirit of Christ. We do not see into men's hearts. We cannot judge, and indeed are forbidden to judge. It would be wicked arrogance for us to say any man is, or is not, a Christian in this refined sense." That literally hit me in the face and made me think about what exactly I'm doing when I judge someone. I challenge you to read these verses today, or as soon as you can; I'm not going to type the verse out because I want you to be able to read them and challenge yourself for the day not to judge people! Just try, ask God for His help in having you do so! The verses are: John 7:24, John 8:15. Please email me if you can find any good verses pertaining to judgement as well, this is something really going to take seriously about challenging myself with!

Where's your heart?

The message today in my email devotional was about pushing or pulling someone. If you are pushing someone to do something that you are doing because YOU want them to do it, then where does that put their motive to do it? They're simply doing it because you want them to and not because they truly want to do it. If you continue to do it and just exemplify it, then if that person is interested they will make it their motive to do it. I've noticed this myself in a situation recently. If I push my bible study girls to memorize a verse because I think they should know it, what good does that do them if it doesn't mean a thing to them? Instead I will exemplify how a certain verse helped me in a certain way in my life and they will be drawn to it by their own motivation. I believe the same goes for a parent who pushes and pushes their child to go to a certain school they want them to go to rather than encourage their own interests for something different. My simple point to all of this is that we all should stop and ask ourselves where our heart is when WE do something, or when we push SOMEONE else to do something. Is it what is really right?... Or is it what we think is right?
Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Seek God with ALL of your heart and trust what He tells you and guides you to do! Do things with the right heart and truly believe it is what God wants you to do!

Lord, let us be true to You. Let us trust You and do things with the right heart and a heart for you. We thank You so much for listening to us when we seek You. We love You.
In Your Sons Name,
Amen!