Putting God first.

Sometimes in my Christian life I feel like I'm playing dress up. We all remember opening up that big trunk full of dress up clothes of every kind and pick and choosing the one we wanted. And then changing half a million times throughout the day. Having just one outfit was never enough. We would have to have multiple choices, never content with just wearing one. And with each outfit came a different personality, a different game…a different me. Of course, our own personalities would show but wear the cowboy outfit, be the cowboy. In a way, playing dress up was like trying to figure out what you truly wanted to be, and pretending to be that person.

God is a jealous God. He doesn't play second fiddle. He wants our best, deserves our best, but He also demands our best. He wants to be number one; He doesn't want a halfhearted love. Sometimes, in our Christian walk we will pick and choose whether God is number one or just somewhere else down the list. God should be the first outfit we pull out, and we shouldn't let the others overtake Him. If everything in our lives goes before God, God wouldn't be able to fit into our lives. God should own our hearts, not just be shoved into a corner of our hearts to pull out when we need it. It says in Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god." If God goes first, then everything else in our lives that we love will fit. The only way to have a comfortable life is if we give God a comfortable and worthy place in our hearts. If we get into the mindset that one God is not enough, our lives won't truly be filled with joy and peace. God should be and is enough. Francis Chan said in his book Crazy Love, that "while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want him most of the time." We desperately need God to guide us and love us only as He could. But we often choose to just pick "another outfit". Do we ever stop and think about how that makes God feel? He is the creator of the universe, He created us and we often to choose to willingly put him aside for something more "exciting".

 God didn't have to fill the world with sinners. God would be quite content all by himself, alone in His glory but he chose to create us and live among us. He also chose to save us his only son as the sacrifice that we ourselves actually deserved. God is patient, He is kind. He always trusts, always protects, always hopes, and always perseveres. He never fails. God is love! Even when we fail Him daily, He is always full of grace and forgiveness. We all make mistakes, we're humans but god has grace for those mistakes. He knows we will fail, but He will be right there to catch us. God needs nothing from us but we need so much from Him. However, he gave us life. God doesn't take away life; He gives life to those who want it. Even if our lives don't look exactly how we want them to look, God is in charge. He knows our yesterdays, our todays and our tomorrows. We can trust him and if we give Him number one place in our hearts and hand over the reins, He will work wonders. Our lives are the way God planned them; He knows what will happen. Give God control today; let Him do what He wants in our lives. I can guarantee we will be amazed by the miracles and wonders that will come from it. Don't give up on God, because He will never give up on you. He wants the best for us; lets try to give the best to Him. Don't play dress up with your life; don't pretend to be someone you're not. Let God be your number one.

God Bless

True love isn't easy, but its safe.

We fail God everyday. A day doesn't go by where we don't sin in some way. Why does God continue to love and care for us. Why does he stick around? He sticks around because even with all our failures and shortcomings, we are his children. We are sons and daughters of God, and he will never let us go. He cares too much; he's put so much into us. We could never in our wildest dreams, ever come close to loving and caring as only he does. Jesus died on that cross, he was beaten and bruised for US, because he loves us, because he wants to be with us. Jesus came to the Earth as a man. He knows the struggles and temptations out there. But he never sinned, he never gave in, he kept his eyes on his Father, kept his heart pure. That's the key, to keep our eyes and hearts on our father in Heaven. That will help us focus not on our sinful nature but on Gods ever-present love and forgiveness. We are meant to be with God in Heaven, that's his plan but we have to keep our eyes on him and him alone.

If we ever tried to love like God does, I have a feeling our hearts would pop. We aren't physically able to love to that amount. But spiritually, through God with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to love as He does. We are able to show Jesus to other people, to be a light. Jesus didn’t say it would be easy, actually he said it would be difficult, it says in Luke 9:23,”Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Taking up our cross isn’t easy, that isn’t something that Jesus would tell us just to make our lives easier. But it isn’t about making our lives easier; it’s about living for God to the fullest that we can. God hasn’t promised us an easy journey in life but he did promise to provide us with a safe journey. Having struggles are part of the package, we gain character by them and turn into true sons and daughters of God. God doesn’t want to leave us, but I think he also doesn’t want to baby us. That’s why he gave Adam and Eve a choice in the Garden of Eden, he wants us to choose to love him, choose to live life with him. He’s still with us every step of the way, but he also gives us the choice. And if we choose to love him, and love him completely the struggles in our lives won’t seem as hard as they did before.

“God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.” -Max Lucado

God Bless <3 <3

Live your Life.

Waiting for something to start or begin can be one of the most annoying things. Especially when you're excited. However, in almost every aspect of life there is waiting involved. Waiting to grow up, waiting to drive, waiting to be done school, waiting to be married, waiting to have children, waiting, waiting...waiting. Sometimes we concentrate so much on the waiting, on the looking forward to what's ahead that we can often forget what is right in front of us, in that moment. We forget that every day we have a life to live, when more often then not, we're looking ahead to what's next. I am especially guilty of this with wanting to get married and have kids and get on with my life. But my mum always told me that I'm wasting my life away, that I should just enjoying being where I am. Most of the time I ignored that, but looking back I should have heeded it more because life would have been so much better if i had just looked to the next day rather then the next year or next 5 years. :P

Sometimes I get to wondering if Jesus ever thought about waiting. If he ever thought about what would begin to happen when he turned 30. His ministry didn't start until he was 30, and until then he just lived his life. Did he ever want to do just hurry it up and get to it?? Probably, but not in the way we would. He might have been waiting to begin telling people about his Father and how they could be saved. The bible doesn't tell us much on what Jesus did before he turned 30 but it does say that he lived for his Father. He obeyed and had a relationship with his heavenly father even here on earth. Jesus was perfect, he had no flaws. So we know that he didn't just sit around and mope waiting for his ministry to start. Now, we can't ever be perfect but we can live our lives the way God made for us to live them. God doesn't want us to just sit around and wish our lives away, he wants us to live our lives to the fullest, day by day. And to live for Him! Even though sometimes, speeding it up seems so much better, but it isn't. Cause then we miss things, we miss moments in our lives that might have been great moments. Life was made for us to LIVE it, to take every moment and treasure it. Not fast forward through it, and pause and play it when we want to. So next time you want to just want to skip ahead to the next chapter, slow down and live the life that has been set for you. God is with us every step of the way, and when we sometimes need to wait for the next chapter to begin, he is waiting right there with us. Cause its not what we DO in life that defines us... it's how we LIVE.

"Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cuz it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live"
How you live - Point of Grace

Never Alone

I have always thought that walking with someone is so much better then walking alone. You have someone to talk to, someone to laugh with, and someone to just share the silence with. It’s one of those things that just changes the way you see a walk. Have you ever walked alone? The silence seems so much louder; all you can hear is the crunch of your shoes against the pavement. Have you ever looked up to the sky in those moments, seen the birds flying, clouds moving, and sun making patterns across the blue sky. The other day I was walking and yes, I was alone. But then I thought, I choose to be alone. God is right beside me, it’s my choice to let the silence take over, to let my selfish thoughts consume me. God is always there, why don’t we always let him in?

God wants a relationship with us. He yearns to get near us. However, it seems more often than not, we’d rather figure things out by ourselves. We want to show that we can be strong. Walking with God, talking with him is essential with our journey with him. Without having that relationship, we’ll not get anywhere. We’ll just move around and around, instead of moving towards him. And if we keep moving around and around, we’ll lose sight of God and begin to backslide. Max Lucado said, “Your walk with God is essential. His heart is not seen in an occasional chat or weekly visit. We learn his will as we take up residence in his house every single day.” Talking to God, spending time with him, just when you feel like it just isn’t enough. That’s not going to give a good base for your relationship with him. He wants us to devout our time to him, talk with him all the time. What’s amazing is that he’ll talk back, because he wants to spend time with us. He wants to give us wisdom and knowledge and he wants to help us in our everyday life.

Sometime, I think we don’t get the importance of relationships. Because of our world today, relationships are taken so lightly, the amounts of separations, divorces, and break ups are huge. However, God will never separate himself from us, he will never “break up” with us; God is forever. Hebrews 13:5 says, “(…) God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” You know the saying, “never say never”, well God says never. And he promises us that that he will never leave us. So next time you’re out walking and you’re alone, think about this, God is walking right beside you. He wants you to spend time with him, to talk with him. So next time you’re out walking, you’ll never be alone. Yes, I said it…I said never. :)

God Bless <3 <3

Father, I am clay in your hands.

"Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,
Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be."

We are Gods creation, created in his image. He molds us and shows us the way to go. He wants people to see Jesus through us, for us to be an image of him! And we need to stay like that throughout all life’s demands, no matter what. He is taking care of us, no matter what. He has got us in his arms. People will come and they will try to pull us away, pull us to things that seem better, or more "fun". They will try to change us, and try to show us things and yes, might look better but in reality are death. They will pull at everything we are, everything we want to be. Try to change us, try to change Jesus in us.

"I don't want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul"

If we gain the whole world and everything in it, riches, fame, good looks, all the materialistic things in life, they still won’t satisfy. They won’t give you what we are looking for, they won’t satisfy the hunger. Why does it seem so tempting to us, when we lose our soul through it? Taking a bite from the worlds feast, isn’t going to help with our walk, it will make it worse. God wants us to be different, to step out, and to be him in this world. It’s a hard thing to do, but you see when we've got Jesus on our side and in us, it’s easier to portray him. Gods not there to hold us back, not there to not let us have fun. It says in John 1:10, "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him." We are not supposed to be OF this world, yes we are IN it, but we are set apart. We are Gods children; we are the outsiders, showing Jesus through us. We are clay in our Fathers hands, and we rely on him to give us strength to close our eyes to the evil in this world, for we are supposed to be IN this world, not OF it. God loves us, he won’t let us fail.

" Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,
That fight for our love, and our passion."
God should be the only one consumed by our love and passion. He's worth it!

God Bless ♥♥
Toby Mac "Lose My Soul"

Staying Strong for Jesus!

If someone held a gun to your head and said "I’ll kill you if you say you’re a believer of Jesus Christ". What would you say? Would you deny God and save your life? Or would you take the bullet and die for your faith? Be really honest with yourself, would you stand up for your faith? Would you stay strong for Jesus?

Mark 8:38 says "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Ouch, that’s a pretty strong passage. When we push aside the fact that we know Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, He will push aside the fact that he knows us. That’s not something to be taken lightly. Right now I'm at school at Miles Mac and every day is a battle. There are constantly people who are fighting against Jesus and saying things that I don’t believe in. And sometimes I feel tempted to agree, just to fit in. But then I think back to that verse, and what it means. Even though it might seem like such a small things, as in fitting in. When really, it’s more than that, its keeping hold of that promise I have in Jesus Christ, that he will give me the strength I need to continue. When I push that aside, when I just push Jesus aside, I also push that strength that I’m getting from him aside. And it’s not worth it.

Going half way isn’t an option. Saying that we are Christians and then in our own time denying it, is just showing what hypocrites we are. Why go through that? When we feel tired, or beat, or just feel like we can’t continue, we need to refocus our eyes on Jesus. Keep the end goal in sight, heaven. It’s all worth it, all this struggle and strife is all worth it. We get to go to heaven and live with Jesus, be at his feet. That’s amazing! So when we feel like giving up and giving up the race because its "easy", look towards the end. God has great things for every one of his children and he does not want to let anyone of us go. He loves us too much.

God Bless!♥♥

God is life.

"Just going to stand there and watch me cry, but that’s alright because i like the way you lie, like the way you lie.”
Sin is fun. For a season, like c’mon you can do anything you want with no guilt at that moment. It feels good, fun, and enjoyable, kind of like you’re free. We don’t see the harm, the guilt that will arrive, as we are sinning. The devil loves sin, “sin all you want, but when you’re sick of it, I wont be helping you get out of it.” I’m sure that’s one of his sayings, because he loves to give us situations or places that we can sin in, and then not help us out at all, he traps us. And he will stand there and watch us cry, suffer, and call out for help. Also, in a way we like the way he lies to us. Because he makes it look good and inviting. He butters it up nicely, making it look fun. He lies through his teeth and we don’t see it, because in that time, we are having fun. It’s kind of like putting loads of dressing on veggies; veggies are healthy and then you put dressing on it and it suddenly becomes fattening and loaded with carbs. But, oh man does it not taste good? However the aftermath isn’t so sweet, we find ourselves wishing we had taken just the plain, healthy veggies, rather then the veggies that just “taste” good.

God is the opposite of the devil, just like the good guys are opposite of the bad guys, duh. He takes stuff that is good and makes it better. He adds better stuff to it, and it is still good. And the aftermath is just as good and rewarding. Sometimes the going might get tough and it will take discipline to keep on track but the end result is magnificent. God doesn’t want to destroy us, he wants to revive us. And it is a pleasure for him to do so. He loves to pick us up and dust us off and help us continue on the path he has chosen. When the going gets tough, he doesn’t just watch us cry, he comes in and wipes away our tears, gives us a hug and whispers to us how much he loves us. And God does not lie; he is honest with us, telling us what we need to hear, firmly but lovingly. And although it might be tough he does it with love; always ready to support us and stop the devil from trying to destroy us with his buttered up lies, because God wants us to prosper and to live and love. He has given us life but he doesn’t just leave us to walk it on our own, he is beside us every step of the way, never leaving us in the midst of trouble but sticking with us. When we are at the end of our rope, God is right there to catch us and help us persevere. The devil on the other hand, will just look, laugh and walk away, he could care less if we fall. If we believe his false lies, it’s our loss because he sure isn’t going to help in any way to make it better. God is our helper and will pick us up and be our strength. It’s not hard to choose, do we want life or death? Pick God, for He is our comfort, our strength, our guide, our father, and He is life.
“Just going to stand with you and comfort you. Its alright, I’ll wipe away your tears, wipe away your tears.”

God Bless♥♥

Talking to Daddy

Do ever get the feeling of just wanting to share, to talk, to tell people everything that's going on in your life! And then there's the opposite feeling; of wanting nothing to do with people and just wanting them to leave you alone. Not wanting to be with anyone or talk with anyone, just wanting to be by yourself. Sometimes that's healthy and sometimes it’s not, we just need to find a balance. And then there's just wanting to just be with your heavenly father and just spending time with him. I was wondering the other day, i wonder if Jesus went through a time in his life where he just didn't want to be around people, didn't want to talk to people or anything. And when it did look like he always want to be with people, and be around them; there was a time where Jesus just wanted to be alone and be with his father.

Just as much as us, Jesus needed time to just be with his father and spend time with him, to talk, to pray, to get things straight. When Jesus was on Earth he was a human with normal human feelings and struggles. He didn't succumb to them but he had them. And at times he just needed that extra boost from God to help him. He would go up and around and just talk to God. Talk to his daddy; tell him how it was going and such... And we need that too. We always need that extra boost from God, to get refreshed for the day. It's the most amazing thing that we can talk to God. The creator of the world, the maker of heaven and earth, and we can talk to him! It says in 1 Corinthians 1:9, that God is faithful and has "has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." He has called YOU. We can talk to God whenever we want, we don’t have to wait for a slot to open up; we can just talk to him. And guess what? He wants to hear us too, and chat with us. He desires to talk with us. Just sitting down and talking with Daddy, telling him about your day, telling him about everything. That’s what he desires.

Trusting God in everything!

We all know what it looks like when a child is being led by his mother or farther and he does not want to go where they are going! He either doesn’t want to go where they are going or he doesn’t like the look of things up ahead, or he is just being plain stubborn and refuses to move. They will dig their heels in and not move, just stick where ever they are, even if the place ahead is actually good for them, or a fun place. OR they will wander; they will wander away from the place they are supposed to go. They can’t stay in one place, they have to move. They don’t trust their parents enough just to follow and obey. We are sometimes like that with our heavenly father, unable to trust. Stubborn and strong willed, thinking we know best for ourselves.

God has chosen a path for us. It says on Psalm 16 that he has made known the path of life for us. He doesn’t keep it hidden, and unable to find it. No, he loves us and wants us to walk the path of life. But are we digging our heels in? Do we trust him to know what’s best for us? He has the perfect plan, he knows what’s ahead, and he knows every part of that path. He just wants us to take his hand and follow it, to follow him. There's a song that’s says "You make all things come together for my good." God has plans for us that are for our good, not to harm us. He's not leading us into a trap that we won’t be able to get out of. He's leading us into the path of life, yes, the path may be hard but God has it all worked out. And he won’t leave us to fend for ourselves; he is right beside us the whole way through, guiding us, leading us, and loving us.

God Bless♥♥

His plan is perfect...No contest.

At the beginning of all our lives, we have a blank canvas. Nothing is written, or drawn on it yet. But as we get older, things start to appear, beautiful artwork, beautiful poems... our life on a canvas.

God is the artist. He thinks of and does all the work that goes onto that canvas. He creates it, molds it, paints it, and designs it. And the great thing is... he's already done the canvas in his mind, for each of us. He has the perfect plan for everyone, but he's painting it on slowly, so that we may see the true beauty of it. He paints very line, every detail in love. And he never tires of it; he enjoys forming our lives with unique design. And sometimes we might mess up, we might slip in his plan… but his hand never strays, he is always there and always will be. Jeremiah 29: 11 says “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.” He knows every part of our lives and takes great delight in it. He loves every part of us, every mistake, every mess up, and every good thing we do. He will never give up loving us, because he wants us with him. He wants to see us succeed, we wants to see that canvas filled; for our lives fulfilled. “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17

God Bless♥♥

It's who you ARE, not what you HAVE.

Some people feel like they have to be defined by what they have or what they are getting. Or maybe what they look like... They feel like to go anywhere in life that has to be the sole purpose...its all about what you HAVE! What did Jesus have? Did he have nice clothes, have all the latest fashions, was he was part of the "in" group, and was he incredibly popular?? No, not really... it says in the bible that he hung out with sinners?? He went out of his way to hang out with them... in those days that is not what "popular" people did. Jesus didn't care one bit about what he had; he cared about what he did. Romans 8:29 says "For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."(NLT) We are supposed to be like Jesus, so caring so much about what we have isn't getting us anywhere...

When I go to the mall, I'm constantly looking at people, and what they are wearing etc... Then I either go, "Wow, I like that look." or "Nope, not working for me." And then if I like the clothes or the style, I will probably end up buying it... Or at least wishing I had it! It's not a good mindset to have because I’m always wanting more... But sadly that’s a human mindset, always wanting what that person has, or being jealous of that person because they have it. And it’s a hard habit to break. Jesus never had that problem, ya maybe he got tempted, but he never acted on it. He was more concerned about the heart, then the body. He didn't want people to see him for what he had, but how he acted. Jesus is the perfect example of that! Sometimes we don't think we are special because we don't have the things everyone else has but we are special just the way we are. Because that’s the whole point, it's who we ARE, not what we HAVE! And that's what God is concerned about, our souls, our hearts... not how we look or what we own! And I for one am very glad of the fact! :)

God Bless! ♥♥

Stick with God, He's the best!

Bet you've heard the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"?? Well, sometimes I feel like taking those lemons and making the sourest lemonade I can possibly make. And then give it to someone. And I realize these thoughts are a lot like attitudes... Sometimes we feel like when we're grumpy, or feel crappy; the people around us should know about and share our pain. People should feel and experience what you are feeling. It’s in our make-up as humans, to not only want what everyone else has but to want other people to feel what you are feeling as well... If you are happy, you would want people around you to be happy; if you’re sad, people should feel sad...

Why is it that we want to be the same as everyone else? We just want to blend in, and want other people to blend in with us. We would much rather blend in with the crowd then stand out. Sometimes we try to blend in so hard we forget about Jesus. We want to blend in and try to be someone else that sometimes we might forget about God. Sometimes we care about the world’s opinion above Gods. Matthew 10:32 says, ”Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?” If we turn away and just be who the world wants us to be, and not who God wants us to be God will turn from us. And that is not a life that we want. Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. Anyone who comes to him will have eternal life. That’s the life we want. Who cares what everyone thinks or sees us as. All we should be thinking about is what God think of us, and how we can follow him in a better way. And at the end of it all, we will have eternal life with him in heaven. That is an amazing truth! So when I sometimes feel like making that super sour lemonade and then giving it to someone, maybe I’ll put some sugar in it... it will probably go better for everyone. :)

God Bless♥♥

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The title says it all...as Mary Poppins says... "So when the cat has got your tongue
There's no need for dismay, just summon up this word, and then you've got a lot to say!" But I was thinking the other day and though people don't use the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", we use other words, which can sum up our feelings, in one word... swears are just some of those words... Taken from a personal experience, when I hurt myself, the area that got hurt always feels so, so much better if I let out a cuss... the pain doesn't really change if I just go "ouch"... But, see its all in the mind! We don't need to swear to make things better or seem better; we just need to look to God! Yes, I agree that when you've slammed your finger in your car door and its throbbing in pain, tears are streaming down your face, and as you walk away you slip on the ice and fall down hard, with your hand with the throbbing finger breaking your fall, it would feel so much better to let a cuss ring out, then looking to God... But yes, that cuss may make everything feel better for the brief moment but in the long run...you're still going to have a throbbing finger, a sore behind, and an angry heart. Calling out to God calms that angry heart and in the long run, its much better to have a hurting finger, a sore behind and a peaceful heart; then a hurting finger, a sore behind and an angry, conflicting heart... God does what no cuss can ever, ever do, he calms us. He speaks to our hearts and even in matters that seem trivial, he is still there looking out for us and loving us! And if you've called out to God and you still feel like you need to yell something other the "ouch", try "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", when you can't say anything else, that word pretty much sums it up for you! :)

God Bless! ♥♥

God leads... We rest!

Sometimes I get down...I feel like with God running my life, everything seems to go wrong, or he lets me down or I, just plain and simple...don't like not having complete control over my life. I want to be the one making the shots, running the show…but you see, whenever I get into that mind set, something happens... my life suddenly feels worse then before, and I feel like crap...

Why?? That's the big question! Why do I feel this way? Why does God let this happen?? Why do all the struggles in my life feel that much worse when I'm not leaning on God?? Well, the answers in the question...I'm not leaning on God. My youth pastor, Norm, is a very wise man, and just the other day, I was talking to him about this... And he said something that stuck like glue on your hair. He was talking about Joshua and the Israelites’, and the promise land. Now the Israelites’ had to got through a lot of struggles to even get to the promise land and when they got there, the struggles didn't just stop. They had demons among them and those didn't go away either... they stayed too. Why… because God wanted to train the next generation how to fight. So God let those struggles stick with them, so the next generation could learn how to fight. In my case, I'm the next generation and I'm getting trained. We all know physical training is hard...push ups, sit ups, curl ups...all that good stuff. It can be painful, long and exhausting. It’s the same with Spiritual training. It can be painful, long and exhausting. But the end result in both is joy, pride, a sense of accomplishment, and yearning for more. I'm still in the training process and ya, its long but at the end of each day I know who my coach is and he never gives up on me! :) Not even when I feel like I want control over my life, when I want to be the one making the plans.

Now the next part will make more sense if I tell you this...In Venice, Italy, there's gondoliers. They're the guys who steer the boats and they usually are singing as they do it. They’re the ones that lead the boat along the water streets of Venice. Okay so, I was reading this book the other day and part of it impacted me... The main character is Leah. Now at the beginning of the book, she feels like she needs top be in control...with relationships, family, and her life. But things change. At the end of the book God speaks to her and what he spoke, also spoke to me too. It starts with the verse from Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Then Leah said "I'm not the one supposed to sing." It’s like in her life she’s been the one in control, the one steering, even if she doesn't know which road to go down sometimes... But then she said "I'm not the one supposed to be singing, Jesus is." He's like the Gondoliers... He wants us to just rest in his pocket of grace. He will do all the steering and singing! We don't have to do anything to prove ourselves to him, we just rest and let him take the wheel and steer. He leads; we rest in his pocket of grace! It’s just amazing, we don't do the singing, and he’s the one singing over us!

So when I feel like I want to run my life and call the shots...I need to stop and let Jesus do the singing, I just have to rest. It’s the same with all of us, that’s the most amazing thing! His pocket of grace is never too small; it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Let God do the singing and he will lead you to things you could never imagine!

God Bless! ♥♥

The Glory of God!

I bet we have all seen a plane in the sky with a stream of smoke coming from behind. And it leaves a long trail as it passes through the sky... Sometimes its straight, sometimes it curvy, sometimes it’s colored, but it’s always pretty cool! I just saw one that was like perfect, it was like made for Google Images! But that wasn't what caught my eye, what caught my attention was thinking that that plane it carrying people where they need to go, safely and at the same time it leaving a stream of beauty in its wake. And then I thought, Christians are sort of like that!

We, as Christians are a safe place that people can talk to because of the love of God in us. Kind of like a plane, people aren't generally scared in planes because they know that they will be taken care of. People are generally not scared to be around Christians; sure they might not always feel the same way that we do but I’m sure they feel that level of safety with us. God doesn't hide. He doesn't just come into someone’s heart and then not let himself be shown... He wants people to see him! He wants people to feel safe! And like the plane shows that stream of smoke coming from behind, Christians show Gods love to the world in the same kind of way...it’s amazing, and God's love is shown through it! You can see that stream of smoke all throughout the sky and Christians have that influence with Gods power as well.

God Bless♥♥

Faith in Little Things.

I have always thought that faith is believing that God will do something huge! And like change your world! Well, that can be the case, but what about the small things; don't they require any faith as well??

It says in Matthew 17:20, He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." And, yes, that's saying that faith can move big things but I don't think Jesus said that to just lessen the faith for smaller things. What I think of that verse is that; with just a little bit of faith...we can do the impossible. And sometimes it seems like that impossible is moving the little things. I love how I can go to God and be like...take this burden, I give it to you, I have faith and trust in you!, and he will take it and help us! God is the God of the impossible and whatever is impossible for man, is possible with God. But that requires just a little faith! Sometimes we can let doubt creep in, and that doubt can slowly squish our faith. Because that doubt is not from God, and faith is from God...and we can't have something from God and something from the devil; and think that everything will work out...

I've had my fair share of faith...but also my fair share of doubt. And I know for a fact that that doubt won't improve your faith at all. But it’s starting with the little things, the things that may not seem important. In Luke 15:8-9 it says, "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." A coin, a little coin, not $100, not a miraculous healing, not even 2 coins... 1 coin! God cares about the small things; he cares about that woman finding her coin, or finding 1 lost soul, one forgotten son/daughter. In Matthew 18:13-14 (Parable of the lost sheep), "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." The man left the ninety nine other sheep to find that little lost sheep. The little ones, the forgotten ones; God cares!

1 coin, 1 sheep, God helped those people find them. They had faith, and God worked on it! They didn't need mountains and mountains of faith, just a small, little bit and God moved! Prayer requires faith as well, not heaps and heaps, but faith. I've been praying for a healing in my family since I could talk... and even though all my prayers had just a little bit of faith in each one, when you add them all up, I have mountains of faith! God moves on those little bits, and all those little bits add up... to great wonders, done for His glory and his glory alone!

God Bless♥♥

Sometimes being a little scared can lead you to do greater things!

Do you ever get those butterflies in your stomach? When you're nervous or scared? I used to be in Manta Swim club, a competitive swimming club. And before every swimming race, I would get those annoying butterflies! Then as I got onto the stand, they would get even worse, and then as I dived in...They would all go away! I would be in the water and everything would be fine. And then I would get out and get nervous again, about how I did, and if I got a good time, etc...

Is it ever that way with God? We’re a little nervous, a little scared, have big butterflies flying around in our stomachs. And then we dive into Jesus and his perfect plan for us and we feel safe, we feel secure, we feel God. Sometimes it might look like what’s set before us is huge, so huge we might feel like we can't handle it. Those stupid butterflies won't go away! And then we feel helpless, insecure, and afraid. But God's plan for us is not to be afraid, it is for us to be strong and faithful and willing. God's plan for us is perfect and sure we might feel scared and nervous but sometimes that makes us stronger! James 1:25 says "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does." So I put this scripture in my own words and I thought of this... if you look into God's perfect plan for you, the plan that gives freedom and strength, and do not stop in doing this...Also not forgetting what you have been taught but putting that into action- you will be rewarded and blessed in what you put yourself into and dedicate yourself too.

Do we ever think God's plan is better then ours? Or do we think our plan is better then his? I'm sorry to break it to you, but God's plan is WAYY better then ours ever could be! Because He is perfect, his plan for you will be also! Isn't that an amazing truth? When we feel like our world is falling apart, we can trust in God's plan to pull us through! It may not always be easy or carefree, it may be tough and hard but believe it or not it will be perfect and we can hold God to that truth! It’s hard to believe that a "tough" and "hard" road would be perfect but because its Gods plan and God's plan is perfect, we can believe it! I've probably said it half a million times but I think we all need it drilled into our brain, God's plan is absolutely, completely perfect and nothing can never ever change that!

God Bless! ♥♥

Walking with God.

Do you ever notice how a spider walks? It goes a little way and then stops, and then continues. And then it does the same thing until it gets to the place it wants to go... Have you ever wondered why its movement are so jerky, so slow moving?... Maybe its being careful, or maybe its just naturally cautious. Or maybe its scared, scared of the huge world it lives in!

Are we sometimes like a spider? Taking small, little steps and stopping often to check out the area. Are we nervous of something that might be around the next corner? Have we so little trust? Our trust seems to sometimes be the size of these steps we're taking... I wonder sometimes how a spider would act if it had a bigger spider walking in front, or if it was in a group of spiders?... Would it go faster, would it go slower? Would it be less careful, or less cautious? What if we had someone walking in front of us?? God is always walking in front of us, behind us, beside us...do we still slow down, do we still be as cautious as we think we should be?

Maybe its because we can't actually see God that we're not totally in complete trust with him all the time?? Why can't we ALWAYS trust him? Humans kinda live in a warped world. Even with someone guiding us we still are like "is it safe?" or "will something jump out??" We find it very hard to trust. It can be the same with God, we don't know where he's leading us...we're scared because maybe of a previous disappointment or slip up... we're scared things won't turn out right. But what we may not always realize is the God's plan is for the best, his plan for us is AMAZING! Jeremiah 29:11 says, " For i know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope."

So we don't need to be afraid of where he is leading us, because he will always know best. And you know what is the most amazing thing?... He isn't just walking ahead of us, he's walking right beside us. Loving us, caring for us, helping us, and guiding us. He knows best, so let him take your hand and walk right with you all the way home!

God Bless!

Forgive, Forget, Be Free!

Okay, here's the deal... When we forgive, we forget, right? It’s like the old saying "Forgive and Forget." Sadly, in this world that's not the case. Forgiving means forgiving someone for the thing they did wrong...but is that going to stop you from forgetting it?? Is it going to stop you from not holding a grudge? When someone says "sorry", I bet they are sometimes thinking, "It’s not going to stop me from doing it again..." or "I don't really mean it." And then when someone says "I forgive you" back, do you think they mean it? Or are they just saying it to get out of the situation and get it "over" with...

I remember a time when I was told to forgive my sister for saying something to me. She said "sorry" and I said "I forgive you"... classic "sorry" and "forgive" line. But after I said that, I went into my room and muttered away to myself about how mean she is, and how I will NEVER forget what she said to me! The "forgetting" part wasn't really happening at that point...Even though I had technically "forgiven" her and the issue was closed, I thought that someday a time would come when I could use that against her...to get HER in trouble. The time never came, well maybe it did, but I forgot what she said to me. SEE! Whether I liked it or not I had forgotten, I had probably forgotten way back when I was muttering to myself in my room. But I was convinced I would never forget...but I naturally did. Our human way of forgiving is kind of confusing...but it doesn't have to be, if only we do it God's way!

When we pray to God and say "sorry, please forgive me, I was wrong for...” He completely forgives you and then forgets on top of that! When I was little, I thought "riiight, how can God COMPLETELY forget what I did, it was absolutely horrible!" But he can, and he will! He actually doesn't even have to think through it, he just forgives and forgets. And through that YOU can be free! It’s that easy! God doesn't think there's this long process you have to go through to be forgiven, in fact you don't really have to do anything! He did it all for you! YOU didn't have to die on a cross, HE DID! YOU didn't need to carry the world's sins on your back, HE DID! And he did it ALL for you! Because he wants you to be free! He wants you to be forgiven; he doesn't want you to worry... He's got your back, all the way. He will forgive your sins and then he will forget them forever! I kind of have a theory on why it's so hard for us to forgive and forget without making a fuss. Mark 2:7 says "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" God is the ONLY one who can forgive us completely and then forget about it completely! It washes away; it’s like throwing ashes into a stream. You are never going to get those ashes back, no matter how hard you try! It’s like that with our sins, like ashes in a stream or in the wind, gone forever! Maybe instead of "Forgive, Forget, Be Free", it could be "Forgive, Forget, Forever Free!

God Bless♥♥

Same heart, Same God; different testimony!

This is just for fun, but I found this and I thought it amazing how innocent I was, and how...oh I don't know, not so much touched by the world! Well, here it is!

"Hi! My name is Amy Elizabeth Peters. I am almost 10! I got saved when I was 3 1/2 years old! My mum was preparing her Discovery lesson about being best friends with God and I said that I wanted to be best friends with God. And so we prayed and I confessed my sins. Then my mum prayed that I would get to know Jesus more and more and I said "and more and more and more!" Jesus is my best friend! I pray to him every day and night. He is my Savior and a helper to me. He helps me in hard times, like when I sometimes feel like following the crowd. Then Jesus reminds me of what is right! And I love him so, so much. I want to get baptized because I want to get to know Jesus more and more and I want to be more like him. I want to obey him because baptism is a command in the bible. I also want Jesus to help me obey my mum and my dad! I LOVE JESUS!!!! Thank you."

Wow, my life was so...so...innocent. And every time I read it I'm hit with the fact that I'm not that same girl. Like yes, I'm still Amy Elizabeth Peters. But I'm changed because I've experienced way, way more in the sense of the world. And some of that I regret and some I'm thankful for. God has taught me to be a stronger woman of God, he's taught me to be a fearless woman of God, and He’s taught me to love differently. He's changed my life and yes, that testimony is still in a way how I want to live my life but at the same time; I want to bring my more mature sense of God into it. I love God with all my heart, and I'm not going to change that...but my life is changed because I’m seeing it through different eyes...not those 9 and 1/2 eyes but 15 year old eyes. It’s a different world and even a different way I see God…but it’s the same God and that’s not going to change!!

God doesn't want us to stay the same, to have the same mindset and the exact way of living. He wants us to change and see him through different experiences and our faith grows through that! Our faith is founded on God and it can mature us to be stronger men and women in God. He will help us and guide us through our lives and whether our testimony is small and innocent and free of trouble or whether it is full of tests and struggles and times where God intervened...those different testimonies’s still represent the same person but just through different eyes, different times, different choices...but thankfully the exact same God! :D

God Bless♥♥