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"

Being Free, the next best thing!

Do you ever feel kind of lost? Kind of like you don't belong?..? Kind of like life doesn't hold in store for you, what it seems to hold for everyone else? You feel: set apart, lost, an outsider...you feel like a Christian.

Now that might seem a bit harsh, a bit unfair towards Christians, but it’s true. We’re not meant to "blend" in, to just be "part of the crowd"...though that’s might be what we want! I remember feeling like that...lost, don't belong; an outsider...and I blamed it all on God. That he was the one making me feel like this, making me struggle. But in a way he was, he knew what would come from it, what would come from that struggle. Freedom would come...!

Maybe you feel the same, tired of being a Christian, having to hold your head high, and do the right things. Maybe you just want to give up and go the "easy" way... maybe you just want God to smooth the road out before you get there. But you see, God knows that the "hard" road will make you stronger, will make you love more, will make you trust more. He doesn't like to see you struggle, he hates it...but He and He alone knows the outcome, He knows what will come from the struggle and the struggles to follow, because struggles will follow. But he will ALWAYS be there with a steady, ready hand to help you up and give you a gentle push in the right direction! He loves you with every inch of his body, with every bit of his heart...and he's NOT going to let you go just because you struggle, when you struggle, he's going to hold tighter!

It’s a hard life out there, full of tempting things, and desirable things. Sometimes we desire, and are led towards things of the world. And to tell the truth, that’s normal for humans...Adam and Eve made sure of that. :P But with Gods strength and help, we as Christians can pull through and go the other way. Now that doesn't mean that we can't live in the world and use the things that it holds for us. The thing is we should live IN the world but not OF the world. If you don't know what that means, we can live here and enjoy what it has for us, but we can't live OF it, which is like not obsessing over malls and things like that, and totally being pulled in for what the world holds for us.

I'll give you a personal example: A while ago, i was pretty obsessed over what I looked like and how I presented myself to other people, especially boys. So, when I would go to the mall, I would obsess over the clothes and the shoes, and say, I NEED TO HAVE THAT! It was crazy; I was totally acting like I was OF the world, PART of the world. But that changed, sure I still like clothes and shoes and don't like to look like a frump, but I make sure that I don't live like that any more, because it was a pretty dangerous way of living. I find myself much happier living IN the world and not OF the world...I find myself enjoying being and outsider, being a Christian... being free!