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! ♥♥