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♥♥

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!