Where is your fire?

Luke 24:32 
And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Where is your fire? The other day in my women's group we were talking about where is a women's main focus. We have been discussing how men and women are created equal but different. Yet when we were talking about where their focus was something truly dawned on me. When men and women come into a holy union they shift their focus or are at least suppose to. They are to focus on the home and household God has given them whether or not they have little ones to fill it. The man is to work with the intention to provide for his wife and family. A women is to make the household operate and function and be the helper to her husband. So your probably wondering what does this have to do with fire and what does this have to do with me I'm single? Well let me tell you when your focus is on anything other than the things God wants it to be on the fire is burning somewhere else. I look at it like this if both the men and women in a marriage are focused on their work or position then they aren't providing the fuel to the thing God has given them,but it has to fueled, leaving the one person we don't want interfering being the main provider of the fuel. You see the enemy doesn't mind adding fuel to the place your fire should be because his fuel is toxic. It destroys relationships instead of repairing them. It make things harder instead of easier. It pulls you and him apart rather than bring you together. So where is your fire? Are you fueling your ego or your home? When you wake up are you praising God for the household he has given you or are you thinking about the day of work you need to do to get your next paycheck. This principle isn't just for the married. I'm single and I still had to ask myself where is my fire? I had to self evaluate whether or not I was pouring fuel onto the things God wanted me to. I had to search and ask what is it besides you that deserves most of my attention. With this I challenge you today to pray and see where you fire is. Are you letting the enemy fuel what you should be fueling? Are you focusing on something that in the end won't even matter? Let these words from Jesus Culture's song Set A Fire radiate in your heart for a minute:

"Set a Fire down in my soul 

that I can't contain that I can't control, 

I want more of you God, I want more of you."

Does that include you or not, because in the end all that matters is if we have shown the light of Jesus to this world of darkness. So with that I want my fire blazing just for him. What about you? 

Never Ending Love

Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What is Love? Webster's Dictionary Defines it as a feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration. As I read that definition all the sappy love movies I have watch seem to missing the mark. Based on what Websters says about love its a feeling that turns into a command inside of something that cannot be explained. Let's be honest how many of us have watched a movie with a love story so amazing that we change our prayers to match it, so for example the Notebook, I wonder how many women have prayed asking for a love like that of Ally and Noah. However based on the definition is that really love? Or is the real question we need to be asking ourselves is: do we even really know what love is?  The only form of true love we could ever know is the love of our savior. True love is the sacrifice God expressed by sending his only son to pay for our sins on the cross. You see true love is so immeasurable more than we could ever comprehend that we as humans have created this idea of what we think it is so misleading that no matter how much we pray we will never obtain it. So I was spending time with the Lord, thinking about this and I began to wonder what if. What if instead of praying for a loving relationship like that of fictional movies, instead of modeling our relationships after made up character, we decided to shower those in our lives with a love like that of the Lord. If we began to pray for the ability to love other's like God has loved us. Now I understand that this principle isn't an easy one to follow. I mean achieve that love is impossible because the perfect love can only come from the perfect one, but imagine how much our lives would change if we would simple try to succeed.  Our desire to be more like Jesus would be life changing and in return love changing. Just think husband and wife relationships would change because husbands would love their wives like Jesus loved the church and in return their wives would love them as we the church love Jesus. Then think about parent/child relationships and how so many people all over the world have skewed depictions of God as the father based on their Dad well just think if Father try to love their children as God has loved us chains will not only be broken but will never have a chance to form. Loving one another like God loves us allows us to take authority over our families. It makes us in charge and gives the enemy no room to cast doubt. So why not try? No one is going to be perfect,but leaning on the true meaning of love can't do anything but help. Wanting to be more like Jesus isn't ever going to be a bad thing. So I challenge you to pray for a Christ like love. To pray for the ability to love those around you like God loves us. Because I believe that when we shift our definition of love then Go's love will shine upon all of us and who couldn't use a little more of God's love falling on them. 

House of Cards

1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.


Have you ever felt like you've been dealt a bad hand. Like life simply wasn't fair and it just didn't make sense why? Wednesday night as I was volunteering with the youth at my church the pastor poised this question. He asked the students if they have ever thought life wasn't fair? Being someone who has felt this way more than once I began to ponder on what God had to say about it. Sometimes I feel like Christians get caught up in the stereotypical church answers and forget that when giving advice on this subject that they are dealing with real people, who even though they follow Christ they still experience real emotions and temptations of this world. With that being said I feel that when you feel like life isn't fair and seek advice that people in church will give you an answer like: Well rest assure that God saved you by giving you his Son and so he really doesn't owes you anything and even if life doesn't seem fair you should be grateful for the things you have. You might be thinking that this answer seems a little extreme and maybe you're right, but I also feel that people respond to life issues this way and even though there is some truth to it, it doesn't make anyone feel better. I am sure all we want is some true and loving advice. By now you're probably think what's the point to all of this? The point is that God sees what hurts us. He know when we feel like life is unfair. So as I sat and contemplated this question He revealed something to me that has truly put the trials happening in my life into perspective. If the things we face in life  were compared to being dealt a hand of cards, life is like a game of Texas hold'em poker with God as the dealer. Still with me? Ok so if you have ever played a game of Texas Hold'em you are dealt five cards and with those cards you try to play off what the dealer flips over to win. You see sometimes we feel like the cards we were dealt are horrible, that no matter what we think there is no way anything good is going to come from it, but what we don't know if what the dealer is holding. Poker players take calculating risk and try to prepare their hands for the best scenario when the dealer flips the cards. It's the same for us we need to press into the dealer so that we are ready when he makes a move. Then when he flips it all comes together. The difference with us following God compared to the dealer flipping his hand is that we are always the winners. God had planned the hand he will lay down for each of us it just the wait. So as you examine your cards today remember who is in control. You can try to move things around and get rid of what you feel bad or you can relax sit back and trust that when the dealer flips you will com out ahead. So I challenge you today to press in. In the moments that the wait seems to much and the hand your holding is less then desirable press in, but the flip is coming. Our God we serve will deal us the winning hand in his great time because with him a royal flush isn't where is stops for Him, it stops with crown s in heaven.

Breaking Point

Psalms 57:2-3

"I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!"

As Christians we find ourselves putting on mask after mask trying to cover up the messes we have in our lives because we feel like we have to have everything together in order to bring others to Jesus. I just don't understand it. Having an honest moment this ridiculous notion is the reason I haven't posted in a while because I was allowing my circumstance to define my worth and because I didn't feel worthy I didn't feel like I could share with all of you.  Now that I have worked through this I realized how silly it is that I allowed the enemy to come in to destroy my confidence. To allow him to stop me from doing something that brought joy to me. Yet as I write I still am walking and experience the trials and tribulations that come along with this life. Day in and day out I find myself battling the enemy. I've been praying for two years for a job, one that is fulfilling both spiritually and financially and I'm still waiting. Keeping faith is hard to do but I realize it's the only thing I have. We all have breaking points, times in which we don't think we can go on. Moments like this where all seems hopeless. Then I remember who my savior is. He bore my cross. He wore my sin on his back so that I can live a life that reflects him. So does that mean, living a life that reflects him? I have discovered being open and transparent is what I have to do to live a life in which you see my Jesus in me. Because if you can see my pain and my suffering and yet still see my hope and my faith then you will see Jesus in me. I realized that having faith as small as a mustard see is truly a good way to describe our faith in trails yet it doesn't mean it can't grow into the might tree it is meant to be.  So in this time I've been away from you I have reached my breaking point. I have found myself in the lowest of lows yet I'm still pressing on because my God is good no matter what I'm going through. So I challenge you to find the good in the valley you are walking in. Remember all that God has done for you even though it might be the hardest thing for you to do.  It will restore you faith, it will help your mustard seed to grow. Just think, the hard ground has to have a breaking point so that roots can grow so allow your breaking point to produce fruit, rip away the mask and fix your eyes on the one who made them. Allow your messes to bring others to Him. For you are worthy because of who He is in you. 

Reflecting His Image

Genesis 1:26-28 

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

As I was reading this verse and trying to discover what it truly means to be created in God's own image something was revealed to me in this scripture more than it ever has before. I'm going to say this and some of you are going to think DUH, but when you really think about it in comparison to us, you will be blown away. If we are made in His image and we have free will to make choices then God has the free will not to choose us. Yet through all we have done since the beginning of time He has chosen to redeem us and give us grace. That is mind blowing to me. I think sometimes knowing that God is perfect and sinless makes me think about how He loves us despite our sin, and sometimes I think that He loves us because He is perfect. Yet in reality He chooses to love us despite our sin even though He is perfect and he could choice to not love us. He could have rejected us or made us complete good works in order to receive salvation. All of those options wouldn't make Him less perfect, yet that's not the God we serve. We serve a God so good and so loving that when it came to letting us spend eternity away from him or finding a way to pay for all of our sins he chose to pay for all our sins. Now I know some of you might be thinking ok really we all know this. We know that God choose to send his son, but that's not why I think that this is important. The whole reason I bring this up is the fact that even though we were made in God's image and He choose to forgive us and love us despite our flaws, and we don't do the same. I know I struggle with this. I know that loving others is extremely hard in general and then to add to it Jesus commands us to love them as he loves us. So when you're showing what you feel is love is it really? Are you loving those around you like Jesus loved us? Are you willing to lay down your lives for those you love because that is the love Jesus shows us. He shows us to truly love is to be willing to fully sacrifice yourself for someone else. I mean think about it. For those of you who have a spouse or children you love them unconditionally and that is great, but even though you love them unconditionally are you loving them like Jesus? That is my challenge for all of us today, I want us all to start trying to love those around us like Jesus loved us. I know how hard it is because I struggle with this too, but I think that If I continue to try I might just start to understand the love our God has for me. The love He chooses to give to me everyday. 

Finding your Identity

Psalm 139:13-16 
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Who are you? Where and with who, do you belong? I think everyone finds themselves at some point in their life wondering who they are and why they exist. When I was in High School I remember having such big dreams, the sky's the limit, I wanted to take the world by storm. I wanted to be the next great Broadway actress and nothing was going to stand in my way. Well as I sit here today writing this I can tell you that I am no where near that dream and yet I have found that it's ok. So many people, myself included, feel failure when our dreams change. When we experience life changes that completely take us by surprise. However the thing that we need to remember is that what we do for a living, where we live, or even what we look like doesn't define who we are. Believe it or not God does. We are made in his image, unique and different, not to make life difficult but to bring pieces of Him to earth. All the good things you see in everyone you know is a direct reflection of God. For me I see people around me handle things that stress me out with such love and a care free spirit. Looking at them I see the Holy Spirit in them and it allows me to pray that the Lord can move in that area in my life. Failure is a hard thing to talk about and I think it defines so many people's identity. I feel this way because until God did a major work in my life I felt that way. I had moments of complete despair because I felt like a failure. I felt that I had done all I could and that no matter what I was doing I couldn't be successful. So with that I felt that I was worthless which became my identity. It took God showing me what true success was to really understand who I am. Now of course I still want to do well and succeed, but I no longer let my drive for success define who I am. Dreams change. If you have told me at 18 that I was going to be a teacher who God had promised to write a book and speak before the nations, I would have laughed in your face. Yet eight years later that is exactly who I am. I am learning and growing as I teach my students. I am able to share with them so much more than just a subject matter. Without even mentioning his name I care share Jesus with them. Some of you might wonder how, but I show them his love, I try to always be understanding as He is with us. I allow them to make mistakes and learn from them as God does with me. I show the pieces of Him that He has given me. So my challenge to you is dream big and believe, but don't forget to find your real identity. Take time to ask God who you are and who he made you to be. Allow him to reveal what lies you might have believed about who you are. For once you discover who you are in Him life takes a whole new shape, a free shape, so what are you waiting for? I mean who doesn't want to be free! 

Being Vulnerable

2  Cor 6:11
"We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12  There is no restriction in our affections, "

What does it truly mean to be vulnerable? For so many it is so hard to tell people what they really feel. I'm not talking about blurting out your grievances at any waking moment. I'm talking about being honest with people around you with what is going on in your life. There are people out there who truly care for you. It could be your parent's or your friends. Maybe a sister or brother, a youth leader or a teacher. Whoever it is when they ask 'How are you?" it's because they care. They want to know and even as Christians we find ourselves putting on a fake smile and saying great even when our world as we know is falling down around us. So why? You see, me being someone who is an open book, people who keep everything in drive me crazy. They drive me crazy on so many level because I care for them and want to help them, but also they make me feel like I'm crazy. Being a leader in the church I can't see how you can't be vulnerable, yet so many people aren't. So many members of the body hide painful struggles or mistakes because they feel like they have to be perfect in order to remain on God's good side. They don't want people looking at them like they are broken, like they're weak. However we are called to live like Jesus and that is exactly how Jesus was when he saved us. He was vulnerable and broken when he carried our sins. He was honest in his fear and because he loved us he found courage and strength to take our sins on the cross. So if Jesus was vulnerable in the worst way possible, to pay for all our sins and not only did he pay the price he had to venture into the pits of hell to truly set us free. If Jesus can do that why do we continue to put up fake walls to protect ourselves. Now I get it some of you are reading this and think that you don't trust people cause you don't want to get hurt. My response to you is two things. One I completely understand. When you have been hurt it is so hard to rust other's especially when you are sharing something like sin or a struggle, but instead of feeling overwhelmed by the stress of not knowing trust rest assure in God. my second point is that god will provide the right people in your life to be vulnerable with if you ask for them. You cannot live your life afraid of what people might think. I know that is way easier said then done, but If you can do it, if you can be vulnerable without worrying what others think you will be able to experience true freedom. For we all make mistake every one of us no matter what position we hold we are sinners it's our nature. So my challenge for you today is to be vulnerable. Put your testimony out there not for notice or for fame, but to be like Jesus and to reach others. For me it is inspiring to hear what other people have been through and see them where they are today. It let's me know that everything really is going to be ok. It reminds me of God's faithfulness and how he will see me through all my trials. I always try to be vulnerable with my small groups girls because I want them to know my heart. I want them to see me for who I am and not who I could pretend to be. I am a mess, I am a sinner who needs God in everything I do. I cannot do anything without Him and I'm not afraid to admit it. I love that we have a God so much bigger than anything the world throws at us and as I continue to live I will speak my story for his glory so that maybe one person's eternity is saved because of it. So show your heart to someone allow them to show you theirs and who knows maybe the world might be a better place when we all begin to see that we aren't all that different after all. 

Stress the Silent Killer

Philippians 4:6-7.  
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

If we truly have Faith why do we stress? Why do we doubt the word of God? You see I am not writing this from a place of judgement or condemnation I am writing this from a place of vulnerability and understanding, my life is filled with stress. To me stress is normal but I was taught that it shouldn't be. God didn't intend for us to be stressed instead, he wanted the complete opposite for us. He wanted us to experience a life filled with joy and peace. To be able to walk in his light and rest assure in his promises and his teachings. Yet sin entered the world and thus life is different. The enemy uses stress to create doubt and to draw us away from The Lord. So truly stress is the Silent Killer, not in the way of causing illness, which it does, but as a killer of faith. I think sometime people get caught up on the enemy trying to bring physical harm such as illness to them when they hear the verse "...kill,steal, and destroy," but I think that the death he is talking about isn't a physical thing but an emotional and spiritual one. The enemy doesn't want you physically dead. If he was to kill you while you still had faith in Jesus then what would be the point. He wants to kill your faith, to rip you from the comforting arms of God and drag you down to the pits of hell. Sorry for getting dark , but it's the truth. I wanted to write this to share a piece of me and my hope is that by being vulnerable I can help encourage you. You are not alone. Not only are you not alone because God is always with you. You are not alone in your struggles. You are in the best of company because every great man or women in the bible struggled. David broke a commandment and then lost a child because of it, yet God did not turn from him. Peter denied Jesus 3 times and still he is loved by the Lord. I mean if anyone struggled look at Paul. He was blinded just so he could truly see and then he gave his life to the Lord and found himself persecuted and put in prison, yet he is the main author of the New Testament and in my humble opinion a man, just like David, after God's own heart. If that's not enough, and I am not saying I am like those men I listed, but you can always think of me.  I'm just like you, an ordinary person called to do extraordinary things because we all are. The things is we all struggle no matter who we are; we are sinner and thus struggles will come our way. Like it says in the song One Thing Remains "scars and struggles on the way..." It doesn't say in the past or they will happen once in our life it says on the way because we will experience them through out our lives. However there is one thing that keeps me going. The thing I remember even if I'm crying while I eat a pint of ice Cream is: God is always good! God is always good, he is never Bad. Bad things do not come from him, NO they come from the enemy and don't ever forget that. Rest in his goodness and know that the reason you struggle is because your under attack and rejoice in that. I know you're thinking Rejoice are you crazy, but I'm not I'm telling you to rejoice because the enemy is attacking, I mean rejoice because the enemy like to attack when something amazing is about to happen. He attacks when God is moving in you life. So rejoice because the Lord is doing a work in you. I challenge you today to find time to simply ask the Lord what plans he has for you. Ask him how you can serve him and glorify his kingdom. You see he will speak to you and once you know his plan you can hide in you heart his promises. Once you know his promises you can then rejoice even when you're stressed because God is alive and well moving in you life and that is something to be excited about. 

Still Stuggling

1 Peter 5:10
 "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."

I wanted to share a simple piece of my heart. I wanted to take a moment to be vulnerable and honest in hope that it might make some type of impact on one person. I have been a Christian since I was 8 years old. I knew at that young age that I believed in Jesus and that he died on a cross for my sins. Yet there was a time after that I questioned that decision. A time when my life was so low I didn't make sense because The Lord I was believing didn't seem to care. There were times in which I felt like death was the way out but my God is so good. He sent someone to show me the way. Someone to help sow the seeds that had been planted in my life and showed me what I was missing. When I was 16 years old God met me in my brokenness in the time in which I knew something was missing but didn't know what it was. He met me and showed me that knowing who He was wasn't enough. I had to learn who I was in Him to truly have a relationship with my Savior. So with that life should be easy right. Once you accept Christ and start a relationship with him your life is smooth sailing. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. Life as a Christian isn't easy. There are moments in which I mess up. Moments when I find myself crying myself to sleep wondering what God's plan for me is. I still question things and try to take control when I know I shouldn't. Yet one thing remains the same my God still loves me. I'm still his daughter and nothing can ever change that. So what makes life different as a Christian. Being a follower of Christ makes life worth living. Accepting him didn't make my life easy it made it worth it. Knowing that My God is so much bigger than every problem makes my job easy. I just simply believe in Him and continue to peruse him the best I can. But I will always be a sinner and so what I need to do is continue to walk the path I know is right and forgive myself for the mistakes along the way. So I challenge you to do the same today. If today was a bad day tell yourself it was good because God gave you another day of this earth. Know that nothing can separate you from him and rest assure that he has it all planned out no matter what.

Worship the Great I Am

Psalm 86:9-10
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

I had this revelation over the weekend as to what it means to Worship God. As I stood in my children's ministry classroom I watched as the young students before me worshiped but as I looked around I noticed that as the ages seem to progress the older they got the less them seem to worship. Then I thought about my experience with my church's youth group and how it seems to be the opposite.  In that setting the younger students, those in middle school and starting high school, seem to struggle with worshiping where those who are older are giving all they have. So I thought to myself what is the secret ingredient to worship? When you think about it more in-depth every church has a different way in which they use the term worship. For some it might be what their Pastor or Reverend calls their offering. He might say something like " let us worship the Lord together in our giving and with our offering" as the plates are being passed around. Others might believe it is the prayer they say together or the moments in which they kneel as a sign of respect to the Saints. Where I go to church they refer to worship as the time before the sermon in which we as a congregation come together and praise God. We sing but to us its more than that. Its about having a few moments to completely connect with the Lord in an intimate way. So as I continued to ponder this I just brushed it off as everyone does it their own way and it can mean whatever we want it to mean, but then God reminded me of something. He reminded me that when it comes to His word nothing is gray and so ambiguous. Everything is black and white. In our modern world we like to cover up having to make a choice on things by saying that they fall within a gray area. However when it comes to truth that area doesn't exist. So what does it really mean to worship? Now before people start going crazy I understand that worship can be done in many ways and I have already addressed some of those ways above but that is not why I decided to write this. I wanted to dig deeper I wanted to know what it means to worship the Lord. I wanted to know what our heart behind it should be doing because sometimes we allow the action to simple be enough and I know that is not what worship means. If worshiping meant to simple do what the Pastor declared was worship then we would be a very legalistic society, but I know church around here are all of the same team fighting against an enemy bigger than we understand and I wanted to find out what it meant to worship so that I too could be armed in battle. So I dove into the word and time with God so that he could share with me what his thoughts on it were. Worshiping is complete surrender to the Lord serving him and allowing him to use you as vessel for his word. Those moments when you give it all to him and your faith is all you are relying on. As it states in Psalm its allows Him to be praised for who He is the Great I Am. He is the ruler of the universe,  creator of all things new and he loves us unconditionally. To worship Him is to love him in return knowing that you are loved despite your sin. You are loved because you were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. So with it being Valentine's Day I thought of what better way to celebrate then worshiping the one true King. Allow his love to fill us and spending time with him through worship so that we can then turn and pour love onto others. Remember today is a lonely day for some, it might even be lonely for you but remember you are never alone. You are loved by the one who created you so worship Him for he is good and loves you no matter what. 

Finding Strength

Philippians 4:13
"I can so all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Have you ever thought to yourself how do some people go through life the way they do? How do they still seem to smile and laugh when the world around them is falling apart. We as humans desire stability and comfort. It's not normal for our world to be so full of chaos and turmoil, yet to some of us that is what life has become. Worry, fear, and stress were all created by the enemy to make us doubt God. I don't know about you, but last year was one, if not the hardest year of my life. The struggles I faced were over such a wide-span of different areas it would be hard to say which one was the greatest. However in the hardest year I found myself still growing and changing for the better in ways I was not expecting. I would find myself a complete mess and God would speak into my situation. As different as each instance was and when my world seemed to be falling down around me my God was still there. You see God is good all the time no exceptions, but we as humans don't think of him that way because we can't understand his magnitude. So we picture him as a human and by doing that we give him limitations that he doesn't have. Even when he says no he is still doing it for our own good. He loves us unconditionally and because of that he wants us to have nothing but the best. However we are still going to face struggles they happen, but the great thing is that God uses them for good. We can't see the big picture but He has created it and knows that the journey is just as important as the destination. So you are probably wondering what does this have to do with strength? Simple, when you don't have the strength to carry on it's because you are trying to rely on your own strength instead of leaning in Him. I think people believe that they are weak if they turn to others for help, and in that case they treat God no different. Yet I think it takes courage to know when you can't go it alone, to admit that you need God to get you through. Yo walk through life with Him is not only life changing it allows us to have complete freedom. Casting the burden that Jesus already paid for on the cross is liberating and who doesn't want to be liberated. So my challenge for you today is to march. March to the alter with all your burdens strapped to you and dump them. Leave them there and don't pick them back up. Allow yourself to feel the weight removed from your shoulders and altered for the better. Trust in him for He is all the strength you need. 

Being Bold

Ephesians 3:12

"Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence."

With today being MLK day I have found myself reflecting on what he was thinking. So many people see him as just a civil rights activist but forgot he was a pastor. He was a man of God on a mission to fulfill what he felt he was called to do. I love that. I love the fact that he follow God's plan for him with no fear, he was bold. So many people wonder to themselves why the world has stopped changing and I think it's because Christians who are called by God to do great things have stopped being bold. We all have a destiny but we try to find our own way in the world and end up coming up short. So today I say remember Martin Luther King Jr. And live for your dreams. Find your destiny and stand boldly knowing that God is by your side. My challenge for you today is to talk to God and ask him how you can be bold. Seek him and let him know that you are ready to do anything he has planned for you because you know he will led the way. I think Doctor King would agree with me when I don't forget to dream but when you do make sure your dreams are as big as the plans God has for you because nothing is impossible with Him by your side. 

Finding Value

Ephesians 2:4-9
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"

So I was thinking to myself as my 26th birthday fast approaches what have I done with the first 25 years of my life? I mean my goodness it's a quarter of a century and what do I have to show for it? As these questions continued to circle around in my head the enemy way quick to respond. He showed me what I was lacking: a husband, a full-time job that I love, a house, debt up to my eyeballs. As I began to feel down and depressed about my life God wanted to come to my rescue. His presence of peace and love was so overwhelming and the truth he revealed to me was so needed. You see before I allowed God to speak into my situation I was trying to erase my doubt and insecurities on my own. I was going to family and friends hoping that their encouraging words would help. They would mention college or church and for a few moments I would feel better, but it wasn't sustainable. The feelings of doubt and regret would still creep in. Then finally when my walls were down and I took a moment to be silent and still God revealed something amazing to me. It's not always easy to take a moment to simply stop everything to hear what God wants us to, especially with the way our lives are nowadays, but when we do it is totally worth it.  When God spoke into that situation I felt immediate joy and peace. I am always so amazed by what we find as valuable compared to God. In our world it's about what we have and we measure success based on how much we have compared to others. Yet God values how much you give, not in the financial sense, but in what you give to give to his kingdom. In the moment when I was looking for value he showed me that I had accomplished more than I had ever thought. He told me that I had been faithful and in my faithfulness my family had been saved. God showed me how he used me in my family lives to plant a seed. Knowing that 5 people who I love so much would spend eternity in heaven with him is more than I could ever ask for. To be a vessel for him is by far the greatest gift. So now as 26 approaches I'm not thinking about the past 25 years. Instead I'm thinking about the future and it excites me to see what God has in store. So my challenge for you is to find a moment to silent and still. God is always speaking to us, but we just have to listen. So take some time to listen because I guarantee that you will be amazed at all He has to say. 

Speaking Truth

2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Have you ever given advice to someone and a few days later you find yourself in a situation where that advice would work perfectly, except there is one small problem, you don't take it. Why is that? Why is it that we can speak truth into other people's situations, but when it comes to ourselves we are our own worst enemy? I truly believe that the enemy sits back and laughs sometimes because we are doing his work for him. We attack ourselves more often then we praise ourselves and even when we are praised by others we claim false humility because we don't believe what they say about us. This past summer when we were at camp we as leaders adopted a philosophy one of our senior girls passed along and to me it was truly inspiring. What we did was, when one girl made a negative comment about herself such as "I hate my hair" we would make her take a moment to stop what she was doing and then speak three positive things about herself. Over the course of that week we saw change. We saw insecurities be healed and past hurts washed away, but what about now? I realized that I was a huge proponent for this exercise when we were at camp, but once I came back to reality I didn't find myself speaking truth once I had spoken death into my own situation. I let the atmosphere at camp allow for change, but I didn't allow the change to happen. I embraced it while I was there, but once I no longer had the security of camp I had reverted back to what I knew, to what was comfortable. So what I have discovered is that I have to make a change. I have to use the Bible and God's Word to alter my way of thinking. If we as Christians believe that what the Bible says is true then we have to believe what God says about us. So my challenge for you today is to start speaking truth into every situation whether it's good or bad. Allow the word of God to heal you. Know that you are beautiful and wonderfully made, and that no matter what, even the gates of hell, that nothing can separate you from God's love. Learn the truth about who you are in God so you can speak it into your life as well as everyone else's around you. Don't just be truth seeker be truth speakers and watch how not only the world around you changes but how you change too. 

Giving Grace

1 John 4:20
"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."

To be honest I woke up this morning feeling completely defeated. I went to bed on a spiritual high from my quiet time and woke up feeling exhausted and stressed. I wondered to myself how does the enemy do it? How does he come in and create worry and doubt before I've even opened my eyes. Now don't worry I know that life can be a struggle and that not everything around us is the enemy trying to kill,steal,and destroy, but it's Wednesday. For those of you who don't know today is the first day of youth for 2014 and the enemy is at his games again. Wednesdays, because of youth, are the days I find myself at spiritual warfare duking it out with the enemy for my sanity and clarity as the day progresses. So what does that have to do with giving grace? Well on days when you find yourself under attack remember that the enemy comes in all shapes and sizes. He can be a hurtful word from a best friend, or a nagging since of doubt that can't be shaken. As the enemy attacks we as imperfect beings will become irritated and frustrated and in that state the door for hurt and bitterness can be opened. So remember to give grace. When someone hurts you remember that they too are at war with the enemy. Don't allow anger or hate to come in and distract you from God's presence in your life. Be aware that the enemy can cause blinders to be put up and he can use insecurities as weapons against you. Being vulnerable and loving even during a battle will allow other's to see God's love. By giving others grace when you are frustrated is the best way to show them Jesus in you. Think about it, Jesus, even though he was perfect, felt human emotions and anger is a human emotion, but what made him perfect is how he handled it. He didn't get mad, he didn't say something hurtful back, he simply loved people because he knew his father loved them. So my challenge for you today is to give grace, give it even if you think they don't deserve it. Allow yourself to love on others and you will be amazed on how much God will pour his love onto you. Remember the best way to battle something evil is with something good. The enemy is fueled by hate so extinguish him with love. Be who God has made you to be,a loving daughter or son he made is his image. By showing love and giving grace you bring heaven to earth and let's be honest we could all use a little taste of heaven. 

Running after Him

Mark 8:34-35

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.


I often wonder what it would have been like to live when Jesus did. To see Him, to witness the miracles He performed. I think that sometimes we as Christians struggle with trusting God because the enemy uses sight as a reason to stray. He (the enemy) implants thoughts of disbelief because it is so easy to see evil especially when we are apart of such an imperfect world. As I ventured into Guatemala on my first mission trip my eyes were opened in such a way I could never have imagined it. I thought to myself that I would go and help make an impact on a part of the world that needed God's love. I would go and spread the name of Jesus and the message of hope. But God had a different plan for me, as he always does, he changed me more on that trip then any impact I could have left behind.  In a place where people have so little I saw Jesus everywhere I went. His love radiated from the people I met. All they had was hope and they believe with all their heart that Jesus loved them without an ounce of doubt. So why do I struggle? Why do I, when it is so obvious that I am blessed, find myself doubting God's love for me? I pondered this and realized that the answer is so simple. I allow my sight to hinder me. I allow what I can see of this world to distract me from God's love. As it says in Mark 8:34-35 we as Christian need to pick up our cross, but what happens when other things enter into our lives? We find ourselves putting down our cross and picking up things of this world. The eyes God has blessed us with tend to stray, but we can change that. We can pick up our cross and continue to carry it if we begin to see with the eyes of our spirit. To turn our minds to a heavenly mindset. Now let's be honest we are always going to stuggle. There are always going to be times in which we feel alone. Even as we carry the cross the enemy is going to continue to come in and try to make us lighten the load. Yet we can find peace in the one who made us. We can find rest in the one who bore the strips on his back and the thorns on his head. As Christians we can  trust that as we run to Him that His arms will open and embrace us no matter the struggle; no matter what the enemy says we are never alone. So my challenge for you today is to see God's love everywhere you go even when you're struggling. When you're in the mist of the storm show God's love to others. Let your actions speak louder than any words can. By God's grace we are saved and by his love we have victory so run. Run to him let him embrace you and rest assure in everything he promises. 

Being a Consuming Fire

January 13, 2014

Hebrews 12:27-29
"This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29for our God is a consuming fire

So what does it mean to be a Christian in today's world? For one thing we as Christians find ourselves constantly caught between a rock and a hard place. As the world becomes more and more like that of Ancient Babylon we find ourselves at constant battle with the enemy. We are called to be loving and at the same time to speak the truth of God's word, yet how do we do that when the world is so divided? When the place we work is so concerned with being politically correct that we as Christians are condemned for believing what they Bible says, we find ourselves praying to be accepted. Some of you as you read this blog are wondering where am I going with all of this. I can tell you that just like the ancestors of Jesus we too have stand for what is right. As the great James Robinson says "we can't be watered down Christians hoping that the world will change". We have to take a step in faith that we can make a difference. Just as God is the great Potter and has shaped us into the people we are. We are now vessels for his word. So with this first post I challenge you to seek God's face and to ask him where can you make a difference? My desire and purpose for this blog is that it will be a place where we can come together to take one giant step towards gaining ground for God's kingdom. So please post prayer requests; know that nothing is too big or to small for God. He cares for things that important to us. This is his blog, I am just the vessel he choice to write it. As the days continue the storms in life will come but together we can speak life into those storms. We can press into the greatness of God and become who he has destined all of us to be. I leave you with this. Know that you are loved; know that you were made with a purpose beyond what you can imagine, and know that our God is a consuming fire that will bless you and provide for you as long as you let him reign. For this is done with love for I love you for who God made you to be and I want to do life with you. So please let us do life together. Until next time I pray that God reveals to you how amazing you are and that he is there even if you're in the middle of a storm.