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.