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.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
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.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
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.
"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.
Friday, March 21, 2014
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.
“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.
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