I don't think anyone fully grasps the joy that I have when talking, interacting and loving people. Sometimes, I don't even understand it until after it's happened. This week I have had such great moving conversations with friends. Just last night I was able to talk with a friend on the phone who recently moved back home after being in Arizona. It was a conversation filled with laughter, catching up and Jesus.
When Jesus was talking about the greatest commandment, he said to love God and love others. Obviously, I'm paraphrasing. Still though, we are called to love others. Love others in a way that is not our own. Cause honestly, people are hard. Relationship is hard. It takes work, support, love, patience.
Just the other day I was reading a blog by a pastor and he was talking about being in relationship. He went over different points that he thought were important to have in any type of relationship. Here is what he said:
1. Begin with the guy in the mirror. (Matthew 22:39 – love your
neighbour as yourself). We can only love others to the degree that we
love ourselves, and we only love ourselves to the degree that we know
the love of God.
2. Be a faithful friend. (Prov. 17:17 – a friend
loves at all times). We need to love our friends even when they are
being unlovable, for it is then that they need our friendship the most.
3.
Speak only encouraging words to everyone. (Prov. 18:21 “the power of
death and life are in the tongue” & Eph. 4:29). You’ve heard the
rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt
me." That’s not true. Words can wound greater than sticks and stones!
4. Be friendly to everyone you meet. (Prov. 18:24 – he who has friends
must be friendly). If you have a real negative, grouchy attitude all the
time, you will have a hard time making friends!
5. Practice love
everyday. (READ 1 Cor. 13:4-8a). Don’t just say, "I love you." Love is
patient, love is kind, love believes the best, etc.
6. Help people in trouble all the time. (Gal. 6:2 – God wants us to share each others troubles & problems).
7. Pray for one another daily. (James 5:16 – pray for one another). Never pass up an opportunity to pray with someone.
8. Pursue peace with all men. (Rom. 12:18 – as much as possible). This is not easy, but this is very important.
9.
Know how to deal with offenses. (Matt. 18:15 - if someone offends you,
go and talk to them about it, don’t go and talk to others about it).
Jesus said, “Offenses will come,” but its how we deal with it that makes
the difference.
10. Forgive one another. (Eph. 4:32 - forgive
each other as Christ forgave us). In any relationship, you will have to
choose to forgive the other person when they hurt or offend you.
I read these and I really liked the way he put it into words. These are things that can make you a better friend to people. He puts it in a bit nicer sounding words than I would I think. :) But all of these things ring true.
If you've read my blogs recently you've seen how much of a mind battle I've been haivng, and especially while interacting with people, Satan tries his hardest to tear me down. But in those moments when I'm sitting in my car by myself, I just get to commune with God. I find myself praying, constantly...for others. When there is one specific person on my mind I just get to talk to God about them. I don't always know if it's doing anything, but I'd rather pray than just let it sit on my mind. Our minds are vulnerable things. If you've been thinking, stressing, worrying, whatever...I really encourage you to just pray. Take your mind off of what is happening, because the reality is that God has control. He's always got your best interest in mind. He knows exactly what he's doing and it's going to be better than you EVER imagined. I'm being for serious right now. Trust him. And pray :) Lots and lots of prayer.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fight, Fight, Fight
13 Therefore put on the
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:13-18
More than anything, I want to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Because in my mind, those arrows are lies that are shot into my brain. Yup, pretty graphic. But that's how I think. I want every thought that goes through my head to be glorifying to the Lord. It's not so much a battle in the physical for me, but a battle in the mind. And most people wouldn't even know there was a battle raging except that I've said it. The battle of the mind is hard. It's private and not others can always detect unless they know you really well. Regardless, it's the battle that is happening constantly.
Satan wants us distracted and vulnerable. And for me, that's my thought life. But when I put on the full armor of God, it's different. God wants us to be able to stand after we have done everything. That shows me that with all of this stuff I can battle well. Then it tells me to pray. If you don't know, I LOVE praying. Why, just today I had a phenomenal prayer session with my big brother. God is moving, my friends. Choose to see it.
The battle still rages, but I'm winning. Only because of Christ.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:13-18
More than anything, I want to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Because in my mind, those arrows are lies that are shot into my brain. Yup, pretty graphic. But that's how I think. I want every thought that goes through my head to be glorifying to the Lord. It's not so much a battle in the physical for me, but a battle in the mind. And most people wouldn't even know there was a battle raging except that I've said it. The battle of the mind is hard. It's private and not others can always detect unless they know you really well. Regardless, it's the battle that is happening constantly.
Satan wants us distracted and vulnerable. And for me, that's my thought life. But when I put on the full armor of God, it's different. God wants us to be able to stand after we have done everything. That shows me that with all of this stuff I can battle well. Then it tells me to pray. If you don't know, I LOVE praying. Why, just today I had a phenomenal prayer session with my big brother. God is moving, my friends. Choose to see it.
The battle still rages, but I'm winning. Only because of Christ.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Truth Will Set You Free
Emotion.
good; when not over used. bad; when it is all that is.
Joy.
only from Christ. happiness is fleeting. joy stays.
Facial Expression.
shows more than we think. can help people understand.
God gave us our emotions, joy, and facial expressions for a reason. Stand firm in knowing that God is going to use those things in your life. He wants us to remain in Him.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
My friends, I implore you, seek Him. For He is seeking you.
5 The islands have seen it and fear;
the ends of the earth tremble.
They approach and come forward;
6 they help each other
and say to their companions, “Be strong!”
7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,
and the one who smooths with the hammer
spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.
One says of the welding, “It is good.”
The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.
8 “But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9 I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:5-10
This passage was in the reading for one of the Bible studies that I'm in. God really spoke to me through it. It showed the community that God was speaking about. When all people of all types encourage one another and uplift each other, it brings about community. It doesn't have to be the people that you thought it was going to be. Let God be the one showing you who he wants you to encourage and be encouraged by. Most times, it's the people we least expect it to be. No joke.
Reread the Isaiah 41 passage and really let God speak to you through it. There is so much promise and love that he puts into those words. It's hard to digest the first time. But as you read it over and over, God moves in your heart. Let it wash over you.
The TRUTH will set you free
Monday, September 5, 2011
Hope
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
When the going gets tough, sometimes we forget to hope. There is always a ray of hope that we don't see. It's always there though. Choose to see it. Because when you do, there's more to live for. Don't give up hope, friends. He is our hope.
When the going gets tough, sometimes we forget to hope. There is always a ray of hope that we don't see. It's always there though. Choose to see it. Because when you do, there's more to live for. Don't give up hope, friends. He is our hope.
You
If only I could express to you how much God is doing. I'll try to explain, but if you get lost, just keep reading.
The past month there have so many changes, not just in my life but in the lives of the people I'm around. Beginning of August was the start. I went got my wisdom teeth out, got dry sockets, didn't get any scholarships for school, moved home, took out a loan, figured out I was broke, got my motorcycles license, struggled with stress, failure and believing lies.
Failure. As a first born, I'm more prone to looking at my life and wanting it to be perfect. Yes, I do realize that that is impossible. But that's what I strive for. And when I'm incapable of doing so, I feel like a complete and utter failure.
Pain. Some of you know what it's like to be in pain all the time. It felt like hell. The pain was all I could think about. It was in my mouth, so I didn't want to eat AND I wasn't getting much sleep cause I would wake up after the meds wore off, in pain. Thinking back on it, it was just horrible. There truly aren't words to describe. I would have okay days. But there was a period when I was in pain for like 2 weeks straight. Then it took me another week to get back into a regular sleeping pattern. Even now, I'm still tired. Don't get depressed for me, I'm just setting the scene.
Lies. Then on top of it all, my thought life was just all lies from Satan. Every single thing I thought, I knew wasn't the truth. I was reading my Bible and praying, talking to God. But still, the lies were overwhelming. It felt like too much. The lies weren't just focused on my "failure," it covered everything. How I felt about myself, how other people viewed me, what I was doing with my life, if I was doing the right thing, if I was going to make an impact, and so on. You get the picture.
I can't really tell you to the fullest extent I was feeling. But literally, I didn't feel like myself. I wasn't joyful, happy-go-lucky, find the good in everything Bre. I wasn't what people wanted, expected, or needed, in my mind. That straight up sucks. Because how we feel reflects the way we treat others.
One thing that God has been ingraining into my head for the past couple of years is how my value does not lie in what I do, but who I am. My identity is in Christ. I say that when you first see my blog, and it's the truth. I know that is where my identity lies. Which is why Satan wants to attack that one the most.
Last week, I started school, started my third job and am about to start my fourth. I am going to have four jobs, full-time school and a minimal social life. Which is a huge change from the summer. I just worked and hung out with friends all summer. I did have one summer class, which was good, but it wasn't too hard at all.
Again, my value doesn't lie in what I'm doing, but who I am.
So, you might be wondering, who am I?
I am part of the body of Christ. I am loving, caring, compassionate, kind. I am real, authentic and unafraid. I am my sisters best friend. I am my brothers biggest fan. I am my friends support. I am the person that will listen, or give advice. I am the one that comes to the same coffee shop everyday. I am who God has created me to be. I am growing in my faith, my maturity. I am a servant leader. I am humbled everyday. Because I know that I am none of these things without Christ.
If you and I stopped doing all the things we're doing, God would still love us.
Love is the foundation.
I was listening to a sermon the other night and the pastor said that. Love is the foundation. He told a story about his daughter. When he asks her to do something, she gives him this look that says that no to him. But he knows that she will do it. If only because of her love for him. God gets so ecstatic when we do things for him simply because we love him. How many times do we do things simply because of the fact that we love God? If I'm honest, not many. That thought doesn't cross my mind. I just know that I need to do certain things for him. What a revolutionary way of thinking! If every time I didn't want to do something, and was reminded that I love God and that is my motivation. I think my entire perspective on life would change. Literally.
Being so sucked into my own stuff meant that I completely forgot about other people. Maybe not completely. But mostly. Then BAM! I was sitting and listening to a sermon from another pastor and he was talking about thinking of others as more important than yourself. Living a humble life. And God was talking to me about servant leadership. As this new season begins, I'm finding myself in a leadership role. Honestly, I haven't had one in quite a while. Servant leadership is something that I learned about during my days as an intern, when I traveled around the country with an organization called TeenPact. What I forgot was that being a servant leader isn't just in leadership, it is in everyday life. Moment by moment, we are called to be different, to show Christ. Those are the the moments that being a leader is the most important. Because when you aren't seen as important, but you still be the servant leader on a quiet level, people see the Jesus that shines in you. You're right, maybe no one will see. That's not the reason to do those things. The motive of your heart should be that God wants you to.
You might be a little bit confused cause I was talking about our value not being in the things that we do, then I went on to talking about why we do things for Christ.
When we are rooted in Christ's love, we are living in that and our value is in him, it is a hundred times easier to do things and know that that's not why God loves us. But beware, it is easy to get sucked into the performance mentality that the things we do gives us value.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16
The past month there have so many changes, not just in my life but in the lives of the people I'm around. Beginning of August was the start. I went got my wisdom teeth out, got dry sockets, didn't get any scholarships for school, moved home, took out a loan, figured out I was broke, got my motorcycles license, struggled with stress, failure and believing lies.
Failure. As a first born, I'm more prone to looking at my life and wanting it to be perfect. Yes, I do realize that that is impossible. But that's what I strive for. And when I'm incapable of doing so, I feel like a complete and utter failure.
Pain. Some of you know what it's like to be in pain all the time. It felt like hell. The pain was all I could think about. It was in my mouth, so I didn't want to eat AND I wasn't getting much sleep cause I would wake up after the meds wore off, in pain. Thinking back on it, it was just horrible. There truly aren't words to describe. I would have okay days. But there was a period when I was in pain for like 2 weeks straight. Then it took me another week to get back into a regular sleeping pattern. Even now, I'm still tired. Don't get depressed for me, I'm just setting the scene.
Lies. Then on top of it all, my thought life was just all lies from Satan. Every single thing I thought, I knew wasn't the truth. I was reading my Bible and praying, talking to God. But still, the lies were overwhelming. It felt like too much. The lies weren't just focused on my "failure," it covered everything. How I felt about myself, how other people viewed me, what I was doing with my life, if I was doing the right thing, if I was going to make an impact, and so on. You get the picture.
I can't really tell you to the fullest extent I was feeling. But literally, I didn't feel like myself. I wasn't joyful, happy-go-lucky, find the good in everything Bre. I wasn't what people wanted, expected, or needed, in my mind. That straight up sucks. Because how we feel reflects the way we treat others.
One thing that God has been ingraining into my head for the past couple of years is how my value does not lie in what I do, but who I am. My identity is in Christ. I say that when you first see my blog, and it's the truth. I know that is where my identity lies. Which is why Satan wants to attack that one the most.
Last week, I started school, started my third job and am about to start my fourth. I am going to have four jobs, full-time school and a minimal social life. Which is a huge change from the summer. I just worked and hung out with friends all summer. I did have one summer class, which was good, but it wasn't too hard at all.
Again, my value doesn't lie in what I'm doing, but who I am.
So, you might be wondering, who am I?
I am part of the body of Christ. I am loving, caring, compassionate, kind. I am real, authentic and unafraid. I am my sisters best friend. I am my brothers biggest fan. I am my friends support. I am the person that will listen, or give advice. I am the one that comes to the same coffee shop everyday. I am who God has created me to be. I am growing in my faith, my maturity. I am a servant leader. I am humbled everyday. Because I know that I am none of these things without Christ.
If you and I stopped doing all the things we're doing, God would still love us.
Love is the foundation.
I was listening to a sermon the other night and the pastor said that. Love is the foundation. He told a story about his daughter. When he asks her to do something, she gives him this look that says that no to him. But he knows that she will do it. If only because of her love for him. God gets so ecstatic when we do things for him simply because we love him. How many times do we do things simply because of the fact that we love God? If I'm honest, not many. That thought doesn't cross my mind. I just know that I need to do certain things for him. What a revolutionary way of thinking! If every time I didn't want to do something, and was reminded that I love God and that is my motivation. I think my entire perspective on life would change. Literally.
Being so sucked into my own stuff meant that I completely forgot about other people. Maybe not completely. But mostly. Then BAM! I was sitting and listening to a sermon from another pastor and he was talking about thinking of others as more important than yourself. Living a humble life. And God was talking to me about servant leadership. As this new season begins, I'm finding myself in a leadership role. Honestly, I haven't had one in quite a while. Servant leadership is something that I learned about during my days as an intern, when I traveled around the country with an organization called TeenPact. What I forgot was that being a servant leader isn't just in leadership, it is in everyday life. Moment by moment, we are called to be different, to show Christ. Those are the the moments that being a leader is the most important. Because when you aren't seen as important, but you still be the servant leader on a quiet level, people see the Jesus that shines in you. You're right, maybe no one will see. That's not the reason to do those things. The motive of your heart should be that God wants you to.
You might be a little bit confused cause I was talking about our value not being in the things that we do, then I went on to talking about why we do things for Christ.
When we are rooted in Christ's love, we are living in that and our value is in him, it is a hundred times easier to do things and know that that's not why God loves us. But beware, it is easy to get sucked into the performance mentality that the things we do gives us value.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16
God is love.
Let him love you.
For you.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Known
Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
Psalm 139:1a
When we feel unknown, we can rest in the truth that we are known. We are thoroughly, fully, minutely known, for who we are, what we are doing and how we are doing. Even when you have no clue how you're doing. That is the beauty of our God.
He knows the desires of our hearts.
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
And as you can see, he wants to give them to us. All throughout the old testament, God gives men the desires of their hearts, when they are doing it with the right motives and even when they do not. Yet, God still honors those. Lately, I've been trying to figure out what the desire of my heart is. Since I was 10 years old, I thought I was going to be a lawyer. Have lots of money and be able to do real ministry later on down the road. Of course, being a lawyer is a ministry in it of itself, but I've always wanted to be a speaker. And even though it seems like I get worse and WORSE at speaking as I get older, I still would love to do that. Let's be real, that's ministry. Not law. Who knows. God is in control. If I'm supposed to go to law school, he'll provide the money, the way and what school I should go to. If it's ministry, I have no idea where I'm going to start, but he'll show me that path too. Oh, if only God would point me in a specific direction. What a relief that would be. But this is faith strengthening. I just gotta keep remembering that :) Go God!
Psalm 139:1a
When we feel unknown, we can rest in the truth that we are known. We are thoroughly, fully, minutely known, for who we are, what we are doing and how we are doing. Even when you have no clue how you're doing. That is the beauty of our God.
He knows the desires of our hearts.
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
And as you can see, he wants to give them to us. All throughout the old testament, God gives men the desires of their hearts, when they are doing it with the right motives and even when they do not. Yet, God still honors those. Lately, I've been trying to figure out what the desire of my heart is. Since I was 10 years old, I thought I was going to be a lawyer. Have lots of money and be able to do real ministry later on down the road. Of course, being a lawyer is a ministry in it of itself, but I've always wanted to be a speaker. And even though it seems like I get worse and WORSE at speaking as I get older, I still would love to do that. Let's be real, that's ministry. Not law. Who knows. God is in control. If I'm supposed to go to law school, he'll provide the money, the way and what school I should go to. If it's ministry, I have no idea where I'm going to start, but he'll show me that path too. Oh, if only God would point me in a specific direction. What a relief that would be. But this is faith strengthening. I just gotta keep remembering that :) Go God!
Take a jump.
Leap into the unknown.
You don't need to know.
'Cause God does.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Be Filled
Ask me how my week was and I will probably tell you long, or hard.
Ask me what God has been teaching me, and I could write you a novel.
As I sit listening to the rain fall and basking in God's greatness, I have to wonder why my first response to the first question would be long.
[Side note: Rain is God's way of telling me everything is going to be okay]
Moving right along. I guess this week could be summed up in a few words...filled with God. But my tendency is to remember how I really felt. My goal is to be authentic and real. The real answer is that my week was long. There were so many bumps in the road, unseen twists and turns, and yet, it was still good. But the reason that it was good is God. That's literally it. By Tuesday, I knew that I was only running on Jesus juice. There is no possible way that I am capable of dealing with all the crap that has been happening. It's only by the grace of God. But it's easy to remember the bad, and incredibly normal to forget the good. Why is that? Beats me, I'm asking you. But I've been trying so hard to remember how good my God is. He has my best interest in mind, he loves me all the time and DESIRES to be a intimate part of my life.
The God of the Universe, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, wants to kick it with me. That is what is up.
I told you a couple posts ago that I was having a hard time looking at the world and not being sad. There is so much pain, heartache and sadness that is scattered all over this planet. Recently, I've felt like there have been more problems than usual. Maybe it's just that I'm getting to know more people and with that comes their problems too, or maybe it's just God's way of revealing to me how much more he wants me to depend on him. Either way, there are problems. A wee bit of back story for you, when I was 15 I had this issue with my stomach. For like 3 months straight, my stomach hurt every day. I took Rolaids like they were going out of style. Cause for me, when my stomach hurts, I can't function. This led to going to a doctor and him telling me it was stress. I figured out that I tend to take the whole world on my shoulders and never really let anyone help me. Honestly, I love hearing what people are going through, especially my friends. I've had random people open up to me about their entire lives, and I love that as well. God has given me that gift and I wouldn't have it any other way. But then it becomes a lesson to me to, like the old cliche says, "Let go, and let God."
This past Sunday, my college pastor, Paul was speaking at the Grove Church. We've been going through Genesis for the past couple months. He was speaking on chapter 49:1-4. Paul is a great speaker normally, but this sermon was one of his best for sure. (I'll put a link to the podcast at the bottom) He was talking about faith.
He started with Hebrews 11:1 that says:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Is God calling you to jump? To be different than the staus quo?
Last week for college group we went rock climbing. It was awesome! But there was this moment of fear while I was climbing that the person belaying me wasn't gonna catch me. Relief washed over me at the end though because I knew that the faith I had was put in the right thing. That's how life is, when we put our faith in Christ, we are relieved to know at the end that our faith was in the right place the entire time. Something that really hit me was that Paul said that God doesn't view us by our weaknesses. He sees our strengths and how we can use them. God says, "Look at what you can be. You are beautiful." He doesn't want us to be complacent in the place where we're at. No. He wants us to be filled with him. We don't think we need to be filled, but to able to live, we have to be filled with Christ. As long as we are filled with Christ, we can be a like a lions cub. A lions cub is worry free because they know that the lion and lioness are protecting it. The cub is carefree. That's what God wants us to be, because he is always protecting us. He's got our back, no matter what. Even in the saddest of moments, the most irritating situation, and the angriest circumstances. All of this said, what I realized is that it always comes back to....
The reason I know that I have to give everything to God is because he'll do a way better job of taking care of things than I will. It's proven fact. I'm not capable of handling any situation without Christ as my lion. I'll just be the little cub that lives without fear. :) It's not gonna be easy, but it is SO worth it.
Ask me what God has been teaching me, and I could write you a novel.
As I sit listening to the rain fall and basking in God's greatness, I have to wonder why my first response to the first question would be long.
[Side note: Rain is God's way of telling me everything is going to be okay]
Moving right along. I guess this week could be summed up in a few words...filled with God. But my tendency is to remember how I really felt. My goal is to be authentic and real. The real answer is that my week was long. There were so many bumps in the road, unseen twists and turns, and yet, it was still good. But the reason that it was good is God. That's literally it. By Tuesday, I knew that I was only running on Jesus juice. There is no possible way that I am capable of dealing with all the crap that has been happening. It's only by the grace of God. But it's easy to remember the bad, and incredibly normal to forget the good. Why is that? Beats me, I'm asking you. But I've been trying so hard to remember how good my God is. He has my best interest in mind, he loves me all the time and DESIRES to be a intimate part of my life.
The God of the Universe, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, wants to kick it with me. That is what is up.
I told you a couple posts ago that I was having a hard time looking at the world and not being sad. There is so much pain, heartache and sadness that is scattered all over this planet. Recently, I've felt like there have been more problems than usual. Maybe it's just that I'm getting to know more people and with that comes their problems too, or maybe it's just God's way of revealing to me how much more he wants me to depend on him. Either way, there are problems. A wee bit of back story for you, when I was 15 I had this issue with my stomach. For like 3 months straight, my stomach hurt every day. I took Rolaids like they were going out of style. Cause for me, when my stomach hurts, I can't function. This led to going to a doctor and him telling me it was stress. I figured out that I tend to take the whole world on my shoulders and never really let anyone help me. Honestly, I love hearing what people are going through, especially my friends. I've had random people open up to me about their entire lives, and I love that as well. God has given me that gift and I wouldn't have it any other way. But then it becomes a lesson to me to, like the old cliche says, "Let go, and let God."
This past Sunday, my college pastor, Paul was speaking at the Grove Church. We've been going through Genesis for the past couple months. He was speaking on chapter 49:1-4. Paul is a great speaker normally, but this sermon was one of his best for sure. (I'll put a link to the podcast at the bottom) He was talking about faith.
He started with Hebrews 11:1 that says:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Is God calling you to jump? To be different than the staus quo?
Last week for college group we went rock climbing. It was awesome! But there was this moment of fear while I was climbing that the person belaying me wasn't gonna catch me. Relief washed over me at the end though because I knew that the faith I had was put in the right thing. That's how life is, when we put our faith in Christ, we are relieved to know at the end that our faith was in the right place the entire time. Something that really hit me was that Paul said that God doesn't view us by our weaknesses. He sees our strengths and how we can use them. God says, "Look at what you can be. You are beautiful." He doesn't want us to be complacent in the place where we're at. No. He wants us to be filled with him. We don't think we need to be filled, but to able to live, we have to be filled with Christ. As long as we are filled with Christ, we can be a like a lions cub. A lions cub is worry free because they know that the lion and lioness are protecting it. The cub is carefree. That's what God wants us to be, because he is always protecting us. He's got our back, no matter what. Even in the saddest of moments, the most irritating situation, and the angriest circumstances. All of this said, what I realized is that it always comes back to....
Trust.
God wants us to live in boldness, not fear.
He wants us to trust him.
But that takes faith.
When you put your faith in him,
you can trust that is in the right place.
No Fear
Live Boldly
The reason I know that I have to give everything to God is because he'll do a way better job of taking care of things than I will. It's proven fact. I'm not capable of handling any situation without Christ as my lion. I'll just be the little cub that lives without fear. :) It's not gonna be easy, but it is SO worth it.
Are you up to the challenge?
Live boldly, free of fear.
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