I Want to Live Like That

"Jesus,
May we live like it's our last day everyday. Not holding back because of fear of what others think or say, or fear of failure; or just thinking of ourselves and our desires, wants before others needs. Jesus, show me/us how to love those no one else will! Show me/us how to reach to those no one else will touch! Show me/us how to love those that You have placed in our lives. You have lavished us with so much grace, God, how can we not give it away!?!?!

"May I/we be quick to lend a hand, and not judge; may I/we run to help others and not criticize; may I/we lavish and readily give your grace, forgiveness and love to others as You have given to us freely. Jesus, the same radical living You called Your disciples to many years ago, (Check out the Gospel(s) of Matthew, John, Acts)  is the same radical living You have called us to today! May we embrace it! fully and completely giving ourselves to You, Jesus-wholly, utterly and completely abandon to You and Your will!"

 "Jesus, may every breath I/we breath be for Your glory!"

Singing Stars and Wales-How Great is Our God!

My sister showed me this video and I wanted to share it with you... Friends, even creation is praising our God, the Creator of the universe!

So, what did you think? Is this just amazing or what?!?! What an awesome God we serve!

I have Chosen Thee

Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,

God's breath upon the flame does blow;

And all my heart in anguish shivers

And trembles at the fiery glow;

And I whisper, “As God will!”

And in the hottest fire hold still.

He comes and lays my heart all heated,

On the anvil, minded so

Into His own fair shape to beat it

With His great hammer blow on blow;

And yet I whisper, “As God will!”

And at the heaviest blows hold still.

He takes my softened heart and beats it;

The sparks fly off at every blow;

He turns it o'er, o'er and heats it,

And lets it cool, and makes it glow;

And yet I whisper, “As God will!”

And in His mighty hand hold still.

Why should I complain? for the sorrow

Then only longer-lived would be;

The end may come, and will tomorrow,

When God has done His work in me;

So I say trusting, “As God will!”

And, trusting to the end, hold still.

                          ~Julius Sturm 

This is one of my favorite poems. I love the vivid picture it paints using this analogy. Maybe you are finding yourself in a fiery furnace right now. I'm sorry you have to go through this pain!! Please know that I am not trying to fix anything because I don't have all the answers, but I hope and pray this is encouraging to you! 

Here is something a new friend of mine [Jen Barrick] told/emailed me tonight: "God never wastes a pain, a tear, or a trial. He is faithful to find the most creative, purposeful means to bring beauty from the ashes, strength from our weakness... it is only a matter of timing!"

'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive what God has planned for those who love Him' 1 Corinthians 2:9

My friend, you are a precious and priceless treasure!

Easy or Hard?

"Would you rather have an easy life, and not produce much fruit, or have a harder life, but produce more fruit?"                    
                          
The other day I heard a gentleman say that God asked him this question. It made me stop and ask the question of myself. What do I really desire? How do I live my life? Do I want an easy life, or one that is harder, but bears more fruit for Christ?!?!

Well, friend, I will be honest and say that I don't really love trials and suffering, it hurts! I don't like things that hurt! But, I do want to bear fruit in my life and I do want to live in obedience to Christ. I want live in such a way that those who do not know Jesus, will see Him in me. And in order to do that, I need to be like Jesus. 

Jesus was perfect and last time I looked in the mirror and looked at my life, I did not see someone who was perfectly like Christ. Hmmmm, yep, last time I checked I had a ways to go to be just like Jesus in every area of my life. 

So friend, what do you say? May I encourage and challenge you to think about this question? If God was/is asking you this question right now, what would/are you going to decide? 

"God, I pray that we would so desire for Your Name be glorified, proclaimed and lifted high, that even through the suffering and pain involved in our life, we would embrace it-looking to You for strength and grace, knowing that there is a bigger picture. May we patiently walk the path, following You every step of the way. Jesus, I do want to bear fruit for You! Sometimes though, I get scared and look at my circumstances and what looms before me instead of looking to You. Help me to keep my eyes fixed upon You always.  God, if trials is what it takes to bring You the most glory and proclaim Your Name, then Jesus, may we say, 'bring the rain'."

Pursued by My Lover

I start laughing with joy. Then crying, and then laughing again. All throughout that day when I thought about it, I was giddy all over again.    

                   
The other day while doing my devotions God opened my eyes to the truth that He was pursuing me way before I even began to look His way. Just think about this... God, the Creator of the Universe, wants YOU!! and so much so, that He pursues YOU!!! Yep, I know, it is simply crazy, amazing!!! (*girls, just food for thought...no man will ever pursue you like what God does!! Not even close!)

I invite you to look at these verses with me... :)

"For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  Psalm 139:13

"Your eyes [God] saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."  Psalm 139:16

"O Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ..."   Psalm 139:2-5

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

"For God so loved the world (you), that He gave His only Son, that whoever (if you) believes in Him [you] will not perish but have everlasting/eternal life." John 3:16

You know sometimes we believe the lie that we are not valuable and that we don't "measure" up. Or maybe you think that God doesn't like you, much less love you. Sometimes because of circumstances that happen in our life that are out-of-our-control, we believe the lie that satan and the world feed us: "You are not worth much or valuable; you are such a loser." But guess what, Friend?!?! You have been created and made in the image of God, and He says you are valuable. Your worth does not depend on what you have or have not accomplished; whether you are super smart/intelligent; on your looks or athletic ability; or anything else!

You are valuable & of worth because God says you are!!!

So don't believe the lies from the world that you have to do a specific thing or be a certain way to be valuable! It's just not true! You, my friend, are valuable because God wanted you to be and He made you in His image; it pleased Him. Check out the book of Genesis and the creation account (Genesis 1-2). Notice how God created the rest of creation and then how He created humans. Walk in the truth today and tomorrow and the rest of your life! 

Friend, if Jesus is your Lord and Savior embrace knowing that He wants you and is for you! Maybe though, you do not know what having a relationship with Jesus is; know that God is pursuing YOU and is calling your name. Go to Him. He wants you! I encourage and challenge you to find out more about a relationship with Jesus. Open up the Bible and start reading. Ask your pastor, a trusted friend, or as always, please contact me! I would love to talk with you! :)                

Friend, God doesn't make junk! If fact, you matter so much that even though we messed up His perfect world and separated ourselves from Him, He made a way that we could live with Him for eternity! Isn't that just crazy, amazing!?!? You do matter! You do have a purpose because of Christ! You are precious and valuable!

It's Good to be Alive

The sun is shining; the grass is turning a lovely, lush, bright green; flowers are starting to peak up through the ground; and the air smells so fresh. On top of this, my Savior Jesus, loves me and has made a way for me to spend eternity with Him. Wow! Amazing! I cannot wait for the day I finally see Him!

But... I am here today, living life. And you know what? Sometimes I can get caught up in life, getting so busy that I forget to enjoy life and embrace the little things. God put me here to bring Him glory. I don't want to waste my life! I want it to count!

Listen to this song by Jason Gray called, "Good to be Alive". This should be our attitude everyday. :)

May we live everyday as if it was our last, enjoying and embracing God's grace. 

Letting Go of Me & Holding on to You, Jesus

This past Sunday we had a fundraiser at our church for a team from our church going to St. Louis, MO this summer. Much time, effort and prayer had gone into the planning of the program. Everything was ready and going as planned. Then I got a phone call. Curve ball!

One thing we prayed before the night begin was that no matter the results God would get all the glory. Whether the church was overflowing or only 5 people showed up; whether we ran our of ice cream sundaes or we only used one bucket; whether I tripped and fell flat on my face or got through the night without a mishap (this was my personal prayer). Whatever the outcome, God would get the glory, honor and praise. 

Well, the night went great! Our church was full with only a pew or two open, we did have enough ice cream, the singing group [The Saratoga Boys gospel quartet] sounded amazing and our church band did a super job. We raised more money than we thought we would, and guess what?!? Not a single person tripped!! :)

But that was not all that happened that night, no. Like I said, the evening went great; but admidst all this, God wanted to teach His daughter {me} more about Himself and conform her more to the likeness of His Son, Jesus. About 45 minutes before the concert started, I got a call saying that my brother was sick and not coming. I would have to do his speaking part and get some other guys to do his other jobs. Not so hard, right? Then why was I so nervous? I usually get nervous when I speak in front of crowds, but for some reason, after this phone call I was in a bit of a tizzy!

That night God humbled me. He showed me that I sometimes start relying on my own strength instead of on His strength. God stretched me-I was put on the spot and out of my comfort zone, having to step up and do more speaking since Caleb was unable to come. When I had to ask other guys in our church to do some of his task for that night, that was out of my comfort zone-I don't like asking people to do things at the last minute and this was very last minute! "Would they even say yes?"

I had some trouble with the presentation about the trip concerning what to say and how to say everything. My prayer was that God would speak through me and that the words I said where His, not mine. So basically, ''Here's what I have, Lord, please be fill in the cracks."

Even during this time of teaching and molding-which is humbling and crazy and amazing all at the same time because the Creator of the universe, He cares enough to reach down and not let me stay how I am, but to change me-He showers me with blessings! Friends that live about 2 hours away came. It meant the world to me to have them there! They loved on me, encouraged me, and showed up. God showed me through these friends, a little taste of His love for me.

I so desire to become more like Jesus everyday! But honestly, sometimes I don't like being stretched or put out of my comfort zone. But if I really do yearn to become more like Jesus, than that means change, because of sin, I am not naturally like Jesus.

"Lord, I pray that we would yearn for You. May we hunger and thirst for Your Word. God, thank You for not letting us stay like we are-all broken, cracked and full of ourselves-but for changing us more into Your likeness. Thank you for teaching us, Your children. May we learn to surrender to You and Your will."