Reclaiming Wonder

                                                  What beauty do you marvel at? 


                           "Worship the Lord your God and serve him ONLY." Luke 4:8 


    We were asked to write a psalm of our own and I wanted to share mine with all of you ...


Praise the Lord ...


for making me ME. For loving me unconditionally. For always being here for me and continuing to stick around even when I hurt you and lose my way.


Praise the Lord ... 


because you brought me to my friends. They are priceless gifts and each teach me and show me more of you and your love. You are brilliant and I am in awe of your presence. I surrender to you Father.


I will remember always ...


that you are in control and you desire to give me the desires of my heart. You are merciful and forgiving, loving and true. You desire to have my whole reverence and not half my heart. You desire me. I yearn to desire all of you. 


When will I get that YOU are enough? 




By your side; Tenth Avenue North 

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

(Chorus 2x)

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

(Chorus 2x)

      

He is my refuge and my fortress.

Rushing to the gym after my first shift of the day, I ran to get my workout in. I saw and talked to a friend who made me realize yet again that what I may think is a mountain or set back, God views it as a way for me to watch him work. Worrying is not something God desires from us, he wants us to believe just how big he really is. Thanks Matt for your encouraging words. I copied this from another website so I'm just reblogging it :) Enjoy!~



Our God is so much bigger than…


Cancer, and car accidents, and babies who never make it.


He is so much bigger than…


Broken hearts, broken homes, and broken marriages.


He can heal the pain….

 
Of moms who die too young or dads that never cared.


He can conquer….

 
Every form of abuse, neglect, loneliness, and fear.


He will carry us through…

 
Storms, trials, pain, persecutions, and loss.



He will restore….

 
Our hope, faith, trust, and love.


He only asks for…

 
Our hope, faith, trust, and love.

In that moment when your entire world changes forever,

look to the One who is more than big enough.



He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”  -Psalm 91:1-2

Who's magnified in your life?

It's been a while since my last post. Mostly because I have been extremely busy the changes that are occurring in my life but also because I've been occupying my life with needless tasks. I'm currently reading "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan and I have to say that it is an amazing piece of reading material. I've never been challenged like I am now with my beliefs on the Holy Spirit. It has forced me to dig into my reasoning for my beliefs and why I choose to follow the God I do. 


One specific thing I wanted to share is something I just read about this morning. I'd like to think that I am doing things in my life for the glory of God and not myself. Of course, I sometimes feel better when I over share information about myself to build up my pride (something I am not proud of.) The section I am referring to in the book is titled "ATTENTION" and it refers to asking the question "Why do you want the Holy Spirit in you?" 


                "They were trying to use manifestations of the Spirit for their glory. They weren't interested in what God was doing in others; they just wanted to show off what God was doing in them."

                                                                                                      1 Cor. 14


This is huge for me because I don't consider myself to be a boastful person and I strive to be humble because everything that I've done and accomplished in my life hasn't been because of me at all. The abilities and strengths have all been provided by Him and Him alone. The question I ask myself is maybe I say this because I know it's what should be said but do I believe it? 


I think I am writing this because I want to make sure I try and implement this is my life. I want to make it known that the Holy Spirit does live in me and constantly reminding myself that it's not about ME ME ME. 


I will leave you with this quote because I was awestruck at the impact it had on my heart this morning and it's something I can constantly ask myself when making a decision or involved in a conversation.


                    "A sure sign of the Holy Spirit's working is that Christ is magnified, not people."

The Christmas Season

This Christmas Season:

Could you imagine being 13 and pregnant? How about 13 a virgin and pregnant? How about being those and living in a place where you die for being pregnant out of wedlock.  This is the story of the mother of Jesus, Mary. 

Mary’s story is told in the book of Luke, one of the most amazing books throughout the bible because there is so much abandonment and surrender of self, something I struggle big time with. 

Have you ever surrendered to anything? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not so good at it. I am probably one of the most stubborn people I know and that is something I continue to work and pray on daily. I’d like to say that I surrendered my life to God and although I made that commitment, I know it’s a daily struggle to do that. 

I think ever since I moved back home I’ve struggled more with surrender and instead I’ve been ignoring God and trying to surrender to others. I was told recently “I act like I’m better than everyone.” I know that as a Christian people should be able to point you out, that you live radically and in such a way that people will notice the difference in you. However, I don’t think this was what she was referring to and regardless it’s caused me to evaluate myself. 

I find it easy to get into a pattern of life where you go about your daily tasks and succumb to those around you. I’m realizing now more than ever that this is exactly what the devil wants me to do so I can push myself further from God. I’m thankful for the signs and people God brings into my life to hold me accountable whether they are friends or not. 

I hope this Christmas season is full of love and remembrance of why it’s called CHRISTmas. Share the love of God and the story of his birth with someone who doesn’t know. Practice surrender and compassion, forgiveness and grace, giving and selflessness. 

Listen ... he's talking.

Now more than ever I want a clear answer about my future and what it is God wants from me. Sometimes this conversation with him ends in frustration because it's hard to just have faith and patience until he delivers his answer. A friend just filled me in on something that I've put a lot thought into...

  "God cares more about who we become than what we are doing."

I think this settles my nerves and anxiety (not a good quality I have) a little. Maybe I don't have to try so hard to become the best at everything (another not so good quality) and just see the path that he is probably setting in front of me daily.

I also read this verse in my devotion this morning in Isaiah saying:

   "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

I guess when I know it will become clear . . . I just hope I'm not my stubborn self and I actually listen :)

Have a great day everyone!~

Abiding.

I’ve been looking at this wall decoration that I have in my room that reads “Faith isn’t believing that God can, it’s knowing that God will” and I kept thinking about if I really believe that. I then turned to yet another sign hanging that reads “All beautiful you are my love, there is no flaw in you,” found in Songs of Solomon and asked myself again if I really believe the signs I have all around my life. 

I’m that girl that insists on surrounding myself with things, signs, pictures, etc. that will help me become a better person, someone I want to be.  I think the first time I read the sign about not just believing but knowing that God will is the first time that I actually pondered the meaning of that simple sign. Ever since I’ve hung it I’m not sure I’ve ever given it more thought. 

I think I have a good idea of the woman I want to be. I know I have these specific talents, gifts, and passions that God has instilled in me and I feel the least I can do is use those for his glory. Although I often get stuck behind the fear that I believe comes straight from Satan himself. When I let the fear override my faith in God I don’t seem to think of that as the devil winning, but it is. 

I’m doing this devotion called Becoming A Woman of Excellence and its focusing on abiding in Christ and what exactly that means. I guess I never really thought to reflect on that word as much as I should. The meaning of abiding is defined as “the continual act of laying aside everything that I might derive from my own wisdom and merit, in order to draw all of this from Christ.” 

There have been so many times over this past year where I’ve felt distant from God. Especially while in grad school I almost found it impossible to create time for God and his word. I constantly felt the stresses of school when I would set aside time for him because of the demands and amount of information I knew I needed to learn. I felt that God would understand but what I needed to understand is that there was no way for me to endure school without him. 

To grow, you MUST set time aside for Him. How else are we expected to abide in Him unless we are willing to give up ourselves, our time, our “priorities”, our life ...? 

Failure and the power of prayer.

"There is no failure except in no longer trying." Elbert Hubbard

Have you ever worked hard at something and failed? I have but my outcome will not be failure because what I’ve learned is that what makes it failure is giving up and not trying again. 

I’ve had a rough September and for a while there I thought that it was “the end of the world” and I couldn’t have been more wrong, it was only my beginning. 

Ever since I was a little girl I was always taught to work hard at everything, pray constantly, and reach for your highest goal and my sister and I did just that. My plan has never been as ideal as I’d liked but I knew that there was always room for God to place me where he needs me most, which caused “my plan” to take some turns. 

I know that I have this passion for helping others and I love studying the human body and I’m confident that the Lord will find a place that I fit perfectly in, while using the gifts he’s given me. 

My encouragement to all of you is to follow your passions because we have them for a reason. There are so many people that wouldn’t be anywhere today if they listened to those who didn’t believe in them or said they couldn’t do it. I’m a firm believer that we are instilled with certain passions to follow and I encourage you to first pray about it and present your desires to God just like it says in his word: 

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

  Phillipians 4: 6-7 

God knows your heart and doesn’t want anything but the best for his children. This road  isn’t easy but that doesn’t mean give up, it’s just a way to help me strive even harder because I know that what I’m pursuing is not something for me but for him and for others. 

 

 16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

  1 Thessalonians  5: 16-18