Have you ever really experienced a really bad storm and you feel like its going to go on forever? The past couple weeks here it has been raining and thundering pretty much everyday, it has just been really yucky outside. You almost start to wonder if the sunshine is on vacation or is it taking sick days.
Rain and storms have been mentioned many times in the bible for instance the Flood that covered the whole earth or when Jesus calmed the storm at sea. But what are some of the Christian meanings of a storm? Maybe trials, tribulations or hardships. Of course, we all have experienced some of those storms but did we stick it out till the sunshine or rainbow at the end? Or did we give in?
We as Christians are called to endure many trials and tribulations for Christ. The trials we face are like the storms that pass over us. If we hold fast to God's Word through the storms of trials and tribulations we will come out stronger then we went in. God has promised in James 1:12 that if we endure temptations we shall receive a crown of life.
Jesus' second coming is getting closer and the times are not getting any easier for those who will have to stand for Christ and the Bible. But the trials we have now can help us overcome the bigger ones in the future. If only we learn to endure the small trials that we are given, we will be better prepared and stronger to endure the harder ones that are to come in the future. Will you stay strong through the storms?
-Romans 12:12
Monday, August 12, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Run Like You Mean It
Should we give it our all or should we give up? Should we do our best or should we do enough to get by? These are questions that are always going though our minds. Can we do it? Are we strong enough to finish it and to the best of our ability? If only those words of doubt wouldn't enter our minds, we could do amazing things but because of those little questions we all start doubting our strength.
This morning I had decided to get up at 5:00 am, to go run 3 miles. But of course, different things lead me to staying up late, not getting in all the sleep I needed to feel rested and ready for the run in the morning. At 5:00 my alarm went off and I vigorously began searching for that device that had disturbed my wonderful rest and dreams. I was going to turn it off and go back to bed. But then those thought provoking questions started to go through my head. "Should I run? I'll just feel really tired when I could sleep longer." But of course, I wasn't going to let those thoughts keep me from not finishing my goal. So I got up put my running shoes on and headed for the treadmill. One mile went by fast and then the next but the last mile seemed to take forever and those horrible words started going though my mind, "Quit, quit, you can do the rest another day. You already did 2 miles and that's great. Who cares about the last one?" Uh, those words that rule our lives sometimes! But I kept running and it was like the closer I got to the end the more those words went through my head. I finally finished it and I had true satisfaction. I had resisted the temptation to quit and had accomplished my goal. Now your probably wondering how does running 3 miles have anything to do with giving it your all and not giving up.
Running has a lot to do with giving it your all, doing your best and not giving up until your goal is accomplished. What if when Jesus came to this earth to minister to us, He had given up in the garden or when He was in the wilderness. Where would we be now? Accomplishing small goals can lead to accomplishing even bigger ones and by doing our best we get the true satisfaction of seeing our work well done. Thanks to Jesus and His-give-it-your-all attitude, we now have the chance to spend eternity in heaven with Him. Won't you give it your all?
-1 Corinthians 9:24
This morning I had decided to get up at 5:00 am, to go run 3 miles. But of course, different things lead me to staying up late, not getting in all the sleep I needed to feel rested and ready for the run in the morning. At 5:00 my alarm went off and I vigorously began searching for that device that had disturbed my wonderful rest and dreams. I was going to turn it off and go back to bed. But then those thought provoking questions started to go through my head. "Should I run? I'll just feel really tired when I could sleep longer." But of course, I wasn't going to let those thoughts keep me from not finishing my goal. So I got up put my running shoes on and headed for the treadmill. One mile went by fast and then the next but the last mile seemed to take forever and those horrible words started going though my mind, "Quit, quit, you can do the rest another day. You already did 2 miles and that's great. Who cares about the last one?" Uh, those words that rule our lives sometimes! But I kept running and it was like the closer I got to the end the more those words went through my head. I finally finished it and I had true satisfaction. I had resisted the temptation to quit and had accomplished my goal. Now your probably wondering how does running 3 miles have anything to do with giving it your all and not giving up.
Running has a lot to do with giving it your all, doing your best and not giving up until your goal is accomplished. What if when Jesus came to this earth to minister to us, He had given up in the garden or when He was in the wilderness. Where would we be now? Accomplishing small goals can lead to accomplishing even bigger ones and by doing our best we get the true satisfaction of seeing our work well done. Thanks to Jesus and His-give-it-your-all attitude, we now have the chance to spend eternity in heaven with Him. Won't you give it your all?
-1 Corinthians 9:24
Friday, August 2, 2013
Freedom
What is freedom? Freedom can be many things, for instance, when the pilgrims came to America because they wanted religious freedom, freedom to worship the way they wished without being made to worship another way. Or when America fought Great Britain for freedom to govern themselves. There are many examples of freedom that I could talk about but the one that has changed my life the most is the freedom to surrender my burdens to God and to become free from them. We as people have the greatest freedom a person could have. We can call on the Lord whenever and wherever we are and He hears us. But do we always take advantage of our freedoms that we are so greatly blessed with? Do we hold on to those burdens that are pulling us farther and farther away from having a real relationship with Christ? Sadly the answer is yes for some of us.
Two years ago I had some real burdens that were pulling me down I didn't want to give them up because, of course, I'm strong, I can hold any load and I don't need the help of anyone else to hold them for me. What I didn't realize was that I was holding on to unnecessary things, when I could surrender them to God and be happier without them in my life. After months of holding these burdens I gave them to God, and it was like I could breath a deep breath of air and after that I could actually have a relationship with Him where as before it was always hard to. Now I don't have that barrier that had been separating me from Christ.
God has given us the option of freedom by only putting our burdens on Him. It says in
Psalms 55:22 that if we cast our burdens on Him, He will sustain us. We are too weak to carry those unnecessary burdens. We may think we are strong enough but really are we? We are weaker than a ant compared to our Heavenly Father's strength. So why are we holding on to those burdens still? Why not cast our burdens upon the Lord who is stronger than we and will carry those burdens for us?
-1 Peter 5:7
Two years ago I had some real burdens that were pulling me down I didn't want to give them up because, of course, I'm strong, I can hold any load and I don't need the help of anyone else to hold them for me. What I didn't realize was that I was holding on to unnecessary things, when I could surrender them to God and be happier without them in my life. After months of holding these burdens I gave them to God, and it was like I could breath a deep breath of air and after that I could actually have a relationship with Him where as before it was always hard to. Now I don't have that barrier that had been separating me from Christ.
God has given us the option of freedom by only putting our burdens on Him. It says in
Psalms 55:22 that if we cast our burdens on Him, He will sustain us. We are too weak to carry those unnecessary burdens. We may think we are strong enough but really are we? We are weaker than a ant compared to our Heavenly Father's strength. So why are we holding on to those burdens still? Why not cast our burdens upon the Lord who is stronger than we and will carry those burdens for us?
-1 Peter 5:7
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Am I Beautiful?
"Am I beautiful or are they just being nice?" Is a question that most women are asking during their life. Am I as beautiful as that lady on TV or as beautiful as my friends?
The sad thing is that people think they have to be skinny or have perfect features to be know as "beautiful". American eyes have been tampered with. Instead of looking at the true beauty of someone, they look to the outward beauty when really the inside is lacking something which isn't quite as wonderful as true beauty.
I want you to imagine something with me real quick. If I were to draw a picture of a beautiful happy woman what would it look like? For one thing I probably wouldn't make my women in the picture as skinny as the magazine girls because then she would look like she was dying of starvation. But I would draw my girl as being happy with a smile on her face and maybe a flower in her hand. It is not what the girl looks like but how the girl shows her happiness.
I once thought beautiful meant skinny with a perfect face and I often would go without meals trying to get that perfect body shape, trying to lose weight and working out trying to get that look of beauty that everyone looked up to so much. I kept telling myself that I am fat and that fat people are never happy or loved, when the truth was that I wasn't happy and that its hard for someone to love someone that is always thinking negative about herself. I still struggle with thinking I'm not beautiful but what I have learned is that beauty is not what is on the outside but what is determined in the heart and if we put God in our heart and let him reflect through us we will be happy, loved and BEAUTIFUL women for God. If I let God use me for His work I know he will make me beautiful because I will have His beauty shining through me and there is no greater beauty than the one of my Savior.
So girls when you look at yourself in the mirror don't say "I need to lose weight" or "I'm ugly and fat" but ask yourself, "Am I doing enough for God. Is God's beauty shinning through me in everything I do."
Worlds meaning of Beautiful: Outwardly perfect
Gods meaning of Beautiful: Inside beauty, priceless treasure
-1 Peter 3:3-4
The sad thing is that people think they have to be skinny or have perfect features to be know as "beautiful". American eyes have been tampered with. Instead of looking at the true beauty of someone, they look to the outward beauty when really the inside is lacking something which isn't quite as wonderful as true beauty.
I want you to imagine something with me real quick. If I were to draw a picture of a beautiful happy woman what would it look like? For one thing I probably wouldn't make my women in the picture as skinny as the magazine girls because then she would look like she was dying of starvation. But I would draw my girl as being happy with a smile on her face and maybe a flower in her hand. It is not what the girl looks like but how the girl shows her happiness.
I once thought beautiful meant skinny with a perfect face and I often would go without meals trying to get that perfect body shape, trying to lose weight and working out trying to get that look of beauty that everyone looked up to so much. I kept telling myself that I am fat and that fat people are never happy or loved, when the truth was that I wasn't happy and that its hard for someone to love someone that is always thinking negative about herself. I still struggle with thinking I'm not beautiful but what I have learned is that beauty is not what is on the outside but what is determined in the heart and if we put God in our heart and let him reflect through us we will be happy, loved and BEAUTIFUL women for God. If I let God use me for His work I know he will make me beautiful because I will have His beauty shining through me and there is no greater beauty than the one of my Savior.
So girls when you look at yourself in the mirror don't say "I need to lose weight" or "I'm ugly and fat" but ask yourself, "Am I doing enough for God. Is God's beauty shinning through me in everything I do."
Worlds meaning of Beautiful: Outwardly perfect
Gods meaning of Beautiful: Inside beauty, priceless treasure
-1 Peter 3:3-4
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
From Camp Life to Home Life
How do you keep doing morning devotion and keep building your relationship with Christ after Camp? Sad questions that I experienced my first year at camp. After being spiritually revived and dedicating my life to Christ how could I stop doing devotions. Sad fact is that at Camp you are made to have morning devotions but at home it seems like the tiredness takes over and all you can do is basically get up get dressed and maybe just maybe have a prayer and continue with your everyday activity's not even thinking about how much spiritually you are lacking that time with Christ every morning.
My first year at Camp I was blessed immensely and I said that I would keep up my devotions at home but for some reason or another the time in the morning for devotions always got shorter and shorter and the time that I had once dedicated to having devotions was being used for checking emails, texting friends and sleeping in. I kept telling myself that tomorrow would be different and that I would read a chapter in the bible but what the sad reality was that I was slipping farther and farther from the One who had dedicated His whole life for my salvation and thankfully He wasn't too busy checking His email or texting His buddy's instead of coming to save me.
Now that I have you wondering the easy way to have a relationship with Christ that I have found, I'll tell you. There is no easy way it takes discipline and it takes time but in that time that you spend every morning with God you will be blessed and His blessings are always the best for our lives.
My goals on how to keep up my devotions after camp are easy because I have learned to enjoy that little time out of my day to spend with God.
My ideas on how......
1. Set my alarm to get up early enough to have time to spend in devotions.
2. Put all electronics out of reach and not check them until after breakfast so I won't have a temptation before devotions or right after devotions
3. Give my time to God every morning and pray for His leading in my devotions before devotions
4. Find something that I can apply to my life
5. Reflect on what I learned that morning during the day
6. Pray deeply for Gods leading in everything I do
By doing these six simple things I plan to keep growing in my relationship with Christ. God isn't asking you to do something impossible by waking up early and spending a little time out of your 24 hour day with Him. Won't you right now dedicate your time in the morning to the One that has dedicated everything for you?
-Matthew 6:6
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