Waiting

Here's a hard lesson to learn. Waiting. I don't have the answers of how to make it easier but here's a verse that I hope will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me recently.

Wait for the Lord be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalmon 27:14

"More"

There's this song by Matthew West called More and it has this line in the chorus that I sing over and over in my head.

"I love you more then the sun

And the stars that I taught how to shine

You are mine, and you shine for me too..."

Whenever I'm having a hard time or feeling discouraged I sing that line, to remind myself that God does love me. Because when I'm wondering why God has answered some prayers but not others, when I struggle to understand why He's withheld some of the things I need or at least think I need and when everything within me wants to cry out, asking God why He's putting me through hard times what I need is to remember His love for me.

Because the stars are His, I am His, my present and my future are His and whatever He puts me through or allows me to go through He's still in control and I need to remember that because whatever I might go through He's already given me the greatest gift of all time. His love. And in the end, and even in the present, that's what truly matters.

To Plan or Not to Plan

I'm a planner it's what I do. I'm a little obsessive about it and there have been times that I've actually struggled in my faith because nothing was going according to my plan. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." It's a great verse but look at the verse part again "the plans I have for you". It's not about our plans, it's about God's.

In college I had a friend who liked to tell me that when men make plans God laughs. And she's right. Somewhere in Proverbs I think it talks about men making plans but God knowing what will actually happen.

I can't plan everything out, that's not how life works, things aren't always going to go the way I want them to because I'm not in control. God is.

A good friend of mine likes to remind me of the verses in Matthew 6:25-34.
 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

His point is that if we're not worrying but trusting God then when things don't go according to my plan it'll be a lot easier to remember that things are still going according to God's plan. Even when I don't understand why.

I'm still going to plan, sometimes I'll still slip up and worry because I'm human and I'm not perfect but by reminding myself of these verses and letting God use them in my life my faith will grow and that's always a good thing.

I Believe In God

Have you ever had that conversation with someone when they're like "Oh I believe in God" and you just pause because you're not really sure what to say next. They're not saying they're a Christian, they may not even be saying that they believe in another religion, they're just saying that in some generic sense they believe in God.
I'm a people pleaser and my first reaction is always to say "Oh well good," because I think to myself "well that's a start right?" But what does the Bible say?

James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder."

Ouch. Yep that just happened. So where does that leave you in those conversations? Well I'm not saying you should compare them to demons but keep it in mind. Just believing in God in the general sense isn't enough. Jesus wants you to believe in Him.

John 14:6 "Jesus answered. 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.'"

It's more then just a generic belief. That's what so many people don't understand so make sure you do and, when you can, in love, help others understand that to.

Disney in Generations

When I was a kid it was all about Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. This morning my mom was teaching a children's class at church and mentioned Aladdin and out of five kids only two had seen it and only one actually liked it. These days it's all about Brave, Tangled and Frozen. When did my favorites go from being classics to just being old and what does that make me?

Where Were You?

Three years ago I remember sitting on my bed in my apartment in Washington as I typed out a post called "Twelve Years Ago Today". As I wrote about that fateful day remembered as 9/11 I relived the pain and terror our country experienced that day and for days afterwards. I relived the pride at how our country fought back, how we refused to let the terrorists win and we went back to our lives, we rallied behind our men and women in uniform and believed in them, encouraged them and supported them as they went to war for us. And I, at ten years old, got my first lesson in praying for your country, a lesson I've continued to learn in the days, weeks, months and years following that tragedy.

And now, fifteen years after the Twin Towers fell, I watch in pride as the Seattle Seahawks link arms and stand during the national anthem in their season opener when so many others have turned their backs and their hearts on what our flag, our anthem and our country represent. The land of the free, the home of the brave, one nation under God, united.

And I pose the question to you friends, where were you?

Where were you when you heard about 9/11, where were you when the Twin Towers fell? Where were you when our county changed forever?

And where you were when we rose up from the ashes after 9/11. When we found hope and dared to dream and live again. Where were you?

We remember where we were so we never forget.

Stand behind the men and women who fought for us, if you see a military person, thank them for their sacrifice and when you see our flag and hear the national anthem being sung then stand up and salute it because the only way to change our country is to learn from our history and stand united to change our future.

Precious

You know those days when you feel like God isn't answering your prayers. You're tired, discouraged and nothing's going right. What do you do? Where do you turn? I tend to recite the same verses over and over. Ones like Psalms 23 or Proverbs 3:5-6, John 3:16, 1 Timothy 4:12. Sometimes those verses don't seem to apply and sometimes they don't seem to speak to your heart, giving you the comfort and encouragement you need. 

This morning my mom shared a verse with me that is another great one to add to the list. Daniel 10:19 in the New Living Translation says:

 “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!”

You are precious to God, so stop being afraid, take courage, be strong and embrace his peace.