These twists and turns.

photo cred: rickandridgephotography

It’s such a long time since I wrote.

I got lost in all of it, in life and going by the motions.

I wish I could say I’ve got it together, I mean after all this time I should have something together, right?

But, this being a christian thing, the whole being human thing. It’s hard. Individually hard and then you  put them together and it’s a whole new set of challenges.

I know a lot of people who seem to have it down. The whole living by faith thing, and career thing. I know appearances are deceiving especially in this world we live in today with photoshop and looking good for the cameras.

It’s really frustrating though, so I come here and I read something I wrote, and the pain I’ve been in before and remember that it all passes and it’ll be okay. It has to be okay. So I stop comparing myself to other people, and how far they appear to have come, or how strong their faith looks compared to mine.

But, it’s still really difficult sometimes living the day by day. On days like today when i’m feeling empty, feeling lost, feeling disconnected, and weak in faith.

He says joy comes in the morning, He says all things work together for my good, so I have to believe it will all be okay.

It’s hard, it really is, and if i’m completely honest, I may not make it easy for myself sometimes but i’m trying.

 

God, help me live by faith. Give me the strength and wisdom to walk the path and trust You have it all under control. Amen.

 

Mope much?

In my moments of woe is me, I came across the verses quoted below. God has a sense of humor. There’s nothing i’m more certain of than that. I have been questioning a lot of my life over and over, trying to figure out why?! but, I am now reminded of all the other times God has come through for me, in small ways, and big ways but still I question Him.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

(Romans 9:20-25 ESV)

 

God is good, He has promised that He has it all planned out of our good, so why should we sit around and mop about all the things that are not working out? He is God, He created us, He has it all under control. So chill, breathe and enjoy the positive. Give the best you can in everything you have and stop focusing on everything that’s not working.

He has it covered.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

(John 14:27 ESV)

His amazing love.

This weeks scripture is one of my favorite scriptures. It’s all about His love this week. If you are like me, then you need some reminding once in awhile about how much He actually loves you. This great big God has His great big love directed towards us. That’s the best thing to think about this week. His amazing love.

    The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:6-13 ESV)

He loves Us!

Scripture for the week

Be loving to one another, stay faithful. Be sober minded and be alert, do not let yourself forget what side you’re on. This is all for a season and when it all ends, the moments we thought we couldn’t live without will be pointless. Our whole life will be like a drop in an ocean. We must therefore stay focused. Show grace, show mercy, love with everything you are, for that is His will for us.

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

(1 Thessalonians 5:5-11 ESV)

Mid week inspiration

I read this on the Christian Living For today and was really inspired by it. Sadly they don’t have a share button for WordPress so had to copy it, I take no credit for it. If you like this, you can go to their website and check out their other posts.

God’s Powerful message to hurting women – I can heal you! by Robert
The number one question that people ask of God is why He allows suffering to come to them. This question has caused more than one pause for minister and layperson alike.

As a woman, it can seem like your suffering has gone unnoticed. After all, women are the keepers of the earth and home. You look after your families much like the woman mentioned in Proverbs 31. You don’t clothe them with scarlet but you do pray for them and that covers them with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with your own pain and hurt, there seems to be no one there for you. Maybe your heart is broken over a divorce. It could be that someone has brutalized you physically or mentally. You have learned to hide your pain and go on for the sake of the kids or for your livelihood. After all, the bills don’t stop coming because we are hurt.

Even at church on Sunday, you greet others with a smile that hides deep suffering inside. But how far can that really get you? Some women feel that there is strength in pain. The truth is that there is strength but not  that way.

When the hurt is that great, even your soul aches. In this life, it seems quite unfair that the deeds of the guilty can go unpunished. The only way that you see to stay in the “game of life” is to deny your pain and thus, a big part of yourself.

God wants you to know right now that  just will not do. Did you know that His heart is broken when your heart is broken? If Jesus wept for Lazarus in his death, he is surely weeping at the feet of the Almighty for your life. John 3:16 tells us that God loved every human being so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to be a living sacrifice for us once and for all time. Does that sound like a God who doesn’t want your hurt to be healed?

God stands ready at the door of your heart to come in and change your life. There is one thing that you need to know: God is not like any man, woman or child that you have ever met. Even the most loving person in your life will let you down. It may not be their intention but it is human nature. God is not a man. He will never lie to you or make a promise to you that He doesn’t intend to keep. It’s time for you to hear God’s message of healing for your life.

Read the following verses:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.

-Lamentations 3:22-23

God desires to sustain you with His love. It is an everlasting love that no man or woman can understand. You have to accept it on faith. Remember the faith you had as a child? That same childlike faith is what God works through to heal your heart, mind and soul.

This is not just a promise for the believer but the non-believer as well. It is human nature to hold onto pain and try to rationalize how you feel about it. God says to cast the burden of that hurt on Him. Pray right now, wherever you are for God to heal every part of you from the pain that you are experiencing. Let Him be your strength.

A text From a friend

So as the title states today’s post was not something I wrote, a friend ent me this and I thought I should share it. Hope it inspires you as well.

There is a battle between light and darkness in this world. The devil will do bad things to people if he can get away with it. He is a thief and is always endeavoring to steal God’s blessings form us. Although we enjoy a great deal of protection from him simply by avoiding sin and living in obedience to the word of God, we cannot er afford to just sit back complacently and think we’re immune from his attacks. Be sober and alert.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
(1 Peter 5:8 ESV)

This weeks scripture

So this weeks scripture comes from Timothy, it talks about what is expected of us. Basically what defines a true disciple of Christ. We all love our pastor and teachers and spiritual leaders but do they fall in the category of a true teacher or a false one? Where do you fall? This is just a challenge to us this week to be true to God. To represent Him accordingly in love and sincerity towards His people. Forget about theologies and religiousness. Let’s be about Christ. Let’s Focus our eyes, our lives and everything we are back to Him that we may teach what is right and true.

 

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

(1 Timothy 1:3-11 ESV)

Awe

I keep messing up. Unintentionally and intentionally.
I keep choosing the darkness over the light. With complete knowledge of what my actions are.
I am constantly  failing Him, but still He remains faithful. I am humbled by the love He has for us.

When I can’t focus…

It’s so easy to get frustrated and angry when we watch the news and take a look at the world we live in. Every single day, terrible things happen. All this stupid, stupid things humanity keeps doing. Self harm. We live in such a lost planet, and it’s really challenging knowing what we know. About God, about His truth, about the world and all that is to be done(according to His word). It can be really difficult living, just being alive in such a dark world. Being the light isn’t as easy as some people make it to be. Living right, we all know isn’t easy at all. It’s a lot easier to just give up on humanity. To forget our calling to love, to forgive and live harmoniously with all.

When it get’s to that point for me there are some things that throw things back into perspective. Scripture and music. I love music, but honestly there are times even music doesn’t soothe my restless heart. So I look for friends to talk to. Thanks to online church campuses, facebook, twitter, and christian chats we have a large variety of options when we don’t have anyone physically to talk to. So I talk to people, and they share their faith and my heart gets focused back on Him. The bible does say’ “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Our God loves fellowship, unity among men. It’s such a beautiful thing. We are not expected to go it alone, we are the church. Not me, or you by yourself but all of us. We are the bride and we need each other to fulfill His will for us(the bride).

It’s a cold, crazy, scary world we live in, but together we can overcome anything with Him by our side. I’m really grateful to Him for all of you who make this beautiful family and who keep me focused on Him. My Father, my King.

What do you do to keep the faith? When everything is making you angry and impatient? How do you turn your focus back on Him?

Hold on, this may take a while….

Every day is a chance to grow in God. Every single moment, in every single thing we do.

When we ask God to make us holy, or to fix us, we ask that He changes us in our every move. It’s not about some blanket change, where you wake up one morning and you are this perfect human being. That doesn’t happen. Every aspect of our lives is an opportunity to glorify God. To be able to appreciate that we need to actually grow, just like as we do in every other thing in life. If you struggle with patience and you pray about it and you work on it daily and have faith that He’ll change you, you are more likely to appreciate the more patient you, than if you wake tomorrow and you are smiling at everyone, and giving everyone a second chance. Same thing with working out and eating right in weight loss. Everything in life comes in  process, God does that for a reason. That we may learn, that we may recognize His sovereignty.

Although the change may take time, it does come. It’s not like some new years resolution you make, when you know well you won’t commit. When you lay your struggles at His feet, He commits to you. He is faithful to grow you, change you into that person You are meant to be. That your life may be a testimony to Him and His great works. So, is it going to take time to drop that bad habit or characteristic? Yes. But, it will happen. Don’t give up on yourself, and don’t give up on God. Commit your life to the path He has laid out and He will surely fulfill His promises for your life. So right now, whatever it is you are struggling with, it’s not finished yet. Look how far you have already come, do you think He’d bring you this far and  just abandon you? Of course not. Chin up. Take that next step in faith and in love. Love for God and love for people, and watch Him change you.

    Trust in the LORD, and do good;
        dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
    Delight yourself in the LORD,
        and he will give you the desires of your heart.
    Commit your way to the LORD;
        trust in him, and he will act.
    He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
        and your justice as the noonday.
    Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
        fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
        over the man who carries out evil devices!
    Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
        Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
    For the evildoers shall be cut off,
        but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
(Psalm 37:3-9 ESV)