Monday, August 27, 2012
You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham
my manager told me the story of when he first fell in love with his wife:
they went to youth group together. one morning, he saw her worshipping and thought, "wow, she is beautiful!"
likewise, she saw him worshipping with his saxophone in the praise band and fell in love.
as i picture this, my heart is more happy than i can describe! they didn't fall in love when they saw each other, what they looked liked physically. they saw each others' love for their Savior coming from the inside and they were blown away by the beauty it brought.
Monday, August 20, 2012
the most amazing words you will ever hear
the most amazing words you will ever hear: "For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His one and ONLY SON, that whoever believes in Him SHALL NOT PERISH but have eternal life." John 3:16
paraphrase version: God loves YOU. Jesus DIED for YOU. we are not worth it, but His love convinced Him otherwise.
this truth is often stated and way too often ignored, pushed aside, and marked as "we don't need to hear that anymore." but we DO need to hear it over and over again as a reminder that even though we are worth less than dirt, the Creator of this universe loves us more than we can even imagine.
this is what Phud talked about at Remedy yesterday. He told us we are considered HOLY and BLAMELESS before God. all i could pray was, "no way, God!!! no way!!!"
in front of us was a family with a very distracting baby. the mother was holding her as she wiggled and chattered, but when i looked at the dad, he was completely mesmorized by the Gospel. as Phud preached the straight Gospel that Jesus died and rose, this father's jaw was dropped and i don't think he even noticed his child making such a distraction. this is what the Gospel should do to us. it should mesmorize us so we don't even notice distractions. we should stand in awe of God and the truth of all He did out of love for us.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
"I wanna thrive; not just survive"
"I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I do this?
Henceforth will I look on all things
With love and be born again.
I will love the sun for it warms my bones;
Yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit.
I will love the light for it shows me the way;
Yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.
I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart;
Yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul
I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due;
Yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge."
~Og Mandino
this summer has been hard for me. I had hoped to have a really awesome job where i traveled somewhere and worked with a big group of other believers, but that plan fell through. so instead, i have been here in Fort Mill working at the Chick-Fil-A inside Carowinds. i really enjoy working with the people i do, but i don't like the job itself. and just to let you know, if you don't like a job, it gets pretty torturous some days.
so all i've done this summer is go to work, come home, babysit, come home. for those of you who don't know me too well, if i stay home too long, i get the worst case of stir-craziness. but when my other option is work, i would rather stay home.
also, my biggest regret right now is not getting a job in high school. if i had, i would have a car right now. i'm beating myself up for it because i am paying for that mistake this summer. fyi... it's pretty hard to get places if you don't have a car!
SO...
i feel like i have wasted my summer feeling sorry for myself and trying to understand WHY IN THE WORLD would this be God's plan for me this summer. in my quiet times recently, i have been learning how to have poverty of the spirit [Matthew 5:3]
poverty of spirit: humbleness; realizing that I AM NOTHING and GOD IS EVERYTHING; put myself aside
this morning focused on how personal possessions can prevent poverty of the spirit. my first thought was, "this doesn't apply to me. i'm not gonna get anything out of this." oh how i was wrong! that was only the beginning of it!
God convicted me that i have been over obsessing about getting a car and all of this STUFF i want. after i get a car, there will be something else i want. maybe more clothes, more dorm decorations, more of this, more of that, and the list could go on and on. but it has to STOP. i have more than enough IN CHRIST. all of this STUFF doesn't matter because in 100 years it will all be in a junk yard or in a stranger's house.
"The objects of this present life fill the human eye with a false magnification because of their immediacy"
after i learned about poverty of the spirit, i read a day out of "Jesus Calling." it said to be THANKFUL in whatever circumstance. not to take things for granted. my favorite sentence from it: "You take for granted life, salvation, sunshine, flowers, and countless other gifts from Me. You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until that is 'fixed'"
not only that, but then tonight, i opened a package from a dear friend with the quote above in it and an encouraging letter that was just what i needed right now. she encouraged me not to wait until the end of summer to live.
each day is an opportunity to live life to the fullest.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT. isn't that why Jesus came? (John 10:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3YfJX8QbDQ
And how will I do this?
Henceforth will I look on all things
With love and be born again.
I will love the sun for it warms my bones;
Yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit.
I will love the light for it shows me the way;
Yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.
I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart;
Yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul
I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due;
Yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge."
~Og Mandino
this summer has been hard for me. I had hoped to have a really awesome job where i traveled somewhere and worked with a big group of other believers, but that plan fell through. so instead, i have been here in Fort Mill working at the Chick-Fil-A inside Carowinds. i really enjoy working with the people i do, but i don't like the job itself. and just to let you know, if you don't like a job, it gets pretty torturous some days.
so all i've done this summer is go to work, come home, babysit, come home. for those of you who don't know me too well, if i stay home too long, i get the worst case of stir-craziness. but when my other option is work, i would rather stay home.
also, my biggest regret right now is not getting a job in high school. if i had, i would have a car right now. i'm beating myself up for it because i am paying for that mistake this summer. fyi... it's pretty hard to get places if you don't have a car!
SO...
i feel like i have wasted my summer feeling sorry for myself and trying to understand WHY IN THE WORLD would this be God's plan for me this summer. in my quiet times recently, i have been learning how to have poverty of the spirit [Matthew 5:3]
poverty of spirit: humbleness; realizing that I AM NOTHING and GOD IS EVERYTHING; put myself aside
this morning focused on how personal possessions can prevent poverty of the spirit. my first thought was, "this doesn't apply to me. i'm not gonna get anything out of this." oh how i was wrong! that was only the beginning of it!
God convicted me that i have been over obsessing about getting a car and all of this STUFF i want. after i get a car, there will be something else i want. maybe more clothes, more dorm decorations, more of this, more of that, and the list could go on and on. but it has to STOP. i have more than enough IN CHRIST. all of this STUFF doesn't matter because in 100 years it will all be in a junk yard or in a stranger's house.
"The objects of this present life fill the human eye with a false magnification because of their immediacy"
after i learned about poverty of the spirit, i read a day out of "Jesus Calling." it said to be THANKFUL in whatever circumstance. not to take things for granted. my favorite sentence from it: "You take for granted life, salvation, sunshine, flowers, and countless other gifts from Me. You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until that is 'fixed'"
not only that, but then tonight, i opened a package from a dear friend with the quote above in it and an encouraging letter that was just what i needed right now. she encouraged me not to wait until the end of summer to live.
each day is an opportunity to live life to the fullest.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT. isn't that why Jesus came? (John 10:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3YfJX8QbDQ
Monday, August 6, 2012
The Little Things
Luke 16:10-11 is talking mostly about "worldly wealth", but I love this verse for showing me other truths. If God can't trust me with a little responsibility, He can't trust me with bigger responsibilities.
A little tidbit about me: I like to skip the process. I like to go straight to leadership positions. At work, I have to bite my tongue so I don't end up doing the managers' job.
My point...I am not patient with the little things. If it doesn't look important, I'd rather do something that seems more worth my while. But how can God trust me to witness to the world if I am not willing to talk about Christ with ONE person?
I want God to use me but I can't skip the "little" responsibilities He has picked out for me. I put "little" in quotations because if God wants me to do it, it is NOT little. It may seem little to me because I can't see the big picture. God love to use small moments for His big plans.
Nothing GOD does is little!
A little tidbit about me: I like to skip the process. I like to go straight to leadership positions. At work, I have to bite my tongue so I don't end up doing the managers' job.
My point...I am not patient with the little things. If it doesn't look important, I'd rather do something that seems more worth my while. But how can God trust me to witness to the world if I am not willing to talk about Christ with ONE person?
I want God to use me but I can't skip the "little" responsibilities He has picked out for me. I put "little" in quotations because if God wants me to do it, it is NOT little. It may seem little to me because I can't see the big picture. God love to use small moments for His big plans.
Nothing GOD does is little!
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