God just somehow seems to keep moving through my life with grace and mercy. When I think of the Lord that I love and serve, I am put in a place where I am humbled and reminded of how little I truly am in comparison to Him. My successes are because of Him and my failures are redeemed because of Him, everything is about Him and never about me or because of me.
"Sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we would like. The truth is that God wouldn’t be a good Father if He gave us everything we wanted. In fact, one of the reasons He is good is because there are a LOT of times He doesn’t give us what we ask for. As long as we hold onto our earthly treasures, we will never be able to receive all that He has for us. Often, in His withholding, He is releasing our grip on this world to open our hands and make room for more of His blessings and more of Himself. Even when God is the furthest thing from our minds and choices, He is always ordering things on the timeline of the universe to be the best-case scenario in the end for us. How incredibly undeserving we are! ~ “Faith to see God as a Good Father” by Cara Cobble Trantham
Lately, my mind has been consumed with so many worldly concerns that I have been mumbling, grumbling, and complaining about everything. Not only have I been complaining, but I have been stressing myself out as well. A couple days ago, I was thinking about my finances and about all the things I needed money for. On top of financial worries, I was getting overwhelmed again because I still needed to get my projects, papers, and homework turned in, typical college life stuff. While I was complaining and worrying about everything, I simply forgot about the joy, peace, and love that God offers me. There are so many things to be thankful for. I may not have all the money I want right now, but at least I have a job. To be honest, I struggle a lot with being grateful, especially to God. I tend to focus a lot on what I don’t have and what I need/want more of. I want to pursue a life of joy, but I can’t because I am constantly thinking about my selfish needs/wants. If I am just thankful for what I have, I can be at peace and be able to enjoy life for what it is. When I look at my life, I have much more than what is necessary anyways.
Something that I have been trying to do is remind myself of the things I am grateful for. Randomly throughout the day, I ask myself, “What are you grateful for right now?” The answer ranges from something little to big and serious to silly. Whenever I am done answering the question, I find that there is a smile on my face. When I think of the things I am grateful for, my attitude and mood starts to change for the better. It is great to remind ourselves daily of things we are grateful for because that is how quickly we forget about them. In the process of being grateful, God also receives all the praise and glory because we would not have anything without God. What better way to praise and glorify the goodness and faithfulness of God in our lives than to proclaim all the great things He has blessed us with. I think it is amazing how being grateful can change our heart and soul. It can be easy to get caught up with complaining, but the negativity does not change anything. In fact, it actually makes us feel worse. If you are like me and you need to actively remind yourself of things you are grateful for, then I encourage you to get a little journal and start making a list! A grateful heart truly does wonders. For the past couple of days, I have been making my own list. I find that I have been complaining less, stressing out less, trusting more in God, and smiling more.
Right now, these are just a couple of things I am grateful for …
1. Being able to wear sandals because of the warm weather.
2. A dad who loves me and does so much for me.
3. Food in the cafe.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Matthew 17:20 ESVHe said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
In our lives we have mountains that make us think, “How am I going to conquer that?” When we’re at the bottom looking up, our mountains seem unconquerable and they shadow over us making it seem impossible. For the last couple of years, my mountains to conquer have been the state tests for the Education Department. I was completely horrified and anxious about having to take a test to get into the program, taking four more to student teach, and then having to pass the final one to graduate. Oh boy, I definitely allowed my mountains to let me live in fear.
I don’t think anyone knew how scared, more like how terrified, I was to take them, but I was so scared of failing that I held off my tests until the very last minute (not a good thing and I have definitely suffered some consequences). I didn’t think I was capable of passing them so I didn’t even want to try. In the last couple of months I received a lot of words of encouragement and prayers that I finally gained the courage to take my tests. Today, I can say that I PASSED all of my tests on the first try! I have conquered my mountains! All praise and glory to God though. The Lord has blessed me with faithful and encouraging friends and family to walk alongside me and I am grateful for them as well. I am overwhelmed with joy and His work in my life. Through all of this, I have learned that God is on my side and that He will finish what He has started. He’s been equipping me this whole time, I just needed to take action.
I’m sure that there are going to be many more mountains in the future, but I know that I can make mountains move with the authority and strength God has blessed me with.
A late post, but I still had to share about how good God has been in my life!
“At some point in our lives, the best we can do isn’t good enough. Our best solutions, ideas, and efforts aren’t good enough. That’s when we need to hit our knees and trust God to do what only God can do. After all, prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do. And that’s a big difference!”
Seriously, I cannot even begin to explain how much my prayer life has changed ever since I started praying on my knees. Before I came to college it was an area in my faith that was dry and fruitless, but God continued to put prayer on my heart. For the past 14 days and for the next 26 days, I will be going through “Draw the Circle, The 40 Day Prayer Challenge” by Mark Batterson. From the readings, Batterson consistently encourages the readers to “hit their knees” (to pray and pray on their knees).
Growing up, I heard of stories about people praying on their knees and I tried it a couple of times because I thought that it would be “cool”. As I got older and began to really struggle in my prayer life, I felt the urge to “hit my knees”, but I just didn’t do it. I don’t know why, maybe it was because I didn’t see the point of praying on my knees and thought that laying down on my back (half asleep) was good enough. With that being said, I remember the first time I truly did hit my knees and prayed.
I was a sophomore in college and going through “a lot”. My sophomore year was actually probably one of my hardest years and when I think back, all I can say was that it was “dark times”. I was not doing my best academically, I was busy with ASF, and I had the lowest self-esteem at the time. Everyday I would wake up and literally telling myself I was not good enough. I was swamped, defeated, and so confused. I talked to all my friends for advice and I tried to figure out my solutions, but I realized that the one person that I did not go to was God (well, I did pray, but I definitely was not praying the right prayers). I was also losing a lot of sleep because my mind was so anxious. Finally, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I hit my knees and I remember telling God that I absolutely didn’t know what to do anymore. I was at my ends and I was so desperate for God. I had no idea how to solve my problems or love myself. Once I hit my knees it was the most peace and affirmation I had received in a while.
After that experience, I tried to make it a habit to pray on my knees whenever I could. Whenever I couldn’t sleep I would get out of bed at 3 or 4 in the morning and pray on my knees. When I was done praying I would be able to fall asleep. When I think about it, I used to never pray on my knees, but now it has become something so normal to me. Whenever I feel God calling me to “hit my knees”, I do it. I hit my knees when I am defeated and when I have been overjoyed by the faithfulness of God. I cannot agree more with Batterson’s urge and push for readers to “hit their knees”. A prayer life that starts and ends on the knees is so life changing and should be experienced by everyone.
Truthfully, I thought I had grown a lot in my prayer life and that I was done, but I learned that I will never be done growing in that aspect. There is so much to prayer that you cannot just read or learn about it. Growing in prayer means taking action and actually praying. It has been a beautiful and life changing experience so far and I look forward to more intimate encounters with God through praying on my knees. May you be encouraged and blessed.
I believe that sometimes our choices and actions are not so wise or discerning because we are so impatient. We act on our own accord and then end up hurting ourselves and others. Being patient is hard and it effects our ability to discern wisely because we think we know what’s best for us. A lot of the times, good things come to those who wait, but I understand, waiting is hard. I have been reflecting on myself and noticed a lack of trust in my Lord because things are not going the way I want or at least not at the speed that I want them to. It’s scary, but the enemy enjoys it when we have a lack of trust in our God. The enemy will use it to tell us lies and plant fears in our heads. He will then tell us the only way things will work out is if we take matters into our own hands. Don’t listen to that! It becomes dangerous when we think we need to take matters into our own hands in order to fulfill our desires.
A truth that we need to be constantly reminded of is, God IS and should ALWAYS be in control. We must remember that God’s will and His timing is always PERFECT! Being patient and waiting on God’s perfect timing can be difficult, but I believe it will be worth it. When our trust is in the Lord, it will prevent us from doing things that could potentially harm ourselves and others.
Christmas is just around the corner and I don’t know what you are going to celebrate, but I am ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Christ, our Lord and savior. Through many prophecies, the world already knew that a Messiah was coming to save them and that Messiah was Jesus. Jesus was God’s ultimate plan to save His unworthy, ungrateful, and sinful creation, us.
Have you ever thought about what “Joy to the world” meant? Jesus’ birth was the greatest joy given to us as a sign from God that we would one day be reconciled from our sin and be able to have a relationship with Him. Let us take it a step further because joy did not stop at Jesus’ birth. In fact, the rest of Jesus’ life became a message of joy, the Gospel. Therefore, whoever hears the Gospel should receive the news of great joy for there is hope of being saved from our sins.
Before Jesus even came into this sinful world, He was already destined to die. It sounds horrible and devastating that He would one day be sacrificed for us, but this shows how joy parallels with pain. Even though it was going to be painful, there was still joy through it all because Jesus was obedient and in the end, God was glorified and we were saved. From beginning to the end, from birth to death, and even after the resurrection, Jesus was and still is the joy given to us from God.
During Christmas we should rejoice knowing that the Lord loved and desired a relationship with us so much that He sent His only son to die for us.
May you all receive this joy and rejoice. Blessings.
In this season of my life, God has been tremendously working in me. In the past couple of weeks, God has been specifically revealing to me the regret in my life. There were many things in my life that I regretted. There were things I wish I had never said or done, but recently there was someone I regretted meeting. Going through my first break up, I told myself that I would not regret anything, but as the weeks went on and in the midst of pain, I found myself regretting everything. I found myself wishing I never met him, wishing I never loved, wishing that I was never hurt. As much as I wanted to be thankful for meeting this person, there was just so much pain and tears that I would have rather avoided it all.
A quote says “Better to have loved than not at all” and I would joke with my friends and say, “I disagree, I’d rather not have loved at all”. Now that was my regret speaking for me. At first, I thought it was just a funny joke, but then I realized that something deep down inside of me really meant it. If I knew how much pain I was going to be in after a break up, I would have chosen to not have loved to begin with. My regret was preventing me from being thankful for the work of God in my life. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for it is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” I realized that it was also holding me back from seeing what God wanted to teach me through this situation.
Because I met this person and experienced my first break up, I learned that I had many things to be thankful for. I was able to experience and know God on a whole new level. I was able to see God mold me through the pain and hurt while revealing His glory to me. He drew me near to His heart and in the process I saw His astounding goodness, faithfulness, and steadfast love for me. God also reminded me that my happiness and joy did not come from being in a relationship with someone. A friend recently asked if I regretted dating. If she had asked me a couple weeks ago my answer would have been yes. Now, my answer is no, I do not regret meeting or dating this person.
Heartbreaks are painful and I believe during the healing process there is regret because the glory of God is not yet seen in our suffering. Trust me, He will reveal Himself more and more. Once we see the glory of God in our pain and realize how much greater His will is, we will no longer regret anything that has happened in our lives. It is great because our God does nothing in vain and there is a purpose for everything we experience, both good and bad. When we are able to ask ourselves what we have learned from everything, then we are already walking towards a thankful and wiser heart. I am rejoicing because I can honestly say that I am no longer in a season of regret, but a season of thanks.
I was always conscious about what people thought of me. Sometimes (or a lot of the times) I was guilty of trying to live up to peoples’ expectations of how I should be or act. A friend encouraged me when she said, “I think you’re growing out of being a nice girl and really stepping into who God has called you to be”.
Many times I have been labeled as the nice girl, someone who does no wrong and is always happy. I was seen as someone who was soft and gentle, but that image and perception is not entirely right. I sin, I get hurt, I get mad, and I am not that gentle. Sometimes we have a certain “image” that we have been given and we feel as though we need to live and act a certain way because of it.
Sometimes I found myself trying to react to a situation the way I thought others thought I should be reacting. Being labeled as the “nice girl” has kept me from feeling and expressing certain things, such as anger. I tried to avoid showing my anger around others because I thought that someone who was “nice” should never be upset. I also thought I would be God honoring if I avoided it, but to be God honoring means to be honest with yourself and with God about how you feel and then trust that He will come through for you. Our labels will keep us from feeling and doing certain things because we think that it doesn’t match up with “who we are”, but we’re actually just limiting ourselves. Someone may be labeled as an athletic girl, but that does not mean they always have to be tough and cannot like make-up or enjoy dressing up.
Let me ask you this, what do you think you are labeled as? Are you also labeled as the nice girl or perhaps you’re labeled as the mean girl, pretty girl, fat girl, flirty girl, shy girl, etc., maybe you feel like a combination of more than one label, but the list goes on and on. We are constantly working to change our labels or live up to them, but no label will ever truly define us. Whatever you feel or believe your label is I pray that you will throw it out the window and accept this truth; YOU ARE THE BELOVED DAUGHTER OF THE MOST HIGH KING. It is not a label, it is a fact, a truth that is unchangeable. Doesn’t that sound comforting and relieving? Often times we take the words people say about us and tell ourselves that is who we are. We allow their words to define us, but we are so much more than those worldly labels. The only thing that should define us is the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. This truth will set you free from your labels and burdens of being something or someone you’re not.
If you are struggling with this, know that you are not the only one. In fact, many people if not all of us struggle with this, but few will own up to it. We want to be liked and loved by people and that is because we are wired to desire deep and intimate relationships. Our desires for friendship and love should never put us in a place where we belittle and disregard ourselves though. The relationships that we have here on earth, in fact, should do the opposite. They should encourage, affirm, build us up, and allow us to grow and pursue Christ together. Our relationships should never make us feel unworthy, insecure, or invaluable because that is not the reason why God created us to have them. He blessed us with the opportunity to have relationships with one another so we can better understand His deep love for us by loving the people around us.
I do not think my friend realized how much she spoke into my life when she said that, but it made me reflect on a lot of things about who I was. Galatians 1:10 says, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” I confess that I wanted to please people and I was striving to be someone everyone would like and love by being a nice girl, but I discovered that I was more than just a nice girl. I am a beloved daughter of God and I only need His approval. I want to live life as His precious child and genuinely express myself and serve Him wholeheartedly. My heart is no longer striving, but I’m at rest and at peace with who I am. My prayer is that you will be encouraged to find rest and peace with who you are as well.
I have been so blessed to be the older sister of five sweet brothers and Trustin is one of them. From a young age I have noticed that he has such a thoughtful and generous heart and I have been able to continue to see him grow into a fine young boy. I am always amazed at his love for people and how mature he is for being so young.
During the summer I asked him, “If you were to go to jail, what would be the reason why?”
I don’t know what I expected the answer to be, but he answered and said, “It would be because I believed in Jesus. In other countries people aren’t allowed to believe in Jesus.”
Immediately, I thought that this kid could be speaking prophetic words into his own future. Today is a special day because it is Trustin’s 12th birthday, Happy Birthday, I love you!
Besides Trustin’s birthday, today also marks eight years since I have accepted Christ as my savior, I was 12 at the time as well. From the moment I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior I knew God had a special calling for me. On October 29, 2007, I told God that I would follow Him and would be willing to serve Him. Even as I think about this I can’t imagine how a 12 year old girl already knew so deeply in her heart that God was calling her.
During one of the chapels, the speaker had said that sometimes we hear God calling us, but it could take years before He uses us. It all depends on God’s timing, but within those years of waiting, God would be preparing our hearts. Up from when I was 12 to now, 21, I believe God has been preparing me and He still is. He continues to affirm His special calling in my life and I do not know where God wants me to be specifically, but I do know He is calling me to serve as a teacher.
In the last couple of years, as a college student, God has been confirming it in my life that teaching is how He will use me. Have you ever walked into a place and your face lights up with a smile and you know deep in your soul that is where you belong? I get that feeling every time I step into a school setting and work with children. I use to always wonder why I was not gifted in certain talents or why I did not have a heart for certain work fields, such as the medical field, but today I am so thankful God is calling me into ministry as a teacher! Some people may think that teachers just work with kids all day, but we, Christian teachers, are called into some serious ministry and I can’t wait to start!
From 12 to 21, I would have never guessed that I would be where I am today. There has been hurt and trials along this journey so far, but it’s crazy to imagine that God is not done with me because He is just getting started. Through it all, I have faith that God knows what He is doing in my life, even when I don’t know what it is yet. I am reminded of Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
God knew what He wanted for Jeremiah and I believe that to be true for me as well! It’s reassuring to know that God knew me even before I was born. In His great timing, He will continue to reveal His desires to me and I pray that when He does, I will follow in obedience as I said I would when I was 12 years old.
Whoever is reading this, I pray that you will understand that God has a special calling for you as well. Whenever and wherever God calls you, I pray that you will hear Him and also respond in obedience and trust. In whatever career path you choose to pursue I believe that God will always be able to use you.
God says that no one can take our joy from us, but in our lives we can sometimes lose sight of it, especially when the enemy is hard at work and the enemy is ALWAYS hard at work. Joy is a choice and we often don’t choose it because sometimes we just don’t know what joy looks like anymore. In our circumstances and in the business of our lives we can forget how we look and feel when we’re experiencing true joy. I know that sometimes I can get carried away by all of the negative and difficult situations in my life that makes me forget about my gift of joy.
My pastor brought up this great idea of retraining ourselves to take spiritual selfies when we’re in the joy of the Lord. When we look back at our spiritual selfies and see the joy of the Lord in our lives, we definitely won’t want to be without joy anymore. Our spiritual selfies are reminders of all the good things the Lord has done in our lives and it gives us hope for all of the great things He’ll continue to do. Spiritual selfies will also remind us of what makes us passionate. Through my joy, I want to live passionately for God but I can’t do that if I live a life where I can’t even recognize when I’m joyful.
After reflecting, these are moments where I have experienced the joy of the Lord.
I have joy when I’m teaching and I just can’t wait to pour everything I can into my future students! The learning never stops!
I simply enjoy being in awe of God’s creation. Everywhere I look I see His beautiful creation, the world.
I LOVE to eat and I’m so thankful that I get to enjoy such yummy food! I’m even beginning to enjoy eating veggies and if you know me that’s a huge step because I thought I would never like veggies.
I simply enjoy being in awe of God’s creation. Everywhere I look I see His beautiful creation, the world.
Wow, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to have a lot to share, but now that my mind is going, there’s just too much to share. God really has been so good and faithful to me. I look forward to being more in the presence of His joy and taking more spiritual selfies as evidence!
Please, take time to reflect on some of your moments of joy too. I pray that your moments of joy are just as beautiful as mine and I hope that you can join me on this journey of taking spiritual selfies!
