Valentine's Day?

So there is this holiday coming up... Its one of the most loved and the most hated. What is that holiday you ask? Valentines Day. Every year I think, Oh great another year of being single and having to watch all these people be annoying couples... So when I thought about adding to my blog the first thought was to write about how God has this amazing man for me and I just have to wait for his timing. This is good and all but then God said Stop! Rethink this. Instead of going another year whining and being oh poor pitiful single me, don't think of Valentines Day as being a day to think about when you are going to have the perfect relationship with your knight in shinning armor. Think of this holiday as being a Day were you focus on your most important relationship with the Most High King! If I thought about growing my love for God as much as I think about my future husband, well lets just say I would be a whole lot closer to God in my spiritual walk. The Creator, Savior, and Sustainer of the universe wants to show me this love everyday! So this year I'm trading in my wanting a valentine to fully seeing the Love God is continuously giving me. Please don't let this make you think that I'm saying there is anything wrong with having a Valentine or praying for your future husband. I can't wait for the day when I have that person who thinks of only me on Valentine's Day, and I will never stop praying for him and his spiritual walk. However, God has laid on my heart to find my first love again. I pray that everyone, including me, will Remember this Valentine's Day who first loved us. Like it says in Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession". He has love greater than a thousand Valentine's and somehow I have looked over this great love every year. Us loving and growing our relationship is enough Valentine's Day present for Him. He owns everything else. He just wants you and me. Amen!

This week I have been reading Mandisa's Blog about Single Appreciation Day. What God is teaching her is so amazing and uplifting! Go Read It! 

I happened to stumble upon this sweet Godly woman, and her story of the biggest struggle in her life. It does not have to do with Valentine's Day, but she is has such a heart for God and shares many of God's truths. Click this.It's good!

Last! Mandisa has a play list on Spotify called #SingleAppreciation. She put together some really awesome songs about love and waiting on the guy God has for you. Prepare your ears!

Valleys and Mountains

If you have ever doubted that God has a plan for your life throw it out! The way that God works in and through our lives is more than the word mind-blowing could ever cover. You know how you sometimes get in to a spiritual "funk" and you have no clue how you got there or how to get out, and sometimes the circumstances seem more than you can handle. I was just in one of those, and God had to remind me that I mean so much to Him. He reminds me who I am in Him and why I am here in the first place. I am His and He is mine.  I decided to follow Jesus, no turning back! Christ is enough for me! Everything I need is in You! (Okay so you should also know that one of the ways that God speaks to me is through songs. Right now I am listening to the songs that we are going to be singing at church tonight and God is restoring my heart and my focus. If you haven't heard Christ is Enough by Hillsong Live and Great are You Lord by All Sons and Daughter then I highly recommend you let these songs be added to your worship playlist. I put them here so your ears can embrace this harmonious sound. :) ) Lately I have been under a whole lot of stress about where I am going to go on missions, for spring break and summer. I want so desperately to do exactly what God wants me to do that if any good or bad thing happens, it sways the thoughts about what I think God wants me to do. So in the end I am left with still not knowing what God wants me to do or even what I want to do. 

Today a great Godly friend of mine told me that there can be multiple directions you can go, with some decisions, and still be in Gods will. I was struggling with deciding which mission trip to go on and if I should do missions in the summer or work so I will have money for school next year. I want God to just tell me what to do and let that be that, but sometimes God lets us decide. Our mission field is where we are and whether we are in a different state, country, or even in our own home town, that is our mission field. God has so many blessings for us but we can be so uptight about doing everything perfect that we miss the little gifts He gives us. God loves us so much and He tells us there are people out there that don't know that there is an Almighty God that loves them and wants them to have a relationship with Him! I pray that we have open eyes to see the mission field that has been set out in front of us! 

Well done

God shows Himself in great and mighty ways if you actively seek Him. So many times I would ask Him to show Himself to me but I would not actively read and search for what He was wanting to teach me. I don't want to be concerned about being safe any more. No where in the Bible does it say that God wants us only to do the things that we are comfortable doing and that will keep us from having anything bad happening to us. God has been putting a fire under me. I am no longer satisfied with going to church on Sunday and then going home, and that's it. Maybe do something good here and there but essentially that's as far as it goes. Over the years of going to many different churches as a child, I noticed that every Sunday school class was teaching the same things, at every church, every age group. Looking back, I see how messed up this is. At some point we should be going deeper, learning and growing. So many times I would sit in on a older ladies Sunday school class and they would be gossiping and then read a passage about Noah. There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading Bible stories that you have read many times before, but we have to remember to ask questions and dig deeper. If this God we say that we follow is worthy of everything that we have why are we so lackadaisical about talking about Him. Why haven't I been brave enough to put myself aside and go full out with trust and praise to Him. I am challenging myself and whoever reads this to truly let God lead you in everything you do. We all hear that God's word is so powerful, but how many of us know that from experience? For so long I just "knew" that to be true because that's what other Christians told me. I don't want the Bible to become a set of "Terms and Conditions" that we  impulsively click agree to but don't even know what it says. 

And so it begins..

I've always thought that having a blog would be so cool, but I never really had a reason to have one, until now. I want this blog to remind me of the things that God is teaching me in my life journey, but I also want to share what God is doing in my life. I want this to be public because its dangerous to stay anonymous. If you have good news, spread it!

God has been teaching me some life changing lessons this past week. I have grown discontent with just going through the motions and acting like I know all about God, but really having no clue what I am doing. My goal is to take everything I know about God and the way we do church and ask why? Why do we think the way we do? Why do we preach about the life changing Savior but stay so content with our comfort zones? I love my comfort zone, a lot, too much in fact. However, God has called us higher and He has called us deeper than the lives we have ever thought of. 

God has been teaching me about putting all my faith and trust in Him. I thought I had done that before, but then I experienced true Peace. I am so excited about what God is doing all around the world and I am excited to be a part of that great work. 

During spring break a group of college students are going on a trip to New York to build relationships with our church's unreached people group. Pray that God will be working in the lives of the people there and in ours. This will be a big step of faith for all of us!