Hopefully soon, i can get back to posting on the regular.

I just read this blog post about Man’s yearning for God, and i thought it was very powerful and rings of Truth so I wanted to share it

Check it out HERE then post any comments back here

randi

be encouraged…

In the last 5 days I have read in a book, read in an email, and heard in a sermon the same poem. I randomly decided to read the Purpose Driven Life again (I read it in 2003). This poem is on Day 2. The day that I read Day 2, my mom randomly emailed me and included that poem (my mom did not know I was reading PDL and she isn’t reading PDL) so I actually read her email before I even read it in the book! And yesterday in church, the pastor shared the email.

OK God, I hear You.

I don’t think the poem was just for me to hear so I’m going to share it with you guys.

“You are who you are for a reason. You’re part of an intricate plan. You’re a precious and perfect unique design, called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason. Our God made no mistake. He knit you together within the womb, You’re just what he wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones he chose, and no matter how you feel, they were custom-designed with God;s plan in mind, and they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy. And God wept that it hurt you so; but it was allowed to shape your heart so that into his likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason, You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod. You are who you are, beloved, Because there is a God.”

-Russell Kelfer

Be encouraged.

Ok, so time for audience participation. What is your favorite Christmas song and by who? For example, there are a lot of people who do their own versions of Christmas songs and some are better than others.

One of my favorites is O Holy Night by Celine Dion. All you Celine haters back off, the woman can sing. This song is just so beautifully done and her range is unreal.

If you have more than one favorite list it. I just realized I have more than one lol.

Alright so for me…

O Holy Night- Celine Dion, Breath of Heaven- Amy Grant, aaaaaand All I Want for Christmas-Mariah Carey, Oh and Born to Die by Shane and Shane ( i wrote a post last year about this song read HERE).

IF you haven’t heard some of these songs I highly recommend you check them out

randi

I think this is an awesome visual and reminder that when life gets crazy

when nothing makes sense

when we feel like we have no where to turn, when everything and everyone seem to fail us

that Christ desires that we find all we need in Him.

That we can have all of Him because He gave all of Himself for us.

And His sacrifice on our behalf gives us hope that regardless of our life’s struggles

and the negative things the world tells us

and even the lies that we hear in our own heads

…He still cares.

leave your thoughts

rj

September 11, 2009

As I’m sure most of you know…. Today marks the 8^th anniversary off the Attacks on 911….

I woke up this morning and the first thing i did was to automatically grab my phone to see what time it was, check to see if I had any text messages and got on facebook. When I looked at my mini feed I saw everyone’s statuses about praying for the families that were affected by that tragic event that occurred when I was in the 5^th grade. I still can’t believe it’s been that long, but anyhow, I say a quick prayer asking Him to look over the families and to comfort them on this day. I get up, go through my daily morning schedule, read my bible and then I’m off to my first class. I’m sitting in class and the teacher is telling us that he wants us to go the chapel to see the memorials they have set up, I get there and I’m totally in awe by what I see.

Sitting on the floor are boots and shoes with labels.  As I go through the lines and look down to realize what the labels say, the boots have names of  soldiers from VA who died fighting for our country, and the shoes had labels of kids from Iraq who had been killed in this war….

One thing that amazed me was the age range, the youngest American soldier was of course 18 but the oldest that I saw was 75…..  as I looked at the boots and shoes , some new and shining, others so dirty you couldn’t even tell what color they were, I thought about how many pairs there would be if every person who had died from this war would have a pair of boots or shoes laying on that floor

I thought about how much I took for granted being able to live here in the U.S. the fact that I’m actually attending a great college, that I was able to wake up  and take out His word and read it openly, the fact I can wear a cross around my neck , just the little things that I take for granted everyday.  This is the longest  war in American history and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to end very soon, but how many times do we see things on the news about it, how many times do we as Christians actually send out prayer requests for not only our troops, but for the people we are fighting against?  Maybe you’re way better than me and do these things often but I know I forget to all the time.

The feeling of urgency has been so evident lately… the other day my family lost a cousin of a heart attack, found on his kitchen floor… and rumor has it that he stopped taking his medication so that he could have an easy way of leaving this world. Then I had a couple of close friends lose their mom from cancer. And after that I had someone I graduated with, lose her dad to a massive heart attack in his sleep shortly after laying down next to his wife, I bet you he had no idea he wasn’t going to wake up the next morning….

Anyway, what im getting to is, we need to do something. We as Christians were put here to shine His light and show people His face to further His Kingdom. And even though I know this and have been reminded of it time and time again…. I’m still getting wrapped up in earthly things, I’m still taking for granted the fact that I’ve been given everything I can ask for and more, while people are dying without knowing Him….  I don’t want to get to heaven and the Lord look down on me and say my child, you were suppose to bring ________ along with you, why didn’t you share my love with them so they could be standing next to you right now. I hate thinking about how narrow the path to heaven is, I hate knowing that people I love might not make it, I hate knowing that we as Christians decide to live lukewarm lives instead of on fire ones…..  where we as Christians do more harm than good?

I encourage you to think about what you’ve done this week for Him, whether it be sacrifice, giving praise, talking to someone who you would never think could be saved, or evening smiling at someone you don’t know…. Make Him your first response, not your last resort.

Its up to us to change the world, who wants to start?

Have you done any Kingdom work this week?

Get fired up!!!!!!

anyhow, here’s the same song, a little different, feel free to comment.

NTH_3

James 1: 22 – 25
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Last night I was reading before going to bed and for some reason the term “God Stalker” popped into my head. A little odd, but I decided to give it some pause and then it dawned on me that that is exactly how I would describe the way most of us live the Christian life… Like God stalkers.

Stalkers, by nature, never really get to know the object of their pursuit… They only know a lot about them… They predict what they will do next, sometimes trying to work ahead of the object of their affection, but never achieve a healthy relationship with them. They are invested in the scholarship of the being, but getting to know the character might never have crossed their mind.

So, how exactly are we like this? Well, as followers, we gather lots of information about God, read books about Him, ask other people about him, and even go to places where we think He might show up… But what does our time spent doing that look like when we compare it to our time actually speaking to Him or living it out? It’s probably staggeringly one-sided eventhough the Bible is quite clear about how we should proceed.

Christian philosopher Soren Kierkigaard phrases it like this, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly… My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I get on in the world?”

Though the term “God Stalker” itself sounds a little sketchy, by definition it is also fairly safe. In order to really know God, to transition from stalker to true follower, we must be about the things God is about… Not residing in knowledge, but abiding in knowing Him thoroughly and better each day… Taking the Bible as an instruction manual for immediate and practical application… And not as suggested material. How offensive. It’s not alright to live as though we do not understand.

As mentioned at the beginning, when the term popped into my head, I thought it was a bit odd, but I took time to give it thought anyhow. And, as I closed that brevity of thought, I was prompted to ask myself the question: Do I personally know God better now than the day I first met Him? Not, do I know more facts about Him or what have I gleaned from what others have told me… But rather, which of the adjectives that people use to describe Him do I really know because I have experienced them first hand? It’s been an interesting question to answer… And I challenge you to try and do the same.

-Ashley

So for those of you who know me pretty well, you know that I easily rant and go off on tangents. So here’s me, sharing my heart a lil and going off on tangents. But hopefully you’re blessed by it.

If we believe God is great and above all things, why is it so hard for us to trust Him sometimes. We believe that He made us and loves us and even that He has a greater plan for our lives, but when it comes to trusting Him in the details of our lives, we forget that His relationship to us is in the very details.
David wrote in psalm 31:15, “My times are in Your hands.” And in psalm 139:13, 16; “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb…Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”

I think of the countless times that I’ve trusted God for the big things in my life and have been at peace about what He’s wanted but I freaked out about the details and tried to take those details in my own hands. And of course it led to stress and frustration and even some disappointment. I can’t thank God enough for His patience. Even after I’ve tried to do things my own way and feel stupid for doing so, He gently guides back to the right path and reveals His plans in His timing. Which makes perfectly good sense because my times are in His hands and all of my days are already written in His book. Why is it so hard to display the patience that God repeatedly demonstrates for us?

I’m reminded of the story of Sarah and Abraham. I’m going to summarize but you can read through it in Genesis 15-21. God promised Abraham when he was almost 90 years old that his descendents would be as many as the stars.  Sarah had not been able to bear children so she figured she’d take things into her own hands and give Abraham her maid to bear him children which backfired for Sarah and caused more pain and grief. But of course God came through and fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah and she had a son.  It may have been 10 more years until He did so, but He did, serving as another reminder that God doesn’t always act immediately or when things seem right to us. (“My times are in His hands.”)

And another point to take note is that even though Sarah was impatient at first and took matters into her own hands and had to wait longer than she wanted, she continued trusting God. Hebrews 11:11 says that Sarah, “judged Him faithful who had promised.” Therefore we have to start trusting that when God says He’s going to do something. His Word is true. God knows each of us better than anyone. He can love us and help us better than anyone. He’s more patient and merciful towards us than anyone. Putting our faith in Him for all situations is absolutely our best bet. Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

And yes, sometimes it’s hard to let go of stuff, to see God’s hand in stuff. The big thing for me is that I try to think through something or figure out how to handle a situation without taking it to the Lord first. Or think that my problems are insignificant and that God has more important things to handle. All of these are an example of faithlessness but our God being the all powerful, loving and merciful God that He is, wants to take care of it all. So my last verse that always humbles and uplifts is from 2 Timothy 2:13.
“if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”

It’s who He is. Call me a dork but I think that’s pretty cool ☺