It Matters

     Do you ever feel like what you’re doing doesn’t matter?  No matter how many times you do the dishes, more are dirty, the same goes for laundry, and cleaning the living room, it’s always the same, always in need of someone to clean it. 

I’ve found that I have the worst attitude when it comes to doing what I would label as “doesn’t matter.” 

      We are called to do everything as if we are working for God and not for men.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” Colossians 3:23

      That verse convicts me every time I see it.  I know in my heart I would do a better job if someone “important” were coming over.  I forget that God is always over, and who’s more important than Him?  My work is done for men, every day, it’s careless and imperfect.  I fail to see how any of it could matter or make a difference, but to God all of it matters.                                                 When we let Him be apart of our daily activities we invite Him to be apart of us.  Christ doesn’t want to be separate from us as just a “Sunday service.”  If we are constantly working at things for Christ instead of man we are able to be a shining light for Him. From sweeping the floors or running for President, nothing is too small or too great for us not to involve God.     

       So don’t think your tasks are irrelevant and unnecessary you never know how God can use them and you to show His love.  After all everything we do and everything we are matters to Him.    

“one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  Ephesians 4:6

She Called Him "Sir"

       A dear friend of mine recently showed me an entry in a journal she was keeping for her future husband.  I laughed when she mentioned the idea, and then, as I started reading it, her words had an almost hypnotic affect.  She wrote the words every sixteen year old girl longed to say.  So many of us girls (and guys) struggle to keep our hearts pure for our future spouse, we struggle with the knowledge of wishing this one could be "it"...and too many times it's not.  We are left broken, used, and wishing we never gave away a piece of our heart to the wrong person.  

Place me like a seal over your heart,

like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,

it would be utterly scorned.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7


       Don't put a price tag on your love, it's worth is far above rubies.  Let your Father in Heaven direct your path and seal your heart till the day you say "I do."  It will be tough and at times seem impossible but trust me, True Love is worth waiting for.


Dear sir-
I really am at a loss of what to call you, since I'm assuming we
haven't met yet. There's been times I was absolutely certain I'd met
you - and it wasn't you.  Or times I'd wished and hoped, but again it
wasn't you. Perhaps I have met you - but you weren't you at the time.
You havent become yourself yet. Well, if you're reading this, it means
you have become yourself. Perhaps this is all really confusing, about
you not being you, but ask me about it. Maybe I can explain it better
in person than on paper.
Since I really dont know who you are, I suppose I'll call you whatever
I feel like calling you at the moment. (Warning: That could/will be
definitely hazardous to read if you have any measure of pride and
self-decency. Be prepared to be mightily abused in the following
pages.)

I think about you alot. Well, I suppose no more than an almost-17-year
old girl would. Whatever face I may think belongs to you at the
moment, I love you (not the face) more dearly than ever and anticipate
your coming even more.
I struggle with patience alot. And it's hard - I'm not gonna lie and
say it's easy - to keep my heart for you. Waiting, watching, hoping,
fearing. Waiting for my turn with love to come. Watching th horizon
for you. Hoping that I'll be everything you're looking for, wishing
for, wanting for. Fearing you'll pass me by, or I won't be enough, or
having to settle for second best. Because I won't. But how can I know
for sure what I have is the best? "The good is the worst enemy of the
best." Or, taking what I can get of the good because the best doesn't
much care that I'm breathing? Or being the second best someone else is
settling for, and I'll live forever in their shadow?
........I have a lot of fears.

Beauty in Ashes

     Everyone has trials and everyone undergoes struggles, but it’s what we do with those circumstances that will define who we become.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me...


To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, 


To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, 


The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; 


That they may be called trees of righteousness, 
The planting of the LORD,

that He may be glorified."
  Isaiah 61:3

       Our troubles are like the ash after a great fire, or perhaps all that is left after the war.  However this war is not a physical war, but a spiritual one.  As our battles pile up one by one we may have moments when we ask “Why God?  How could any good come of this?” To the eye of the beholder there is not much beauty in ashes, but to God’s eye there is an in comparable beauty.   God gives us situations to not only make us more dependent on Him and His strength, but for us to be a light to help others.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10   When we endure trials and come out as more than conquers by the Lords grace we can look back and show others how they too can endure, and overcome. 

       So don’t mourn over your trials or let them come upon you with the spirit of heaviness, give them to God.  He wants to turn the cold winter night into a glorious spring morning. “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30: 5b

       When we use our “ashes” to learn from and use to help and guide others we in turn will see the beauty Christ always knew was there. 

The beauty IN ashes.  

I'm in Love with You, Jesus

       I didn’t realize it, they say love can come softly, and it did, it crept up on me like the soft summer rain. 

       Normally I do my devotions every day, sometimes I honestly wish I didn’t have to, but after every single one I’m glad I did.  Lately, I’ve been attempting to go more into the Word to really spend time with Him.  However, I went two days without a single thought toward my devotions.   I was “too tired” I told myself and it seemed like a plausible excuse.  However, after those two days I felt worn out, discouraged in need of a looooonnnggg nap, or so I thought.  As they say “you never what you have (or had) till you lose it.”  I sat down and read my Bible all of a sudden, like the fog breaking away and letting in the Son, I felt at peace. 

       I realized how very much in love I am with Christ and how I need Him every day, hour, or minute.  I simply NEED Him in my life and I have no intention of ever living without Him.  Love had come softly. I didn’t realize how much I loved my Savior till I had separated myself from Him.  It was like in the new Pride and Prejudice when Mr. Darcy comes walking through the fog and all of a sudden Lizzy realizes she could never live without him!  Hahaha okay, not that dramatic and I’m pretty sure Matthew MacFayden isn’t Jesus. Haha  But the general idea still remains. 

       As Francesca Battistelli sings in her song "Paper Heart:" 

I had been so terrified to trust, so many times I'd been reduced to dust, but You keep showing me You're the safest place to be.  

Never knew that I could feel the way I feel, never knew that there could be a love so real...

My paper heart is Yours now, I have landed in Your hands.  Come so far to find out, my life will never be the same since You wrote Your name on my paper heart.  

"One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord." Psalm 27:4   

And I'm lost in Your love and Your mercy.

Lord, Your beauty is so overwhelming.

I'm thankful for Your truth.

I'm so in love with You.

                                          My Jesus, My Jesus.

                                   (Leeland)

Clean Your Room!

       My younger siblings version of cleaning there room is shoving everything into random corners and drawers so that my mom will not find it. They proudly present her with a “clean” room and run off to play forgetting for the moment that the doll clothes or books have been carelessly tossed into their sock drawer.  However, much to their own dismay, it’s found later on and they end up punished for not putting it where it belonged. 

       

       A lot of the time we treat sin just like my siblings treat cleaning their room.  We toss it aside saying we’ll “deal” with it later, sometimes we even try to hide it from others around us. Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they tried to hide from God after eating from the tree.   What we forget is that when we don’t deal with our sin we can’t grow in the Spirit.

Proverbs 28:13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.    As Christians we should be confessing our sin, we aren’t perfect, we have times where we will fall, (Romans 3:23  For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.)but God doesn’t count how many times we fall, he counts the times we get back up and clean up our act.   He wants us to experience victory!   "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57  

       

       So don’t shove your sin into a closet let God come in your life and help you clean your room. 

Let Him Know Who's Boss

       About a week or two ago my friend and I decided to memorize the entire chapter of Romans 6.  I have to admit, I am one of the worst Bible memory people.  I get tired and struggle, I've made it to verse 5 and I honestly feel like giving up.  But then I realized that's exactly how the Devil WANTS me to feel.  I'm dedicating time to learn my Lord's scripture.  It sure does tick Satan off when we actually dedicate TIME to God.  

      So every time I feel like giving up, I say the verses more---I give MORE when my flesh calls for less.  I cannot even explain how rewarding it's been.  So when the Devil's ticked, don't get mad, get glad. (hahaha, cheesy I know.) But seriously, if Satan's doing his best to stop you it means you're doing your best to please God, and he's not the biggest fan of those who want to please Christ.   Show Satan and your own flesh how much you want to please God, by studying His Word, reading it, researching it, and memorizing it.

Shake that devil up, and let him know who's the boss of your life: Jesus Christ.

Romans 6

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?   Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that they body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, he lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey in its lusts.  And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  Certainly not!  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness.  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.  I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.  For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.  For when you were slaves of sin you were free in regard to righteousness.  What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.  But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(This chapter is amazing, I honestly cannot wait till the day I can say it by memory.)

Sometimes People Pee on You

       A few days ago I went to a party, there were people there, because it’s honestly really hard to have a party with just one person. ;)  But, a couple people there decided to say as many rude things about me as possible, and as loud as they could---the entire time of the party.  I don’t take offense easily, but this crossed the line for me.  One spectator came up to me and asked what their problem was and why I was the target…

That night I was just about to fall asleep when my 7 year old sister came into my room.  I figured she just wanted to sleep with me…she figured my room was the bathroom.  She climbed in my bed, laid her little head down and pee’d, all over me and the bed.  Yep, true story.  I groaned in disgust and yelled for my mom, and then I started laughing.  God wasn’t done teaching me my lesson, and now I had an answer for that spectator.

       Sometimes people don’t have anywhere else to go, their insecurities are brought out through their mouth.  My mom refers to this as “diarrhea of the mouth.”   It’s these type of people we should be feeling sorry for.  They have to find worth in themselves by shooting down others.  My attitude towards it all could’ve been upset, and I had every right in the world to be upset.  But it’s not about the world. Jesus specifically said in John that we are not of the world “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”   We do not belong to this world so why become upset when they try to tear us down? 

       

       When Christ was beaten, bruised, and crucified by the world what was his attitude?  Forgiving.  “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 He still loved them!  Sure, I was pee’d on by words but that was nothing in comparison to what Christ suffered and the only thing that made it seem awful was my attitude towards the situation.  Philippians 2:5 says “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” If we have an attitude of grace and thankfulness it changes the circumstance. We should be constantly cheerful when people are rude.  “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” Proverbs 25:21-22 

     Plus, we get the benefit of laughter and a cheerful spirit, who wants to be upset?  It makes you feel awful! 

       So next time someone pee’s on you, cheerfully show them where the bathroom is, and let them know you and God are always there if they need an extra roll.