Trust.

When I say the word "Trust" what do you think of? The first thing I think of is the trust fall. Putting complete trust in someone else to not let you hit the ground. I think that our relationship with Jesus should be the same way, if He calls you to do something, JUST DO IT. Don't ask questions, learn to trust in the one that sustains your very life.

I am learning more and more everyday what it means to trust God. God has been talking to me a LOT lately about trust, and giving me instructions... that I didnt want to follow through with, but after much wrestling I knew that is what God was calling me to do. I stepped out in faith, TRUSTING that God will not let me down, and since He called me to this hurdle, HE in HIS great power will help me overcome it. And guess what is the most amazing part about my God? He came through for me!

Is there something in your life you are holding back from God? Is there something in your life that you would not give to God if He asked you to do so? I am going to be completely open and honest, I was not fully surrendered to God, I thought I was, and was saying I was. But He in His awesome Power, and Love, showed me that I was not living a life that was pleasing Him. And that my priorities NEEDED to change.

God is growing me, and teaching me to TRUST even when it does not make any sense at all. NONE. I want to encourage anyone reading this, that even if what God tells you to do does not make sense... TRUST Him and do it anyways. And I am saying this from a place of pure surrender to my Savior. I also want to tell you it took my 19 years to get to this point in my life, the point where I want NOTHING more then to please my savior. But, the main thing is... I GOT HERE EVENTUALLY. Yes it took time, it took effort, it took loosing things that I held dear to me, BUT I finally surrendered everything about me to God, and He came through for me!

God has changed me more this last week, then EVER in my life, the whole focus of my life, my goals, dreams, and ambitions have been taken from me, and replaced with new ones that are from God!

It is amazing to me, how fast God can change a person's heart, and dreams. When I finally stopped fighting what I knew God wanted me to do, and what He made me to do... The moment I stopped fighting and gave in to what God wanted me to do, was the moment I believe I was a live for the first time in a LONG time. God gave me a new heart, and a new mind, and a new spirit, that is fervently seeking His face, and His direction for my life.

It is one of the most amazing, and scary things that I have ever done in my life. To place ALL my HOPE, ALL my TRUST, ALL my DREAMS, my WHOLE BEING, into the hands of my Creator, is one of the most thrilling things also!

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME! ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Their more then just cool stories....

As I lay outside listening to the birds sing, and my little brothers play in the pool, and soaking in the sun I cant help but think about God and His amazing, outrageous, never-ending love for us. I am constantly in awe of the God who gave up His ONLY son for us! We did not deserve it, nor did we show any signs of turning to God, BUT still He gave up His only son to be a ransom for many peoples sins.

Have you ever stopped to think about that, like really think about it? I mean honestly.... Think about the thing, here on earth, that you hold dearest to your heart, and think about how you would feel if you had to give that up. I know I would be devastated, think about how you would feel if God called you to give that up? Would you question Him? Would you do it? When I think about this I think about Abraham.,. and how this same all loving, all powerful, omnipresent God, told him to sacrifice his ONLY son, BUT you know, Abraham knew God's promise, and knew that God's word was reliable, and trustworthy. And God had told him that his descendent's that would be as numerous as the stars would come through his son Issac. And you know that? Relying on that promise had to be good enough for Abraham, he trusted His God at His word. Abraham did not argue with God, or make excuses, or try to talk God out of it, he just trusted, and did as God told him to do. And you know what is so amazing about this story to me? God came through for him. That is the highlight of the story for me. Is that God called him to do something that seemed OUTRAGEOUS, he followed Gods instructions, and GOD CAME THROUGH FOR HIM!

See now heres the best part about all of this.... let me let you in on a secret, WE SERVE THE SAME GOD ABRAHAM DID!

If He calls you to do something that seems crazy, or maybe even impossible.... thats probably because it is by human standards.... and if we just run hard after God, and trust Him at His word, and be faithful to Him, HE WILL COME THROUGH. Thats the cool thing about the God I serve, He has promised that He will NEVER leave me or forsake me, even when things may seem hopeless or I am walking through the desert, He will guide me, and if I loose all strength and hope, He will carry me if I need Him to!

The love that my God has for me is one I DO NOT DESERVE, one I CAN NEVER PAY FOR... But that is the love that has been bestowed upon me, an unconditional love. Even the love my parents have for me cant even come close to the amazing love God my Father has for me. At times I cant even comprehend it, and I feel so unworthy at times... because I do something that is not pleasing to God and then I have to run back to my God and tell him I am sorry, and repent of the sin I have committed again Him and Him alone... and you know what He does????? Something that NO HUMAN can do, He forgives and FORGETS my sin, He removes it from me as far as the east is from the west. It is an amazing God that I SERVE!

Truth.

Have you ever felt like you couldn't take another step? Been so defeated that you just couldn't go on? I have, and I can tell you right now that is not a fun feeling nor is it a feeling that God created us to feel. When we live lives that are fully surrendered to Christ He tells us that its okay if we cant take another step, we were not made to walk alone, we were made to rely on HIM and other believers who God places in our paths.

Though at times it is hard for a person like me to place all my trust and all my hope and all my strength in something I cant see, but I am slowly learning that is what I have to do. I am a very strong independent person, and I like to figure things out for myself, and learn from my own mistakes, you can tell me till you are blue in the face that i should not do something, but if I dont think that you are right I will do it just to see if you are right, and if you are I will get hurt. I have always been a strong independent person since I was little, and it is just becoming more and more prevalent in my life as I grow up. As I get older and start to make more and more of my own decisions.

But lately in my life, I have been getting very discouraged, and having to lean wholly on Christ for everything, making hard choices about my future and what I am going to do with my life, and it is hard. But a realization that i came to about a week ago was, God has promised me that he will NOT give me more then I can handle, and if it seems like He has and I cant take another step in any direction except backwards, God is right there with me, and He will carry me if I need him to. Where my human strength ends is where Gods divine strength begins. This is something I have to rediscover daily, and become keenly aware of, every morning.

Another thing I need to rediscover eveeryday is that there is NOTHING that i can do to make God love me less then He loved me yesterday, I am a child of the king and I need to always remember that. Esspecally on days that I feel I cant go on, on days I just want to give up all hope and lay down and just stop trying. That is when God comes in and whispers to me that, I am a child of His and He will help me through everything I am going through! If God brought me to it, He WILL HELP ME THROUGH IT! I know that to be true.

Why am I here?

Have you ever gotten lost in your thoughts, wondering why on earth you are here? I have I can guarantee you of that. I have gotten lost in my thoughts, and that is when I realize I am relying on my own strength to get where I think I should go. That is the wrong way of thinking, if you ask me. As Christ followers, we are called to live lives like that of our Savior, NOT just making decisions that will just benefit us. Though that is what I find myself doing a lot of times. We were called to live life with our arms wide open, living to the glory of Christ's name, and if that means we loose something we are holding very dear to us for someone who has nothing, that is what Christ called us to do. He did not die so we could keep Him to ourselves, He died so we could live, and share His love and mercy with everyone we come in contact with!

How do we do that?? You might be asking... Well... I believe that we live lives that will please God when we start to live to further other peoples ambition's and dreams, and forget about ourselves, and just live to impact peoples lives for Christ. But HOW? I would say that it can be in small things, it can be in large things, it can be however you can do it. You can start by just changing your outlook on life, and becoming a person that is happy, and joyful JUST to be alive and have another breathe in your lungs. Then you can give smiles that radiate the love of Christ to a hurting people. If you want to do more than that you can be intentional about who you talk to, who you interact with... and always be willing to give up anything you have if God calls you to do that. In my own personal life, God has called me to give up some things that i did not want to let go of because of my human way of thinking, I wanted to hold onto it for selfish reasons, and God made me put my heart in check, and realize that other peoples needs are greater then mine. I am slowly learning to hear the voice of my God, and follow where He is calling me to go, even if that is scary at times.

I am learning to follow my Jesus even when it does not make sense... even if it SEEMS CRAZY by human standards, because it probably is. But if I keep my eyes focused on Christ I find it a LOT easier to do what he is calling me to do... then if I am self absorbed, and selfishly pursuing my ends. When I really think about it, I realize that my reasons for wanting to NOT do what God is calling me to do are very self pleasing reasons, and that is NOT how God has called me to live. I also tend to look at all the reasons why something wont work... This happens when I take my eyes off Christ and look at the crazy thing He is calling me to do. (well it is CRAZY by human standards.) Then and only then do I start to see the obstacles that Satan is placing in front of me. I believe that obstacles are self imposed, and the only time they appear is when we take our eyes off the goal we have in life.

There is however a solution, we can pray and wait expectantly to see where God leads while the whole time remaining focused on Christ to watch where he moves in the lives of His followers. To me personally, this was a realization that could not come soon enough. God has been giving me a heart to help people, and love people, and reach out, and pursue the hurting, lost and alone. When God FIRST started to birth this within me, I tried to fight it because at the time, I wanted desperately to be a Veterinarian. But God just kept talking to me, and ministering to me through other people, teaching me that people are the most important thing on the earth, I believe He just wanted me to know that all along.

Well I finally realized that God was calling me to help people not animals, WHEN I finally grasped that He then started to birth another desire in me... This was a burning desire to go beyond the people I am in contact with here in MI, to to reach the corners of the earth. It was about then that God started to move in the body of my church... and my church started to become more missions focused, and everything started to fall into place, but I was still unsure what God was calling me to do, and where I would fit into the whole thing. Well, two years ago they started to talk about Swaziland, Africa... and something in me just couldn't keep quiet, I felt like I HAD to go, BUT there were obstacles that I could not overcome to go on that trip... the main one being that I was too young.

Well two years have not passed, and I am now almost 19 years old, and they started to talk about Swaziland again, and that Sunday something in me just EXPLODED, and could NOT be contained any more... I didn't know what was happening at the time... I found out later that multiple people were praying that I would have a desire to go to Africa some of whom didn't know that I even wanted to at all... as soon as the sermon was over I practically ran to the table and grabbed an application and ran to my mom and said, "Mom, I am GOING!!" and she started crying, because she had been praying that somehow I would have a desire to go... and God put a FIRE in me, and I want NOTHING MORE THEN TO GO! Right now, in my life, this FIRE burning in me, I cant justify closing my eyes to it, I know that God is calling me to Africa. There are still obstacles that will have to be overcome, BUT I know that if God wants me there I will GO!

Sorry my thoughts are a little jumbled in this post, stuff just started to come out. :)

Life as we know it...

As I sit here listening to a family bicker, I cant help but wonder, is this how God made us to be...get married start to hate your spouse and children and then die... I beg the question "Is this all God made us to be? Or is there more out there? Something we are missing?" There is something I know to be true about my God, and it is that he made us to live life abundantly, and live it in a way that pleases him. And He created marriage to be a reflection of His Love for the church, so when we fight and bicker about little things that cant please God anymore than it makes us feel like crap.

So if it is true that God made marriage to be a reflection of His abundant Love for us, then we can conclude that the love with which we are to share with our spouse should be an unconditional abundant love that has no limits. An unconditional love says, "I may not agree with what you are doing, or how you are going about that, but I am going to love you anyways, even if you dont love me I will love you. Even if you hurt me I will still love you." That is the love with which we are called to love each other, is it not? If we are to mimic what we saw in Christs example, then we can logically conclude that this is in fact that love that we are called to love with. And not just family, we are called to LOVE everyone we come in contact with, everyone we pass in the grocery store. EVERYONE period. You never know what the impact of a smile could be? or the impact of a simple "hi". You could change someones eternity, you could plant a seed and then someone else will come water it... and it will grow until the person you originally touched cant deny that love has changed them!

So.... I beg the question.... what would it look like if we loved with this love? the love that says you dont love me, you dont care about me, but I am going to LOVE you unconditionally anyways! What would that look like? What would it make our relationships look like? What would it make our towns look like? If the people that claim to be followers of Christ started acting like they were instead of just saying it with their mouth. What if we actually fed the hungry, and sought out the lost, hurting or alone? Do you think we could impact our communities? What if this nation that claims to be "Christian" would become awakened and start living lives that would reflect the faith they profess?? What would that look like? Do you think we could change this country? Do you think we could change this hemiphere? Do you think we could impact our globe??? I do! I think that if the church would just start acting like the church we could change the world, one heart at a time! We could start a fire that no man can put out! We could spark a revival! All the way to the smallest countries, and villages in Africa, Asia, India, China!

What if we stood up unashamed? What would that look like? If we wholheartedly followed Christ, and the only words from our mouths were "Yes LORD, where you lead I will follow?" Does that concept scare you? Cause it scares me!! But if need be I will DO IT AFRAID! I am not going to let fear stop me! The path to you greatest potential is often STRAIGHT THROUGH your greatest fear.-Craig Groechel. The second we realize this and take hold of it will be the point when we start toward our purpose in life! Its time that the church gave their lives to God, indevidually, and as a whole and let God lead thier steps, and whereever God calls you go! and you answer "Yes Lord!!"

At times you must go against the crowd....

Sometimes God calls us do things that in the eyes of mere men look foolish, because they appear from the outside that there is no way they could ever work. However, sometimes God calls us to do things like that to show how powerful He really is. He is in the business of taking things that seem impossible to man and making them possible through his power.

There are things in my life that seem like there is no way I can do them. I talk to God about them and you know what he tells me? He tells me that I am right there is no way I can do them.... in my own power, BUT I can do them with HIS help, and that he would LOVE to help be through it. Because another thing I know to be true about my God is that He will never bring you to something that he wont help you THROUGH. If there is another thing I know about my God it is that He can move mountians that stand in the path of His followers if He wants to.

The mountain in my life right now is having an indescribable desire to go to Africa. And sometimes when I mention wanting to go to Africa, people start to tell me all the reasons why it wont work, and I just have to remind myself that if God gave me this desire He is going to help me achieve it and if I have God on my side nothing can stop me.

Africa....

So, I am going to start at the beginning. It all started in 2008 when I found out my church was taking a summer mission trip to Swaziland Africa in the summer 2009. I wanted nothing more then to go, BUT in order for me to go alone a few things had to happen, that was a parent go with me because I would not be 18 by the time they went, they went two weeks before my birthday. And a LOT of money had to be raised. Well, neither of my parents could go. I was bumming, but I moved on. However the flame inside me that was started then never went away.
And it all started to be rebirthed in me at my open house, when I was talking to people about my future and multiple people not even afiliated with my church or knowing anything about my desire to go to Africa stated something about Africa or missions to me, and it got me thinking about it again.
Then on Sunday I went to church, and I sat down in the pew, and something in me just started to explode! I didnt know what was happening at the time, but I found out later it was a LOT of people praying that I would somehow have a desire to go to Swaziland. Well I was singing and I happened to read the title of the sermon that day, the title being "Unstoppable Courage." I was like oh this is going to be good! :D
Then.... Pastor Phil started talking about Swaziland and the trip in 2011, and I tured to Stephanie who was sitting by me and said, "I am going." just that thats it. And she was like... "what?" so I said it agian, and she just looked at me.
Then the sermon started and the first thing that was said was, "The path to you greatest potential is often STRAIGHT THROUGH your greatest fear." That hit me like nothing has ever hit me before, and I knew right then that I was going to go to Africa, and that God was going to make it possible.
Because will I be afraid YES!!! One of my biggest fears is flying over the ocean. But I am going to step out of my fear, and into faith knowing that if God wants me to go to Africa He will provide the funds for me to do it and alllsoo the courage for me to do it! :D