God's Plan for our Life

This is one of the most comforting things. God's timing is perfect. Life is tough. That's something we probably all know from experience. When everything seems to be falling down, we can all be comforted by the fact that God has it all under control. It may not seem like He does, but that's the thing... we don't know. We don't know His plan. We never will. We can get a few glimpses of it. A few things here and there. You can see bits and pieces of it when you look back on your life and realize, "Oh! So that's why God let that happen." But, no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to see the big picture. God is infinite. He is the King. He is the Creator. And yet, although He is all of this, He cares for us. He loves us. He is always going to take care of us. No matter what happens, we can take refuge in the fact that He has a plan for us. There may be bumps in the road of life, but it will all end of for the better. Every trial and pain that we go through is because of God's plan for our life. It may be tough and even seem impossible at times, but all we have to do is be patient and have faith. God, no matter what the circumstance is, will take care of us. All we have to do is have faith.

Forced Love

     Alright, so first of my sincerest apologies for not writing for... what was it? About a month? Goodness! I'm so great at blogging, aren't I? I just procrastinate. Especially with blogging, apparently. :)

     

     So, I just came back from my Youth Group, and may I just say that the sermon tonight touched me. Normally the sermons get me in a way, but I loved this one. Mainly because I never really thought about it in such a way. What he talked about was how sometimes we force our relationship with God. You're probably thinking "Wait, what? How in the world do you do that?". Well, it's kinda like a relationship with someone you like. You're trying to make it work, but it's obviously not going anywhere. You don't love them anymore, but you still want to make it work. It's no longer a fun thing, it now becomes a chore. That's not the kind of relationship you want, right? Chores aren't fun. Especially nasty ones like folding laundry, doing the dishes, and emptying the dishwasher. Ok, so that's a little bit biased there. Those are my least favorite ones. Those are evil..... but anyway. :)  When your relationship with God feels more like a chore than an actual relationship, you're doing it wrong. That's not what God intended. To have a true relationship with Him, to feel His love and to have a burning desire in your heart to serve Him and be a part of His kingdom, you need to love Him. It's kinda like if you (yes, yet another "lovey-dovey" example) have a girlfriend or a boyfriend who loves you WAY more than you love them. They call you and text you all of the time, but you just ignore them. They're annoying! They won't leave you alone! They love you like crazy, but honestly you don't love them as much as they love you. What kind of relationship is that? It's like your relationship with God. He loves you unconditionally. No matter what you do, He will always love you. But there you are, not really loving Him. That's not a relationship. That relationship ends up becoming more of a chore, a task that you feel you need to keep up just to suit the image that people have given you. If we were all honest, none of us would want to live that way. If you want a true relationship with God, one that is satisfying. One that fills you with peace and love. One that, no matter where you are, no matter what you are facing, will always be there to protect you. If this is what you want, then you must love God to receive it. Because without love, there is no relationship.

I was going to write something... but this quote says it all. :)

Pain

Pain... yup. That's a word that everyone has become familiar with. Pain hurts. Whether it's physical pain or mental pain. It hurts. But, it's something that everyone goes through at one point in their life. All we can do though is pray about it. God can take away the pain. Whether it's sickness or emotional, He can take it away. That's so easy to say though. "Oh ya. Don't worry. This pain that I'm going through won't last that long. God will take it away for me!" That sounds so simple! But it's not! The pain that fills us inside is so difficult to get rid of. The human part of us just wants to cling to it. It doesn't want to let go. So it's kind of like a war inside of us. (Yes, that's a reference to my Battles post.) It's either us or God. He has the power to get rid of the pain, and we have the power to keep it. We can't get rid of it on our own. That's one thing that I know for sure. No matter how hard you try, you aren't gonna be able to throw it away. Humans vs. sin is not a fair match. BUT humans+God vs. sin is totally gonna work. All we have to do is trust in God, and He can save us from the pain that the world causes us. 

Silence

     Not talking. I can say from experience that this is pretty difficult. But, it's one of the greatest things you can do. Ok, so when I say no talking I'm not saying that from now on you can't say anything. God have us voices for a reason, right? :) What I REALLY mean by this is that if you have to choose between saying something that you KNOW you'll regret or just staying quiet, the second one is the best. I'm sorry to say that I don't always do this. I'm human! That's why this post is mainly me talking to myself. I'm posting it though in the hopes that I'm not alone in this. I'm not the only person who can't hold back from saying things that she'll later regret, right? :)  But, anyway, times like this when you would rather say something sarcastic or sassy, you might as well stay quiet. Unless of course the comment is meant to be funny (in a not insulting way), then totally go ahead and blurt out whatever your heart desires. But, sassy and sarcastic remarks tend to make people (and by people I totally mean me) feel all superior. And when they act that way it annoys other people. Then when people are annoyed at you, they're most likely not going to act to nice to you. THEN that might make you feel anger towards them. Well, you can kinda see where that goes. Anger and harsh words will just be returned with anger. All of this began because you (me... yes, me) couldn't keep your mouth shut. But, by keeping silent, none of this would have happened. It's seriously just the best way to go. Keep quiet, and you can avoid all of those argument and drama that you go through everyday.  :)

Our Purpose in Life - The Great Commission

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."   Matthew 28: 18-20 (NLT)

     This is the Great Commission. I never really knew what it was called until my Youth Pastor started calling it that, but may I just say that it's a really fitting name. The definition of "commission" is "an instruction, command, or duty given to a person or group of people".  So this instruction that we've been given is pretty awesome. So awesome that its official title is the GREAT Commission. I mean seriously. It must be pretty important that God would call it the Great Commission, and not just the Commission. But this task was put upon us by God! I mean... GOD told us to do something. The King of the Universe, our CREATOR told us to go out and make disciples! Don't you think that we should do that?

     Now, you must be sitting there and wondering... what? Like, what is she talking about? Or you're thinking... oh. THIS again. I've heard this story at least a thousand times. It's all that my church talks about. Ugggghhhhh. (Well, it must be really important if you've heard it at least a thousand times!) Well, for those of you who don't know what this is (or you already know), I'm gonna tell you what I know it to be. It's God's command for us. It's what our life is all about. Everyone in the world wonders what the point of life is. Well ladies and gentlemen, here you go. We are to go out and make disciples. That sounds a bit weird, but that's what it's about. Now, in the Bible days Jesus had disciples. Or another way to call them is His followers. They followed Him everywhere. They did what He did and followed His every instruction. They were His disciples. And that's what we are. We're Jesus' disciples. And our job is to go tell everyone about Him and make them disciples. Because being a disciple is being with Jesus. Since Jesus is God, we're with God. He is the King and we're servants. Just think about how in the Renaissance times how kings would treat their servants. Quite horribly to be honest. But God... He cares for us. He loves us so much. And for a King to care about a servant as much as God cares about us, that's just amazing. Everyday we can be sure that God is on our side and that no matter what we go through, He will always be there for us. Just the comfort and the love and the peace that comes from being with God, it's just amazing. And to think that there are people out there that are hurting and feel like they have no one to turn to... that just hurts me. They have no idea that God loves them. That they are not a mistake and that they are not loved. Because feeling unloved and alone is horrible. There are millions upon millions of people in this world who believe all of the lies that the devil whispers into their ear on a daily basis. I hate that. I don't like just sitting by and watching people slowly crumble into nothing but pain and agony, wanting nothing but to find a way out of life. I don't know about you, but I want nothing more than to save them. Life may be short, but I don't want to watch them live it the way the world says they should. This is what Jesus told us to do. He knows that His people are hurting, and He wants us to save them. I want to walk into Heaven and see all of the people that I saved instead of looking down into hell and seeing all of the people I could have saved, but was too timid to do so.

Actions

I'm not too sure who Amanda Patterson is, but her quote is amazing. It pretty much just says that words are pointless. People can say one thing and then turn around and do another. That is something that I have seen many people do. That is why we, as Christians, need to not only make sure to watch what we say, but also need to watch what we do. If we're telling someone that we are a Christian and that we follow Jesus, we better make sure that we act like Jesus too. Because that's what being a follower of Christ is, right? We FOLLOW Him, in both our actions and words. People are looking at us to see what being a Christian is like. If we are going around saying one thing and then turning around and doing the complete opposite, what kind if message do you think that's sending off to all of the people watching you?