Faithful Fridays ~ Servant.

Good afternoon, and happy Friday!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45


Have you ever stopped and thought about that?  Really thought about it?  It's dawned on me afresh lately just how humble Jesus was, just how much of a servant He made Himself in love.  Can you imagine?  God, coming down to the lowness of earth--the very lowest--and living out a very average human life--up until the last three years--in preparation for a horrible death.  And for what?  A world full of people who had turned from Him and would ignore, insult, deny, betray, bash, doubt, ridicule, scorn, beat, and eventually kill Him.  
And yet somehow, He loved them.  Marvelously.  Ferociously.  Sacrificially.  Genuinely.  His love is the kind of love you can take to the bank.  

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Jesus Christ:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!  
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." -Philippians 2:5-11



The Bible says that Jesus is basically the glue of everything in the world.  He is sustaining all things by his powerful word (Heberews 1:3).  He is the image of the inviible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).  In Him and for Him, all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible.  He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).  Not to mention that He's the head of the church, the glorious groom that's coming for His bride, the church, with a major celebration to follow (Colossians 1:18).  To put it plainly, in everything, He has supremacy (Colossians 1:18).  

So Jesus is a pretty big deal, right?  

And yet at the supper table he takes on the position and the appearance of a servant, a common slave.  He kneels at the feet of every disciple and washes their dirty, dusty [man] feet.  

And here's the clincher: Jesus washed Judas' feet.  

Wham.  

I'm not sure why that never dawned on me before.  Perhaps I've heard the story so much that I've become numb to it.  But He knew.  He knew Judas.  The Bible tells us that God knows the heart, or "always knows a person's thoughts" (Acts 15:8).  Jesus knew full well that Judas had been sneaking money out of the money bag (John 12:6).  And He knew full well that Judas would be the one of His close group of followers that would betray Him with a kiss--a kiss that would lead to His death.

And yet He got down on His knees and washed Judas' feet, the perfect picture of humility, kneeling at the feet of, and loving, the man who was technically His enemy.  

"'A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another." -John 13:34

We all have enemies.  Not in the sense of them betraying us to death, of course.  But they're the ones that are always bringing us down.  Dragging us into the dirt.  Always making us feel insecure.  Always one-upping us.  Always getting under our skin.  Always ruining our days.  Always bringing out our worst sides.  
Thing is, Jesus loved those people.  He bled and died for them.  The lips that gave His kiss of betrayal were created by Jesus Himself.  The hands that arrested Him, dragged Him into interrogation, flogged Him, and nailed Him onto a cross were created and sustained and powered by Him.  He could have stopped it all at any time; called down armies of angels to slay all His attackers (Matthew 26:53).  But instead, He allowed it all to happen for a greater cause, because He. Loved. Them.  And He calls us to come follow Him and love the same kind of people in the same way--truly, genuinely, humbly, with the kind of love you can bank on.  
It's rough.  It's not the natural response to that kind of person, nor is it the easiest.  But that's what Jesus did, and if we're choosing to follow Him, we have no choice than to do otherwise.  
So today I dare you--no, to clarify, I dare myself--to try it, to have Jesus' mindset in our relationships with others.  You know the person (or people) I'm talking about, the one that makes you want to turn your head and walk away, or maybe on the flip side, walk over and smack them in the face; or maybe they just make you want to throw a fit and go hide in your bedroom.  We're humans; we do that.  But Jesus was a man, too, and He chose to love those kinds of people.  I want to have that same mindset in my relationships with others.  I want to follow His lead.  

Faithful Fridays ~ When You Doubt.

Hey there, and Happy Friday!  :)  I sort of took an unannounced break from Faithful Fridays last week--time got away from me and then I wasn't feeling well for the last part of the weekend.  BUT!  I have good news.  I've been keeping you guys updated on my aunt's progress after the stroke she had several weeks ago--it's been a bumpy road, but tons of prayers have been going up for my aunt Missy, and God's definitely shown up.  She's back home now (since last Monday) from the hospital, and we're hoping she'll really improve from this point on and stay on the healthy side.  Thank you so much for your prayers, and please keep them up!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)


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It's honesty time.  I'm going to share something with you guys that I haven't shared with very many people, because it's not a past struggle--it's a current one.  It's something I deal with every day, something very real and something very hard and it frustrates me more than anything. If you were to ask me what I struggle with the most in my faith, I'd say doubt.  Funny how faith and doubt are the exact opposite.   I think everyone doubts at some point, in some shape, form, or fashion--whether it be doubting God's plan, His wisdom, His love, or just God Himself. I doubt God's word; I doubt His love; I doubt His truthfulness; His goodness; even His realness.   For the longest time, if you would have asked me what my greatest fears were, I would say "losing my family and losing my faith."  Those are the two most important things in my life.  And sometimes this attacks on my faith would seize me--questions I couldn't answer, feelings that I couldn't shake, thoughts that I just wanted to push away, but which still hung around the back of my mind, tormenting me.   With Him, it is well with my soul.  But when my belief in Him begins to ebb away and uncertainty mars my thoughts, it's like a wall comes up in my relationship with God.   "If God loves you, why is He letting you face this?"

"Is God even there at all?"

"Isn't the thought of worshiping and following an invisible God crazy?  That somehow, someone who wasn't created Himself created everything by just His word?"

"Is following Jesus really worth it?"

"Did He really rise from the dead?  Were all those miracles He performed just some sort of trick?"

"Is God's word trustworthy?"

"Is everything I've believed and lived for all my life true?"
It's a crippling fear to have hanging over you.  I think some of it was caused by emotional stuff that messed with my head and left my mind weak--a perfect target for an attack of the enemy, don't you think?  And on the other hand, some of it was simply questions about my faith in God that needed to be answered.  My faith was being challenged by a world that hasn't accepted God, and I was letting the voices of those who don't know Him invade my own mind.   And it was hard.  I hadn't faced that before.  I'll be honest, in the past I was always that one person that has no problem believing--for whatever reason, I never doubted God.  And then all the sudden, there it is in front of me, a bucketful of doubts and questions dumped into my lap, unexpected, and I didn't know what to do with them or how to face them. And I didn't have answers for them.  I had no idea how to face them, or how to approach them. "Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts.  It's no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them." -Tim Keller I'm a writer.  And a thinker.  And a deep person.  I think a lot.  I feel a lot.  And I'm also a very fear-prone person (read: a worry wart).  I tried pushing the doubts away; that doesn't work because it reminds me that I just don't have answers to all these questions.  So I found myself hashing over these doubts and these fears constantly, over and over in my mind.  It left me feeling depressed and alone and distant from God and everyone around me.  I got so wrapped up in my own head that I forgot to live life.  It left me feeling like a hypocrite when I talked about Jesus to other people.  I started becoming a cold, grey cynic.  Every time I went to pray or read God's word, the questions and doubting and confusion were magnified.  It's not a fun place to be.  It's hard to find peace and joy in God when He's the one you're doubting. And you know what that taught me?  It taught me that without God, I'm lost.  I wrestled a lot and finally came to the conclusion that life without God is not worth living.  Yeah, I want God.  More than anything.  I want to know Him, I want to have true intimacy with Him.  I want to follow Jesus, even if it is hard.  But the question still hung: how do I know it's all true?  How do I know that He really is there?  That He really loves me?  That I can really trust Him?  The fear still remained: I want God, but what if He's not really there?  What if He's not really who I think He is?  
There's this song that I love.  In fact, if you know me very well, you probably have heard me talk about it.  Or sing it.  Loudly.  It's "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective.  The first time I ever heard this song was when they played it live.  I was waist-deep in doubt and fear, experiencing much of the questions for the first time, and this song spoke volumes, right from the first verse-- In my wrestling and in my doubts, In my failures, You won't walk out. Your great love will lead me through. You are the peace in my troubled sea, You are the peace in my troubled sea!

Wrestling and doubts?  That's a language I know well.  The song sort of slapped me in the face and made me realize, "Wow.  God just might be bigger than my doubts about Him.  He just might be able to work through them, in the midst of them." "God is not afraid of my doubt.  When I express it to Him, He doesn't flee from me and leave me in my confusion." -Warren Barfield Life goes on, and as I found answers to some of my questions--more arose.  It always amazes me when I lay my doubts and frustration and questions before God honestly, painfully and then go to His word--only to promptly find the answer.  It shouldn't, but it does, and it's just an amazing thing to experience--it brings peace.  But it's easy to let those answered questions and stilled doubts fall away to the sidelines and be forgotten when others arise.   I asked why He lets bad things happen if He's good.  Age-old question, I know, but it plagues everyone.  I was reminded that sin is the cause of most of the evil, the corruption in our world.  And I was reminded that "In this world you will have trouble"--Jesus never said we wouldn't--"but take heart.  I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33.)  Jesus said He said those things so that in HIM, we may have peace.   I cried out in frustration to God one day--"I can't see You!  And I'm supposed to just believe You?  How do I know that you aren't just pretend?  How do I know that all this stuff isn't just dressed up to look like You?  Why is it so hard for me to believe?" I cringed at laying all that out in the open honestly, but then I picked up reading in my Bible where I had last left off--only to come across the verse in 2 Corinthians 4 where it says "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory Christ, who is the image of God." Bam.  Jesus is the mirror-image of the invisible God, the one we can't see.  He's the window through which we see the God that we can't see.  You want a clear picture of what your Creator is like?  Just look at Jesus.  The marvel of Jesus is that God made Himself human.  Visible.  Touchable.  Knowable.  Even those who aren't believers acknowledge that Jesus lived.  And I think we all can testify to the fact that that tomb was empty.  I would have loved to have been there when Jesus walked the earth, to look at this embodiment of God right in front of me.  As I've heard it put before, "We have a backstage pass to the father through Jesus Christ."   One day I was definitely in the midst of troubled seas--I couldn't seem to find peace of any sort, just complete turmoil.  So I grabbed my Bible, got alone, and wrote it out--God, You've got to give me peace.  I can't do this.  I flip open my Bible, turn a page or two, and my eyes fall on this passage just in Jeremiah 29:  "This is God's Word on the subject: 'As soon as Baylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for me, you'll find me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.'  God's decree.  'I'll turn things around for you.  I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you'--God's decree--'bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile.  You can count on it." -Jeremiah 29:10-14 Peace came, in a way I'm not sure I've ever quite experienced it before. People doubted in the Bible.  In Judges 6 and 7, God approached Gideon with instructions for him to lead the lesser, weaker nation of Israel to overcome their enemies a battle.  Gideon was afraid, taken aback, and doubtful--Me?  Weak runt that I am?  How can you say that Your favor is on me?  Look around you!  Look at all this defeat!  Gideon laid out those fleeces, asking God to show Himself for sure.  And God did, despite Gideon's fear and doubt and weaknesses.  So Gideon trusted, he took God at His word, and he carried through God's instructions.  And you know what happened--surprise!--Israel won.   What's the point of all this?  In all this, I've learned.  I've learned that the only answer to trials and challenges of my faith is to turn and run closer to God, instead of turning a cold shoulder to Him in the pain.   "The key to joy is seeking God where we doubt He is." -Ann Voskamp

I learned to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus.  I love reading about when Jesus called Peter out to walk on the water with Him. "Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 'It’s a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.' 'Lord, if it’s you,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.' 'Come,' he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?' And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'" -Matthew 14:25-33 Peter began to doubt and sink when he took his eyes off Jesus.  And when he cried out to Jesus in his doubt, Jesus reached out His hand and helped him up--and showed His power in the midst of Peter's doubts and weakness.  


"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." -Hebrews 12:1-3
I've learned not to spend so much time worrying about what everyone else believes, but to seek the truth out for myself and not let other people sway me from it. I've learned that I'm not the only one who faces doubts--Eve was first tempted in the Garden when Satan made her doubt God and His word and trustworthiness.  Even the most seemingly invincible Christians doubt, too, and I think it's time that we're all honest and open with each other about our struggles so that we can lift each other up.  
"No temptation has over taken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you may endure it." -1 Corinthians 10:13 I've learned that sometimes I have to not live based on what I feel and what I'm going through, but rather on what I know, and on God's truth and integrity and wisdom and love. I've learned that when we have questions, we shouldn't push them away.  We should ask for and search for answers in God and His word. I've learned that what God asks of us is actually incredibly simple, even if it can be incredibly hard.  He just says to believe.  Just believe Him.  Just take Him at His word.   "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!" Luke 1:45 It's not that we have to believe blindly--there is plenty of scientific and historical proof to uphold the truth of God's word--but sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to trust God's goodness and His love when it feels like the world is falling apart on you, when it feels like He's not there.   "Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?  Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, 'For your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.')  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." -Romans 8:35-37 But I've also learned that unless you make that choice to say, "God.  I don't understand.  It hurts, and it's hard, but You're worth it, and You know more than I do.  You're bigger than my pain and You're bigger than my doubt, and I know that you work all things together for my good, even if it takes some time, so I'm going to worship You and live and love and obey and believe and trust You right where I am.  You love me too much to let me drown in my struggles and storms." "Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you.  He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." -Psalms 55:22 I used to be afraid of my doubts.  I used to either live battling them or live in fear of having to battle them once again.  I used to be afraid of God failing me.  But do you remember that song My Lighthouse?  After time after time of listening to it, another verse slapped me in the face once again.   In the silence You won't let go, In the questions Your truth will hold. My God's love will lead me through. You are the peace in my troubled sea, You are the peace in my troubled sea! Do I still face doubts?  Of course.  Every single day.  But I've learned that God's truth is strong.  It will hold up under all my questions and my doubts and my wrestling.  God is bigger than my doubts and my wrestling, stronger than my own mind and heart, and He doesn't shy away from my struggles and doubts.  He loves me too much to let me go down in this.  I've learned to keep seeking Him, even when I don't feel like it, and even when my soul is in turmoil--especially in those times.  I've learned that trials without God will break you, but trials with God will make you, and that the only way we can make it through these storms is to give God the pieces and the hurt and the hardship and tell Him we trust Him with it and need Him to make beauty out of the ashes.  


"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord.  'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:9


I've learned to say, "God, I trust You, even though it hurts and I don't understand right now.  I still need you."  I've learned to sing "My lighthouse, My lighthouse, shining in the darkness, I will follow You.  My lighthouse, My lighthouse, I will trust the promise; You will carry me safe to shore!" "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." -Isaiah 43:2 So I hope today that if you find yourself doubting God, or wrestling with something in your life, asking God why....that you'll remember to bring it straight to Him, and that He can and will lead you through it and even make something beautiful out of it if you'll just trust Him and allow Him to do so. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." -James 1:2-8


"Fight the good fight for the true faith.  Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before so many witnesses." -1 Timothy 6:12


"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." -James 1:12

"And we know that in all things God works of the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28
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Faithful Fridays ~ The Time is Now.

Hi, everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  :)  We had a super busy weekend, hence the late post.  :) 



      Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)     ***************************************************************************************************************     "Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?" -Francis Chan     I think sometimes we--I--get so wrapped up in what's going on in our own lives--whether it be pure busyness, or a struggle in our relationship with God, or stress, or whatever--that there's this one part of following Jesus that slips into the back of our minds.  We forget to love our neighbor.  We forget to love the least of these, those that are "overlooked or ignored" (Matthew 25:37-40 MSG).      And it's so, so easy to do that when the stuff in our lives is blown up and right up close to our faces.  I do it all the time.  It's so easy to just let it fade into the background when we're facing our own issues, trying to find our own peace.      "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45     But I think what we're forgetting is that yes, to love and honor God is what we were created for.  But a huge portion of that is loving others.  Over and over and over again in the Bible, it emphasizes God's heart for the forgotten, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the overlooked, the ignored.  And when Jesus came to earth, He spent most of His time teaching, healing, and loving those that fell between the cracks of society, the ones that were easy to forget.  He spent time with the sinners, the seriously sick, the poor, the ordinary, and the ones that were just sort of average.  He called them out of every situation they were in--to follow Him.         And if that's what Jesus, our Lord, our King, spent all of His time doing before He took on the cross--how can we not place immense importance on it?  How can we leave that out or forget it?  What kind of King does that?  That's the kind of King I want to serve.        "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."-1 John 4:7-12
      We really know God, we really follow Jesus, when we put ourselves aside and pour out love into other people.  As Francis Chan put it, "We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things."       

      The sum of every single one of the Ten Commandments is to love God and love your neighbor.  That's it.  How can we expect to really know the God that IS love when we are so wrapped up in ourselves and our own worries and problems and struggles that we forget to actively love others, constantly, every day, the way Jesus did?        "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." -James 1:27       "Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full." -Proverbs 19:17       "'Which ones?' the man asked.  And Jesus replied, 'You must not murder.  You must not commit adultery.  You must not steal.  You must not testify falsely.  Honor your father and mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.'  'I've obeyed all these commandments,' the young man replied.  'What else must I do?'  Jesus told him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.'"  -Matthew 19:18-21       Isn't that crazy?  Jesus told the man to go sell his possessions and help the poor--and then to come and follow Him!  That's how much it matters to Jesus.       "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11       "If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered." -Proverbs 21:13       "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will go cursed." -Proverbs 28:27       "Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person.  Don't tell your neighbor 'Maybe some other time' or 'Try me tomorrow' when the money's right there in your pocket.  Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting." -Proverbs 3:27-29       "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.  So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion--how can God's love be in that person?  Dear children, let's not merely say we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.  Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.  And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.  Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them.  And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us." -1 John 3:16-24       I don't know about you, but I don't want my cries to go unheard or unanswered, and I don't want to be cursed.  I want my light to rise in the darkness and I desperately want the Lord to guide me always.  I want the love of God to be in me, so I can be confident before Him.        I've decided that I can't let my current struggles and the worries in my life get in the way of Jesus' command to love others the way He loved me.  I don't want to put it off for when times are better and it's easier.  Jesus never said, "Love others when it's convenient," or "Love others when it's easy," or "Love others when you want to," or "Love others when your life is problem free and you don't have worries," or "Love others when your relationship with God is perfect."  Those times may never come . The time is now.  Yes, it will be hard.  I don't instinctively want to put myself aside and focus on loving Jesus and loving others.  But it's so worth it.  I've seen it in action and I've been a part of it, and it takes work, but it's amazing, and it's the best possible way to live.        *********************************************************************************************     God bless you guys and have a great week! Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ It Won't Go to Waste.

Good afternoon!  :)  Are you guys getting ready for Mother's Day?  I think it's one holiday that doesn't get enough credit--moms are amazing.  

And thank you guys for the continued prayers for my aunt!  She keeps getting a little better and better everyday--it's been so awesome to see God work in her!  :)




Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

*********************************************************************************************************** "I have told you this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world." -John 16:33


We all face struggles in our faith and relationship with God--whether it be temptation, sin, doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, bitterness, pride, holding a grudge against someone, or whatever.  And sometimes, to me, it seems like those struggles are storms and it seems like those big breaker waves are going to crash down and overcome me.  And I find myself asking why.  Why do I have to go through this, God?  It's only pulling me away from You.  It's making it harder for me to come to You.  It's making it harder for me to love You.  It's making following You so hard--what's the point?  

But as I look back over my walk with God, and at the word of God, and at the lives of those who walked the closest with Him--I can't think of any hardship they faced that didn't serve a purpose.  I can't think of any past struggle in my own faith that hasn't brought me closer to Jesus in the end.  Maybe it wasn't clear at the time, for me or for anyone in the Bible, but those like Elijah, and Moses, and Abraham, chose to trust and keep moving toward God even if they couldn't see the way right at that moment--and He always pulled them through.  


"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." -Romans 8:28


Life is going to bring trials.  The enemy is going to throw stuff at us and our relationship with God.  Our own sinful nature will fight against our choice to follow Jesus sometimes.  But:


"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.  And God is faithful.  He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." -1 Corinthians 10:13


We all face struggles.  Not just me, not just you, but everyone.  Jesus Himself was tempted.  Sometimes it may feel like we're not going to be able to overcome them, like we won't have the strength to keep following Jesus, to keep running the race that is set before us.  But don't stop.  Don't give up.  You may not be able to see things clearly now; that's okay.  When the Israelites were angry and tired and thirsty, God's command to Moses--to strike a rock with his staff--may not have made sense right then.  But Moses did what God told him to do--He trusted, even if he couldn't see just then, and he made movements toward God--and God followed through.  

When God told Elijah to go out and leave where he was staying, and live near a river for a while because of a drought that was coming on, I'm sure Elijah couldn't see everything clearly then.  But God said He'd feed Elijah, and Elijah trusted, and went out and did what God told him.  And God took perfect care of him.  Over and over again, Elijah did what God asked, even if he couldn't see the whole picture, or it wasn't clear or didn't make sense at that moment.  And over and over, God carried him through.  


If you're struggling right now; if you're you feeling like you're going to be overcome; if you're feeling like you can't make it, you can't keep up your faith; if you're feeling like this struggle is useless and just tearing down your faith in God, take heart: I can promise you, from God's word, from the lives of others, and from my own experiences, that if you'll keep chasing God through this storm, seeking Him in the struggle, fighting the good fight of the faith and running the race, if you'll keep making movements toward Him, even if you can't see it all clearly right now--He will carry you through.  And your struggle will not go to waste.  You'll learn things, you'll be stronger, and you'll come out closer to God, strengthened in your relationship with Him and your commitment and love for Jesus.  Will you struggle again?  Sure.  But it's worth it.  Just don't you dare give up.  God is faithful.  Keep making movements toward Him.  

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.  After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?  He said,

'My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,

    and don’t give up when he corrects you.

 

For the Lord disciplines those he loves,

    and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.'

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?  For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong."

-Hebrews 12:1-13

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God bless you guys and have a great day!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Bring it to Him.

Happy Friday, everyone!  :)  Or I guess I should say Happy Weekend...life's been a bit crazy lately, and Faithful Fridays somehow have ended up happening on Saturdays and Sundays here and there.  :)  But I want to thank you all so much for the prayers for my aunt!  It's been amazing to see God answering all these prayers and showing His power in her--she went home Thursday night, just a week after having brain surgery.  Crazy.  She's been talking, and moving some, even on the side that the doctors had said would be paralyzed.  Can you say God is great?  :)  She has a road of physical therapy ahead of her, but God's already brought her far and I can't wait to see how He keeps bringing her through this!  :)  Thank you so much for your prayers!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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Have you ever been reading the psalms and become sort of confused by the fluctuating tones?  The psalmist can jump from celebrating God's love and faithfulness, shouting his thanks from the rooftops, to being down in the dumps, in the depths of despair, groaning to God, asking why he's been abandoned.   Not exactly something you expect from great men of God, is it?  

Or is it?  

Because I think everyone--especially teens, and teen girls--faces the rolling storms and emotions and struggles of life, and the stuff the enemy throws at us.  We face insecurities, doubts, fears, sin, failures, feelings, questions, stray thoughts, worries--all that stuff that makes us pull away from God. The psalmists faced those like any other person--sure, their struggles were probably different from ours, but they were struggles nonetheless.  There are times when I feel like getting up and having a dance party because Jesus is so amazing, and there are times when I just want to curl up in a ball and ask God why.  And yet instead I find myself shrinking away from God in doubt, and resentment, and I end up just being cold toward Him.  



The psalmists faced this same rollercoaster of life--the highs, the lows, the struggles, the victories, the fears, the heights--and they came to God in every. single. bit of it.  That's true prayer.  That's true intimacy with God.  

Because don't you know that in any good relationship, the secret is that the two people in the relationship bring everything--their frustrations with each other, their problems, their fears, their emotions, into the light, to each other, in open honesty--and then they work it out together.  Why should we do any less with God, the perfect one who reached down to scoop us out of our sin when we were at our lowest?  Jesus didn't come to save us when we were good, or faithful, or deserving, or loving Him, or doing the right thing--He loved us when we were dirty, still in our sin, not wanting Him, certainly not deserving Him, not being faithful, just living in our rebellious human nature.  And still, He loved us.  So why do we hesitate to bring all our stuff to Him now? "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 God is inviting you bring it all to Him.  Tell Him what's troubling you, even if it's about Him.  Don't lean away in doubt, lean forward in trust.  Run home, even if you're scared.  The prodigal son had done his father wrong, but in the end he realized it and came running home.  He wasn't expecting much of a welcome, but he was bringing his best--and his father, who loved him relentlessly, welcomed him joyfully.  So come to Him with your everything, good, bad, and ugly.  Come to Him with your questions; His word is truth and it can answer them.  Come to Him with your struggles and your insecurities, your weaknesses and failures.  Lay it at His feet and tell Him you need Him, you can't do it on your own; cry out to the One who loves you!  It's not too big or too bad for Him.  Just bring it to Him and surrender it.  He's your safe place to hide.  Run home into the arms of His love.  
I come with my broken song To you the perfect One, To worship You in spirit and in truth, Only You. You're the reason I sing,  The reason I sing, Yes, my heart will sing, how I love You! -"Simplicity, Rend Collective ********************************************************************************* God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Good Friday.

Hi, everyone!  I hope you're having a good Easter weekend!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
************************************************************** "Good Friday was the worst Friday until Sunday." -Mike Donehey

This really struck a chord with me today.  Because on this day about 2,000 years ago, a group of disciples and followers of Jesus, people who loved Him and trusted Him dearly, were in the depths of despair.  It seemed as if all was lost.  It seemed as if God had failed them.  I imagine they felt let down, and immensely disappointed.  They probably felt like the ground had been snatched up from under them.  Their Jesus, the one they believed to be the Son of God, had been brutally tortured.  He had been beaten bloody, executed, mocked, betrayed, forsaken.  He had been killed, and buried, cold and dead, in a tomb, a heavy bolder rolled in front.  So seemingly final, and permanent.  It must have seemed like all their hope was buried with it.  "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.  A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.  He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.  And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.  The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.  So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold.  I must bring them also.  They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.  The father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.  No one can take my life from me.  I sacrifice it voluntarily.  For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.  For this is what my Father has commanded." -John 10:10-18 

But little did those around know that in just three days, their doubts would be wiped away, their faith in this great Jesus confirmed.  They didn't realize then that God was about to show His mighty power clearly in His Son, by raising Him from that cold, dark finality of death that sin brought on.  They didn't realize that when Jesus cried out, "It is finished," He meant it.  He meant that in Him, sin and death no longer hold power over us--He meant that with His resurrection, He had conquered it, and in Him, we are free, and we are conquers ourselves, through Him who loved us!  And when that temple curtain split in two--the curtain that divided people from the inner presence of God--He was showing us that separation from God no longer exists.  We're face-to-face with Love Himself!  He will give His Spirit to us, God alive in us, living and moving and working in us!  He was showing us that the chasm between God and sin-stained man had been bridged--forever.  From that moment on we no longer had to worry about being fit for God.  By simply placing our trust in Jesus and laying ourselves at His feet, with all our sins and shortcomings and weaknesses and doubts and failures, we were made fit for Him.  Because He loved us.  He didn't need us.  He didn't have to sacrifice Himself, but He did.  He chose to.  He chose us.  He knew us, long before we were born.  He wanted us.  He loved us.  He pursued us.  He had a crazy love for us.  
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." -John 15:16 No, the disciples didn't know all of this then, but they soon would find out.  They would find out that despite their doubts and their despair and the darkness that had seemed to overcome, God would show His power.  He wouldn't leave them in the darkness.  He wouldn't go back on His word.  He would keep His promises.  He would restore.  He would show that He always does what He says He'll do.  God is love, and "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."  (1 Corinthians 13:7.)

When Jesus cried out, "It is finished," He was also showing that yes, sin and death are finished.  They're conquered.  He's brought life--real, lasting, eternal life, for anyone to take up in Him.  And He was showing that yes, separation from God and being at odds with Him was finished.  Completely.  We can now boldly approach His throne to receive His mercy and find grace to help us when we need it most.  And I'm so very, very thankful for that.   And when Jesus said, "It is finished," He was also showing me that He's not finished with me yet.  I am not my own; I have been made new!  I am a new creation in Jesus, and He is always doing a new thing.  Whatever I'm facing or struggling with, whatever storm or trial or doubt or weakness or test--He's not finished with me yet!

No surrender, no retreat
We are free and we're redeemed
We will declare, over despair
You are the hope!

"'I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!" -John 15:9-11 You bled Your heart out, Now I feel love beat in my chest. How wonderful! You gave Your beauty In exchange for my ugliness. How wonderful! You left Your perfection, And embraced our rejection! You put on our chains, Sent us out through the open door.  How wonderful! You took our sadness,
Crowned us with joy and real peace, How wonderful! You left Your perfection, And fought for our redemption! How marvelous, how boundless Is Your love, is Your love for me! How wonderful, sacrifical is Your love for me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! How wonderful! Yes, Jesus loves me! This is love, You gave Yourself! How marvelous, how boundless Is Your love, is Your love for me! How wonderful, sacrificial is Your love for me! -"You Bled," Rend Collective Jesus left His perfection, His spotlessness and joy in perfect purity in Heaven with the Father, and came down to be humbled as a man, a mere human, born to a poor family in a stable, amongst the animals, in an animal's food trough, a manger.  Because He. Loved. Us.  He grew up, ordinary, passed over, human.  He faced temptation just as the rest of us did.  But He never sinned; He was perfect.  Because He. Loved. Us.  He embraced the deepest "sinners," the ones that the religious ones scoffed at and looked down on and rejected.  He washed dirty feet.  He came not to be served, but to serve, even though He was the Son of God and should have been served and worshiped completely.  He endured brutal torture and death and mockery and being betrayed and forsaken and executed, crucified, so that He could rip that curtain between us and God, because He. Loved. Us.  He exchanged the life He had for the death that was ingrained in us, because He. Loved. Us.  He freed us to live in Him, Because He. Loved. Us.  He left His perfection and embraced our rejection--our rejection of Him, and the rejection that He should have had for us.  Because He. Loved. Us.  And He rose and conquered sin and death once and for all, because He. Loved. Us.

"The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,

    a scrubby plant in a parched field.

There was nothing attractive about him,

    nothing to cause us to take a second look.

He was looked down on and passed over,

    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—

    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,

    that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

    Through his bruises we get healed.

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.

    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,

    on him, on him. 

He was beaten, he was tortured,

    but he didn’t say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

    and like a sheep being sheared,

    he took it all in silence.

Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

    and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

    beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

They buried him with the wicked,

    threw him in a grave with a rich man,

Even though he’d never hurt a soul

    or said one word that wasn’t true.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,

    to crush him with pain.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

    so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

    And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,

    he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.

Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

    will make many “righteous ones,”

    as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—

    the best of everything, the highest honors—

Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,

    because he embraced the company of the lowest.

He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,

    he took up the cause of all the black sheep."

-Isaiah 53

This Easter, Lord, thank you.  *******************************************************************