07-12-2014

Go & Make Disciples [Mission Trip]

As this is posted I am currently on my way to go to my first mission trip in Honduras. Jesus left us with the above command to “go and make disciples of all nations” and that is what I am finally getting to do. We are heading to Honduras for a week to encourage a church that our church as adopted and partnered with. We won’t be building anything but will instead be doing a VBS and music ministry with the kids and people in the community. I am praying this is a way to connect with the local community. Then another group will head down in October to do a medical mission trip.s.

Since I have never been on a mission trip, I am not fully sure of what to expect but I am praying that we are prepared for whatever will come our way! I also pray for our safety and the safety of those who live there. I pray we are able to do more for them than we think we can and that we will leave them better than they were when we arrived. I pray we all keep in mind the mission we have been given and act accordingly. Most of all I pray for His will to be done.

Filed Under: Faith, Me Tagged With: faith, mission trip, travel

06-27-2014

Some Faith Inspiration When You Need It

God is Using You

[Source]

All of these are linked to the place where they are found. I thank everyone who posted these as they inspire me and I pray they inspire you. Sometimes life can feel heavy, like hope is lost, like you don’t know how to continue on or what you need to do. Maybe you are at a crossroads, maybe you have to do things that seem hard… well don’t give up hope and don’t give up the faith. Lean on Deuteronomy 31: 8- “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” And He means it. No matter what you do, you can ALWAYS come back to the Lord.

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: faith, God, hope

06-18-2014

Letting Go of Worry

What is Worry? According to the dictionary it is “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.” Well, that sounds just lovely doesn’t it? The Bible has a lot to say about worry, Jesus tells us not to worry.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” 1 Peter 5:7

“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Therefore, I tell you,d o not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than the birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” Luke 12:22-26

“Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.” Proverbs 12:25

And those are just a few of my favorites. There are many, many more. Okay, so we know the Bible tells us not to worry, but does it tell us how to not worry? We know we are not supposed to do it, but still we continue to do it (myself included! More times than I would like to admit

Why should we not worry? Well, for starters it doesn’t do anything. Worrying wastes our time where we are inventing things in our heads that may or may not happen (you know the line- 95% of what we worry about doesn’t actually happen) when we could be spending precious time finding solutions. Or if we can’t find a solution we could be praying and talking with God instead of going round and round in our heads.

Worrying is the opposite of trusting God. I know that is not what we want but it is precisely what we are doing when we are worrying. We are not trusting Him, the Creator of the Universe, to provide the answers and what we need. We are instead trying to provide these on our own. We have to let go of the control (which is an absolutely scary thing) we want to have and hand our thoughts over to Him. By trying to overpower the thoughts we try to control it and then it can just grow. Instead, if we release it immediately to God, refuse to let it take up anymore of our time, then we are not letting it get a stronghold. Worry is just fear. And so we are choosing fear or trusting God. I want to do my best to trust God.

Now just a side note, there are some things that we need to focus on and make plans for but we don’t need to let these control us. There are some big things that are going to come into our lives that aren’t just ‘what-if’ worries but are actually happening, things we do need to be concerned about. With these we need to plan and do the best we can, all the while realizing that God is in absolute control. So what is going to happen is going to happen. We can do our best to prepare for it, but ultimately it is in God’s hands.

My steps for worrying?
1. Immediately pray to God. Let Him know how I am feeling and why I think I am feeling that way.
2. Take a deep breath and work on slowing my breathing. If I need to I go down to my knees to calm myself down.
3. I ask myself if I can solve whatever this worry is easily. If I can, then I do. If it is truly something outside of my control then I pray it to God again. There isn’t anything I can do about it.
4. I try to distract myself and change my thoughts. The more I try to not think about something, the more I think about something. Start doing something else, focus your attention elsewhere and not on your worries.

Now, do these steps always work? Nope. Do I continue to try them? Absolutely. It is a constant battle to try to keep emotions in check. I find it is even more difficult when I know I am worrying about nothing that I can control. Those are the hardest times but if I continue to meditate on the truth in scripture, I know I will be okay. You can find so many verses on worry and fear in the Bible. If God didn’t want us to work on it, I don’t think He would have put it in there so many times. We need to focus on Him as letting go of worry and giving it to Him is so incredibly freeing, while continuing to worry can harm us. Another thing we can focus on? Being Content

Filed Under: Faith, Me Tagged With: faith, me, worrying

05-29-2014

Thankful Thursdays: Because God Loves Us

I used to do Thankful Thursdays and sadly, have gotten away from it. For the month of May I have been teaching a lesson in the Preschool Sunday School where we have been focusing on being thankful and I feel as if it is something that is important for us to focus on at any age. So often we get busy with our daily lives that we can forget to take a few moments and thank God for all that He has given us and all that He does for us. Even in our prayer time. I notice sometimes when I am praying that I spend more time asking than thanking. Does that sound familiar?

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

This is one of my absolute favorite verses but it is also one I constantly struggle with. I sometimes fail at it (horribly, oh so horribly) but it reminds me how I am supposed to act and what I am supposed to do. I know it can be hard sometimes. How can I be joyful when X, Y, Z happened? How can I give thanks when just this week…. Fill in the blank. It is hard, trust me I know it is hard but we are to be thankful and joyful because of what Jesus did for us, when we did absolutely nothing to deserve it. When you look at just the current situation that may be causing you to be less joyful than you know you should be, it can be way too easy to develop a bad attitude. But when you take a step back and look at every single moment leading up to the current times of trouble? It is a little easier to be thankful and joyful when you realize ALL that God has blessed you with and how He has been at work in your life.

No matter what you are going through, there are things to be thankful for. Do bad things happen? Yes. But I would not know what a Blessing was if 1. God had not chosen to bless me with it and 2. If He had not chosen to give me hardships as well. Would we know what a sunny day was if we never experienced a rainy day? By prayerfully and consciously being thankful every day I truly believe that we will begin to notice that we are a lot happier. And over time prayerfully thanking God will come much more naturally.

How can we be thankful in all circumstances? I think this is one of the most difficult parts of this verse. How can we find something to be thankful for when we listen to the news? How can we find things to be thankful for when someone is sick? How can we be thankful for something when someone is really hurting? We are thankful because we have Jesus. The fact alone that Jesus died for my sins so I can have eternal life is a reason to be thankful no matter what is going on. Is it easy? Nope! But we know that God works for the good in ALL things for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). It doesn’t say some things, it says ALL things. So we can have hope that no matter what we are going through, we can be thankful because as long as we remain in Christ, God is working for good in it.

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So, each Thursday I am going to make a conscious effort to post some things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for Willow, the kitten. I thought getting a kitten would help Pancake be less lonely but currently Pancake doesn’t like dealing with her, haha. Willow likes getting in Pancake’s bed and Pancake immediately jumps out. They will be friends one day!

I am thankful for fresh flowers. I absolutely love the beauty of having fresh flowers in the house. They make me happy just looking at them.

Colossians 3:15-17- ‘And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’

Filed Under: Faith, Printables Tagged With: faith, God, scripture, thankful