He Works in Mighty Ways.

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." -Matt. 6:34 (message)

Wow, God tells us not to worry. He will take care of it. He tells us not to even waste your time and energy worrying about what will happen tomorrow, because when the time comes He will give us the strength we need to overcome any obstacle. This gives me such peace, knowing that He has everything taken care of. Every detail of my life planned out, and He will use anything and everything in my life for my good.- to mold me into who He wants me to be.

He wants me to slow down and stop worrying, so I can watch what happens when His hand works in my life. And He works in mighty ways...

Thank You

Thank You for Your Word

Thank You for Your promises

Thank You for Your sacrifice, Your blood shed

Thank You for Your blessing

Thank you for Your guidence

Thank You for Your love

Your protection, Your power, Your might

Thank You for Your silence

Thank You for Your patience, Your persistence

Thank You for Your people

my family and friends

Thank You for a second chance.

-Amen

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for:)

Psalm 139:13

"you knit me together in my mother’s womb."

-Psalm 139:13

I have recently gotten into knitting, I actually knit an entire scarf, and let me be the one to tell you that it took a l.o.n.g time! A lot of endurance and diligence, not to mention time go into knitting a scarf or anything for that matter. The cool thing about knitting is that you can do it anyway you want, it's your creation.

For me to think about being knit together in my mother's womb is pretty incredible. Not only did He knit my body, but He knit together my spirit, my character, my mind, my soul. He knit me together in a way that no one else is knit together. That's pretty special... no, that's really special!

The scarf that I knit is really special to me, because it is something I spent a lot of my time on. If my purple scarf is that special to me, I can only imagine how special I am to the Maker.

Close to His heart

Life goes on. Full speed, fast paced, no grace, life. Each day hold new trials to overcome, more lessons to learn... and the hardest part is keeping the faith. The faith to believe that good comes out of everything, I am loved by my Father more than I can fathom, and no matter what, I am not alone.
I mean, how many times have you looked around and wondered- ok, what good is this gonna do in my life? God, where are you going with this?
Or thought- God, I know you love me, but I just don't feel loved right now...
There are just times that we all go through where we feel distance from God, and the firm hand guiding us seems to disappear.

But, what is incredible to me is that even in the times that seem the worst, God is at work. And it feels great to believe that what seems out of control to us is in God's hands, completely. It's all in His plan. His plan, that is so mighty, it's unfathomable to us. We just have to trust Him.
And it feels so amazing to wake up in the morning and say "I am a child of The KING!" It feels great to think, that even if nothing goes my way today, there is a God, standing right beside me, who loves me enough to die for me.
It's refreshing to remember that when I can't feel His hand guiding me, that He never let go, I just have to open my eyes and believe. Believe that even though this life isn't always easy, I am never alone.
When it seems that the world is hanging on by a thread, He is right there to hold me close to His heart.

He gathers the lambs in his arms
       and carries them close to his heart; 

Isaiah 40:11

Starry Night

Chris August

from the album No Far Away

Buy on Amazon | iTunes

Play sample

From the birds that sing                                     
In the tallest trees
To the human life
Of you and me.
From the desert sands
To the place we stand.
He is God of all
He is everything.

(Chorus)
I'm giving my life to the only one
Who makes the moon reflect the sun.
Every Starry Night,
That was His design.
I'm giving my life to the only son,
Who was and is and yet to come
Let the praises ring, 'cause he is everything
'Cause he is everything

From the autumn leaves,
That will ride the breeze
To the Faith it takes,
To pray and sing
From the Painted sky,
To my plank filled eye
He is God of all, He is everything


I absolutely love this song. It really show the power and majesty of the God we live for from day to day, and it makes me want to know Him more. He is God of all... HE IS EVERYTHING!

Do Not Fear- Letting Go

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you
I have called you by name you are Mine
For I am the Lord YOUR God
I am the Holy One of Israel, YOUR Savior
I am the Lord. -Isaiah 43

I fear. I fear the unknown. I fear what I don't understand. I fear when I can't see what is coming next, like a swimmer out in the ocean who can't see over the huge waves constantly forcing them under. I fear, all the time. We all do, even about the smallest things, and it is exhausting. You feel like you can never rest, relax and enjoy life because you are under the cumbersome burden of fear. But you know what is so freeing? We don't have to fear. The Lord tells us repeatedly DO NOT FEAR. He has it taken care of. He knows what is coming next. He has the days numbered. He knows the hairs on our head. What have we to fear? The Creator of the earth is with us, always, and He is never leaving. He is on our side. He is cheering for us, rooting for our team. He is our number one fan. Why are we so afraid? Why can't we just let go of the fear? Why can't we just give God our fear and receive His never ending river of peace?

I want to let go. Let go of everything. Let go of the fact that I don't know what will happen tomorrow. Let go of what I don't understand. Let go of the unknown. And maybe, just maybe once I break down the dam of fear blocking the river of my heart, I can receive God's peace. And I can rest. I won't have to run around like a hamster on a wheel trying to figure things out, but getting no where. I can rest, and let God, My Savior, carry me through this life.

God is so good!!

Right now, on my way to Colorado... we stopped in Arkansas for the night.
My week at the edge was incredible! Six people from my church came to know Christ and 115 people at camp total became christisans. God is so amazing andworks in ways so great we could never think of. I am so blessed to have gome to camp and grow more in my relationship with my Father.
God taught me something so important from something so small as an ant. I was praying during commitment night which is the night that people gave their lives to Christ and i looked down and saw an ant on my toe. I watched the ant and thought that i could learn something from it: This ant does what God created it to do every day...collect food, whatever it is that ants do as instinct. I thought how I want to be like that ant and do what God has called me to do as instinct and habit. I learned so much on the trip and got close to some friends. God is truely amazing and His love is so strong. I lay my life at the foot of the cross and offer to Him all I can give beacuse He died the death I deserve. Thank you, Jesus

Let It Fade-Jeremy Camp

Let it Fade-Jeremy Camp
Have you been walking on a surface that's uncertain?
Have you helped yourself to everything that's empty?
You can't live this way too long.
There's more than this, more than this.
Have you been standing on your own feet too long?
Have you been looking for a place where you belong?
You can rest, you will find rest.
You can rest, you will find rest.

Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Let this new life offer be your saving grace.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade.

Last night I was picking a song to wake up to the next morning, when I came across this recently uploaded song on my ipod. These simple words by Jeremy Camp are so POWERFUL! When I listened to the words of the song several things went through my head, but the main focus of my thought process was peace. There are small things in my life that I haven't completely let go of. These words reminded me that I need to allow God to be fully in control of my life. I am not living for myself, but for Him. To bring glory honor and praise to His name. There are pointless things in my life that I have been trying to make my identity in such as: facebook, friends etc. Through this song, God has remended me that my identity should be found in Jesus, and Jesus alone.

Good Friday

Good Friday is one of the days out of the year when I remember what a huge sacrifice Christ made for me. He showed me the unconditional love he had for me by dieing so that I may have life. There is not one good reason I can think of that he would die for me. I didn't deserve it. I still don't. He was abused, abandoned, bruised, beat, mocked, spit on, and laughed at. He is the perfect example of who I should be. John 15:13 Great love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for a friend.There are times when I could strangle a person, but Christ repeatedly reminds me of the way he showed his love for me. I am instructed to show the same love towards others. Even though I may get treated like dirt, or mocked I still should be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for those around me, because that is what Jesus did for me. I want others to see the Lord shining through my actions and words and know that the God I follow is an incredible God that loves me regardless.

Rest

We waste a bunch of our time and energy worrying and stressing about peole liking us. We walk around frantikly trying to impress everyone that walks by us. We want people to think we are funny, cute, and____ (fill in the blank). We stress over what we say, how we look and what people will think of us. This whole time the Lord is saying to us "Come to me. Come to me and rest." He wants us to forget all of our worries that aren't important and rest. If we go to Him we no longer will have to stress about what others think, because it won't matter. I am trying to let go of my worries, and go to the Lord for rest. I don't want to have to be distraught with the burdens of how to impress others, or how to get the most attention from the girl that everybody loves so much. I just want to forget it all and go rest with the Lord. He will take away my worries and change the stress to peace.

Peace of Mind and Heart

It gives me a peace of mind and heart to know that the Lord is looking down on me and smiling because I am doing what he created me to do. He made me by hand all the while planning who I would be, what I would do, and what I would love. It thrills Him to see me doing the things I love, and the things he planned for me to do. He is so proud of all the great things that I do. It brings Him great joy to see me succeed. He is in awe that His artwork is everything He meant for it to be. Even though I let Him down sometimes, it is great to know that He loves me, and he becomes overfilled with excitement when He sees me do the things I love.

What's imporant

OK so I'm not the most popular girl, maybe I don't dress the best, I don't have a boyfriend, I'm not the cutest girl in school that all the guys fall in love with immediately... so What's wrong with that? Is there anything wrong with not being the best, cutest or most popular? To be honest I don't mind too much about being any of those things. I could probably list about 10 things off the top of my head that are more important to me that all of those temporary things. I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about getting the approval of God, because he already loves me, just the way I am. In His eyes I am the prettiest, and the most popular. To Him I am even more than that, and that is enough to make me happy! :)

Myself

In middle school it is so hard to get by with just being yourself. People have this stereotype made up in their head that says you have to look, act and dress a certain way in order to be "cool" or accepted, but what if someone doesn't want to be just like everyone else? What if they aren't the same as the others? I feel like being an individual today is looked down upon. You have to be accepted into a clique or have a best friend to be accepted. Some people will do anything to become accepted. Often I find myself doing or saying things that the real me wouldn't say of do, or I find myself trying to look for the approval of others because I am not satisfied, or I am too preoccupied to notice the handful of people right in front of me that already accept me for me. I need to try and become content, and not focus on trying to be someone I'm not just so one person will like me, but actually it isn't the real me. Does that make any scene? I need to work on just being who God created me to be regardless of what anyone else thinks, because I was created, planned and chosen by the King of Kings to be His child forever.

Strength of the Lord

I just want to do everything I can to let everybody know that I care. I want them to know that I am here for them no mater what they are going through. I want God's love you pour out of my actions. I will try my hardest to let my light shine for Him, and not be afraid of what I believe in. I fail daily, but I want to have the courage to get back up and try again and again no matter who rejects me, because I know that the strength of the Lord is within me. With Him all things are possible, and with Him I can withstand all things.

Everlasting, Never Changing Love

Why me? Why did God chose to save me, after I betrayed Him, beaten Him and denied him over and over. I constantly disobey His commands daily, and yet he chose to give His life up for me, and He would do it all over again in a heartbeat. He decided to go through all the sufferings that I deserved, and die the most horrible death so I wouldn't have to. With all of this to grasp comes my question, Why did he chose to die for me?

• God, everlasting, never changing, sovereign, Lord of all. Along with these characteristics comes God's love for us which carries the same qualities. On that day he chose to die for me even after all the sins I had committed and all the sins I would commit. It is hard for me to understand why God still loves me even though I am so imperfect, but God shows His everlasting, never changing love to me in so many ways so that I know I can't do anything to make Him love me any less than He already does. Not only that, but I can't do anything to make my Father love me anymore than He already does, because he loves me as much as he possibly can, right now! I don't have to do things to make Him love me, and I don't have to try and make Him love me more, and absolutely nothing, nothing can hinder Him from showing His love to me.
  

This is very comforting to know that even though I may get rejected by friends, or I might not get the best grade on my next test God will still love me with the most amazing, incomprehensible love ever! I may not understand why He loves me like that, but I know He does, and I am forever grateful for that! :)

John 13:7- The Mystery to Being Me

Sometimes... well a lot of times thing happen to me that aren't according to my plan, and my reaction, which may be similar to yours, is almost always "WHY GOD, WHY ME, WHY NOW?" These thing almost never make scene to me, but last night I was doing my quiet time when I came across a verse that answered all of my unreasonable questions to God.

John 13:7
Jesus replied, "You do not realize what I am doing now, but later you will understand."

Immediately, when I read those words, I knew that God was trying to tell me something. So I just sat on my bed and thought. I have gone through so many rough times with friends, family, and myself. Those same question would always go through my head. "WHY GOD, WHY ME, WHY NOW?". All those tears shed and broken heart. I never understood at the time why God was allowing all these things to happen. I was applying the most recent rough occurrence that I had to this verse, and I realized that in the production of the tears and in the midst of my low self-esteem God was shaping me into... me. He reminded me of the things I liked to do, and why I liked to do them. He reminded me of who I was, and along with all of this he uncovered more to the mystery of being me. So, now when I go through heartbreaking middle school hardships I will remember this verse. I will remember that even though things may hurt now, it is all part of God's plan. He know exactly what he is doing, and He NEVER makes mistakes.
Thank you Lord for showing me this verse!

The Gift of being Sick

Whenever I am sick I, like most people feel: puny, achy, sore, frustrated that i can't go anywhere or do anything... the list goes on. The reason you get sick is obvious. Your immune system becomes weak and fails to kill any harmful bacteria, but there has to be more to it than that. You are sick, so you have the chance to relax, and clear your mind not to mention that you have a massive headache. So all This lead to the question, if God loves me so much why would he allow me to get sick? I got to thinking and this is the answer i came up with: There are 2 reasons for our sickness.

1. No matter how shallow this may sound, God may be trying to tell you something. Sometimes it is hard to find time during our busy schedules to be still and listen for the voice of God. So, God decides to slow down your busy schedule and give you time away from the hustle and bustle of life and get some peace and quite for the chance that maybe you will just be quiet and listen to Him. This is even more likely knowing that from 10-4 there is nothing on T.V worth taking the time to watch. So as you lie there on the couch tiring to forget about the frustration of your boredom or trying to ignore your sore throat, you proceed to take a nap. When suddenly a peace has overcome you, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding reminds you of his everlasting, never failing love for you.
2. In all these struggles of poor sleep and lack of nourishment you think about How great a life you will have after this one. You remember that you will be in a place one day where the is no sickness, or pain, or yucky cough medicine. A place of laughter and joy where you can do things you never dreamed of, and That is what gets you through your week of discomfort... Knowing that one day, you won't even have to worry about catching a cold, and This is What God told me today during my gift of rest.

Identity

You are a person trying to create your identity. You don't know who you are going to be yet. In the search for your soal you come across many obsatcles. On your journey you may take a wrong turn and begin to be the wrong person. It is your job to turn around and find yourself again. It is God's job to lead you along the path. Protecting you and showing you wear to go. if you don't listen you may get lost and end up somewhere. then it is your job to listen carefully to the voice of God that will lead you to Him, but you chose to ingnore. When you see Him again you will be emrased... embraced by your father. Your father that gave everything for you, and would do it all over again in a heartb beat. Will you listen for the voice of God?