Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Count Your Blessings- Literally

Here are some thoughts on the 10th chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy":
"Discontentment happens when I don't have what I want. Contentment happens when I realize that I have so much more than I deserve."

There are so many simple things in life that we can be thankful and content for that we don't even realize half the time. Like life, health, food, clothing, shelter, and the list could go on. We take these things for granite every day and we should be thankful and thanking God for giving us these simple things we need to have in our life. Another thing to be thankful for is another day to live life. Many people die in a day and for a number of reasons so we should be thanking God for providing for us and giving us another day.

We should stop to think a minute of how grateful and content we really are. How many times a day do you or I stop to take our walking and our breathing for granite? Or things that we are good at or enjoy doing? We should be thankful to God for all these things and so much more! I know I need to work on expressing my thankfulness by letting God know I am thankful for his graciousness and his loving me.

Most of the time we complain about things we don't have and we really should be thanking God for all the things that we have and need because he is the more gracious God and gives us what we need. Just think of people that don't have these things and we are complaining that we want more. It makes you stop and think for a while of all the things you really are grateful for, you just don't show it or express it. I really need to look at my life and take a step back and be grateful for being alive and being able to live my life for the glory of God and to bring honor to His name instead of complaining what I don't have.

One step that I think of to be more grateful for the things I have is to just stop in my busy, crazy life/day and just to offer a thanks up to God for letting me alive and able to do the things that I need to do and enjoy doing and purposely live my life in such a way to bring honor and glory to His name.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Eat the Meat and Die

After reading chapter 9 there are some thoughts…

Complaining. We all do it every day probably from little things that happen in our lives that we don’t like. God doesn’t like complaining. When we are complaining we are essentially saying we don’t like the way our live is going and somehow God is to blame for it. I know many times I complain about stupid things that I shouldn’t be complaining about. Things that won’t matter in the large scheme of things. I should spend less time complaining and use that time to focus more on God and what I do have and what He supplies me with. Which is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a daily thing we have to remind ourselves about when we wake up, to purpose to be content for what we have and not complain.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” The Bible tells us in these verses that God will direct us in life and if we trust in Him then He will help us. If we complain we are saying that we don’t believe God can do that one thing for us. Now I know for me when I complain I don’t think “God can’t do this.” It’s just complaining and a way to get things off our chest, but in reality if you stop to think about it, it’s exactly what we are doing every time we complain about something.

Instead of complaining, we should be reminded of the many things we are blessed with.

Romans 8:28 states “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” This is saying God has a purpose and knows what is best for us and if we trust and let Him, He will work things out the way He sees fit for our lives.

Complaining is a form of accusing God that we don’t trust Him enough to work out things according to His plan or that we think He should be doing a better job. Instead of complaining, we should be thankful for our lives and the love that God has for us as His children, and the fact that He cares enough about us to take care of our needs every day.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Some People Have to Learn the Hard Way

Somehow I skipped doing chapter 7, so here is chapter 7 notes/thoughts that I took when I read the chapter and a little summary. 

We don't wake up one day and are content in everything in our lives. We have to learn to be content and it takes times. And for me, time can be my worst enemy. I say I want it now and I don't want for it but as God has said good things come to those who wait. God is there to help us learn to be content with our lives and to find happiness in Him. God uses the circumstances in our lives to teach us contentment. We should evaluate our lives and look in the different areas to see where God is working and What He is communicating to us that we need to be more content in. It's not an easy thing to accept but with God's help it can be done.

"It's not enough for us to just take our circumstances, like we're taking a punch in the face. We won't learn true, blessed contentment if we grit our teeth and kick our way through life. Life isn't an Iron Man competition. Instead our circumstances should drive us to God and cause us to cry out for the strength to be content." I never really thought about it this way. Our circumstances that are hard on/for us are suppose to bring us closer to God and His grace and are not meant to be taken care by ourselves.

We tend to complain and mutter about our poor circumstances, but we should just go to God with them and we can find contentment in Him. The ultimate question is who do you run to when the horrible circumstances come into your life? Do you immediately turn to God? or do you look for comfort and relief other places? I know for me, I often look elsewhere first and then to God. This is a reminder to me that my first response needs to be God because He is truly the only one who can help us through it.

One question that stuck out to me was how do I view my circumstances? Am I looking at them as a blessing and a way to grow closer to God or am I just complaining and blaming God? I need to learn contentment and to lean on God's grace and His sufficiency for my life. God wants the best for me and will help me if I simply ask. I know recently I have been asking God for direction and contentment as to where I am in my life and taking it day by day, but trying to trust in His will and lean solely on Him. This is not easy but it helps to know God is always on my side and always will be because I am one of His children.

2 Corinthians 12:9 
"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

In Search of the Secret

"True contentment is found in a Person. It's not found in getting what we want or in having difficulty removed from our lives. Contentment isn't the result of the absence of pain or the presence of material blessing. It's found in Jesus Christ. Period. Without Christ we can never be truly content, regardless of the blessings that surround us. And with Christ we can be content in the midst of every circumstance."
Wow. If you just take time for this quote to sink it...it is amazing to think that all we need is to trust and believe in Jesus Christ and we can find true contentment in Him. Nothing else, just Him!

The word joyful was used in this chapter and I looked up the definition to see what it actually meant. Joyful: Feeling, causing, or indicating joy. And if you look at the definition of just Joy: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires, the expression or exhibition of such emotion, a state of happiness or felicity, a source or cause of delight. It's amazing to think that this little three letter word can mean so much to a person and how we view this word can being meaning to our lives and our circumstance. 

Different circumstances come into our lives whether good or bad and even though we are not joyful and happy with them such as laughing or smiling, we need to find joy in Christ that He is there and will help us through anything. 

Romans 8: 31-32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" These verses are such an encouragement not matter where you're at in life. It is saying that nothing is to big for God and we should put our trust in Him. 

God gives us strength in His promises. He promises in Scripture to meet our most basic needs in life and to so so much more. If  we are His children, He has a plan for our lives. Even though we may not see it or understand it, God has it all under control and knows what is best for us. I know personally I tend to forget this and try to "fix" what I think is wrong or needs to get better with my life. Sometimes, I just need to take a step back from being all about what I want and see what God wants for me in my life. This has been a struggle for me, especially if i see certain things that should be happening- such as a relationship or moving out or what my future holds. I am reminded not to worry and keep my focus on God because that is what truly matters in life- is my walk with the Lord. 

This next quote just spoke to me, and is so true and is a great reminder of how we need to view our circumstances and to remember the simple truth- God is in control and has the strength that we need to put our trust in!
     "A battles lies before us. Will we honor God by being content in all circumstances, or will we grumble and mope and murmur? Will we fight against the discontentment in our hearts, or will we be bullied and beaten by our own desires? If the outcome of the battle hinged on our strength, all hope would be lost. But it doesn't. Christ is our strength, and in him we really can be content in all circumstances. There is enough strength, joy, and life in Christ for us to be content. We simple need to draw upon that strength."

Friday, February 17, 2012

Bloody Contentment


Here are several thoughts from the sixth chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy. 

In the Old Testament it was common for the punishment of idol worship was death- but today we worship idols all the time whether it is the small things in life such as relaxation or bigger things. The only reason we aren’t put to death for these is completely based on God’s forgiveness. The great exchange was Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and taking our place. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

It’s amazing to think that we deserve punishment and wrath for what we do/did and all God gives us is forgiveness. 

When we trust in Christ, we are given many things. The first being fellowship with God. Because our sins are forgiven we can have communication with God and talk with Him freely. In order to find contentment we need to spend a lot of time talking and spending time with God. We need to have that constant communication and relationship with God. Whether it be praying or reading more of God’s Word and meditating on it. Another benefit is that we are children of God. God saves us from our sins and adopts us like his own children. 

1 John 3:1” See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” Zephaniah 3:17” The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;  he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” God is so glad for us to be his children. God’s love for us is amazing and we should show our love back to Him. 

Psalm 36:7 “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” God is there was a protector for us- for us to find comfort in Him.
Matthew 6: 26 “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” God is there to meet our needs for us—He cared enough to meet what we need in our life. 

A Final benefit is that God gives us eternal life. Jesus promises eternal life for those who trust and believe in Him. John 4:14 tells us so “…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become n him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
We may have trouble or pain or sorrows in this world but that is all we will have because if we are saved, we have heaven to look forward to where there will be no pain or sorrow. 

“The gospel of Christ is the fountainhead of contentment in the gospel we have access to infinite blessings.” This is a basic reminder to me that I need to put Christ and His Word at the center of my life and to trust Him completely. 

When we complain and are discontent with our lives we are essentially saying that God isn’t good enough alone for us. We tend to think that God and something else will solve the problem but in reality Christ is all we will ever need!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

The King's Madness

In the fifth chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy, the author refers to several lies in our life that we need to deal with. When we have discontentment in our lives it starts with all the sinful lies that we believe about ourselves, about God, the world, and anything else. The important thing to learn is to be able to recognize these lies as we encounter them.

There were several lies mentioned in this chapter.
LIE: God is withholding from me.
     Many times we ask God questions about why can't this happen to me or why can't I move up higher in the world of questions like this. When we don't get what we want, we blame God for withholding the good things from us. But in reality, God sent the greatest gift for us- His son, Jesus Christ. He gave us the best He had and didn't hold it back and not send anyone/thing to help us with our sin nature. He gave the best gift of all!

LIE: God owes me.
     Many times we think we are giving God things by serving Him in different ministries and come to the belief that somehow God owes us for that service. It's really the other way around- God is the creator of everything- and that including me and you- and He has power over us and we are the ones that owe Him. God doesn't owe us but He does give rewards when His servants obey Him.
Matthew 6:3-4 "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

LIE: If I get it, I'll be happy.
     So many times we think that if I just get what I want I won't complain anymore or ask for anything else. This is not true- "Because God loves us and wants us to find our satisfaction in Him, he won't allow us to be satisfies." I find myself thinking like this at times "if only...or if this happens...then I'll be happy" and true happiness doesn't come through things or through people but only from Jesus.

LIE: I know what's best for me.
     We need to realize that we are not the leader/ruler of our life. God is! God is our leader and will direct our life for us because He knows what the best for us is. David got it right in Psalm 23: 2-3 "He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." If God let us lead our own lives, then who knows where we would end up at. I'm very thankful that God is in control of my life and is the leader of it. I just need to remember to let Him have the control of my life and stop telling him how to rule my life or what I "need". He is my heavenly Father and He already knows what I need so why try to counteract Him.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I Worship My Television

In reading the fourth chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy there were several things that stuck out to me.

God should be receiving our whole hearts and most of the time we are just giving Him pieces of it. God wants us to give Him our hearts and to follow Him and to trust Him for everything. A lot of the times, me included, people just give certain areas of their life over to God and try to figure out the rest of it by themselves. We are better off if we give it all to God.

"Discontentment is the result of misplaced worship." Our misplaced worship is anything that we give our heart to that is not God and place our happiness is that thing. Tim Keller says "If anything becomes more funamental than God in your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol." Everyone knows what idolatry is but it's so easy to forget that it incluses anything that we place before God- even the small things in our lives that we value more than God.

We need to take action against all the idols in our lives and this requires us to change our thinking and our behavior. If we try to fix our thinking and behavior and remove the idols from our lives- this will be the first step toward contentment. Instead of demanding the things we "need" from God we need to pray in the right weay in stating what we desire but that God knows what we really need and give it to God to meet them in His own way and in His timing. So many times, we are impatient and demanding things from God. We need to just relax and leave it up to God to work things out the way He sees fit.

This doesn't mean we can not enjoy things as a gift from God, but we have to remember not to let it become an idol in our lives and let it take away the worship away from God. Because when it becomes an idol in our life then it is wrong and not a gift from God.

To sum it up, God gives us gifts to enjoy here on earth but we must remember that they are gifts and not to control our lives and take the place of God. We need to not let them be idols in our lives because then we are placing our trust in those things and ourselves and not where the true trust should lie which is in God alone.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

So What Am I, A Monk?

In reading the third chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy (the titles of my posts are the title chapters given in the book) I found a couple key points I wanted to highlight and that I found useful in remembering:

Philippians 4:11 "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." If we are truly content in God than we don't base things on life's circumstances and the constant changing of them.

Contentment is inward, not dependent on circumstances that are always changing in our lives. It is an issue of the heart and we should examine our inward motives and determine where our heart truly lies. Our identity and contentment should be wrapped up in Jesus Christ because He is the only one that matters in our life.

Often times, especially during hard times, we tend to prepare for what God is going to "drop" on us. We know that He will work things out but in the meantime we often act like this. When we act like this it is not honoring to God.

The key is to learn to be content in God's will- whatever that may bring us. Whether it be good things or bad things we need to remember that God is in control and has a plan.

         "Whate'er my God ordains is right:
          Here shall my stand be taken;
          Though sorrow, need, or death be mine
          Yet I am not forsaken
          My Father's care is around me there;
          He holds me that I shall not fall,
          And so to Him I leave it all."

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I'm Not The Center of The Universe

In reading the second chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy I was reminded/learned new things that are important for me to know so that I can continue to seek contentment for my life. I've found it hard to be content many times in my life with different circumstances that I'm coming across and am reminded to take it day by day in working on being content. There are several things that I have learned for this chapter. The first part of the chapter was such a good reminder of how many times we see ourselves as the center of the universe but in reality, God is and should be the center of the universe. I know I often see myself as more important at times, but in actuality, I'm not. God made all of creation and us and we should be putting Him in the center of our lives instead of ourselves.

"Discontentment happens when I attempt to displace God from his rightful place at the center of the universe." This statement is powerful and so true. We often take God out of the equation or put Him on the back burner of our lives because we think we have everything together and under control. I know I do, and it's wrong. God is in control of our lives and we should seek Him in order to gain direction for our lives.

This paragraph stood out to me and explains contentment really good and speaks for itself.
          "Contentment is created in the shadow of the majesty of God. I become content when I see and treasure and embrace the glory of God. I find contentment when I grasp the fact that life is not primarily about me and my comfort and my happiness. My soul is satisfies when I stop trying to elbow my way to the center of the universe and instead rejoice in and worship the God who really is at the center of all things."

"Our goal is to be content for the glory and honor of God." This quote should be our goal in our life and that is what as Christians we should be striving for. We should put our trust in God and let Him help us ini our daily walk with Him and to learn more about Him.

Acts 20:24 states "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

The main point that I came away with this time was that God has control of our lives and can do with us as He pleases. I mean after all He did create us and our goal is to bring honor and glory to Him in all aspects of our lives. Often times I think that this fact is forgotten and overlooked so it was a great reminder to me to remember that God is in control of the universe and not yourself.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Contentment

I am currently reading The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence by Stephen Altrogge. So far I have just read the introduction and the first chapter and I'm excited to read the rest of the book. A couple of things that stuck out to me was that he talked about that circumstances aren't really the things that cause us to be discontent in our lives. It is our heart attitude. A lot of times we have a bad attitude of what we don't have or what we can't accomplish in our lives right now and that defeats us because we let it affect our heart and become discontent. True contentment is found in Jesus alone. "If you follow Jesus, you will have every spiritual need met." In Philippians 4:11-12 Paul talks about how he learned to be content in everything. "Not that i am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need." This blew me away. So many times I am discontent in my situations and things that I would love to happen and get down that they aren't happening right when I want them to. These verses show us that it is possible to be content in our lives but that only happens through Jesus and us asking for that help. A motivation that the book gives is this: "Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain" It's so true! We can have great gain through Christ and learning to stay content in the things in our lives. This chapter definitely spoke to me and made me realize that I need to seek God and give Him the things that I'm not content with in my life and ask Him to help me to be content with where I am in life and to work on the things that I need to be improving. Contentment is a part of life where I think everyone struggles in and it's comforting to know that God is right there with you to help you through it and to bring along side friends and mentors to help encourage you along the way.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Start of a New Year!

Well I am finally done with my college career!!! I'm very excited to what the future for me holds! It seemed like finishing college would never come and now it's here. Life is moving on- which is a good thing! I recently had a birthday and am now the big 23! It's hard to believe I'm that old already. I never really make new year resolutions but this year I'm going to read my Bible more and get more into God's Word. I would love to learn some new things, such as some line dancing or just fun random things. Another resolution that I'm working on is to move out and find my own place. And I'm sure there are other resolutions that I will come up with along the way. I'm very excited to embark on the next part of my life and all the challenges and fun times that are to come. I'm still working  at the Preschool and loving it! I'm so fortunate to have a job that I love to do!
Happy New Year Everyone!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A quick update: So it's been a long time since I've posted on here! Life has been crazy with school work and working more hours at the preschool! Now there is only 31 more days to go to till the end of my college career! I am very excited to be finally finished with school and move on to the next stage of my life! It's about time :) That's all the time I have for now...more to come soon! (I promise :) )

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Studying through Colossians 3:1-17

Our college class went on a retreat over the weekend up to Wintergreen, and it was absolutely a blast studying God's Word and being involved with other believers and hanging out and worshiping with them and just getting to know them more. The music/songs that we sang were amazing. How Deep The Father's Love For Us and In Christ Alone were probably my absolute favorite! I love the message that those songs present!

The messages were awesome and convicting. We studied Colossians 3:1-17 which talked about our union with Christ. In this passage we are reminded to seek the things that are above and to set our mind on the things that are above. We should be interested in making the value of heaven our guide to our thinking and actions and not basing them off of ourselves. We need to remember that earth is not our home, but heaven will be our home one day. Also, our battle with sin continues to exist, and we must put to death those sins and remove them from us. We should not get comfortable with our sin, it should despise us and want us to rid our lives of it. To identify and get rid of the sin we should read the Scripture, honestly think about it and let our conscious be involved, examine our motives/desires, and have accountability to keep us on the right path. Our ultimate goal in life should be making our lives more like Jesus Christ and following after Him. He is our identity and should be the emphasis of our life. We should not be wrapped up in the things that please us, but rather it should be wrapped up in our position that we have in Christ.

This past weekend really spoke to me and reminded me of this position we have in Christ and should be striving for that goal daily in our lives and to seek after the things of God and not of this world. Through everything, I was also convicted that I do not pray as much as I should and am excited to get back into a prayer life with the Lord and be more diligent in praying specifically and purposefully.

If there is any specific prayer request that you would like me to pray for, please let me know. I would love to add you to my list to pray for :)

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have dies, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let 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." Colossians 3:1-17

Saturday, September 10, 2011

95 Days...

" Life can be like a roller coaster...
And just when you think you've had enough, 
and your ready to get off the ride and take the calm, easy merry-go round...
You change your mind, throw your hands in the air
and ride the roller coaster all over again.
That's exhilaration....that's living a bit on the edge...that being ALIVE." 
~Stacey Charter~

Life has been interesting and is definitely a roller coaster at times. School is going and as you can tell by the title of this post there are only 95 days left and I'm thoroughly excited to move onto the next stage in my life that does not involve school. Work is amazing....i love my 3 year olds and they definitely brighten up my day by loving on me. :)

Hopefully fall will be coming soon and will be able to see the leaves change and I'm so ready for the cooler weather where cardigans can be worn more and more "fallish" clothes! Also, will be very glad when all these allergies go away and I stop sneezing so much!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

....

Well classes have officially started off and are going well so far, lots of reading and such but at least I get to read children's books for my Children's Literature class. First we are reading Anne of Green Gables. I have seen the movie, but haven't read the book so it's good so far. Also am back to work working with my 3 year olds and having fun with them, they are keeping me busy but I love them. :)
I would like to share something I read recently from The Knowledge of Holy by A.W. Tozer on the "The Holiness of God." There was one part that really stuck out to me "Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy." This reminds me so much of the holiness of God and how he is perfect in every way. The last part really made me think...I never thought of when you think of an attribute of God that every part of that attribute is holy as well. God is truly amazing!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Life...

I know it's been a while since I have typed anything on here...hopefully I will keep up with this better, at least I am going to try :) lol
This summer has been filled with fun, friends, memories, sports, ice cream, and children. I'm sad to see this summer come to a close but it's one more step to December where I will be finally finished with college!  I am very excited to be done and move on to the next stage in my life. I am only taking 12 credits to finish up everything but will be glad to see it come to a close. I always do a countdown to the end of the semester so I might as well start it early...**drum roll** there is only 120 days till the end of my college career! 
I don't know how many people read this but I hope to keep this updated with my life and such and post verses that have encouraged me along the way through my last semester of college and just random things that I think of that I think are worth sharing.
I have been reading through the Psalms this summer, and if you haven't recently read the Psalms I highly recommend it. I have been encouraged through reading the passages about reminding me how great our God is and how amazing He is.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Friends

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

Friends. First of all I want to say that I love all my friends and am very thankful that you are in my life and have affected me the way you have.  I appreciate each and every one of you and for being there for me when I need to talk things through and just believing in me.  This Bible verse encourages me that friends are here for a purpose and that purpose is to build each other up.  We are to encourage one another to grow and learn more about God and to be a strong encourager to them.  

Here is a quote that I had found.  I'm not sure who said it but I think it is a great summary of what a friend is. 
 "A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."

 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Verse of the Day thoughts

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

God is there for me in any situation that I go through, whether it be good, bad, tough, or easy.  God knows what I'm going through and all I need to do is to ask God to help me and He promises that he will help me through whatever I need help through.  I have to remind myself many times that God is there for me no matter what life throws at me and will be there to help me.   I also need to remember that God will give me an answer but it will be in His timing, not mine.  This is hard to wait so patiently for an answer, but God know what He is doing and what is according to His will for my life, and I need to trust Him for that. 

Sunday, February 6, 2011

New Blog

I have always kinda wanted to start a blog so I figured "hey, why not today."  lol :)  So I have decided to start this blog to writing down my thoughts on different subjects and just random thoughts in general.  I also hope to quote Scripture and what it means to me as I read through my Bible.  I hope as people read my blog they find it interesting to read and somewhat inspirational.