Fourth of July

My fourth of July this year was my best one yet. A year ago I had not met the people I spent it with and I was not living where I live now. A few weeks ago I moved to Indiana with the ministry that God has called me to be a part of. It’s been a very exciting transition!

This fourth of July involved a cookout, volleyball, lots of fireworks, a bonfire, and being around people that I love. I am ever so thankful for my NorthStream Church and my Z family. So here’s to new transitions, new adventures, advancing the Kingdom of God, and the best fourth of July yet!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014: Let Me Remind You

*This is a post I pulled from my old blog before deleting it*

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” -Psalm 139:13-16

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God had a book with all the days of your life recorded in it before you had even lived a day of your life.

He knew what you would look like before He wove you together in the depths of the earth.

He knows your inmost being because He created it.

His works are wonderful, and you are one of them.

Why is it then that you often doubt your worth?

Do you watch the sunrise and deny that God made it beautiful?

Do you see the animals of the earth and sea and doubt that God made them each perfectly unique?

Do you look up at the stars in the sky and doubt the vastness of God’s glory?

You see, these are works of God just as you are.

They are wonderfully made, just as you are.

God doesn’t want you to doubt your worth.

So when you see these things

let them be a reminder to you:

Just as God created them wonderfully,

He created you wonderfully too.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014: It’s a Dance

*This is a post I pulled from my old blog before deleting it.*

It’s a dance.

Both of my hands are intertwined with His and He teaches me the steps as the songs play on.

During some of the songs we smile, laugh, and enjoy the dance within that moment. Through these dances, He teaches me and reminds me what real joy is like. He teaches me how to be care-free in Him. He teaches me love.

During a number of songs, I stumble through the steps of the dance completely frustrated that I cannot properly get the sequence down. Because It frustrates me and I and cannot get the sequence down, I look down at my feet concentrating only on my steps. That’s when God takes His hand, lifts my head up, looks me straight in the eye and says, “Look at me. Trust me.”

During other songs, I try to keep my eyes focused on God, but when I slip up I become worried. These are not easy steps. They are complex and intimidating and may take months to learn. With music I’ve never heard before and dance steps that I never even knew existed, He then picks me up and places my feet on top His. He then looks at me and says, “Trust me. Hold onto me and let me be your brave.”

Then, just like a daddy would dance with His little girl, God dances with me.

And dancing with God makes me brave.

Let Him make you brave too.

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“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

Wednesday, May 28, 2014: The Ocean of Impossible

*This is a post I pulled from my old blog before deleting it.*

There are hundreds of little voices in my head telling me it’s not going to work.

Little devil voices telling me I can’t.

Telling me I won’t make it financially.

Telling me my parents won’t completely understand.

Telling me I won’t have a place to stay.

Telling me I won’t have a car.

Telling me that I’m leaving too much behind.

Telling me I won’t be able to find a job if I need one.

Telling me I’m not capable.

Telling me my parents would be more proud of me if I would’ve just gone to college.

Telling me that if I try to cross the ocean I’m being called to cross that I’m going to sink.

There are hundreds of little voices trying to hold me back.

A little over a month ago, God told me He wants me to go to Minnesota and work with a ministry there.

Before He revealed this to me, I was planning on moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma and attending Victory Bible College. I had come to terms with moving there. Most importantly, however, my parents had come to terms with it.

They were never thrilled with the idea that I was moving fourteen hours away, but like I said, they came to terms with it. They have always wanted me to go to college, but when it comes down to it, they always support me.

Anyways, as time has progressed through this last month, God showed me time and time again that Minnesota is exactly where He wants me. Just this last weekend, while I was up there visiting, He reassured me quite a few times.

Yet somehow, on my plane ride back home, I was half in tears trying to block out the hundreds of voices filling the inside my head.

The voices telling me I can’t.

The voices telling me it’s impossible.

The voices of the devil.

Tell me what kind of thoughts is the devil planting in your head?

Is he telling you to quit?

Is he telling you you’re not worth it?

Is he telling you that you won’t make it?

Is he telling you your parents don’t love you?

Is he telling you that God’s plan is too hard? Too much work?

I could go on and on about what he may or may not be telling you.

But the truth is that the closer you are to God and what He has for you, the harder the devil is going to try to keep you from it.

He’s going to place thoughts in your head telling you you won’t make it. He may even place thoughts in the heads of your loved ones causing them to worry and causing them to doubt.

He’s going to fight.

He’s going to fight because he’s losing.

Sometimes there isn’t an easy way to block out the things that satan is trying to tell you. The truth is that as long as you are seeking God’s direction in your life, satan will be there trying to oppose you. Trying to turn you to him. Trying to make you give up.

What you have to remember is that one voice.

That one voice that told you to go in the first place.

The one voice that told you He will make a way when there is no way. The one voice who told you all things are possible with Him. The one voice who told you that you don’t need to worry about what you will eat or what you will drink because life is more than those things. The one voice that told you that as long as you seek His kingdom first, that these things will be given to you.

That’s the voice you want to hold on to.

God’s voice.

Because His voice is the one that will lead you safely across the ocean of impossible.

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“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is throw into the fire, will he not much more clothe you- you of little faith?

So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” -Matthew 6:25-34

Thursday, June 19, 2014: Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead: The Cost of Discipleship

*This is a post I pulled from my old blog before deleting it.*

Even when you let something go, there is always that chance that it’s going to unexpectedly come back and haunt you. Usually when it does it can bring unwanted memories and unwanted pain along with it.

Here’s the exciting part.

The thing about the past is that it’s PAST. It’s gone, it’s dead, it is no more.

There is no reason why one should ever have to relive something that they let go. Because reliving something can be a torture in itself.

Don’t forget that you don’t have to relive pain from the past.

What’s gone is gone.

What’s dead is dead.

If you want to be able to follow God into all areas, without being held back by your own personal feelings, then realizing this is quite important. It’s the cost of discipleship, just like in Matthew 8:18. Although Matthew 8:18 talks about the physical side of a disciple getting up and following Jesus, it’s spiritual and mental too. (You should probably go read it now so you understand what I’m saying).

Because the truth is that God wants you to be willing to drop anything that’s ever happened to you and any emotional pain that’s been inflicted onto you and follow Him anyways. He may ask you to go somewhere that brings unwanted feelings up.

So go anyways.

What’s dead is dead and you shouldn’t let it hinder where God is asking you to go.

Follow God, and let the dead bury their own dead.

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“Then another of His disciples said to Him, ‘Let me first go and bury my father.’

But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'”

-Matthew 8:22

Saturday, October 4, 2014: He Loves You, So Maybe You Should Too?

*This is a post I pulled from my old blog before deleting it*

I know, you probably don’t know who you are and you’re still trying to figure it out. You might want people to like you, so you put yourself out there more than you normally would be comfortable with. You may even conform so that people like you more and it ends up confusing you with who you thought you were. It’s a struggle day in and day out. It’s almost as if you don’t think about it much anymore and the actions that you take are more subconscious. You want people to like you so much that you go above and beyond what makes you comfortable. It’s hard. You want to feel accepted, but your confidence can go from a ten to a one in a matter of seconds. Or maybe, you never actually hit a confidence level often. You just can’t seem to reach the level of confidence you wish you had and it causes you to long to have people in your life that can bring out that confidence in you.

I mean, wouldn’t that be great?

You wouldn’t pick out everything you hated about yourself in the mirror. You wouldn’t strive to be someone everyone else liked, but someone that you didn’t. You could be you because you would know who you actually are.

I wish that everyone could be confident in who they are and I’m sure that everybody wishes the same thing.

Anyways, I’m here to encourage you to be who you are.

People say that ALL the time. “Be you; everyone else is already taken.”

It makes it sound so cliché because you really do hear that line all of the time.

But let’s be real.

Everyone has their own quirks.

For example, I like sitting in corners. I like sitting in corners at restaurants, in rooms, at church and well, pretty much everywhere else. I’ve straight up told people before that they “just need Jesus” after they’ve said something inappropriate to me. In which case, sometimes I bluntly tell people about Jesus while I’m in the midst of an awkward situation. I have square shaped feet. Literally, if you’re ever around me and look at them, you’ll see. I promise. I’m really weird about my eyebrows. I don’t leave the apartment (or wherever I am) without doing my eyebrows. My hair can be a mess and I can smell really bad, but as long as my eyebrows are done I’m good to go. I have a lot of scars because of multiple surgeries that I’ve had. I have this irrational fear of human hamster balls. When I’m really uptight, sometimes I turn on the song Super Bass by Niki Minaj and rap it out. I know, it’s not the best song, but it makes me laugh and therefore it makes me feel better.

My point, like I said, is that everybody has their quirks. Please, hear me out.

The best person that you can be is yourself. Trying to conform to what you feel will make others like you more can only make things worse for you and for everybody else. You’ll never fully feel like yourself with them and they will be likely to get frustrated with you too. So, be you.

Being you is the best you can be.

Everyone has quirks. EVERYONE.

And guess what!

EVERYONE IS WEIRD.

I’m weird. You’re weird. Your kids? Yeah, they’re weird. Your grandparents? Weird. Your neighbors? Totally weird. The random people you see when you go shopping? Yeah, THEY’RE ALL WEIRD TOO.

We’re all weird in different ways, and that’s what makes it so great.

So, I want you to know that it is okay to be who you are.

It’s okay to like what you like and dislike what you don’t (of course, your likes and dislikes are subject to change).

It’s okay to be introverted.

It’s okay to be extroverted.

It’s okay to be both.

It’s okay if you don’t like bacon.

It’s okay if you like Dodge over Fords.

It’s okay if you love God (actually, it’s pretty freakin’ awesome if you do).

It’s okay if you like tattoos.

It’s okay if you love musicals.

It’s okay if you like eating Oreos with peanut butter.

And it’s okay to be confident in you.

For the third time, the best person you can be is yourself. The best people others can be are themselves.

It’s okay to be different.

So the next time that you feel like you have to change who you are, no matter what the reason is, don’t.

Remember that God loves you no matter what. He loves you for who you are right now. He loves you for who you are going to be a day, a month, and years from now. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to change that either. He will love you even when there are people out there that don’t (which I can promise you there will be).

He will ALWAYS love you.

Always.

And that, my friend, is a good enough reason to be confident in yourself.

He loves you, so love yourself too.

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“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” -Unknown

For What Is Fear

Fear is a figment of your imagination.

It is false evidence appearing real.

What you fear has no power;

It is the fear in itself that holds the power.

And in the end, fear will take you nowhere.

It will only leave you where it began.

But, you see, you were not created to give in to fear.

You were created to overcome fear.

So I encourage you, in the face of fear, just laugh.

For fear is only a figment of your imagination.

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“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV)

God of Love

When you look in the mirror at yourself, what do you see?

When I look in the mirror, the first thing I see is my face. I take note of the structure of my face: round. If I have makeup on, I notice what my makeup didn’t manage to cover. I look at the narrow shape of my eyes and the roughness of my hair (depending the time of day). If I don’t have makeup on, my mind quickly jumps to the conclusion that I probably should put makeup on in order to maintain a presentable stature in public.

When you look in the mirror at yourself, what do you see?

The next thing I see when I look in the mirror is my childhood. I see God’s hand in my adoption. I see the love that my parents surrounded me with. I see the fights that I had with them that taught me to know right from wrong. I see the innocence that I had as a child. I see the joy that has overwhelmed me at different times. I see the pain that I’ve endured due to my own foolish choices and the pain I’ve endured because of circumstances I could not control. I see how that pain has made me stronger. I see the love that other people have poured into me throughout my life and I see the love that God has poured into me throughout my life. I see the laughter that has become a part of my daily activities. I see where all of these things have brought me; I see the kind of person that they have shaped me to be.

But when I look in the mirror, I look further.

I see someone who knows that in her flesh she is not perfect, but someone who believes in her spirit that what the word of God says about her is true.

Someone who knows she is adopted in Christ.

Someone who knows He will make her paths straight.

Someone who knows she is blessed and highly favored in the sight of God.

When I look in the mirror, I see someone who is loved with an irrevocable love by the Creator of the universe.

So tell me, when you look in the mirror what do you see?

Do you see the wrinkles in your skin, your alfalfa-like hair, or how absolutely remarkable you happen to look?

Or do you look further than your outward appearance?

Do you see the pain, the hurt, the joy, and the love that brought you to where you are today?

Better yet, have you let go of the pain and the hurt that has been subjected to you in the past or do you dwell on it when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Or do you look further than your past, whether that is pain or joy, and see what God see’s when He looks at you?

Because He loves you.

And when you look in the mirror,

That’s what He wants you to see.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” – Ephesians 1:3-6

God of Light

“Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.’” John 12:44-47 (NKJV)

Read it again.

Religion tries to teach us differently. Religion teaches us that everything happens for a reason. Religion tells us that God allows bad things to happen to us to teach us something. Religion says that God only heals who He wants to heal. Religion says that you have to do a certain number of things in order to be holy. Religion teaches us that God is sovereign. Should I continue?

The Bible says that whoever believes in Him, because He is the light, should not abide in darkness. Light and darkness don’t mix and although religion leads us to believe that God allows bad things to happen to us, the Bible says that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37). You see, God is not the problem. God is the answer.

Don’t let religion get in the way of what the Bible says.

God is LIGHT. He is NOT darkness. Anything that is not good does not come from God.  

God is for you not against you. He LOVES you. He wants the absolute best for you. 

Unfortunately, religion has portrayed God in a way that is not biblical which brings me to the reason that I have started this particular blog.

I am not about to let religion win.

I want to show the world that God is a God of love.

I want to show the world the true God.

I want to show the world the God from the Bible: the God that sent His one and His only Son to die so that we could live an abundant life.

I want to show the world that God.