Adventure

Life with God in control is like a never-ending adventure jam-packed with excitement. The adventure does go through rough patches, but then there are those times when you feel God is so close that it's breath-taking. Those times trump the bad times and make it all worth it, however the reason we follow God can slip away during the hard times. During those hard times we have to remember that God is still there and wants to carry us, like it says in the song I Will Carry You by Amy Grant. God's strength is more than enough to see us through the difficult times and He wants to carry us, so why don't we let Him?
We don't let Him because we think He's abandoned us, however it's the opposite. The times that pull us away from God are meant to draw us closer. It's like what I said yesterday it's during the extremely hard times that we understand Him. No matter where you are in the adventure right now, pray to God asking Him to remind you that He is always there and never stops caring, no matter how much we believe otherwise.

Passion Week

Passion Week is the last week of Jesus's life, it starts on Palm Sunday and goes to Good Friday. Through out that week Jesus goes through almost everything you can imagine. He experiences going from the top of the world, having a parade and people praising Him to being betrayed by one of His good friends and being killed with no fault. So He understands everything we are going through when we think no one else does. Actually when we are feeling down it is then that we really understand Him and the pain He experienced.
Today is Easter Sunday, but I prefer to think of it as Resurrection Sunday. It's a day that we remember that we are not alone even when we feel like no one understands. We have a hope like no one because of Christ, His sacrifice, and His resurrection. We have the blessings of knowing that even though He is the God of the universe He understands and loves each of us beyond comprehension.
Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need."

Poor Souls

I was talking with a few of my friends the other day and we started talking about religion. Three of my friends thought one thing and my other friend and I thought the opposite, the sad thing is that we all said we were Christians. The three friends that I was talking to said quite a few things that contradicted the Bible, like all religions worship the same god. To hear my friends talk like this really hurt, it made the friend I agreed with, who we'll name George, and I really worried for them. We're worried because if they can disagree as much as they did with the Scripture then they might not be saved. However, George and I know that only God knows people's hearts and all we can do is pray for them. My three friends said that they weren't rock solid on their beliefs and that gives me hope. God can show Himself through me to them and with prayer they can come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ too.

Anger

At this moment I am in a situation where someone is being incredibly aggravating and I am defiantly showing my anger. Actually, to be honest I am way past angry I am up to the point where I am infuriated and enraged, which is a new feeling for me. I've never really been this furious with someone before and I don't like it, I feel rather violent towards the person which is never okay. As it is stated in Genesis 49:7, "Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse then in Israel." Christ does get angry, but His anger is righteous, mine isn't. I have to strive to be like Christ and learn to do as it says in Luke 6:28-29, "bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic." So again I implore you to pray for me in this area, your prayers are always greatly appreciated. Also if you ever have any prayer requests please send me a comment and I will make it a priority to pray for you.

Memories

The brain remembers a lot of things, one example is memories. The brain can store memories by different things like taste and sight however, the strongest way is by smell. I have a flood of memories attached to a certain scent, I would describe it to you but I don't know how to. It was what Joe always smelled like, so all of my memories with him are attached to this one smell. The one that sticks out the most though is the time that we went to see a play together. During intermission we went outside and had a lot of fun walking and teasing each other. As you can imagine, now, when I smell that smell my stomach flip-flops and it's very bitter-sweet. This smell and everything that the smell causes usually isn't a problem but, I just bought a few pairs of pants that have that scent. I'm sure after I wash the pants a couple more times the smell will go away, but right now to go around all day with that smell is hard for me. So please, pray for me to stay strong and continue to not have contact with Joe. I know he's not worth it but it's still extremely hard so please pray for me, I really need it right now.

It's Not Okay

I have always thought that forgiving people is something I should do no matter what because if Jesus can forgive me then there's no reason why I can't forgive others. However, it is not okay to say 'it's okay' if someone hurts you're feelings. You may think that you're saying 'I forgive you' but you're really not. What you are saying is that someone didn't hurt your feelings when that isn't true, and it is not okay for people to hurt your feelings. You need to say other things to get across to people that you forgive them, you could say 'thank you for apologizing' or 'I forgive you'. The mother of my friend, who we'll name Matt, taught me this very important lesson. It's something I defiantly needed to learn that, it's like God spoke through Matt's mom. I really encourage you guys to think about that cause that's something I think a lot of people do without realizing it. If you are one of those people who do this, don't worry I'm right there with you and I'm praying for God to help us not to do that anymore.

The Old Me

In the past I have been the girl who cares a lot about what people say about her. I have always cared when people were upset with something I did and I would try to fix it. This morning I got a message from Will, who I have mentioned before, and he said he was very upset with me. He told me to not even talk to him because what I did didn't just affect him it affected other people too. He also said that I wasn't just losing him as a friend but those other people as well. Now, usually I would talk to him about it and try to fix it, and that's what he is expecting because that is the person I have always been, however I'm different now. Today I am a much stronger person than I was yesterday and I really don't care if Will is upset with me. If he doesn't want to talk to me because of something I did, which to be honest is probably something really small, than fine. If that's how he wants to react to things he can, but I'm not going to be caught up in that anymore, my friendship is worth more than that. It is by God and His unconditional love for me that I have realized that and I want everyone to know that too. God loves you so very much and you are worth so much because of Him, don't let others convince you other wise.
Psalm 136:2, "Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever."