A Happy New Year!

Over the last year I have had my ups and downs.  There have been times where I have felt lonely, worried, anxious and physically miserable. However for the most part I have been so truly blessed. I have plenty of food, a nice warm bed and way more clothes than I need. This year I am not making a new years resolution but I am choosing areas that I am going to focus on improving. I do not want to put a specific goal in mind like I am only going to worry about one thing a week or I only want to feel lonely once a month. Instead I am going to trust God and allow Him to work in my life as much as He wants.

The areas that I want to focus on most are:

•       Worry/Anxiety
•       Discontentment
•       Loneliness/Downcast

The reason I chose these 3 areas because is because they are what I struggle with most. And also because the Bible speaks so clearly against these things.

Worry is one of my biggest struggles. I worry about what I should or shouldn’t do, I worry about if I am pleasing everyone, I worry about if I am pleasing God, I can pretty much manage to worry about every little thing including problems that are not even my own. The Bible talks so much about worry. The word "worry" has its origins in a word that means, "to choke." That is exactly what worry does. It chokes us. It holds us back. Worry doesn't help at all. It actually makes things worse. Worry adds to our problems.

"Don't worry about anything," the Bible says, "but pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done" (Philippians 4:6).

I love Matthew 6:25-34 it is such an amazing few verses about worry and why we shouldn’t do it! To put our worries in perspective, look at it this way: if God could take away the enormous debt of our sin, can't He take care of all the rest of our smaller problems
. If you trust Him for your salvation, why don't you trust Him for your living, your life and health, your future, and your children? He's faithful and willing to take care of you. 

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

The next area that I think is so important for me to work on in 2014 is being discontent. I don’t want to always be comparing what I have and don’t have. I just want to be so content and happy with my life. God has already been working on me in this area for quite sometime especially in the area of marriage, but I now there is so much more He wants to do in me in this area. And I am ready to work hard at and be satisfied with my life like Paul!

Philippians 4:11-13

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

The final thing I am really going to try and really just press into God for is a true joy and companionship in Him. I don’t want a happiness that fades with someone saying something mean to me, or a bad thought that pops into my head; I want a true joy that comes from Christ.

Psalm 33:21

For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

Joy comes from knowing that we can trust in God and that He is our creator.  My identity has to be in Christ in order to have a true Joy so then when the enemy strikes I have the truth to hold onto and can stay in a joyous state instead of being downcast.

James1:2  Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

Also I think to truly be joyful I need to recognize that I do not always need to be doing something with friends or family. I can find true happiness in knowing that Jesus is my friend. And not only happiness but also I never need to feel lonely again.

John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

I know that I can improve all these things with the help of Christ but I also realize that it will take a lot of hard work on my part also. Nothing is impossible for God but I have to be ready and willing to fight for this freedom. And this battle is not outwardly or flesh against flesh; it is a battle that takes place within my mind and it will be a tough. It will take much and prayer and just really diving into the Word of God. I will need to discover ways to counteract the bad thoughts of worry, discontentment and loneliness with Godly thoughts. It’s not a multitude of people that I am fighting but a multitude of thoughts.

2 Chronicles 20:15 Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.

Philippians 3:13-14
No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. 

Some Christmas Time photos :) 

The 3 Things We CAN Give to God in 2014!

 As we enter into a new year, here is something to remember: When it's all said and done, we have three things we can offer God—our treasure, our talent, and our time. Each of these is given to us by God, and each of them should be given back in generous portions.

First, there is our treasure. I urge you to commit yourself to give faithfully and generously to the Lord in this coming year. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21 NKJV). Whenever we put our money into something, we develop a vested interest in it. It makes sense to us that we would place our treasures where our hearts are. If we love reading books, or being entertained, or the latest technology, we spend our treasure on those things. And if our heart's desires change, that changes where we put our treasure.

But it works the other way too: Where we put our treasures, our heart will follow. Do you want your heart to be in the things of God? Then put your treasures in the things of God! Develop a vested interest in God's kingdom.

The second thing we can give to God is our talent. God has gifted each believer in different ways. Everyone has something to offer for the work of the kingdom. Romans 12 says, "Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us different work to do" (NLT).

Finally, there is our time. Let's say that one day your phone rang and it was the president of the bank that you use. He told you that an anonymous donor who loved you very much had decided to deposit 86,400 pennies into your bank account each and every morning. At first, maybe that didn't seem like a lot. But then you figured out that it was $864 a day. At seven days a week and 52 weeks a year, those pennies add up to almost $315,000 each year! But the bank president added one thing: "The anonymous giver said you must spend all of the money on the day you receive it! No balance will be carried over to the next day. Each evening the bank must cancel whatever sum you failed to use! Remember, what you don't spend is lost."

That may sound like fantasy, but here's the reality: Every morning, Someone who loves you very much deposits into your "bank of time" 86,400 seconds, which represent 1,440 minutes, which of course equals 24 hours each and every day. God gives you that much to use each day. Nothing is ever carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a 27-hour day. It's called time, and you can't escape it. Time is ticking away right now. The Bible tells us to "redeem the time"—to make sacred and wise use of every opportunity.

Offer God your treasure, your talent, and your time. Live this next year as if it were your last, because it could be. Make those minutes count!

This is a devotion from Greg Laurie that I really loved! A  personal blog will be coming soon :) 

Childlike Faith

Childlike Faith        

Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

—Luke 1:38

Lord, I want Your will. I will do what You want me to do. I will go where You want me to go. I will say what You want me to say.

Have you ever said that to God? Mary did.

When Gabriel suddenly appeared to her one day and announced that she would be the mother of the Messiah, she was completely obedient, saying, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

I love that Mary had childlike faith. Its amazing how open and trusting children are. If someone they trust tells them to jump and they promise to catch them, the child usually does not hesitate to jump. They have faith that the trusted person will not fail them.

But sometimes when God tells us to jump, we say, "What?" We think, I don't want to jump. What if God drops me? But He won't drop us. What kind of parent would do that? Our heavenly Father will catch us.

I personally struggle with trusting people. In a lot of cases I hesitate on counting on someone to actually do what they said they would do. It doesn’t come from being let down by others it comes from within. I have such a fear of letting people down and failing that it extends outward to not trusting people because they may let me down. With God’s help I am slowly progressing in being able to trust others, Him and myself. It’s amazing what He has been showing me. He has showed me that not trusting Him causes worry, stress and anxiety in my life. Its not just trusting Him with my future plans, He has been showing me that I need to trust Him with my present daily plans. Handing every area of planning over to Him hasn’t been the easiest and I still mess up a lot and try to control my life daily. But realizing that if He is in control of my life relieves the anxiety that I have of failing. If He is in control everything will work out according to His plans even if I make mistakes and His plan is perfect. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

We often wonder about the will of God for our lives, but here is something to consider: Obedience to revealed truth guarantees guidance in matters unrevealed. Is there something you know to be God's will for you right now? Have you done it? Don't ask God to reveal His will beyond that until you take care of what you know is His will. We say that we want God's will, but often we want Him to reveal it first so we can decide whether or not we are going to do it.

Mary said, "Let it be to me according to your word." Have you made that commitment as well?

Inspired by Greg Laurie's Devotion

Alaska Hike with my brother and sister

CHRISTmas is COMING!!!!

I know, I know its only December 3^rd but I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I have been holding out on playing Christmas music or wearing Christmas outfits until after Thanksgiving and now its finally time I can start.  I am so excited! One of my favorite things about Christmas is buying people gifts. I wish I could buy every person I know a present. It brings me so much joy to find a special something for a special someone!  However I really feel embarrassed when people thank me for the gift. I just want it to be a secret like it was really from Santa. Since the season is just beginning and I really want to make sure I keep the right attitude in mind. I want to keep the focus this year really on Jesus! This really helped me realize what Christmas is truly about.

“The true message of Christmas is that God came to us: " 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us' " (Matthew 1:23). The message of Christmas should be Let us worship because God is with us. The first Christmas gifts were not from the wise men to the Child. Rather, the first gift of Christmas was the gift of Jesus Christ from God to us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The message of Christmas means this: You will never be alone in life again. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23). That is an amazing statement. God the Father and God the Son are saying they want to make their home with you and me. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). That is a promise to all people. Why? Because of Immanuel—God is with us.”(Greg Laurie)

In my mind I have always been like: Oh yeah Christmas is about Jesus and how He came to earth as a baby. However this just showed me in such a deeper way that without Christmas we would be alone. There wouldn’t be a reason to celebrate and there would be no joy in the season. It would just turn into another cold, dark day in December. Jesus really gave us the only reason to celebrate and I really want it to be about His presence and not the presents. I want my thoughts and actions to be evidence that He is actively working in my life.  

Christmas means so much to me. I love when my family gets together and just enjoys each other’s company.  My favorite tradition is that my grandma always makes a birthday cake for Jesus! This year however is going to be different because it means even more to me than it ever has before!