Satisfied?

As I was looking through the Satisfied booklet today, a sentence stood out to me. It said: People who trust in their own efforts and strength to live the Christian life will experience failure and frustration, as will those who live to please themselves rather than God. This is true, when you rely on your own efforts to reach God or the experience God, you fail. There is no other way to put it. You must trust God completely and many people don’t do this, including me. I looked at the sentence over and over again and thought about the times when I have trusted in my own efforts and strength to live for God and how many times I have failed because of this. I seem to always fall back into the way that I acted/or the situations I was in before I accepted Christ as my savior.
As Christians we shouldn’t try to live the so called “Christian life”, we should live completely for God. All the standards and rules for a Christian life are thrown out the window. We live for God and nothing else; and NOTHING can stop us. This is a beautiful image and I wish that was the way that I lived my daily life but it isn’t. Instead sometimes a get caught up with myself and living the way I think Christians should live. That isn’t how I should live and isn’t the way I want to live. I want to live all out for Jesus and I want Him to use my life for his purpose.

Reflection

It is amazing how much stuff you can get done sitting in a Starbucks on a Saturday. Not only have I finished most of my homework but I have had time to reflect. Reflect on what my life has been like and the decisions I have made in the past year. I ask myself is my life the way I want it to be and the way God wants it to be. Of course the answer is no. God desires me to give up things and behaviors that I am just not willing to give up yet. This is really selfish of me to not be willing to give up things that my creator, the one who died for my sins wants me to give up. He loves me so much, more than anyone on earth and I am still not willing to budge. I want what I want and nothing else. I can see how selfish I have been in the past couple of months but am I ready to give up control of my life for Jesus? For that I don’t have the answer. I want to be used by God but I still find myself lazy and having the desires of the flesh. I think that being a Christian is the hardest thing to be because you have the devil working against you and wanting and giving you opportunities to fail in front of God. But the great and amazing thing is that God picks you up and is with you through everything. He will never leave you!!

Is today the day that you’re willing to change and live for God?

Challenge

Lately I have been thinking about my language and the types of words I use on a daily basis. I have realized that I sometimes I use harsh words and not take in to consideration how other people feel. I say something offensive or inconsiderate and then quickly move on before I have time to realize how it made someone else feel. This is something that I need to work on. God want us to show others his love to everyone around us. He wants us to not only show his love through our actions but also through our words. Being inconsiderate is not showing Gods love to others at all; it is actually showing the opposite.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

This is the kind of love the Christ has for us and we don’t even come close to deserve it. He loves us so much that he sacrificed himself for us. We should desire others to know about this incredible love. Show this love to others by being kind, considerate and genuine with them. I challenge everyone to show this love, even by doing simple things. This is something that I am going to be working on.

Hope 127

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." -James 1:27

God calls us, as Christ followers to help others in need. Hope 127 in a partnership between Port City Community Church and Mama Hellen's Rehabilitation Center in Kanya. The children that are at the center come from horrible back grounds and have seen things that we can't image. The children are at the center to heal and to have a better life. They have been through so much and it is amazing to hear the stories about how their lives have been changed and the impacted since coming to the center. The money the PC3 and sponsors gives to the center helps with anything the children need. The center's main purpose is to help the children have a better life.


I had the opportunity to organize the book that had all the children's pictures and descriptions and it was moving to read some of their stories. They were some of the cutest children I have ever seen and I couldn't believe the stories behind their smiling faces. God has given us the opportunity to help children in Kanya. They need our prayers and money.



To find out more information visit: http://www.portcitychurch.org/hope127.php

Reminder

Today I got the chance to sit down and relax for a little bit. It was nice to be able to turn on the television for the first time in weeks. Man do I miss high school when I could watch television all day long because I had nothing else to do but now I am busy every second. Today I got to watch Family Feud. I haven’t seen this show in a while and it got me thinking about families. Everyone’s family is different; just like people not two families can be alike. There is going to be differences no matter how they appear to other people. I am so thankful for my family. God has blessed me with a loving family that supports my every decision; they are behind me all the way. I find that now since I am a sophomore and have gotten used to college life that I miss my family more than I did last year. I miss my mom’s cooking and the coziness of our house. Don’t get me wrong I love living in Wilmington with my friends but I miss my family. I miss my cousins and being able to watch them grow up and play/hang out with them. I also miss having lunch with my family every Sunday. It has been a tradition ever since I can remember to have lunch after church on Sundays. Even though my Grandma has died and the environment of Sunday lunches has changed, it is still nice to get together and see how everyone is doing. Wilmington is my home now but it is always nice to go to back to my Raleigh home and see my family.

Changed

As I was camping on Carolina Beach Labor Day weekend I thought about where I was a year ago. I can’t believe how much I have changed. My life is completely different now. A year ago I was at the same place but the scene was entirely different; I was on the beach drunk and living for myself. My actions were selfish and stupid. I was partying every weekend and doing things that my parents had thought me not to do. I was going against all the morals and values that I had made for myself in high school. My friends last year were a reflection of my actions. They partied too and that was the reason we were camping on Carolina Beach that weekend, to party and have fun. We wanted to get away from everything and have fun. It was a fun night but now looking back on it I realize how stupid it was and how I could have gotten in so much.

Now everything has changed. I rededicated my life at Campus Crusade for Christ’s Winter Conference. I finally realized what Christ had done on the cross for me and my sins; I then wanted to live my life for Him and not for myself. I changed the way a lived my life and the friends I had after the conference. I started to live for Him. So camping on the Carolina Beach is completely different this year. There is no alcohol; it is just me and my friends having fun at the beach. We fished, had a camp fire and just hung out. I wish I knew then that alcohol and partying isn’t a satisfying life.

I meant to write this blog a few weeks back.

On Fire

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” --- Colossians 1:9-14

If you read the words of Paul’s prayer and really take in what he is saying to the Colossians, it is very powerful. He is continually praying for them, that God will give them wisdom, and strengthen them to stay away from darkness and sin. He is praying for their overall well being in their Christian walk. My bible study leader sent my bible study this verse over the weekend. Knowing that he is nonstop praying for us like this is encouraging. I know that I have someone praying for me each and every day to live a life worthy of God and to remain in his path for my life. Knowing that he is praying for me in this way lifts me up and encourages me live on fire for God.