Be Still vs. Do Nothing

The first part of Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and no that I am God..."

What does that mean to you? I'm gonna get on my soap box for this one. Sorry if I offend you. I have heard so many of my college friends saying "I am just going to sit and let God work." or one of my favorites "God just needs me to wait and do nothing like the verse when it says be still"...... SERIOUSLY?

God has called us to go and make disciples. Carry his word to the ends of the Earth. Tell everybody we come in contact with about him, and love his people like crazy.

And YES God has called us to be still and recognize his greatness. When I look at the first part of this verse, here is how I read it (You can see it differently, just my opinion) When He says be still, it means in everything you do on this Earth, realize that you are serving a mighty God. We serve a mighty God, and so often as Christians we like to take the credit. But it's not about us. He wants us to breath while we work and see how awesome he is.

EXAMPLE:: Josh Hamilton (center fielder for the Rangers) he plays 9 innings straight. When he isn't on the field he's in the dugout getting ready for his spot in the lineup to go bat. Now lets say. Josh never got a break. He played defense then ran and didn't get a break and went straight to batting, then he never left the bases and three outs later he was back out on the field. Okay he would be exhausted if he did that three innings. When he gets off the field and into the dugout, the guys have water, seeds, Gatorade, and whatever else they need to relax from the game for a few minutes. Then it's game time again, and he does it again.

Our lives are very similar. We need a water break from the game we are playing (life) So God has asked us to be still for a second and realize we are playing for a bigger being than ourselves.


So many Christians take this verse and think they aren't to work or do anything. That God will provide everything they need, as long as they just sit. A friend told me a story, that they had a friend who didn't work, yet needed the money to get home, so he asked God for the money, while in reality this guy hasn't done squat nothing to deserve it.

It is important for us to realize that being still and doing nothing are two totally different things. We are called to LIVE on this Earth, but while we LIVE we need to have a short time-out and realize who we are living for. Doing nothing does not glorify the kingdom but being still does!

So challenge:: Don't do nothing. Do something and while doing something take time to praise and realize the mighty God we serve.

Long time no talk

So I haven't blogged in forever, and now just seemed like a perfect time. In my life I have been dealing with two major things....my future and my self-esteem. I have been doing a lot more praying and more listening to God. God has placed amazing people in my life who have guided me a heck of a lot this semester. So I'm gonna discuss those two points tonight.


FUTURE::
I have been picturing my future a lot nowadays. I am real close to being 20, two years from being done with school, and things are starting to race through my mind. For instance. When is Mr. Right gonna show up, do i want to teach high school or elementary, do i want to work with a youth group or with children's ministries, and when am i gonna find out all these answers. My mind has been really busy. I have always had my life planned out. I knew when i wanted to get married, have kids, start teaching, work in the church. I have had my life planned out.
But God has had other plans. He has put me in an awesome church, where I get to lead sweet little ones and teach them about Jesus. He has changed my mind about teaching, and he hasn't placed Mr. right in my life, given me different opportunities to serve him, and opened up doors into Africa.

So what i have learned is that this life is not mine. I am not living for me, but for my King. I have had to realize that in the past two months. It's been a long journey but a good one. This life i live is not mine, and when God is ready for me to make my next step, he'll guide me through it, but until then i have to be patient and just love and serve Him.


Self-Esteem::
Looking back at my past, I haven't chosen the best guys to date. They have effected how I see myself, and I hate to say I let a guy control me, but I have. They have dug in my brain, and made me think I am not beautiful. But I have had to slap myself in the face a few times, and realize that what they have done to me or said to me does not make me ugly or not worthy. My God made me beautiful he made us all beautiful. I have put a verse on my sink mirror and I read it daily, and it says I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me wonderful. Now granted, there are people who take their "beauty" to an extreme, but there is not problem walking around and feeling good about yourself. I still don't think highly of myself, and think it's gonna take a lot of work, because lots of damage has been done, but in due time I think i'll get there. So this part is a MAJOR work in process.


CHALLENGE::

When you are worried about your future......RELAX and let God love you. He has and knows the big picture for us. And when you look in the mirror and don't like what you see.......know that God made you. The KING of the WORLD made you. Creator of all made you. And you are BEAUTIFUL!

Both these things nag on me daily. I am a person who is very structured and I want to know exactly whats next in my life, and so the future part is hard for me to let go of. And I have to realize nobody on this earth can change the fact that God made me and I am wonderfully made!

Hope you are ready for the Christmas Break! Love you all! :)

Be my Strength when I am weak.

So I have been extremely stressed/upset/sad/angry...anything but happy lately. I have been just a mess lately. My life has been turned upside down and back again since last Saturday, and I have really been confused. So for the first time I realized I had no control (that kills me). I realize I can only do so much until I have made the situation worse than it was. So i got down on my knees and prayed. The problem with that was, the way I wanted my prayer to be answered wasn't. It was the total opposite, and to this day I am sitting here wondering why in the world he chose this living situation for me. I know my answer will come, and he will use me for his glory, but right now i'm so....blah. I can't explain to you the nights I've cried myself to sleep or just the occasional song that brings me to tears.

So moral of that story. It's when we hit rock bottom, when you think things can't get worse, and you are just in a spot of dismay, turn to Jesus. Although I have no earthly idea why my prayer was answered the other way, and am not too happy with it, I know I serve a mighty God, who is bigger than this problem, and will be my strength.

The one verse that I have found extremely helpful during this time is "Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done." -Philippians 4:6

Patience

Patience, is a word I think we all hate. It tells us to wait, it tells us to relax, it tells us to trust in something other than ourselves. I personally have a huge problem with patience.
I have a life plan for myself. And i'm gonna go ahead and explain it to you.
-graduate college and find mr. right
-work for a couple years
-start a family (be a stay at home mom)
-start working again when my kids are all in school
-travel when my kids graduate

That's an outline, each one is very specific and i have poured many thoughts into each one. The problem is, is that it is MY plan. Yes I do everything, or try to do everything for the power of God, but however; this is on my ideas. Psalms 75:2a says "God says, "At the time I have planned..." I love that, because it tells me one thing very specifically that it's HIS time not mine. So i am learning to have patience. To put my plan aside and trust in HIS plan, because obviously it's a lot better than mine.

So challenge: Are you being patient?

Next steps

Every day we face new things in life, we have to deal with. I like to see life as a a ridiculously long stairway. The deal is, we don't know when the next step is, we just keep walking, and trust that the step will be there for us. To explain this, I'll use my favorite verse in the whole Bible. "For we walk by faith and not by sight." -2 Corinthians 5:7.
In life we don't know what's next. We don't know who we are going to encounter, what we will encounter, or how we will encounter it. The thing is, we have somebody who does know, with us at all times. I read this verse everyday, because so many times I have a hard time not knowing what's next. If you don't know me, I have everything planned out to what I am going to wear the next week. lol. To be honest it's pathetic. Despite that I'm ridiculously crazy, I have learned I don't know what is going to be my next step, and I HAVE to rely on God to be my eyes.
I just started my sophomore year at college, and to be honest, I am not a big fan of college, and the stress of it. (now there are parts of it I absolutely LOVE) but anyways, it scares the living daylights out of me. I love going to class, but I don't like the chaos of it. Like if we will have a fire alarm, or will my professor let us out on time or will I have to sprint to class. Even though college does stress me out, I have learned it is a very exciting journey of my life. These next few steps I am going to take over the next few years, are crucial to the rest of my life. The problem is, I don't know what they are yet :). So I have to trust God, and live my life by faith, and stop trying to live it my way.

So challenge: How are you living your life? are you taking the steps on your own, or are you letting God be your guide and helping you up the steps? Because honestly we can't do it on our own. We will fall, trip, and stumble. Now granted we are human so we will do that anyway, but the journey is soooo much better when we do it with God, and let him be our guide! :)

testing faith

Every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, and every minute we send up prayers. "We ask God for what we need, and we thank him for what we have", but then there are those occasions when our prayers don't get answered like we wanted them too. It is when that happens our faith is tested.

STORY TIME:: A young girl had her "prince charming" list made out, all the things she wanted in her husband. A list she had spent years praying over and knowing that, that man on her paper was the man she needed. She prayed and prayed. When she met the guy who fit the list, and it didn't work out between the two. Her faith was tested. How could God take something that seemed so right away? And why would he do that to that girl? It wasn't until about 6 month later, that she realized God had somebody who went over and beyond her idea of "prince charming"

STORY TIME:: A family lost their jobs. 3 sweet babies sitting at home, the threat of losing the home, and being tossed out on the street became very real. After months of praying and losing faith, they finally got a blessing in the mail, but it was 3 months of grueling heartache, and prayers not being answered like they wanted it too.


So when time gets rough and heart ache hits, stay positive. If prayers don't go YOUR way, then stay positive. Because the bottom line is ((God sees the big picture)) we're just seeing a few pixels of the big picture.

So challenge time:: when troubles get rough praise God instead of throwing a pity party. NOW with that said, I don't mean getting all sappy. My friend wrote a song, and he said "If I'm stuck in these trenches, I wanna be stuck with you" For the longest time I didn't understand those words, mainly because I was so mad at God myself, but as I started to listen to God, I realized that if things aren't going OUR way, and it's not how we want them to do, then being with God in our rut is the best thing in the world.

So relax and let God love you :)

Farmers, Seeds, Fruits

I had a long talk with my mom today, because I am just dumbfounded by my peers and people that I know. We were discussing fruit and I don't mean apples, bananas, pepinos, or peaches. I mean "The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23).

So many times as Christians we want the world to see what WE have done. What WE have accomplished, and who's life WE touched. In which we haven't done any of that at all. God through us has done that. Many people get discouraged or angry at God because they plant the seeds, and they want them to sprout into fruit, right then and there. (Now if you plant or no anything about planting, you don't get to plant a seed and turn right back around and see a beautiful plant.) Christians get so caught up with "Christian fads" or wanting to be seen, heard, noticed... that we no longer put God first but ourselves. We say everything in the name of God, but in reality it's all in the name of ourselves. That is not having beautiful feet.

STORY TIME:: A group went to Peru over Christmas Break, they painted doors, doors, and more doors, they never had any communications with locals, instead they painted doors for 6 days, of a Baptist Church Camp down there. Two months after they had left Peru, the camp was able to host 247 children, and many from an orphanage (they had never heard of Jesus Christ.) So because of the groups work on the camp, the camp was able to touch the lives of so many kids... THAT's PLANTING SEEDS!

Planting Seeds does not mean you are gonna personally see the fruit, it does not mean you get the credit, and it does not mean that if you don't see it, it doesn't happen.

Many times we wanna see results right then and there, and it is when that occurs that we lose insight of what we are really doing. We are not here for ourselves PEOPLE. Who gives a care if we get to see what our work did. As long as the seeds were planted then we have done our job.

Planting seeds does not mean you have to go to a 3rd world country, or to the roughest part of your town. It simply means you have to let God live through you. Live the life of a servant to God. Whether that be a smile to the kid who nobody likes, helping a mother of 5 get to her car out of the supermarket, helping a homeless stranger by giving them some crackers....Simple things that show the fruit, and plant seeds. We are not here to SHOVE God down peoples throats we are here to SHOW people God. Bottom Line:: IT IS NOT ABOUT US!!!


So challenge:: Look at your life, is it for your name, or God's? Do your beautiful feet come from everyday living? We do not need a huge mission board, a church, a big group event to plant seeds. It happens everyday. At the Sonic, Walmart, Gas Station, Work Place, and Home. So lets do some planting! :)