God is good all the time, all the time God is good

So I've been wanting to get a job this summer for a while, but because of my age it's been really hard to find one.  Well it looked like I was finally going to be able to get one at a great place to work.  I went in, the interview went well, the manager wanted to hire me, but he just needed to check with the owner to see for sure.  Well I just found out that the owner decided not to hire me because of my age and the government regulations that they would have to deal with me if they hired me.  

Not gonna lie, it was a pretty big disappointment.  I was excited about the job, and I really thought I was going to get it.  But even though I was disappointed I remembered something: God is good all the time.  I don't know why God let this opportunity slip by, but I know He has my good in mind.  My job is just to trust in Him and His goodness, even when I don't understand. 

I might see why this happened in the future, I might not.  But I do know that this has strengthened my faith and made me realize again how amazing God has been to me.  Today we were making lunches for a charity that gives meals to kids who would otherwise go hungry.  By the grace of God, I've never gone hungry before.  God has been so good to me and has blessed me so much.  He's never let me down in the past, and I know He never will, so I will trust him, even when I'm sad and don't understand.  Nothing, not a job, not anything else can ever compare to God's embrace and love, and it's so comforting to know that He will always be there.

You are good, You are goodWhen there's nothing good in meYou are love, You are loveOn display for all to seeYou are light, You are lightWhen the darkness closes inYou are hope, You are hopeYou have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peaceWhen my fear is cripplingYou are true, You are trueEven in my wanderingYou are joy, You are joyYou're the reason that I singYou are life, You are life,In You death has lost its sting

Oh, I'm running to Your arms,I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your loveWill always be enoughNothing compares to Your embraceLight of the world forever reign

You are more, You are moreThan my words will ever sayYou are Lord, You are LordAll creation will proclaimYou are here, You are hereIn Your presence I'm made wholeYou are God, You are GodOf all else I'm letting go 
-Forever Reign by Hillsong United

because they're not "little things" when done for the kingdom

Here's a post I wrote on my iPhone one night a while ago :)

Recently I've been thinking about my life and wanting to do big things for God's kingdom. But the other night as I was lying in bed, I felt that God gave me a direction for my life, and now my outlook has changed. I want to do little things for God. You don't usually hear people say that, and it might sound like laziness or lack of passion for the kingdom to some people, but it's not. Here's what I mean when I say that I want to do little things: I want to touch people's lives by doing small things to show them God's love. I want to touch as many people as I can. It might be as simple as smiling to people in the grocery store, being a friend to someone who doesn't have one, being extra nice to a waiter, or helping around the house. Because, you see, the little things are important. So much of our lives revolve around the little things, so we can show God's love to people in their day-to-day lives. I might not become a missionary, start an orphanage, or do "big things" like that on a large scale, but I can be a light to my family, my school, and my community. Because when they are done for God's kingdom and through His love, there are no such things as big things or little things - they're all kingdom things. So as I go into 2013, I want be intentional about touching the lives of people around me by doing the little things I can to show God's love. Wanna join me?

this is as artsy as i get, so enjoy it :)

Just a little something I did on a gloomy Sunday afternoon :)

A collection of some of my favorite Scriptures and lyrics + a piece of paper and a fun pen :)

Hosanna

Here's an excerpt from my journal about what God had laid on my heart about the lyrics of Brooke Fraser's song Hosanna and my thoughts on how the relate to me: 

"Heal my heart and make it clean" - my heart is so full of sin - purify it and make it like yours

"Open up my eyes to the things unseen" - show me the bigger picture - show me what you see - make me aware of Your presence 

"Show me how to love like You have loved me" - You have showed me the most incredible love - give me the will and strength to show others that love

"Break my heart for what breaks Yours" - not just in the world around me, but in my own life.  I want to be broken and distraught over my sin like You are

"Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause" - I want to live for the bigger picture - for You and showing others You.  I don't want to be selfish and think of myself and what I want in the moment, but what will grow Your kingdom

"As I walk from earth into eternity" - show me how to live for eternity.  So many of the things I do don't make an eternal impact, but I want my life to be focused on what is eternal.  i want to be fearless in telling others about Christ, because their eternity is at stake

{i celebrate the day}

I celebrate the day that You were born to die,

so I could one day pray for You to save my life

Go turn off all the lights, turn on the Christmas tree, and listen to this song :)

Merry Christmas, y'all!  I hope you had an amazing day :)

(By the way, it's 7 PM, and we haven't finished opening presents yet - we like to spread our presents out throughout the day :)

{the selflessness challenge}

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!

Recently I have been convicted of the sin of selfishness.  I can be a very selfish person, and I need to do something about it.  So I came up with the idea to do something I'm calling The Selflessness Challenge, and I thought that I would invite y'all to do it with me.  Here's what it is: starting tomorrow, I'm am going to be deliberate in striving to be unselfish for the next week.  When I am tempted to be selfish, I am going to instead act in unselfish ways.  I am going to be intentional in seeking out opportunities to serve others and sacrifice my own desires.

If you want to do it with me, let me know in a comment!  Even post about it on your blog if you want to so that your followers can participate too!  Even if you aren't going to do it, I would love it if you pray for me and anyone who is going to do it with me - it's not going to be easy, but with God's help we can do it.  And I'll be praying for those of you who are doing it too :)

I have a really hard time remembering to act on the things I want to work on, so here are some things I'm going to do that might help you as well:

• If you listen to secular music (or fun Christian music that doesn't specifically uplift you or draw you to worship) listen to Christian music that will encourage you.  Either listen to songs about unselfishness and serving others like Outta My Mind, Give Me Your Eyes, So Long Self, or My Own Little World to help focus you on it
• Wear a ring on a different finger than you normally do or something like that that you'll notice frequently.  Or put a band-aid on your finger and write something on it to remind you
• Write yourself a note in dry erase marker on your mirror
• Set yourself alarms throughout the day

And of course we shouldn't stop after this week - hopefully it will become a habit and we'll continue to do it!  I'm excited to see what God is going to do in our hearts and lives this week!

Thoughts From The Mirror: Amazing Love

(Click here for the first "Thoughts From The Mirror" post and an explanation for where the name came from :)

Though I spit on Him, mocked Him, disobeyed Him, and nailed Him to the cross, He loved me, sought me out, blessed me, and died for me.  Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me.

Making Quiet Time More Meaningful

I don't know about you, but having a good, meaningful quiet time is hard for me.  My alarm has just gone off, I want to go back to bed, I have so much to do that day, and my heart just isn't in it.  Most of the time, I'll just read a chapter or two in my Bible and move on.  It's more out of obligation than anything else because I know that Christians are supposed to read their Bible in the morning.  

Recently I have been reading a book called The Story, which is basically the Bible as a novel - it still uses the words of Scripture, but they take out parts like all the laws in the Leviticus and adds transitional paragraphs in italics to jump from one thing to the next.  That's a great way to get a sense for the Bible as whole without having to read the whole Bible (I tried to read the whole Bible in one year, but that quickly lost its spiritual value for me)  But where I am in the book, I feel like I'm just reading the stories - I'll read a couple pages and move on, but not think of how to apply my reading to my life.

So I decided to come up with a few steps to make my quiet time more meaningful :)

• Get out of bed - since my Bible is right next to my bed I have a tendency to just read it in bed.  That is totally not conducive to focusing, because you just want to go to bed again :)  Maybe you go outside or to a different room.
• Change it up.  I think this is one of the biggest things you can do to help you.  Maybe one morning you pick one verse and spend some time really thinking about what it means and how you can apply it to your life.  Maybe you read a chapter in a book like The Story.  Maybe you read a couple chapters in your Bible.  Or maybe you print out the lyrics to an old hymn and really spend some time thinking about what they mean - if it's a prayer, pray them to God.  Maybe you pull out your iPod and listen to some worship songs.  If you do the same thing every day it can become familiar and just another thing you have to do.
• Spend some time in prayer.  Sometimes I'll finish reading my Bible and go directly to do homework.  But God wants to hear from us.  Try talking to Him like a friend - tell Him what you're doing that day, confess your fears to Him, ask Him for His help in specific areas.

Those are just some of the things I have found to be helpful in making quiet time more meaningful - hopefully they can help you too :)

Lyric of The Week: Love Riot

Love Riot by Worth Dying For

Our hearts will beat with the love You gave

Our world is changed cuz you made a way

We're breaking free from the enemy

We are, we are the love riot

Love riot, turn this city upside down

Love riot, for the name Jesus

 To be honest, we as Christians aren't doing a great job of shining the light of Christ into the world....and the reason is that we don't have love.  Just think about what would happen if the body of Christ loved like Jesus did.  What would change if a love riot broke out among the people of God - if we as Christians didn't just put on our church face on Sunday and live like everyone else throughout the week, but if we lived through the week like people who had been redeemed by love and whose ultimate goal was to show others the love that saved us.  Jesus took the lowliest positions He could - He could've had a palace with servants waiting on Him hand and foot - He deserved it! But that's not what He did, did He?  He washed His disciples feet.  He physically touched those who were outcasts in their communities and showed them He cared.  He didn't lash back or preach a sermon to the people who spit in His face.  He didn't avoid people because they were dirty, sinners who did everything unholy - he sought them out. 

What if we did that too?   We could advance the kingdom of God so far if we just started loving people like we did.

 "if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

-1 John 4:12

You wanna show the world God? If you love others, He will live in you, and the world will see God's love through your love.

(Haha "We are Jesus Christ!)

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Lyric of the Week: Inside Out

It's Lyric of the Week time again! Enjoy :)

Inside Out by Hillsong


My heart and my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Everlasting
 Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my hear is to bring you praise
From the inside out, Lord, my soul cries out

It can be so easy for us to look perfect on the outside, but God wants our hearts too.  He wants our actions to come from our love for Him, not our desire to look good.  I have a hard time with that, so that's probably why I like this song so much :)

Thoughts From The Mirror: We Are Jesus Christ

Haha so you are probably wondering why I called this post "thoughts from the mirror" :)  Well whenever God puts a Scripture, song lyrics, or just a thought on my heart, I take a whiteboard marker and write it on my mirror.  So "thoughts from the mirror" is where I'll share those things with you all :)

In the BBC TV show Robin Hood, (one of the best shows ever, by the way :) they often use the phrase "We are Robin Hood!"  It came from an episode where Robin had almost died and one of the members of his gang asked what they would've done if he had died.  Robin replies that they would've continued to help the poor because Robin Hood isn't just a person, it's an idea, a cause they all fight for.  He said Robin Hood is the spirit of England and England's only hope.

So I was thinking about that phrase the other day, and God gave me the phrase "We are Jesus Christ!"  You see, Jesus did die - of course He rose from the dead and is now in Heaven, but he's not physically here on earth to continue to love people and advance the kingdom of God.  So it's our job to continue the work Jesus started while He was on earth.  The people we come in contact with everyday won't meet Jesus, but they'll meet us, and if we believe that "We are Jesus Christ" we will live in a way that shows them Jesus.  We are Jesus's representatives - the ones who have the Spirit of God in us, so we have to live like it.

Haha hopefully that makes as much sense in writing as it did in my head :)