Adventurous, Fun Weekend!

 Hi guys! I had a three day weekend this week! It was absolutely amazing and I had a blast!

 Friday night I went straight to Missoula to meet up with some friends and go to a homeschool Christian choir concert! It was absolutely amazing! The voices were amazing! There was so much talent in the room that night! Also, it was neat to see so many homeschoolers here! I had no idea!

 The next day I visited a spring right beside the interstate near where we live.  It was gorgeous there and the waterfall- things were breathtaking!  The water was so clear, blue and clean! It was so refreshing visiting there! Later that night, I went out to Starbucks with some friends, went to Kohls, and climbed the Big M! I managed to hit up some awesome clearance sales at Kohls, which I was happy about! As for the Big M, it was incredible! The hike was really rough for me, though! The elevation somehow got to me and made it really hard to breath! Besides that, it was awesome climbing my way up to the top! The trail is steep and goes up in zig zags with a lot of stairs, quite a workout, but a lot of fun!  At the very top, we climbed up to the top of the M itself, where I shot this neat pic of the city and my feet on the M!  After that, we got some ice cream and then headed back to the rest of our vehicles so we could leave for the night! Of course, I stopped at Wendy's to get my favorite green tea to get me home since it was midnight when I left for home!

On Sunday, I was feeling a bit under the weather so I couldn't go to church.  Later in the day, when I was feeling better my mom and I headed out to check out a mountain.  We drove up into the mountains and saw the most... amazing, unexplainable, unimaginable stuff ever! It was so, so gorgeous! Everything was green, and the plants all foreign to us southerners, making it almost seem like a jungle! Wicked-cool moss grew on the trees and the branches.  We saw some really cool wildlife, too! We saw a freaky bird that we're still trying to figure out what it is! Along with a chipmunk, a groundhog, deer, and some other neat birds. Also... the best of all... bear poop! No, we didn't see the bear, but we totally saw what it left behind!

After that I spent the rest of the day resting and trying to feel a bit better.

 Monday, I spent the day helping with grocery shopping and getting a few more things I needed, including some awesome summer outfits that I am super excited about!

 All in all, an awesome weekend! I can't wait for more like this!

Accepting and Fulfilling Life

  A man sits by his phone and prays to God, "God, I need a job and in the Bible You said You'd take care of me, and I believe it! So I know that my phone will ring and You'll bring me that job! 

  Another man prays to God, and even fasts, saying to God, "I know you'll provide for me!"  and he sits by his empty field, waiting for plants to grow that haven't even been planted.

  Praying and trusting in God is great, and what you should do, but that doesn't mean you just sit and wait.   "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Matthew 6:26  You don't see birds sitting on branches, looking up at the sky with their mouths hanging open, do you?  Waiting for worms to fall into their mouth? Of course not! They go out and search for their food, and they find food by the grace of God.  Such is the same with us.  You're looking for a job?  You go out and search for that job, praying for God to give you that job, trusting that He will provide.  Do you want corn in your field? Plant the seeds and pray and wait for God to make them grow.  Think of it like evangelizing; you plant the seeds, and God makes them grow.  No, not every seed will grow, but it's the same as God closing one door to open another.  

  Don't wait on God when God is waiting on YOU! All of the blessings that you will get in life have been predetermined by God.  God already knows what He wants to give you, but you have to do your work in getting them! You can't lay around waiting for a blessing! Knowing this honestly changed a lot for me.  

  So to live a fulfilling life, serve your purpose, do what God has called you to do.  Everyone on this planet has a purpose to serve, but whether we serve that purpose or not is up to us.  To get the blessings God has in store for us, we need to follow Him, not ourselves.  The blessings are there, we just have to give our lives to Him and do His will! Don't be like Jonah who ran away from his calling.  Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and preach, to which he ran away.  After being swallowed by the whale and all that jazz, he finally did what he was told, and guess what?  It worked out splendidly!  The entire city listened and went above and beyond to please God! (Of course, Jonah wasn't happy about that, but that's beside the point.) If we follow God's will, we will be blessed and good things will come! Now that doesn't mean hardship won't be around, that will always be there, but that's not to be our goal.  Our goal should be heaven.  We are only here for a short while, heaven is where we will be forever.  Shouldn't we focus more on what we will get when we get to heaven than what we will get here on earth?  

  It's so easy to forget, but earth is just temporary, and far more temporary than we think.  Heaven is forever.  Heaven is our real home.  We should focus that, and not earth.  We should focus on pleasing God, and making Him happy, instead of ourselves. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” John 14:2-4  

Now I will talk about accepting your life.  With this, I would like to focus on the past, but this can also be used for the future as well.  To learn how to take the bad things, and make them good.  To make them just a little bit more bearable. 

 We've all been through things that we wish we hadn't.  Some, we realized later on in life why we had to go through what we went through and we become grateful for what happened to us.  Other things, not so much.  One comfort we can take, is that ALL things that happen is in God's control.  ALL things that happen, happen for a reason! Just this in general can provide a great amount of comfort! Knowing God from the Bible, we can see some reasons why God does what He does.

• Often, we go through trials and tribulations so that He can mold us, and change us into who He wants us to be.  Perfecting us. Through our hardest times, we grow and change. 

• Perhaps we have fled from God, maybe without even knowing it, perhaps He has been calling out to us to come back and we just refused to hear, so He had no choice but to bring us back Himself, a much harder way.  Perhaps we are just going down the wrong path and He needs to direct us back. 

• A sad reason to go through bad things would be that we have sinned.  God is merciful and a loving father, but He does have to punish us when we sin.   

      And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for[a] you serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. Colossians 3:23-25   My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12

  

Those are just a few reasons that perhaps these things happen to us, but whatever the reason, at least we can have trust and faith that God knows what He is doing, and that one day we will find out why bad things happened to us!  But by that point, we won't even care anymore!  What joy we will have then! 

  

The Importance of Kindness

  So I'm a week late with my post, I've been working on it throughout the week but things have been crazy! I moved positions at my job and I will now be a full time receptionist, the original job I had wanted! Woohoo!! Which leads into my blog topic:

 Kindness has become a big thing to me.  Everywhere I go, I try my best to carry it around with me. To me, kindness is the best way to evangelize and to shine God's light.  I also think that kindness reflects Christ.  Kindness is the greatest gift you can gift to a stranger; and it's a simple as you want it to be! It can be as simple as holding a door open for someone or as complex as starting a charity.

 At work, I try to be as kind as I can be to everyone-Even if they are rude.  Honestly, for me, I see it go 2 ways with rude people.  If you continue to be kind despite their attitude, often they lighten up and start to be friendlier towards you.  That, or often they just get angrier, which honestly kinda feels good to me in a terrible way.  It feels sort of triumphant, like they didn't win at bringing you down to their level and negativity.

 Another thing about kindness is that it honestly creates positivity within yourself.  When you're kind to everyone all day long, it really does do something inside you.   I can't fully explain it, but something about being kind, caring for others, and treating them like you would want to be treated, is highly satisfying to me.  It makes me feel happy when I can make someone's day just a small bit better.  Often the people who come across rude are actually just having a bad day, and maybe an act of kindness can make a big difference.

 So that covers the acting kind part, now let's talk about doing kind things. Honestly, you can get so creative with being kind.  You can do anything from bringing cookies to some co-workers, helping with a task, or anything.  When I was younger I really thought I couldn't serve or volunteer in any way.  Now that I am older, I've realized that that's not true! You can do anything to help other people- it doesn't have to just be volunteering, though that is great too!

 With volunteer work, there are a ton of opportunities out there o meet what you specifically like to do! Do you like animals? Volunteer at a pet shelter! Do you like the elderly or caring for others? Nursing homes and hospice centers are great places to go! There are also churches, Red Cross, Salvation Army, local places, the world is open to ya! Are you interested in something more long term? Try going for AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps!

 As for easy kind deeds; hold a door open for someone, help someone you see trying to reach something or has dropped something, help someone carry things, anything of the sort!

Now, being kind isn't always easy, don't get me wrong.  When you're not feeling well or having a rough time, being kind can be really hard and often very tiring, but it really does make a big difference in your life and others! You can't always be kind, you'll mess up, but trying a bit more can really make an impact!

Kindness really can make a huge difference in your life and other's lives! More so than you can ever know! And God really does love it too! Let me leave you with this:

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  Matthew 25:34-40

kind·ness

ˈkīn(d)nəs/

noun

1. the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

   synonyms:

   kindliness, kindheartedness, warmheartedness, affection, warmth,  gentleness, concern,care

Why We Pray

  I have always struggled with prayer.  I could never understand why we would make requests to God when He already knows them. Why would I tell Him what He already knows?  It didn't make sense.  I knew that you were supposed to pray, I wanted to pray, but I just couldn't understand praying.

  With these recent changes God has made in me, He has taught me different things. First, He taught me how to utilize things we have been given, things we can achieve, etc.  Things that I will be talking about in the future.  Then, He began teaching me about prayer- He still is.  As I learn the key to prayer, why we pray, and how to pray, I want to share it with you all, for any of those who struggle as I have.

  So far, Dr. Tony Evans' sermons have been amazing in helping me with this.  I went through a sermon series on prayer, then a series on making God first in your life.

  Communication with God is extremely important.  Often, one problem we have can be causing a ton of other problems.  Example 1:  Your power goes off and you try to flip different switches on and off, then you realize a flip has switched in your breaker box.  That one switch caused everything to shut off. Example 2: A medication reaction is causing you to have ten different side effects.  You have all of these problems, and you don't know why.  You think you're sick, you think you're depressed, when all along it was just that medication.  One problem can cause so many other problems.  With that, lack of communication with God can cause a million other problems in your life and your walk with Christ. Isaiah 65:24 "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear."  Before you prayed it, God already answered it. So you're not praying for God to do something that He hasn't already done.  You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.  You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your way.  Job 22:27-28

  A good example of explaining prayer is this; Imagine your netflix, itunes, or whatever you use to access your movies.  They all have a set amount of movies that you can access.  The movies already exist, but they don't just show up on your screen.  You have to order it. Now, you can pull up your netflix without ordering anything, but you can't watch anything or use anything.  You don't create a movie when you order one.  You are taking what was already there for you to use. Technology is so advanced that thousands of people can all use netflix at the same time.  They can all order and watch movies at the same time without overwhelming the system or causing it to not work.

  Praying to God and making your requests known, is pulling down what God already had planned.

 When there is something wrong in your life, pray to God, access what God is so ready to give you.  Call to Him.

  Also, God wants your attention.  He wants you to talk to Him, make Him first.  When something goes wrong, He wants you to go to Him first and find out what He thinks of the situation.  Not your best friend, special someone, or mom or dad.  He wants you to go to Him first and find out what He thinks first.  Doing this saves you from all of the drama, and who knows, by going to Him first, maybe He'll make it go away so quick that you won't even need to go to your family or friends about it.  God has the power to make it go away while your friends and family do not.

 So, we have learned that by praying, you are accessing what God is ready to give and that by praying, you can go to God with your problems and find out what He thinks about it, instead of what everyone else thinks about.  From just those two things, (I'm sure there's far more) I think that praying is pretty important!

 I feel like all my life as a Christian, I've been running in circles.  Up a hill, then down a hill.  Up a hill, then down a hill.  I feel like God has picked me up like a mother would pick up her baby who has wandered away, and has placed me back where I am supposed to be.  Not only that, but He has given me the tools I need, the pack I will need, and has told me that I will not be traveling alone.  He will travel with me, He will come with me on this journey, and help me through it.  How amazing is that?  God is so, so amazing!

Deuteronomy 1:30-31

30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

Isaiah 46:4

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

I can't walk this road without you, you cannot go it alone
We were never meant to make it on our own
And when the load becomes too heavy and your feet to tired to walk
I will carry you and we'll be carried on   Rebecca St. James - I'll Carry You