Believe!

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Mark 9:23

Life Begins

Winter Jam 2012: The Lord Is With Me. And You.

A last second decision Friday afternoon led to a day of head nodding Saturday while desperately trying to stay away in our weekend radiology seminar. And given the opportunity, I again would make that decision in a heart beat. I spent Friday night with a sold-out Bryce Jordan Center for Winter Jam 2012 and an experience I won't be forgetting.

For those of you who don't know what Winter Jam is- it is a night full of Christian music and worship with 10 Christian Bands- for $10. This year performers include Christian-Rock Band Skillet, Building 429, Sanctus Real, Kari Jobe, Group 1 Crew, For King and Country, NewSong, Dara Maclean, Peter Furler (Former lead singer of Newsboys), and We as Human. If you ever have the chance to go- seize it!


So anyways- After a rough week and a half that I had been struggling to just trust, accept, and leave things up to God, I found myself heading north-east on I-99 to State College with a friend. So all of the sudden, here I was, talking to her about life's current struggles, swapping memories, and stuck in traffic on the East Park Avenue Exit- about a mile from the 2012 Winter Jam concert-as it began. We were stuck there for almost an hour- something that would normally have driven me insane- but the funny thing was, I didn't even give it a second thought. It just was-not good, not bad-just was. We sat there in that hour chatting, sharing stories and memories. And while we missed the first half hour of the concert, it was worth every second.

We walked in as Building 429 was starting to play one of my favorite songs- Listen to the Sound. And listen we did- to an incredible sound, along with 15,000+ others. It was a night of prayer, praise, and music. Every artist had the audience on their feet- and what a powerful thing, to worship with so many others. God breathed so much life into that center Friday night. With meaningful song lyrics and beautiful voices, I pray that for those who were there simply to hear Skillet, they heard and walked away with so much more.
Sanctus Real playing Forgiven just brought the song to an entirely new level-it really hit home- what a powerful reminder that ever single one of us can relate to:

In this life
I know what I’ve been
But here in your arms
I know what I am

I’m forgiven
I’m forgiven
And I don’t have to carry
The weight of who I’ve been
Cause I’m forgiven <3

Skillet ended the night with a great show, and before we knew it, we found ourselves heading home. The experience led us to a deeper discussion about life and past experiences, about hurt, about hope. Things happen for a reason, even if we cannot ever understand or grasp them. Why we ended up in State College this weekend was clear: God wanted to remind me that, even in the struggle and the uncertainty, He is with me. He will never leave me. He has forgiven me for every mistake I have ever made and ever will make. I am never alone.

The Lord was definitely with each and every one of us in that packed Bryce Jordan Center Friday in whatever way we needed Him to be. He knows us individually, for who we are. He knows our deep desires, our wishes, our needs. And He will fulfill those. Always.

Look To The Sky

Faith in the Timing

Today is one of those dreary days where there is that part of me that would have no problem curling up in blankets, watching sappy movies, and not going anywhere or facing anyone. I think I am pretty safe in saying that we all have those days every now and then in one way or another. Unfortunately for our mood, but fortunately for us, we usually don't have the ability to just skip out on the world around us for the day. Instead, we are required  by necessity to go to class, go to work, run to the grocery store, etc.

So today, despite wanting to just stay in, I still got up. I went to class, met a friend for lunch as previously planned, checked the brake fluid in my vehicle in the rain because I knew I had the 5 minutes to do it (and the light keeps flashing at me). I will finish an outline on chapter 3 and email it to my group, get measured for cap and gown for graduation in 100 days. I will then go to open lab to practice more joint mobilizations before hurrying off to a meeting for the mission trip I am going in in just over a month. After that, I will run to WalMart to get brake fluid (how did it just disappear?) and probably snacks and such to share with classmates for the looming 2 days of a weekend radiology seminar we have.

This is what we do. We push though and keep living life-it won't stop for us. We don't get time to wallow in self pity, ignore the rest of the world, or pretend life revolves around watching sappy chick flicks and junk food. And in making myself get up today and thinking about this, the phrase 'In God's Time' rang through my head. I will openly admit, I struggle with accepting things in His time. I question why He puts time limits on things, why He lets others draw out for longer than hoped, and why I cannot speed things up in (or keep them from) occurring. But I realized this: All of life is in God's time.

Why did I have class today and have to check brake fluid levels in the rain? Because if I didn't, I would have no other reason to make myself get up and moving, and, quite frankly, today would have been (embarrassed to admit), a wallow in self-pity day. And that, obviously, wasn't what I needed to be doing.

So while, I don't believe God controls all aspects of our lives-we have free will- God places the little things in time to give us more positive options; we just have to choose to see them that way.

I have a faith in God-so I need to trust in His timing, in all things- big and little. Do I still, by human nature, wish I had a bit more control on that? You bet. But, today especially, I am praying that the Lord helps my heart to accept His timing for my life.

Step Forward In Faith

Walk with strength from Him, and a FAITH that you are never alone.

 

Faith doesn't make things easy, it makes things possible_ Luke 1:37

Forget Perfection

We live in a society where we are continually fighting to be better than everyone else. We don't call it that, because it sounds, well, wrong. But isn't that what we do? We push our children to do the most things to develop the best resumes to get into the best colleges so they can get the best jobs and make the most money. We constantly search for the perfect match- the perfect friends, the perfect dress so we can look perfect for the interview for the perfect job. We live in a society where the divorce rate is off the charts- all because we want perfect- and then, once we really get down to the nitty gritty, we realize that our significant other really does have flaws. Here is what I want to say to all of this: STOP! Just stop. No one is perfect. Not a soul on this earth has earned perfection, for it can only be earned in The Kingdom.

So, I challenge you- on those days where you feel like, no matter how hard you are striving, you just aren't making the cut-stop. Take a step back. Look around you. No one else is perfect, either. Perfection will not come no matter how hard you strive for it. Others may seem like they have it all together, but we all have our dark days, our moments where we didn't 'have it all together'. 

Stop striving to find the perfect person for your life. Instead, learn to love those imperfections others have. Realize, that, without them, they would be an entirely different person. Just as you wouldn't be who you are without your struggles. 

If we can stop striving, stop searching, stop killing ourselves to develop an impossible perfection-the good things will come. Our eyes and ears and hearts will open up to hear the Good News, to see the beauty in the imperfections of this world, to experience the love He shares with us. The good things will come-we just need to quit trying so hard.

Do All Your Work In Love

We can do good works, we can do the 'right thing'. Sometimes, we aren't really certain what God is leading us to do, and so we pray on it. And when we do, He ususally will guide our hearts and our minds one way or the other.
Here is the thing... we aren't always going to feel spectacular afterwards. Maybe things didn't go as planned, maybe something changed or got in the way-and thus, at the end, we walk away wondering if that was really what God wanted.
In all of life have to trust those who love us. We have to be able to trust them and lean on them-even when it is so incredibly difficult (I have learned this the hard way, and let me tell you, a lack of trust hurts more than yourself). But guess what- God Loves Us. He loves you and He loves me. And we have to trust Him and trust that, when we do what we feel He is calling us to, it is the right thing.

Find strength in your struggle, and comfort in doing the correct, yet difficult things. 1 Corinthians 16says:  
13Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14Do all your work in love.

Live with love. Live with your heart. Choose right over easy. Believe in yourself. Take chances. And trust in the guidance of the Lord.

Reach

Its All About Prospective

Psalm 62

The Journey

I took a much-needed couple hours with my camera and nature this afternoon to reflect. Isn't it funny how we look back on the tears and laugh...but we look back on the laughs and they can bring tears? We are all always trying to get to the next goal, the next milestone, the next big thing. But, we are never guaranteed what that will be. But if we live our lives correctly, we will always be able to look back on our journey to here...and smile.

Feelings Are Never Wrong

_Enjoy the little things in your life. One day you will look back and realize those were the big things_

One of my close friends posted this as her Facebook status this morning, and I absolutely love it. It so closely applies to the way I am trying to live my life, the reason I want to compose this blog. The little things are the big things in our life-and if we can live with that belief in our hearts, we can truly believe.

It is only noon, but I had one big realization this morning. As much as I believe everything happens for a reason, I still sometimes have a difficulty wrapping my mind around it, especially in situations that have led us to places we might not have hoped for. But with the sun shining and reflecting off of the beautiful snow, I put several thoughts together and realized something.

The thoughts:
1. Feelings cannot be wrong. They are emotions- we cannot help our emotions or how we feel. We can only help how we react to them.  But feelings and emotions are never wrong.

2. The Lord listens to our prayers. If we have asked Him to guide our heart to where He believes it should be, He will. He wants our hearts, He wants to guide us. So if we are willing to ask Him for that, there is no doubt that He will.

3. The devil is not capable of truly understanding love, and if there is a course that leads our heart to a true, strong, undeniable love, it is not the doing of the devil. The temptations and more negative emotions, the over-abundance of stress and difficulties, yes. But the devil capable of drawing us into a true, irrevocable feeling of caring, love, and kindness towards another, no. He just inserts the negative aspects so that the love can hurt us.

So what I put together from these thoughts:

If you have placed your heart in the hands of the Lord, asked for His guidance, and did your absolute best to trust in Him-where you ended up is where He wanted you to be. If you fell in love, you did it for a reason. There was a strong reason for it- and it was not so that you would end with a brokenness of your heart. The brokenness came when the devil saw the love and worked to try to break it apart.

Feelings are not wrong. The Father would never lead us into something that He did not want for us, that would hurt us.

So instead of questioning things of the past, look to the future, look to the Lord, and ask for His help in fighting away the evil one. Ask the Lord to continue to guide you, to heal, to show you where he wants you to go from here. Entrust yourself in the Lord, and He will lead you to a new life.

Father,
Today I thank you for the beauty and warmth of the sunshine. I thank you for the snow that brightens the world and the cold that gives rosy cheeks. I ask for your guidance and pray that you continue to work in my life and guide my heart. I pray that I might continue to live with the realization in my heart that the little things are really the big things, and that I might never take them for granted.
In Your Holy Name,
Amen

Beauty in the Little Things

Today, I give thanks for the simple beauties in life. For the things that we often overlook or fail to even notice. Everything has beauty if we stop and take the time to see it. In seemingly impossible situations, I believe there is a beauty. There is beauty in the emotion behind a breaking heart and the power that the Lord will heal it with. There is a beauty in the sound of the wind, the warmth of a cup of tea. I am so thankful that the Lord has reminded me to look for this beauty on the days of struggle.

Well, I am going to give this a try. So many life experiences in this past year have shaped and changed me in so many ways. While there are days I still sometimes ask the 'Why' question, I have learned to trust and rely more on the Lord. I have identified some of my biggest weaknesses. Weaknesses that the devil wants to use to ruin me-and at the same time, realized that those weaknesses can become strengths if I turn to the Lord for help. So many days, I have prayed yet forgotten to see the little things. I failed to realize that these little things are what make up the big things. In life, we sometimes have bad timing. We hurt each other. We fall down, and we fall apart. We find ourselves looking back on situations going, if I only knew this now, or if I only could have done that differently.

But you see, that is the thing. We didn't. We cannot change what we saw, what we felt, what we did. It is how life works. And we need to take control of our own lives with the help and guidance of the Lord. No, it isn't always easy. In fact, I know from experience it can be painfully difficult. But if we can take it one step at a time while trying to do everything we can to serve Him, we can grow and develop into incredible individuals who see the world in a wonderful way. And if we can see the world in a new light-think of the possibilities for this broken world. 

After a life changing conversation with a friend the other day, I lay troubled as I looked for sleep. As I lie in the silence, I wondered why things work out the way they do, why lives don't take the paths we often hope. As I lay there, I realized that the Lord works things in our lives for a reason. And so I realized:

♥In the end, what is meant to be will always find a way
So pray often.
Love.
Forgive.
Pray with passion.
Live without regrets.
Remember everyone messes up.
And that Jesus died to forgive you for it.
So forgive yourself.
And always cherish the memories ♥