Preparing for Prince Charming - Who Is She?

She's young and in love with a boy. Completely caught up in a storm of emotion and feelings never felt before. Her mind and heart are consumed by this. Her love for God is fading quickly. Her priorities are rearranging. God is slowly being lowered on her list. She's stuck in sin, in lust, in idolatry. She is slowly more disrespected by this boy, and eventually disrespects herself and the boy in return. She has momentary satisfaction, but no secure joy is present. She feels a void, one that this "love" cannot ever seem to fill. The relationship has taken a sudden turn for the worse. It has ended. She's broken and feels despair. The promises made to her have been broken. Her planned out future is now crushed and quickly fading. She gave away so much emotionally, so much spiritually and physically. "What love is this?" her heart cries out. "That he would not love me so?"

Who is she?

She's young and in love with Jesus. Continually reminded of His love and grace, of His patience and mercy. She is consumed by His goodness and faithfulness, willing to give up everything for her King and Lord. Her love for God is growing rapidly, like never before. Her priorities are rearranging. God is becoming her number one, her all in all. She is fleeing from sin, she is finding freedom through the strength of God. She is respected, and respected by herself. She is understanding what true joy looks and feels like. She is discovering the treasures, eternal treasures, offered by Christ. She does not feel any void, but rather, she is whole and complete because of her Prince, Jesus. Day by day, her relationship with Jesus grows brighter and brighter, deeper and deeper. She trusts in her promise-fulfilling Savior, knowing that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. She no longer plans her steps, but rather, let's the Master Planner be her guide. She has let go of her dreams, her desires, and has placed them at the foot of the cross, so that she may accept whatever plans Jesus has created for her while letting go of her own. She has given away all of her heart, all of her mind, body, and spirit as a living sacrifice to her forever faithful Jesus. "What love is this?" her heart cries out."That He should love me so?"

Who is she?

Both of these are accurate descriptions of me.

Accurate descriptions of me at two very different times in my life.

One being seven months ago, one being now.

Can you take a guess at which description belongs at which time?

I was thinking long and hard about what my first post in this series would be about.
"What is the most important thing in all of what I'm going to write about?" was my thought.

And this is where the struggle begins. For me. For you. For anyone and everyone seeking to follow Jesus.

It's letting go of your dreams, your desires, your wants, your "needs".

It's saying God, whatever your will for me is, then let that will be. "Not my will, but thine, be done."

The whole purpose of this series is to talk about preparing for the guy that God may have in your future. What is not a better way to start out than saying to God that you give this part of your life, (hopefully along with every other part), to Him. If you ever want a beautifully scripted love story, if you ever want a love story more amazing than you can imagine, you need to leave it up to God. Any love story without God's hand is second rate. Let me tell you why.

Let's go back to the first description I listed at the beginning of this post. Take a good long look at what I wrote. Would you want that to be you? I should hope not. Let's take it a step further. Not only was I planning my future according to the way I THOUGHT I wanted my life to be, but I was giving up any plans that God would have for me. I was basically saying, God, my plans are better, and more joyful, and more awesome. But look at what I wrote. Was I joyful? Were my plans really better? They weren't. I was forfeiting any real, true joy. If God were to ever use me for amazing things, I was saying no to them, because I thought I knew better than Him. As days go by, I realize what a blessing it was that God broke that relationship up. It was a path that neither I or the guy truly wanted. It was what our sin and selfishness wanted. It was a path that was leading to destruction, to pain and sorrow. While we thought we were sowing such happiness, such love and future joy, we were wrong. We were only sowing heartache, pain, and regret, and that's exactly what we reaped.

A while back, in one of my blog posts, I wrote a little about a time long ago in my life, when I was several years younger. I had cried out a plea to God that I wanted to live a life fully given to Him, a life that rose above the mediocre Christianity that is so prominent today. I said God, that's not the life I want to live. I want my life to show that I'm giving everything to YOU! I want YOU to be the center of my life, where all my meaning and purpose derives from.

I believe that day was monumental in my life, and now that I think back about it and back on my relationship with the boy, especially when it ended, I realize that God was answering that prayer of mine, even though along with it came heartache and pain. While I wanted to love and be loved by the boy, God knew that that's not what was going to truly fulfill me - because only HE can. And praise God that He intervened when He did. While I suffered so much heartache and regret, I can't even imagine the heartache that God saved me from!

Referring back to the point of this first part in the series, all the while, for the duration of this relationship I had, I had taken away the pen from God. Rather than letting Him write me a beautiful and incredible love story, I was trying to write it myself. And how terribly I was doing! If you ever want to have a truly beautiful love story, you need to let God be the creator of it. You need to let Him have full reign - not just a little or even a lot. He needs to have it ALL!

We constantly try to have control, try to be the leader in this part of our lives. And I understand, it's really hard not to! It's so easy to assume or think that our planning is better, or "so romantic". But when we do this, all we are really doing is settling for less. We are settling for this world's best, and saying that God's best is somehow not as good, or as fulfilling. What falsehood this is!

I can't stress it enough how important it is to trust God in this area of your life. I know the world is telling you that you "need" a boyfriend, or that you may even feel you're not complete without a guy, but both of these are wrong! Christ is and should be your ALL IN ALL!

If you are still gripping onto this part of your life, I encourage you to let go and let God. Sometimes we worry that if we do this, God is going to bring someone who we don't find attractive, or that we don't find interesting, etc. But if you are truly honest with yourself, would God do that? Does God want you to be unhappy? No!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

I decided that along with what I write, I'll recommend a helpful book or video or some little tidbit.

If you are really struggling with letting go and letting God then I highly encourage you to read:

"When God Writes Your Love Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy
If you know me IRL, then feel free to ask to borrow it... :)

And along with that I'll leave you with this:

Click here to hear a beautiful love story told by Leslie Ludy!

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
Philippians 3:8
Click HERE for the next part in the series! (Modest is Hottest)

The Intercessor

A powerful video by Eric Ludy, Christian author and speaker. Check it out!

When Evil is Found

Last night I was reading in Deuteronomy, currently I am in around chapter 22. Just to give a little background about this book, Moses is accounting all that happened between being freed from slavery in Egypt as well as various events that occurred during their wandering in the wilderness. Along with this, Moses gives praise for God's goodness in rescuing them and Moses also goes over a number of guidelines and laws to follow in order to keep structure and maintain civility. As I was reading, I kept noticing a repeating phrase: "You must purge the evil from among you."

I decided to rewind a couple chapters and count the amount of times I saw this phrase between chapter 17 and 22. I counted a total of nine times. Recently, I have learned that when something in the Bible is said repeatedly, it usually is for a reason - to get the point across that the repeating phrase is truth and should be followed.

With this in mind, I couldn't help but soak up its repetitiveness.

I knew it was for a reason that it was said so many times.

Here we have well over a million, possibly even two million people, and they've just been freed from slavery in Egypt. Now God has to train them to understand and obey a completely different structure. It was very important for Him to lay down these laws, without them there would be very serious issues, sin, and if you boil it down, things would become very disorganized and out of control.

My next thought was: How can I apply this to my life?
There are all sorts of evils in this world. Sin comes in many forms: idolatry, lying, lust, murder, stealing, jealousy, anger, etc. All of us have our own struggles and weaknesses, and all of us are prone to certain temptations.

God made it clear that when evil was found, that it should be purged. I was trying to find the specific meaning for the word "purge" in Deuteronomy but I was having some trouble. After doing some research on the web, my ultimate conclusion was that purge means to purify, or cleanse thoroughly. In some senses it can even mean to prune something. Pruning comes across very strong, for me at least, in the sense that it means something is dead and it must be done away with to keep the entirety of whatever the object (say a plant) healthy.

Returning to my original question, where does the application come in? God made it known that purging or pruning away evil was significant, that it should and must be done. I believe that this same line of logic should apply in our lives as well. If you see evil in your life, a sin you're struggling with, you should purge yourself of it. If you see a friend struggling with a sin, you should hold them accountable and encourage them to purge it from their life. Why is this important? For the same reasons that God told the Israelites to purge the evil. Evil is not just some nice little thing that you want to keep around. It's ugly, it destroys, its entire aim is to wreck havoc in the world, people's lives, in everything! If you follow Christ, you know that sin will not build you up or make you more Christlike, but instead it pulls you away from Him and can even put off your spiritual growth. That is why purging evil and sin is SO important! We all know it's a lot easier said than done, but with God as our stronghold, there is nothing we cannot overcome.

A verse that has been encouraging to me in life is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 which says:

"But he (Jesus) said to me (Paul), “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” ¹⁰Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I challenge you, as a follower of Christ, to take a look at your heart, your life, your mind, your words, your actions, everything, and see where evil may lie. If you find something, and I'm certain you will, then take a long look at it. Why is this evil in your life? How have you let it in? What can you do to be rid of it? What steps can you take to prevent from falling into it again? I encourage you to seek out the prayer and council of others depending on the gravity of this evil as well as receiving accountability from those who you are close to. Accountability can do wonders, wonders I say! It's so incredibly beneficial and can build you up in a way like nothing else can. Find a close and sincere friend or two, and share with them about this evil or struggle you're dealing with. Don't be too ashamed to share, that's the biggest trap of the devil. He wants you to feel stuck in sin, that you can't get out of it, that everyone will think you're a terrible person or that they will only judge you for it. It's not true! If you seek out and share with true lovers and followers of Jesus, they will want to support you, encourage you, and walk through the struggle with you, so that you may see the sweet victory found in Jesus!

"Two are better than one,
   because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
   one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
   and has no one to help them up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Okay, this is just ridiculous!

My Dad and nephew made Spring the Snowman! ;)

IT'S APRIL 2ND, and it's snowing!

WHAT IN THE WORLD!

Two things:

1. Where is that groundhog so I can take care of business with him - mister "Spring is coming soon!"?!?!

2. Okay, so, global warming??? Get real!

That concludes my blog post for today.. but to actually give some substance, check out this song. One of my favorites... :) Original is by Hillsong, but I really like Starfield's version. Enjoy your Saturday!

Lately, I've been wondering..

Why do we pray before we eat a meal?

I mean, now that I think about it, I don't think it's ever really been a "command" per se. It seems more like tradition. My parents prayed, taught me to pray for my food and so now I pray and teach other little ones to pray for their food.

But is there any Biblical reasoning behind this? This is where my question began, and so I decided to do some research.

Here's what others on the web were saying:

"Does it depend on whether or not the one hosting the meal is a Christian? What if we're in the company of non-believers? Do we take into consideration the ratio of Christians to non-Christians gathered at the table? What if I'm the only Christian at the table? Is it a cultural thing? Do Christians the world over pray before they eat? And should the prayer always come before eating? What if the meal was prepared by a really bad cook?"

"[Previously stating the assumptive thought that prayer at every meal is important] Well, ask yourself why you don't pray when you go out for ice cream. Does it depend on the quantity of food you are about to consume?"

"Why is this is done by Christians in restaurants? Is it supposed to be evangelism? If so, it's not effective. If it is truly offering thanks to God for His provision, then doesn't it relate to Mt. 6:5 where the Lord commands that prayers NOT be done on street corners where others can see? When "saying grace" is done in the home, why?...obligation? habit? tradition? sincere heartfelt gratitude?"

"What if the food you are eating is leftovers? Do they need to be re-prayed over? How many times?

I thought all of these were really interesting thoughts, some I never really considered. Ultimately I would ask: Do we treat prayer before a meal as a simple tradition and we do it out obligation?

I would say I am definitely guilty of praying for my meal out of mere obligation. It has almost become a subconscious habit of "Dear God, thank you for this food, bless this food to my body. Amen." There have actually been times when I have prayed something similar to that and then forgot and nearly prayed again. How terrible is that?!
Let's take a look at what the Bible says...

"Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.^"

Matthew 14:18-19

Mark 6:41 also has nearly the exact same wording as this verse.

From this we can see that Jesus, to some extent, gave thanks for his food. Yet still, it made me wonder if there were any other places. The first idea that came to my mind was the Last Supper. So I flipped to Matthew 26:26, and indeed it says...

"...While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples.."

With these verses in mind, I would say that it would certainly be a Christ-like thing to pray before we eat. Seeing that Jesus did it, then surely I can/should as well!

But there is still one problem. Are we truly grateful? Am I truly grateful? What pleases God is a sincere prayer, a sincere heart. Whether it's tradition, commanded in the Bible or whatever it may be, ultimately, doing it with a genuine heart is most important. Sometimes we are in a rush, or we forget, or maybe we may even feel ashamed to pray for our food in front of others. I definitely think that because of the unlimited amount of food we have in America, that we so easily forget how fortunate we really are. Having food is something we really should be extremely grateful for!! Whatever the case, let this be a challenge to you that when you pray for your meals, you pray sincerely - with a genuinely grateful heart. 

Note: All quotes were taken from "Should Christians Pray Before Meals?"