Distractions?

This day and age, let's face it, is nothing like 10, 15, 20..etc years ago. Sometimes I like to daydream me living when times were simpler. When things didn't go so fast. When this world didn't have so many problems as it does now. And when most everything and everyone was brought up on a biblical foundation. Most of all, away from all the distractions that we have so many these days. . . I'll give y'all a good example { Technology }. Now don't get me wrong, technology has helped so many people in a so many ways. My computer and iPod have been a blessing to me. I have had the chance to share my beliefs to others, help minister to those willing to listen, and have made dear friends, all from technology! But technology has also brought a lot of wrong in this world. I won't go into every single thing that it has brought bad into this world but more of one issue that disturbs me very much. One of the biggest things that God didn't intend was for us to be distracted from growing closer with our Savior  or hurting others with our devisees (computers, phones, iPods, ..etc). So many people ( even Christians ) are being taken in by the things of this world that we forget what our main priority in life should be. ^"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." ( Romans 12:2...one of my fav. ) 

I recently read this quote, "Have you prayed as much as talked about it?" Or "Compare the time you spend on your electronics today and then how much time you spent in God's word today". Because "you can't watch TV for three hours and then read three minutes of the bible and expect to grow spiritually" (another quote I found). And if we do spend a lot of time on our electronics, how are we spending it? We need to make sure that everything we do brings glory to God. Have your words hurt or healed? What do our conversations mostly consist of? Are they pleasing to God? We only have one short life on this earth to make a difference. We need to continually ask ourselves "Is what or who I am talking about pleasing to you, Lord? Will this hurt or lift someone up? "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken." ( Matthew 12:36 ).  

I made the decision to use the technology I have, to make a difference in this world. I am not going to use it just because everyone else has "this or that", but I'm using it to glorify God and bring people to see truth. I have promised God that I will not use technology to hurt others but lift others up in Christ. "These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;" ( Zechariah 8:16 ). . .  As you may well know, prayer is essential for a Christian's life. Having that one on one time with God is so very important. Even in prayer time, there are distractions. Satan will use even the simplest things to stop us form growing closer with our Lord. I have learned, to truly get deep into the word and prayer without distractions, I must seclude myself with just my bible and a quiet room.  . . Just God and me. Leaving out any devices that would be a distraction. I mean, if I had my iPod sitting right next to me while I was reading the word, then hear a "tweet" or "ding" or see my screen light up because so and so liked my picture or left a comment. I'm human, curiosity would get the best of me as I wandered "hmm, wandered who texted or tweeted me, what did he/she say?" and then my distraction would break. so because of that, I make a point to put away everything that would break my focus with the Lord.

God will see what effort you are trying to get closer with Him. How you don't want to be distracted from Him. That a relationship with Him is more important than anything else. So if He knows how much you really want that relationship with him, then He is going to grant you more opportunities to be used by Him. 

I will leave ya'll with a favourite song of mine! I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I do. It describes just what I was trying to say in this post.. plus, the lyrics = Amazing! 

Have a blessed weekend!!

Day 28: A scar you have and it's story

I am determined to get this 30 day challenge finished. ;) I don't think I have ever seen someone let a 30 day challenge last longer than 8 months,  but I have, and I apologize. . . 

I found todays challenge to be a little tricky because I have plenty scars on this earthly body of mine. :( from cuts and burns to chicken pox scars and all of those every day sort of accident scars. I think of it like, "hey, there's a story that goes with each scar we have. Good or bad" ( mostly bad haha ) but there is definitely one story that pops in my head most when I think of any scars I have. So below I will obey this challenge's commands and give a story about my the scars that left a mark on me and my memory. 

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It was a normal Thursday in March of 2010.. I had gone to work ( at a restaurant I worked at then ) for my typical evening shift. I was feeling well all day, nothing stopping me from doing everything that I usually did on a daily basis. About an hour after I clocked in at work, I had the slightest pain in my stomach. I really didn't think anything about it because I had always suffered with stomach problems even as a young child. . As the evening grew older and older, my stomach pains were getting worse and worse. I was thinking in the back of my mind what this pain might be from. I even thought maybe it was the catfish I ate for dinner but my pain started hours before that. By the time I got home (around 11:00 p.m.-ish)  I cried myself to my parent's bedside asking my mom what this pain might be. I had never felt it before. I felt bad because I knew they really couldn't do anything to help my pain go away and probably felt helpless because of that. I told my parents that I would try to go to sleep and see if I would feel better in the morning. I was trying to toughen up because I knew that I would have to go through more pain in my life than just a "bad stomach ache". I walked up to my room, hunched over, holding my side, because that was the only way I could walk. Usually if I don't feel well, after a long night's sleep I would feel really refreshed, but that night I couldn't go to sleep from this excruciating pain that kept on. I remember just crying out to the Lord all night long as I kept moving side to side because no position I could get in would be comfortable. That was one of the longest nights I had been through..sleepless, in the worse pain I had ever felt. I didn't want to wake my parents because they were both sleeping and had a busy day. Finally around six in the morning, I got out of my bed because I couldn't handle the pain any longer, walked to where we keep our books and picked up one about the human body. I started reading what organs were where and so on... I took the book to my mom and asked her to look at it as I showed her where my pain was. I remember her saying "Rachel, we are bringing you to the hospital as soon as you can get your things together. I think where you're pointing is your appendix but I want to be sure" The thought of going to the emergence room gave me a quiver but I new that that would be best because I could barely handle the pain any longer. . 

In the car, every bump on the road felt like it was meant to hurt me. That 25 minute drive felt like hours. We finally got to the ER, they took all my basic info and asked ordinary questions, finally put me in a room, got into a hospital gown and waited for the doctor to see me. After the Doc. saw me, he wanted a CT Scan done because he had a really good idea what was wrong with me. I had to wait about almost two hours for the CT Scan. Once they took the scan, the Doctor came in and confirmed that I had Appendicitis and that they were going to need to do an emergence surgery. In 2009 I had the stomach virus and the pain from that was quite similar but not the least intense as it was right there. So yes, I was in fear. I know the doctors do surgery every day to people but them doing it on me was a just scary thought. I kept praying and praying that God would put his hand over my body. I remember right before going into surgery, they had started pumping me up with all sorts of medicine. A scary thought was that they said they gave me something that they give pregnant women for pain because the morphine wouldn't help in the least bit. I literally felt like I was levitating and spinning around. the most peaceful part was when they rolled me into the room where they would do surgery and the anesthesiologist spoke softly to me until I had dosed off.  I remember dreaming while in surgery. I was walking in field with really tall grass and feeling the most pretty breeze and sunshine. just feeling the warmth of the earth on my bare feet. It was really neat.

Waking from surgery broke that nice dream with pain worse than when I went in. They couldn't give me any medicine for pain until I woke. I can't actually remember getting rolled into my room or the rest of the day really. it was all a blur. But I do remember that I felt as if I were a patient in one of those doctor movies. It was so weird because the hospital was rarely seen by my family or me. After the surgery, the doctor said that after they took the CT scan, my appendix had gotten even worse where it almost burst. It sounds all icky and nasty but once it does that, it can lead to infection in the whole body and then worse. They didn't plan on it getting as bad as it did, so the surgery lasted even loner than expected. I am just thankful I was asleep for all of this. . .

I also remember being put on a clear liquid diet for four days. The thought of living off of apple juice and chicken broth was bad enough but then when my parents and siblings brought poboys, salads, and other foods that smelt so good into the room for dinner, I was being tortured! haha they had to eat too ;) The day after my surgery, my doctor came and checked me but saw that I wasn't healing like I should be, so I had to stay at the hospital another day and a half. 

It took me over a week of bed rest to heal. I had to fight the "getting off the pain medicine" and making sure I didn't catch pneumonia. Walking straight again was tough, but each day I pushed myself. I hadn't yet seen what the surgery left on me. I was wrapped in bandage and had to be careful it didn't come off. A week after surgery I had to go see my doctor for the last time to get my stitches out. One word explains it. P.a.i.n.f.u.l.! He didn't even tell me he was pulling them out. You can probably guess I wasn't happy in the least bit. I finally got to see the scars that were left on my tummy. Three of them. not big ( two are like, 1/2 inch and one is an inch ) but they'll always remind me of that time in my life. 

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The one think I'm most grateful for is that God was protecting me through everything. He didn't let the surgery go wrong, He didn't let me get pneumonia, He healed me, and I now have those scars to remind me of that. His healing hand that touches us all the time. We will have to suffer from pain while living in this world. Many painful things will happen to us, wether that be physical or emotional, or in most cases, both... But as Christians, we have this huge advantage that makes me smile at the thought of it. This verse explains it so perfectly ‘'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ( Revelation 21:4 )  Won't that be amazing. The thought of no more death, pain, or crying because all of that will be gone when He takes us up with Him to live with Him forever. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes!! He is so awesome and worthy to be praised. . . 

Great Are You Lord

You know that feeling when you're reassured? . . . Reassured in Christ, that because you are His child, He won't let you down. That feeling when someone reassures you that, hey! just live for God and his wonderful will and then you will know that He has great plans for you and you need only give yourself fully to Him. . . Yes, I love that feeling! Another feeling I love is when I go to church to hear my paster preach his heart out for us. He is so gifted in the area of explaining the Bible so well that you understand so clearly what God commands us to do and how to live for Him. How to live a godly life that is pleasing to the Lord. Also, he is not afraid to teach on sin. I find that a lot of churches these days really don't want to teach on that topic because they might loose/scare off people... So the fact that he is not ashamed to preach truth just excites me! . . . I took as many notes as I could to share with y'all. 

He was teaching on the Book of Habakkah ( I will admit that I haven't read that book of the bible before, but once he started teaching on it, I was like, "wow! I was missing out" ) . .  He taught on  6 discourses... Here we go :)

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1.) The theme of Habakkah is "To live by faith in God's sovereignty even if we don't understand." . . .  I know there were many times where I would not fully understand why God would allow bad things to happen to me. I know I am a child of God.. He said He would take care of me. But I realized that I have to put all my faith in God, even when I have no clue where things are going in my life. I can't live by the standards of things or people of this world but live by Faith. I may not understand His will right now for my life, but He does and has great plans for me... And this goes for anyone who is a true believer in Jesus Christ. And that leads us to the next part. 

2.) "It is okay to ask God questions but He is not obligated to answer them" - Oh, this one definitely hit home for me. I am sure we have all asked God many questions. But we can't expect God to answer any of our questions right after we ask. Because we can be asking something that He is not obligated to answer because he might have a better answer for you in another area .That is why it is very important that when we ask God questions, we have to always ask it according to His will. I have asked God questions before that I thought He would answer because I figured that God would answer in the way I wanted, but I was wrong. I did not ask it according to His will and I was only thinking of myself. I think another reason why He didn't answer that question was because He wanted to humble me. But I do believe that He is going to answer that prayer/question but it will be according to His will and it will be WAY better than what I was asking for first.  

3.) "Trust that God is working even when we can't see" - As Christians, we definitely have to have this mindset. We can not be discouraged. When we can't really see God working in our lives, that is when Satan creeps in and wants us to think that God doesn't care about our problems and isn't worried about us. We need to flee those thoughts and continue to tell each other that God, right now, is working in and through each and every one of our lives. 

4.) "Trust that God will judge sin in His timing" - My paster explained this so well. If someone claims to be saved and sins (here are some examples : does bad by someone, hurts others with words, does things secretly to hurt others, lies ) then their sin will find them out. They are not hiding it from God. "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17)   God sees and hears all. I mean, if you are a true believer, you wont want to do those things. So if you aren't saved ( or you may think you are but truly haven't given your life to Christ ) and keep sinning, God will bring justice to those who commit the sins. They will be found out either here on earth or on judgment day. But they will be judged. So when someone continues to try and hurt me, I keep reassuring myself that God will have his justice in His timing. I am relying on His timing for everything. Because His timing is PERECT! 

5.) "Are you broken?" - Are we truly broken and humble for the Lord? Are we offering ourselves fully to God? No strings attached to this world. Willing to do anything for Him..No going in half way. We need to be willing to fully rely on God. We need to be fully submissive to Him. Giving our everything to glorify Him.  

6.) - "Are you living in sin?" - Something that we need to do every day is examine ourselves. Say, "Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours". . .  I continue to say "Lord, if what I am doing is going against what you called me to do, take it away, throw it out. If it does not glorify you, break it away and cleanse me with your love" . . . I urge you to really ask yourself if your lifestyle or how you act is God honoring and Christ like. Because soon and very soon, the Lord is coming back to take all His children up into the clouds. I would hate to see anyone be left here when I had a chance to tell them about God and His gracious ways. How He can save you from an eternal life of misery. That there is hope in Jesus Christ. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) . . . He died on that cross for whoever would believe in Him. It is never too late. Don't let anything, not even pride get in the way of acknowledging and confessing our sins. Do right to others, help each other out. Continue to ask yourself "would I do this if Jesus were standing right here in this room" but again, we forget sometimes that God sees and hears everything we do. . .

Until next time my dear followers, I'll leave y'all with a very beautiful song. 

God bless y'all!

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We sang this song this morning. 

One thing I love is to worship my God with songs of praise!

~ A True Friend Is. . . ~

This Post pretty much describes itself by its title. :D  I believe the Lord really wanted me to type this post up to share with others. You may wonder,  "How do you know He was wanting you to type a post about friendship". . . At first, I wasn't really sure what my next post was going to be on. I usually wait until the Lord gives me the words and things to type on. I look to Him. I type what I know He want's me to type. Well, recently quite a few people ( followers, friends ) mentioned to me that I should really think about doing a post on friendship. After them telling me that, I was like, "Lord, thank you for laying this on my heart". :) Each time, He has His own way of showing me what He wants me to write about. 

First, I'd like to start out by saying that apparently, this is going to be typed from a Christian's perspective of  the definition of friendship. Not through the world's eyes but through Christ's, and what He sees as what a true friend should be. . . There is a difference between the world's and God's idea of friendship. So here is what a true Christian friendship should look like. . .

I will first start out by writing the type of people God wants His children to spend most of their time with. If you are a true Christian, then you should be spending most of your time with fellow believers. I am not saying that you should never be around unbelievers, because then we would never be able to be a light in this fallen world or ever witness to anyone. What I mean is, we should be carful with who we hang around and spend most of our time with, or who we call friends. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says "Do not be misled, 'Bad company corrupts good character' ".  This verse isn't just talking about thieves, alcoholics, and criminals... it is also saying, do not spend time with those who speak wrong about others, those who gossip, blaspheme God's name, curse, and act as hypocrites. Because I have personally seen people who were persuaded into the worldly acts because they started spending more time with those who did those things that I stated up above. "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. ( Proverbs 13:20 )"  Even I had to deal with that.. I mean, who hasn't fallen into sin? But I asked the Lord to forgive me, and He did! . . . I had to learn that you have to be very careful when choosing friends. "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24)  . . . If you want to have a lasting true friendship, then both people will have to have the same priorities in life. That is to honor God in all that we do and give Him the glory. So what makes a lasting true friendship? . . .

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid ofall bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32) 

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"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. - John 15:12-15

We should have a love for each other like Christ loves us. We should be willing to do anything for our friends. like Jesus died on the cross for us, we should be willing to do the same. . . 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is one of the most important things in a friendship. We should love our friends as Christ loves His church. And our friends should have that same passion. So. . .

{ a true friend will be kind, not easily enticed by jealousy, does not dishonor others or is easily angered. A true friend will not hold on to past wrongs but forgive. True friends will not delight in doing wrong but takes pleasure in doing right. A true friend will always defend for what's true and right, always hopes and prays with us for God's will. . . A true friend's love for each other will never fail, because Christ's love never fails us. }

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I'm sure that we all have had broken friendships. Many of my friends have told me that they had to go through falling out with friends as well. . . Why does this happen so often? Because Satan is out to destroy anything and anyone in his path. If you had to go through that and believe that you were right in Christ's eyes, maybe it was God's will that you be separated from the people you parted with. We don't see the future and we can't see God's plan in our life ahead of time. He does. He could be saving you from more pain, heartache, or danger by taking you out of those people's lives. We just need to learn to trust God's will in our lives and rely on Him to bring the right type of people into our lives to become true, godly friends.

 I have had to learn this and it has brought me closer to my Jesus. I made my Lord to be my truest, best friend. Whom I put first in my life. And let me tell you something people, Jesus Christ is the bestest friend you could ever ask for. :) He will never leave nor forsake you. He is there when you have good and bad times. He will never let you down when everyone else in your life does. He is our Saviour, Father, King, Holy One. One who will never get tired of us expressing our feelings and He will always be there to hear our cries. All of this while He embraces us in His arms. . . Who can ask for a better friend than Him? :)

 After I gave everything to Him and put all my trust in His will for my life; when I decided to let Him take over and decide who would be taken out of my life and who He would put in it; then, just then did I realize that before, I wanted things my way but God had other plans for my life. He gave me understanding, and through everything the Lord allowed to happen in my life, He has brought true, Christian friends into my life. I couldn't be more thankful for how the Lord has worked in and through my life.

I'll end this post with a heart felt prayer. . .

Dear heavenly Father,

I want to take this time to thank you for

the amazing people you put into my life. 

They have all truly been a blessing and I can't

keep from thanking You enough for them.

For placing them in my life at just the right time.

Because Lord, your timing is always perfect and 

and I now understand why you allow things to happen

 to people who truly love You and want to follow

 Your will in their lives.

Thank you Lord for never leaving my side. 

For being me closest Friend in even the hardest times.

...

Lord, please mold me into the person You want me to be. 

Please use me as much as You can to be a light in this world. 

Above all, everything I say and do, let it honor and glorify You Lord. 

And help me make a difference in this world I live in. 

In Jesus' name I pray. . . Amen