Day 29: Hopes, Dreams and Plans you have for the next 365 days

So, dear readers! As you can tell, this post is the second to last of my thirty day challenge that I started in January. Oops.. I apparently can't stick with something like this y'all. My apologies but I had so many other topics the Lord laid on my heart to share between this challenge. But on to Day 29! 

Hopes, Dreams, and Plans I have for the next 365 days . . . I don't know what this next year brings for me but I do know who holds it. My life is in the hands of the Almighty, and ultimately, He will have His way with my life and what I do. :) It's great to know that He will have His way with me. It takes so much pressure of my shoulders. Just think how much less stress you would have if you didn't have the worry of what your future holds. We only need to place our lives in His hands and trust Him with it!  ^"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) That verse makes me happy and motivates me to live for Christ even more! . . .

My Hopes, dreams, and plans for this next year? . . .I am hoping to impact

more people's lives with the love of Christ. "In the same way, let your light 

shine before others, so that they may see your good works and 

give glory to your Father who is in heaven"  (Matthew 5:16). . .  I want, when 

people look at me, to see Christ and want to glorify Him as well. I fail sometimes like every human out there, but knowing when to pick yourself up and ask God to forgive and 

to help me be more like Him..Our heavenly Father is so good and forgiving. So 

full of love and grace. I know for a fact that as I seek Him more, He will mold me more 

into what I long to be, a servant for Him to glorify His great name to the fullest!  

My Dreams ( or as I like to call them my desires/aspirations ) are definitely held

by my Jesus in His hands and will present them to me when the right time 

comes. "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your

heart. (Psalm37:4). . . When we take pleasure in glorifying and delighting ourselves 

in Christ, He takes pleasure in granting us the things we desire most for. 

He wants to see us happy. So to that, I know that my desires will be given to me when 

God knows I'm ready for them! No sooner, no later. :D 

My Plans. . .boy do I have plans. haha..For one, I plan on memorizing more scripture. 

In the past it seemed harder for some reason. I thought to  Myself, "Why is it so

 easy to memorize lyrics to my favourite songs and quotes yet harder to memorize

 scripture?" When I would think of memorizing scripture, I  thought to myself "Where 

do I even begin?". . .but recently I have had the chance to have someone challenge me 

to want to learn scripture more and more and make it easier by showing me to just take it once verse at a time and grow with Christ as I learn each verse. Not getting

 overwhelmed but to feel the impact of each verse that I learn. I am so thankful to have that

person challenging my faith and by that, growing closer with my Jesus!!

Anything I hope for, dream, and plan on doing will all be looked over by my Jesus. He has been so good to me, blessing me in so many ways. . . I am inexpressibly grateful! I know my Jesus has great plans for each of you and me! We just need to make sure the life we are living, is living for Him and Him alone! And we need to live for Christ in the moment and not worry about what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future. Not worrying. We know what God says about that -> " Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34). . . Let's live in this moment, not neglecting to tell the people around us how much they mean to us, because we are not promised tomorrow. Try not to leave quarrels or falling outs left  un-mended. (“In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,) -Ephesians 4:26. . .We should try our hardest to live in peace " If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. " (Romans 12:18-19). . . So what I'm trying to get out of all this is, We know what the Lord wants from us (Christians)..We need to try to live in the most Godliest ways giving Him all the glory and trusting Him with our futures. He has each of our lives in the palm of His hands and wont let us go. 

That pretty much sums up my hopes, dreams, and plans for this next year. There's more I didn't mention..but If I did, this post would never end. ;D I hope everyone is well and having a wonderful Christmas holiday 

My Life : September & October

Wow!! It's been a while since I blogged with pictures of my daily life. Time has been flying by so quickly it's crazy to think about!! These past couple months have been so amazing! God is so good and His blessings never cease! I've never felt closer with my Jesus and pray as time goes on, that our relationship will grow more deep and precious. I have had the best encouragement and uplifting words from my Christian friends ( My dear brothers and sisters in Christ ). . . I thank each one of you for being there for me and challenging me to be a better Christian..

Before I go on sharing photos that I have taken randomly throughout the past two months (Most of them you may recognize from Instagram), I just wanted to share this song by Hilsong. You can play it as you scroll down and look at that photos I have shared. :) 

Stand In Awe - Hillsong

*  *  *

A few drawing I did in my free time in September =)

 2:00 a.m. photos...gotta love um ;)

<3 This girl <3

My Best friend..! 

Working off two hours sleep there :/

~ You always make me smile ~

 It's that time again.. lots and lots of Soup

~ I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. ~ (Psalm 27:13)

 

Better than all this world

Better than all I know
Better than life itself
Your love is
All that I have is Yours
All that I'm living for
All that I need is You Lord

You are better than life
Than anything in this world

You are all that I want
In everything You are good
I stand in awe of all that You are
I stand in awe of You

Everything unto You
Everything held by You
All of our hope is in You Jesus
Nothing compares to You
Nothing will take Your place
All of our trust is in You Lord

All of my heart
All that I am
Worship

Jesus

Hillsong - Stand in Awe

† Jesus Heals †

Today, I'll share with y'all a true story. ;)  It starts out a little sad but I'll give a hint ( it doesn't last like that for very long ;) ) I really hope each of you, as you read this, feel how effective God's love can be and how He can work in your life in the best possible way!!

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There was this young lady, who had a past, and her past brought a lot of pain in her life when she would think on it. It hurt a lot and left a lot of sadness and heartbreak. Even long after God helped her through the pain and hurt and forgiving, she would still have flashbacks of what she went through. Because of the things this girl went through, it left her with a trusting issue. This trust issue stopped her from building relationships with new people. She would feel like she couldn't trust or depend on anyone without feeling like they'd turn on her at some point. The only person she turned to was her personal Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was always there for her with open arms, ready for her to run into. He comforted her in the hardest times and He helped her with so much and to get through so many things with His unfailing love. She knew that God wanted her to make godly, Christian friends, but because of this trust issue this girl dealt with, it kept her from making new friends.

So one evening, the girl started talking with a friend on this issue. The girl started telling her friend why she had these feelings. How she couldn't go through building friendships and then getting hurt by them, how she couldn't go through it physically, mentally, or emotionally again. Her friend had the perfect answer for her..Here's what this person told her... That the past was the past, she needed to face it. she couldn't let it take any more of her present. She needed to let go of any bad memories that she had. That the people and the events from the past, is just it, the past! ("Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)) She couldn't let it take any more of her thoughts or time. She needed to stop letting it bring her down and stop letting it keep her from building new relationships.  But most of all, She needed to give God her whole past and let Him mend her heart fully. Of any past hurt, heartbreak, and trust issues she had...

The girl didn't realize that even though she forgave everyone of her past and let go of everything that kept her back, she didn't let God truly mend her heart fully..enough to not let the past creep back into her thoughts and to stop holding her back from trusting others.. So this young ladie's friend told her to do these things: Play this song  (I surrender - by Hillsong) and pray HARD, asking God to take away her past and ask Him to mend her heart.

{ I Surrender - Hillsong }

She did just that. She played that song loud on her headphones so no sound could distract her, kneeling down, with arms stretched wide reaching towards heaven, as she sang along to the lyrics and praying at the same time. Feeling each word and the strength of them. Desperate to be filled with His love and mercy. She knelt there, surrendering herself to her Lord. As tears flowed down her cheeks, she told God she was ready to give up the memories that caused her to have trust issues and gave Him her whole past and her whole self. Everything that held her back, she gave to Him. As she cried out to the Lord, she could feel Him taking away her whole past. She could feel Him mending her heart like never before. She just kept saying, "Lord have your way in me". It moved her so much, the tears couldn't stop flowing (out of happiness)!.. She couldn't be more thankful and happy. She was so grateful for her friend to pray with her and had this amazing experience of God's mercy that took away the thing that held onto her so tightly. That her past hurt was gone! And now she could trust again!

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If you caught on or was wandering, yes, that story was based on me and my amazing experience of God's great mercy and love that happened recently. I wanted to share this story with all of you because lately, I've been having so many people tell me how much hurt they're going through right now or went through and just don't know how to feel like that part of they're life is over and just want to start living in the now for Christ, letting go of the past. One huge part of this process of having peace again is Forgiving. Forgivness is such a huge part of a Christian's walk with Christ and moving on in life from those who hurt you. ¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matt. 6:14-15). You can't move on in life having this burden hanging over you because you haven't forgiven your past and the people in it...I have this huge heart for God and wanting to please Him..He forgave me of my sins and died on the cross way before I repented of my sins.. "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)."  So I, out of love, forgave anyone and anything from my past. When you forgive, it has to come out of a heart that truly means it. You haven't truly forgiven if your heart didn't really mean it..With all my heart, I love those who have hurt me and I pray for them all the time.
¹² 

I'm overjoyed that God mended my heart, wiped away my past, and took away my trust issue. "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." ( John 14:13). I now see that I need to build friendships that are established on the same thing and priority. Which is honoring Christ in everything we say and do and giving God all the glory.

 So with what God has done for me and shared with me to share with all of you who have a past that you no longer want, I really advise you to get into deep prayer ( also, if you have someone that you're close to, ask them to pray along with you ). Cry out to Jesus and ask Him to take away all the pain that Satan has caused. Plead to Him to mend your heart from hurt and to fill it with His love. Search your heart and surrender to God. Have the Love like Christ to forgive those of your past and really mean it with a heart full of love for them. You'll gain so much in return for obeying Christ.

~ It's a incomparable feeling to Have our Lord Jesus fill you up with His love that never ends and for Him to work in your life so powerfully. I want each of you to feel it..The power of prayer is so mighty and strong..God calls each of you to come to Him..if you haven't, break down and surrender to the One who gave Himself for you. There's no greater joy. ~

- He's got us taken care of -

What is it to truly rely on Christ and His timing..This has always been hard for me to fully grasp. It's hard not knowing answers when you want to know them now, or not knowing why things are happening the way they are but you just want to feel comfort in knowing how things will turn out. Well recently, I've felt the LORD telling me to fully rely on Him..On His timing, on how He will move in my life. If you know me, I really can't handle waiting for answers. I like to find them out then and there or at least try to, but lately, I can feel God saying "Rachel, please don't worry about it. I have everything under control. Everything and everyone I have placed in your life is here for a reason. Don't worry My child. I have done and given you these things because they have a purpose.. and I will reveal them to you in My perfect timing when I know you're ready for it. Take comfort in Me right now and keep faith and trust in Me.. I won't let you down"... I'm not sure if you understand, but when He speaks to me and I hear this, I get all emotional ( we girls have our moments ;) ) because it's such a miraculous thing to hear God speaking to you. It truly does give me comfort when I realize that God has placed everything and everyone in my life for a reason and even if I don't know what tomorrow, next month, or next year will bring, I can take joy and comfort in knowing that God will work things out for those who truly love Him and want His will for our lives. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28). That is not promising that it wont be tough. I'm sure each of you reading this has something in life where there's uncertainty. Everyone does. Not sure where things are going in your life or when God will move in certain areas.. It will get really hard not knowing things.. but all this leads to one thing. Relying on Christ. . . 

We need to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus Christ, the King of all Kings, Our  Lord of all the Earth is holding us in His mighty hands, Never to let us go.  "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded." (Hebrews 10:35)  We need to keep our faith in Him up with a spirit of rejoicing. Because there in Hebrews it says we need to keep our confidence(Faith) high in Christ because when we do, He will reward us with what we desire in Him. That includes keeping our confidence and faith in how He will bless us, when he will reveal the things we want revealed (His timing is perfect), And we need to know that all we do will be done for the Glory of Christ. 

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It is important for you to have like minded Christians helping you be lifted in God's word and encouraging you in your walk with Christ. To help reassure you that your not alone in this world and that we are going to continue to walk with Christ throughout the good and bad times. Always being a blessing and loving each other.  I am blessed to have my friends and family here to help encourage me in Christ and lift me up with scripture. "Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future." (Proverbs 19:20). Even friends that I haven't known long, it's a blessing that I've met you. Because having a friend that I've not known long but has helped uplift and motivate me to become a better Christian is better than having a friend your whole life who has not been an encouragement to Christ and who is leading you away from Him. The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)

And I love this song ( The Struggle - by Tenth Avenue North ) for so many reasons... Because we are free, we are free to struggle. We are Children of the Lord struggling in this world, dropping dead weights as we continue to sing praises to Jesus. And yes, we Christians will still have to struggle in this world but Jesus' might blood He shed, washes us clean. ^"for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for manyfor the forgiveness of sins." (Matt. 26:28). So as we continue to rely on Christ and what great things He has planned for us, let us keep our hands help high and voices singing to the One who gave us life and continues to bless us, even when we can't see it just yet. His wonderful plans will reveal in Christ's perfect timing. 

 

Heaven bound

As I woke this morning and walked outside, the weather screamed out "fall is here". I have waited all year for weather like this! So I am so grateful for this weather and want to enjoy as much of it as I can! :) So for my morning devotion, I grabbed my bible, some coffee, and my thoughts and sat outside soaking in the sunshine, breeze and nature around me. Right now, In my morning devotions, I'm reading through Psalm.. Today was Psalm 84. As I read this chapter and after, I felt restored, refreshed and invigorated as to what's to come! I'll share a few of the verses I read this morning. When I'm reading through Psalm, I read really slowly and taking in every word that is there..because there is so much information and words with meaning in there. So the verses I share with you, please take the time to let them sink in. Feel the power of them and how strong just a few words are. here is Psalm 84:1-2...

   

How lovely is Your tabernacle,

O Lord of hosts!
 My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Yes! My heart and flesh is crying out for Jesus..Wanting to be with Him in His courts, in Heaven. Longing, yearning, wanting to be in the presence of the Almighty. . When I think of Heaven, I think of how pleasant it will be, how wonderful it will be to have knowledge like never before. To have no more trouble, hard times, or sorrows like we often have here on earth...Everything and Everyone will be perfect. What a thought. I mean really, perfect is a word we cannot use here on earth unless we are referring to Jesus Christ. He is truly the only One perfect."As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him" (Psalm 18:30)" So to one day have the knowledge like Him is mind boggling! . . Here is some more verses from Psalm 84:10-12...

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in

 the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness 

For the Lord God

is a sun and shield; the Lord will give

grace and glory; no good 

thing will withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts,

Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Yes, one day in heaven would be better than a thousand anywhere else. Wouldn't you agree?! ;) I also find so much comfort in this part "no good thing will withhold from those who walk uprightly". Being a true believer, we need to follow what God commands us to do. Yes, we will surely fall down but we need to acknowledge when we fall down and then pick ourselves up again asking God for forgiveness. We are imperfect persons living in an imperfect world, but being a Christian, you will know what is right from wrong in God's eyes and you will want to strive to do right before the Lord. You will feel conviction from the Holy Spirit and the main thing is, that we strive to be like Christ in all of our ways. ^"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Philippians 3:12). The Lord knows we will have bumps in the road that causes us to sin but He also will know who continued to ask for forgiveness and made the effort to walk uprightly before Him. God can not stand Fake Christians. Those who speak of God and then live like the world, you can't truly be saved. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)  See, many will live there lives acting as Christians yet are lying to themselves. God is a merciful God but He is also just. He gives people what they deserve, like a good Judge.


I'm not here trying to talk down about people who are truly not Christians, rather try and give hope that there is a truer way to Salvation that actually leads to eternity in the most high place with our Creator.  It is so very important to know that you have a close relationship with Christ. To live out the Bible to your fullest, giving it your all. "But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." (Luke 11:29)  That your mission here on earth isn't to please yourself, but please God. We are here to encourage, uplift, train, mentor, and bring people to truth about God. "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3:13). We are here not to hate, but to Love everyone Like Christ has loved us. If we are to be like Christ, we need to try and love like Him. Think of all the love Jesus had/has for us. He loved each and every one of us so much that He died an unspeakable death so that we ( anyone who comes to Him ) might have eternal life through Him in heaven. He loved us so much, that He didn't want to see us end up living eternity in hell. (John 3:16).  So He gave His life, to the ones ( like me before I accepted Christ in my life ) who spat at His face, who mocked Him, who tortured Him and nailed Him to a cross. After we did that, what does the Lord say? "Then said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do'..." (Luke 23:34)  . . .That, people, is what you call true love. I know if that was me, I wouldn't have forgiven them. I would have had more hate in my heart than I could bare. But you see, He went through all of that so we don't have to hate, so that we can love those who persecute us, who beat, hurt, mock us.. That one day we can glorify God in Heaven. That is true definition of LOVE. . .

{ Please listen to this worship song :) }

One of my favourite thing to do is get lost in worship. Music is definitely a big thing for me but more than the actual music, it's the time I have with God and the lyrics I sing to glorify Him. To listen to worship music while eyes closed and feeling God's presence all around me. It's a feeling I wouldn't trade for anything. After I read through my morning verses, I played a song that was on shuffle hoping to get a good worship song with meaningful lyrics. And wow, Did I! ( the song I'm sharing with y'all ) I have only heard this song once before, but right there, surrounded by God's creation after reading those verses about Heaven, I went into total worship mode.  I didn't want to come out of it. . . Ever. I wish I could stay right there praising God until He comes back. Then I was thinking, "Wow, if I love it right here praising God in my back yard surrounded by fresh air and worship music, and to think heaven is going to be so, so much better! "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9) It excites me people! We need to share our excitement with others. We want others to see how much peace we have in knowing we have a Saviour who holds us in His hands and will never let us go. Unbelievers will see this peace in our hearts and know that something is different about us. Curiosity gets the best of most of us, hm? ;) So maybe just us acting as Christians should, will bring someone to Christ. And not just showing God's love while out in public, but around the clock, because we will want to.  

I thank each of you for reading through my posts that are always typed out of what the Lord lays on my heart to share. I also encourage you to take a few minutes to be alone with just you and God. Turn on the song I've shared and have this precious time alone with Him, worshiping His name. It's a feeling no amount of money can buy. 

Blessing to each of you! <3

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!!