I don't usually listen to "oldies" but I do enjoy The Beatles... A lot. The lyrics in the song "Hey Jude" are just so great. It says take a sad song and make it better. One of my favorite lines because you can not only take a sad song and make it better but you can do that with anything! You can take a sad day and make it better. You can take a hard/bad situation and make it better. You can do anything I guess is what it's saying, and that just really gives me hope. Stuff like this always just puts me in the best mood. It reminds me of something God is saying to me..
"Don't be afraid"
"You were made to go out and get her" (the world?)
"Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better." (JESUS!)
It's perfect just perfect.
And then it starts...
Naa na na na na na naaaaa Hey Jude! And then you're just like dang this is just right. Life is good. And then, I find comfort.. And nothing at all to complain about in this beautiful, amazing life. Would you like to sing along?
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
And smile? I just might.
These past couple of days have been pretty rough. When I start going through a drift- it's hard to get out. The only way of getting out of it is through full and devoted prayer. I tried, but it just wasn't seeming to work. I felt so far away from the Lord and from His love. I felt unworthy when someone asked me if they could be praying for me. I felt useless and unwanted. It wasn't a good feeling at all. I realized I was trying to fill my cup up with so many Godly things like podcasts, praying, reading, reading reading and reading! It got to the point where everything I was doing was going in one ear... And you know the rest. I was just upset and I needed OUT of the mess. The early morning devo's seemed to have become simply a habit- and I was told by a friend to not make it like a "chore" but a lifestyle, and it hit me that really this is not just a religion, but a whole entire lifestyle! And a great one at that. Last night at church the lesson was on "distractions." At first I was like well yeah we all have a lot of distractions. But then I was like wow, I am going through a big distraction right now, I need this! I learned that if you let the distraction come over you- you will cease to learn, cease to succeed, cease to live! That didn't sound good to me so I kicked this two day distraction in the butt, and this morning I had one of the best times with the Lord.. EVER! Here's a little bit of what I learned..
Our Lords exhortation (or arguments/agreements) is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone.
"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." (1 John 1:7) even to those who we have no affection toward!
If you show others what God has showed you- He will give you plenty of real like opportunities to prove whether or not you are "Perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
And my favorite part of the devo was when it said,
"And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all."
That stood out to me so much because it seemed like God was telling me exactly that- that even when I go through distractions I don't need to worry because we are so wonderfully poised because of God's wonderful grace!
And then I'm reminded of this:
"Do not worry. Learn to pray about everything. Give thanks to God as you ask him for what you need. The peace of God is much greater than the human mind can understand. This peace will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 4:6-7
After I prayed that God would pull me out of this drift I was brought extreme comfort by Him. I have never felt this so affectively before, and God is really teaching me now that I don't need to worry, because of the power of prayer and His wonderful, wonderful grace.
Our Lords exhortation (or arguments/agreements) is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone.
"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." (1 John 1:7) even to those who we have no affection toward!
If you show others what God has showed you- He will give you plenty of real like opportunities to prove whether or not you are "Perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
And my favorite part of the devo was when it said,
"And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all."
That stood out to me so much because it seemed like God was telling me exactly that- that even when I go through distractions I don't need to worry because we are so wonderfully poised because of God's wonderful grace!
And then I'm reminded of this:
"Do not worry. Learn to pray about everything. Give thanks to God as you ask him for what you need. The peace of God is much greater than the human mind can understand. This peace will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 4:6-7
After I prayed that God would pull me out of this drift I was brought extreme comfort by Him. I have never felt this so affectively before, and God is really teaching me now that I don't need to worry, because of the power of prayer and His wonderful, wonderful grace.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Faithful Pleasures
I finally had all this time today to just relax.. It gave me time to pray and to spend some good time with the Lord. I opened up my "Utmost for His Highest" (daily devo, highly recommended.) It overwhelms me when I miss days and the pages are blank, so I don't go by date. Just what I've missed. This evening, I read about how we can't be exactly how God is, so why are we always trying? We are constantly trying to be holy, to be faithful.. And other things. But how can we do this without guidance, or obeying God, or even being in the right standing relationship with Him? We need all these things and then after being in the right with Him we can leave it up to Him- since He is holy, He can make us holy. Since He is faithful, He can make us faithful. And so on and so fourth. It's simple, but we take it for granted so often because those things are what we think will help up be stronger in Christ, but honestly, Christ can make us stronger in Him, along with prayer obedience. Because of God's atonement, we are able to be in perfect oneness with Jesus, because He died for us.
You cannot right what is wrong, you cannot redeem the world, these are things for God because He is able! Do you have faith in what Christ has done? Are you in the habit of constantly realizing it?
"The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to BELIEVE things."
-Oswald Chambers
"Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time-remember, you've been raised from the dead!-into God's way of doing things." (Romans 6:13)
You cannot right what is wrong, you cannot redeem the world, these are things for God because He is able! Do you have faith in what Christ has done? Are you in the habit of constantly realizing it?
"The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to BELIEVE things."
-Oswald Chambers
"Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time-remember, you've been raised from the dead!-into God's way of doing things." (Romans 6:13)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Prayers: Check!
Literally all week these three things have been on my mind:
- Clean your room.
- Get a job.
- BLOG.
I've had this blog going for a while but I never realized how much I love doing it until I realized that I want people to see the real me, whatever me I'm hiding from the world is what I want people to see on here. Even if I am not really hiding anything about myself when I am out in the world, I think that there is always a part of me that is churning to get out, and it just won't. Just for that odd reason that I can not yet figure out yet. I think there's a part of me that some people have seen, (mostly talking about a few select friends back in Virginia, and most of the Work Crew) but I don't really show that to most people on the first meet & greet just because I think this would be their first reaction, "who the heck is this girl, and why is she acting this way?" I think when I'm around people I'm pretty much in love with, in the best way, I act totally myself because that me isn't afraid to be myself and be WEIRD. One thing I'm slightly struggling with is putting that girl out to the world, because that's the "me" that I love and that I wish everyone could see. It's the crazy Lily, not the shy, outspoken Lily. Now there's times where this weird me comes out, like in a couple of my classes I get that look from people that's like, "hmm.. there's something different about this girl, and I can't tell whether it's good, bad, or just plain old weird!" I'm glad that I'm slowly coming back to myself, I guess I'm just scared about what other people will think about me, especially in this new atmosphere.
Tonight, for the first time in a while, I got to hang out with some friends. Some old, some new. Usually when an opportunity like this comes about, I always find a way out of it. I always lie and say that my mom wants me home even though I know she could really care less. It's just that it's either a hit or miss with me, I'm going to be really shy, and I'm not going to know what to say and feel completely out of place.. or I will be the fun, out going girl I usually am. I got a little alone time before hanging out with these kids so I just talked to God and flat out said, "I'm tired of not having a social life anymore God, I want to be fun, I want to be me. Don't let me hold anything back!" And just like that, God answered my prayers. I'm glad to say I could finally be myself without having to be around people that I know I can be myself around, or without having alcohol or drugs around. It brings me so much joy that the Lord has such different plans for me, and that I can totally see Him forming this amazing path for my life. (Even though some parts may definitely be rocky, I know He's got a plan, and that's what keeps me content when I even think about worrying.)
I guess I just wanted to share that, just because it really showed me that God is still there, even when I'm not reading or praying as much as I should be. It taught me that God can really do anything, and that nothing is impossible for Him, even with the smallest things. I believe this so much because I can honestly see myself being so shy tonight, especially with the people I was with.. and I wasn't! God. Is. So. Great. Enough said!
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." -Matthew 6:33-34
Lay it all out at his feet. Flat out talk to Him, He is listening and He always will be!
Most apologies for the longer post.. I guess I just got a little excited :)
Happy Sunday :)
- Clean your room.
- Get a job.
- BLOG.
I've had this blog going for a while but I never realized how much I love doing it until I realized that I want people to see the real me, whatever me I'm hiding from the world is what I want people to see on here. Even if I am not really hiding anything about myself when I am out in the world, I think that there is always a part of me that is churning to get out, and it just won't. Just for that odd reason that I can not yet figure out yet. I think there's a part of me that some people have seen, (mostly talking about a few select friends back in Virginia, and most of the Work Crew) but I don't really show that to most people on the first meet & greet just because I think this would be their first reaction, "who the heck is this girl, and why is she acting this way?" I think when I'm around people I'm pretty much in love with, in the best way, I act totally myself because that me isn't afraid to be myself and be WEIRD. One thing I'm slightly struggling with is putting that girl out to the world, because that's the "me" that I love and that I wish everyone could see. It's the crazy Lily, not the shy, outspoken Lily. Now there's times where this weird me comes out, like in a couple of my classes I get that look from people that's like, "hmm.. there's something different about this girl, and I can't tell whether it's good, bad, or just plain old weird!" I'm glad that I'm slowly coming back to myself, I guess I'm just scared about what other people will think about me, especially in this new atmosphere.
Tonight, for the first time in a while, I got to hang out with some friends. Some old, some new. Usually when an opportunity like this comes about, I always find a way out of it. I always lie and say that my mom wants me home even though I know she could really care less. It's just that it's either a hit or miss with me, I'm going to be really shy, and I'm not going to know what to say and feel completely out of place.. or I will be the fun, out going girl I usually am. I got a little alone time before hanging out with these kids so I just talked to God and flat out said, "I'm tired of not having a social life anymore God, I want to be fun, I want to be me. Don't let me hold anything back!" And just like that, God answered my prayers. I'm glad to say I could finally be myself without having to be around people that I know I can be myself around, or without having alcohol or drugs around. It brings me so much joy that the Lord has such different plans for me, and that I can totally see Him forming this amazing path for my life. (Even though some parts may definitely be rocky, I know He's got a plan, and that's what keeps me content when I even think about worrying.)
I guess I just wanted to share that, just because it really showed me that God is still there, even when I'm not reading or praying as much as I should be. It taught me that God can really do anything, and that nothing is impossible for Him, even with the smallest things. I believe this so much because I can honestly see myself being so shy tonight, especially with the people I was with.. and I wasn't! God. Is. So. Great. Enough said!
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." -Matthew 6:33-34
Lay it all out at his feet. Flat out talk to Him, He is listening and He always will be!
Most apologies for the longer post.. I guess I just got a little excited :)
Happy Sunday :)
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