When you don't know what to do, do what you know to do."

When I was in the high school department at my church (like it was so long ago…) my youth pastor, whom I can say I love because he is family, would often bring up a certain phrase that has stuck with me and which I know will stick with me for the rest of my life. “When you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do.” It may seem a tad bit confusing at first, but ill attempt to expound on it for you. This past weekend, God allowed a brick to be thrown into my path that I was in no way anticipating. (That’s a lesson in itself: We must ALWAYS be prepared for adversity.) My emotions were of no help whatsoever, and I fell flat on my face. I was in a dark place; my thoughts were not pleasing to the Lord, my heart was allowing its deceitfulness to shine through, and for some reason, I allowed Satan to steal my joy. This earthly circumstance had robbed me of the joy I had been experiencing in the Lord. (This sounds even more pitiful to me as I recall it.) How sad; Such love the Lord has shown me, amazing peace He has given me, what joy he has threshed upon me, and I allowed my nature to completely rob it all from me. Thankfully, every sidekick has a super-hero, and mine showed up after she had taken way too long of a shower. After I had cried it out, talked it over, and was in a stable place of emotional stress, (like there is such a place…) the Lord simply whispered to me, “Emily, trust Me.” Well, when you’re a control freak and your circumstances are out of control, you don’t like to hear the whole ‘relinquish’ control thing. Anyway, I’m getting carried away from my point here; the next day God brought the phrase back into my head, “When you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do.” I am in no way control of my life. I can try as hard as I can to control it, but if I do, peace and joy will certainly not find their way to me. (Or should I say I am hindering them from being thrown upon me.) Sometimes in life, God will not give us the complete story, the entire road map, or the next 5 steps. A lot of times, He will tell us to move right when we need to move. No advance notice, no 10 foot billboard, no sign. The Bible says in Psalms that the generation that asks for a sign is foolish. He expects is to step out on faith. So, how do you know what to do…when you don’t know what to do? Simple: God’s word. Seek His face. Draw near to Him. Pray without ceasing. No matter where you are, God will meet you, you just have to call on Him and listen to His voice. Be obedient. It’s hard, but there is no joy outside of Christ. There is hope in none other. He is WORTHY of all the praise from ever single person in the world; He’s God. Run to Him. Trust Him, because He really does know what He’s doing and He really does have a plan. He wants to exceed your expectations, but you’ve got to learn to trust Him first. While you’re waiting for the answer, trust Him. He’s going to come through.

"Confronting Yourself"

For some reason, the past few days my mind has been jumping back and forth, to and fro, trying to come up with something to write about.( I get these “cravings,” I guess you could say, to simply get my thoughts on paper, or at least out of my head.) God has really been working in my life and I’ve known that He has given me something worth sharing, I just haven’t exactly figured out what He wants me to share. But I guess if I’m honest with myself, the places that God has been moving in my life are most likely the perfect places to begin. Self Confrontation; this basically sums it up. God has been teaching me a whole lot about my self and how small, imperfect, sinful, and judgmental I truly am. (Yes, something everyone aches with excitement to learn about themselves.) I mentioned this in my last post, but most of this can be solved if you’re willing to look into your prayer life. I’m not going to go into great detail of all the imperfections in my life, that’s the last thing I want to do. (And ill so graciously spare you the excitement) But I do want to share and hopefully inspire you to begin confronting yourself and the sin in your life. We are small. The Bible says we are: like dust, (Psalm 90:3) like grass, (Isaiah 40:6-8) like a flower of the field that flourishes and then is no more, (Psalm 103:15-16) like a vapor that vanishes away, (James 4:14) like a worm and not a man (Psalm 22:6). I know I need to hear this just as much, if not more, that anyone else out there; we view ourselves much too important than we truly are. We are stuck in a fad of comparing ourselves to others; essentially making ourselves feel better as we cast shadows onto the “less spiritual” or “less important.” We need a wake up call…I need a wake up call. Alone, I am nothing. We are all sinners in desperate need of a Savior. We, who know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior need to call on Him for His forgiveness, every moment of every day. It doesn’t end there. (Your welcome; I figured I should try and brighten the mood at least a little towards the end) Even though we are as of a vapor… here and then gone, like grass that dies, a flower that fades… God esteems us as His sons and daughters! His sons…and daughters!!! To put this into “cultural” terms, think about it like this: God has adopted us into His family. He sent His own son, flesh and blood, to take the punishment for the children who would one day become a part of His family as “step children” and even for those who would choose to deny Him. To be so small, yet loved so much, is a miracle. We need to be reminded of this truth daily. So be encouraged. There is a God who has chosen to give us life even though we deserve death. View yourself for what you are; then set your eyes on how God chooses to see you.

What do our prayers sound like?

Prayer: Most of the time when we pray our words are predictable and rushed and the time actually spent in prayer is much too small. God has been showing me a great deal about prayer lately and how significant it is to a growing relationship with Him. The Bible study I’ve been doing has really pointed out many of the things we do wrong when we pray. I never realized it before and I guess I never even understood how great of an impact prayer can have in your life as a Christian. I mean, think about it. We pray before we eat our meals, before bed, sometimes when we’re driving and nothing worth listening to is on the radio…oh, and don’t forget on Sundays. Just like I mentioned before, when we do pray, we often find ourselves rushing through our words, going from talking about how stressed we were at school, to praying for our friends to have a blessed day and do well on any exams that day, to thinking about what we’re going to wear the next day, to how many days till Christmas…what’s for breakfast???....the list goes on. And if you’re honest, that’s how you pray a lot of the time. (I didn’t say all the time…) A few things to think about: (Self Confrontation WB) When we pray, we should purely be asking according to God’s will. No, we don’t always know what exactly His will is, but we should have a desire and consent within our Spirit and our mind to seek what God does want. And when He shows you what it is, accept it, whether it’s what you “wanted” or not. We should be specific when we pray. Pray so that God may be glorified. You are to be ALERT and DEVOTED to prayer. This absolutely hit me in the head and knocked me to the floor. So often I begin to pray and without even realizing it, my mind has wandered and I’m thinking about the wonderful donut I had to eat or the things on my “to-do” list for the next day. At times, Jesus prayed all day and night…and I can’t even give Him 10 minutes. We are to pray without ceasing. We are to praise God for His character, His love, His mercy through Jesus Christ, His power in our lives. We are to pray for everything and everyone. We are to pray for more LABORERS to enter the harvest and that the Word of God would spread rapidly and that He would be glorified. Yeah, read that again. We don’t find that request in Sunday school or our personal lists too often. (It should be.) We are to lay our ANXIOUS concerns before Him when we pray and also for others in specific situations. I’ll be the first one to admit that my prayer life does not look like this…it should. And with God’s grace and mercy it will. I’m almost finished, I promise. Have you ever been in what seemed like a hopeless situation and prayed that God would be with you (Matthew 28:20) or that He would free you from the power of sin (Romans 6:1-14). Hate to break it to you, you’re asking the wrong questions. If you claim to be a follower of Christ, He is with you always; He has already freed you from the power of sin. Something to think about…Also, be careful when you pray of what your expectations are. “We may often fail to recognize God’s answer to our prayers because they don’t fit our expectations. We miss God’s answers to prayers because we are looking for our own preconceived answers.” I simply challenge you to look into your prayer life and truly seek to become intimate with God in your prayers and to desire a prayer life modeled after Christ’s.

Easy come, easy go.

I know I’ve said it before, and I suppose I’ll keep saying it until I die. If you’re a Christian, getting into God’s word is an essential factor you cannot afford to skip out on. For some insane reason, Satan has figured out, so clever and mischievously, a way to keep “Christians” from getting into Gods word. It’s been a few days since I’ve updated my blog with a new post and although it’s been on my “to-do list,” American society screams that school is more important…go figure. I was called out on my “lack of progress” by a friend and decided I should get my act together and priorities straightened out. So the real reason I’m writing about this is because it’s something that God has been showing me within the past week. What’s the point? Why should I be in my Bible every day? Isn’t that a little excessive? Of all the possible answers I could choose to slam down your throat, with scripture to back up those foundational truths, I choose to leave that aspect alone. My wonderful church is offering this class called “Self Confrontation.” The name speaks for itself. As I’ve only begun to dig into the first weeks’ lesson, God has already begun to shed light on many different areas of my life. I’ll try to make this brief: Sin is a constant struggle for every single person on this earth. As a Christian, since we have enlightened eyes, we are to, with God’s help, get a grasp on our sin and allow it to control us no longer. God’s word has the power to transform lives. Isaiah 55:11 (NASB) says, “So will My word be which goes forth from my mouth; it will not return unto me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” First point: God’s word is powerful and it will not be hindered from accomplishing its purpose. Joshua 1:8 (NASB) says, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Second point: there is a reason God tells us to meditate on His word and there is a reason every adult who knows anything has told you to memorize scripture. There is a reason Jesus responded to Satan in Matthew 4 with quotations of scripture. We spend so much time doing what we want to do, making ourselves happy, that we fail to even look to Gods word for direction in the simple things life can throw at us. I’ve gone in about fifty different directions here; my thoughts are thrown out all over the page. If you’ve gathered one thing, I hope it’s this: Get in the WORD of God. It is your map, your life manual, your love letter. Read it. It’s really not that hard. Memorize scripture! You must, must, must do this. You will be SHOCKED at how God will constantly allow His words to flow throughout your mind in the course of a day. That’s all I got. Advice for the day: view others as Christ views them, we are all His children. Love them, because He died for the WORLD. And, as I’ve been privileged to learn in the past couple of weeks, never take what you have for granted because ‘easy come, easy go.’ And yes, I wear jeans to church.

If God brings you to it He'll bring you through it

“If God brings you to it He’ll bring you through it.” I was having a rather weighty conversation with a friend the other night as we discussed some personal battles we both have been in, come out of, and are going through. In case you don’t know, getting personal with someone when it comes to your personal life is one of the most unnatural things you will ever force yourself to do. No one likes to go through difficult times and talking about those dark and lonely moments isn’t usually something that you enjoy reminiscing about. However, as we sat their FREEZING in Florida’s attempt at the next ice age, I realized something; a few things actually. You never understand why God allows you to go through trials, but there is always a purpose. As we swapped stories, I felt God whisper to me, “This is why.” Of course, I politely responded to Him, “Say what God?” Later on, as I was thinking about it, it hit me. One of the things that came out of a trial I went through was that I was blessed to have the opportunity to share that story; all its cliffhangers, nose dives, and triumphs with someone who had gone through a similar trial. And knowing that there is someone else, who can completely understand what you are going through, what you’ve been through, is a blessing in itself. I also realized how important it is to talk about the different places God has brought you to and through throughout your life, weather good or bad. Choosing a path of silence doesn’t get rid of your problem, it only makes it worse. I say all this to make one point: If God brings you to it He’ll bring you through it. When you are sitting in that dark place of loneliness, you’re broken and the world as you know it is crumbling to pieces, remember that the end is coming, and it will justify, make sense of, show you the purpose of why you had to stumble a little before you found your way. Never give up; the joy in the end is worth so much more.

Reflection

So, my pastor is a very wise man; although I know he would take absolutely no credit, it absolutely does not diminish the fact that God is using him in the lives of people all over the world. This past Sunday during our morning service, he made a very interesting point. He used an illustration of a family who was close friends of he and his wife. The two families were eating diner one night, and as everyone was talking and catching up, he looked across the table at the couple’s youngest daughter. Instantly, he said to himself, “she looks exactly like her mother.” As the young girl grew older, she became more and more like her mother. The point is: we should be becoming more like Christ every day. Three months down the road, one year down the road, we should be able to look in the mirror and confidently say that we look more like Christ than we did three months, or one year ago. We come in contact with people every day. Our friends and our families should be able to look at us and KNOW that we are God’s children. Our “smiles” should imitate Christ! Can you grasp that? I know it’s definitely a hard concept for me to hold on to. Think about it though, if we are growing Christians, we are becoming more like Christ. That’s not just a saying, and it’s no gimmick. That’s our aim; to become more like Christ. I pray that in a year’s time, I can look back to where I’ve come from and say with a confident heart, that I look more like Jesus Christ that I did a year ago. Remember, we reflect Him; be sure to remind yourself once in a while.