He's. Got. This.

"Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy."
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings."
{Psalm 61:1-4}

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."
{Philippians 4:19-20}

Uncertainty. One of my least favorite words. Overwhelmed. One of my least favorite feelings. These 2 things combined is how I'm feeling in this season of my life. However, add some excitement in the mix and it's not so bad. :) I'm feeling all 3 of these things right now 'cause I get to marry my best friend--the man I've prayed for & whom I've dreamed of meeting for so long in just 137 days from now. It's just so surreal! So, why the uncertainty, you ask? Well, there are so many changes to take place in this very short amount of time. Among the wedding planning, there is getting prepared for a week long mission trip to Nicaragua in just 18 days from now. I'm very thankful & ecstatic that I get to go 'cause I've been wanting to go since I started attending my church in 2012.

On top of all that though is something that really gnaws at me. Money. Or should I say the lack thereof? The thing is I don't really even know how much all the wedding stuff is going to cost or if I really have anything to worry about. However, what I do know is that I need to trust God with my finances. I know I've written this in past blogs & I say this over and over, but it's very true. God is Provider. I'm not. God gave me my job and the money that I have. He's ALWAYS provided & hasn't ever needed any help caring for my needs and will never need help from me. God is God. I'm not.

Trust. The one word that I really need to practice and act upon right now. I need to trust God and the promises in His Word. He cannot fail. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He can be trusted. I just have to believe Him. God's got this.

Worth Dying For

{Philippians 3:7-11}7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

There are so many things in this world that distract us from the Lord. Oh how I long for that day that I see my Jesus face to face! There is so much work to be done here on this earth. Like the Apostle Paul, I am often torn between wanting to be with Christ and being here on this earth where the body of Christ--His bride is. 

{Philippians 1:21-23}21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Really there are so many Scriptures that I'd like to be my theme life verses, but I really think Philippians 3:7-11 is going to be my main life's theme passage. I want my first & utmost goal to be knowing Christ more and making Him known. Nothing compares to Him. Nothing can satisfy my heart like Christ can. Jesus Christ is not only worth living for, but He's also worth dying for. 

God = Provider

{Matthew 6:25-34}
25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

**This is one of my very favorite passages. Verse 33 always sticks out to me--I used to not know what it meant to "seek first the kingdom of God and His rightousness." But as I've grown closer to Christ, the more I've discovered what that means. Fellow believers, it's a huge promise from our Lord. God has promised that if we will be focused on His Kingdom & His Gospel instead of our needs (our agenda) then all these other things will be provided for us. I think too many of us believe the lie that we are our own providers. GOD is the One who gives us our health, our jobs, our money, our clothing, and our food. We don't. To believe that we do is pride and is a sin.

What You're Looking For--The Only One Who Can Satisfy

I wanna share something with you that a lot of us may have heard over and over and may even know in our heads, but what many of us don't really believe. Every single human being that is born on this planet is searching for something--something that brings peace, rest and satisfaction, whether we really realize that or not. Please don't stop reading. All of us just want to be happy. So we demand it from whatever source we can--whether it be relationships, money, possessions, sex, drugs, alcohol, nicotine or anything else this world has to offer. None of these things can make us truly happy--no matter how much any other human being may want us to be happy. Still searching for happiness, a lot of us don't find it and many won't. 


I wanna share something that many people hear about and many have heard over and over, but don't choose to believe because it seems either too good to be true or just don't want to believe it. This something or I should say Someone---many have been martyred for. No one ever would lay their lives down for a lie or be crucified upside-down for Someone that wasn't true. These people were disciples and followed this man wherever He went. So, who was this Someone or man, you may be asking? The Son of God. Jesus Christ came into this world to give you and me, a restored relationship with Him. The only One that can give us what we're looking for is Jesus. He's what you're looking for--He's the only person that can give you the one relationship that you were created for, which will give you meaning and purpose to your life. That one relationship is with God through Jesus--God's Son. He's the only true Source of real joy. Jesus is only One that can satisfy every longing of your heart because He's the One that created your heart.


“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." {Matthew 5:6}

 "Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.' "{John 6:35}

"The wild beasts will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."
{Isaiah 43:20–21}

Life by the Spirit = Freedom

After all, You are constant. After all, You are only good. After all, You are sovereign. Not for a moment will You forsake me. 

If you're like me, you grew up in church, but even though you knew all the Sunday School answers, the God that you heard about all your life was more distant than personal. 

I definitely believe this has to do with our perception of and how we view God. God is Someone that desires to be known, but too often our upbringing and life experiences skew our view of Him. The last few weeks have been such a beautiful time getting to know Jesus better. I've felt like I've been on a mission trip as it's like I've had a mountain top experience. Christ has blown me away with how much He loves me and has been reminding me of my purpose of bringing Him glory no matter what season or circumstance I encounter. 

How? You may ask. It's definitely been God's Word that has transformed my heart and mind. I'm not the same carnal Christian that I've always been. I gotta tell you, there's so much freedom in this! 

1For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

.16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy,^d drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another {Galatians 5:1; 16-26}. 

There are a number of things that can keep us from experiencing the freedom that Christ has bought on the cross for us. Sin can definitely weigh us down and keep us from experiencing that sweet fellowship between ourselves and the Lord. Another thing that can keep us in bondage and not free is living according to our flesh rather than living by the Holy Spirit. Living by the Spirit simply means obeying God and His Word. The only way that we can obey God's Word is if we're meditating and thinking on His Word. If our minds are filled with things contrary to the Bible and not like Philippians 4:8 says then we won't be living by the Spirit. Being Holy Spirit-controlled is listening to and doing what God says. As a result, a believer's life produces the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22-24). 

My skewed view of God over the past few years has really been detrimental to my relationship with God. I didn't really realize this until recently. I've struggled a lot with trusting God, which of course has strained my walk with the Lord. I'm beginning to learn throughout Scripture the truth of God's character as I've read and studied the Bible. I think a lie that I've believed is that I already knew what the Scriptures say about worry, anxiety, fear and doubt. However, even though I knew what it said, I wasn't applying it to those areas I struggled in. But with God's grace, help, love and patience, I'm slowly becoming a doer of the Word, not a hearer only (James 1:22). 

Matthew 10:16-39: Persecutions Predicted

I'm studying with the Spiritual Growth Guide (S.G.G) this week from church. We're going through the book of Acts. Acts has become a favorite of mine! One of the passages for yesterday and today is Matthew 10:16-39. Definitely very timely. May we be ready and be found faithful to Him when we are persecuted for following Jesus. Jesus did promise that we will be persecuted and hated by even those that we love the most. He also tells us in this same passage to not be afraid of those that kill can the body, but can't kill the soul. Finally, He tells us to not be afraid because His eye is on the sparrow; sparrows cost very little and we are worth more than a whole bunch of them. 

Matthew 10:26-39

Comparison/Covetousness: the Quickest Road to Unhappiness

1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^a are at war within you?^b 2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4You adulterous people!^c Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

{James 4:1-9}

The quickest road to unhappiness is comparison. We should always be thankful for what God has blessed us with. God is the gift giver and supplies our needs--not us.{See Philippians 4:19} God knows what we need even before we ask Him. We ask, but do not receive because we ask wrongly to spend it on our own passions. "You adulterous people!" exclaims James in the Bible. God's spirit yearns jealously.

He chooses to bless us. Not us. We don't provide for ourselves. He does. 

Covetousness is sin. It's wanting what someone else has and it's pretty much telling God that I know what I need and He doesn't. That's pride, folks. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 

The good news is that God is always willing to forgive us of covetousness or pride when we confess our sins to Him (See 1 John 1:9)--when we agree that we don't know what we need and He does. With that there is freedom and joy and even happiness because you're realizing what you truly have. 

In essence, we're saying bless me with something else. 

Comparison is also jealousy. Not being thankful for what you have. I think comparison, covetousness, and jealousy all go hand in hand.

17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

{Exodus 20:17}

It's our job to be thankful for what we do have--not coveting what someone else has!

Thank you, Lord for revealing this to me! 

No more Fear. . .My God is with me

9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD  your God is with you wherever you go. {Joshua 1:9}

God has set me free from all my fears and He is more than able to do the same for you! As believers, God hasn't given us a Spirit of fear (see 2 Timothy 1:7). Being fearful isn't of God because God's perfect love drives out all fear since fear has to do with punishment. When a person is fearful, they don't really know the depths of God's love for them (see I John 4:19). They aren't believing that God is going to supply their needs like Philippians 4:19 says. When we are afraid, we are saying that we don't trust the Lord and that's sin. To be set free from all fear, we need to repent (agreeing with God about our sin) and confess it as sin to God (see 1 John 1:9) and then we have to depend on and put our trust in God. In essence, when we're afraid we are trying to be in control when we aren't and can't be. God is the only One who is in control. He is sovereign and He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28). When you are afraid, be honest with God about your fears and tell Him that you trust Him to take care of you (see Psalm 56:3 and 1 Peter 5:7). In Psalm 34:4, the psalmist David sought the Lord and He heard him and He delivered him from all his fears. And just like David and just like me, God wants to do the same for you today. 

The Gospel Changes Everything

1Now I would remind you, brothers,^a of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. {I Corinthians 15:1-4} 

Because of Christ's death, burial and resurrection, I have been freed from the bondage and chains of fear, worry, anxiety, and doubt. I'm so thankful for the truth of God's Word that has set me free! 

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[b] to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." {John 8:34-36}

Isolation Prevention 101

{Ecclesiastes 4}

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I think it's bizarre how people often choose to isolate themselves from people when they are going through a hard time. According to the above verses in Ecclesiastes, this should not occur for a believer. Believers clearly need each other. I catch myself doing this exact thing, though. It's normal to want to be alone after a stressful day, but we weren't mean to live as hermits. Personally, I need to work on serving and thinking about others more than myself. Often, I'm not aware of the things people are going through around me, I've become so self-focused. The universe is not about me. God didn't create me for me to spend my days self-consumed.

"Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for being so preoccupied with my worries that I don't think about You, first and then others. Thank you for being so patient with me. Use the next two months of summer off from work to grow in You and to serve others. I love you, Lord. In Your name and for Your glory."

Glass Walls

Tonight I was thinking about the song, "Healing Begins" by Tenth Avenue North. Some of the lyrics go like this: 

So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won't disappear

So let it fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now
We're here now

Oh This is where the healing begins
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

I don't know about you, but when I get sad or scared for long lengths of time or just depressed I tend to push out everyone around me. I guess in order to try and cope with how I'm feeling. When the truth is I need people. I need Christian sisters and brothers around me to speak truth into my life and not only when I want to hear it. I've bought the lie that sleep and staying in bed will somehow fix it and make it all better. But, instead I'm miserable. Believer, we weren't meant to live our Christian life alone. We need each other. I'm ready to let the walls fall 'cause they are just glass on the outside anyway. Are you?