L.O.V.E

In today's society the word love is used in multiple ways.
I love ice cream.
I love sleeping.
I love playing basketball.
I love the friends I have.
I love going to Bethel.
I love my family.
I love God.
We use it to describe something we are doing at the moment. We use it to describe how we feel about other people. We just use it a lot. But have you ever really thought about the true meaning of love. According to Dictionary.com the word love means "a profoundly tender, passinate affections for another person." I don't think that quite says it all. Because in the way I use the word love, its not just towards another person; its towards just other things in general, from food to sports, not just people. I am not saying its a bad thing to use the word love in a way to describe objects, just recently I have been challenged by the true idea of love. The love that Christ talks about. The love that matters the most.
About a month ago the basketball team at Bethel, including myself, traveled to the Dominican Republic for a missions trip. We were there for a week where we helped out in a sugar cane village, two orphanages, and played a large number of games. It was an experience I will never ever forget because the Dominican people impacted my life in more ways than one. I may not have understood most of what they were saying, but their actions spoke louder than words could ever. I have never felt God so evident in one place more than I did while I was on this trip. Every time I think about it or just glimpse at pictures from the trip, I long to be back there with those kids and the people there. It's just hard to put into words how grateful I am that I could take part of this trip and I thank God every day He allowed me to go on this trip. I wanted to say all that just to mention and talk about now the biggest thing God taught me while I was there. As you can probably already guess, He taught me so much about His love.
Before this trip I knew God's love for me was bigger than anyone else's love towards me. But not until after I got back did I really grasp the idea of it.
On the second day we were there we traveled to a Sugar Cane Village. The best way to describe it is that it is a small community within the town that we were in. Many families lived there in small houses and they also had a church that was relativly small also. As soon as we pulled into the village and the bus driver honked his horn, several different kids of all ages came flooding out of the houses. They just stood at the door of the bus waiting for all of us to get off. I myself didn't know any Spanish at the time, so I wasn't really sure what to say to them. So I did what I thought was best; I smiled. After that little encounter, kids just flocked to your hands. One little girl instantly grabbed onto mine and had me follow all the other kids into this big open field, which they used as a place to play at. Sometimes I would want so bad to communicate with them, but I knew how to say nothing so it was difficult. I would catch myself many times speaking English to them and then instantly realizing they had no clue what I was saying. If they tried to speak to me, I would have to have one of my teammates translate or one of the translators that was there interpert. It was one of the hardest things for me because my heart has a big spot for children and not to be able to communicate to them through words was unbearable. But when I got home and reflected on that idea, something hit me. God's love shown through those kids. No many of them may not have known Him as there Savior, but the idea of God's love was shown through those kids to me. Even though those kids couldn't communicate to us yet still wanted to play with us and didn't want us to leave, they still loved us. That is just like God's love sometimes. Even though we may not have a clear picture of what He is trying to say to us, He still loves us. Even when I refuse to listen to Him or don't even realize He is talking straight to me, He still loves me more than life. I could break down crying right now just thinking of that one idea of how much One Man loves me. It's just amazing.
Leaving that place was hard, but it gets much worse the following days.
The next day we went to an orphanage. This orphanage was filled with many children who were mostly girls, but still had a few boys placed in it too. For some reason I knew I was going to struggle with going here because I knew these kids didn't have a family to run to after we left that loved them as much as my family loves me. They had each other and the people their ages and the adults in charge, but that can not even compare to the love that my family gives me each time I come home. We arrived at a big brick wall with no windows and just simply a door to get in and out of; those kids had no way to see out. As soon as we walked in the same thing happened; the kids instantly flocked to our open hands and smiling faces. A girl with a frayed jump rope grabbed on to my hand. As I think about it now, I can still feel her tight grip on my hand; the grip that said she wasn't going to let me go all day long. And that exact thing happened; she never left my side the entire time. We jumped rope, we danced (well she attempted to teach me how to dance), we played with a beach ball, we took pictures and so much more. I had so much fun! I didn't want to leave. But then those awful words came out of our translators mouth; it was time to say good-bye. One it was hard for me to say good-bye because I wasn't really sure how to communicate to her that I had to leave and two I just simply didn't want to leave her. Eventually I just told her Adiós and she understood that it was time for me to go. She instantly jumped up from combing my hair and gave me a huge hug. If you know me, well I'm a cryer and at that point in time, the tears instantly starting flowing. Then I told her I had fun today and she jumped down off the ledge she was on, had me bend down and gave me another hug and kiss on the cheek. I lost it. I had to walk away from her just so she wouldn't see my tears. It was the worst goodbye I had to give of my life. And to think those kids go through that multiple times. That makes me want to cry again. As we were driving away waving at all the kids and hearing sniffle after sniffle in the bus, something hit me. It has to do with God's love again. How can a girl with only a frayed jump rope and who is probably crammed into a room with a bunch of other girls love me, a girl she will never see again? That girl who was probably 7 or 8 loved when she had nothing in our eyes. Isn't that how I should love though? That even if God blesses me with nothing or less than other people, I should still love Him back. He gave it all up for me, how hard can it be to just love Him for who He is, not for what He provides me with. He is so much bigger than any possesion we will ever account for. I learned that day that no matter what I have or what other people don't have I still need to love them for who they are and love God for who He is. Let's just say that girl will always have a place in my heart.
From every day we had left in the DR I constantly thanked God for the love He gives me and how He showed it to me so evidently through that girl. I was so thankful for that oppurtunity.
Before I left for the DR my mom asked a few people that have been encourgaments to me over the summer to write letters for me to read when I arrvied. If you know my mom, you know this is something she loves to do. She is probably the best letter writer out there and to have her ask people to write letters to me is so her. I was so suprised when I arrived and discovered what was in an envelope. It pretty much made my day. In one of them from my friends in my small group was a stack of index cards each with a number on them. They each had a verse on them that I was to read everyday, one for each day I was there. It was so awesome and each day the index card encouraged me and I challenged myself to apply the verse to whatever situation I was in that day. If I had time I would explain them all to you, but I'll just tell you about the one that had to biggest impact on me. It's from John 15:12,13. It says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." He commanded us right there to love one another. If we don't love, we are breaking His commandment. Its just as signifancant as if we were to murder because that is also one of his commandments. He wants us to love. But more importantly He wants us to love like He loved us. That means laying down our life for someone, as the second part says. He loved us more than llife which means we need to love others more than life. This is one of my biggest struggles; loving someone who has hurt me or doesn't act like they love me. But there's a reason those people are in my life. God wants me to love them no matter what. No matter what. That's the hardest part; loving someone no matter what. I had to love the children of the DR even when they had nothing and even when I knew I would never see them again. But if you think about it we are all children of God and deserved to be loved by and to love. Yes, there are going to be days when someone bothers me or does something to hurt me, but I still have to love them. People make God mad all the time, yet He still loves them. Somedays I may not love someone because I find out a flaw in them. But each of us have flaws and God still loves us unconditionally. How hard is it to really love someone unconditionally? Well really its not. We just gotta love.
One of my all time favorite worship songs is "How He Loves Us." by the David Crowder Band. Everytime I listen to it, it just hits the spot. The whole song is so powerful and really puts it into perspective how much God really loves us. At the very beginning of the song it says, "And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me." Thats excatly what happened to me in the DR. I realized how beautiful God was not just in His creation but also in the people He created and then saw how great His affection or love is for me. It just blows my mind every time. After that the chorus goes on just to say, "Oh how He loves us, how He loves us so" a few times in a row. Those simple words just hit me every time for how true they are. He just straight up loves us. We don't need a bunch of words to say it other than He love us. Man oh man, I'm in awe right now. Another favorite part of mine from the song is when it says, "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us." This part gets me every time. I can't think about what I did wrong or what I don't have, I just have to know He loves me no matter what. Its like the kids in the DR didn't care about what they didn't have, they just loved to love. Thats how I need to love. I just need to love.
But what about you? How do you love? Do you love like the kids in the DR? Do you love like God loves you? Or do you love who you want to love? And don't worry, I'm asking myself the same questions.
Every since I have gotten back from the DR I have tired to love more than I ever have. Somedays its super hard, but if its a commandment from God I have to do it. There's no question about it. I even wear a bracelet on my wrist the simply says love to remind myself that wherever I am at whether its class, practice, a game, my room, at home or at work, I must love with all my heart.
In Deuteronomy 6:5 it says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Not only do I believe that is how we should love God, but also how we should love others; with everything we have we should love.
So at the beginning I gave you the definition of love from the dictionary point of view. I believed it didn't quite say it all because I have found a much better definition in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Here we go. It says,
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
Yeah, umm I don't think I need to say anything. It says it all. I'm speechless right now.
So love. Just love. Right now. Tomorrow. This week. This month. This year. This life time. Just love. I want to. Do you?
I am so thankful for the trip to the Dominincan and my dream every day is that I will get to go back and show those kids more love because they are the ones who need it more than we do here. But mostly because I want to thank them for the teaching me what true love is and looks like.
If you didn't get anything out of this, just simply remember the word love.
Love.


Thanks for reading!
Alex :)

Live Like That

So I am beginning to realize how it is so much harder for me to blog in the summer than it is during the school year. You would think it would be the total opposite due to homework and projects and test and such, but oddly enough its not. But I am beginning to realize its due to the fact that during the school year I am surrounded by so much more "spirtual" ideas, if thats what they are called, compared to in the summer. I don't like it one bit. I mean I do love summer and not being at school all the time, but I wish I could still go to chapel three times a week, have Bible studies with my team, and all kinds of other things I don't experience during the summer. I mean I love reading my Bible every morning when I wake up and love going to church on Sundays, but I just don't feel as on fire as I did during the school year. Luckly though someone who helps in the college ministery at my church is starting a Bible study over the book of James and I decided to join because I need it and thats one of my favorite books of the Bible. I am so excited to see what God will teach me through that book and study.
But this blog post is not meant for me to gripe about how I miss school and how my spiritual life is in a drought right now. I am pretty sure I would lose readers if I talked about that the whole time. So I'll try to add some more excitment starting now.
As many have caught on most of my blogs are inspired by songs that have really caught me with their words. There the songs that I least expect to like or the ones that the first time I listen to them, I don't really feel anything, but once I listen to them multiple times and really listen to the words, I fall in love with them. My most recent "love song", so to say, is Live Like That by the Sidewalk Prophets. Every time I listen to it, it gets me and challenges me every time. There isn't one verse in that song that doesn't hit home. The live like that of the title is talking about living a life that really reflects who Jesus is and seeing if everything one says or does in the end points to Jesus. This song isn't just a song, but rather a challenge to each listener who listens. Listeners like me.
Like all songs, I'll start from the beginning. When the song opens it says, "Sometimes I think what will people say of me when I'm only just a memory when I'm home where my soul belongs". I don't know if I am the only person who thinks this, but I always have random times when I think those exact words. What will people say of me when I'm not here any more? Whether its soon or when I die of old age, just whenever, what will people truly say about me? The most often time this comes up is when I hear about young people dying or when I go to a funeral. Who would show up for me? What would people say of me? Would people miss me? While I know these should not haunt me or bother me or make me wonder, they do.
The next part of the song are a few other questions that I always ponder when I think about the way I am living. The first one sang is "Was I love when no one else would show up?" The point of this one is to say when no one showed up to love someone, was I one who did or who didn't? It is a lot like the parable of the good samaritan Jesus told in Luke 10. Even though Jesus was trying to teach the lawyer who his neighbor was it still gets at the idea of loving at the right time. If any of us were walking down a road and suddenly saw a man who had just been beated and left there, which of the passer byers would we be? The priest or the Levite who when "he saw him passed by on the other side" (vs 31,32) or the Samaritan who "had compassion" (vs 33) on the man? The Samaritan was the "love when no one else showed up". That is the type of person the song was referring to and I want to be the love when no one elses shows up everyday. Whether its loving a family member when you could get mad at them. Or simply smiling at a customer who looks like they are having a bad day. Or sending a quick note to someone just to let them know you care for them. I think showing love to someone doesn't have to be a big deal, it just has to be a way of showing someone you care about them. But also I think its also realizing that you may not get anything in return. You could show love to someone and they may just take it and accept it, but not show the love back. But that is what this love is about. Loving when no one else showed up. Loving someone when no one else wanted to love them. I just recently read a quote and knew exactly that I should share it with you. The quote said "Love is not just a feeling we have; its a decision to treat people the way Jesus would treat them." Love isn't just a feeling we may have towards someone; its the act of going out and treating everyone with the love of Jesus. So many times I don't do this. I don't show the love of Jesus when it is so simple to do. It shouldn't be that hard to smile at someone or go out of my way to show that love. Jesus asks us to love our neighbor as ourself. From now on I'm going to continue to ask myself "Was I love when no one else showed up?" Did I love like the Samaritan did? How am I going to love today?
Well folks, thats part one. You are in for a long one here. :)
The next part is just about the same as the first part. It says "Was I Jesus to the least of those?" This part is similar because its just saying did I act like Jesus would have acted in a situation. Did I show compasion, have mercy and grace, loved when one least deserved it? Just like Jesus did so many times throughout His life time. Its going to be hard to do all those things from a day to day basis, but with God all things are possible. While it will take time, each and everyone of us can eventaully get to that point. We just have to be willing to go out of our way to show compasion to the person who needs it most. We have to be willing to have grace and mercy when one least deserves it. Or like I said before love the ones who no one else will love.
"Was my worship more than just a song?" This is the next part. I didn't even realize this part was in the song till just recently. Over the past year I have become to realize that how we worship God really is a big part of our lives as Christians. So many times in my life when ever I am singing (in church mostly), I just sing. I go through the motions. Read the words and repeat them along with the leader. Then when they are over I sit down and thats the end of those songs for the day. Here is where I have to stop myself and say, "Wow Alex. No. Thats not the right way." I can honestly answer and say so many times my worship is nothing more than just a song where I don't even know what words just came out of mouth. I just continue to go through the motions. But recently I have tired my best to change this. I want everytime I sing a song of worship to actually be a time of worship, where I really pay attetion to the words and understand the true meaning behind them. I am tired of going through the motions of just standing there and singing. I want my worship to be more than just a song. I know the next time I stand in church and sing the words that show up on the screen, I won't just sing, I'll woship. How about you? Have you asked yourself that before? Is YOUR worship more than just A song?
Well we finally made it to the chorus! :)
The chorus is my favorite part, by far. It says:
"I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do points to You"
The artists are saying they want to live like that, all they mentioned in the parts before, so that everything they do points to Jesus. They want to love when no one else does, they want to be Jesus to everyone, and they want their worship to be more than just a song. But not only do they want that for themselves, they want it for us, the listeners. I want everything I say and do to point to Jesus in the end. I want to be the love when no one else shows up. I want to be Jesus to the least of those. I want my worship to be more than a song. I want to live in a way that shows I live for Jesus and only Jesus. I want to give it all I have. Just like my last blog said, I want to deny myself and follow Him. Because in the end I want every single thing I do with my life here on earth to point to Jesus in the end. What we do for Him is the only thing that matters in the end. Anything we do for ourselves is just of this life and will waste away when death comes. It's what we do for Jesus that will be honored in the end. So why not make sure "everything I say and do point(s) to You (Him)"? Yeah it will be hard, but I like a little bit of a challenge, so I'll suffer. I'll suffer for Him anyday. I want to live like that. Do you?
The next part goes on to say:
"If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that"
This part is just a sum up of all we went through before. If we want to be the "love" of the world, so to say, then we will stand where we are right now and let it all go while never holding back or being scared and live it out. Whenever we are faced with the chance to live our life like the way of Jesus did, we will. We won't let anything hinder us. I want to say more here, but I think that is the only and best way to put this part of the song.
Next:
"Am I proof that You are who You say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true"
This part says most the same thing that the whole song says. Am I a walking image of who Christ really is? Does the way I act show who Jesus really is? It's not just a question I should ask myself constantly, but that any true follower of Christ should ask themselves on a day to day basis. Am I living proof that all Jesus says He is is really true? I was just flipping through the book of John to find the verse that says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (John 14:6), when I, myself, just realized all the things Jesus says He is in that book alone. Let me make a "short" list here.
-"I am the bread of life" (6:35)
-"I am the light of the world" (8:12)
-"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples" (8:31)
-"I am the door." (10:9)
-"I am the good shepard." (10:14)
-"I give them eteranl life." (10:28)
And the list goes on. He says He is all these, and He indeed is. But does the way we act show proof to the ones who don't believe that this is who He is? Again, doing this will be hard, but with His help it won't be so hard.
The last part of the song is the part that really hits me the most. It says,
"People pass and even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I have been changed
When they see me, do they see You"
This little verse wraps up the whole song perfectly. When people pass who don't know anything about me, is there something about me that shows I have been changed by Jesus? Do they see His attributes in myself? Ever since this song, I ask myself this constantly. Does the way I act towards the people I surround myself with or even the people who just pass by me, are they able to tell that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ? Do I act differently than others? Do I? Do you? Not to boast in myself, but a lot of times people will tell me that I have a great smile. Many of you who know me well, know that I love to smile. It's hard for me not to. I smile becasue I am blessed. I am blessed because God has blessed me with a great life, one that I wouldn't trade for anything. While I know I am smiling because of the life God has given me, do others that don't know me, know that is why I am smiling? But not just that, but does everything I say and do on a normal basis show that I am living my life for Christ? I always wonder what people who don't know that I follow Christ think of me when they first see me. Lots of you know that I work at Martins and probably know that I love working there. For some reason when I ask myself these questions, working at Martins pops into my head. Do the co-workers that I am around a lot of the time know that I want to honor God in everything I do, which includes my job? Or do even the customers I come in contact with. Do they see something different about me compared to the others who work around me? So many times I wonder these things. Its like the song says, "When they see me, do they see You?" Then the question comes up, what should I do to make sure they do see Him when they first see me. Well its like the song talks about earlier. I have to be the love when no one else showed up. I have to be Jesus to the least of those. I have to make my worship more than just a song. But it doesn't just stop there. I have to be all that Jesus was to the best of my ability. I will never, ever, ever be as great as Jesus was. Never. But I can at least try my best to get as close as I can. Every time I step somewhere I want people to know that I am a follower of Christ not just by telling them I am, but by my actions on a day to day basis. I know I will have times where I will fail, but I can learn from those too. While I will continue to wonder if people can see Christ through me, I can't let it bother me and just have to continue to "be Jesus to the least of those".
The chorus then repeats after that.
"I want to live like that and give it all I have so that everything I say and do point to You."
Ever since I have heard this song, that has been my pray. I want to live like that of Jesus Christ and give Him everything I have so that my life points to Him. So, like the beginning of the song says, that when I am just a memory, I want people to look back on my life and be able to say something was "different" about me. And that difference being that I lived for Jesus Christ. I want my words, actions, behaviors, the way I treat others, etc. to all point to Jesus Christ. Because really, He is the only thing that matters. He is the only one we should try and please with our lives.
As I was flipping through my Bible, I came across something I had written in the margin of Romans. It says "How is your life different because God's Spirit lives in you?" I think that sums up. I have no idea when I wrote that or even what verse it was associated with, it was just there. But it hit the spot like no other. How is my life different from everyone else around me because of God's Spirit that lives in me? How is it? How is your life different?
Every day when I lay my head down at night I'll ask myself thess questions.
"Was I the love when no one else showed up?
"Was I Jesus to the least of those?"
"Was my woship more than just a song?"
"How is my life different because of the Spirit living inside?"
"Can people see Jesus through me?"
At the very end of the song it says,
"I want to show the world the love You gave me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King"\
I want to show the world the love He has loved me with and I want the world to know the glory of the King. But that only happens if I live like He lived. If I lay it all down for Him everyday. Never holding back. Recklessly abandoned. Only if love is who I want to become. I want to live like that.
I want to live like that.
And give it all I have.
So that everything points to You.
I want to live like that.
Every. Single. Day.
Whether I'm at home. Whether I'm at school. Whether I'm at Martins. Whether I'm in my car.
I want to live like that.
Because I want people to know I lived for Christ when I am just a memory.
Am I the proof the He is who He says He is?
Am I?
Are you?
And the one final question is:
Will I live like that?
Will you live like that?
I'm going to try and I'll pray you will too.
We can do it, we have Jesus holding our hand.
So once you hit the red x to close this blog down, how will you live?
I am going to live like that.

:)

I Choose Jesus.

Many people I know have a life verse. A verse they memorize at one point in their life and tend to look at it when they are struggling. A popular verse and the one I call my life verse is Jeremiah 29:11. It reads, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." I also tend to read on and consider verse 13 as part of my life verse too. It says, "You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart". I love these two verses because it gives me peace to know that my future is already planned out and none of it will ever hurt me, it will only make me into the person God wants me to be. I also can see that I will discover God's plan for me only if I seek Him and find Him with all my heart. If I don't, it would be sort of hard to discover God in the situations I am placed in.
This past New Years when people were discussing what their new years resolution would be I was thinking I would make a new years resolution and know for a fact that I would never follow through with it. Then I thought of an idea! What if I were to pick out a verse, memorize it, place it in a place I'm at a lot and try and live it out throughout the whole year. Yep, I then decided that's what I was going to do. The slight problem was I wasn't quite sure what verse I wanted to use. God sure does work in crazy ways. At the time in my devotions I was reading through the book of Mark. At the time I was in chapter 8. I then came across verse 34 and 35. They read, "And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake's and the gospel's will save it." After I read that, I stopped. I remembered reading something similar to that in Matthew, so I went directly to Matthew and searched through it till I found what I was looking for and sure enough I did. The almost exact same verse is found in chapter 16 verse 24 and 25. It reads, "Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take us his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Well, it looked like I had just found my verse for the year 2012. It was Matthew 16:24,25. There is nothing against the verses in Mark and why I chose not to choose them, I just felt more pulled toward Matthew because of the wording.
The biggest reason I chose this verse for the year is because recently I have come to realize that the life I live is not mine, it's God's. He put me in the places He has placed me in all for a reason, so why should I not live it out for Him each day. Never in my life have I ever felt so on fire for God and just have wanted to do everything for Him. I don't really know what changed me from the girl who went to church every Sunday, read my Bible when I felt like it, prayed because someone told me too, and never thanked God for everything He gave me, to the girl who can't wait for Sundays to get here, can't go a day without reading my Bible because then I feel so off, prays for anyone who needs it or asks for it and sometimes even volunteers, and now can't go a day without thanking God for what He has given me. People I come in contact with every day may not notice my change in heart, but I can tell the difference. I think one of the biggest things is being here at Bethel. There is a big change from going to a huge public school where its hard to share what God is doing in your everyday life to going to a small private school where you can bring God into the classroom everyday. In high school I would have that urge to say something "God related" but it just never came out, but now if I have that urge, it will come out. I can share what God is doing everyday with me in class, with my friends and even with random people I don't know well at school. That's why this verse is so close to my heart now. I want to be able to deny myself and follow Jesus in everything I do. I don't want anything to hold me back in my relationship with Christ. I want to be all His.
I like how the first part says, "if anyone would deny himself". It hit me as I can't give credit to myself when situations go well. If I play well in a game or something unexpected happened, I can't say well I knew that was going to happen, I guess hard work pays off. No, no, no. This  verse has taught me that I have to deny myself and give all the credit towards God. He is the one who gave me the talent to play well in a game or put me in the unexpected situation. It was, as Jeremiah 29:11 says, all part of His plan for me. These days I just want to give all the credit to Him, I don't deserve any of it. I am here for a reason, but mostly His reason.
The second part of the verse it was really put me over the edge and made me fall in love with the verse. "Whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." If I want my life to be all about myself, in the end I'm going to lose it. When I die or He comes back and judges us all, if my life was not pleasing to Him, He is not going to let me into His kingdom. This is one of my worse fears; that I won't be worthy enough to enter His kingdom. I don't even what to think about it and as my last blog post taught me, I can't worry about it, I just have to follow God's plan for my life and do everything for Him. That's where the next part comes in, "But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." The only way I will find life is if I give it all up for Him. I will find life in Him and only Him. Nothing of this world will statisfy me as much as living for Him and in Him will. I know its going to be hard going from day to day giving everything up for Him. But Jesus gave His one and only son up for me and you! Why can I not give up everything just to bring glory to Him on a day to day basis? This thought challenges me every single day. Are my actions one that pleases Him? Does what I say every day please Him? I wonder these things everyday. And as much I wish I could know the answer every night when I put my head down to sleep, I can't. I simply have to wait for that judgement day and continue to do what I believe is pleasing to Him.
As many of my readers may know, I love listening to music and to be able to worship God through that way. The people who sit next to me in church probably hate sitting next to me because I sometimes scream the lyrics to songs just because I tend to get into them. But I just want God to be able to hear me and I want to let Him know I'm singing to Him. One day my mom posted a song to my facebook wall and ever since she did, I love listening to it because its just an amazing song. It's called I Choose Jesus by Moriah Peters. The title pretty much says what it is about, choosing Jesus. The chorus is enough for me; I don't even need to listen to the rest of it to be satisfied. It sings,
"I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus.
The one who first chose me.
I choose Jesus.
For now and enternity."
She is choosing Jesus because He first chose her. I want to be able to choose Him everyday of my life because He first chose me. He choose me and so many other people over His own life. Not many people are able to say that. We really have no excuse to say we don't want to choose Him because He gave up the rest of His life for us. Yeah, I want to choose Him.
Another part of the song says,
"His choice comes at a cost.
All other things are lost.
No other love can mean so much to me."
His choice came at a cost of His own life. He could have continued to live, but instead He chose to die on the cross for you and me so that we could continue to live day to day. And if we do chose Him, everything else is a lose, just like the verse from earlier says. And the love He showed us by dying, is the love that matters the most. Yeah, I still want to choose Him.
My favorite part of the whole song is the ending. It says,
"He chose to love me when I felt unloveable.
He chose to reach me when I felt unreachable.
He carried me out of my fear and doubt.
How I want the world to know I choose Jesus."
He loves me when I least deserve it. When I sin every single day, He still loves me. Whenever I try and run from Him, He still reaches for me and still continues to love me. He takes away any fear about my future or any doubt I may have of the future. He is just that...lets see...AWESOME! And that is why the last part hits me. I want the whole world and everyone I come in contact with to know that I choose Jesus over every. single. thing. in this entire world! He is the only person who will love me whenever, reach down for me whenever, and take away any fears of mine whenever. I mean, come on, why not choose Him? I know I want to.
As I said at the beginning, I wanted to put whatever verse I chose some where were I would see it a lot. It took me a while but I finally decided I would put it on my dash board of my car. I am in there a lot and can see it plainly. No better place. Plus anyone who rides in my car can see it and may realize that I want to follow Christ in everything I do. That I want to carry my cross and follow Him. Now every time I'm in my car I think to myself, "Did I take up my cross and follow Him today?" I know everyday the answer isn't going to be yes, but I hope that as each day goes on, I have more yeses and less no's. Because when my life comes to an end, the only words I want to hear are, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
Jesus chose me over His own life.
I want to choose Him over my own life.
I just recently read this book about a girl who had a gun held to her head and was asked the question, do you believe in Christ? She said yes and lost her life. This really hit me. If I had a gun to my head and was going to die if I said I believed in Christ, what would I do? I ask myself this constantly. But then I remember Matthew 16: 24 and 25. "..for whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it." I want to find life, so I will choose to lose my life for Him. If I have to die just to say that I fully believe in Christ and love Him more than life, than I will. I mean, how could I not. He gave up His life so that I could live today. Yeah, I think I'll choose Jesus any day.
I'll end this with one last thought. It always amazes me how God works sometimes. Last Sunday in church my pastor talked about Mark 8 where I orginnally found the verse that led me to the one in Matthew. I had looked ahead in our study guides we had and was super excited about what he had to say about those two verses. I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me was when he said that if we really want to follow after Him, we need to stop making up own own messiah and just follow after the true One. We just need to pick up our cross, and we might even get persucuted for picking it up. He then went on to say if anyone would desire to save thier life, all of who they are, they must, must, must lose it. Here is probably my favorite quote from his message that day: "If you want your soul to be saved, you have to let it die. You have to die to self." I must let every single thing of mine go. Every. Single. Thing. Every last bit of it. If I want my soul saved. He also said that we must set aside our desires and say I want Jesus. The only thing I should be craving is Jesus. He is the only thing that will satisfy your craving, The only thing. All in all, the main idea of my pastors message on Sunday was to die to live. I have to die to myself in order to find full life. And if Jesus is the only way to do that, yeah I'll choose Jesus anyday.
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take us his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Everyday I want to deny myself.
Everyday I want to pick up my cross.
Everyday I want to lose my life.
Everyday I want to find my life in Christ.
Until that day when He calls me home or comes to get me, I will choose Jesus.
He chose me.
I want to choose Him.
Every.
Single.
Day.
Yeah, I'll take Jesus.


The question is will you?
:)

"I Choose Jesus"-good listen :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL2bZfHmsDs

As you read this, I hope you were not thinking, wow she is really proud of herself for picking this verse. Please, please, please don't think that. I wrote it as a challenge to myself that I need to continue to follow Jesus. I just want people to know how God is working in my life at the time, not to make myself look good. Because I know I am no where near that. Just thought I would add this in!
Thank you for reading! :)

Why worry?

Worry. We all do it. I do it way to much. I worry about what to wear each day. I worry about what to eat. I worry about if I am doing my homework correctly. I worry about tests. I worry about if I am doing the right thing with my life. I worry about if I will ever meet the right boy and get married. I worry about how I will die. As you can see, I worry about a lot of things; things I probably shouldn't be worrying about anyway. But the one thought that I had been worrying about most recently is who in the world I was going to room with next year. My roommate from this year, who I love to death, isn't coming back next year, so that wasn't an option. I probably would have roomed with her next year just because we got along so great this year, but obvioulsy that isn't part of God's plan for either one of us. And it must be because He has something greater planned for the both of us, and knowing that makes everything better. But once I found out she wasn't coming back, I, of course, worried. Who in the world was I was going to room with? I had options, but they weren't for sure. Many people had told me I should just do random again. That idea didn't sound good to me just because there was no way that random person could beat my roommate this year, who was random. I just wasn't sure. At first, I had not, I'll admit, been praying about what to do. I thought, I have a lot of time, I'll think about it later. Then last week, the topic of who I was going to room with came up again. For some reason, when I went to bed that night, I thought, you know what maybe this time I should pray about it. So the next few nights I prayed that God would show me either what to do about rooming or show me a person in my life to room with.
Sometimes it surely does amaze me how God works.
I started praying Thursday night right. I know God answers prayers whether with yes, no, or keep waiting, but I didn't know He could answer one as fast as He did answer mine. Sunday night one worry got wiped off my long lists of worry. I got this text from a friend, Laura, who goes to Bethel and has become one of my closest friends and my "church buddy" so to say, that said, "Hey, do you know what you are going to do about rooming/housing next year?" I think my heart skipped a beat. I didn't want to get my hopes up any, so I just responded with, "No I have no idea what I am going to do!" Later that night she responded with, (not the exact words, but close) "Well my roommate from this year is rooming with someone else next year and I was thinking since we are both athletes (she golfs) that it would be cool if we roomed together next year if you want too." God. is. good. At the time of that text, I just happened to be near my family and it was so hard to explain to them what just happened because I was freaking out! God answered my prayer! To respond, all I said was "Laura Glass!! You just made my day! I had been praying about this so much because I didn't know what to do! So if you really want to I would love to room with you!" She then responded with saying that she had been praying about it too.
Wow, God never does cease to amaze me. Right now I am speechless in how else to describe the feeling I had toward Him after all this happened. AHH!! I just want to jump up and down and scream to the whole world that God really can answer prayers in the craziest ways. That God really is the most amazing man on the face of this earth. Gosh, I can't help but smiling. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep that night.
Sometimes it leaves me in awe of how God teaches me things. Of course as soon as this happened, I thought "Blog Post worthy", so I started flipping through my Bible looking for verses having to do with this because I knew there had to be verses talking about prayers. I came to one of my underline verses in Phillippians. It's Philippians 4:6 its says, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Why hadn't I been praying about this all the time?!? I shouldn't of been anxious about the idea of not knowing what to do, I should have been praying about it all along. God knows whats on my heart even if I don't pray about it, but He still wants us to hear our requests straight from us. The version of my Bible is ESV, but in my Bible I wrote down what the NLT version says. It says, "Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done." That is what I should have been doing all along telling God what I needed. Why did it take me so long to realize that? But just as I was writing this, the second part really hit me more than it did the first time I read it. 'Thank Him for all He has done." I was so excited that night, I should have been thanking Him as soon as my prayer was answered, but instead I waited till I prayed before I went to sleep. So many times I do that. Why is it that I think I have to wait to thank Him for anything He does through the course of the day until I lay down at night? So from now on, I'll stop and thank Him each time He does something great for me as soon as He does it. I think thats all He wants.
His teaching doesn't stop there.
The basketball team just finished up doing a Bible study called The Christian Atheist. (I would recommend it.) Its main idea is about how someone can believe in God but don't fully believe in all He can do. Sort of like just going through the motions of being a Christian but not fully believing in Him. On Monday, the day after the excitement of finding a roommate occured, I sat down to read the three chapters for the week. Who would of guessed that one of the chapters was on worry. The title of the chapter was When you believe in God but still worry all the time. Holy Smokes! God obviously was trying to tell me something. Its is amazing to think that the idea of me reading that chapter at that exact moment didn't just happen by luck, it happened because God planned it all out way before that day even happened. Yea, He is just that good.
As I was reading the chapter, I was thinking, why in the world was I worrying about something that was going to all work out becasue it was in God's hands. One of the biggest points I learned by reading this is that worry is a sin. Even though there is no commandment that says "Thou shalt not worry", it is still a sin.  It is a sin because its like saying we don't trust what God already has planned for us. While we may know that He has a plan for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11), we tend to worry about the small things in life. But I think sometimes, myself included, forget that even those small things, God still has a plan for them. He has every single detail of our lifes put together! Every. Single. ONE. Why, why, why do we worry then? Here is a quote that explains it: "Worry, in essence, is the sin of distrusting the promises and the power of God. It's choosing to dwell on, to think about the worse case scenario. It's faith in the bad things rather than faith in God." Enough said, worry is having faith in the things we don't want to happen rather than just putting our faith in God who puts all good things together. So in my sitution I was worried about getting a roommate that partied, or didn't have anything in common with me, or who doesn't follow Christ, or who isn't into sports and competition, etc. Instead I should have put my worry aside and put my faith in God that He would place me with the right roommate. And let me tell you, He sure did put me with the right one. My roommate now is the total opposite of what I was scared of, and Laura, is the same way. None of those from my "worry list" apply to her either. I know God placed me with the right person to have as a roommate and I already can't wait for next year. :)
Another quote that stuck out to me was this, "If you do catch yourself worrying even after you've done what was wise, remember that God is bigger than our problems, and that He wants us to hand them over to Him. Worrying then becomes a signal alerting us it's time to pray." I never thought of it like this before. Whenever you suddenly think of something you are worrying about, you should take it as a sign to pray. God obviously put that thought into your head for a reason, so why not stop and pray about it right then and there. I wish I would have known this before. I should have been praying about a roommate every time that the idea of not knowing what to do occured to me. I know now I'll start doing that more often. But most importantly from that quote, God is bigger than all our problems. Every. Single. One. No matter how big or how small they are, He is bigger. All we can do about them is pray about them. He's got it all under control, we don't need to worry.
So next time you worry, don't. Pray about it instead and realize God is bigger than those worries.
I don't ever think I have been as happy knowing that God really can be bigger than my worries and actually will answer prayers that two people were praying. It just amazes me how good God really is. I know He is good all the time, but sometimes I just love it when He is really really good and does more than we deseve Him to do. But you know what, that's just God for you.
He takes away our worries.
He loves us more than life.
He answers prayers.
Here is one last quote for you.
"I don't know what tommorow holds, but I know who holds tommorow."
God holds my tomorrow. He holds your tomorrow. I don't think we need to worry about.
It's all in His hands. <3
:)

Never Once

I have this thing for listening to music. I ususally have it playing all the time. In the car, in my room, on a bus ride, while I'm doing homework; it's on all the time. Then in chuch one of my favorite parts is singing. But my most favorite is when we learn new songs, that yeah I may have heard them on the radio, but never really listened to the words and it might have even been one where I went to the next station because I didn't know it and just wasn't feeling it at the time. Well a couple months at church we started singing this song that was one of those "not feeling it" types of songs. Many of you may or may not have heard it, but it's called Never Once by Matt Redmen. (I'll attach it at the end again.) For some reason, when we sang that song at church and as we continue to sing it week after week, the words continue to speak to me each and every time. It has some pretty powerful words in it.

Its hard to figure out where to begin. I think I'll start at the beginning of the song. In the first part of the song it says, "knowing that for every step You were with us". Those 7 words were enough for me to think, "this is going to be a great song!" And sure enough, those words came true. But wait it gets better.

"Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can say, never once did we ever walk alone."

As a christian I know that in my walk with Christ and just in my life in general, many troubles are going to come my way. I have experienced so many of them already and couldn't be happier that I did because they truly have made me stronger than  I was before any of them happened. Some bad things will leave scars, like the song talks about, and even after they do we are going to continue to struggle with something new, that might leave a scar itself, but it is how we look at those scars and struggles that makes them better. During every single scar and struggle, God is present. He doesn't let us walk them alone. At the time it may not seem like He is walking with us, but trust me He is bigger then than He ever will be at those times. Whenever a scar is left or a struggle is happening, He is standing beside you like a buddy on a path, walking step in step with you.

Right after that part of the song comes an even better part. It says, "Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, You are faithful". There it is again. He is faithful. He never leaves us. He is walkin step in step with us down the "struggle path". And not just sometimes is He there, never once did He leave us on our own. NEVER ONCE!!!! He is always there! He is faithful through every single thing we go through. EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! Big or small, He is there. Oh man oh man, isn't God just awesome?!

As I have gotten older, I have feel in love with reading my Bible. When I was younger, I would just read it because someone told me too or because we were opening it in church. But now I hate going a day without reading it. I am no perfect Christian and so many times fail at reading it on a daily basis. But the days when I do read it before stepping out into the world for the day, my day just feels so much more worthwhile and I feel more refreshed throughout the day. The days where I don't, I can always tell because nothing goes right. Throughout my whole Bible you will find it wrtitten all over and highlighted everywhere because if I don't mark something good right when I read it, I'll forget about it. As I was trying to think to a verse that connected to the idea of God's faithfulness, nothing came to mind. So I did what I always do when I want a good verse, I just skim through my Bible. For some reason the Holy Spirit was drawing me to the Psalms, so of course I went there. As I was flipping through them, I saw a box around Psalm 23 verse 4. It reads, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff. they comfort me." Holy smokes! Could it be any more clearer?! As I am walking through "the valley of the shadow of death", I have nothing to fear, He is with me. Let me say it again. HE. IS. WITH. ME. and not just through the scary or hard times. ALL. THE. TIME. And when He is walking with me, He has His rod and His staff just to comfort me. Oh man, how can you not love this Man if He does that for you?

"Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can say. Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful. God, You are faithful"

Scars are going to happen

He is faithful.

Struggles are going to occur.

He is faithful.

We will walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

He is with us.

We will face evil.

He has His rod and staff ready to help us.

He is faithful now and for ever and we will never walk alone. Ever.

Yeah, thats why I love that Man.

:)

Courage

For my Old Testament class we were to write a paper comparing our life story to a story in the Old Testament. I had the hardest time decideding who to compare mine to. But of course God always comes through at the right time. He provided me with a person to compare my story too. As you will read, I compared my story to Joshua's. I knew of Joshua but not his whole story, so I was glad to learn about him in class. I am turning this paper in on Friday so as you read it if you have suggestions, I will gladly take them. For those of you who know my story, I hope you agree with me in that his story is like mine. For those of you who don't know my story, here is a small portion of a much bigger picture. I hope you enjoy this blog post and thank you for reading my blogs. And remember these words aren't mine, they are God's. I'm just the messenger. Enjoy! :)

Courage; the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. without fear.  Courageous; possessing or characterized by courage.  Many people in my life that I look up to or consider role models are ones who are courageous. My mom is one of courage. My dad is one of courage. My grandpa is courageous in his life. My grandma is another one who is courageous herself. They all make me want to be a courageous person when I am on my own.  But sometimes I wonder if I have what it takes to be one who has courage. I fear so many things; will I make the right decisions? Will I marry the right person? Will I be in the right career. The people I consider courageous all have seemed to answer those questions correctly without any fear at all. But one reason I think all four of those people, and so many others, are so courageous is because they have heard the story of Joshua.

            Joshua was a man of God. After Moses died, God instructed Joshua to go to a new place. He gave him simple instructions and knew that Joshua would obey them, even if Joshua didn’t know what was going to happen. He just obeyed God because he wanted to and knew he should. With so many stories in the Bible, I am always wondering what the character first thinks when God gives them some crazy task to handle. Do they think, oh no, what if I can’t follow through? Or do they think, isn’t there someone better for this task? In this particular story, I wonder what Joshua was thinking when God first came to him saying, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” (Joshua 1:2). If I were Joshua I would have thought, “Are you kidding me God, I have to follow after Moses footsteps. That’s crazy. But that’s God for you, making us go out of our comfort zone and challenge us more than we want to be. Whenever I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I always need to take time to myself and just take a breath to relax myself. Those times when I feel relaxed is when I feel the presence of God so strong, as if He is standing behind me rubbing my shoulders, saying it’s going to be okay, calm down Alex. After that I feel so much better, as if I could accomplish anything.  As you read farther down in chapter one of Joshua, I feel like it is the moment in Joshua’s life where he just took that deep breath and felt God’s presence telling him everything will be okay. The verse reads, “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:5b-6) (Let out relieved breath.) It is crazy how at the time one needs God’s the most, is the time He shows up and makes everything seem so simple. It’s just how great God is, always present.

             I never related my story to any character in the Bible, so I was struggling to think of one when I learned we had too. But then God knew I was struggling and sent me a message through a class. As Joshua was being described and as we were reading the beginning of his story, I felt the connection. My story is similar to Joshua’s. No, God didn’t ask me to take people to a new land, but the words of encouragement God sent to Joshua are a lot like ones I, myself, have heard God teaching me. “I will never leave you or forsake you.” As I have started a new chapter in my book of life, I don’t think I have ever seen God so evident in my life. In my high school years, I always knew God was with me wherever I went, but now as I am in college so many times I can actually see Him doing awesome things for different people or even for me. It’s hard to put the feeling in words, but so many times I will be talking to a friend about different things that are happening and a realization comes over me that it wasn’t just a coincidence, but it was all a God thing, or a Godcidence. I will then find myself thinking, wow God was really there throughout the whole time. Before Bethel, I never saw things like that; I just assumed He was always there. Now my eyes are more opened to the great things He can do and will do and is doing just because I want Him to be in control of my life, I don’t want to be in control of my own life. It’s not mine; it’s His. He never will leave me or forsake me every single day, hour, minute, second. He is ALWAYS there, just like He told Joshua He would be.

            But then you read on to probably one of my favorite verses. “Be strong and courageous.” But it doesn’t just say this once; it says it twice, a few verses later. “Be strong and courageous.” God wanted Joshua to be like the definition I wrote about earlier; a person who doesn’t fear. He didn’t want Joshua to fear what God had planned for him. He wanted to be strong and courageous in what was to follow. So many times in my life when I am scared of what is next, I know God is telling me the same thing. “Alex, be strong and courageous. I know what is next. You have nothing to fear.” (Let our breath.) The God I love that is larger than life and already has my whole life planned out for me when I don’t know where it is going, is telling me to be strong and courageous. He wants me to be strong in my faith. He wants me to fear nothing that is coming ahead because again, He doesn’t leave me or forsake me.  No wonder He is God and I am not.  Right now in my life, I can’t decide what career I want to go into. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember, but now I just don’t know. I know God has called me to do something with kids because I find great joy in working with them and interacting with them.  But I can’t decide if teaching is the thing for me and what I want to spend my whole life doing. But then Joshua and his story remind me; “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) He commanded not only Joshua, but me to remember I have to be strong and fear nothing because God is with me no matter what. No matter what. No matter if I have no idea where I am going or what I should do, HE IS HERE. Because of Joshua, I now can have peace and know that God is with me. He is going to tell me the right thing to do. I should walk through life being strong and with having courage. By having courage I won’t fear what is ahead, but will instead have faith in God that one day He will show me what to do. I would rather sit here and wait to figure out what to do rather than go against God and discover the wrong thing.

 I want to be one of courage; one that is able to face anything without any type of fear. I shouldn’t have to fear because I know God is with me and He is never going to leave me or forsake me. He wants me to be strong and courageous no matter the circumstances.  In the song “Courageous” by Casting Crown, it says “we were made to be courageous”. We were made to be courageous because God called Joshua to be courageous in the unknown and He wants us to be courageous in our unknown also because He is with us forever and always. If Joshua was courageous, I am pretty sure I can be courageous too. All it takes is a little bit of strength and God of course.

Do you have courage?

:)

"I will bring praise!"

Every Sunday as I stand in church, I can not wait for the songs we sing. Ever since I was younger I loved singing in church because no one can really hear you sing and that is a good thing because I am a horrible singer. When I sing in church it helps me picutre what heaven will be like when all we get to do is bring praise to Jesus for all He has done.
There are certain songs I like to sing during church and certain ones I am not the biggest fan of. Its bound to happen to everyone, right? Sometimes if I'm not familiar with a song, it's hard for me to focus and catch on quick. But then there are some songs, that when they begin I get so cheerful and make sure to clear my voice so I can really get into the song. Weird, I know. I can't help it.
Last week at church we sang one of my favorite songs! I had heard this song over and over again, but until this week, the words have really stood out to me more than they ever have. The song is called the Desert Song. If your not familiar with titles of songs, it goes a little something like this:
"This is my prayer in the desert when all thats within me feels dry. This is my prayer in my hunger in need. My God is a god who provides...." Ringing a bell? If not I'll attach a link so you can listen to it at the end.
Probably one of my favoirte parts of this song is the chorus. It sings, "I will bring praise,  I will bring praise. No weapon formed against me shall remain." This part is one of my favorites just because I have nothing against me, all my sins are taken away because of the death of Christ, why not bring praise? Everything may not be perfect in life or it may not be going the way one wants it to go, but at least we have a life where we don't have to worry about our sins! They are gone! Plus in the good times and bad, we have to bring praise to our Father. He is bringing us to it for a reason to make us stronger in Him. Why not on a daily basis praise Him and thank Him for all He has done and will do for us! :)
The next part goes onto say: "I will rejoice. I will declare. God is my victory and He is here." God is here. He is always here. He will never not be here. How stinkin' awesome is that?!? At times, yeah we aren't going to feel Him or maybe not hear Him, but He is still here. And He is always going to be! He isn't just here, He is our victory too! God sent His only son so that every single one of us could live here on this earth without having to live with our sins. Sometimes its hard to overcome sins, but one doesn't have to do it alone; He is here ready to overcome them with you. How awesome!!!!!!
But then the song gets better...
"All of my life, in every season, You are still God. I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship."  God is still God no matter what. No hard time, nothing will ever make Him not God. He is ALWAYS going to be there! Why not sing about Him? Why not give everything we have to the One who will always be there? I have had times of trouble in my life, where I just want to know, why God, why? But you know what, the why doesn't matter. He is still God and that hard time isn't a hard time in God's eyes. Its a challenge from Him to see what you are going to do. Will I say, "this isn't fair, give this trouble to someone else?" Or will I say, "You know what, Thanks God. I needed this. What is your will in all of this?" In every season of life, the good and the bad, He is going to be there. That is why I am going to sing to Him and worship Him. He is the person who is always, and is always going to be there. I know I have said it so many times in this post already, but how awesome!!!!! My, oh my, how I love that man who gave it all for me! :)
I came to a realization that other day that I hadn't blogged in a while. It took me forever to decide what to write about, but then it finally hit me when I heard the song at church; I'll write about the song. I then had a free day and decided to start blogging about it. But when I opened the blank blog, nothing came to mind about what to write. My mind was a desert. I closed my eyes, prayed to ask God what He wanted to write about, and then just started typing. To me I felt like I just kept rambling and nothing made sense. I took a break from it that day, and decided to come back to it today (the following Sunday). Have you ever realized how crazy God works? In chapel on Friday, we only sang one song, and you will never guess what song it was? Yep, the same song I am writing about right now! Crazy, huh? I knew it was meant for me to take a break from this blog just so I could re-hear it (even though I have been playing it on repeat the whole time I was writing about it..haha). As I reheard it, this calming sensation came over me. I felt God's presence and Him telling me, "In every season, I am still God and I am giving you a reason to sing". He sure is giving me things to sing about. This past week I realized how awesome my parents are and how they always have the right things to say. I realized how close I have grown to the new friends I have made at Bethel and how I am able to share so much of my life and love for Christ with them, which I never could with my high school friends. I realized how blessed I am to have such an awesome roommate who I can open up to about anything. These are just a few of the many things I realized about my life this week.
God really is there for me in every season. He is my victory. He gives me something new to sing about every morning. God is my provider. Nothing I have is mine, its all His. He is always here. He'll be there now and forever. He is my reason to worship! I am declaring right now that He is my victory and He is here.
"This is my prayer in the harvest when favor and providence flow. I know I'm filled to be emptied again, the seed I recieve I will sow."
:)



Here's the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlgUUeQh0CQ

You see what I'm talking about? :)