Faithful Fridays ~ You're Blessed When.....

Hello, there, everyone--hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend so far!  :)  This week's been a busy one for us as we've been wrapping up school, but I wanted to pop in and share these verses that I've been thinking about lately.


Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

**************************************************************************

"When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

'You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

'You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

'You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

'You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

'You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

'You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

'You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

'You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

'Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

-Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus never said, "Come to me when you have it all together."  He said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."  He never said, "I'll show Myself to you when you perform well."  He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  Jesus has always called those who are imperfect, weak, tired, weary, lost in sin, alone, at the end of their rope--because it doesn't matter where you are or who you are, so long as you come to His feet with that need, that desire for more of Him, that childlike love for Him and trust in Him.  So know this: No matter where you are, no matter what your condition is right now--good or bad, strong or weak, on top of the mountain or in the valleys--He's always waiting with love.  Just come to Him.  These are the people and these are the times that He uses to grow beauty.  Let Him do whose work.  Come to Him.  

**************************************************************** God bless you guys and have a great week!  :) Love, Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ The Time is Now.

Hi, everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  :)  We had a super busy weekend, hence the late post.  :) 



      Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)     ***************************************************************************************************************     "Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?" -Francis Chan     I think sometimes we--I--get so wrapped up in what's going on in our own lives--whether it be pure busyness, or a struggle in our relationship with God, or stress, or whatever--that there's this one part of following Jesus that slips into the back of our minds.  We forget to love our neighbor.  We forget to love the least of these, those that are "overlooked or ignored" (Matthew 25:37-40 MSG).      And it's so, so easy to do that when the stuff in our lives is blown up and right up close to our faces.  I do it all the time.  It's so easy to just let it fade into the background when we're facing our own issues, trying to find our own peace.      "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45     But I think what we're forgetting is that yes, to love and honor God is what we were created for.  But a huge portion of that is loving others.  Over and over and over again in the Bible, it emphasizes God's heart for the forgotten, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the overlooked, the ignored.  And when Jesus came to earth, He spent most of His time teaching, healing, and loving those that fell between the cracks of society, the ones that were easy to forget.  He spent time with the sinners, the seriously sick, the poor, the ordinary, and the ones that were just sort of average.  He called them out of every situation they were in--to follow Him.         And if that's what Jesus, our Lord, our King, spent all of His time doing before He took on the cross--how can we not place immense importance on it?  How can we leave that out or forget it?  What kind of King does that?  That's the kind of King I want to serve.        "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."-1 John 4:7-12
      We really know God, we really follow Jesus, when we put ourselves aside and pour out love into other people.  As Francis Chan put it, "We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things."       

      The sum of every single one of the Ten Commandments is to love God and love your neighbor.  That's it.  How can we expect to really know the God that IS love when we are so wrapped up in ourselves and our own worries and problems and struggles that we forget to actively love others, constantly, every day, the way Jesus did?        "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." -James 1:27       "Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full." -Proverbs 19:17       "'Which ones?' the man asked.  And Jesus replied, 'You must not murder.  You must not commit adultery.  You must not steal.  You must not testify falsely.  Honor your father and mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.'  'I've obeyed all these commandments,' the young man replied.  'What else must I do?'  Jesus told him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.'"  -Matthew 19:18-21       Isn't that crazy?  Jesus told the man to go sell his possessions and help the poor--and then to come and follow Him!  That's how much it matters to Jesus.       "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11       "If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered." -Proverbs 21:13       "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will go cursed." -Proverbs 28:27       "Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person.  Don't tell your neighbor 'Maybe some other time' or 'Try me tomorrow' when the money's right there in your pocket.  Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting." -Proverbs 3:27-29       "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.  So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion--how can God's love be in that person?  Dear children, let's not merely say we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.  Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.  And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.  Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them.  And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us." -1 John 3:16-24       I don't know about you, but I don't want my cries to go unheard or unanswered, and I don't want to be cursed.  I want my light to rise in the darkness and I desperately want the Lord to guide me always.  I want the love of God to be in me, so I can be confident before Him.        I've decided that I can't let my current struggles and the worries in my life get in the way of Jesus' command to love others the way He loved me.  I don't want to put it off for when times are better and it's easier.  Jesus never said, "Love others when it's convenient," or "Love others when it's easy," or "Love others when you want to," or "Love others when your life is problem free and you don't have worries," or "Love others when your relationship with God is perfect."  Those times may never come . The time is now.  Yes, it will be hard.  I don't instinctively want to put myself aside and focus on loving Jesus and loving others.  But it's so worth it.  I've seen it in action and I've been a part of it, and it takes work, but it's amazing, and it's the best possible way to live.        *********************************************************************************************     God bless you guys and have a great week! Joy :)

Mother's Day.

Mama.  

I love you.  

You're my best friend, my counselor, my role model, my hero, my security a lot of times, my confidante, walking buddy, my guidance in a ton of situations, my teacher.

You're the only person I can tell everything to.  You're the one I can share my little thoughts and dreams and fantasies with.  You're the one who encourages and takes a genuine interest in all the things I love and am passionate about, and that means the world to me.  

You're never too busy to talk, never too occupied or carried away in life's obligations to listen to what I have to say, or what's going on with me at the moment, or to take a look at one of Luke's Lego creations.  :)

You're a hard worker, and efficient, and that's something I'm definitely going to need to learn from you--as well as how to not put oneself first, but to serve others.  You spend every. single. day. doing that, and half the time I don't pause to think about it or to be thankful, but you're amazing.  

You taught me to never leave anyone out.  You taught me to people watch.  You taught me to never talk badly about anyone  You taught me to use my head.  You taught me to love kids.  You taught me to encourage people.  You taught me to be my best.  You taught me to be myself.  You taught me to not put others or myself down.  You taught me to be honest.  You taught me that real friends will respect my convictions.  You taught me what I need to look for in my future husband.  You taught me that Jesus is the most important thing. 

Thank you for talking to me as a mature young person, and never treating me as a little kid.  It's made a huge difference in my life.  Thank you for sharing music with me.  Thank you for quoting movies with me.  Thank you for teaching me.  Thank you for being so wise and for sharing that wisdom with me--but giving me the freedom and training to think and to observe and reason and to make my own decisions.  Thank you for being a superhero nerd with me.  :)  

Thank you for being who you are--strong, loving, wise, and really, just the best.  I love you to the moon and back!  :)

Love,

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ It Won't Go to Waste.

Good afternoon!  :)  Are you guys getting ready for Mother's Day?  I think it's one holiday that doesn't get enough credit--moms are amazing.  

And thank you guys for the continued prayers for my aunt!  She keeps getting a little better and better everyday--it's been so awesome to see God work in her!  :)




Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

*********************************************************************************************************** "I have told you this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world." -John 16:33


We all face struggles in our faith and relationship with God--whether it be temptation, sin, doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, bitterness, pride, holding a grudge against someone, or whatever.  And sometimes, to me, it seems like those struggles are storms and it seems like those big breaker waves are going to crash down and overcome me.  And I find myself asking why.  Why do I have to go through this, God?  It's only pulling me away from You.  It's making it harder for me to come to You.  It's making it harder for me to love You.  It's making following You so hard--what's the point?  

But as I look back over my walk with God, and at the word of God, and at the lives of those who walked the closest with Him--I can't think of any hardship they faced that didn't serve a purpose.  I can't think of any past struggle in my own faith that hasn't brought me closer to Jesus in the end.  Maybe it wasn't clear at the time, for me or for anyone in the Bible, but those like Elijah, and Moses, and Abraham, chose to trust and keep moving toward God even if they couldn't see the way right at that moment--and He always pulled them through.  


"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." -Romans 8:28


Life is going to bring trials.  The enemy is going to throw stuff at us and our relationship with God.  Our own sinful nature will fight against our choice to follow Jesus sometimes.  But:


"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.  And God is faithful.  He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." -1 Corinthians 10:13


We all face struggles.  Not just me, not just you, but everyone.  Jesus Himself was tempted.  Sometimes it may feel like we're not going to be able to overcome them, like we won't have the strength to keep following Jesus, to keep running the race that is set before us.  But don't stop.  Don't give up.  You may not be able to see things clearly now; that's okay.  When the Israelites were angry and tired and thirsty, God's command to Moses--to strike a rock with his staff--may not have made sense right then.  But Moses did what God told him to do--He trusted, even if he couldn't see just then, and he made movements toward God--and God followed through.  

When God told Elijah to go out and leave where he was staying, and live near a river for a while because of a drought that was coming on, I'm sure Elijah couldn't see everything clearly then.  But God said He'd feed Elijah, and Elijah trusted, and went out and did what God told him.  And God took perfect care of him.  Over and over again, Elijah did what God asked, even if he couldn't see the whole picture, or it wasn't clear or didn't make sense at that moment.  And over and over, God carried him through.  


If you're struggling right now; if you're you feeling like you're going to be overcome; if you're feeling like you can't make it, you can't keep up your faith; if you're feeling like this struggle is useless and just tearing down your faith in God, take heart: I can promise you, from God's word, from the lives of others, and from my own experiences, that if you'll keep chasing God through this storm, seeking Him in the struggle, fighting the good fight of the faith and running the race, if you'll keep making movements toward Him, even if you can't see it all clearly right now--He will carry you through.  And your struggle will not go to waste.  You'll learn things, you'll be stronger, and you'll come out closer to God, strengthened in your relationship with Him and your commitment and love for Jesus.  Will you struggle again?  Sure.  But it's worth it.  Just don't you dare give up.  God is faithful.  Keep making movements toward Him.  

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.  After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?  He said,

'My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,

    and don’t give up when he corrects you.

 

For the Lord disciplines those he loves,

    and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.'

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?  For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong."

-Hebrews 12:1-13

*********************************************************************************
God bless you guys and have a great day!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Bring it to Him.

Happy Friday, everyone!  :)  Or I guess I should say Happy Weekend...life's been a bit crazy lately, and Faithful Fridays somehow have ended up happening on Saturdays and Sundays here and there.  :)  But I want to thank you all so much for the prayers for my aunt!  It's been amazing to see God answering all these prayers and showing His power in her--she went home Thursday night, just a week after having brain surgery.  Crazy.  She's been talking, and moving some, even on the side that the doctors had said would be paralyzed.  Can you say God is great?  :)  She has a road of physical therapy ahead of her, but God's already brought her far and I can't wait to see how He keeps bringing her through this!  :)  Thank you so much for your prayers!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

*********************************************************************************

Have you ever been reading the psalms and become sort of confused by the fluctuating tones?  The psalmist can jump from celebrating God's love and faithfulness, shouting his thanks from the rooftops, to being down in the dumps, in the depths of despair, groaning to God, asking why he's been abandoned.   Not exactly something you expect from great men of God, is it?  

Or is it?  

Because I think everyone--especially teens, and teen girls--faces the rolling storms and emotions and struggles of life, and the stuff the enemy throws at us.  We face insecurities, doubts, fears, sin, failures, feelings, questions, stray thoughts, worries--all that stuff that makes us pull away from God. The psalmists faced those like any other person--sure, their struggles were probably different from ours, but they were struggles nonetheless.  There are times when I feel like getting up and having a dance party because Jesus is so amazing, and there are times when I just want to curl up in a ball and ask God why.  And yet instead I find myself shrinking away from God in doubt, and resentment, and I end up just being cold toward Him.  



The psalmists faced this same rollercoaster of life--the highs, the lows, the struggles, the victories, the fears, the heights--and they came to God in every. single. bit of it.  That's true prayer.  That's true intimacy with God.  

Because don't you know that in any good relationship, the secret is that the two people in the relationship bring everything--their frustrations with each other, their problems, their fears, their emotions, into the light, to each other, in open honesty--and then they work it out together.  Why should we do any less with God, the perfect one who reached down to scoop us out of our sin when we were at our lowest?  Jesus didn't come to save us when we were good, or faithful, or deserving, or loving Him, or doing the right thing--He loved us when we were dirty, still in our sin, not wanting Him, certainly not deserving Him, not being faithful, just living in our rebellious human nature.  And still, He loved us.  So why do we hesitate to bring all our stuff to Him now? "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 God is inviting you bring it all to Him.  Tell Him what's troubling you, even if it's about Him.  Don't lean away in doubt, lean forward in trust.  Run home, even if you're scared.  The prodigal son had done his father wrong, but in the end he realized it and came running home.  He wasn't expecting much of a welcome, but he was bringing his best--and his father, who loved him relentlessly, welcomed him joyfully.  So come to Him with your everything, good, bad, and ugly.  Come to Him with your questions; His word is truth and it can answer them.  Come to Him with your struggles and your insecurities, your weaknesses and failures.  Lay it at His feet and tell Him you need Him, you can't do it on your own; cry out to the One who loves you!  It's not too big or too bad for Him.  Just bring it to Him and surrender it.  He's your safe place to hide.  Run home into the arms of His love.  
I come with my broken song To you the perfect One, To worship You in spirit and in truth, Only You. You're the reason I sing,  The reason I sing, Yes, my heart will sing, how I love You! -"Simplicity, Rend Collective ********************************************************************************* God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  :) Joy :)