Faithful Fridays ~ Don't Judge Yourself.

Hi, everyone!  :)  Sorry I'm a bit late today.  We got up this morning, packed, and finished school so we could head off to spend our weekend in Alabama with family again.  :)


  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 Christian walk 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 ever evaluate yourself?   Do you evaluate your relationship with the Lord?  Your walk?  Your thought life?  Whether or not you're being a good Christian?    I know I do.  I guess I'm trying to keep a check on my heart and the condition of my relationship with the Lord, but I worry myself into a tizzy.  I start to feel guilty and anxious a lot.  I don't feel close to the Lord and I feel like it's completely my fault.    But it's not my job to keep tabs or pass judgement or evaluation on myself or others.  The same verses in the Bible that talk about not judging others apply to judging ourselves and judging situations and relationships.    Here's the deal:   It is by grace alone that I have a relationship with God.  Not in my own strength.  Not in my own will or power.  All grace.  It was a gift, and a mavelous and mind-blowing one at that.   So, my job is not to work tirelessly at my relationship with the Lord, trying to grow it in my own strength, but simply to draw near to Him and know that only His grace and His word and His power can pull me closer to Him and keep me there.    "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9   "'I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:5   "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9-10   So today, if you're judging yourself over something, just step back and give it a break.  Remember that you are weak, but He is strong.  You can do nothing on your own, but in His strength you can do all things.
Relax and rest in His grace.   God bless you guys and have a great day.  :) Joy :)  

Faithful Fridays ~ Shine

Hi, everyone!  :)  I'm sorry that today's Faithful Friday post is late--we had friends over yesterday and I never got around to writing my post.  But I'm here today!  :)

Remember me mentioning that my computer was down?  It's fixed!  Thank You, Jesus!  Time to get back to writing and blogging regularly.  :)

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 Christian walk 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 think a lot of us want to feel special.  We want to feel unique.  We want to shine.   And people encourage us to do that, right?  You can't watch Disney Channel for thirty minutes without hearing a repetition of "be yourself," "shine," "be original," and on and on. But in that, I think we lost sight of our true identity.  Our identity is not in ourselves, it's in Jesus and how He's redeemed us.  Outside of that, we are nothing.  And when we get so wrapped up in ourselves, we forget that.  We get so focused on shining in our own light that we completely miss the point of our lives!  

A beautiful sight on the way home.  :)

The reason for our very existence is to glorify and worship Jesus.  To shine for Him.   Don't shine so others can see you.  Shine so that through you, others can see Him.   -C.S Lewis Be a lantern and let God put His light in You to shine before others.  He's given you this salvation and faith....why hide it? In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. -Matthew 5:16 God bless you guys and have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ You Are Wanted.

Hi there, everyone, and welcome to Faithful Fridays!  :)

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 Christian walk 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!  :)

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So, Christian singer Dara Maclean came out with a new song recently called "Wanted."  And it's just so beautiful.  

From the day you were born and took your first breath,

you opened your eyes and in came the light.

He was watching you.

But all of your life, you couldn't shake

the lies in your head, saying you're a mistake.

But you were made

by a God who knows your name.

He doesn't make mistakes.

Long before we were born, God had us on His mind.  Most of us don't know this.  We don't know that since the beginning of time, the Maker of the universe has cared about us.  We don't realize that He loves us.  We don't realize what He sacrificed--WHO He sacrificed--for us to have the choice to live a life with Him.  

A lot of us go through life basing our value and worth on what other people think of us.  We end up feeling hurt and alone and worthless.

You are wanted.

To every broken heart, He stands with open arms.

You are wanted.

To every searching soul, look to the rising sun.  

If you're lonely, hurting, gone too far,

to the outcast, you come as you are,

for you, you are wanted.

You, you are wanted, you, you are wanted.

You, you are wanted.  

And we will go on in that cycle of putting ourselves down and feeling like we have no worth until we realize that we are so incredibly loved and cherished and wanted by a God who sacrificed His Son to have us know Him!

And isn't that amazing--that the God of everything, the King over all, wants us?  He doesn't need us.  And we most certainly don't deserve His love--not on our own.  But He picks us up, dusts us off, and loves us.  He makes us worthy.  He values us.  

And until we're ready to come to Him, He stands there with open, inviting arms, waiting for us to run into His loving presence.  

Let this be the day that joy takes the place of all of the years

that shame tried to steal away.

He is calling you.

Lift your eyes to see His face.

Come run into the arms of grace.

You, you have been marked, you're set apart.

And He calls you His.

So you don't have to search, don't have to look

for where you belong.

You are wanted.  

And though so many of us spend so much time in our lives looking for where we belong, where we fit in, where we have worth, and where we are wanted....we don't have to look, because God has already established that for us.  

We are His.  

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

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Discipline is Hard.

Helllooo there, and welcome to Faithful Fridays!  :)

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 Christian walk 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!  :)

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We go through times in life where things just go wrong.  It may look dark.  You may feel alone and angry and upset and hurt.  You may feel depressed, like it's never going to end.  You may feel like you're just walking in this time where left and right you're making mistakes and doing things wrong.  You may question why God is continuing to let these things go on, even though you're praying about it.  

And in that moment, your troubles may seem like a horrible calamity, a tragic mistake.  

But God uses these things!  You may not see it now.  But when you look back at this time a couple of years from now, you'll probably realize that this was what God used to grow you tremendously, or to grow someone else through you.  He may use this to show you what His calling for your life is.  God can use these things so much!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

-Romans 8:28

No discipline or tough growing phase seems good at the time, but we can gain so much from it.  It usually ends up being worth it a hundred times over.  Remember that when you're going through a hard time.

"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spiritsand live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees."

-Hebrews 12:9-12

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

Joy :)