Dear Blog,

It's been a long time. It is time to blow the dust off this old blog and revive it with some fresh thought and insight.

I have been going through a lot of life changes recently. I just finished the hardest semester of my life, I am about to earn an associates degree, I have made a lot of new friends, and most of these new friends come from The Salvation Army church.

The Salvation Army Church is what I kind of what to blog about today. Not really the church itself and their beliefs and whatnot, but I want to share with you the message this last Sunday. Let me preface it with this. It has been a LONG TIME since I have really remembered a sermon, taken it to heart, and really applied to my everyday life.

So what was the message?

The message was illustrated with a snowglobe. A snowglobe a little world incapusulated in a glass globe filled with water and glitter. This globe she said represented each of us and our own little worlds we live in. The glitter that comes up when shaking it represents stirring emotions such as frustration, anxiety, anger, etc. These emotions generally happen because either myself or someone other than God is holding my precious snow globe life. I am letting them or myself shake things up instead of taking my world and putting in the hands of the one who created it.

This illustration was and is so powerful in my life. I find myself stopping myself throughout this week already and saying "who is shaking up my snow globe?" I find that if nothing else it has made me more aware. Trust is something I am working on, but unfortunately I am a slow work in progress.

The other thing that was beautiful is that when I went and talked to Rachel after church she told me that she had gotten a word from the spirit about me during the message. She shared that with me and prayed over me.

Guys, I am telling you it has been a lonnnggg time. Way too long actually since I have really felt alive in the Lord and Sunday was for the first time in a LONG time refreshing.

So I am just praising God for what he is doing in my life right now. I know He has big plans for me and I can't wait for Him to reveal them to me in His timing :)

bloom where you are planted...

"Bloom where you are planted" I can't tell you how many times I have heard that phrase recently...and it must be a God thing. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 7:20 where Paul says: " Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called".

  Friends to tell you the truth I have been seeing so much change around me...in my life but mostly in my friends and I sometimes think that my life could be better or fuller if similar changes were to happen to me...I get overwhelmed as friendships change and go away. I have become depressed and a bit withdrawn. But, just tonight the Lord is working on my heart...and believe me when I tell you that I have felt a spiritual battle in my soul!

  Things may be changing, friendships come and go, but God stays forever and He is enough for me to be content. He is enough to keep me going. I don't need to change the way everyone else is.

   I need to stay where I am and glorify the Lord there...moving out, a boyfriend, a new car, more money, etc. are nice but NONE compare to Jesus and my relationship with Him. I have to keep this in the forefront of my thoughts because if I don't the devil is going to do what he has been doing to me for the past few days...He is going to gradually drag me down until I get really depressed and miserable and he wants me to forget how wonderful a friend and savior I have! I am not going to let him! He is not allowed here anymore. 

So friends, bloom where you are. You don't have to fix everything before you start your service for the Lord. You don't have to be in an ideal place to be joyful in the Lord. God should be our joy. It should be in everything that we glorify Him!

.You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.

Isaiah 26:3

Times are changing...

I don't know why I didn't expect this...I kind of wish I would have braced myself more but life is changing faster than ever before. 2011 was a wild ride and this year is starting out that way as well. My friendships are ever evolving, changing, and bringing new friends in. I am now in college. I have a car. I am in the process of trying to get a job. Life is crazy busy and for the most part I love that....however, there are those moments where I just want to slow down and breathe again...Sometimes life lately doesn't even seem to allow that. During this overwhelming time of change and craziness my moments with God in prayer (even if while driving) are so much more precious! Not to mention important to my sanity.

Lately, I have been uber emotional and reflective. I have been thinking about how things used to be and how much they have changed. I have also been thanking God for the friends and family He has blessed me with. I sometimes do wonder how a lot of things would be if things were different...but then I remember that things are the way they are and I cannot change that....what I can do is trust in Christ alone.

We live in a crazy, busy, always changing world in which our only real constant and source of sanity can be Christ. Everything else changes, He does not, and will not. Thank God!

Trusting God and taking my own advice...

Today I had a friend crying and telling me that her and her boyfriend were doomed to break up...they hadn't talked all day today....no I am not joking that's what happened. They had talked every other day this week but today and she felt he didn't love her anymore.

Well I was trying to encourage her and be logical with her and we got on the topic of trusting God...she said she just couldn't trust God anymore...she said she prayed and prayed and she just couldn't do it.

You know I reminded her and myself that trusting in God is alot easier than worrying over stuff. I mean I really need to take my own advice and remember that God is God and I am not. God is in control of all things and I am not. God has a plan for me and it is good. God loves me more than I could ever love Him in return. God's timing is not my timing but its perfect timing. So why is it that I don't trust in Him all the time? I have no reason not to trust.

The reason sadly though is that we seem to sometimes forget who our God is when we get so wrapped up in our petty problems. We get so worked up over minuscule stuff and we start believing the lie "God can't help me now" or "Why did  I ever trust God? I still have problems...it did me no good"

Precious, Beloved ones!! These are some lies we need to banish... I don't know maybe some of you don't have trust issues...if you don't consider yourself highly blessed. But for those like me, you need to boot these lies to the curb! You need to put on your armor, send up a prayer, and look out for the devil every morning!


We can't forget who our God is...when we forget we stop trusting, You don't trust a stranger very easily do you? That is they way we have been conditioned since we were young. But you do trust someone you live with, love, and talk to everyday right? Are you getting my point?
I know this post is a little choppy and maybe it makes no sense...I am tired...but I just had to get this out before I go to sleep tonight...