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

Oops...

So we have talked about modesty here before and about how our clothes should be glorify to God. But I don't that anyone I have heard of....has said sometimes even when we are trying to please God with our clothes honest mistakes can happen.

Wednesday I was up at 6:30 in the dark stumbling around trying to get ready for my classes and I just pulled on some shorts and a T-shirt. (You should know I am a really modest person that didn't think she had any problem clothes in her wardrobe...) I honestly thought I was perfectly fine and that my clothes were fine and covered what they needed too. They were not...I made an honest mistake and wore it all day. I didn't notice it either until two guys hit on me and made comments about my body that made me very uncomfortable...

I was mortified I didn't want this to happen! I try to honor God in all my choices especially with my clothes and my body...I even had lunch with a Godly girlfriend...She may not have noticed but either way she didn't say anything...I had work out clothes in my car that were better I could have changed into if I had noticed or someone told me.

So here are lessons

• Sometimes even when we have the best intentions we make mistakes...not that we should dress immodestly and say it was a mistake. But it does happen.
• Girls,(and I say girls because guys its inappropriate for you to do so) if you notice a friend of yours that strives for modesty having a wardrobe malfunction let her know gently and talk about what you two can do to fix it...a jacket or hoodie can help with too tight pants with tying it around the waist or of course with a shirt problem. :)
• Guys, if your sister in Christ is having a problem with her wardrobe she might notice I know this is a tricky subject... I know guys I have known before if their sisters or another girl they trusted was around they alerted them to deal with it.
• Check in the mirror a couple times in the light after you stumble around the dark to get dressed! haha.
• Laugh at yourself and don't let the same mistake happen twice :) 

So I know this was really random but like I said this has happen to me recently and it was on my mind. If you can add to this I would love to hear it in the comments below!!

Serving God from 8-5

On wednesday nights our church has been doing a book study on John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life". Tonight we discussed chapter 8 about serving God 8-5 so here are some highlights that I really learned from!

Think for a minute...What is your vocation? What is it that you A. either spend most of your time doing or B. earn your income from. You could for instance just be a full-time student not really earning an income or you could be in some other form of work lets just say a carpenter earning money for your trade. Ok, now that you have thought about what you are doing think about how you are serving the Lord in it? Or are you?

Not everyone is called to be a missionary or pastor but we are all called to serve the Lord in various ways and here are some things you can do to glorify God in your work.

1. Do not be conformed but transformed by the renewing of your mind in Christ Jesus and show love.
2.Provide for yourself and your family
3. Work so that you can give
4. Share the gospel to your coworkers

And there were more but those are the ones I can remember and that stood out! If you think of some ways you can glorify God is your vocation please leave a comment!

Refreshing fellowship.

I go to church every sunday with the exception of times that I am sick or the weather is too bad to get out. I enjoy my church for the most part, I love the people there, and things are good. However, recently things have seemed mediocre or dull beyond the sermons. I kept wondering what it was and why I didn't feel very good after church. Well friends, today I get it. I get why I have been feeling like church was in a bit of a rut... It was my fault I was not engaging in any deep meaningful fellowship with anyone recently.

I have been going to church for the past couple months and just doing the "hi how are you?"  "fine, how are you?" thing and not getting any encouragement nor really encouraging others. You would think this would not be to easy to considering our church is only 50-60 people and I have known them forever but nope somehow I managed to do it. I regret it and after two long encouraging conversations with people today I know why I can't let it happen again.

I am at college 3-4 days a week. I am around all kinds of worldliness, I am being taught worldliness, I am hearing people talk about things that are abomidable in the eyes of the Lord and I really do need Church and the fellowship and encouragement of other believers to keep me going! I was getting so worn out just almost thinking I was alone in my faith and struggles. I am not and I have a group of people at my church who understand.

Anyway I am rambling now but I think you get the point...Go to church AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE AND BE ENCOURAGED!!!! ITS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!