We think we have it all

Today I was lying out under the sun, enjoying its warmth and the bright blue sky. I had my sunglasses on, but it was so bright that it didn't even seem like there was a dark lens between my eye and what the world really looked like. To my eye, it seemed as if that was what it looked like. It was beautiful enough to be real, it looked real, and I could have accepted it as real. But if I had, I would have been settling for less. Taking off my sunglasses I could see just how much light I was missing. Through the dark lens the trees looked green, but without that lens they were even greener and brighter, with the sunlight shining off the branches. Sometimes our world settles for less, people see everything through darkness and they think they are getting the whole picture. God is light and He shows us His light. When we look through darkness we can't see His light. We need to take off the dark lenses and show people what they are missing out on! The darkness may look good enough, but God's light is so much better!

Not just #1

In Luke 14:26 Jesus says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." Here Jesus is telling us that if we don't hate everything in comparison to Him, we aren't following Him. Jesus isn't telling us to hate our family and friends, He is telling us that the difference between our love for them and our love for Him should be as great a gap as hate and love. I am reading a book called not a fan by Kyle Idleman, (a book you should all read!) and in the book he talks about how we shouldn't be "fans" of Jesus, we should be whole fully committed to following Jesus. Just loving Jesus and putting Him as #1 in our life isn't good enough, He wants to be, and should be, the ONLY thing in our life! Kyle Idleman compares this to a husband and wife relationship. Say a husband goes out on a date with a women other than his wife, and his wife finds out about it. She would of course be hurt, angry, and broken over his disloyalty. But what if the husband then tells her "I went on a date with that women, but you know you will always be #1 with me!" will that make things any better? Certainly not! His wife doesn't want to be the first of many, she wants to be the ONLY one. It is the same with us and God. God wants to be the only one in our life. We have to be careful about putting Him on the same list as anything else. There is no second place with God, there is only a first and He is that first. Make sure that He is the ONLY one in your life.

Not by works, all by grace

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, " For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast." Thank God we are not saved by our own works! We are saved by His grace, and by His grace alone! It we were saved by our works, we would never know if we had done enough good works, we would never be assured of our salvation, we wouldn't know for sure that we would go to heaven after we died. But God has saved us by His grace! We can't boast and say "I earned my way to heaven." or "I did so many good works God will have to let me into heaven." It is only because God chose to save us from our sin. He chose to send His one and only Son, the Son who He loved, so that He could die in our place on the cross. (John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4) He died for our sins and then He rose again, victorious over sin and death! He gave us a choice to believe on Him and be saved (Acts 16:31). Grace is getting something we don't deserve. We didn't deserve to be saved, but God saved us! His grace is what gets us into heaven! Today, praise the Lord that you don't have to work for your salvation, because if we had to work for our salvation, none of us would be going to heaven! (James 2:10, Isaiah 64:6) Have faith in His grace, not your works!

What are you spending your time on?

These last few days I really feel that God is teaching me a lesson about spending my time more wisely. Many times in the book of Proverbs there are warnings against laziness and idleness. God has given us the time we have and has a desire for us to spend it wisely. This lesson was added to when I saw a quote by Caleb Grimm (band member from Anthem Lights) which said, "If it isn't true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy... Don't waste your time. (See Philippians 4:8)." Also, Alan Powell (another band member from Anthem Lights) said, "How we spend our time is a direct reflection of our priorities." God showed me through these words that I need to be spending my time on what is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy, and if what I am doing doesn't agree with any of those things, I need to re-think what I am doing. I also need to make sure my priorities are right. Do my priorities, what I spend my time doing, line up with what God wants for me? I realized that some of the things I waste my time doing aren't worth doing. Its hard to admit that something I enjoy doing isn't what I should be doing. I want my priorities to be in the right place, and I want my actions to follow Philippians 4:8 and therefore, I am going to work harder this week to spend my time on what really matters and what God wants me to be doing.

No such thing as chance

Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord." People say they leave things to chance. People gamble more and more thinking that the more they do it the bigger the chance of winning gets. People tell others "good luck". But, there is no such thing as chance or luck or increase the odds, rather everything that happens is decided on by God. We can't leave things to 'chance', we leave things to God. Everything that happens is in God's control. If a die is rolled, God has already determined what number will come up. It is all in His hands. It gives me a great sense of security knowing that I don't have to leave anything up to 'chance', God has it all under His control. Nothing will shift or shake, because God is holding it all down. We can cast a lot, but the decision is God's!

He will give you peace

When we are worried, scared, uncertain, hurting, God has promised to give us peace. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." If we take our cares to Him in prayer with supplication and thanksgiving, He will give us peace that surpasses all understanding! Its not just a little peace, its a peace that passes all our understanding! I can't even begin to wrap my head around that! Wherever you are, whatever you need, God will give you the peace you need! Rest in Him! Be anxious for nothing! 
What amazing words! What a precious promise!

Thoughts on graduating high school

I believe there is a moment in everyone’s life when they realize that their childhood is gone. It’s not a gradual realization, but rather a sudden realization that causes you to look back. Perhaps it is while watching a movie and realizing just how old it is, or the day your acceptance letter arrives from a University, or the moment you see your childhood toys being stored away. It is no longer our parent’s responsibilities to buy the necessities, sign the applications, and figure out the schedule. It is now our responsibility. It is the stage where we reach the last of our childhood and fully take on the adult life. At 15, 16 we think we are so old and mature, but it isn’t until we reach a certain age that we look back and wish we could have known what we know now. I spent some of my high school years  wishing I was 18 years old, and it wasn’t until I had my 18th birthday that I realized I had wasted some of my best years wishing I was that old. We make mistakes, we fall, we think we have fully matured, and then we look back and realize just how immature we were. As we get older we gain experience, wisdom, and maturity. In another 18 years I am sure I will look back and wonder how I could have been so immature, just as I look back now and think.

Looking back we can see where we have come from, and who made us what we are today. God has so richly blessed me with the family I have and in the different things that He has placed in my path as I grew up.  First and foremost are our parents. Our parents taught us, trained us, and loved us. The reason I am where I am today is because of my parents. They inspired me to live for Christ, to grow in my walk with God, and to live to my full potential. I have decided that when I am a wife and mother I want to be like my mom and when I get married I want to marry a man like my dad. My parents also put extra time and energy in homeschooling my four siblings and I. For me, and I am sure all homeschooled students feel the same, being homeschooled gave me the foundation I needed to build the rest of my life. As a teacher, my mom showed me how to do my best in everything I do. When I was younger I sometimes did my school work quickly just to get it finished. I thought I was doing my best, but my mom knew I could do better, she knew I was just doing it to get it done. I had several assignments thrown into the trash before I realized I wasn’t doing my best, but now I know that I have to do my best in everything I do. My mom has also been my debate and speech coach for the past five years. Debate has been such a big part of my life and I am so thankful to her for putting in all the time and effort to allow us to have a debate team. Our Homeschool debate team has been such a big part of my high school years, I really couldn't imagine what I would have done without it.

I have one brother and three sisters who have grown up with me. I know that friends will come and go, but siblings will always be there for us. I know that if ever I am in a hard place I can trust my siblings to be there for me, helping me up. I have so many memories of the times I have spent with my family, the experiences we have had, and the things we have gone through.
One of the things I will always look forward to are the times when my family is together.

Another activity that has been instrumental to my maturity, as a person as well as a Christian, is the Awana program. Awana is a kids club which I have been a part of since I was 5 years old, the last three years as a leader. The name Awana comes from II Timothy 2:15 which says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I want to present myself as a worker who is not ashamed, and who can rightly understand and teach the word of God. I have learned this through the Awana program. I will never forget the people I have met and the kids I have led in Awana. My foundation on God’s word is also stronger because of it.

There have been countless people who have touched my life. Friends, relatives, and my heroes. Some of my heroes are Nate Saint, a missionary pilot who was killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador; William Wilberforce, a man who dedicated his life to the fight against slavery; Betty Greene, a woman who wanted to serve God with her love for aviation; Ronald Reagan, one of the greatest leaders and speakers in the United States. All these people lived their life with a purpose. Their stories have inspired me to go out and do great things for God.

At this time we aren't just looking back, we are also looking forward. I am excited to see what God has in store for me in the future. In two and a half months I will be leaving for University to earn my degree in mission aviation. After that, I will be waiting for God to send me to the mission field where I can fly for Him. I want to change the world. Those of us who are graduating are the next generation, we have a responsibility to change the world. God said in Isaiah 6:8, “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” and like Isaiah we have to respond with, “Here am I, send me.” As we leave High school and go out into the world we have a responsibility. We are lights in the darkness. We have been called by God to stand out and speak up. Wherever we are, we can be the change. We are children of God and God has given each one of us a purpose and a goal, our task is to follow that goal and finish the work He has given us to finish. Opportunities are all around us, the question is, what will we do with them?

We can look back and we can look forward, but we need to live in the moment. People living in the past look like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, whose greatest wish was to go back in time and play for his High school football team. For anyone who has never seen the movie, you never ever want to end up like Uncle Rico. It’s living your life without direction, not being able to go back, but unwilling to go forward. And if you live in the future you will never accomplish anything. We will never be able to take hold of the future. The past is behind us, we can’t undo mistakes we made or re-live good times, and our future is uncertain, Christ is coming back and we don't know whether we will be here tomorrow. We have to live now, live in the moment. Accomplishing our goals today instead of tomorrow. We won't be able to stand before God in Heaven and say, “I was going to do that later, You just came back before I could do it.” It’s what we do today that counts. James 4:13-14 says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

In looking back I realized that I wasted a lot of time wishing I was older, and looking toward the future to resolve my problems, I have to resolve my problems here and now, I have to live right now. Stop wasting time. It is what we do right now that will count.

Those of you who are graduating from grade 8, and those who are still in High school, step out and make your high school years count. Some people may tell you that you are too young to change the world right now, that you should wait until you're older. But, we are never too young to stand up, as I Timothy 4:12 says, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers, in word, in conduct, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” We are not only an example to believers, but also to the whole world. Those who are graduating from High School, and those who have already graduated, this is for you as well. Many times people see us as still immature and young even though we are out of High School. Show them that we can be an example, that we too can change the world. Some people may think that we can’t do things because we don’t have enough experience, but we gain experience by doing things. Don’t let anyone or anything hinder you from stepping out and changing the world.

Learn to step out of your comfort zones and do things you would never have thought to do. getting out of your comfort zone is one of the best things I have done during High School and one of the best things you could do, as Caleb Grimm said, “If you're not in your comfort zone, then you're probably growing. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Is there a positive? Yes!

The positive side of things isn't always visible until later. Sometimes something happens to me and I just can't see a positive outcome from what happened. And then I get down and depressed. I know that God has a plan for everything He does, sometimes its just hard to see the good in the midst of all the bad. Today I took my drivers test, and failed it. The second time I have failed the same drivers test. And I can drive just fine! I do one mistake and fail. I feel depressed about the whole thing. I don't want to do it again because I am scared I will fail again. I don't know why God allowed me to fail, but I know that it was part of His plan. I just have to remember that! Funny moment in all the depression, I had to do banking afterwards and was so distraught that I put my drivers license into the banking machine instead of my banking card... what silly things we sometimes do! I also have to add that I am sure the only ones who will ever know about this is those of you who read this blog! So, in conclusion, God has a plan for everything we just have to lean on Him and ask Him to reveal His perfect plan to us! And remember, He cares about what makes us depressed! My favorite verse is 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."! What an amazing thing! He cares for me! He cares about anything I care about! Glad I have finally found a happy note to end on! And I thought there wasn't a happy note in all of this!! =) I am beginning to see the positive already! I will let you know when I find out why He let me fail twice!