It's amazing where God will take us if we just give Him the wheel to drive.
This last couple of weeks I have just given up all control, all worries, all Earthly wants and God has blessed me with unbelievable opportunities. He has taken me to places I would have never knew existed, He has shown me how enormous He is, he has taught me to not drive.
When we give Him the wheel, we are putting our full trust in Him, for humans this is hard. We want control, but because we want this control we are limited to things that we can do, merely because God is so much bigger than anywhere we can bring ourselves.
The Lord said, ”Everything under heaven belongs to Me”. Job 41:11
The Apostle Paul, writing in Colossians 1:17, describes God as "before all things," adding: "In Him all things hold together." The God of the universe seeks over His creation and is in total control of all He has created.
So if He is in control, why do we worry about what people think of us, or what we look like, or how we do in school, or what our future job is going to be. He, the God of the universe, takes care of the birds in the sky, and He takes care of you and I.
God is in control. Trust in Him and He will take you places that will blow you out of the water!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Take a chance on me...
Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending. ~Author Unknown
The last couple of months God has really been showing me how to take opportunities and to tell others what I have been learning with this.
Opportunities sometimes can be scary because it's new and different and out of our comfort zone but most of the time that's what God wants you to do; TAKE THE NEXT STEP!
If we sit around wishing things would be different we would be boring. Sometimes God is shouting at us to do something, other times He whispers, those whispers are usually opportunities. We say things like "I don't know what God wants". Yes we do He wants us to love, so no matter what we do, as long as we love He will make anything and everything to happen. We tend to not TRUST God because He's not shouting at us, telling us what to do, but no matter what He is still holding on to us.
God promises and PROVIDES!
I think sometimes we have decisions to make, usually they are hard, but if we remember to love and to trust God, the God of the UNIVERSE, we will be okay. He takes care of us, and He is only good.
We are offer the opportunity to love daily. Do you take that opportunity and see what God's going to do with it, or do we sit around and wait for God to shout at you.
Trust and take what He is giving you.
The last couple of months God has really been showing me how to take opportunities and to tell others what I have been learning with this.
Opportunities sometimes can be scary because it's new and different and out of our comfort zone but most of the time that's what God wants you to do; TAKE THE NEXT STEP!
If we sit around wishing things would be different we would be boring. Sometimes God is shouting at us to do something, other times He whispers, those whispers are usually opportunities. We say things like "I don't know what God wants". Yes we do He wants us to love, so no matter what we do, as long as we love He will make anything and everything to happen. We tend to not TRUST God because He's not shouting at us, telling us what to do, but no matter what He is still holding on to us.
God promises and PROVIDES!
I think sometimes we have decisions to make, usually they are hard, but if we remember to love and to trust God, the God of the UNIVERSE, we will be okay. He takes care of us, and He is only good.
We are offer the opportunity to love daily. Do you take that opportunity and see what God's going to do with it, or do we sit around and wait for God to shout at you.
Trust and take what He is giving you.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Reaction to action...
My dad always told me "You see someone true character, during the hardest of times."
It is easy to be selfless, loving, caring, ect. when things are going right.
My dad raising 3 kids all on his own, is one of the biggest examples of being selfless. He had to chose us DAILY over himself. If he didn't we wouldn't get home safe, or we wouldn't have food on the table, but because he chose us first we made it.
When my real mom left us, my dad had the freedom to react in many different ways. He chose to love, to care, to be a father. For my dad to wake up, miss work, try and find a day care that took a 6 month old is every hard. He missed a whole week of work to do what he needed to do for us. He chose to react in a POSITIVE way. He chose to LOVE.
Today, I had a chance to react in a loving way but I didn't control it, and instead I kind of snapped and in the end we both got hurt. I could have just been really positive and just laugh and say "It's totally okay, I have another thumb" but I was selfish and made her feel bad, when she didn't need to be.
When we have reactions like this, we need to remember how much GRACE we receive from Christ, and offer grace to everyone that we interact with. People are people and we will never be perfect but if we are selfless as much as we can, that grace and love will shine through all the imperfections.
If we stay positive, what a light we can be in this world. How do we react in POSITIVE ways? We stop and we think, and we take a deep breath and tell ourselves it's going to be okay, no matter what so why not make the best out of the situation. Let be humble, and over others before ourselves. Don't let people walk all over you, and don't only focus on others you ignore your own life. But just stop and think and USE LOVE.
So how are you going to choose to react today?
It is easy to be selfless, loving, caring, ect. when things are going right.
My dad raising 3 kids all on his own, is one of the biggest examples of being selfless. He had to chose us DAILY over himself. If he didn't we wouldn't get home safe, or we wouldn't have food on the table, but because he chose us first we made it.
When my real mom left us, my dad had the freedom to react in many different ways. He chose to love, to care, to be a father. For my dad to wake up, miss work, try and find a day care that took a 6 month old is every hard. He missed a whole week of work to do what he needed to do for us. He chose to react in a POSITIVE way. He chose to LOVE.
Today, I had a chance to react in a loving way but I didn't control it, and instead I kind of snapped and in the end we both got hurt. I could have just been really positive and just laugh and say "It's totally okay, I have another thumb" but I was selfish and made her feel bad, when she didn't need to be.
When we have reactions like this, we need to remember how much GRACE we receive from Christ, and offer grace to everyone that we interact with. People are people and we will never be perfect but if we are selfless as much as we can, that grace and love will shine through all the imperfections.
So how are you going to choose to react today?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Joy in each moment...
Yesterday, I got a wonderful chance to hang out with a friend that I am very blessed to have in my life. Walking around frozen Lake Como, updating each other on the last couple of months and big events we noticed that both of us didn't have every good semesters for their own reasons, what ever that may be.
She kinda slowed down and looked at me and said "You know, it got to the point that I just had to start asking myself every night or evening where God showed up and where I kinda messed up. And when I started doing this it really made me slow down and just see."
Once we realize what is going on, we can really stop and see what is going on. When we look to see where God is and what He is trying to do, we don't feel so bad. We have to realize what we are doing first to actually take the step.
If we are on step 3, we can see what we learned from step 1 and 2. But until we take the next step to 4 we won't be able to what we have gotten out of step 3. We won't know what we can learn until we keep taking baby steps.
My aunt teaches violin lessons. Every day before she teaches, she reads a little inspiring quote of the day. Today's quote was "Don't be known just as a person of patience but a person who finds joy in every moment." and if we are finding joy in every moment we will patient people.
My aunts second student was starting to sweat a little bit, so my aunt stopped and asked her "are you getting a little hot and tired?" and the student replied "no, I'm just sweating beads of violin joy." As my aunt had the biggest smile on her face she just said "okay then, here we go we are almost done."
This is a 9 year girl who already understands what it means to find joy in each moment. This is a girl who understands that just because it's uncomfortable and hard that she can still find the joy in it all.
You know, I think that it something to remember because we tend to get a little cranky, a little upset, when things are uncomfortable and hard for us. We tend to stop seeing the joy in the moments stop seeing where God shows up.
After walking around Lake Como, with my dear friend we told each other that we would keep each other accountable to remembering to see where God shows up and where we went wrong and try and figure out how we can fix those things so we can see more joy.
At the end of the day can we look back and see God in the little moments, in the sunset He ants us, in the stranger holding the door when we have a big load in our hand, the cash register telling you to have a beautiful day, someone calling you that put a smile on your face. All these little things that we tend to pass by are all little moments of God saying how much He loves us. And where we go wrong God is giving us a chance to change, to change a mistake and maybe see Him instead of you.
God is with you in the valleys and on the mountain tops. Open your eyes and see all that He is givingr you.
See the joy. See the love.
She kinda slowed down and looked at me and said "You know, it got to the point that I just had to start asking myself every night or evening where God showed up and where I kinda messed up. And when I started doing this it really made me slow down and just see."
Once we realize what is going on, we can really stop and see what is going on. When we look to see where God is and what He is trying to do, we don't feel so bad. We have to realize what we are doing first to actually take the step.
If we are on step 3, we can see what we learned from step 1 and 2. But until we take the next step to 4 we won't be able to what we have gotten out of step 3. We won't know what we can learn until we keep taking baby steps.
My aunt teaches violin lessons. Every day before she teaches, she reads a little inspiring quote of the day. Today's quote was "Don't be known just as a person of patience but a person who finds joy in every moment." and if we are finding joy in every moment we will patient people.
My aunts second student was starting to sweat a little bit, so my aunt stopped and asked her "are you getting a little hot and tired?" and the student replied "no, I'm just sweating beads of violin joy." As my aunt had the biggest smile on her face she just said "okay then, here we go we are almost done."
This is a 9 year girl who already understands what it means to find joy in each moment. This is a girl who understands that just because it's uncomfortable and hard that she can still find the joy in it all.
You know, I think that it something to remember because we tend to get a little cranky, a little upset, when things are uncomfortable and hard for us. We tend to stop seeing the joy in the moments stop seeing where God shows up.
After walking around Lake Como, with my dear friend we told each other that we would keep each other accountable to remembering to see where God shows up and where we went wrong and try and figure out how we can fix those things so we can see more joy.
At the end of the day can we look back and see God in the little moments, in the sunset He ants us, in the stranger holding the door when we have a big load in our hand, the cash register telling you to have a beautiful day, someone calling you that put a smile on your face. All these little things that we tend to pass by are all little moments of God saying how much He loves us. And where we go wrong God is giving us a chance to change, to change a mistake and maybe see Him instead of you.
God is with you in the valleys and on the mountain tops. Open your eyes and see all that He is givingr you.
See the joy. See the love.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Empty Cup
Being off our terf, it tends to be easier to look at yourself and exmain. All the distractions are gone, all the excuses are not avalible, all the people we lean on are not there to depend on. It's just you and God.
Being out of our element lets us stand bare, gives us a chance to really see what we have and tells us what we need to change or bring in. It let's us stop and look at our life, it gives us a chance to regroup, put our head on our shoulders our feet underneath us.
Why is it that God has to prune us, he has to cut us down but leave our roots, because he wants us to regrow.
There is a story in the bible where Jesus truns water into wine (John 2: 1-11). They ran out of the best wine for the wedding and their cups were empty (our hearts are empty). And for Jesus to turn water into wine they had to hand over their empty cups and trust God that He is going to refill us. We have to go to God with our empty hearts and He will fill us.
He is going to prune us and it may hurt but we are going to regrow and bare new fruit.
Being out of our element lets us stand bare, gives us a chance to really see what we have and tells us what we need to change or bring in. It let's us stop and look at our life, it gives us a chance to regroup, put our head on our shoulders our feet underneath us.
Why is it that God has to prune us, he has to cut us down but leave our roots, because he wants us to regrow.
There is a story in the bible where Jesus truns water into wine (John 2: 1-11). They ran out of the best wine for the wedding and their cups were empty (our hearts are empty). And for Jesus to turn water into wine they had to hand over their empty cups and trust God that He is going to refill us. We have to go to God with our empty hearts and He will fill us.
He is going to prune us and it may hurt but we are going to regrow and bare new fruit.
Monday, January 2, 2012
A blast from the past....
Sometimes all you need is a little a blast from the past.
Yesterday I got an amazing opportunity that I have not had in about 12 years. My older brother, Ryan, his wife and baby boy have been in town for the last week. I don't get to see Ryan very often.
My mom drove my sister and her family up to PHX and staying the night. After saying good bye to everyone, we put on the football, blasted the country, cleaned the house, grilled, played some football in the dark with a glow in the dark football, took naps, played with the baby boy, and looked at old pictures.
We had no rules, no expectations, no pressures, we were free. Not saying that all the rules and expectation are bad and big, but it is nice to just hang out with my boys yesterday.
Michael Me Ryan
It was the original 4, with the addition of my brothers family.
Daddy, Ryan, Michael....my boys!
I think sometimes we forget to see how much we have all grown up.Sometimes we need to remember those dork hair cuts, and the crazy things we did. We are still alive, WE MADE IT, and we are just fine! Sometimes we need to talk about home much we all look alike and how we are different. We are related, can't change that.
Ryan Me Michael
Being with my men, all grown up, all mature, all have our own lives going on, can come together and still be GOOFY, can still LOVE each other, can still LAUGH, and talk about life TOGETHER.
I love that when I am with them I can be teased and pushed and punched and called out and laughed at and not care about anything. I love that these three boys have shaped and molded a little piece of my heart that will always be soft. You have made deep footprints.
Through all the crap we have all been through, individually, as brothers and sisters, or as a family, it puts the biggest smile on my face when I know we are still family. I am beyond lucky to have these three amazing men in my life.
Sometimes it hurts to go back into the past, to remember the good times and wish we still had them, or to see people we miss, to wish we were kids again, to remember the hard times, to see the sadness in someones eyes, to see times we will never get back. Sometimes family is hard to look back at, people pass away, people change, people get married, people make mistakes, people don't wake up and get their life on track, and it hurts. Family is a touchy subject, but these are the people who brought you into this world and got you to where you are now. No matter how much it hurts, it is family, and you can't pick your family.
Yesterday was a good healthy blast from the past, just being with my boys and getting a little freedom from something I didn't realize I was tied down to until I was free.
What is hold you down from freedom, expectation, pressures, labels, temptations, fears. The first step is to notice them.
Dad, Ryan and Michael thank you for everything you have brought to my life. I love you so incredibly much. :)
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