Faith 7/12/15

Faith? Do we REALLY have it?

Faith--- what does this word really mean to us? We so commonly use it in daily conversation. I am in Faith for my healing… I am in Faith for my finances… I am in Faith for a promotion. We always say this… but my question is, Do we really know what the word means. Anyone can say they are in Faith for something but do their actions prove it. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God.” God expects Faith to become common in our lives as a believer. Faith must be based off of facts that are in HIS word. Unless our Faith is established on facts… it is not more than conjecture, superstition, speculation or presumption. Faith is the substance of things hoped for… the evidence of things not seen. What does that mean? In America we are so adjusted to everything being seen and fast. Fast food, Fast service, Fast responses with email, text and chat. We are not adjusted anymore to things being a process. We want what we want… when we want it and we don’t want to wait. We want to visualize things immediately and if we cant… we find ourselves easily giving up or giving in. With this new life we have been so graciously given by the creator of all—who loved us so much—even when we were in a mess and couldn’t help ourselves—we are called to depend on Faith and trust him. Yes—Something you can’t visually see. Something you have to trust in every circumstance and situation… Is it always easy? No. Is everything always going to be the way you imagined? No. The Faith that we started our race with is the same Faith that we must stand, walk and live in. We are willing to believe things that seem probable to us—or things that come easy. Faith has nothing to do with the probabilities. God calls us to stand up—but even more than that… to step out. When Peter stepped out on the water… it wasn’t calm… it wasn’t the known. Its was the unknown and the storm. If we are honest--- we are scared of the unknown and the storm and we find ourselves as Peter did… sinking—our Faith is dependent upon our feelings and our situation. Our focus… When Peter took his focus off of Jesus--- that’s when he began to sink. We must keep our eyes and our focus on HIM. Real faith is always increased by opposition, while false confidence is damaged and discouraged by it. Step out—even when it is scary… even when it is uncomfortable. THAT is what God has called us to do. He will meet us there. Faith is dependence on God--- This GOD dependence only starts where our self-dependence ends. It is a great thing to learn Faith… to depend completely upon God in EVERY circumstance and every situation. Faith is necessary in everything. We can not trust anyone further than the point that we know them. If we don’t trust—we can’t have Faith. May we know him--- further than just a Sunday morning or for the real people--- even the Wednesday nights J May we know him as a Mother knows her child. May we become so dependent on him that we step out without questioning the next step because we know he will guide us. May we give all—our whole life—our comfort zones--- everything--- whatever it takes to draw nearer and nearer to him. Close enough to not only hear but to FEEL his heartbeat. Faith—it’s a necessity.

Africa... 2014.

Well I believe the time has come for me to write a blog post about my trip to Kenya, Africa. I will start off by saying there is no way for any blog post to explain and illustrate all that we encountered or tell of things that touched our lives... so I am not even going to begin to think that I can. People told me before I left that my life would never be the same after I went on a missions trip and honestly I thought.... that is so cliché... I had NO clue. My life will honestly never be the same and I will never look at my life the same. We had the awesome opportunity to speak into the lives of others. People that were open and hungry for the things of God. I was paired up with Mary Funk-- one of my sweet youth girls who had waited a year and a half to go on this trip as I had after cancellations last year. We were honestly beginning to wonder if it was ever going to happen. All I can say is it was FAR worth the wait. Together we had the opportunity to walk the dirt roads of Kenya and speaking with people. People stopped us and we stopped people to simply tell them of Jesus. In Kenya some people speak English and others speak Swahili. We opened a church that on the Sunday before we left... was packed with those we had the opportunity to lead to him. We walked with a sweet translator who helped us tell the Kenyan people about Jesus. We had a cube that we took with us that helped us illustrate the story of Jesus. It was so humbling to share the story with them and see their eyes light up. The shock and the unknown on their faces. Most of them had never heard anything about a God that loved them enough to send his son to die for them and then rising again to now have a relationship with them. They were so accepting and ready to accept-- then so passionate to learn and know more. We had people to follow us around to hear more. I remember one certain house that we went to... it was a nicer house and the mother and father were saved but they had a son who lived with them that was around my age. We shared the story with him and he decided it was time to follow Jesus. God spoke to my heart while we were praying to give him something so I did and he was so appreciative. In Africa, you have to be careful about giving to people even though you want to... we were told to go through our pastor that went with us in order for people not to take it wrong or be overwhelmed by other people. This young man then followed us around the entire rest of the day and was so excited about his new journey with Jesus. I left him my cube to teach others around him about God and he promised he would. Walking the roads and seeing all the faces is something I will never forget. When you hear the word Africa sometimes we think "bless their hearts" "poor people" and we feel sorry for them. We have heard of their conditions and seen different TV shows that are supposed to illustrate how bad it is. Some of that is true.... but what I saw mostly was totally different. Yes... there was hurt, pain and lack of a lot of things... In our eyes we would say they have nothing... But I can tell you--- these people have everything. They are not focused on the material things that we are.... the small things that upset us.... or anything we spend so much time focusing on... NO.... these people are focused on each other. They care for each other and make sure that they are doing everything they can to make sure their friends and families are cared for. You don't have to know someone in Africa to speak or have a conversation with them. They are not self centered or always looking out for themselves.... they care about others and their needs. While we are there we went to orphanages-- full of children. They were using a "soccer ball" that was literally made from trash bags wrapped up in rope. We took them new soccer balls and it was like handing them gold. They LOVED it. These children were so sweet and honestly I wanted to bring them all home with me... even though now I think.... they would maybe be better off physically but I am not sure about other ways. They are taught to love each other-- care more about others than themselves and giving to others. We were given so much while we were there.... going thinking that we were going to only give them things and that they were going to have nothing to give. We had crusades at night and had praise and worship and church services... the praise and worship was so exciting and passionate. The church services were anywhere from 3-5 hours long-- it wasn't the kind of church services where people look at their clocks every five minutes or the kind that seem like they will never end... it was the kind that felt no where near that long... Looking around at the crusades and seeing people that had came--- that hours earlier you were praying with to accept Jesus... that is life changing. There is nothing better than the feeling you have when you have the opportunity to lead someone out of the darkness into his light. Mary and I had the opportunity to lead 170 people to Christ through prayer. 501 people gave their lives to Jesus while we were there. That is something that only God could do through people chosen to be his hands and feet. The truth is... we are all to be the hands and feet of Jesus as well as his mouthpiece. He counts on and trusts in us. His heart is people and so very often our hearts are so full of things that really do not matter.... problems, issues, money, jobs, children, marriages... whatever it may be. All of these can be distractions that change our direction from the course that we were created to travel. People. Their needs, their hurts, their wants. Life was never given to us to take advantage of all that we have... to be as ungrateful as we sometimes are and to not have time for others. When we come right down to it... the time that we have... is never ours to begin with... It is Gods. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have it anyways. He simply asks us to love and care for others... to take time out of our "busy" scheduled and to love on someone and maybe be exactly what they need to lead them to him. I found myself as guilty as anyone else of being too busy, too preoccupied and too consumed with life. I think honestly we have been given too much and have forgotten the truth of where our true life comes from. The gospel has become "old" to us... it has become dull because we have heard it so much... The people of Africa were so passionate and I feel as though-- we have lost our first love... our first passion. We have computers, phones, facebook and so many other things that have become a distraction. Not all of these are bad things... and I haven't went off my rocker but sometimes I think... what if the time we spend here was spent investing into someone around us. What if we cared more, loved more, prayed more?? What if we actually began to think more about others than ourselves?? We are given so much but are willing to give so little. We spend our lives wanting more and more... when I believe God is saying instead of you wanting more and more... could you give more and more. He gives us everything we need. The people of Africa know that they have all they need. I was told by numerous people that some of them had tried coming to live in America and once they got here they went back because life was just so complicated and hectic here. They are more concerned with how they live... how others around them are doing and what they can do to serve and help. I had never been served and appreciated as much as we were in Kenya. Their love, their service, their compassion and their love was so contagious. Tears kept flowing while we were there because I knew... my life had been changed forever... these people... they were what we all should be. I kept thinking... we have it all and we are no where near as thankful as they are. They have something figured out that we do not seem to see the light on yet. They value people... they value the time God has given them. They have realized nothing is their own and they depend on God. They depend on him for their lives, food, family, friends and the very next breath they breathe. They dependence has made them free. Seeing their passion... has changed my life. I would never want to be the same as I was when I loaded our first plane to Africa. As far as the small things that people have asked.... No I didn't get sick... I'm not sick.... we ate well. BEST tomato soup ever, cabbage and potatoes mostly. We went on a safari and saw lots of animals. Saw beautiful things in Gods nature and his creation... but nothing as beautiful as the hearts of the African people.... that is what will forever be in my heart. Help us to be more like them... placing other before anything else and being his hands and feet. So thankful for the opportunity to speak into the lives of the old and the young... walking with them, praying with them, discussing life and treasuring the time we had. Seeing the tears as we left.... crying harder than I ever have has made me realize... people... that is what's important. His heart beat is now mine more than ever. Never the same... an understatement. Africa... until next time.... you have it all... and we have a lot to learn. Thankful God loves us all.

Praise before Progress

Well, it has been a while since I have felt like I needed to write a blog, but I felt the need tonight. I am going to share what has been on my heart. The biggest thing here lately has been being thankful. I know that sounds so easy to some but I think sometimes we forget what being thankful truly is. Its not just something that we do when we feel like it but its something we have to wake up every morning and decide to do. I am no where near perfect on this and I fail everyday but thank God he has been showing me where I am weak. Where we are weak, he is strong. I woke up this morning at 4am and as most of the people in TN the thought of "Man, it is cold in here" crossed my mind as I was too lazy to get up to turn on my heater. As I laid there God spoke to me as plain as anyone else did today and said Yes, it is cold but there are my people out around you homeless that are 10x colder with no blanket and no pillow. 

WOW, that will make you thankful really fast and humble you at the same time. 

Sometimes its the little things and sometimes its the big things. 

I think sometimes we do not focus on what we say through our words. I have learned that SO much relies on what we speak to ourselves and to others. There is power in our words. I believe that if we really knew and understood how much power was placed in our words we would use them more wisely and we would not say a lot of the things we say. Our words have to power to kill or build up. They can encourage or they can discourage. They can give life or they can take it away. 

Sometimes we go through things in life where the first thing we really want to do is complain and say God, why me? Why are THEY having to go through this? Why is this happening? & While we are asking these questions our mouth gets away with us and we may believe in our heart that God is in control but our mouth is not telling that story. God has promised protection, grace, love, mercy, health and prosperity to his people. He has promised that all things work together for the good of those who love HIM and are called according to his purpose. This does not mean things will always be easy or that things will always be good, BUT it does mean that God is going to turn it around and make it good in some way because he loves us. He has given us so much and wants to give us so much more and heal what is broken and mend what needs mended but we have to focus on him and watch our words and where we allow our minds to go. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We have to trust and have Faith that our God is bigger, greater and stronger than anything we will ever face. Just when we think we know a glimpse of how good he is... he gets even better :) 

I Give Myself Away

My life is not my own, to you I belong. I give myself to you.
It has been a while since I have blogged because of school, work, and just life. I have been one busy girl but I have felt more connected with God now than ever. I am about to start Upper Division Nursing school and I look around and all of the others starting with me seem to be sooo nervous but I have a peace about it knowing that I will do great and continue walking this path God has for me. I started a new job about 5-6 months ago at Home Health organization here in Cookeville and it has opened my eyes a lot in the short time I have been there. It has shown me just how miserable some people really are not because of a sickness always but because of the trials of life that have been thrown in their path. Some of the people I go to help have NO family, NO friends to come see them, NO one to to bring them food or even a Christmas present on Christmas. They have no hope in life. One lady I go to see especially sticks out in my mind and it breaks my heart... If we are the body why aren't his arms reaching? We should be there. We should love. But so many times we dont. I catch myself being so caught up in life and school sometimes that I have to slow myself down to catch up with those close to me and love on them. We are to "give ourselves away so he can use us." I try to speak life into the people I see on a daily basis because if they dont see love in us what would make them want to love the God we say that we love? What would happen if a generation embraced the fact that it is NOT about us, our schedules, or even how busy we are? It is about his will, not ours. I know for a fact that God sends certain people into our lives to be ministered to through our lives and who knows you may be the only example of Jesus they see in their lives. I truly believe that God has a plan for you to touch every single person he places in your life and its not as hard as we try to make it. It may just be a "I love you" text message a kind word, a hug, or maybe even a smile. Jesus says the things that you did for the least of these you do unto me. He is much more concerned about who you are influencing than how much money you make in a week in overtime or how many hours you sit in a church. He chose us first before we EVER even thought about choosing him and his love is big enough to overcome anything you have to deal with. He loves you now and forever. You have not gone too far or done too much for him to reach down and pull you out. This thanksgiving I was thankful simply for the people he has placed in my life over the years that have helped me overcome obstacles I never thought I would have to face and stood beside me loving me all the way through. The darkest times in your life are when God shines the brightest if you put your focus on him and his love, grace, and mercy through ALL things.
"We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony."

What Does Love Look Like?

Today has been a good day but one of a lot of thoughts and prayers. It seems like so much is going on right now with everyone around me. If I would let it, it could become overwhelming. I look around me and I see certain things happening to people that I would have never thought something would have happened that is so tragic.... I am a people watcher so I notice things easily and try to understand everything, sometimes its a good thing to be able to see through people to their heart and sometimes its not so good. But as traumatic things are occurring around me, what really bothers me sometimes is the Love expression through some people. I wonder if they really know what Love really is? We are called to love people through their hurt and through their pain and not simply knock them down while they are already down and out and possibly in the darkest moment of their life. We are called to love and minister DURING the hurt but not just during.. before and after as well. I am not just talking to you, I am also talking to myself when I say this... Because I, like everyone else, have been hurt in different ways. I know how easy it is to just ignore the problem or try to pretend that it is not there in hopes that it will simply fade away.. Ignorance of our problems will never get us to our desired destination. No one is perfect just in case we sometimes think they should be. All of us have fallen short and all of us miss the mark. I am not saying this is an excuse but we are not and never will be perfect. I look around and I see people that think they are so much better than someone else that has simply missed it and it bothers me because I view it like this.... If we think we are better than someone who has messed up and turn our backs on them or simply treat them different... What if God treated us exactly the way we treat others... Wow that is a frightening thought. We mess up all the time but HE still loves us and his grace and mercy covers our every sin if we come to him with it, but so many time we run from exactly what we are needing to run too. He simply wants to wrap us in his arms and tell us how much he loves us. HIS love was shown when he was stretched out for you, me, and everyone else we may come in contact with and those that we may never see. Our love is to be with arms wide open and an open heart ready to help those around us that are hurting... not with a turned back. We are not called to turn our back but to run straight to HIM and straight to those that he loves and he loves ALL of humanity. His love goes further than our minds and hearts it is the definition of who he is. He is Loves definition. This is how I know what love is. We are made to Love through it all and in all things. He makes all things work together for our good, it may not be the road he meant for us to travel but HIS plan is always in motion and everything WILL work out for our good from a loving father who never gives up on us.

This Life: All for You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27KfKpmq9GQ - I know your there, I know you see me, Your the air I breathe, You are the ground beneath me. I can find you anywhere, I know your there.


Well this morning I woke up and felt like I needed to spend some extra time with our heavenly father. I find the best way for me to do this is to get quiet, listen and get in his word. It is so hard to get in the quiet in this world but I feel like this is what God is calling us to, to get in the quiet and listen to his still small voice, that can be loud and overwhelming at some points. I believe he wants us to be quiet in his presence and live a life BIG and LOUD for him.

This morning I started reading in Mark 6:50 which says,
They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and ALL who touched him were healed. This verse does not say that just a select few were healed but ALL that touched Jesus were healed. I continued on to read Mark 7:6-7 which says that
Jesus replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by man."
-I never want this to be said about me or for my heavenly father to think this of me, I always want to be found in true worship and adoration before him. This made me think, how many of us honor God with our lips but our hearts are miles away! Right now is not a time to be far from God, but instead, as close as we can. His spirit, love, grace and mercy is what makes us push further and want to push towards him. Each day I want to be filled more with his spirit and love. It is truly the only way to live a happy life full of his glory. I believe we sometimes forget what we are called to do: To reach others, and that happens through the life we live that displays him.

His name brings life to the hopeless and the hurting.
"No sweeter name than the name of Jesus, no sweeter name have I ever known, No sweeter name than the name of Jesus, He is the light to our heart and our soul, He is the light to the darkness around us, He is the hope to the hopeless and broken, He is the only way the truth and the way."

This is what I felt God was wanting me to get out of this morning, and for some of you:
His love came down and rescued us exactly where we were and even while we were still sinners he died for us! He made a way for us to live a God-centered, worship-filled life for his glory. Everything in this World was made for him and this life is all about HIM. He is the only one worth living for and saw us (humanity) worth dying for. He paid too much for us to give anything less than EVERYTHING we are, and EVERYTHING we ever will be.


The LORD has given us a name above every other name, he is calling us to worship and live a life projected towards him. His name is beautiful and glorious, and he projects a love towards us that will never fail.

His Provision is My Protection

HIS PROVISION IS MY PROTECTION--- That is what God has been speaking to me Today.Never heard it anywhere before and it just popped in my head straight from God, I am not a alliteration person people :)

Nothing is impossible for YOU, nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible, YOU hold my WORLD in YOUR hands!!! You are all we need, I believe, I believe your my portion, I believe your MORE than ENOUGH for me. Jesus your ALL I need.

This song has been ringing in my head all day long today. I sent it to a family member this morning and since then I have had it stuck in my head. This has been a favorite song of mine for a very long time it always seems to lift my spirit. This week has been good so far despite things that are going on in my life God is and always will be bigger and better.
Lets just say that I am beyond amazed at God's wonderful plan for my life and how he has worked a few people into my life in the past year. It has truly been a blessing, and I believe that I have grown more this year than I ever have. His plan is always greater than ours and he places exactly who we need in our lives when we need them, His provision is my protection!!!

I have been thinking a lot about different topics and subjects this week. We sing this song all the time. "I believe nothing is impossible for you" but if we really get honest with ourselves... we still worry, we still wonder... when God, when will I get my breakthrough, when will my children come to you, when will everything be perfect like (that persons life) when will I look like that, when will my family be as put together as theirs?... When the truth is we all have our own flaws and no one is perfect, but so many times we find ourselves deceived thinking the exact opposite. God made us exactly, ourselves, our family, our lives, the way he wanted them. Yes, sometimes we have to go through a lot in life, and I will be the last one to tell you that becoming a Christian makes everything easier, because it's just not that way. The bible even says we will be tempted and tried in our faith, to see if we are keeping the faith, and most of the time it seems to come all at once at the worst time possible but that is exactly why we have God, and the friends and family that we can trust to go to.

Sooo to make a long story short of what is on my heart today--- lets just say... Nothing is Impossible for HIM, Nothing is Impossible, Nothing is Impossible for HIM, HE holds OUR entire World----in HIS hand.
-If he is for us then who can be against us, and These three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is Love.
Love each other, Life is too short, God paid too much, and we are meant to be here for each other.


His Provision is my Protection!