Dedicated to Living as His

"For in him we live and move and have our being." As some of

own poets have said, "We are his offspring."

Acts 17:28

I became a Christian when I was in the second grade. Almost thirteen years ago. I remember sitting in my dads, what felt to be enormous, office chair. My mom and dad kneeling to my eye level, leading me in a pint-sized salvation prayer. I was overjoyed, as were they. So excited to be apart of God's family, that the next day for show and tell, I told my class what I had done the night before and invited them all to my baptism. Looking back on that innocence, how easy it was and how proud I was to stand up in front of my whole class just sharing about God's love for them and I. 

Since then I've gone through valleys, broken places and disappointments, but was forever changed that night sitting in my dad's office chair. I've spent years, especially this past one, growing into that change, experience the power of that change, and learning to live by the power of the change maker, Jesus Christ. 

One of my favorite verses:

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture."

-Psalm 100:1-3

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,

who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not 

your own; you were bought at a price, Therefore honor God with your body."

-1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Webster's defines temple as a place or house of worship, a place dedicated for a special purpose. Our body is a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. If I took took this temple truth seriously, would I be different?

• How would I live?
• How would I speak to myself? 
• How would I think of myself?
• Would I abuse or neglect myself?
• Would I stand in awe of God more often if I realized he was in me and work through me?

The most important thing to God is that we live in truth of who we are in him. It's hard, because we live in a society where woman are more prone to look negatively at themselves. I have struggled with my weight and appearance on multiple occasions, not as much anymore. It is hard and its a daily struggle, but I've learned to let go and let God. Through that, he showed me the true beauty inside me. I have taken my focus off myself and and appearance while doing that, it knocked down those walls and insecurities, allowing God work through me.

I challenge you to recognize what Scripture says about your life. You are meant to live a life set apart. Ask God to make these truths real to you today: 

1. That you are new.
2. You are in Christ
3. You are his temple. 
4. You do not belong to yourself, but to God.
5. You are his ambassador, you represent and are light in this dark world.
6. That he is working in you and desires to work through you. 

Right these on an index card and read them or put it it where you will see daily. I put mine in my wallet :) Remember and believe that YOU are a Representative of Christ in this world, and that he desires to work threw you. 

Living Loved

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with loving-kindness. 

I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt."

Jeremiah 31:3-4

Throughout high school, in the back of my head, I always thought about what would happen if I were to be in a car accident? Wondering who would show up to the hospital? Who really cared about me or who loved me? Some days it was just a thought, other days it was a hope. 

I thought of myself as not enough. Whether it be in my school work, at home, with boys, if I was skinny enough, or with sports. As I got older, I learned to hide those fears and insecurities with the right words, appearance and actions. I saw myself in a way that was not God's view of me at all and I was trying to find love in the wrong places. My junior year and senior year of high school, I wasn't necessarily doing the wrong things, but I moved further away from God. At that point in my life, I had a self focus instead of being Christ centered. Jesus always had something more.

Truth: 

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should

 be called children of God! And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God it love." -1 John 4:16

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

When it comes to following Christ, we need to do so by following the melody of his love for us. We need to pour God's love into our mind so it can make its way into our hearts. Because we can't see or touch him, it is not natural to live feeling loved by God. We learn to live loved by taking his word of truth by faith. We are his children and he wants to provide for us. The care, protection, love and direction that we need. When we allow him into our hearts, He replaces our fears with a wonderful peace. He showers us with his love and when realized by faith, can calm us, center us, and builds a confidence in us.

There are a few things I realized.
When we live as one who is loved:

• We live differently, a journey with the Father
• We have a changed viewpoint, our focus is the bigger picture of God's unseen plan
• We can walk in faith, believing in something we cannot see, but dare to hope for

 This week is going to challenge me a little bit. I need to think about how am I going to show love to someone that maybe I normally wouldn't? At work? At home? With friends? And pray for those situations that the lord brings me to. To not look for love from people, but focus on the true love God has for me. I need to remember that without faith, it is impossible to please our heavenly father and I need to ask God to help me in areas with any unbelief regarding my true identity as his daughter and to remind myself of the truth that God lavishes his love on me. Bring it on!

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" -Romans 8:31

Follow the Leader

"Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, 

but will have the light of life."

John 8:12

Each day is a ministry opportunity, a chance to do all that God has called us to do for that twenty-four-hour period. Sure, for me it might be serving someone popcorn at the movie theater, tearing their tickets to allow them into a movie or making someone's coffee and getting a pastry they have been drooling over. But in that  minute and a half is a chance to build a relationship. Make them smile, laugh, encourage and to show God's love. But no matter what is in front of us, there is a deeper purpose to the day-to follow after Christ and pay attention to how he wants us to live in the moments of life.

"As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him."  Mark 1: 16-18 

In the passage from Mark, the disciples had to do two things to fulfill God's call:     

1. Come: to approach or advance towards
2. Follow: to pursue or go after

We must too do those two things! A lot of the time we get these great ideas, dreams, and goals and we go for it! We are always on the go, until one day we just run out of steam. Personally, working two jobs keeps me busy most of the week. I always like to be on the go and have something to do. On days off, I want to get out of town, go to the beach, go hiking or to the zoo. Knowing my body needs to rest, I still try and fit everything in until... I run out of steam. But after reading this chapter, I know that there is a better way. Asking myself the question, What if I made it a daily practice to come and follow? What would that look like if I applied that to my life? Not only waking up, putting my plans or goals aside and allowing God lead me where I need to go that specific day, but also taking the time to listen to what he has to say. Staying busy isn't always the best thing, so for me it is going to take some self discipline, to take a stand and set aside time for my Heavenly Father each day.

We must learn to place God first, then listen and watch for what He would have us to do or become. Maybe some girl friends want to go have a night in the city, go to the beach or there is a party that night. If you can't find your keys, car doesn't start or some sort of obstacle gets in the way of your plans, not saying that you shouldn't do that certain thing, but take a second and honestly look over your day. Have you had that one on one time with God? Is your heart in the right place or is that a place where you are able to honor God? 

I would encourage you to go to a place where you can be alone. It can be anything from a locked bathroom, sitting in the car, beside a field, to in your room or even a coffee shop. Just find a place. While in that place, for ten minutes thing about what it would mean to follow God rather than yourself. Think of things that might change. Now I dare you to do the very thing God first spoke to you, the thing in front of you that you have probably put off. I double dare you to see all things today as spiritual in nature, even though they are physical, practical acts. God is a life changer, a people mover, a restorer to all things. We have a choice each day; we have to come and follow.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11 

The Miracle of a New Heart

"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man."

Proverbs 27:19

God has many gifts for us. This one in particular is beautiful. Receiving a new heart. Metaphorically speaking that is. A new foundation to your entire being! Changing the way you think, respond, and live. Just the thought of our father giving us a new heart is so cool to me! Despite all our imperfections and failures. Beating to the same rhythm of God's heart and moving to the sound of His voice! Ahh! Like seriously, get out of town! 

In this chapter, it talks about how Ezekiel describes the two types of hearts:

• Heart of Stone: hard, heavy, dull, cold, dead.
• Heart of Flesh: soft, light, warm, alive
• Self Willed: wanting to do what you want, when you want. 
• God Willed: living for the purposes of God the Father. 

What heart do you have? What heart do you want? I know now that living with a new heart does not come automatically. It needs to be a genuine prayer to allow God to come in and radically change you from the INSIDE out. A daily surrender of self to the Father. I can't promise it will be easy and that temptations won't come, cause they will come and we will want to fall back to our old habits, but when you give your whole, undivided self and live for Him, it will make it that much easier to turn away from those things.

The definition of undivided: 

1. Not divided, separated, or broken into parts.
2. Concentrated on or devoted completely to one object

Our hearts must be centered, focused, undivided, and intentionally loyal to God. That's a big word when you think about it. Undivided. I can't get over it and how important it is. Reading this first chapter, lots of things popped into my head that have divided my relationship with God. Things that just slip in between, maybe some things that I put more time into than I should? Facebook, relationships, friends, phone, work, appearance. I realize that's the 20% I still held back from God and instead of being self-centered I need to learn to be more Christ centered. I encourage you to pray from Psalm 86: "Teach me your way. Give me an undivided heart.." Maybe cut back on a few of the things that popped into your head and fill in that time with God. Determine to live out of that new heart from this point forward. I pray to be a woman with one focus, one vision, one purpose. Today, for me, HE has that other 20%.

A New Beginning

Every summer for the past 7 years I would attend Hume Lake Christian Camps in Central California. Always coming home with that "spiritual high." This year was a little different. At the beginning of this summer, I got a second job. For a while, I would work, eat, sleep, repeat. It got very tiring and exhausting very fast. No social life, my relationship with my family, friends and boyfriend where aching. I needed a break and I wanted to get away. I have family that lives in Colorado, so my plan was to go stay with them for a couple weeks. I called and called, but no one would answer. I got frustrated, thinking, "All I want to do is get away. Why is no one answering?" I tried one more time. Still no answer. About 2 hours after that, my youth pastor calls me and says that they need a girl camp counselor and that I'm going. Having two jobs, one I had just started so I was really nervous about requesting time off not knowing if I would be able to or not, but I knew if I did, that's where God wanted me. I prayed and got it off! I was so excited! I realized that I need to learn to let go of my plans and focused on the plans God has for me. His plans are far more greater than mine. 

Dale told me I would be with the freshman girls. I was pretty nervous about it wondering do I have what it takes? Do I have the wisdom, strength, love, and patience needed for these girls? Throughout the week, through all the tears, the laughter and joy, God was definitely present. He revealed Himself over and over again. He moved in the lives of everyone there, including mine. It was more than incredible. I was forced to get out of my comfort zone and to be strong and courageous. I made lots of new friends and got closer with old ones that I know will last a lifetime. Like I said earlier, I didn't necessarily get that spiritual high coming down the mountain, but as the Lord spoke through the speaker, it did give me a new perspective on life. I realized the relationship I needed to break away from, things in my daily life I needed to change and the faith I needed to grow. 

We went threw Exodus and towards the end the speaker talked about how God is going to take us to the desert. He is the King of the Desert and we need to realize that He is enough. He is going to take us to the nothing in order to take make us something. I realized that my home town was part of the desert. That I need to take a stand for my faith and to start being more of a light. I purchased a book while I was there that would help me with just that called, "The Faith Dare" It's pretty much a 30 day challenge to live out your faith every day, in every situation. To make you more aware of his presence, to break self-reliance, and to trust in God alone. To live a life that pleases him. I am really excited to begin reading this book. To have a new beginning. To open up and start live in the power of God's word. Let's do this!