True Testimony

    We have talked several times about being a missionary and spreading your faith to the people close to you. That, it's very important to share your testimony but we never expanded upon that. When most people are asked to share their testimony they have no clue how to even plan it out. Most people think that they need to add interesting details to their story so that it makes it sound like they are interesting. We all think that if we added this or that to our lives then people will think we are more worth while. Just because you aren't recovering from drugs or your parents aren't going through a rough divorce doesn't mean that your story isn't one to be heard.

    Before my faith really was in full bloom I had to be prepared to share my testimony. I was on my first missions trip outside of the US and then on top of that I needed to understand that there was a possibility that I would have to share my testimony. When we were going through training the leaders of the organization we were with told there testimony or stories of others walk to Christ. And the first thing I thought was my story is never gonna compare to that! Yeah I am a young Christian girl that lives a normal life and tends to include the Lord and loves to help other people. I felt like other people wouldn't see the importance of my role here on earth if I didn't have an amazing journey to share.

    Looking back on how wrong I truly was I understand the purpose of my testimony. I may not have been an addict  or living in the streets but I have been through several things to make me that one of a kind child of Christ. All I or anyone really needs to tell a testimony is the heart and mind. We all know that Christ doesn't judge us like others do here on earth, which is a huge relief to most of us. But the fact that people judge us sets us back in the spiritual world a bit. Can you imagine if we all just shared our true testimonies even if they weren't the best? Are world would be so much more diverse in the spiritual sense. Some might think that adding a little detail to your story really isn't a big deal, but it is. I'm sure you have all heard that no one person is the same, that's the same with our stories. And every single journey is to be shared no matter what because to God not one of our stories are boring. And even if they truly don't have any ump to them that's because our story is growing. Are testimony will neve be the same because we will always be adding details. 

    Below is a testimony of a recovering drug and alcohol addict that went down the wrong road. If this can be shared on the internet for millions to see. Then ask yourself if you can share your story that might not be as intense to a neighbor this week.

     "I was raised in Portland, Oregon, in a secular, lower-middle income class home. I went to church very few times during my adolescent years. When I turned 16, I began to get involved with drugs and alcohol. At 17, I began a live-in relationship with a woman who was two years older than me. It was a difficult relationship, characterized by drug and alcohol abuse, physical domestic disputes, and crime (primarily theft of various items). During this time period, I came very close to losing my life on a bad LSD trip. I lost touch with reality, jumped through several windows, and assaulted several individuals. I was told later that when the police and medical personnel arrived, an individual was coming after me with a gun. I ended up in the emergency room with serious lacerations all over my body. After dealing with the law and going through the healing process, I continued my risky lifestyle. I remember at one point telling my father that there was no God. Although he did not live what I would consider to be a Christian life, he assured me with tears in his eyes that there was a God. Once while in a park in Portland with my girlfriend, a young couple approached us and began to share the gospel. I told them that they would be far better off if they were to forget this Christian stuff. I offered to share my weed with them. I know now they most likely went off and prayed for us. At some point during my nineteenth year, I remember beginning to be consumed with thoughts of eternity and where I might spend it. Even though I didn't believe in God, nonetheless, I was overcome with this concern. These thoughts went on for a few weeks. I recall coming across Bible tracts on various occasions. I would read them, and then go on my way. My grandmother was a Christian, and she was praying for me. I also had a Christian co-worker that would share her faith with me at times. One day I was at home, sick with the flu. I began to ponder becoming a Christian. I really couldn't see myself as a Christian, as I had envisioned myself at 75 sitting in a rocking chair, still smoking my pot. For some reason as the day went on, I found myself thinking more and more seriously about Christianity. I came across one of those Bible tracts with the four spiritual laws. I suddenly found myself praying to the God I had claimed earlier didn't exist. I felt this supernatural power come over me that day, and I knew I would never be the same as long as I lived. The best way to describe it was like coming out of a trance. I suddenly had an awareness of God, Satan, and the reality of the Bible.
It is now more than 30 years later. I have been happily married to the same woman for all these years. We have raised three sons. God has blessed us in wonderful ways. I am involved in jail ministry, and am looking forward to eternity. Although there have been a few minor hurdles along the road of life, I wouldn't trade back to the old life for anything. Praise God for changing the life of someone who didn't believe he existed."

Word of the Day: "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved."
               ~Psalm 55:22

*Testimony found at: http://christianity.about.com/u/sty/testimonies/beforeafterstories/*

Eyes Closed

    Can you imagine being blind? Just think about it...you can't see ANYTHING. Not your family, your house, your clothes, what your eating, not even your special someone. Don't you think our relationships would be a lot different if others knew we couldn't see? I mean, seriously...wouldn't our boyfriend or girlfriend not worry about looking so nice? Or wouldn't our enemies shoot endless dirty looks or way? Sadly I am sure this is reality for most of the blind. I mean my sight has never been impaired but I can imagine that they can sense and even feel the mood of the people even when they are not speaking. Even blind people are still normal people. But in a sense, our outward appearance tends to automatically act differently. With our eyes closed there is an unbelievable number of things that could happen.

    I once heard that things such as praying and kissing are done with your eyes closed because something's are not seen but felt. Now I may not have that analogy spot on but isn't that so true. Have your ever tried prayer with your eyes closed and then with your eyes opened? For me, the only reason I pray with my eyes open is if I want to stay awake as I lie in bed! But most people do pray with their eyes closed. There's just something about blocking the world out that makes your Jesus love go crazy. For those times during the day that you pray you may feel like when you close your eyes God has just got to fulfill it because you just felt it! That right there is belief that God WILL do what is planned.

    Being a girl in high school or just a girl in general you, by nature, worry about having a boyfriend. It is just a natural process of any teenaged girl. Sadly most girls just choose any guy to fill that teenage dream but I felt that God has called me to a higher plan. I was like any other high school girl feeling down because there aren't a bunch of prince charming's walking through the halls of a high school. It got to a certain point that I just prayed and prayed that God had that handsome and Godly man waiting for me in college. This is now truly one aspect of my life where having my eyes closed about any relationship really...is a GOOD thing. Just in closing my eyes to this I am able to feel confident and I'm not burdened with constant worry about everything working out. I had actually handed it over to God and I will tell you that handing anything over to God is the ABSOLUTE BEST thing you could ever do here on earth.

    Keeping our eyes closed through certain seasons of our lives allows us to grow our relationship with Christ all over the place. Now that might sound dumb because when we think about our relationship with Christ we think of a straight path that we just look onward to. But when our relationship with Christ tends to become cumbersome and just flat out disoriented that's when it's at it's best! God grows in us and there's not telling of where and how it's going to even grow.

    Have you closer your eyes one way or another and have missed some event or something life changing and your reaction is "oh man I always miss all the good stuff!" I think we all miss those times so God has the chance to show us things. This creates the fairytale feel for us that only magical things happen when we truly close our eyes. Like the analogy...that kisses and prayers aren't seen as "magical" but they are felt inside. Yeah, that might sound all mushy and all but just wrap your mind around the concept of closed eyes being better than wide open eyes sometimes.

    This week...evaluate what your life is actually like with your eyes wide open and then close them. Just sit back and close them it might sound easier said than done, because it is. And no this lesson isn't just another lesson about turst, it is so much more than that. The thing is...only you can determine that because it's your magic to feel through Christ not mine. When we are oblivious to what is around us we can't get anxious about what is coming we can only be surprised and then filled with so much more joy. So get to closing your eyes and wait to see what miracles he has coming at you. 

Word of the Day: "All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me will never be cast out."
                 ~John 6:37

Angry God

    We see God as the man that has it altogether. He is slow to anger. Loves easily. Has a billion upon billions of children, that he crafted by hand. He is made perfect from the beginning of time...shall I go on? We know how awesome God is, but one side we don't often like to think of or even acknowledge is his anger. It sounds crazy right? So he is a man that is slow to anger but yet is angry?? This might seem like a strange lesson but I think it is important that we know what God is capable of. God is a man of many wonders but he does get angry, but specifically at us. God dislikes everything that works against us because he was once human so he realizes how hard it truly is to have people and things work against you. So that's what God gets angry about because it alters how we act. Even when we are in a strong relationship with Christ we still get down when things come our way. Lets take a closer look into what God's anger actually looks like.


   "Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe, when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan. He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost. He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts. He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham. Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents."
                                                            ~Psalms 78:38-55


    Obviously God can get a little angry with us when we rebel against him on purpose. And just like you're parents have said, they only punish you to teach you a lesson. God is allowed to get angry but not in the hopes of hurting anyone but in hopes of a better us. It seems so strange that anger actually helps one person but with the right anger shows the grace of God.

    It has been said by Jonathan Edwards that God shows his anger to scare us into repenting. Now he does the whole angry God thing in the sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" a bit too harsh at times but the concept is one to be taken away. We need to see God as concerned and on fire rather than angry sometimes because we often end up reading God the wrong way. There is not much to say about an angry God because God acts differently towards each of us in a different way. We just need to discover how so do just that. Discover how God "sternly" teaches and talks to you.



Word of the Day:  "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
                                                   ~Isaiah 40:31

Filling the Shoes

    Have you ever thought that maybe Christ created us already equipped? Sounds pretty weird I guess because we are to always be thought of born as a little tiny baby that is already born into sin. So how does that make us already "equipped"? We have talked about how God is the potter and we are the clay so therefore God is the one that molds us into what he has planned. But let's go a step beyond that. God knows what conditions we were brought into this world under. He understands why we are sometimes incapable of living a Godly life even though he thought differently from creation.

    Being like God is a pretty big job I would say. It is an honor to any human to fill the shoes of God! But it is also something none of us could ever fully do but we are equipped to do so. Indeed that was a giant and confusing oxymoron but just think about it...

    We are sent to this earth with a purpose from God himself so doesn't that make us like a machine set to default? When a program is set to default it is set to the beginning. Just because the machine has started its true job it doesn't mean that the machine wasn't built to fully achieve greatness. In simpler terms... we are all built to be like Christ to measures that we could not even imagine. But until we start acting out those duties and taking the gift he has given to us then our job will never be complete. I think most people don't try a relationship with Christ because it is a lot of work but the doesn't mean that undeveloped Christian doesn't already have the full package of Christianity.

   Going through life is a process. This process continues forward when we simply just live it but we truly wouldn't get anywhere without the "Jesus fuel". God is the one that truly gives us what we already have and fills us with what we don't yet have. He had created us with our true design in mind, he knew that he could grow us into what he had created. We need to look at our life upside down instead of straight on all the time. We start and live our lives as if we need to fills up our slate because we can become anything we want. While this is true God already knows how far we will go and what we will be able to achieve. Can you imagine if God created all of us just for the fun of it. "Yeah, I'm just going to drop all you humans on earth and you all be the best you can be but better. And just remember there is no limit to your success!" First off, let's just all be extremely thankful God isn't like that! The truth behind all of this logic is if we all weren't created with a default setting that was wired to do certain things to a certain point. Well then our world would be a lot worse of than it is now.

    God needs to fill us up so that we can become more like him. Filling the shoes of Christ isn't an easy job so that's why God gives us the upper hand right off of the bat! This makes it so much more rewarding to accept what he has given us. We need to put on God's armor so we can fill his shoes. This is the vision of Christ so therefore it must be worth fulfilling right?

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."

 

~Ephesians 6:10-20

Mission Staten Island

    The Sunday of the 23rd was the day of traveling as the Littlestown Chapels missions team set out for Staten Island. We had all prepared ahead of time with strategic fundraising and paperwork. Our main goal going into the trip was to not only repair the damage done by Hurricane Sandy but to also bring those affected by it to Christ. So after the couple hour drive we were finally there. But were we? We showed up at a warehouse when we were told that we were to be staying at a church. Well that was definitely a huge surprise. The living conditions right off the bat took all of our attention. The guys had to stay downstairs in the place we jokingly called the "dungeon", while the girls stayed all the way up in the attic in basically what felt like an oven. It got to a certain point that day that we could joke about what had happened because the church we were suppose to stay in was being renovated which pushed us and about 60 other people into this warehouse.  Oh yeah, altogether there was about 75 people from several different states staying in this one warehouse. We all at first looked at each other like, "who are you people?" But after a day or so everyone started to loosen up some more.

    Every group came to minister and serve through work just like us. So we had all been given a project through Staten Island. Each project was a house that needed some type of work that was affected by the hurricane. Once we all jumped in our vans as a missions team we headed to our job site, we figured that we would see a lot of devastation. And I think that we all were preparing our minds for what we were to see. But we saw just the opposite. As you all know Hurricane Sandy happened back in October of 2012 and it is now 9 months later. We were mainly driving through the neighborhood part of the island and we honestly didn't see any destruction at all. We kind of silently look at each other thinking where is all the devastation and hurt of this island? Little did we even think about...the whole New York area is an extremely fast pace society. And I think that once the hurricane hit the whole area was shocked at how much devastation there was and they probably had no idea what to do. I can only imagine how hard it would be to walk away from everything you know so a hurricane can rip right through it all.

    Once we arrived at our work site we all looked at each other with confusion because there virtually was no destruction just like the rest of the surroundings. The other truck we had was being driven by my dad and a couple of the guys...so they all get out while we start to unload as well. They started to talk to the lady that was coming out of the home we were working for. She was very adamant about us leaving because she had already had a missions group come to her house to fix her deck which was destroyed by Sandy. Now you all might be thinking, well why fix a deck? I know that doesn't sound like an important thing to really fix which was already fixed but done incorrectly. You will find out why this has importance in a bit. So my dad finally convinced her to let us just look at the job. And the next thing you know, we are all unloading the tools and tearing apart her poorly done deck. It was not that she didn't appreciate the group the fixed her deck before that...she just couldn't keep the deck because it was done so incorrectly that it was a hazard to her family. Well as we worked it was so amazing to see how much she got comfortable with us. She went from yelling at us to leave to bring us out a cooler of water, watermelon, and even ice pops! This is where God was slowly working his glory into this job.

    As I said, the job to be done was to tear down her ruined deck and just build another one which would of taken us maybe a day and a half. Then we were going to move onto another job at another house that was ruined by the hurricane. But each second we were out there the work doubled. We went from doing her deck to picking up all her poorly put down pavers to the pouring her a concrete deck to fixing her lights to hanging new doors! Talk about more than you expected! Next thing you know, we were all staying there work wise for the whole week. There was one day that we got done at her house to go work at another house which had a totally gutted basement. But we only stayed there for maybe an hour. It didn't feel right working there because we all felt drawn to this other lady's house we labored at all week.

    God had drawn a connection between us and this lady. Her sister, son, nephew, and daughter had all been at the house and were all shown the glory of God through us. There was one day that the lady was out front telling us her story and how her son was almost done for it when he got in a deadly accident which just broke her down into a horrible state. Her whole family was in ruins and her faith was sinking because of all the horrible things that had happened to her after the hurricane. She started to break down because we were that hope that uplifted her and her sister plus her sons life from the dark! We had been that hope which brought her back to the Lord!

   Going back to the importance of fixing just her deck....she had helped everyone around her and pushed herself to the side. Fixing her deck and then basically her home gave us a mission but most importantly it gave her a hope. This showed her that God does love her and that he is there looking after her. This trip was unlike any other. It showed us that the devastation might not be visible but it might be deep down where it is hard to cure. At times for me during this trip God was silent. Compared to any other trip, Staten Island was a very relational trip that confused me. While I have part of the trips meaning in my mind I think that God has the rest in his hand to later reveal to me down the road. God also showed me that its a darn good thing when he is silent! He is love and passion! He is a good God!

Thank you all for the prayers to make this trip possible!


Word of the Day:  "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
                                               ~Romans 8:18


*QUICK NOTE...going on this trip I brought a cross necklace with a pair of earrings which a woman of strong faith had given me. I brought it in hopes of giving it to someone that needed a reminder of God's love. And long story short...I thought it was too easy to give it to the lady we had worked with all week, I just wasn't drawn to give it to her. So you know what that means?.......God is going to bring someone that is going to be transformed by my words into my life! Let's just say.... I can't wait! So this is me asking for you to pray for wisdom!*