Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." - Proverbs 3:5

One of the most popular verses in the Bible is the one written right there. Some have had it memorized since they were children in Sunday School when they would memorize and recite the verse every Sunday to get a gold star, or something of that sort. It's short, quick and gets straight to the point. But that doesn't mean it is an easy one to live out in our daily lifestyle. How can we trust God when everything in our life seems to be going the opposite direction? How can I trust that God has actually forgiven me for my past sins? If my life is in the pits right now, then how can I trust that my future will be better? 

We as Christians are called to trust Him about with the past, present and future. 

Trusting God with our Yesterdays 
Isaiah 43:25 says this: "I--yes, I alone-- will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again."
Many people, including myself, have been weighed down by past guilt. The reminders of our sin, and mistakes made can haunt us. Can God really forgive me for what I have done? I'm here to tell you that He can, and He will. Just because God forgives us, doesn't necessarily mean that the consequences aren't still there but His love for us is. When we give God all our doubt, fear, and guilt He can heal us and cleanse our hearts enabling us to trust Him with our yesterdays.

Trusting Him for Today
"Give us this day our daily bread" - Matthew 6:11
When you stop to think about it, today is all we have. Yesterday has come and gone. Tomorrow may never even come.
During the Israelite's journey through the wilderness, they were in desperate need of food when God supplied them with the manna they needed. The manna was suppose to be gathered fresh each day - one day at a time. Not like the bulk grocery shopping your mom does at Sams Club, or Costco. The Israelite's put their trust in God daily that He would supply them with the food they needed.  
And we as Christians need a fresh supply of spiritual food daily. We can be fed through prayer, Bible reading and sharing Christ with others. We are called to trust the Lord for today. Live today! Be happy today! Love God and others today!
"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

Trust Him with Tomorrow
In Isaiah 45:2 it says "I will go before you and make the crooked paths straight."
We can all be worry warts from time to time. Life can be scary at times not knowing what the future may hold. We have ALL been there at some point. But as Christians, we can face the future with faith, and confidence in knowing that our God is on our side. He has our back and our best interest at heart. "Give all your cares and worries to God for He cares about you." - 1 Peter 5:7

I challenge you this next week, and the weeks to follow, to begin trusting the Lord effectively with your yesterdays, today and tomorrows.  Lean on, rely on and remain confident in Him. 
Romans 8:28 says "And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose."

What Are You Thankful For?

As I sit here with only a few hours left until it is officially Thanksgiving, I can only think of all the many things God has blessed me with. I'm thankful for this sweet soon to be a 7 year old baby girl who's sleeping in arms, for my dear friend Mckenna who dyed my hair back to its original color after our sad attempt at dying it blue and being the next Aquamarine. I'm thankful that today I was able to enjoy the beautiful weather outside with my family as we ran around playing with the dogs, swinging at the treehouse, eno-ing and playing basketball followed by grilling out and roasting marshmallows. I'm thankful for my sweet boyfriend Gabriel who didn't make fun of me last weekend for bawling my eyes out at the end of Mockingjay 2. I could go on and on about how thankful I am for what God has blessed me with. But what I am most thankful for is the love God has for me. He constantly shows me His love and mercy daily. I'm not perfect and I do fail Him but He doesn't give up on me. I believe that often times we get so caught up in this crazy world we live in that we forgot how powerful and wonderful our God is. We let the stress, and our fear get the best of us. We let these things hinder us from living the life God has planned for us. I pray that everyone is reminded of the love God has for them not only today but also every other day. I pray that we choose to be thankful every day of the week, and year instead of just on this one day. We are blessed beyond measure and God deserves all the recognition for it. 

“Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.”

1 Chronicles 16:8 NLT

http://bible.com/116/1ch.16.8.nlt

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones

As I begin my week on this rainy Monday, I can't help but think about what a crazy, exciting, and emotional week I had last week. Rekindled a friendship with someone I have missed dearly, and went through two rounds of interviews only to find out that I was selected to be a Diamond Doll for the Auburn University 2015-2016 baseball team!! Anyone who knows me knows that this is right up my alley. Not to mention one of my sweet Theta sisters was chosen too!! (shout out to you Emily!) 
Despite the exciting week, two things happened that I can't seem to shake from my mind. I received a phone call and heard about a church family acting like the opposite of a family. It broke my heart. The people in church should be there to support and lift one another up. Not tear each other down. Speaking of tearing one another down, one morning as I was scrolling through Twitter I came across two or three people ganging up on ONE person. Yes, this person had started it with a tweet but they quickly deleted it once they realized they were in the wrong. Does that still give the others the right to continue to say hurtful things to her? (behind a computer screen might I add) No. It doesn't.
Life is hard enough as it is, but when people in your own youth group who should be there to support you are the ones being cruel? What are you suppose to do then? 

Ephesians 4:29 
"Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them."

In no way am I saying that I expect everyone to get along 24/7 because let's be real, that is impossible. But I believe that the way we handle these disagreements can easily be changed for the better. 

Colossians 3:7-9 
"You use to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices."

Most have heard that the tongue is the bodies most powerful weapon. It most definitely is. When we let hurtful words fly out of our mouths (or thumbs for those who prefer to hide behind the computer) there is no taking them back. 

One of my most favorite verses is Matthew 5:23-24, it says this:
"So, if you are presenting a sacrifice at the alter in the temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice at the alter. Go and be reconciled with that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice."

What part in that verse does it say "Put thou friend on blast in front of everyone" ? 
It doesn't. It says to go and reconcile quietly with your brother/sister in Christ. You cannot truly worship our Lord with such hatred locked in your heart towards someone. 

If you are having problems with friends, or fellow church members, I encourage you to sit down with them one on one and calmly work out the issue. Pray about the situation before. Ask God to help you watch your mouth so that nothing but uplifting words come out. How are we suppose to reach the lost when we are busy bickering with one another?

1 Peter 4:8 
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins."

Change Happens When Prayer Begins

Because it has been so long since I posted here is a little update:
1) I have been living in Auburn for over a month now. I miss my little sister more than everything, but I know that this is where God wants me to be. 
2) School is in full swing beginning with exams, readings, studying, more exams. 
3) Football is in full swing as well! (War Eagle!) I went to my first football game last weekend and had a blast. 
4) Alaina and I ate pickles and popcorn for supper tonight. Welcome to college. 


A lot of my life this past year was spent in prayer. If you knew me back then, you would fully understand why. I was in a dark place with no clue what to do with life. The only thing I knew to do and could even do was simply pray. 

"Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him while He is near." - Isaiah 55:6 

"Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." - Matthew 7:7

"Jesus replied, "This kind can be cast out only by prayer." - Mark 9:29

I prayed that God would heal the hurt that I was dealing with. 

He did. 

All summer leading up to my big move, I prayed that God would place some Godly friends in my life.

He did.

"You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it." - Matthew 21:22

Needless to say, there is power in prayer. The bible states this multiple times. Whatever you may be facing, God is bigger. Pray. God can heal whatever hurt that is in your hurt. Pray. 

Pray and praise. 

God has blessed me with so much happiness. I am in love with my life again. I have met friends this past month that I know will be friends for a lifetime. I've only been in Auburn a little over a month, and I can see God working in my life. I am so stoked to see what He has in store for me these next four years. 

Thank you, God, for all that you have blessed me with. 

"You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father." - John 14:13-14

Best Friend For Never

We've all lost something before. That keychain from a family vacation eight years ago, your lucky basketball socks, a favorite earring, even a best friend. I know what you're thinking.. That escalated quickly. But we've all been there. I know that. You know that. Is there a particular person running through your head right now? I know I've got three faces bouncing around in my head. Three different friendships. Thousands of memories made, secrets shared, and laughs laughed. When I think about them I am reminded that there probably won't be more memories made, the laughs have now turned into tears when I realize that things won't be the same. 

I know what you're thinking. For my first blog in a while, why would I choose such a sad, and painful topic? I didn't choose this topic. God placed it on my heart, and with a particular person in mind, I am praying this will help bring them some comfort and peace in a discomforting and far from peaceful time in their life. I want to share with you three different people I have lost in my life and the three lessons that came along with the losses. 

 1) Have you ever had a best friend that you were so close to that you were practically sisters? That was how this first friendship was. We told each other everything. She always knew when something was wrong, gave me great advice, and was always there to make me laugh. As I was with her. Three years ago, there was a fallout. Some things came up, and things were blamed on each other and our friendship just simply didn't last. I was heartbroken. Especially in a time when my family was moving around with the military, I was so confused as to why God would take away the one friend I thought would be there forever. But it happened, and life must go on... But the most important thing I learned from this was that sometimes God removes people from your life simply because they can't go where He is taking you. Trust in what God is doing for you as painful as it may seem at the time. God has a purpose for you. He doesn't want to hurt you. He wants us to trust that He will take care of us and He will. Do I still think about this friend? All the time. Do I miss them? Absolutely. But we are two totally different people now. I continue to pray for her. Maybe one day God will bring her back into my life, but right now we must continue on our own road. I believe that God knows what He is doing. 

2) This next friend taught me a lesson that isn't the easiest to learn, but it is one we all need to learn. She had become my best friend in this new town. One of the first (and only) friends I made here. We'd been friends for a little over a year when we had our fallout. It was over some pity, girl drama that nobody has time for (am I right or am I right??) but I became very bitter and angry with this person. I let it consume me and eat me alive for over a year. From the beginning, we are taught to forgive.

Matthew 18:21-22 "Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." 

No, God does not mean only 490 times, but to ALWAYS forgive. 

One of my favorite verses on forgiveness is found in Matthew 5:23-24.

23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice[f] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

Needless to say, after years of letting bitterness and hatred rule my heart. I decided to forgive this person and truly place it in God's hands. Yes, we are now friends again. And yes, I am thankful for the lesson it taught me. :)

3) Ah, last but not least and probably the most painful for me to bring up. About a year ago, I was going through a very dark and difficult time in my life, but this friend stuck with me through it all. He was the definition of what a Godly friend was, and was always there praying for me. He was able to be the light to me that I so needed at the time. But I took it all for granted. I overlooked God's blessing. 

Ephesians 5:20 

“And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Because of my inability to recognize and thank God for the blessing, and much needed friendship in my life. He took it away. I learned to be sure to express my thankfulness for all God has done in my life. I am blessed beyond belief and it is way too easy to get caught up in this crazy world and forget about how blessed I am. I once read a quote that said, "What if you woke up today with only what you thanked God for yesterday?" 

If that were the case, what would you have had when you woke up this morning?

Why Memorizing Scripture Is Important

Enjoy! :)

Religion VS Relationship

Many of you may have heard about the English professor I have who is a unbeliever. We weren't given a specific topic for our research paper, but he did tell us to write about something we are passionate about. I knew in that moment that I wanted to write something about God. I thought about writing on missions, Christianity in general and the ideas I had went on. I ended up writing my paper on Religion VS Relationship. It was tough at first because there weren't many scholarly peer reviewed journals (quotes from these resources were required) that had been written on this topic. However, I refused to change topics to something easier. I knew this is what God wanted me to do. 
In this class once we finish our papers there is a workshop day where the rest of the class critiques your paper. My hands were clammy and my heart was beating uncontrollably on the way to class. Knowing that there are so many people who don't believe in God in my class, I was afraid to hear their responses. The whole time leading up to the critique I read Matthew 5:11 over and over. 
Matthew 5:11 (NLT) “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers." 
The two responses I will always remember were these...
1. "It was powerful. I had goosebumps reading it."
2. "I learned stuff about God that I didn't know. I am not a very Biblical person, but I liked it."

I am not telling you this to brag. I am telling you this for you to see that LITTLE things can make a BIG impact. Of course I wanted it to impact them, but still most would think that you couldn't minister through a college research paper. I am here to tell you that it can be done!! Small things we do in our daily lives that shows that Christ lives in us can make a difference in people's lives. Remember that.

** Below is my paper for those wanting to read it :)

I am a Christian and I despise religion as much as the atheist reading this paper does, however, I love the relationship I have with God.  Throughout history, many wars have been fought over religion. Religion is based on given rules. It instills fears, and one little slip up and you are doomed to hell. Religion says, “I am better than you.” But what if I told you that the church is not a museum for the saints, but instead a hospital for the broken? Jesus can end a war as quickly as it began. He instills confidence and love. We do not fear failure because we know God’s mercy covers us when we sin. After all, Romans 3:23 (NLT) says, “For all have sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Instead of being held back by rules, we push forward knowing that we make God overwhelmingly happy when we choose to do the right thing. Religion destroys, while relationship restores.  Author Joybell C says, “I was asked by a concerned church-goer: "Is your relationship with God okay?" and I answered, "My relationship with God is far better than yours. You have to be in a certain place, with a certain group of people, pray at certain days of the week, read the Bible at certain times of the day; all in order to have a relationship with God. But I am with God from the moment I wake up, to the moment I fall asleep at night, I am with God wherever on this earth that I wander to, and whosoever I may be with! I may be sitting on the subway, and I am with God. I can assure you that I am closer to God than you are.” 

Nine hundred-twenty years ago, a war that was fought over religion began known as the Crusades. During the first Crusades, in the year 1095, an army of Christians from the western part of Europe went to war against the Muslims. Their goal was to capture Jerusalem as land of their own.  It did not take the Christians many years to achieve the goal they had hoped for. After reaching their goal some Crusaders returned home while others stayed behind to preside over their newly gained territory. Control had been in their hands until 1130.  The Muslims had now begun there own war against the Christians thus began the Second Crusade in 1147. The power continued to shift back and forth between the Muslims for centuries, until Fredrick began his reign:

On 11 February 1229 Frederick II and al-Kamil finally reached an agreement (the Treaty of Jaffa) that al-Kamil would give Jerusalem to Frederick II, on several conditions, however. They concluded a truce pact for ten years, five months and forty days, starting on 24 February 1229. By this Treaty of Jaffa, Jerusalem, together with Nazareth and Bethlehem, were put under the rule of Frederick II, while the sacred area to Muslims inside the city including the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque, remained in the hands of Muslims; the agreement also stipulated that the Muslims could freely come and go, while also keeping the right of worship there. Frederick II promised not to attack al-Kamil on any condition, not to support Christians who would attack al-Kamil, and to protect the lands under the control of al-Kamil. (Takayama 175)

Religion has and most likely always will play a tremendous part in history. This leads to the ongoing debate: If religion is so great, then why do so many people fight over it? People were stunned, and confused on how Fredrick II reached an agreement with the Muslims. It was more than just signing a treaty. Both sides recognized each other had different opinions, and instead of letting that drive them apart and send them into another war, they accepted it. Because at the end of the day saying you are a religious Christian, Muslim or Catholic will not get you to heaven. It is about your relationship with God throughout your life, and how you treat and accept others with different opinions. Religion is not something to be fought over.

Lottie Moon was one of the first woman missionaries that served in China. It was not an easy job, and she faced more persecution than we could imagine.

Second, she disciplined herself to survive physically and emotionally while living in primitive circumstances with the lower-class Chinese people. She learned to endure scrutiny and commentary by curious people who did not consider her human and gave her no privacy. She conquered fears of people who continually reviled her as "Devil Woman," she stayed courageous in the face of death threats, and she kept her poise in confrontations with soldiers. She came to accept the "real drudgery" of mission life. She ennobled her view of the harsh realities by remembering that the Chinese peasants were living a simple existence with which the man Jesus would have been personally familiar.  (Allen)

Lottie Moon is a prime example of what it means to have a relationship with God, and not just a religion. When I hear the word religion, I think of a strict lifestyle that one must abide to. Lottie traveled to China knowing that she could be killed, or treated horribly for her beliefs but she went anyways. Lottie Moon went because of her trust in our Creator.

“To have Faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”  (C.S. Lewis)

C.S. Lewis does not say that you must be perfect to follow Christ, or to have a relationship with Him. If that were the case, nobody would be follower of Christ because nobody is or ever will be perfect. I believe part of the debate today between the Christians and atheists (besides religion versus science) comes from the fact that atheists believe Christians are telling them the must be perfect to be a Christian.

Muslims believe you must pray five times a day. Buddhists believe in having a prayer wheel.  On the prayer wheel is a mantra that they recite as they spin the wheel. Methodists believe baptism is just sprinkling water instead of immersing. Catholics pray to Mary, and confess to a priest instead of confessing to God directly. Mormons even have more than one bible reference “so did Mormonism’s claim to possess extra-biblical sources of doctrine and authority” (Peterson 178).  They read out of the bible as well as The Book of Mormons. Would you believe me if I told you none of these rituals must be done for you to have a relationship with the Earth’s creator? “It’s not about an organized religious system, it’s about a supernatural, intimate relationship with the creator God of Christianity” (Barna).

As stated before, religion is just a set of rules. Religion will not help you reach the final destination known as heaven. Religion will continue to be something that is fought over. Instead of being held back by these rules, I will continue to live and devote my life to the relationship I have with God.