What A Time To Be Alive.

I am a 19 year old girl. Clearly I have millions of things to learn, millions of milestones ahead of me. Fortunately, God has gifted me with such a level headed mind which makes me different from most girls around me, he has gifted me with more common sense than is normal, meaning I have had the self control to resist certain material things, like boys and drugs and millions of bad influences that young adults face, I mean I wont be a teen mom, shouldn't that deserve a prize? Unfortunately, it doesn't. In fact nothing I have ever done in my life has granted me a prize of any sort. I can't say I've been the worst, but I haven't been the best, there's not a moment in my life where I have come out first and I only have myself to blame, because I live in constant fear, fear of being hated, fear of being rejected, fear of failing, to simply put it I'm that person every inspirational poster advises you not to be.
When I was in high school I made a huge, well huge to me, choice of joining the schools drama department, for the first time In my life I stepped out of my comfort level and left all my friends behind to pursue something I would later grow to love. The result was the experience of a lifetime, memories I will always cherish, and a self confidence I carry with me all my days, but even then I didn't give my all. I began attending church a little after I graduated high school and once again my life was completely changed, I gained a relationship with Christ I never knew I could have, and it was no coincidence that every day has been pieced together for me to end up right here and right now in this moment.
A few weeks back I was surrounded by a lot of negative thoughts, I doubted every move I made, I doubted my self as a student, as a daughter, as a girlfriend and as a follower of Christ. I found myself being sad about my current life situation, I found no ending to this stage and I felt completely stuck in, what I thought to be, a sucky life. I was angry at the people I loved and found all the bad things in every situation. God being the incredible God he is has a funny way of calling me out, he speaks to me through my church in such a crazy way. Last week my pastors started a series titled "Greatness is Where You Are" and let me just say he couldn't get more personalized than that. I have a hard time thinking I'm great I'll go ahead and say it, and because of that I have had a hard time doing great things. I learned that the way we perceive ourselves is a reflection on how we perceive God. Well, I believe God is without explanation greater than anything I will ever know, so if I was made by such greatness why don't I believe that I've inherited the same? My pastors went on to explaining the right way to spell faith is R.I.S.K. If you know me you know that that word is not in my vocabulary. I'm very calculated and I like planning everything out. Rational, over-thought, and safe our better words to describe myself. So here I'm left, God single handedly called me out one by one, told me my current style of living will not do, told me I'm capable of far better things.
So this is me forgetting of all the moments I have let go without fully taking advantage of. I may not have been great in the past but I can start new today, for the first time in my life, because of Christ I have come out first. This is me accepting that I am great, right now in this moment I have all the tools to succeed. At school, at work, as a daughter, as a girlfriend and as a follower of Christ. God has placed certain people and certain circumstances in my path that are great assets to this new life style. I'm only 19 my current situation will not last long, so why should I mope and complain when I can make the most and do great things in this moment. Greatness is where I am it's time for me to start being great.

'Cuz You Gotta Have Faith.

I was mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed, not really paying attention to much, until I came across a particular status that read "The good thing about science, is that even if you don't believe in it, it's true" any other day or any other quotes I would have brushed it off and resumed to mindless scrolling, instead it caught on and it made me think. Now I am a Christian but I am not a religious nut so I had no intentions of starting an argument nor was I even upset at the owner of the status, instead I opened my bible and began reading about faith. It's simple really and pretty basic being a Christian is solely based on faith, we all know that right?

I always like looking up the definitions of words we see often in the bible and came across this Faith is the belief that is not based on proof. In Hebrews 11:1 it says " Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" the verse later goes on to talk about all the different people of the bible who acted on faith like Moses and Sarah. I formed my own definition of what Faith means simply put, faith is not needing any proof, and believing that God is proof enough. I don't quite understand why it is people spend so much time and energy searching for answers when they have a God that eliminates the need for them because he is the answer to everything.

Now my response to that quote that has sparked so much in me is- The great thing about my God, is that even if you don't believe in him, he's still real. He will always be real patiently waiting for you to believe in him to have faith in him and accept him as the answer to all your questions.  

Do you know how "saved" you really are?

A few months back I was live streaming my church's Wednesday night service, and in that service they mentioned the word "Sozo" it's a Greek translation of "Saved" various definitions later I was left with this phrase "Nothing missing, nothing broken". Let's just say that it stuck to me. I delighted in the thought that I worshipped a God who made me whole and restored. The simplicity of the phrase was such an amazing explanation to what being a follower actually means. I did some research because I just couldn't take this off of my mind, and it turns out that we are so much more than simply "Saved".

The dictionary definition of saved is, to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction. To save a suffering one. Being made whole or well.
All throughout the bible we come across the word saved many, many times.
For the son of man has come to save that which was lost (Matthew 18:1).
But the one who endures to the end he will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
For God sent not his son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17)

Now this is probably starting to sound exactly like what you have heard your entire life and you're probably thinking "Christ is our savior, yes we know that, this is nothing new" but do you know how saved you really are? As a believer God rescues us from the penalty and power of sin and into his provisions and that in itself is a feat worthy of the praise we give him. Apart from being saved we are  delivered, healed, preserved, protected, made prosperous and made whole. So what does that mean?  God delivers us out of danger and into safety, he alleviates our distress and anguish, he maintains our soul, he makes us wealthy and successful and ultimately makes us whole with nothing missing and nothing broken. I don't know about you but I don't know of anything or anyone on the earth that can do all those things for me. I can wake up everyday with reassurance that I am whole, nothing missing, nothing broken.

"In Which He Speaks"

I grew up knowing how good God was, my parents taught me how to pray every night and every morning and I understood that everything I had was a result of his blessings. I remember I would always say to myself that just because I didn't go to church, that didn't mean that I didn't have a relationship with Christ, and in some sense that can be true. The problem with that was that even though I knew the goodness of the lord, and I accepted him as my savior, I never put him where he truly belonged, at the center of my life. It wasn't until God made an attempt to get my attention, that I made this realization.

In my 18 years of living in Florida my family hadn't attended church regularly. Humans as we are make excuses and the many years of attending random services and not exactly liking it, had reached it's limit. There are points in your life where you show up somewhere where you have no idea how you got there but there we were, on a Sunday morning  "Welcome Home" said the signs and home is exactly where I was, we sat through the service and afterwards of one my mothers clients, who had previously suggested we go there, found us and surprised us with such a warm, tear filled embrace. In that exact moment, I knew that God had brought me to this church and that he wanted me there. I understood that there was so much more than just praying everyday, there was so much joy and happiness that I had never experienced and that I loved. In such a short amount of time my relationship with God had grown stronger and my ability to connect with him kept me wanting more and more of him. I've learned that coincidences don't exist, but God does exist. His grace, his direction has been so evident in my life in only a year and that's something that's impossible to ignore.

Now a couple of months after regular attendance at church, my family came across some unpredicted events and before I knew it I had been almost a month with out attending a service, let's just say that it was a good feeling. I felt disconnected, I realized that those little moments I dedicated to Jesus through out my day began to decrease. I wasn't as happy, and to be more dramatic, I felt myself slipping. Mind you, it had only been three weeks, but they were enough to have me running back to my "Home" I realized how flawed I really was it's too easy for me to get distracted, to forget. Church is a weekly refreshment. I also realize that in order to continue to be on the right path with God I must attend regularly and how much I depended on my church to keep my relationship with God intact. I don't see this as a weakness, instead It's a reminder of how minute I am compared to my God, I am a flawed vessel in which he utilizes and in fact Jesus brought me to church, so why would he ever want me to leave? With this said I relate it to this particular verse that i stumbled upon it rings clear and true

"The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence" Ephesians 1:23