Awesomeness!

Psalms 107:14-16

"He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
and broke away their chains.
 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
 for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron" NIV

Sounds Like Super Hero Awesomeness to me!!!!! :)

Definitely Something To Be Thankful for!

Go God!

Look, Ask, Believe!

Do you believe in the mighty power of God? I'm not talking about just the little things in the day like all the lights turn green on your way to work.  Although... those things are awesome! :)  I'm talking about the big stuff like healing the sick, stopping the sun, or a small pot of soup that feeds a thousand people.

This idea of God's power has been rolling around in my head lately.  I have been asking myself..."Do you really believe in the power of God?"  "Like part the waters, power of God?"  There is also this song on the radio that has been grabbing my attention lately.... Greater by Mercy Me.  There is one line that jumps out at me every time.

"And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world"

Now the song mainly talks about the battle to believe that God loves us and is bigger than our sin that tries to pull us down. It is a great message!  It stirred up more in me the question of something greater than just our sin.  I think it is easier for us as Christians to believe the message that God is greater in our internal world than our external world.  I know I fall into this thinking.  However, the Bible is full of story after story of how God showed His mighty power and intervened in real tangible external ways. 

I think as much as it is important to remember how God works in  our hearts, it is just as important to remember that God performs REAL LIFE miracles too.  It is easy to think to ourselves "That was in Bible times" " Or that happens only out in the mission field".  

There is so much pain in the world.  Sometimes things don't seem to work out for even the truly righteous God fearing people.   We start to lose faith in the mighty God we serve forgetting that He see's a bigger picture.  David talks about this in Psalms when he was struggling to believe.

•   Psalms 77:11-15 - " I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
  yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
   I will consider all your works
  and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
   Your ways, God, are holy.
  What god is as great as our God?
   You are the God who performs miracles;
  you display your power among the peoples.
   With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
  the descendants of Jacob and Joseph" NIV

 This whole chapter in Psalms is a beautiful reminder of what to do when we struggle to believe that God is more powerful than anything we are facing and can Literally move mountains, part waters, and heal anyone of His choosing. 

I wonder sometimes why we don't see God's power more in our lives or in others lives? Maybe the real question is are we looking for it? Or have we become apathetic.  I know I am guilty of this a thousand times over.  

Now I know God isn't just some Jennie in a bottle to make all our wishes come true and we live in a sinful world. But I do believe that we miss out a lot more on God's power in our lives and all around us because we aren't looking.  We forget how truly and literally powerful our God is.  And some of us have given up all together asking God to do anything of real tangible nature because we struggle to believe. 

What would our lives and churches look like if we really asked and believed in the greatest power ever revealed to man and the universe?  What awesomeness would we see if we really with every fiber of our being believed in God's unsurpassed, supreme, matchless power?  Those words also apply to His love as well.  

Okay... So do you hear me?  Are you listening?  Do you understand the gravity of what this means?  

We have the greatest Hero of the Universe who is not only on our side, but loves us with a unfathomable unfailing love, AND has the power to extinguish or bring to life a solar system with one breath!!!!  He ALWAYS works for our good NO MATTER WHAT!!!! 

Are we looking, asking, or believing? Lets do what David did and remember what mighty amazing things God has done AND is DOING!  Lets see what looking, asking, and believing in our God can really do!

Out of the Mud, Onto the Rock, Given a New Song!

Psalms 40:1-3

"I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him" NIV

Is this picture in Psalms not unbelievably beautiful! 

May your day be Blessed with a song in your mouth for the Amazing Loving Father who saved you! 

Amen!

Instructs Even the Sinner

God never waits for us to be perfect

to lead us.

Such a beautiful verse!

Psalms 25:8-9 

"Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way" NIV

Trees, Dirt, and Eternal Glory

The great outdoors.... Ah yes I love the woods and going camping.  So Fun!  This has been the reason I haven't blogged for over a week. I signed up to go camping with the church school's Senior Survival.  It is where the school takes the senior class out into the woods for 5 days and teaches them survival skills as well as ties them to life skills and spiritual skills to reach the world for God.  

So I was super stressed before the trip.  Not because of the woods, but because of the teenagers.  :)  I don't know why I volunteered, they caught me on a super good day or something. :)  Because normally I'm terrified of youth work especially teenagers.  For some reason I'm scared they won't like me or will rebel and i won't have the guts to keep them out of trouble.  But this must be the year that God feels like stretching me by getting me to volunteer for things I never would before (thinking of the Triathlon running thing as well) :)

So the whole car ride there my heart was pounding and I was starting to panic a little.  I road with another women I know from church that has been through many a camping trip with these girls and assured me the whole way that things would go fine and I had no need to worry.  That helped some and it was nice to know she was along too in case things got crazy :)

Long story short, 2 days in I started my monthly friend 2 weeks early, my hormones were a little wonky, and I was getting emotional about reading a simple Bible verse.  The girls were starting to complain about everything and I was feeling way inadequate.  After a good talk with the other woman on the trip and few shed tears, God showed me that He was with me and I needed to focus on what He thought of me and not what the girls thought. 

By the last day, I finally realized that God had a plan for not only the girls but for me too.  We were all physically and emotionally spent, but most everyone was glad they made it through and overall had a good time.  

The last morning I got up the courage to do a worship a short worship with the girls, sharing a verse close to my heart. So I shared that my best friend in junior high was terminally ill with leukemia. One night before she died she wanted her mom to read her a verse.  Her mom opened the Bible to this verse, but couldn't bear to read it so she searched for other verses till my friend begged her to read the first one she opened to. 

•  1 Corinthians 4:16-18 - "   Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" NIV

I compared this to our experience of the days in the woods and life.  And as I said these words to the girls I was realizing myself how true they are.  We cannot control life.  It will give us whatever it gives us.  The difference between Christians and others in the world is that we have hope in Jesus, that inwardly we can be renewed and we have eternal life.

It's not about what goes on around us that matters it is what goes on within us in our hearts with Jesus that makes all the difference.  I realized that my beautiful friend had realized this before she died and found comfort in these verses.  And I realized at that moment that God had worked in my heart as well as these girls.

Whether these verses had impact on them I don't know, but I hope in a small way one day it will come back in their memory and give them strength when they face some of the hard times of growing up and what life will throw at them.  Fixing our eyes is the key to peace and change within. Focusing on Jesus and what is unseen is what gives us life from within despite what goes on around us externally that we see.

The girls decided I was okay at the end, and I decided it was a good thing for me to go despite my fear.   So the woods was fun, hard, and wonderful all at the same time. This momentary trouble a step closer to the eternal glory God has in store for us. Trees, Dirt, and Eternal Glory AMEN!