Meditate.

   Happy Thursday everyone! I read these two verses this morning during my Bible time and just wanted to share them with you:

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4: 8-9

   Meditate today on thoughts of Jesus. Worship Him throughout the day, read your Bible on your lunch hour, listen to some praise music on the way home from work, encourage someone in Christ, take extra time to pray this evening. Keep focusing on the Lord and He will be faithful through the day. 

Blessings, 

~ Abby

P.S. - I have an exciting interview with one of my best friends coming up talking about the subject of God's grace! Keep your eyes open for that!

Choosing the Will of God

   Hello readers! Today, I want to talk to you about God's will. How willing are we to follow the will of God and to choose it over other things? Even Jesus had to acknowledge His Father's plan and follow His will. But how do we do this?

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,

saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. ~ Luke 22:41-44

   Jesus separated himself from His friends. We don't like to separate ourselves from our friends and family. It's human nature to crave connection with those around us, even with things of the world. But if we really want to seek out God's will for ourselves, separation from the world is required and sometimes, separation from our friends and family is necessary. Are we willing to separate ourselves from the people and things that can distract us from God? I'm not talking about becoming a hermit, never interacting with anyone ever. But when you need to seek out God and His will, do you distance yourself from the distractions and take the time to worship the Lord and pray for an answer? Luke 5:16 says "So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." Like Jesus, we need to understand the importance of separation from everything else to pray.

   Jesus recognized that He had to give up His own will to follow His Father. Here's something we don't like to do... give up our plans for someone else's. But here's the main thing: it's not our plan for either someone important in our lives or not. This is our plans for God's plans. To some people, this might not make a difference. "Why would I want to follow someone else's idea of what I should do for my life?" "They don't know me." "They don't know what I want or what I'm good at." "They don't care enough for me to take their advice." That's the thing. God knows what's best. He knows you. He knows what you want or what you're good at because He made you. He cares more about you than you may think. God only wants good things for us. Does this mean that His plan will be smooth-sailing, sunshine-filled, roses-along-the-path kind of life? No, but we'll get to that next.

   Jesus did not give up even as the struggle became harder. I'm sure you've heard that things will almost always get worse before they get better... well, even as Christians, this can be very true. When struggles get hard, we often want to take the easy way out which is usually to just give up. But God calls us to something more than that and He empowers us to continue on. Even Jesus knew when the struggles were harder that He had to keep going and He held on to the promises of His Father. Isaiah 46:4 says "Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you." No matter what the trial we face, even after we have surrendered our will to the Father's, we can rest in the promise that the Lord will carry us. 

   Does following God's will require great personal sacrifice? Yes. But it is His will for us and He will sustain us through. May this small thought be an encouragement to each of us to surrender ourselves daily to the perfect will of our Heavenly Father. 

Blessings, 

~ Abby

Losing yourself in worship...

     When was the last time you lost yourself in praise? Forgot about you and your problems and your situations and just worshiped? Psalm 100 calls us to that.

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, 

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100 (NKJV)

     Step away from everything calling your name and worship. Take 10 minutes and just tell Jesus that He is wonderful and how thankful you are. He is worthy of all our praise!

Blessings!
~ Abby

Favorite Verses

   It's harder than people think to pick your favorite verses... I have a ton that have spoken to me at different times over the years and I would have a hard time choosing just one. However, I did narrow it down to three that I wanted to share briefly here.

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28

   How often are we burdened down by the things of this world? It is so easy to get discouraged when we see what is happening both around us and within our own lives; but when we put all of that aside and come to Jesus... what a blessed rest we can then find. 

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10

   It is so hard to be still, but what incredible things follow when we are still before the Lord. Peace follows and we can be sure that He is still God. 

"But those who wait on 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

   All-time favorite right here! My parents gave me this verse on my thirteenth birthday and it's been given to me again and again by people over the last 9 years. Coincidentally, Isaiah is one of my favorite books. I always loved the imagery of the Lord giving me the strength to fly like an eagle... how amazing would it be to soar above our troubles with the strength from Jesus? When we wait on Him, we can receive that strength and peace to keep going and push past the trials in our lives. 

   Share one of your favorite verses, I'd love to here some!

Blessings!

Abby

Allowing Change

   What makes someone a "great Christian?" Think of someone you would consider a great example of Christ. Do they have any combination of the following characteristics:

loving

wise

patient

gentle

open-hearted

willing

humble

caring

dependable

kind

discrete

truthful

available

sincere

gentle

generous

   Do you think that the person you're thinking of achieved all or some of those characteristics overnight? Absolutely not. We receive Christ in a moment when we accept His forgiveness. He begins to immediately work on those things in our hearts that do not reflect Him, but it requires a little effort on our part. We do not become a "great Christian" without sacrificing things in our lives and striving for that Christ-centered life.

   In Romans 12, we are called to "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (v. 1, NKJV) which includes our minds and our hearts, not just our physical bodies. Christ works in our minds and hearts, making them holy and acceptable like Himself. If the Creator of the universe sent His Son to save this group of dirty, sinful people, shouldn't we give our lives back to Him? God is waiting for us to turn to Him and say "Take what is holding me back from giving You my all. Change me completely." Jesus has a beautiful and fulfilling gift of a life with Him, but we have to accept it and the changes it will make in us.

   So... change scares me to a certain extent. I like having a plan, being organized, knowing what's coming up next so when one day (fairly recently, by the way), I felt the Lord telling me that He was changing me, I kind of freaked out a little bit. He wanted to redo me to become more and more like Him but I would have to allow Him to have that control, not knowing what was coming up next. It terrified me, but... I knew I had to: there was a deep, burning desire within me. I was scared, almost petrified. But I realized that if I wanted to be a "great" Christian, it would take a great sacrifice. So I told the Lord "Yes, change me. Go ahead. Take control and begin to change me to be more like You."

Best. Decision. Ever. 

   Yes, it's terrifying. Yes, it seems uncertain. Yes, I don't understand. Yes, I still struggle. But it's fine... God's got me, my family, my friends, my future, etc. Sure the change is still scary and different, but in so many good ways. I'm still me, but I am becoming a more Christ-like version of me. He has placed within me this incredible desire for more of Himself within my soul. When I first began to notice a difference, it almost blew me away. There is a satisfaction and peace in Him that I am finding. I want to read my Bible more. I want to pray for people daily. I want to encourage others and spread His love more than ever. Any opportunities He gives, I want to take, even if they scare the living daylights out of me.

   Nothing in this world can compare to the incredible life in Jesus. Anything this world offers cannot compare to that moment when you realize Christ is all you ever want. You may still love those things and talk about them, but they don't hold a piece of your heart anymore... that's where only Jesus resides. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2 (NKJV).

   But......

   It would be so easy to let this all slip away. God is never going to let me go, but I could easily let go of Him. There are so many opportunities daily to turn away from this Christian walk and follow the world. I'm not talking about just the larger things, like turning away from our faith and denying Christ. This includes even the small things: role models, types of music, movies/TV shows, daily conversations, things we read, etc. The littlest things make the greatest impacts and those are the things that the devil uses to turn us slowly away from our walks with Christ.

   I'm not telling you to become a hermit and live in silence away from the world, but we have to work at this - if we neglect this gift of life in Christ, it will disappear. Our "Jesus-ness" will fade from our lives. It's like when you spend a lot of time with someone, you begin to pick up on their characteristics. I have a few friends like this: after talking with my one friend who lives down south, I always start to say "ya'll" and everyone knows who I was talking to recently. It's the same with Christ. We ask Him to change us and make our lives more pleasing to Him, but if we don't work at it, it will not last. It requires a sacrifice of time and energy on our parts. It takes work. The reward is worth every moment of effort.

   Look again at the list of characteristics at the beginning of this post. Do you need help with one of the in particular? Do you need all of them? You're in good company. No one possesses every single one, but that's why we need God to continually remake us.

   Lord, change me. Make me more Christ-like. Show me the rewards of the sacrifice. Give a me a deep desire to strive after a life with You.

Blessings,
~Abby

Spirit of the Living God, 

Fall fresh on me. 

Spirit of the Living God, 

Fall fresh on me. 

Melt me, mold me, 

Fill me, use me.

Spirit of the Living God,

Fall fresh on me.

- D. Iverson & L. Alexander, 1997

PS - I apologize for the lack of updates. I was wrapping up a semester by the end of February, then March was ridiculous with work. I will try to update a bit in April. I cannot promise anything as I am starting a new semester tomorrow (actually today), but I will try!