Hello hello hello!
So lately, I have been falling deeper and deeper in love with my beautiful saviour and wonderful creator. It's so nice to be able to spend time with him daily, rejoicing and thanking him for how he has blessed me! When I was still in Sunday School, I can remember thinking "how is it possible that people talk about God all the time? Aren't we going to run out of things to talk about? We talk about him every week... I DON'T UNDERSTAND."
What a silly little girl I was! As I dive into the word, I'm not only discovering more about God, but also discovering how little I know about God. It's a chain reaction. When one question is answered, two more pop up! As I've been seeking him more, one of God's many characteristics has been sticking out to me and challenging me in new ways.
Psalm 16:8
I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Matthew 28:20
...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Deuteronomy 31:8
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
These verses are only the tiniest examples of God's persistence and consistence in our lives! I'm sure all of you have experienced similar ups and downs in your faith and lives to my own. We have our good days and our bad days, we have our struggles and our joys, our trials and tribulations. But we have a God who always remains the same! There's no such thing as a bad day for him. He doesn't go through the same roller coaster rides that we go through - he is constant in our lives and persistently showing us his beauty and love no matter how hard we try to push it away.
This brings me great comfort knowing how reliable, dependable and consistent our father is! When everything in this world falls away, we will still have our father - he does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17)
When I see verses that say "surely I am with you always" and "he will never leave you or forsake you" it reminds me of multiple choice questions on exam. Before you get super confused, question how God reminds me of a multiple choice question and then call me crazy, hear me out.
In the beginning of first year, I went to the Academic Success Center to get some advice because I was absolutely terrible at multiple choice questions (I mean seriously, who tells you to pick the better answer of two right answers?!) Anyways, one piece of advice they gave me was to try avoiding answers that contain the words "always" or "never" because nothing is consistent enough to be always or never.
What great advice! It's so very true! Things in this world will not go on forever and ever. Things on this earth are simply temporary and will one day cease to exist, but God is the one constant in all of our lives! Always loving and guiding us as we journey through this world. This love and persistence he has shown us has brought up a desire in my heart to be just like him in this way! Persistently loving my fellow brothers and sisters in all situations and at all times! I know there will always be people in this world we struggle with - people who manage to push all the right buttons at all the right times. I have people in my life who seem to just cause so much trouble for themselves and then complain about it endlessly - asking me for love and attention that I eventually become reluctant to give. It's easy to stop paying attention to these people and spending the time we used to because we don't want to hear about how they made the exact same mistake as the last ten mistakes.
Yet this is one of the many ways our father loves us. We are constantly making the exact same mistakes over and over again! We try to learn from our mistakes but we so often end up making the same ones. But thankfully, God is persistent and patient with us. He loves us and is there for us despite the situation and I hope to love my fellow brothers and sisters just as he loves me. How eternally grateful I am to my saviour! I am grateful for him loving me despite all of my silly mistakes and mountains of complaints! I hope to imitate my wonderful maker and learn to love even those who push those buttons! Join me in this journey of learning to love as God first loved us :)
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
- Ephesians 5:1
- kjoosaurus out!
Showing posts with label Comfort. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comfort. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2013
Friday, September 28, 2012
The Glory of God [9/28/12]
Hello :]
I'm back again! Haha. Second time in a WEEK. How exciting. I wish I had written more this summer... I actually really enjoy writing, and I love sharing with people, but as I've mentioned before, I was really struggling this summer and I think I just didn't feel like I was in the right place to be writing and sharing with people. But today, I'm writing because I want to share about what I learned from the struggle!
It's crazy how much of a difference time can make; we can go from the lowest point to the highest point in such a short time. But what do we have to do to get there? What is happening in the time from the lowest to the highest point? What is working - WHO is working?
I'm not sure if everybody else is the same, but the biggest aspect I've noticed from my roller coaster ride in my life, is that in every second, in every twist and turn, I see God. I see his hands moving from one end to the other; I see them working in building, shaping and moulding. For some reason, I normally don't see it in the process of it, but I notice it afterwards when it has already been done.
God has taught me something absolutely amazing these past few months. . As I was going through struggles this past while, I was feeling so alone and useless. I felt like nobody wanted me, and nobody cared about me. It really sucked! I kept complaining and complaining. "God, why are you doing this to me? Why are you letting this happen?" But he just remained silent, and I was forced to endure everything "alone."
This went on for months. I was in the dark; I was lost. I came back to Ottawa in hopes that everything would become perfect again, but nope, I was wrong. I was still in the dark. I forced myself to go to church, I forced myself to help out, and I forced myself to pray. Then, things started to get even worse. Everyday was a struggle. It felt like my friends were absent from my life, and I didn't have my family with me either. I didn't know what I was doing!
Then I started to notice something weird. Well, it's not really weird, it's great, but it was different. I noticed an abundance of people in my life who loved and cared for me. They were coming from all different directions; they were people I never would have expected to come into my life. I didn't really realize the work behind it all at first, but then as I kept talking with friends, one friend mentioned to me the glory of God, and how we should be thankful at all times.
That's when it hit me. It was GOD! He was comforting me and He was loving me. He was the hand behind it all, and He was teaching me to remember that He will never forsake me or abandon me, and that I should always be grateful for whatever He does, and for whatever I'm going through. It doesn't matter how bad a struggle is, or how bad a problem is. He will always be there, and he will always be glorified in every situation.
1 Peter 4: 12-13:
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
We are lucky to be able to go through the pain and sufferings, for God will be glorified through it all! We should always rejoice, and always praise His name, for He has blessed us to be able to experience not only the pain, but His glory as well!! I often forget that this world is not my home... It's only a pit stop before we go to our real home, and we get to be with our Father.
I hope we can all try our best to remember to be thankful at all times, and to rejoice in our sufferings and our joys! I'm sorry this post is a bit messy... I blame it on my illness hehe. But I hope you get the general gist of it! May your day be filled with joy~
kjoosaurus out!
I'm back again! Haha. Second time in a WEEK. How exciting. I wish I had written more this summer... I actually really enjoy writing, and I love sharing with people, but as I've mentioned before, I was really struggling this summer and I think I just didn't feel like I was in the right place to be writing and sharing with people. But today, I'm writing because I want to share about what I learned from the struggle!
It's crazy how much of a difference time can make; we can go from the lowest point to the highest point in such a short time. But what do we have to do to get there? What is happening in the time from the lowest to the highest point? What is working - WHO is working?
I'm not sure if everybody else is the same, but the biggest aspect I've noticed from my roller coaster ride in my life, is that in every second, in every twist and turn, I see God. I see his hands moving from one end to the other; I see them working in building, shaping and moulding. For some reason, I normally don't see it in the process of it, but I notice it afterwards when it has already been done.
God has taught me something absolutely amazing these past few months. . As I was going through struggles this past while, I was feeling so alone and useless. I felt like nobody wanted me, and nobody cared about me. It really sucked! I kept complaining and complaining. "God, why are you doing this to me? Why are you letting this happen?" But he just remained silent, and I was forced to endure everything "alone."
This went on for months. I was in the dark; I was lost. I came back to Ottawa in hopes that everything would become perfect again, but nope, I was wrong. I was still in the dark. I forced myself to go to church, I forced myself to help out, and I forced myself to pray. Then, things started to get even worse. Everyday was a struggle. It felt like my friends were absent from my life, and I didn't have my family with me either. I didn't know what I was doing!
Then I started to notice something weird. Well, it's not really weird, it's great, but it was different. I noticed an abundance of people in my life who loved and cared for me. They were coming from all different directions; they were people I never would have expected to come into my life. I didn't really realize the work behind it all at first, but then as I kept talking with friends, one friend mentioned to me the glory of God, and how we should be thankful at all times.
That's when it hit me. It was GOD! He was comforting me and He was loving me. He was the hand behind it all, and He was teaching me to remember that He will never forsake me or abandon me, and that I should always be grateful for whatever He does, and for whatever I'm going through. It doesn't matter how bad a struggle is, or how bad a problem is. He will always be there, and he will always be glorified in every situation.
1 Peter 4: 12-13:
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
We are lucky to be able to go through the pain and sufferings, for God will be glorified through it all! We should always rejoice, and always praise His name, for He has blessed us to be able to experience not only the pain, but His glory as well!! I often forget that this world is not my home... It's only a pit stop before we go to our real home, and we get to be with our Father.
I hope we can all try our best to remember to be thankful at all times, and to rejoice in our sufferings and our joys! I'm sorry this post is a bit messy... I blame it on my illness hehe. But I hope you get the general gist of it! May your day be filled with joy~
kjoosaurus out!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Broken Down Walls [5/28/12]
Hello there!
Tonight, I was able to experience a beautiful moment with my own mother. For a few days, we have been talking about how we want to pray with each other, but it didn't happen until tonight! Of course, I was feeling lazy once again, so I almost backed out of it. I didn't feel like getting out my bible and discussing it with her. For some reason, while we were reading the bible, I kept getting annoyed of her as well. It was extremely odd because I had absolutely no reason to be annoyed by her, and it was really distracting me from reading God's word!
Either way, I just prayed to God that he would help me. I prayed for him to cast away all of the distractions, and right away, they disappeared! I was able to focus on the word of God, and I was able to freely discuss the book with my Mom! :)
Then, as we were praying, an even more amazing thing happened.
To explain a bit, lately, God has been asking me to call out to him while I'm in prayer. I often pray at night when everybody is sleeping, so my prayers happen to be whispers. Yet, every time I prayed, God kept asking me to call out to him. He just wanted me to yell out his name! Although I knew this, I used the excuse of it being too late at night to stop myself from calling out his name. But tonight, as I was praying with my Mom, she was praying for me when she started to say, "Lord, cast out this spirit of heaviness. Kristen, just call out to God. He wants you to call out to him! Kristen! Call out to him!"
Of course, I realized then how much there is blocking the path between me and God. He has been wanting to get closer to me recently, but I've been allowing myself to be brought down and distracted... Before my Mom even said this, I was wanting so badly to call out his name! I wanted to yell out! "JESUS! JESUS!" But there was something in my way... God definitely wanted me to pray with my Mom tonight, because tonight, I finally called out to him. Slowly, very slowly, I'm getting closer and closer to God.
I can still feel the clutter of stuff that's in the way, but I felt so much freer tonight! I want to be able to love God with all my heart, and with everything I have!
Tonight, I was able to experience a beautiful moment with my own mother. For a few days, we have been talking about how we want to pray with each other, but it didn't happen until tonight! Of course, I was feeling lazy once again, so I almost backed out of it. I didn't feel like getting out my bible and discussing it with her. For some reason, while we were reading the bible, I kept getting annoyed of her as well. It was extremely odd because I had absolutely no reason to be annoyed by her, and it was really distracting me from reading God's word!
Either way, I just prayed to God that he would help me. I prayed for him to cast away all of the distractions, and right away, they disappeared! I was able to focus on the word of God, and I was able to freely discuss the book with my Mom! :)
Then, as we were praying, an even more amazing thing happened.
To explain a bit, lately, God has been asking me to call out to him while I'm in prayer. I often pray at night when everybody is sleeping, so my prayers happen to be whispers. Yet, every time I prayed, God kept asking me to call out to him. He just wanted me to yell out his name! Although I knew this, I used the excuse of it being too late at night to stop myself from calling out his name. But tonight, as I was praying with my Mom, she was praying for me when she started to say, "Lord, cast out this spirit of heaviness. Kristen, just call out to God. He wants you to call out to him! Kristen! Call out to him!"
Of course, I realized then how much there is blocking the path between me and God. He has been wanting to get closer to me recently, but I've been allowing myself to be brought down and distracted... Before my Mom even said this, I was wanting so badly to call out his name! I wanted to yell out! "JESUS! JESUS!" But there was something in my way... God definitely wanted me to pray with my Mom tonight, because tonight, I finally called out to him. Slowly, very slowly, I'm getting closer and closer to God.
I can still feel the clutter of stuff that's in the way, but I felt so much freer tonight! I want to be able to love God with all my heart, and with everything I have!
Mark 12:30
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
He really does want us to love him with every thing we have. He wants us to give everything up to him, and just love him! I desperately want to be able to love him with all that I have! I hope you do too! There are so many things that can keep us from loving him completely. This world is filled with distractions and doubts, but God does want us to be close with him. He wants us to draw closer and closer to him every single day. We need to break down these walls! We need to throw away our pride! We need to seek him in every thing we do. We need to pray and pray and pray!
Our God is a beautiful, wonderful God. Tonight, he brought me so much joy! I feel so much happier and freer as I draw closer to him! I want to love him completely! One day, I hope to love him as much as he loves us. :)
- kjoosaurus out!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Complete Trust [5/21/12]
Hello!
So, for the first time in my life, I had God speak to me through a sermon! There's been a lot on my mind recently, and I have been stressing out way too much because of it. I let myself get overly stressed out and very distracted. All I could think about was how to fix my problems, and how to resolve things. I was not at peace, and I was having a very difficult time focusing on God.
But God reached out to me and provided me with words of comfort and guidance! The topic of the sermon on Sunday was called "Trust God and Do the Next Thing." It was extremely helpful to me, and I was very excited to share it with you all!
I'm not going to share every part of the sermon... Just the part that meant a lot to me! Otherwise, this post would be a very long one.
So, for the first time in my life, I had God speak to me through a sermon! There's been a lot on my mind recently, and I have been stressing out way too much because of it. I let myself get overly stressed out and very distracted. All I could think about was how to fix my problems, and how to resolve things. I was not at peace, and I was having a very difficult time focusing on God.
But God reached out to me and provided me with words of comfort and guidance! The topic of the sermon on Sunday was called "Trust God and Do the Next Thing." It was extremely helpful to me, and I was very excited to share it with you all!
I'm not going to share every part of the sermon... Just the part that meant a lot to me! Otherwise, this post would be a very long one.
Psalm 121
I look up to the mountains-
does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not
slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.
The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your
protective shade.
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.
The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come
and go,
both now and forever.
God is always watching over us, and keeping us from harm. It is God himself who is standing beside us! So, there should be no need at all for us to stress out over our problems. God is always watching, and he is guiding us! One of the most important points I learned was that we must live our life for Christ, and we must entrust our whole life to Him! There is absolutely no need to worry. There's no need to cause ourselves harm by thinking we are alone in our problems, for God is with us! He is by our side, and he is helping us!
Isn't it great to know God is keeping us from harm? This passage really comforts me because it helps me realize that I am never alone, and that God cares so much about us! I love the last bit, "The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever."
He is with us right now, and forever. How great he is!
Whatever might be stressing you out right now, whatever obstacles you may be facing... Just give everything up to God! Let's just focus on obeying God, and everything else will fall into place! He will always provide for us. :)
Thank you for reading this post! Here's the song I listened to while writing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvTg2WFTHyE
- kjoosaurus out!
Isn't it great to know God is keeping us from harm? This passage really comforts me because it helps me realize that I am never alone, and that God cares so much about us! I love the last bit, "The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever."
He is with us right now, and forever. How great he is!
Whatever might be stressing you out right now, whatever obstacles you may be facing... Just give everything up to God! Let's just focus on obeying God, and everything else will fall into place! He will always provide for us. :)
Thank you for reading this post! Here's the song I listened to while writing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvTg2WFTHyE
- kjoosaurus out!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Armor of God [5/20/12]
Good evening everybody!
Is there anything you are afraid of? I've noticed that most people are afraid of spiders, the dark, roller coasters, dying, etc. Well, to be honest, I just listed most of the things I am afraid of. It used to be impossible for people to tell me scary stories, because if they did, I would spend the rest of the week in fear. I couldn't watch any scary movies, because I would start being very paranoid, and check behind all the doors, etc.
You see, I am a person who is very easily scared. But, why do I let these things scare me?
This has been on my mind for a while because of a conversation I once had with a friend. I admire this friend very much because she does not seem to fear very many things. But, as I've been thinking, I've come to realize how I as well should live a life without fear of such things. What do we have to fear, when the Lord is on our side?
Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
Why do we let so many things strike fear in us? I find that many of us try to ignore the fact that Satan is truly alive and scheming things to make us fall, and the reason why we try to ignore this is because we are scared. Satan does many different things that may make us feel scared. He may send demons our way to strike fear in us, but there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of! The Lord is on our side, and yes, there is always a spiritual battle going on, but we have the armour of God that allows us to stand firm!
A few days ago, a friend told me, the Devil can bark, but he cannot bite. He can try to scare us all he wants, but because we have God on our side, he can't do any real harm to us! Praise the Lord for this!
Ephesians 6:10-17
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We are given the armor of God so that we may fight this spiritual warfare! When we have fear in our hearts, we are also doubting the strength of our God, and this gives Satan an advantage. We must never doubt our God, and we must always keep in mind that Satan is continuously trying his best to attack us. He will try many different things to strike fear in our hearts, but we must continue to rely on the strength of our God!
A commentary I was reading online said this, "Resist him, and he will flee."
Isn't it wonderful how powerful God is? What we must do is resist what Satan throws at us, and he will flee. The power of God helps us with this! We really aren't alone; God is always watching over us, guiding us, and protecting us! How great he is! Let us stand together with God! Let us not be afraid of Satan's tricks, for the Lord is with us! Amen? AMEN!
Thank you for reading my blog today! Hope you had a very lovely night :)
- kjoosaurus out!
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