Girls...

Girls,
Compassion, and forgiveness, is something each and every generation struggles with. I guess this post could have addressed to both male and female... but I have been noticing this more and more in young girls. Wake up ladies... We are masters at holding grudges.. but that isn't something we should be proud of, is something that is a flaw. We are masters at teaching our children to do the same. Since we are teachers through our actions. Wake up! I see and hear ladies gossiping about the misfortune of another lady behind her back... I see grown women acting like 5 year olds giving people the silent treatment.. Wake up! The things we do now affect the next generation and even perhaps the next one. Do you want your petty issues and selfish and unforgiving actions to shape your daughters? Your grandaughters? I sure don't.. I know that my actions at times are just the same as the one's I have described.. I know that I struggle with forgivness and compassion.. But it is time to stop this foolishness.. and grow up. You can either be a child your whole life and be treated like one.. Or you grow up and be a good example to the next generation... Ladies it's time we act like "Ladies." It's time that we help eachother instead of watching eachother flounder and laugh and gossip about it. We are more than this, we know what is right and wrong.. It's time we start genuinely caring for one another.

-Sincerely A Changed Lady

 

Growing up

Up until about a year or so ago my world was pretty little. I had spent my childhood/adult life in Longview, Washington... such a small town.. or so I thought. Where everything in my life was patterned. I got up.. I would sit around all day... or if it was a Sunday.. Go to church, go home for lunch, go back to church. I mean I loved my little life. But God called me to go out into the world.. do something.. not just get by with doing the minimal. But actually Do something. He called to Cannon Beach, Oregon.. a little coastal town.. but this town holds a big Christian Conference Center. Last summer opened my eyes. I left all the comforts of home and came to Cannon Beach without knowing anyone. I made some awesome friends last summer that I know I will have for a long time. But I also learned some things.. My life at home wasn't growing.. I wasn't learning. I was stuck, and although it seemed like it was a pretty good life.. I wasn't where God wanted me to be. I have always been someone who doesn't like much change but I'm coming to find that when I start getting too comfortable in a place I start to rely on myself and not on God. I want to one day settle down and have that ideal family.. but at this point in my life I feel God calling me to let go and Him guide me. One day i know God will bring the right guy in my life and we will share one vision. But right now I feel like although I'll be in Cannon Beach at least until after the New Year I will probably be moving on again. And I feel like this next move may even be farther away. But oddly enough I feel great about it.. excited... I'm really excited about where He will lead me next.

Bring them home!

It's amazing how years can be marked. By blessing, tragic events, memorable moments.... the list goes on. 10 years ago today I was sitting in front of a tv at school. I was in 6th grade and I remember seeing all the teachers and other students crying around me and I was crying. We all knew that America would never be the same. 9/11/2001 the reality of terrorists was forced upon me. I have a journal that I kept and in it I wrote about how our country was going to be entering into war with Iraq. 6th grade my biggest worry should have been if the boy at church liked me or not... but instead my mind was on war. I knew friends whose dads were being sent overseas and as I got older some of my friends started to be sent overseas. We watched as the death toll grew and grew and many people lost their brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters... fathers... Our America is still in mourning. 10 years and we are still counting the numbers of people dying.... We are remembering 9/11/2001 but some families are still living the fear of not knowing if their sons or daughters are going to be coming back home in one piece.. or even back home at all... I pray that this is the year that all our soldiers make it home. They have been fighting too long. I am 22... I was 12 when this all started... I know friends that have faced the fear of losing someone that they loved... by now everyone in America has probably faced this fear... BRING THEM HOME!!

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."      -Romans 8:38-39

I thank God that he loves me so much that nothing I can do, or any other created thing can do will ever seperate me from His love. Sometimes I find myself straying so far away and then I see the framed verse my sister gave to me and I am reminded once again that my Father loves me! Me, I am always amazed that Creator of the whole entire Universe loves the simple me. And that nothing... nothing will ever stop Him from loving me.
God has been telling me that He loves me since I was in my mother's womb. He Loved me even before that. That is how much the Father loves you and me.
His love has no strings attached.... His love is always there for you to hold, His love is boundless.. Don't ever underestimate the power of His Love!!

Blessed by the Word

<sup>I have been noticing lately that I haven't been diving into God's word. So last night as I just flipped through the Bible I came across this passage that really spoke to me. I pray that you are blessed by this too!

"1</sup> Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.
 ⁷ However, he has given each one of us a special gift^[a] through the generosity of Christ. ⁸ That is why the Scriptures say,
   “When he ascended to the heights,
      he led a crowd of captives
      and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]
 9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.^{[c] 10} And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
 ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
 ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Ephesians 4:1-16.

Broken

I am broken,
but in a good way.
I know it might sound odd
to you.
But I am broken.
I hurt, but I'm ok.
In order to become the person
God desires me to be,
I have to become broken.
To die to myself.
To leave all of who I am behind,
 and not let it hinder me
from who I should become.
God's desire for me is more important
than the earthly image and idea that I have for myself.
So here I am beautifully broken.
Ready to be molded into something
more radiant, more like the person
God desires me to be. More like the person I want to be.

Psalm

Have you ever felt like David? I have been reading through Psalm lately and I have noticed that the cries that David pours out into the Psalms are similar to my own cries. He grieves, and rejoices, and pleads to God. He does not hide is guilt and his shame in himself. He just is open with all his insecurities. When I read certain Psalms that he wrote, I can remember times in my life that I have felt the same. David is open about all his anger, his hurt, his pain. I know that I have felt like David.

" We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth for someone else to spend. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My hope is in you." Psalm 39: 6-7