Priorities.

What are your top 5 priorities in order? Is God at the top of that list like he should be? Truly and honestly, is he? This question was in my Bible study today and it challenged me so much! I honestly don't know what my top priority is right now. I was doing so well in my walk with Christ, but this past week, I haven't opened my Bible. I've been busy Christmas shopping, babysitting, packing, hanging out with friends, etc. Here is the exact question from my devo:

My Current Priority: God's Priority:
___ School/Job... accomplishing goals; working hard ___
___ God... loving Him; being His disciple and child ___
___ Family... siblings and parents ___
___ Ministry... worship; telling others about Christ ___
___ Other... hanging out with friends; sports; movies; hobbies ___

I challenge y'all over the week of Christmas to think about whats important to you in your life compared to whats important to GOD in your life. God's opinion is much more important.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity... Do not be foolish; but understand what the Lord's will is... Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." ~Ephesians 5:15-21

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful... Be wise in the way your act toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." ~Colossians 4:2, 5-6

This two verses always remind me of what should be important in my life. Diligent prayer. Praising and glorifying God. Graciousness. Wise actions. Graceful conversation. With siblings, graceful conversation is not always easy. I have such a hard time being encouraging and sweet to my family all the time. It's just hard. Over this Christmas season, I pray that I will be kinder and that I will spend more time with the Lord and making him my first priority. Merry Christmas! I love y'all!

One Night With the King :)

Okay, I just wrote a whole long post, but this didn't have anything to do with it, so I made a new one. :)

So, today I was watching One Night With the King... and if you haven't seen it, its AMAZING!... but anyways, there were two amazing quotes that I thought I'd share with y'all. I've seen the movie like a million times, but these two quotes really struck me today.

"Instead of asking questions of our trials, are our trials not meant to ask questions of ourselves?"

"When David was fighting Goliath, he won the battle not because he fought well, but because he believed well."

The first one brings up such a good point about questioning God's plan. I think during hard times, we tend to ask God "Why?" instead of "What are you trying to teach me through this situation?". It is my prayer that when the Lord tries me, I will try to learn from the situation instead of asking "Why?" over and over again. The second quote also struck me. I had never really thought about it before. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention during that part in the movie or what, but this time I was just like "Wow." Its all about belief and faith. In the song 'Come ye, Sinners', there is a line that says "True belief and true repentance; Every grace that brings you nigh". Its so simple. Belief draws you the the Lord. If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. My prayer for all of us is to be faithful to the Lord and believe in him. So, haha that kinda did have to do with the other post, but whatever :) Y'all should totally go watch that movie!!

Prove Faithful.

My bible study today was about faithfulness. It taught me so much and I hope it will teach y'all as well. This is the verse that the chapter was based on. It is so true. How do you prove faithful?

"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
~ 1 Corinthians 4:2

Last Sunday, Mary Kathryn talked about what God was doing in her life and she was just saying that she felt God was really calling her to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything. Not just some things, things we feel like, but truly and honestly everything should be for the Lord's glory. It is so hard to take that verse literally. That doesn't mean once you have your quiet time you can just be done with God for the day. That means that you should worship God in everything you do. We should consciously think about living our life for the glory of God. Whether it be hanging out with friends, watching a movie, doing school work, or doing your Bible study, it needs to be for the glory of GOD alone! God's word tells us that when we honor him, we will be blessed (Proverbs 3:7-12). In Matthew 25, it talks about Jesus' return. We are commanded not to go back for our earthly possessions, but to worry only about the Lord. When he returns, he will come to us like "swift lightening"! But we have to be ready and to worry about the Lord and the Lord only. God cares so much about us. Its insane. Like we have no idea how much God loves us! This passage is overwhelming if you really think about it. God cares so much about the lilies in the field. If God cares about a flower, we can not even imagine how much he cares about us!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
~Matthew 6:25-34

Why do we worry about our clothes and our food? God provides. He has a plan for our life and he WILL work our each and every detail! I am terrible about worrying. I worry about the stupidest things. Why can I not trust God to provide. I know he will, but I don't always believe it. I challenge you, and myself as well, to trust God to provide and not to worry about the little things in life that don't matter. God has your life in his hands; he has everything in control! One of the questions in my Bible study book was: "Think about your own life; look at your actions and habits. What do you seek first? What's most important to you?". This question was such a challenge. I want the answer to be God all the time. But, if I'm completely honest, I know that's not true all the time. God certainly is most important in my life sometimes. But, then there are times that other things wrongly take his place. If you are honest with yourself, I know that the same is true in your life. Sometimes my friends take place over God. Sometimes activities. Sometimes family. Sometimes facebook. God has blessed us with so much, but he is still the most important. I pray that we would all try harder to seek him first ALL the time in our daily lives. I feel like when we don't spend our quiet time with the Lord, we try to justify ourselves and make excuses. But God doesn't want our excuses. He wants our time. He is our Savior. We owe him so much. The least we can do is spend time worshiping him. Our creator. He deserves it. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul writes, "Don't let anyone look down on you, because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." By just living a Godly life, and seeking HIM first, we can be such an example to the world. We can teach others about Christ. He has called us to be his disciples. What an amazing role we are given. All it takes is faith. We must be faithful to the Lord. Our journey with him is not always easy, but we learn so much and we can help lead so many others to him by being an example. God is ever faithful to us, we should be to him also.

If We are the Body

We had an assignment in lit to write down what this song means and I love this song!! I don't really think about the words, though. And, as I was reading it, it really hit me hard that this is how we should act! We are called to be God's "salt and light" and his disciples. We are supposed to represent him. Yet, we gossip and avoid people that are "different" than us. But really, we are all made in God's own image and we are the same in that aspect. Christ spent his time on earth with tax collectors, prostitutes, and beggars. So, for us to always stay with our same group of friends in our little world, where we are so blessed with so much, and ignore those around us, we are not representing Christ. He calls us to be an example of him in everything we do. I pray that we would all do a better job of being salt and light for our amazing Savior.

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

Chorus (2x)
If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

If you get a chance, I would challenge you to go look this video us on youtube. Just listen to the song and think about the words. Really think about them. Is this what your life looks like? Are you the person with the teasing laughter or the judgemental glances? Let God work in your life and use you to welcome people into the Kingdom of God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqCbZ6Seuo

Feed My Sheep.

This morning, I randomly thought of a verse in Matthew. John 21:17. Jesus has just asked Simon for the third time "Do you love me?" and Peter says "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus then says, "Feed my sheep." I think that is such a challenge for us not to just get caught up in our spiritual lives, but to serve others around us and to be more concerned about them than ourselves. We are called to serve. End of story. No matter how busy we are... and trust me, I am busy... we are called to serve. "Whatever you do for the least of these, you did for me." I think most of us KNOW we are called to serve and we serve on occasion but we don't do it for the RIGHT reason. I teach second grade girls Sunday school once a month, and I love it! But, do I like it for the right reason?? I love little kids. Playing with them, teaching them, chasing them around, everything about it. But when I teach Sunday school am I doing it for the fun of it and to get service hours or am I really doing it as a way to serve the Lord? My youth group leader, Mark, told us something at church one Sunday night a while ago that is so true.

Freedom is found in surrender.
Greatness is found in smallness.
Satisfaction is found in sacrifice.
Life is found in death.

I think this fits in so well with serving others. Oh, God, its not for us, its all for you. I pray that will be true for all of us. God is insanely amazing! Like, its just incredible and I can't even comprehend how awesome he is. He died for us. He DIED for us; gave his life, so that I could live mine. Is that not an amazing example of sacrifice. I want to be like him. That is my goal in life: to be Christ-like, to be a witness and an example to everyone I come in contact with. I have other goals, of course, but NOTHING compares to my goal to live like my Heavenly Father. Only God can make himself more evident in my life, but I can try my hardest, with HIS help, to be salt and light and to be bold. My ipod is playing Made to Worship, by Chris Tomlin. How true this song is:

You and I were made to worship,
You and I were called to love,
You and I are forgiven and free,
You and I embrace surrender,
You and I choose to believe,
You and I will see,
Who we were met to be.

That is our one purpose in life: WORSHIP. That's it. That's all that matters. We can worship in so many different ways. Service, Singing praises, Prayer, and so many others. But, today I want to focus on worshipping the Lord through service. I have such a busy few weeks coming up, and I'm sure many of you do as well. But throughout the business of Christmas, lets all try to remember that Christmas is about Christ's service to us and our service to others. We watched this video at church a few weeks ago, and I have taken up the challenge of the Advent Conspiracy. I challenge you to watch it and do the same.

***Okay so the link didn't show up for some reason. So... go to YouTube and type in *Advent Conspiracy 2009 Promo Video* or copy and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkTyPzRzuwc into the web address bar.

Thanksgiving!

Well, since I basically said all my Thanksgiving stuff yesterday... this is going to be short! But I am so thankful for each and every one of you and your friendship! I am so blessed to have you in my life! I am also thankful for the Everlasting God and the amazing family he gave me! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Our Amazing Creator

Lake Toxaway, NC

This place is so gorgeous! We were out on the boat today and I was sitting in the front, just staring at the lake and the mountains, thinking about how amazing God is. How the heck do you make mountains and water? And put it together to make it so insanely beautiful? Only the Creator could do something so amazing! I rarely think about how the earth was created. I just take it for granted, which is so stupid. I don't think any of us pause often enough to just thank God. Our family has a tradition, like many others, to go around the table and say something we're thankful for at Thanksgiving dinner. And, when I pray, I'll thank God for all He's given me, but more often than not, my thanks is worth nothing. If it is only words on my lips, then why do I waste the time to say something meaningless? I pray that my thanks would be sincere. "God, so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my all". He has given me SO much! I am so blessed with an amazing family... that drives me insane sometimes but I still love them :)... that encourages me in my faith and teaches me daily. I have such awesome friends! They are so fun and I laugh every time I'm with them!! We are blessed with food to eat, a house, a great school, and a church that teaches us so much about the Lord. Although I often complain that I don't have "food to eat", I have never once gone hungry. And, as much as I hate school, I am blessed with the opportunity to learn. My family sponsors a little girl from Ecuador named Liady and she is so grateful for the little she has. Reading her letters always challenges me to be more grateful for the abundance I have. Over this Thanksgiving holiday, it is my goal to be truly thankful for all the Lord has blessed me with! Happy Thanksgiving!