Therfore GO.

So, tonight at church, Troy talked about The Great Commission in Matthew 28. I've heard this story a MILLION times before, sung songs about it, and prayed it over my life. But, tonight, it literally changed my entire perspective on evangelism. "I hear your voice, and this is my awakening." I feel like I always read over what seems to be "insignificant" parts of a verse. But, I LOVE how Troy always focuses on things that I would completely read over. Matthew 28:16 starts with "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee...", which is something that I wouldn't even begin to think twice about. If you look back up to verse 10, it says "Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.'" So, the reason they went to Galilee was because Jesus told them to. OBEDIENCE. How often to WE make ourselves available to Christ on HIS timing? In the next verse, it says "And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted." If every one believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, it wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't be REALISTIC. Mentioning that some doubted Jesus only confirms his appearance more. In verse 18, Jesus tells the disciples that "ALL authority on earth and in heaven" has been given to him. When we're given authority over siblings or whatever, we often use it to our advantage. Jesus used it for his Father's GLORY to benefit his kingdom. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Verses 19-20). Being told to "Go" is a huge responsibility. It requires ACTION, not just thoughts and ideas. Jesus didn't direct us to a certain location, he just commanded us to go "to the ends of the earth". When we hear "to the ends of the earth", we often think Jesus meant that we should all be missionaries to unreached regions of the world. And, some people are absolutely called to ministry in foreign countries, but our schools and neighborhoods are included in "the ends of the earth". We're ALL called to GO somewhere. For some, it may be Africa, but for others, our calling may be to simply be a witness on a day to day basis in our own schools. Troy challenged us to PRAY about where the Lord was calling us and to take action according to His plan.

Flawless Faith.

So, I remembered I had a blog... Thanks, Lex. Her New Year's resolution was to keep up her blog, and she made me want to post again! I'm definitely not going to "keep it up", but maybe I'll post once a month instead of once a year. :)

Okay, so... Wow. It's been like forever. I'm gonna try not to take too long... But, I think if I could pick one thing that the Lord's been teaching me lately, it would be faith. Trusting in Him and in His plan, even when my plan doesn't quite match up. It's such a struggle. Every day. Some days I'm pretty decent at it, others, I'm definitely not. But, the times when I do a better job of trusting the Lord, my day is SO much better. I wish I'd be smart and trust him more every day. I try, but it's definitely difficult. At the Christmas Eve service at my church, our pastor talked about how we always feel the need to be comfortable, and it often draws us away from God. We're scared that if we put our FULL faith in Jesus, He'll ask us to step out of our comfort zone. So, we just kinda assume that if we try to live without him, we won't have to do anything hard. That is DEFINITELY not true. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we live by faith, not by sight." Sometimes people ask how Christians can trust God "because of all the bad things that happen". I've always known that the Lord teaches us through hard situations, but I've never really had an answer to that question. Not an answer for myself at least. I mean, I'd heard logical answers from youth leaders, but never figured it out for me. Recently, it's become SO clear to me that the answer to that question is simply because there is NO way I could live through hard situations without him. One of my friends from church, Sydney McLemore, was in a car accident the Monday of Thanksgiving week. Instead of asking God WHY he causes things like that to happen, we should let him use it to work in our lives and build our trust in him. Syd came home on Thursday (?) and is making so so much progress! Please keep her family in your prayers and your faith in Christ!