A Gentle Whisper

 And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

  1 Kings 19:9-12

I don’t know why I flipped to this passage but when I opened my bible it kind of just fell open to that page. I don’t know about anyone else, but I know that there are some days (well to be honest, most days) where I have no clue what to read in my bible or where to even start…Then I get into reading my favorite passages, then I kind of keep reading on in one spot or the other in hopes that I will find something that speaks to me. Or there are the days like today where I let my bible fall open and start to read! And funnily enough this passage was already underlined.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about Elijah, but I do know he was a prophet of God. A prophet of God is someone who: tells people about the nature and attributes of God, will let the people know the laws of God, will preach the word of God, will lead people back to God, and will predict/foretell the future events that God has willed to happen. At this point in Elijah’s story, he goes off to a cave to hide because he is afraid of being killed. And here is where the passage above comes into play. I guess anyone reading this might say…”well…what is so special about it?” It stood out to me not because of the back story of Elijah, or the fact that he was hiding…what stands out to me is how God decided to appear.

We are talking about God here, all mighty, all powerful, all knowing, etc. You would think that being all this he would make some grand huge entrance right? Or do SOMETHING big to grab your attention. But he doesn’t do this. Sure there is terrible wind, then a huge earthquake, then a fire, but the Lord was not in any of these things. He was found, in a “gentle whisper.” 

Wow. I don’t know if this blows anyone else’s mind, but for me it is beautiful. I cant even count how many times in my life I have been desperate to hear God’s voice, or have him just spring something big or obvious in front of me so I could go the right direction. I have wanted these things so badly at times, but it is crazy how in the end, it is the smallest thing, the tiniest moment, or a simple sentence from someone, maybe a verse in the bible even, that brings me back to my senses and gets me back on track. I feel like sometimes we feel like Elijah felt, that God would appear as an all powerful crazy big and scary God, but in the end he shows up in a gentle whisper! When I think about it though, sometimes our lives are hectic, sometimes we are so lost that we get swept up in the world around us and we don’t know what to do or where to go. These are the times when we must trust God, and have full faith that he will pull us through. And I think that maybe this is why he shows himself in a whisper, because he wants to make sure we REALLY are listening and are prepared to hear what he has to say to us. Despite life being hectic, sometimes a whisper is all we need in our time of need…sometimes yelling, or something big doesn’t get our attention, it just gets blended into all the hectic-ness in our lives that we miss it. 

 I guess the challenge I leave today with is to listen. Listen very carefully. Find a quiet spot, take a walk, go somewhere by yourself where you can be alone and just start talking to God. Pray to Him, tell Him about your life, tell Him about your troubles. He is always there to listen, and always there to catch you when you fall. And he is always ready for you to come to Him. There is nothing on this earth that can separate you from the love of God. There is nothing that you could ever say or do that will push him away or cause him to turn his back on you. God is there, has always been there, and will always be there, you just have to decide when you will make that leap and trust Him. Just Listen...and keep the faith.

Actions vs Words

This post is inspired by a friend who has made me think differently about everything and has inspired me to not accept just one idea, but to open my mind to other ideas out there :].

I don’t remember how we got on the topic, but one day we started talking about “defending our faith” and what this meant and how to go about it. Well eventually we got to the point in which we concluded that we shouldn’t have to defend our faith, but show our faith. We all have heard that phrase “actions speak louder than words” and to be honest, at least from what I have experienced, this phrase is right. How many times has someone told you something and not done what they have said or gone back on their word? I know it’s happened to me several times. People say things they don’t mean, break promises, hurt others, etc. Words…I guess can be meaningful at times, but very hurtful as well depending on the situation. The point I am getting to is this, how can we describe God’s love to others, if we ourselves are not conducting ourselves in a proper manner.

Which brings us back to the phrase “actions speak louder than words.” The example my friend made was a scenario in which a christian is talking to someone who is a non believer about God. Lets say both were arguing and trying to “defend” their position. Well, unless both are open minded and are accepting of each others views, no one will budge from what they believe. If we as Christians are defending our faith, pushing it on others, or trying to prove why it’s the right thing to follow, who will follow what we say? God did not tell us to push our faith on others, he asked us to SHOW others. What kind of example will we be setting if we are badgering people about what they believe, or even acting the opposite of how we should be acting.

Now, I am not saying we all are perfect little Christians who never mess up, NO, we screw up big time all the time. We say things we shouldn’t, act in ways we shouldn’t, make decisions that are not always the best choices…the point is no one is perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be striving to be more and do more as God wanted us to do. We are a city on a hill, the light of the world, we are being watched at all times, so we must set an example worth watching and worth following. A life full of love and no hatred. A life full of honesty, and not lies. A life full of Christ. Showing the love of Jesus is the best way to explain your faith and beliefs. God called us to love.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”                                -Matthew 22: 37-38

And one of the main things he told us was “ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”               -1 John 3:18

Actions and in Truth.

Life is all about love. God is love, and since God created us (my belief) he wants us to learn how to love here on earth. I mean…if you think about it that’s what life boils down to. LOVE. Which brings us back to the second verse 1 John 3:18. We love with actions, not just words. I have been reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and I absolutely loved day 16. It talked about what matters most, which is of course, Love. Anyways, my favorite part of that reading was what he said,

            “The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”

            Yes…I know it may sound very cliché or whatever, but think about it. Life without love is pointless, or else what would you be living for? (again that is just my opinion you do not have to agree with me) What other expression is best for showing love than giving your TIME to the other person? Time, is so precious to us because it can never be stopped (at least by us humans anyways), and it is something that is set. Rick described it as, “…giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.” Love is a sacrifice, giving someone your time—is a sacrifice, but if God thought that sacrificing his son for us was worthwhile, don’t you think it would be worthwhile for you to love others in this way?

            When was the last time you called one of your friends to tell them you care about them? Or told them you love them? You shouldn’t need a reason to call and tell them that, that should be the reason you call lol. I am not trying to make anyone feel bad about not doing it, I know I don’t always do it, I’m just trying to make you think. So if you read this, take some time this week to just shoot someone a call to remind them you care about them :] you never know who’s day you can brighten up with just one call :]

Au revoir mes amies!

White As Snow

So…I started writing this entry the week before thanksgiving…and I am finally putting it up now. So much had happened since then, good and bad, but despite what has happened, God is good. SO…here it is : )

Life…is a roller coaster. It has its ups and it has its downs. It has its turns and it also has its straight paths, and its predictable moments. The point is, Life can be unexpected, but it can also be predictable.

For the past three months I have been on a huge roller coaster of a ride. There have been times where I have been excited, times where I have felt joy, times where I have felt safe, other times I have felt insecure, times I felt scared, times I felt unsure. I have felt confident, I have felt beautiful. I have felt pushed down, I have felt worthless. I have felt all this and more. It got to the point where I dreaded the next day to come because I honestly didn’t know whether it was going to be a good day or a bad day. I was on a roller coaster and one thing I noticed was that the more and more I rode on it the further and further I seemed to be getting from God. To those of you reading this that do believe in God, you know how scary and how frightening being far from God can be. At least that is how I feel when I am not seeking Him as much as I should. I begin to feel lost, and nervous. I begin to worry and become frightened…I just feel like I have lost something and am struggling to find it.

Continuing on…the past two to three months have just been a mess, and I honestly can’t blame anyone but myself for how things have turned out to be. I have tried to find ways to make myself not be the one to blame but nope, it’s me. I have made many mistakes, and I have made bad decisions. For the past couple of months I have felt lost. Completely lost. And I know that the reason I have felt lost is because I have fallen off my path in seeking God. I have fallen for worldly things; I have been tempted in many ways…I have just fallen. And the crappy part of all this was not seeking God like I should have. I felt like attention from others was more important than seeking the one who has given me attention my whole life. I felt that I had finally found a great place to be. I got invited to hang out by new friends, I felt accepted, and I felt confident. It was what I had always wanted, to be invited to parties or to go to the movies without me having to ask to be invited. (Side Note: For those of you who haven’t known me long, most of my life has consisted of me not being invited places. I have no idea why. I mean I am friendly I’m nice, I am caring, but I guess I have always felt like I was the girl that no one really cared to invite because I was probably not fun. And maybe that is true or not true. I have no idea.) SO anyways continuing on. I had finally felt accepted and invited and felt great. Except I felt empty, like something was missing, and that something kept nudging at me, trying to get my attention. Yet I chose to put it aside to focus on my “happy new life.”

Well here I am, nearing the end of the year and the events that have occurred these past months have (I feel) backtracked my spiritual growth in Christ. I was able to go snowboarding today by myself and it was kind of a wake up call. I had no distractions, nothing to focus on, it was just me, my thoughts and God…and I came to realize that no matter what I have done, no matter what I have thought, no matter how much I have screwed up in the past, God has made me clean and has forgiven me for my transgressions. For the past three weeks or so I have been reading Psalm 51 out loud (I don’t know why I have started reading out loud…I feel like it gives me a sense of peace when I do read it out loud..) and it has given me hope for the future and hope in my God. The main verses that have stuck out to me are these:

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.” (v. 7-12 NIV)

I want to be on fire for our God. I want to have a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. I want to be what he has called me to be. I know I am not perfect and I may never get to where he wants me to be, but I can still try. I will still make mistakes, I will still make bad decisions, and I will still mess up but most importantly, my God will always, without a doubt, forgive me. He will lead me. He will catch me if I fall. He will comfort me and strengthen me when it is needed...and He will always make me white as snow. God will always be there…and it’s crazy how often I forget that, and how often I allow my emotions and thoughts to get the best of me. Everyone…your emotions should not control you, your thoughts should not control you. You have control over those things and you have the power to not feel sad, or angry or depressed, or jealous, etc. I know, trust me I know how hard it is to not let things bother you. That is one of my greatest weaknesses. I allow things to affect me way more than they should and honestly I have no doubt that Satan knows this and makes it ten times worse for me. But we have to remember that God does not want that for us!! He wants us to feel Joy, not sadness.

Sorry again that this is so long. I even had to shorten it because I had so much to write about but anyways. I hope that wherever you may be at in life, whether it be in a good place or a bad place, you remember that God loves you so so so much. You are so dear to Him and you mean the world to Him. You are never alone, and never will be alone…all you have to do is call him and he will appear.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this! Happy holidays everyone :) Au revoir mes amies!

En-Joy

Have you ever thought about what the word Enjoy means? I mean, everyone knows that to enjoy something means to take pleasure in something, to be content with something or doing something. Two months ago as I was sitting in church at Red Rocks, the pastor began to preach about this word, but instead of taking it as the normal definition he broke it down into two parts. The first part was the latin word EN. En means to fill, to cover, to put into or onto, to provide with, or to pour itself into. Not too complicated yeah? And the second part of the word is JOY. Joy defined is: a feeling of great delight and happiness. SO essentially, the word enjoy means, to cover, pour itself into, to provide with, or to put in a feeling of great delight and happiness. So when you enjoy something it means that that something has poured delight and happiness into you.


I always hear the phrase, as I'm sure you all have too, "Enjoy the little things." For my first blog I wanted to focus on that saying, and say that it is so true! There have been countless days in which the littlest thing has cause me to be joyful, or caused me to be sad, to be mad, to be frustrated, to be happy. Little things, in fact have a great effect on how we feel and think about everything. Don't you remember the last time a little thing made you feel something? How maybe a hug or a smile from someone filled you with joy and happiness. Maybe the little thing you are thinking about made you feel sad, or mad even. What I am trying to get to is that there are somedays, not always, but sometimes, you have those days where you are just down. Those days where you feel like nothing can get you out of your mood. And then suddenly it just takes one little thing to brighten you up. One thing to turn it around and make you see, feel, gain, and reach that joy. And that, is what God wants for us.


God wants us to feel joy.


Better yet God commands us to be joyful.


"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice."
Philippians 4:2


Think about that. How amazing and loving and caring is our God that He commands his people to be joyful, and not sorrowful. You see, God put us on this earth to build relationships not just with people, but with Him. Not just to love others, but to love Him. And by loving Him you have everything! By choosing Him over all worldly things you don't need anything else because our God will provide it for you. He is the source of our joy. And the only true source of pure, legitimate joy. All we have to do is ask for it, and we will receive it...yet we always go back to seeking joy and happiness through worldy things. We seek it in clothes, in accesories, in people, in relationships, in movies, etc. Worldly things...eventually pass away, they die off and all you are left with is emptiness once you've become dependent on that. Sure it makes you feel good for a little while but then you cotinue to search for it again. We always forget that true joy is found in our God. It is found in him and him alone. And with that kind of joy, what else would we need? C.H. Spurgeon did a whole sermon over Joy and I attached a link if you are interested. One thing I never forget that he said was:


"...rejoice in God. He changes not. If the Lord be your joy, your joy will never dry up. All other things are but for a season; but God is for ever and ever. Make him your joy, the whole of your joy, and then let this joy absorb your every thought. Be baptized into this joy; plunge into the deeps of this unutterable bliss of joy in God."

JOY. I feel like it has been the theme of my life this year. It keeps popping up, and it keeps moving me forward. For the longest time I thought I had to search for Joy, to keep looking and looking for it. Yet when i did this I could never find it. I feel like I've been searching for the joy I thought I lost for the longest time. And out of nowhere the littlest things bring it back to me again. And those are the moments...those are the times when I give thanks to my God. I give thanks because these moments, which i crave on a daily basis, happen to occur when I most need them. It's always as if God is like, "Not yet Siam, not yet my child, you will get that joy, I promise, but just wait and be patient and trust in me. And when I bless you with it you will not be disappointed." And the truth is I never am : ] I got to experience a tidal wave of joy this summer when i went on a missions trip to Zimbabwe. God showed himself in so many ways, through so many moments, through these people. The picture at the top of this blog is a picture of me and one of the little kids at the orphanage we helped at. His name is Wellington. This night we took so many pictures and the best part about it was seeing this little kid's face brighten up when he saw himself on my camera. The other kids had a blast too! I miss them all and love them so much, but more on that later :) The point is, I have neer felt so much joy than when i was over there and maybe that is where i am meant to be, maybe not. I may not know but God knows. God knows my heart. He knows my deepest desires. He knows who I truly am. I know that I am not perfect, I know that I am weak, I know that I sin every single day of my life, yet despite this and many more things, I know that I have a God who loves me for who I am and knows me inside and out. And although i may not know where my life is headed, He does. And that-- is worth everything.


So : ] sorry this first blog is kinda long, but if you made it through it, thanks! I hope it made you think a bit and made you remember how much God loves you and cares for you. I am not sure how often these blogs will be made haha, but I appreciate you reading this one and possibly the ones to come. Remember to enjoy the little things, because most of the time God is found in them even if you don't know it ;)


Au Revoir!


P.s. Here are the links to Spurgeon's sermon and Red Rocks Church sermons too!


http://www.apibs.org/chs/2405.htm

http://www.redrockschurch.com/sermons/