Giving up the Silly Things

God sure has been hitting me in the face lately. It's scary and exciting at the same time. He has been constantly preaching the same message to me through Bible Study, Church, Concerts, Scripture, and a lot of other tiny things in life. It's all about equality and giving up these silly things in life that we think we need in order to help others.

I've been told that I'm rich. I don't feel rich. Especially when I look at all the debt I have. But since I have a roof over my head, I was able to eat breakfast this morning, I have spare change... I am in the top 10% of the world. WHAT?!?! That's crazy. But then it's not hard to imagine when I look at he rest of the world and how little they have.

These simple facts have really been hitting me hard. It has constantly been making me think... Why do I have so much and why do I want more? Why do we spend money going out to eat, getting new clothes, a new scarf, a new movie, gifts for each other, internet, things to make pinterest crafts, and etc? Why do we spend our money on these things when I could instead use that money to help others.

In scripture (Exodus 16) it talks about how we are only suppose to take our daily bread. It talks about equality and that those who have a few in their family should only gather little and those that have many in there family should gather much but not that those with few should not be lacking and those with many should not have too much. So if I have all this extra money, time, energy, or whatever it may be, why am I not giving more of it to those in need?

So now I realize I need to do something but where do I start. Many times I run into the troubles of giving too much of something. But it also talks in scripture to not give so much to a point that it causes you to be lacking. We still need our daily bread.

Brett and I have really been challenged with this and I hope that you too can be challenged by this. Start by looking at your life and cleansing it, take out the things that aren't necessary. Now don't go crazy and stop everything. But maybe start but taking one thing out. (Donate clothes, cancel your Cable, give some jewelry away, give up some shoes.. etc.) Then start looking at where you want to help in your life. Maybe that means giving money or your time. Everyone is different so what I might do is something completely different then what you might do.

I pray that you can be challenged but I also pray that this doesn't leave you feeling guilty. We're human beings, we're not perfect. We're on this incredible journey of life with God leading. Open up to Him and see where he takes you!

Crocheting

Christmas break has been great but I'm not ready for it to be over! I wish I could have gotten more done but of course that never happens. I did however get some crocheting done! I did some scarves and even some baby booties! Here are some pictures to show you what I've been working on!

The left one is already spoken for but the right one is available!

These two are both available!

Going to make little flowers to add to these just in case my sister has a girl!

Let me know if you need a scarf or some baby booties!

"Approved to God"

So I've been reading from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers and I came across this devotional call "Approved to God." It really got me thinking so I thought I might share it.

The scripture they use to go with this devotional is from 2 Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"

-"If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can." WHOA! That first line alone could be enough to last me a while. Sure is something to work on. So many times I believe in what I believe in because it's what I've been taught, or it's what my parent's believe, or it's what my friends believe, or it feels right. But truly why do I believe what I believe. Why does it makes sense to ME and NOT to everyone else. Granted this like says is you can't express yourself well but I ask myself, Why do you believe what you believe and what's your proof to back you up when someone ask? Well let's move on.

"If you don't other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use the same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God's winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God's truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God's wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, 'I'm not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I'll just borrow my words from someone else,' then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else."

This makes me realize how important it is to know the truth, forward and backwards, and not in some fancy words all the time but also some common words for all to hear and understand and in your own words. So many times you hear someone telling a truth but it sounds like it came from a script. There's no power behind it or connection. When someone tells the same story, keeping the truth in mind, using their words, it can bring the truth to life and become so much more powerful. This reminds me that as I share with others about God's truth to not use the words I was taught to tell the truth but to tell it in my own words then when people ask questions I may be able to answer them rather than question what I said myself. So there's on more part

"Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn't know before, but the one who whelps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly."

This gets me excited! This shows my how important it is to study God's truth and how to have a relationship with Christ. A human to human relationship studies each other and ask each other questions and even questions their part in the relationship. Shouldn't we do this with Christ? Shouldn't we study Him and get to know him and really understand the truth so then we can be able to tell others the truth?

No not all my opinions are right but it sure got me asking myself a lot of questions and really think about why I believe what I believe, what my relationship God looks like and how I'm going to share the truth in a way that I understand it and others can also understand it!

Random

So I am one of the most random people yet. I laugh at myself tonight as I was making BLTs. I hope you laugh too! As I was cooking the bacon and watching the fat drip away, I thought,

"This bacon is kind of like our bodies when we work out. We start exercising and our muscles start getting warm up and then they start getting hotter. And as they get more hot, the fat just burns off!"

Yes people, these are my weird thoughts I have and thought I'd share them with you!

MMMM.... This is one delicious meal!

Now that I'm married, I'm attempting to make some delicious meals. I think it's more difficult to come up with something or be risky and try something new than to actually make it. I don't want to make it and not like it. I thought that this might be just ok to try though. I ended up making a Cajun Chicken Pasta. Now I'm the brightest in the bunch and didn't exactly know what all the ingredients were so I improvised a little but it turned out great. Did I mention that my husband is allergic to milk so things can be a bit tricky. So I followed a recipe I had with a few small changes and it turned out GREAT!! It has a little kick to it but it's one of our favorite meals now! I'm sharing the recipe with you so you can enjoy as well!! In ( ) is what is the original recipe just in case you want to mix it up yourselves!

2 chicken breasts, in strips

2 T. Cajun seasoning

2 T. butter

8 slices each red & green pepper

1 green onion

1/8 garlic powder

1 can of Cream of chicken soup ( 1-2 c. of heavy cream)

1 cup of Ragu sauce (this replaced one of the cups of heavy cream)

1 1/4 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

6 oz. bow tie noodles, cooked & drained (4 oz. linguine)

(4 lg. fresh mushrooms)- I didn't put this in

(1/4 tsp. lemon-pepper seasoning)- I didn't put this in either

I started cooking the chicken as it made it a little easier to cut into strips. Put chicken strips and cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat. Saute chicken in butter 5-7 minutes. Add peppers, (mushrooms), and onions. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes; reduce heat. Add soup an sauce (heavy cream), and seasonings; heat through. Add noodles and toss. Heat through.

Opt: sprinkle with parmesan cheese. (we can't do this but you can try it!)

I hope you enjoy!! :)

D- Focus

It's been quite an adventure being down here. God is really pushing and pulling me in so many directions. Whether it's the heat and working with different people. Even living with personalities that are very strong has been difficult but it's teaching me new things. The program is amazing though. We've learned a lot about how much God loves us and how He doesn't need us but wants us. We've talked about how He is in control of everything. He uses all circumstances for His good. But good to society and to God is completely different. Good to God is whatever He uses to bring us closer to His likeness and that may be not only good but also the bad circumstances in our life. We've talked about ministry and how Paul wanted to go out right away and tell everyone about God but God wanted him to wait 10 years and to build a stronger relationship with Him first. We're not doing ministry for God but with God. We're His helpers. He doesn't need us but wants us to help Him. There is a really cool and new way that I was even able to look at the cross. We always think of Jesus caring our sin but He became sin. So the one who is truth, felt confusion and the one who experiences love felt insignificance. He became completely opposite of who He was. He was separated from God, from the family (Father and Spirit). He was sin and not holding onto it. Not only did He experience physical pain but emotional pain and even disconnected from spirituality. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it but it's been one great experience. We're reading the book Discovery by Will Wyatt if you want to read and try understand what I'm going through. You can buy it online. It's a really great book. Something to do for a study with others even. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this now. I got behind but hopefully this will help fill you in!

Graduate and a New Adventure

Wow... I've now finished school and now I'm getting ready to leave for the Summer. It's crazy to think I'm done with school. I don't think it'll really hit me to the fall when I hear everyone going back and I'm working. This year has been an amazing year. God has really pushed me in so many ways. I know that I am going to miss my girls sooooo much! It's been great sharing stories with them, getting tips (on many different areas in my life.. what to wear and boyfriend tips), making mistakes, learning from them, watching them grow, laughing together, and so many more memories! I'm gonna miss this past year but I know it was a year to build me for the next year. I can't wait to see where God leads me next. Right now I'm planning on going down to Branson, MO for dfocus (discipleship focus). There are about 60 people total, 6-8 per cabin, and we're going to be going through a book called "Discover: God's answers to our biggest questions." We'll also be having lots of activities just about every night and working at Silver Dollar City. It's going to be a great opportunity to build my relationship with God and trying something completely new for me. I've never been that far for that long away from my family and hometown. So it'll be great!! I'm not worried though as two other people I know are going with so I will always have them to lean on. I'm going to try really hard to blog a little more often to keep you updated on what's going on down there. We'll see what happens. Well I have one day to start packing... more like half a day. Then I'm off on this great adventure!! Can't Wait!!