Back on track

A few days ago, I realized something about myself. First, I realized that I had been trying to finish Colossians for the past two months and I was only on the first chapter. And not because I was intensely studying it, but because I read my Bible probably once every two weeks for five minutes. How sad is THAT! Here I was telling everyone in my Bible study at school to read their Bibles and everything, and I wasn't even doing it myself. There's a huge difference between reading your Bible for a few minutes once a week...and being in the Word every single day, multiple times a day, and using the Word to strenghten the way in which you live your life. Next, I realized that I wasn't really diving into my faith. DJ posted something way back in January about the importance of diving into your faith, surrendering your whole life to God, letting go of everything else, and completely diving into God's glory and goodness. I wear a key everyday that symbolizes that God is the key to life and that He holds the key to our hearts. And yet, for these past few months, I haven't been making Christ my KEY! My Center! My Everything! Sure, I've given two witness talks at two different retreats about my key and the whole story behind it (facebook inbox me if you want to know the whole thing-it's awesome!), but I wasn't really ACTING ON the knowledge that God is the key to life and LIVING WITH that knowledge. And now looking back I feel so hypocritical. But the good thing is, all of that is changing now. Thanks to this blog and all of you guys (especially Alexa's post below this about thirsting for the Word), I'm getting back to the way I was before. Last night, I started with Proverbs, and I'm loving it! Like Alexa said in her post, I'm already getting to the point where I want to stay up all night reading it. It's so beautiful! So thank YOU :) Thank you all for everything, for inspiring me so much everyday!

Holy Spirit

Lately i have been really lazy about getting into the word but last night i was in the word a bit and i spent a while before God asking him to bring me closer to the Holy Spirit and today i have noticed that he really does provide. I cant believe that I am always so lazy and i am not willing to put in more effort even when i can see the benefits so clearly. Today I noticed that I had so much more joy, i was filled with more smiles and laughter than i usually experience in a day and my attitude was great. Yesterday was a bit of a struggle for me because i was feeling sick and tired and my attitude suffered and I did not treat people the way i should have. I didnt even go into the day with a plan to change my attitude and outlook but because i asked God to live through me with the power of the Holy Spirit He was able to change my attitude. I didnt feel pressured into the sins that i usually am weighed down with and i gravitated towards the people who are going to build me up towards Christ with out even thinking about it. Im not sure if this is making sense and it is rather hard to explain but it was a really great thing to look back on. I have never really been sure what the role of the Holy Spirit was until i started reading "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. I posted an excerpt in an earlier post but the book is really changing my outlook. God and Jesus were the center of my faith but i have really been getting to understand the Holy Spirit better. I encourage all of you to read it especially if you are realizing that you are totally missing out on 1/3 of the Trinity because i was for sure.

"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13

GOD LOVES US so much and he knows exactly what we need so i think it is safe to say that he has given no greater gift than that of his son and the holy spirit- seek Him every single day!!!

thirst quenched solely by the word

So, as cool as this is, I came to post on the blog an saw ally’s post, and mine totally relates to the time part of it! Such a God thing. Anyways, I just wanna start with something that I’m sure most of you have heard before--The idea that if God comes first in your life, then everything else will fall into place. If you make spending time in prayer to the Lord, in his word, and seeking his heart above all things your priority, the rest of your life will find the perfect place below the Lord. So check this out..

I have a plan. A plan to read the entire Bible before I go to Sigma in mid-July. I mean, not only to read it, but to study it, but to let it sink in and penetrate my heart. Let the Lord speak to me through it. I have a reading plan that’s in chronological order. I love it. It just makes sense to me and it reveals all the little correlations I would never have caught on my own. I’ve been going by this reading plan, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. But the past few days, I haven’t been satisfied. I wanted more. I wanted to read until my eyes couldn’t stay open any longer. I thirsted for his word more than I have in a long time. So I started to read more than one day’s worth. On Easter, I got to the point of thirsting for the living word of God that I read Joshua and Judges in one day, with my reading spread throughout the day. I yearned for more, more, more. I am running towards the Lord in such a manner that sometimes I find myself lost in the moment, overwhelmed by his captivating words and creation. Yet I am not satisfied. I am overwhelmed, and not satisfied. Complacency is NOT an option. I will not quit, I will not let my weariness take over, and I will NOT settle for what I know is not enough. If I thirst, I drink until I’m no longer thirsty. Guys, my thirst has not been quenched yet. I read and read and run and still want more when I reach the point where sleep sets in and I literally HAVE to stop. It’s awesome!!

Now for the second part of this story…I had to fill you in on the intensity factor first…

So, these days that I have been staying up way later than I should, spending time in the Word, the Lord had worked in my favor in visible ways at school. It’s SO SWEET! For example, yesterday, I had a biology test that I didn’t study much for because I wanted to read my Bible. I hardly studied at all. The test was EASY. I mean, totally unexpected easy. The Lord was looking out for me. Art—I finished a project that was due that I didn’t think I would be able to finish. And it actually looked semi-good! Hahaha. Today, English test. Should have been killer..it wasn’t. I shouldn’t have finished the in-class essay, but I did. Math—thought there would be a quiz. A quiz we have every day that I rarely know exactly what I’m doing. NO QUIZ. Now if that isn’t the Lord’s hand guiding my life, I don’t know what is. HE IS IN CONTROL! It’s completely true! Put him first and EVERYTHING ELSE FALLS INTO PLACE. I dare you to try it. He will absolutely blow your mind.

-Alexa

David Crowder, Charles Blondin, Finding Time, and Easter

Hey guys :) I know I haven't posted in FOREVER but I've been reading every single one of y'all's posts and they are so inspiring, thank you so much for being so awesome! I have a few things to go over today, so if this post is a little on the too long side, sorry!

Okay well on Friday I went to a David Crowder Band concert with five of my friends at Six Flags in Arlington. They are my favorite band and I just absolutely love their lyrics, message, melodies etc. so, naturally, I was uncontrollably excited to be able to worship our Lord with them. It was my first Christian concert and now I'm completely hooked! For one thing, David Crowder is absolutely PHENOMENAL in concert; he's seriously better live than on the CD. If you haven't seen them in concert, I highly recommend. But there's just something so AMAZING about being with a 1,000 people (more or less) in an outdoor amphitheater worshipping the Lord. It was a completely transcendent experience and made me feel so refreshed and happy and eager to search after Jesus!

At church on Sunday, my pastor spoke about something that really made think. He talked about a man named Charles Blondin, who was a really famous tightrope walker at the turn of the last century. He was incredible. He would walk across the river above the Niagara Falls (that's about 1000 feet across) on a river 160 feet above the water. He would walk to the middle of the rope, carrying a chair, balance it on the rope on one leg and then stand on the back of chair. He would straddle the rope and cook a meal and eat it. So basically, this guy was the real thing. He had a HUGE following of people that were amazed and in awe of him and respected him. But, people got tired of the regular old walking and eating and balancing so he decided to step it up a few notches. "Do you believe in me?" he asked the crowd one day. "YES!!!" they all screamed. "Well then who wants to get on my back?" The crowd was silent. He chose one guy and told him to get on his back but the man RAN AWAY. Finally, his manager actually got on his back and hung on as Blondin walked across the river from 160 feet above. My pastor said that we need to not just believe IN Jesus we need to believe ON Jesus! It's easy to be like the crowd and say we believe in Him but its a lot harder to be like Blondin's manager and actually let Him carry us across our troubles. We have to cast EVERYTHING on Him or else we don't actually have real faith. That's really hard to do though... I actually have no idea how and if y'all have any insight into how I could believe 100% on Jesus I would really appreciate it.

The reason I have posted on this amazing blog in so long is because I haven't been able to find time lately. And until around a little more than a week ago I hadn't been able to find time for Jesus too. How horrible does that sound? I hadn't been able to 'find time' for my Lord and Savior, THE person who loves me more than I could even begin to understand. That's sad. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing that I could let myself get that... distracted with the distractions of this world that I forgot about eternity!!! But, right now, I'm making a promise to all of you that I will not have to 'find time' because I will MAKE time. He will now be my priority above all other things.

Finally... yesterday, as y'all know, was Easter. What a glorious day!!!! I mean honestly our Lord ROSE yesterday!!!! How amazing is that??? He is a living, breathing, walking God!! It just blows my mind how amazing that day is. I am so blessed to be able to celebrate this fantastic time free of persecution. So, I leave you all with a request to please pray for all of our fellow followers of Christ that are being faced with intense persecution right now.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

- John 14:27

-Ally

Why do we so easily forget?

This passage from Francis Chan's book called "Forgotten God" really got me thinking about why we go to church and why we seek to learn more about God so i will leave it with yall:
"Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let's be honest. If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people for an hour or two on sunday. It certainly does not mean that people will walk out the doors moved to worship in awe of God. People are more likely to describe the quality of the music of the appeal of the sermon than the One who is the reason people gather for "church" in the first place."

This really speaks to me because that is exactly how my conversations go as i am leaving church. After reading this I am hoping to start changing the tune of my conversations to be more about what God has shown me through the lesson rather than focusing on the superficial aspects of church.

prayer request

Hey yall, just have a quick prayer request. Tomorrow morning I am leading our FCA meeting at school. I'm talking about prayer and listening to God when he responds. If you read this before then, just say a quick prayer that the LORD would speak and not me. I want his words to penetrate the hearts of the people who come. I hope to reach at least one person on how important prayer is. I mean, it's one of the greatest and most powerful tools we have! So, prayer would be greatly appreciated. Love you all!
-Alexa
P.S. comment if you have prayer requests I can be praying for as well :)

Death

Hey guys!
First of all, happy Holy Week! Today, I wanted to focus not on Easter, though, like is generally standard, but on Good Friday.
I was thinking about what a good model Jesus' crucifixion is for us to live our life (I mean, it's completely different and we can never compare, but work with me). There are a ton of ways where Christ gives us the perfect example even while suffering, but I wanted to focus on mockery and death today.
How many times to you get teased for being a Christian? I'm not usually, but sometimes people think it's weird when I try to be more than lukewarm, ya know? It feels horrible: like you're completely isolated and you're never going to be popular again. People says words can't hurt, but they really can. You basically want to die.
Jesus knew how this felt, too. He was mocked by almost everyone in Jerusalem, everyone from soldiers to elderly scribes! All because he did (well, was) the right thing. He suffered so much by the words of people. I bet he wanted to die, too.
But here's something interesting: the gospels don't use the word 'died' to describe Jesus' death. Instead, they say that he 'gave up his spirit'. Jesus knew the only way to be saved from the hurt of mockery: give yourself totally to God. Give him your spirit.
I just thought that was something interesting. So this Good Friday, think about this: have you given God your spirit?
Have a great week, guys! -Erin W.

perfection

Hi precious questies! So last night one of you told me that she was struggling with the expectation of feeling perfect in everything, that she is really hard on herself and critical all the time. I want to share this with you because I think this is a key factor to our walk with the Lord!

In the Old Testament times the people had the law to abide by. They were obedient to the law (the 10 commandments), because they would be judged by God for this, but when Jesus came, died, and resurrected, we were set free from the law. This means that we no longer live a life focused on obeying the law, but rather loving Christ and making our lives a reflection of who he is. You probably find yourself, at times, looking around at your nonbelieving friends and thinking, man, they are so free to do whatever they want. They don’t have to make right decisions, they can do, say, and feel whatever they want. Proverbs 23:17 says, “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.” It is kind of crazy to think that we would envy sinners, but we do sometimes. We think man, they are free, but really they are living in bondage to their sin, they just don't know it. WE are the ones who are free. You are free from the law, free from sin, free to love Christ with all your heart. He has chosen you, and you will never be perfect like him. You are to be reminded of his greatness daily through your sin in realizing how badly you need Christ. Let your imperfection be a reminder to you of God’s greatness in that he chose you… not of the weight and power of your sin. He chose you regardless of what decisions you have made and will make in the future. In John chapter 15 it says, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” That is so key. You cannot bear fruit (do good deeds) without him. If you try and be perfect you are missing the point all together. We should not aim for perfection, but rather aim for Jesus. Keep your eyes on the cross. Not on yourself. Get the focus off of you and put it on Jesus. It continues into verse five, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” We can do nothing without him! He is our rock and our strength. We must stop looking inwardly to ourselves and our imperfection and shift our gaze up to the cross and the sacrifice Christ has made for us!

He loves you guys! He will be pleased in you for the condition of your heart being focused on him; for if your heart is sold out, your actions will mirror your heart. We make the mistake of it being backwards, perfect actions and then perfect heart, when Christ intended for it to be a Christ centered heart, and then actions that reflect him will follow that.

Focus on him… not on perfection!

I love you!

Lindsey

P.S. Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!

Baptised someday....

Hey everyone. I got something good to say so PLEASE READ: I was coming home from my youth group after we had just talked about something called Baptism Sunday, and its where they ask the people in the youth group to help out with the baptising. Anyway, i was listening to "The Stand" by Hillsong, and it got me thinking about my baptism. I was baptised as a baby in the catholic church and i didn't become a beliver in Christ until Marcus lead me to Him when i was 14. So the lyrics to the Stand go like this: "So i'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, In awe, of the One who gave it all." When i was baptised, I wasn't standing on my own two feet, and not knowing Christ. So i talked with my small group about it, and I decided that I want to be baptised when I'M standing up there on my own, and declaring my belief in Jesus. So this is the main question of this post: I talked to Marcus about this, and I think it would be really cool if i got baptised at the place where my faith originated: Sky Ranch. I dont know if i should get Baptised at Sky Ranch or at my church's Baptism Sunday, so if u think it would be okay if i could get baptised when I'm at Sky Ranch over the summer then please tell me.

Church Talk

Last Sunday I spoke in church, and here's what I said. Maybe it'll be an encouragement to some of you, i don't really know. but it really put things in perspective for me!

I often make the mistake of thinking that my life is about me. I think about what I want to do, what will please me, how I should be treated. The fact is, my life isn't about me. My life is meant to be centered on Christ. Every day I live should be about pursuing him, loving him, worshiping him, honoring him, serving him, and sharing him.

Take a look at the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew he was nearing his return to the Father. So he lowered himself as a servant, washing the disciples' feet. Back then, washing someone else's feet was a huge deal. Only the lowest of the low were burdened with that task. But Jesus did it. John 13:16 says "No servant is greater than his master." If Jesus Christ, my master and Lord washed feet and was the ultimate servant to all people, what then should my life look like? I should strive to serve like Christ did, with all that I am. That means that my life is NOT about me; I was not created for ME. I was made to seek, to serve, and to love. Now i know It can be hard to live a life that is backwards to what the world says you should do, but it's what we're called to do, it's who we're called to be--servants of Christ living with love for Him and his people.

But how am I, being the imperfect sinner that I am, supposed to live a life worthy of the calling I have received, like it says in Ephesians 4? I cannot do it alone. But Christ is the answer. Having him at the center of my life makes all the difference. With him, I don’t have to be strong enough, I don’t have to be good enough, and I don’t have to earn his love. His grace is sufficient for me. Putting Christ at the center of my life changes everything about me. It makes me a new person, a better person. All the pleasures and satisfactions of this world fade away when I am broken at the cross, humbled, in awe of his perfect glory.

Tassels

In Numbers 15: 37-41, the Lord is talking to Moses about what to tell the Israelites. In this little passage he talks about putting tassels on their garments. Here, see for yourselves:

“Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”

There are several reasons why I love this snippet of Scripture.

1) It makes me want to find something to serve as my very own “tassel.” Like post-it notes, which I already have plastered all across my room and bathroom mirror. Just little reminders every day, you know? I encourage y’all to find your own “tassels” and use them in daily life.

2) The Lord is giving his people an easy way to actually remember his commands and to follow them. He doesn’t just dish out commands and say, ‘Deal with it yourself,’ he offers a way to be reminded of them and live in obedience.

3) He is clearly showing that he has our best interest at heart. The word “prostitute,” whether a noun or a verb, just sounds bad. In this case, it means to offer up oneself for unworthy purposes. We don’t wanna do that! So the Lord is telling us how NOT to! He says that by going after “the lusts of your own hearts and eyes” we won’t be pursuing the life he has for us. He’s being the wonderful, loving Father he is and protecting us.

4) The word consecrated. LOVE IT. It means to be declared sacred, to be set apart, and/or to be devoted or dedicated to a certain purpose. He’s telling us how to be set apart for him and live a life devoted to HIS purpose, not our own.

5) At the end, he reminds his people that HE is THEIR God. He’s the one who’s gotten them this far, and he isn’t going to forsake them. HE is SOVEREIGN.

More to come soon…

-Alexa

A revelation

Alexa, erin, DJ, lindsey, and whoever else is still following this - pleaseee don't stop posting! Even though there's just a small group of us on here now I still learn so much every time I read a new post. This blog has helped me to grow so much in my faith over the past few months! I love y'all and I don't know where I'd be without my questies in my life!

So today I was in theology class, taking notes as usual. We were talking about Jesus' last few days and His crucifixion. My teacher was going in detail about the sufferings of Christ on the cross and just how much pain He endured for us. And then it hit me. Jesus could've saved Himself at any point during His crucifixion. He was DIVINE and human, at the same time. He could've stopped all the suffering in an instant. But He endured that suffering and that pain simply for us. For US! Why? What did we ever do to deserve that kind of love?! What did we ever do to deserve that kind of sacrifice?! Nothing. Absolutely nothing. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life." (John 3:16) Only out of the deepest kind of love did Christ die for us.

So how does that apply to today? We are called to do the same. Of course, we could never even dream of reaching that kind of deep love that Christ has for us. We are incapable of that kind of perfect love. But we can try to reach that love, right? Christ endured suffering and pain for people who love Him, people who hate Him, and people who know nothing about Him. And in a sense, we're called to do the same. In all of your lives there's someone who you love, someone who you can't stand, and someone who you don't know at all. It doesn't matter who that someone is...no matter what, we're still called to show each of those people the same kind of love Christ shows us. We are called to endure suffering and pain for the sake of love, for the sake of furthering the Kingdom of God. Because that's the best way to further His glorious Kingdom, right? Through love? A simple, gentle, humble kind of love that can move mountains.

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

Love you :)

Gratitude

Hey guys! So I went to Confession today, and I just really wanted to share with you one of the things the priest shared with me. After I confessed my sins, the priest told me that one of the easiest cures to most sins in the world is gratitude. Seriously, think about that! How could I/we have been missing that the whole time? It helps us with complaining, talking back, jealousy...the list goes on and on. That totally changed my perspective on things. So if you're having trouble with sin, just try to be more grateful for what you have. Have a great day! -Erin Walsh

COMFORT

Hi guys, I am planning on commenting on some of your posts this week as well, however I read something this morning I felt called to share with you!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Check out the sentence... [we comfort others], "with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

That sentence rocks my world.

We know we are to love one another (John13:34), but this verse tells us HOW! We are to comfort one another the way Christ comforts us. So how does Christ comfort us? Answer this question in this post...

When I really thought about this, the magnitude of what it means really hit me. The Lord blesses us with suffering because he has mercy on his. This seems like a wack thought, but hear me out. God has such great mercy on us that when affliction enters our lives we get to experience his GREAT mercy and comfort because as we go to him we search for his fulfillment and his alone. That mercy reigns down on us through his glory being search out by our hearts and being found in his great love and comfort.

I find great encouragement in this verse as a promise of who God is, a God of great mercy and comfort, but also a challenge and call we are to fulfill: go out and comfort those the way I have comforted you.

Finally, "For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." 2 Corinthians 1:5

Love yall,

Lindsey

fulfillment in Christ alone!

Hi Questies! I hope you have all been doing well!

Here is a thought… do you seek the Lord with the same intensity when you are in a good place as you do when you are suffering? I can honestly say that at times I do not. My desire is to love the Lord with a deep passion all days but there are times when I search for my fulfillment in other things, especially other people. Are you disappointed when you find out someone isn’t perfect? That they are just as much of a sinner as you are? At times, especially when we are searching to be fulfilled by someone else, we find ourselves utterly distraught because the fantasy we have created of who a person is shatters and we see who they really are. It is in this moment when we feel that deep loss within us and know that really it can only be filled by Jesus Christ.

The Lord gives us wonderful people in our lives (parents, siblings, best friends, teachers, boy/girl friends) to be in relationship with and these relationships are intended to REFLECT who Christ is, not MIRROR him.

Do you see the difference in a reflection and a direct mirror image? These people are not Christ, they are a reflection of Christ, just as you are.

He blesses us because he loves to remind us of His awesome glory and immense power. He loves seeing us filled with joy that can only come from him.

We fall when we make the mistake of seeing the blessing AS God instead of FROM God.

Do you see the difference?

Only Christ can truly fulfill us! This verse really put it into perspective for me…

“May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

I love you guys and pray that today you will find fulfillment in Christ alone! Looking forward to seeing what the Lord brings forth in you! Have a great Monday!

Lindsey

Lukewarm

Hey guys! I feel like this is a question I should have an answer to, but I could use a straight-forward answer. So, I have friends who are lukewarm Christians, and they kinda criticize it...I don't know how to describe it, but basically they hate lectures, retreats, singing, discussing their feelings, and I guess just getting out of their comfort zone. (Maybe you know people like that?) For example, I had a great time at our school's retreat (thanks Haley!), but they complained for, like, 15 minutes straight about how stupid it was. Anyway, I don't really know what to say to that. If I tell them I liked it, they say they agree with me, but then go on to criticize it. I don't know what to say! Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks! -Erin

A never-ending mission

Hello my lovely questies :)

Today I helped out at my school's freshmen retreat (shoutout to Erin haha!). One of our school priests spoke at the retreat and at one point he quickly mentioned that our mission for Christ never ends. He didn't talk about it too much but that really stuck out to me. Our missions for Christ never end. We are called to further His kingdom and bring HIM glory on a daily basis. We are called to act as His light everyday. We are never done serving God or working for Him. It's a very humbling thought isn't it?

Today at the retreat I got to talk individually to a few of the other girls there. Quest, even when we think that God has done all He can in our lives, He does MORE. I connected with people that I've never even talked to in my life today! He never stops working for us and being there for us, so why should we ever stop working for Him?!

Lights Out!

Just wanted to share something that happened yesterday that kind of put a part of life in perspective for me--a walk in someone else's shoes, if you will. After i got home from swimming yesterday, the lights kept flickering in our house; the weather was shaky and bad most of the day. Eventually, as most of you probably guessed, the electricity went off altogether. Since I didn't know when and if it would come back on, i figured i might as well go ahead and take my shower. It was dark in there. haha. I actually had to think about where stuff was because without lights, it seemed that my vision wasn't doing me much good at all. Anyways, i finished up and started doing my homework, reading with a flashlight. Ironically, about 5 minutes after my dad said he might have to bring me to Barnes&Noble to do my homework, the lights came back on. While they were off, however, i just kept thinking of one thing: this is how people who don't have Christ live every day (metaphorically of course). We have the honor and blessing of knowing Christ and walking with him daily, but lots of people in our lives and across the world don't, obviously. We live with light radiating throughout our life and it's AWESOME, even though we take it for granted a lot of times. But non-Christians are living in the darkness, and some of them don't even know what light they could have because they've never had a glimpse of it before. Think about it, if you lived in darkness, say with no electricity, wouldn't you be amazed if suddenly lights burned brightly in your house? Wouldn't you want it to stay like that because you can see things better, see things for what they really are? the TRUTH?! I would. so give somebody that glimpse of light. let them look at your life and notice your "light." create in them,well, allow the Lord to create in them a desire to have that light--a light that penetrates darkness!

Community

Hey guys! Haven't posted in a while, and I hope you guys are doing great! So today, in case you guys didn't know, I play the harp. I had a competition today, and I've been practicing really hard for the past...3 months? It's been a little stressful, and what didn't help is that my mom would sit in the room and 'critique' me. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and she's great, but she gets tired around 9:00, which is about the time I start practicing. She kept telling me that I was playing this song wrong, and I kept making a weird sound, and I needed to practice for about double what I was doing. I felt so depressed an horrible, because I didn't think I was doing it wrong, but I couldn't tell her that, and then she wouldn't let me practice because she was lecturing me so much. Basically, I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. But then I realized: who cares? Who cares what she thinks? Who cares if I play it wrong? Who cares if I completely fail at the competition? Because you know what? God still thinks I'm the best harpist he's ever seen, and I'm perfect to him. And to top it off, I'm surrounded constantly by trillions of Christians who don't care, because they think I'm perfect, too! The Christians who have gone before me are there to support me, and I know they are always with me, cheering me on (even though they're also in heaven.) Isn't that so encouraging, guys? You are constantly surrounded by a community of believers who think you are the most amazing athlete/musician/student/person ever, even if you can't see them. And all of us on Earth think so, too! Hope you guys can remember this, because it helps so much when your stressed. Have a nice day! -Erin

Come On

I want so much right now to start something big, a re-Be*Volution of sorts, a movement toward Christ. We can't do it if we aren't working together! For me, this is the time of year when my contact with camp friends is slacking, and i'm trying to prevent that from happening; i want to keep in touch with all of you that I know! We are brothers and sisters in CHRIST! The man with the plan! If God is for us, who can be against!? So right now, whenever you read this or have a minute to spare for his kingdom (sounds backwards, doesn't it? ALL our time should be for the kingdom.), comment on here as many things as you want that WE, a body of believers, can pray for, can hold you accountable to do, and can help you with. We gotta support each other! Reach out to people, let your light shine like the Lord wants it to, and BE what you BELIEVE! I'm definitely working on all of this too, but I think if we all did, something awesome, totally incredible, would happen. I pray that the presence of the Lord fills every one of your lives and works miracles before your eyes. Love you all to the moon and back, Alexa