Friday 27 June 2008

Take It Away?

Maybe you've been going through a string of trials like me and you've pleaded with God to take it away. Then you have to wonder and ask why He doesn't do it. Well, I knew better than to ask God to take it away because I knew He wouldn't do it but I had to wonder why. Then it dawned on me that if He always took everything away, we'd never learn anything, or grow for that matter. When we don't understand a math problem, we don't learn how to do it when it's taken away from us, but rather by working through it and practicing. We need to also recognize that we don't just have a Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, Friend, but that Jesus is also our Teacher and Guide. He doesn't just put something in front of us and then leave us on our own but helps us through it.

At first thought, we like to say "It's too hard!" Humanly speaking, possibly, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. On our own, it may be too hard, but with strength from above, we are not just survivors but more than conquerors.

God bless.

Monday 23 June 2008

Broken Pieces

Well, these last few weeks I've been torn apart and heartbroken and now I'm just a bunch of broken pieces. It really hurts but then I realized, Hey, I'm at a place now that God can work with me and that's exciting. And an amazing work that He's doing! He's teaching me so much that I can hardly take it all in at once. I find that I can't just lean on Jesus but I need to completely throw myself on Him. He is good, merciful, and faithful even when I'm not.

Our youth held a free car wash for the community on Saturday and we found out that's a great way to shock people...an absolutely free car wash. We had rain on and off but I still managed to get a sunburn but it was good.

I know I'm not worthy of God's love but I praise and thank Him for it every day.

And I'll stand in awe of You,
Yes I'll stand in awe of You,
And I'll let my words be few-
Jesus I am so in love with You.
-Matt Redman

May this be our song each day. And if it isn't real in our life, then lets make it real. Glory be unto Jesus.

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Time

Somebody shared this recently:
If there's a time for everything, then now is not the time for everything.

Monday 16 June 2008

Humility and Obedience

So, you've all probably been wondering where I've been, but in all fairness I did warn you. I can't begin to explain what God has been doing in my life but He's definitely teaching me the power in a spirit of meekness and humility. I've made an utter fool out of myself on several occasions but that's alright. I'm also learning to walk in obedience to the Spirit's leading. I had the opportunity to witness to a few people yesterday when our youth was at the park which was interesting. It's really hard for me to just go up to a random person and share the Gospel with them but God gives the strength.

I have a Driver Ed exam today so any prayers would be more than greatly appreciated. And because I have to study, that's about all I'm going to say right now. God bless!

Wednesday 11 June 2008

I Need Your Help

I'll be honest...I'm going through a really hard time right now and I can't do it alone. I need the prayers of other believers. Just when I thought I couldn't get any busier God throws a book in there. Yes, that's what I've been hinting at the last few posts. It seems that God wants me to write a novel; he wants to accomplish the impossible in me. I cannot do it, but He can do it through me. Along with that, I'm going through a lot of inner struggles that I really don't know how to deal with. I'm slowly seeing that it all ultimately boils down to my own pride and selfishness. Pray that it may be crushed and replaced with a spirit of humility, meekness, and love. Pray that I may lean on Jesus and know I can't do it on my own. Pray that if God wants me to write this book, that He would provide the time and would show me what to write and reveal Himself to me. I'm really learning to do hard things; getting out of my comfort zone, pursuing excellence rather than excuses, doing things that don't immediately pay off...

"Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials."
-Smith Wigglesworth

I trust that God wants to show Himself strong through my weaknesses and that this will be a time of growing. So, I have to go because I do have a lot of work to do.

God be with you.

Monday 9 June 2008

Have You Given Up Your Supper?

Say what? No I'm not talking about steaks or barbecued chicken. Let me explain. I was thinking about something a few days ago and I wanted a Bible story to use for something. Somehow, I kept thinking about the feeding of the five thousand but I didn't know how I could get a lesson out of it. Then I remembered the boy who gave the five barley loaves and two small fish. Logically speaking, it's impossible that this is sufficient amount for the multitude. Even the disciples who walked with Jesus said this. Nevertheless, this boy gave it, Jesus blessed it and everyone was filled. Jesus took that small amount and used it in a big way. So my question is have you given up your supper? This could be anything: your time, resources, talents, whatever it may be. It may be small and you may think it will hardly make any difference to this world but if you give it to Jesus, He can bless it and use it in a big way. I also noticed that this boy was kind of forgotten later on and he's actually only mentioned in the Gospel of John chapter 6. This tells us that we may not get a whole lot of recognition for what we do but that's okay because then God gets the glory and it will be of Him that we will receive our reward and a much bigger reward than man can give.

Yesterday, we had an amazing day. Our Sunday school lesson was great, along with the message and we had two girls get baptized. I could go into detail of what I all learned but that would just take way too long today. In the afternoon, our youth went to Spencer Gorge and so I'll post a few pictures. After we were done walking the trails, a big thunderstorm came in and we were battling heavy rains and strong winds on ride home, but it was beautiful.








Another small waterfall we found.
We took this trail by the train tracks at the bottom of the Dundas Peak. We found this "shortcut" going to the top. It was an extremely steep trail going up that was pretty much just loose rock and rubble. Now, I'm not a very "sportsy" or athletic person but I agreed because I thought it was just a little ways. We ended up climbing right to the top up the front of the cliff. Never doing that again! I wasn't about to slide all the way down halfway up so just don't look down and keep going.

And the view from up top. Yes
those are the same train tracks from about twenty minutes ago.







And the storm we had afterwards.

Oh, the joys of exploring the Niagara Escarpment! Sorry, I'm not very good at organizing pictures so this is a bit of a jumbled post. Blessings!

Thursday 5 June 2008

What Do You Think?

I had shared something a few months back about my next hard thing. I started it but when I got busier, I dropped it. This week someone came to me who felt that I was stopping myself from doing hard things and therefore wasn't being true to myself and to God's will. He also felt that it was really needed and many could benefit from it. I thought about it and realized that I was limiting what God was able to do through me. The only problem is, to me it's seemingly impossible right now. Maybe in a few years when I'm done school and have more time, yes, but not now. Then again, I knew God had a surprise waiting for me. I think it was just last week I was telling somebody that nothing was too hard and wadda ya know, here am I saying it's impossible. I really need to start to "practice what I preach." Now, I've been praying about it and it's looking like He wants me to do this. I hardly know what to do...

Question: Is there a difference between working around obstacles and forcing open a closed door? I have many opportunities come up but the way isn't clear and I wonder if it's really worth the trouble to make it work out. So I give up pretty quick and conclude that it must not be God's will. So can you work out things that are in the way without forcing open a door?

I want to be obedient to God's will but I'm really not sure how everything's gonna work out right now. Anyway I have lots of things to do but I'm hoping to be back early next week. Blessings!

Sunday 1 June 2008

Turning...

Well, I was going to share something really exciting but God seems to be saying "No." Rather I need to reassess my priorities. I've known for awhile that it needs to be done but I waited until I heard it from someone else and then it hit hard. (Thanks Kade.) You see, I waste a lot of my time and it's mostly wasted on the computer. As a result, I'm not accomplishing anything nor am I productive in the work God has set before me. I've been very encouraged by blogging and reading all your blogs. I've been blessed and I've learned a lot but I'm not putting any of it to practice in my life. I'm a hypocrite, making myself look like somebody that I'm not, and my walk is far from my talk. So, I must apologize and ask for everyone's forgiveness.

Chances are, I'm not going to posting as frequently as I would like to for awhile. I hope to get a post in once a week as the Lord permits, but we'll see what happens. If the Spirit lays it on your heart, please do pray for me as I continue to pray for all of you.
And part of a song.
"Heal me
Heal these eyes
Heal this heart
Heal my mind
Breathe your breath of life
Heal me
Wake my soul
From this sleep
Give me back the joy
Of when I first believed
Heal me."
-Aaron Jeoffrey, Heal Me

Until next time, God bless you richly. Your all in prayers.
"Your actions are shouting so loud I can hardly hear what you're saying."