Hello Blog Readers!

I wanted to share the good news that God has given me the opportunity to write for a magazine! I will still be posting in my blog frequently so I hope you will keep reading! 

Click on the link below to see the Facebook page of Christina Magazine. Our first issue comes out in December. Stay tuned!  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christina-Magazine/529621587131370

When I was younger my family and I took a vacation and passed through Arkansas. We visited a beautiful rock farm and I'll never forget it. My dad said my siblings and I could choose one rock but there were so many to choose from! My siblings and I looked all around for the one we wanted. I made up my mind that I was going to pick one that was so unique that I would not be able to find it anywhere else. While I was looking for a rock I noticed that many of them were beautiful on the inside but were not so nice on the outside. I wondered how somebody knew to open the rock up and find something so beautiful? 

I kept looking in amazement of how beautiful, colorful, and special each one was. 

I believe this is how God sees us. Sometimes we can look at ourselves in a negative way and see our faults, mistakes, or things we don't like about ourselves but God sees a treasure shining through on the inside. He sees something beautiful on the inside and doesn't give up on us. 

Jeremiah 18:1-6 says,

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 

More and more I have noticed the unexpected and powerful ways that God works. In the hardest and most challenging times I ask God to show Himself, and He does. I ask this because I want to know that He is there and that His will is being done in my life. I want to know what He would want me to do, even though I hesitate at times, I want to do what is right in His eyes. My heart is most at peace and I am happiest when I know I've done the best at what God has asked me to do. 

He helps me to know He is there in those challenging times because His spirit guides me and tells me what the right thing to do is. When I follow His way, hard times become less challenging and joy finds its way in because my heart delights in obeying Him. I know that at that moment He has helped my character to grow and has answered my prayers. 

I do hesitate at times and make mistakes but I get right back up and try again because God is a God of second chances and He is faithful and just to forgive. 

Romans 7:19-25 

"For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" 

Poem: I will not stop here

Hello Blog Readers :)

Today I posted my 100th post on my blog! To celebrate I wanted to share a poem that I just wrote. 

As always, thank you so much for reading! <3 

This poem is about growing in my relationship with God. It's about being grateful for all He has taught me and brought me through. I want to continue pushing through for an even stronger faith and deeper connection with God. I picture myself moving forward in life. We all have the option to give up or get up and keep going. This poem is about me telling God that although I am thankful for where I am, I will not settle or be satisfied. I will not stop here but I will go for more. I will trust Him more, believe in Him more, know Him more, love Him more.

Poem: I will not stop here 

I see my life ahead of me and want to grow more

Grateful where I am, thrilled at what's in store

I will keep moving forward God, I won't stop here

I'm not moving backwards I'm done with fear

You've got more to teach me and you are showing me through

I believe you are for me, I trust in you

I continue to learn as you teach me your ways

I value spiritual growth in every day

I don't want to be the same as I was last week

Help me to be bold and use my voice to speak

The more I grow I look back and see

The old is gone, there is new in me! 

These are some notes I wanted to share on loving others. I heard these words of wisdom when I visited my friends church. Her Pastor was doing a series on relationships. 

Grace and love says, "I give you the permission to be different. I accept you as you are."

Love others for who they are and don't try to change them. We weren't meant to change people or expect them to be like us. 

Don't judge people but give them room to mature. If I am to love someone I am to give them space to grow up. 

Don't go into a relationship (or marriage) with an agenda to change that person. 

See the good in others and don't think it's my assignment to tell other people their mistakes. 

There is a difference between a person and the image we have of them. We get disappointed when people aren't who we made them to be in our minds. 

Genuine love has focus on others and not ourselves. 

True love is not coerced and has healthy boundaries. 

Time proves the motive and authenticity of love." 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Some things I try to live by and practice as often as possible: 

-Forgive others and always work towards this

-Love others <3 and believe the best about them

-Fill a need if I am able to and don't wait for someone else to do it 

I heard this scripture at church recently and it caught my attention and melted my heart. 

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25 NIV)

I've always wondered about all the other things that Jesus must have done that we don't read about because it's not recorded in the Bible. As the scripture points out, there were so many other wonderful things that Jesus did and we wouldn't have room for those books if they had been written. :) I don't know about you but when I first read this scripture I thought, "Wow! I want to read those books! I want to know about all the other things about Jesus that weren't recorded. Even if I never have enough time on earth to finish all of them."

How valuable is the word of God to us and all that He has done? One day I'll have an even better option than reading those books that were unable to be recorded. I'll have the gift of kneeling at the feet of the King and hearing from the Author Himself. <3   

I have a reason to sing

The following are some lyrics to a song called, "Desert Song" by Hillsong United. These lyrics really spoke to me. 

"All of my life

In every season

You are still God

I have a reason to sing

I have a reason to worship"

This reminded me that no matter what I'm going through - whether I'm in a good season or a hard season that if He is still God (and He always will be) then I always have a reason to sing and worship. If things aren't going as planned, if circumstances are challenging, if He is still God, then I have a reason to sing and He is still worthy of worship. 

He is God of all. I can look up in the hard times and know that He is still God and He is in control. He is in control of my life and will make all things work out in His perfect will.