Some things have been happening that make me so happy, excited, pumped up, joyous, terrified, nervous, anxious, impatient, and of course thankful. I am not going to say what these things are for it is too early, but I will say it needs prayer. Reckless....what a strange word, what really does it mean? Reckless- "Without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action"...okay, we got it? So what does reckless for Jesus sake mean? I really have no clue, but recently the phrase "I want to be reckless," (in a Jesus way) has got me thinking. Do I want to be reckless or do I want to play it safe for the sake of my Savior? So you may be wondering what the heck I'm even talking about...let me explain, well I'll let Jeremy Camp explain...
So should I be playing it safe or should I be reckless? Reckless for Him, to drop everything and follow where he wants me to go. Leave my home, my security, my life to follow Him and shout his name from rooftops.
I have been trying to write a lesson for youth group since Monday and nothing was coming to mind, I looked in several different places for inspiration, but I still was drawing a blank. So then Tuesday came around and I had some ideas, but not real sure where to go with them. Today was my last day to get it figured out because youth is tonight. So, I sat down and I thought about my all time favorite music video, "We Were Made For You" by Aaron Gillespie (I have posted the video on a blog before.) So I did some searching and thinking and I got my lesson together. My lesson is on our purpose in life, I often find myself asking this question, and the correct answer has never came to me until now. So what is my purpose for living on earth? It is actually very simple, we were made for Him, easy right? So what does that actually mean? We were made in His image to serve, worship and glorify Him. Huh, wonder why I never thought about that before? Here's why..."what about me?" "it is all about me" "I want this, I want to accomplish that" me...Me.....ME!!!! That is why, because as humans we only care about "me." We believe in our hearts that we can do anything and everything on our own, and we are WRONG!!! Without Him we would not be here, the world who not have been spoken into motion, He created us and now we must live our life to serve, worship, and glorify Him in all we do. Raise your hands, shout His name for all the world to hear! SCREAM it at the top of your lungs in front of your friends, enemies, strangers, at work, at home, at church, in line at WalMart, raise your hands and proclaim who you belong to and why! Why don't we do this more? It's simple really....we don't want people to think we are weird, Jesus freaks, Bible thumpers , or whatever they can say, we feel the need to "fit in" with this world. If this world is normal, than I want to be weird! This world is going down a dark hole fast, and I don't know about you, but I would like to be above the hole. So.... "Here I am, Send me," send me to do your will, send me to worship you with those who don't, send me to stand high and scream Your name, send to to catch the world as people start to fall into that dark hole. Here I am, Send me!
So many people. including me think of worship as "going to church"......WRONG! Although we are commanded to go and worship with fellow Christians that is NOT the definition of worship. Worship is a feeling, feeling so much love and adoration that you bow down! We should worship everyday all day, not just Sunday morning between 9:00-12:00. Live a life of worship for our Creator! Not just when we need/want something, not only when good things happen, but when bad things happen as well. We have been saved, set free, redeemed by the love and grace of God, so why not worship Him?
We were created to spread the good news that Jesus saves! We were created to worship our Creator and Father. We were created to shout his name from rooftops. We were created to GO, not matter where he sends us. We were created to catch the world before it falls completely into that dark hole. We were created to obey His word. We were created to serve Him AND His children. We were created to trust and lean on Him.
Sunday was our Children's Christmas Program, to which I was in charge and stressed about! Although I was very stressed about the whole thing, of course it went great. Throughout practices I kept finding myself thinking it has to be perfect, which in fact it did not! I have been trained in acting and theatre for so long, it was hard for me to realize the most important thing about this is the children and more importantly the message. I have been studying performing arts since 8th grade and it is such a passion of mine, it was hard to just let the kids run with it. I had the privilege to work with the best kids I could ever ask for. Everyday the Lord teaches me to just relax and chill out. As I write this the verse "Be still and know that I am God," keeps popping in my head. Why can't we just be still and let him take the lead? Because we have to be in control, that is why. We think we can do everything on our own, and we are DEAD WRONG! Something just hit me as I have been writing this, I have been waiting on an email from someone and the waiting is about to kill me. But, why? I need to just "be still" and know that God has got this in the bag. It will come when the time is right, which is NOT right now. Just chill out! Until next time...Jeremiah 29:11
Something has happened very recently in my family that has made my think of these four things; Forgive...Learn...Love...Laugh. Forgive- In this life we all mess up, fail, make mistakes, say things we shouldn't, do things we know are wrong, but we are human and we all mess up. Since we mess up doesn't that mean the people around us mess up as well? I am learning in my life that forgiving is something that needs to be done! As much as I would rather just keep on holding that grudge to that person, what good does that really do? Some of us have an easier time forgiving than others, and that is okay...but we need to work on forgiving. To the dad who doesn't agree with their child's lifestyle...FORGIVE, to the girlfriend who has lost all hope of trust due to a boy...FORGIVE, to the children that have not had a present mother...FORGIVE! Sometimes after forgiving it is best to keep the person that wronged you out of your life, forgiving does NOT mean letting that person have the ability to keep wronging you. Forgive them...then set them free. Although sometimes it is best to send that person on their way, other times it is important to rebuild the relationship. Forgiving someone is not always an easy thing, it is something we must pray about, and learn to forgive. Learn- Once again...we all make mistakes, but what we do with those mistakes is the important part. If we continue to make the mistakes, then we are not changing our lives, but if we learn from them we can better our lives and lives around us. When we make a mistake the first thing we need to realize is that it in fact, WAS a mistake. Once we do that we will be able to learn for it. In life we learn things everyday, today I learned something about my job that I didn't know yesterday, if we keep learning we will continue to improve our lives. Love- The Lord tells us the greatest commandment is to love. We are to love our enemies, our neighbors, our Lord, ourselves, and just love life.
Laugh- My mom always told..."Laugh so you don't cry"....laughter is the best medicine you can take!
This life is a beautiful thing when you surround yourself with beautiful people, that bring beauty out in you, don't surround yourself with people who bring you down or crush your spirit! Until next time...Romans 8:31
.JPG)