Youth Councils

I don't think I will go into detail quite yet about youth councils. There is just too much to say and not enough time for me to say it to you viewers quite yet. But for now, here are some photos that I took (some of my friends and then some of the wonderful beach that I spent 2.5 of the 4 hours that we got for free time down there ^_^

Isaiah

My mind has pretty much been on school these last few days (and thinking about a special guy friend I have..hes pretty awesome!) but I have decided that it is time I show more pictures of Isaiah (my cousin...) So here he is ^_^

Next up will be pictures from Youth Councils ^_^ (mostly the beach heh)

God is good ^_^

Christmas anyone?

I joined the Christmas Choir at my church, and we had our first rehersal on Thursday. I must say I really enjoyed it. We were reminded who we are doing this for. Its not for the congregation, but its for God. That put a smile on my face. Not only that, but I have been going through a hard time with some stuff in my life, and I have been really down and going to the rehersal and singing Christmas songs really made me really happy.

Christmas really makes me happy. It just makes me smile so much, everytime I think of it, it makes me smile. Jesus was born on that day, and later died for me. That just puts a big smile on my face.

Bring on the Christmas music! ^_^

Friends

I read this tonight, and it has encouraged me through this rough night.

"Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family."

Proverbs 18:24

Job and David

I meet with a good friend of mine to go for dinner once a week, and we have been keeping each other accountable to reading scripture. During the summer we read Job. And currently we are going through the Psalms.

I must say that it is very interesting that the reading of Psalm came after reading Job. Both David and Job have something in common.

Job gets all sorts of things taken away from him, but yet he still praises God. Job 1:21 "And he said 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked i shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Psalm 22: 1-3 "My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest." and the worshipful part "YET you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Isreal."

I just thought that was kinda cool.

Convenient Love

I know I might get some tomatoes thrown at me for blogging about this topic, but it is another thing that needs to be said..

Why do we love when it is convenient for us? Why do we say I love you when we want things? This is somthing that is baffling me right now. I was at my church youth last night for the first time in a while, and my best friend was there too, she hadn't been out in a while either. I had bought lollipops a few hours earlier, and i gave one to my best friend, then other people saw that I had given her a lollipop. One person came up to me and said "I love you" in a way that told me she wanted a lollipop. I said to her "You only say you love me when you want something." She walked away. Then other people came to me and wanetd a lollipop. People who NEVER talk to me came up to me and wanted a lollipop. Do they only love me and talk to me when they want something?


It doesn't just happen to us humans, it happens to God. Sometimes we have a tendency to just pray for things we want, and we only talk to God when it is convenient for us, and when we want something. This cannot be. We need to praise God all the time. Why? Because he is worthy to be praised! A good friend of mine always says "God's worthiness to be worshipped never changes" I completely agree...it doesn't matter our circumstances, we need to praise God because he is worthy. We need to praise His name, not just ask for things. We need to tell God we love him all the time, not just when we want something.

*ducks for flying tomatoes*

Love and Reliance

I was reading over notes from a sermon that was preached at Re:fuge a while ago, because it is something that God has laid on my heart tonight. The relying on other people hasn't stopped. God wants people to rely on Him to get them through their tough times, but instead they are relying on people to get them through. My fellow Christians, this cannot be. This cannot be at all. God has laid this on my heart, because He wants you guys to know that He loves you no matter what. He is just asking that you will turn to Him to help you through your problems.

Putting confidence in an unreliable person is like chewing with atoothache or walking on a broken foot. (Proverbs 25:19 NLT)

I love that.. Would you chew on the side that has the toothache? I would nope not. Would you walk on a broken foot? No... so why rely on an unreliable person for the thing that God can give you? EVERYONE in this world is going to fail you at one time or another, but GOD WILL NEVER FAIL YOU! So why not go to the one who won't dissappoint?

That is a short blog..but there it is... there is another one to follow. God is speaking a lot to me tonight.

God's Calling

Be sure to check out Michelle's Blog for some great insight.

Her and I were talking tonight, and she was telling me about this guy that likes her and she likes him, but he said that they can't be together because they don't go to the same church. Now firstly, that is not cool IMO (in my opinion). We are the church, it shouldn't matter what building we go to to worship. Secondly, she was so heartbroken at this. I gave her some great advice that was given to me when I was going through some issues with some people.

My good friend Karyn gave me some great advice. She said to picture yourself chained to this person to which you are having the issue with. When you are going through a problem with that person, you are chained to them because you are carrying around the issue. She said that instead of dragging the problem along with us in our day to day lives, we need to picture ourselves at the cross, and we need to unlock the chain from our ankle and chain it to the cross. Let Jesus deal with them. It is the most powerful advice I ever got.

I wanted to pass it on to my friend Michelle, and I decided to blog about it. Because if you are going through a hard time with someone, you need to leave them at the cross. If you are dealing with inner issues, picture those issues as an actual being, and chain them to the cross. Let God deal with them. There is no use in you losing sleep over it. Give it to GOd cuz he will be up all night anyways ^_^

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these

Mark 10:14 "He said to them, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'"



^^ Caleb and I ^^


^^ Caleb, my dad and his lion Leo ^^


^^ My new cousin Isaiah. Isn't he ADORABLE? there is the little mohawk ^^


^^ The happy family. My aunty Karen, her husband Shane and little Isaiah ^^


^^ Caleb ^^

The kingdom of God belongs to little children like Isaiah and Caleb!