run TO not FROM

Today I felt like giving up. Giving up on trying so hard. Giving up on just trying to be perfect in my own eyes. Because it never seems to work out. I never seem to get it right. I just want to run away and get away from all my stresses of life. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the life that God has given me and I enjoy the people in it thoroughly, it is just when the personal problems of life get to be too much and I see more failure than victory, I just want to run away. I wonder if I will ever get it right, if I will ever learn from my past, if I will ever learn from what I read and hear on a consistent basis. Oh how will I ever love again? How will I ever share love or show love in the way I need to? How come I am overcome and ran by my emotions that just are like waves in the ocean- and not constant like a tree firmly rooted in the Word of God? How come I know the right things to do, yet I do not do them? How come I do some things yet not others? How come I want to give up and throw in the towel, but yet I really desire to serve the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind? I just do not understand myself, so I want to run away. Funny how God knows every thought that I think. I mean, I opened my email for my devotion of the day and this is what it said:

Want to Run Away?

Read Psalm 11:1-7

Have you ever felt like running away? "In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain'?" (v. 1). All of us have days when we feel like quitting. We throw up our hands and say, "That's it. I've had it, and I'm leaving."

At times we do need to get away to rest and regain our perspective. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's just depart and rest a while." Vance Havner once remarked, "If you don't come apart and rest, you'll just come apart." But the psalmist was not talking about a vacation. "The wicked bend their bow" (v. 2). He was saying, "The wicked are doing this and that. Let's get out of here and go to some mountaintop and have a good Bible conference."

When you feel like running or flying away, remember, God's throne is secure. The Lord is in His holy temple. In a difficult time Isaiah looked up and saw the Lord on His throne, high and lifted up. In the Book of Revelation, John saw the Lord on His throne, and it gave him new courage.

Don't flee to a mountain; flee to the throne of grace. When you feel like quitting or running away, remember that you can't run away from your troubles and you can't run away from yourself. The solution is not running away; it's running to. It's running to the throne of grace and finding grace to help in time of need.

Those times when you feel like quitting can be times of great opportunity, for God uses your troubles to help you grow. When you feel like running away, claim your privilege as a child of God and approach the throne of grace. There you will find the personal and tailored help you need.

 

WOW. Huh? "if you don't come apart and rest, you'll just come apart" wow. So true. So my prayer today is that I will run TO instead of running FROM.

Nothing will ever get resolved on my own- only with God I can do all things because He has conquered and overcome all things.

There is hope and there is victory and there is beauty just ahead . . . all I have to do is keep my eyes on the goal and keep moving forward.

 

{embrace the journey}

get in the boat

I am currently reading the book "The Grand Weaver" by Ravi Zacharias. It is about how God shapes us through the events of our lives. It is a very interesting and great read! At one point in the book he is talking about faith-trust and how God is in control. And he had this thought: (that i am going to sum up in my own words)

You know how God told Noah to build the ark right? This is how God told Noah to build it (taken from Genesis 6:14-16)

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

Do you see how specific the plans were for the ark? very.

But what is missing that most boats have? . . . a rudder or a sail.

God did not tell Noah to put a rudder/sail/steering wheel because God did not want Noah guiding or directing the ark. He wanted Noah to obey Him, trust Him and just get in the boat. This shows how God is in control and how He guides and knows the direction of where Noah was supposed to go. And at the right time, God's time, they reached their destination.

You can bring this to your life today. Just get in the boat.
Trust God with your life, He knows what is ahead, He knows the waters will rise and fall in your life- just have faith in Him that He will bring you safely to shore when He is ready to. Just let God be in control of your life and guide you in everything you do.

Don't be afraid to get in the boat- God has complete control.

2009

Thoughts/resolutions/solutions/rambles about 2009

I am very excited to be entering 2009- the last of the "0s" of over two thousand years of existence. That makes me wonder what year 3000 will be like, but who knows. Anyways- here's to two thousand and nine. . .

The usuals

• Getting in shape, getting "that" body by spring break and swim suit season
  
• Eat less to gain more
  
• Read more interesting thought provoking books
  
• Enhance my mind with knowledge and not junk
  
• Pray more
  
• Be a better friend
  
• Befriend more
  
• Impact the world
  
• Change the world
  
• Love the world
  
• Display selfless love
  

  
   

Personal

• All of the above
  
• Find a job/like the job/actually just find some source of income
  
• Disciple at least 10 people
  
• Trust God more
  
• Be satisfied with who I am in Christ
  
• Love unconditionally
  
• Let that man fall in love with me
  
• Strive for excellence
  
• Keep in touch with my friends
  
• Make new relationships
  
• Be bolder about the Word of God and who Jesus is and what He means to me
  
• Gain a solid foundation of my beliefs
  
• Be involved with a youth group
  
• LEARN- even though I will not be in a classroom
  
• Mentor and be mentored
  
• Can I think of anything else??
  
• Read through the Bible in a year
  
• Make plans and stick with them
  
• Commit and be determined
  
• Save money for a car and travel
  
• Not to break any of these
  

 

Goals. We think of them and set them up just like that at the beginning of the year. How many of us keep them? It is January 6, 2009 and I bet they have already been broken in many cases. Why is it so hard? Why cant we keep something that we say? Why do we have to always instantly gratify our own desires? Why cant we think more about others needs? Why cant we go against the norm…swim upstream…be different? Why do we have to blend in? Why do we always have to be the neutral crayon in the box, and not the brightest one? Why are we so afraid of ourselves, the unknown? Why are there always so many questions but no one ever seems to have the answers? Is that what you call a rhetorical question? Why do these questions have to be rhetorical? Can you answer them?

 

My power quotes of 2009

 

• "To allow God to be God we must follow Him for who He is and what He intends, and not for what we want or what we prefer" Ravi Zacharias
  
• "It is not what we do that determines who we are. It is who we are that determines what we do." Neil T Anderson
  
• "In pursuing a life that is not about yourself, you find yourself living the life you've always longed for" Erwin McManus
  
• On whose strength you draw, the Lord's or your own, will determine victory or defeat. If you let Him lead, He will take you to victory
  
• "Our quest is to have God's character formed in us, so that His passions burn in us." Erwin McManus.
  

  
   

Verses to live by:

 

• People with their minds set on You, You keep completely whole, Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit. Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing. Isaiah 26:3-4
  
• Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always. Psalm 105:4
  
• …but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
  1 Peter 3:4
  
• God's Way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life. 1 Corinthians 4:20
  
• If you love Me, you will obey Me. John 14:15
  

  
   

 

I am sure more will be added to the lists, but that is what I have come up with right now. This day. This moment.

 

To end- this is the most important of all - - - not to forget God and who He is. Live each moment remembering who you are in Christ, what Christ did for you, how much He loves you and make choices and decisions accordingly to live the life God has created you to live.

 

{embrace the journey}