Deepest Fear...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Marianne Williamson/Revolution Church Atlanta

Click...

So today was one of those fantastic days when things just clicked. You know, when you feel like you are exactly where you are supposed to be at that exact moment. Actually, this entire last week has been like that! I am beyond blessed – and I can't thank the Lord enough! I just don't even know where to start...I guess I will just leave it there! I want to jump up and down – you just have no idea!

GOD, YOU ARE SIMPLY AMAZING BEYOND WHAT I CAN COMPREHEND!

My eyes have been opened to how stubborn I have been lately. I have been so worried about crap! Seriously, crap! It finally just hit me – be still! I knew this though, why don't I act like it? God's got it under control. I know that every time I have a "plan", God steps in and turns it upside down and shows me what His plan for that particular situation is! I may not quite understand why, well...I usually don't understand why, but I know it's going to turn out way better than anything I attempt on my own!

I also wanted to say sorry! I keep going on and on about how I am sick of people being hypocrites, well I am just as guilty as the next person! Sometimes I wish people could see my heart and my intensions, but they can't – they see how I act on the outside. I sure haven't been painting a very pretty picture with my life lately! I WANT Jesus to shine through me! So to those of you who are like, "She is another one of those 'Christians'...", I'm so sorry! I'm human so unfortunately I am going to sin! Luckily I can run right back into God's arms and ask forgiveness and He reminds me how much I am loved! And so can anyone else...It is such a sweet deal!

So once again...

GOD, YOU ARE SIMPLY AMAZING BEYOND WHAT I CAN COMPREHEND!

Undo & Thank You...

Just really want to say thank you to one of my really good friends! I'm sure he has no idea what he did...but thank you! I keep talking and talking and talking...but I haven't done anything to back it up - thank you for calling me out! :) I needed it!

If That's What It Takes...

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

-Matthew 5:30 (ESV)

The Strictest Discipline – Oswald Chambers

"Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that "if your right hand causes you to sin" in your walk with Him, then it's better to "cut it off". There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that is it hinders you in following His precepts, then "cut it off". The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.
When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do—things that would be sin for you, and things that would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, "What's so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!" There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God's sight than to appear lovely to man's eyes but lame to God's. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you.
The Christian life is maimed life initially, but in verse 48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life—"You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.""

I really love that verse! The severity of it just makes wheels start turning. It's so true how there are things that many Christ followers would never even imagine doing, but that same thing is a walk in the park for the next person. It's almost upsetting sometimes when people who know your beliefs and convictions try to coerce into doing something that you consider sin! Or they tease you because "you're such a good little girl, you would never do anything fun anyways..." Yeah, it really hurts my feelings. So maybe I don't like to do the same things I used to do all the time, that I though were fun and I didn't see any sort of problem with. But this is my LIFE we are talking about, there is really no point in jeopardizing that for what the world perceives as a "good time".

Recognized...

It's so easy for a while to just shove everything to the side and make excuse after excuse and say you'll do better tomorrow, or you will just deal with it all later. I have been doing that in so many areas lately and it has just all built up and I get so frustrated. It is true the Lord's mercies are fresh each morning, but it is wrong to abuse that fact, and I certainly have been. It's absolutely heartbreaking, mainly to God, but also to me and many people who I come in contact with. I honestly can't stand when people claim to be Christians and deny Jesus with every choice they make, I refuse to be one of those "Christians". I want to apologize to a few people who I care a lot about. I haven't been the kind of friend that I am called to be lately, and I hope you guys will forgive me. This little bit of truth hit me hard today…

Reconciling Yourself To The Fact Of Sin – Oswald Chambers

"Not being reconciled to the fact of sin – not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it – produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature, that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human being, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with is and say that it is of this "hour, and the power of darkness" into which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, how you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you ill find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, "Yes, I see what this sin would mean." The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship – it simply establishes a mutual respect for the face that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the face that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person, The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the face of sin."