The Walk

A Theistic View

2008-03-12T17:53:00.002-04:00

Happy March! I hope this blog finds everyone doing well. I am doing well despite the many different directions my life seems to be going lately. I have been so busy, but I have been enjoying the new things that God puts in my path. Last week I read a very interesting blog from an athiest. Though I disagree with most things written, I really appreciate where this guy is coming from and I have been doing a lot of researching my own views. I am no scholar by any means and that is why I feel that I need to research even more. It is so wierd to me that two people in the same country can look at life and see completely different things. Maybe one's upbringing has alot o do with their views, but i know that is definately not always the case. At some point we all make our decisions on what we do/do not believe in. I wonder why I believe sooo firmly in God and others do not know Him at all? This to be continued because I have to run...

True Love

2008-02-18T17:33:00.002-05:00

I just somehow got transported to this blog today. Boy did it touch my heart. Please check out www.cfhusband.blogspot.com and read the story of a young couple who, against all odds, is living their lives full of God's love. Their story, where the young wife has cystic fibrosis, is the story of their lives and it reaffirms what God's love can do.

John 16:33 "...In the world you will have tribulation. Fear not, for I have overcome the world."!!! They are living this truth out. They know who is in control and they are living, not by what the world says, but what God says. What an inspiration!!!

Love Is In The Air

2008-02-16T13:11:00.003-05:00

This month is February, the love month. This has been an amazing time so far because I have been able to work with women of all ages this month, focusing on "true love". What is does "true love" mean to you?

One thing that I have found out is that most people's definition should truly be defined as true attraction, or true lust. I wish that more people understood the love that God wants us to experience, not only with Him, but also with our spouses.

At my place of work, there are many divorced couples coming in for help because their lives have been torn apart and they do not know how to deal with each other as well as the children they have. Most of the time these people started a marriage based on what they thought was "true love", but it was just true attraction or lust. Now they are paying a multitude of consequences and dealing with an extreme amount of pain and hurt. Some of these people have been divorced for years and years, yet they still are suffering.

How can we avoid this being the story of our lives? I am no expert, but I am someone who knows what God can do in a marriage. The first important step occurs way before you marry. It hopefully will begin as a teenager, as it did for me. My first step was to encounter the Lord in my life and then give my heart to Jesus. Let Him be in control of your life. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; to give you a hope and a future." God knows what is best and He is all powerful. Why would you not allow Him, with all of his love, power and might, to take control of your life. That way you know you are secure.

I did this in my "love life" as a teenager. Thanks to the wisdom of my beloved mother, I would never settle for second best. I did date, but not the way the world would explain dating. Ireally spent quality time with people, and I had to even make some hard decisions. I had a boyfriend in high school that I really loved. He was a very great guy that I met at church. He had everything: looks, personality, and he loved God. As time went on though, he started to turn from the things of God and began to fall away from church and was hanging with a group of guys that were not doing things that were pleasing to God. I was so attracted to him and I genuinely wanted to love him the way God would have wanted me to, but he was not going that direction anymore. I knew that we were going down very different paths and I had a choice. Choose a path with him, or choose the path that would glorify God. I chose God. I knew that I wanted God's best and not just what I thought was best. It was so hard, but it was so liberating. Then God revealed to me that He did have someone out there for me who would honor God and me.

The second step for me was: When you do find the person God has for you, a.k.a. His best, you better treat them the way God wants you to. You must let go of your selfishness and your need to have your own agenda. Let me explain. I met the one in college. I was not his biggest fan when we met, but over a short amount of time, God let me know that he had it all. He clearly loved the Lord, and he was the most genuine person I have ever met. I have never met someone so honest and pure. He is not perfect by any means, but he was the best of all the rest. Honesty is soooo important. Not the kind of honesty where you make the choice to tell your spouse things about you (though that is good), but he had something better. He just lived honesty with out even thinking about it. That is just who he is: an open book. He asked me to marry him and I accepted. We were wed four years ago in January. Through these four years I have really had to fight against pleasing self. I did not know my heart was so guarded and that I had my own agenda. My agenda is selfishness. I want it all to be about me and I have an attitude whn things do not go how I want them to. I have been working so hard on letting God be in control and not me. This has led to falling in love all over again with my husband. I truly have a wonderful man because I think he loves me as God does. He never judges me or sees my faults. He just sees the woman he loves. He knows I am not perfect, but he just sees things in such an amazing way. Once I let go of my selfishness (which is still a battle at times), I was able to let God be in control of our relationship. Now it has grown by leaps and bounds. We are honest about everything, even the stuff that may hurt the other person. This helps us to run to each other instead of other people. We also had to be firm in the fact that divorce "is not in our vocabulary". We made a vow to God and we will not brake this no matter what. This is not a free pass to trample the other, but a reason to cherish what you have.

I hope that this letter about my life can encourage you. You must give your life to God, never settle for anything other that God's best, and you must then live your life accordingly. You will mess up, but that is okay. Just try your hardest and guard your heart and mind from temptation.

Foggy Brain Syndrome

2008-01-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, to my knowledge there is no such thing as Foggy Brain Syndrome, but either way, I have it. This holiday season has been crazy because not only has it been Christmas, but it has also been my birthday and my 4th anniversary!!! I love this time of year because we get to praise the Lord and enjoy our families. The problem is that I did spend time with family (which was awesome), but then I did not spend enough time with God. Whenever I don't have my alone time with God, I get Foggy Brain Syndrome. This is just another way of saying: "I am being attacked"! I have not been seeking after God and I am feeling it, and now when I try to pray and spend time with Him, I feel as though my brain is not working and my prayers are going nowhere. I just want to encourage you. If you are also going through this, do not be discouraged. The Lord is there with you through this. I am not going to lose sight of who God is just because my body isn't feeling "with it". The world wants us to think that God is not real unless we have an emotional feeling. Guess what?! God is real and He is the Creator of our emotions. I truly believe that He is teaching me something through this: perseverance. He may be trying to get your attention and teach you something also.

Perfect Love

2007-12-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

Why are we so afraid to truly be who we are in Christ? We, as Christians, tend to always worry about what someone else is thinking. We do not want to offend or hurt feelings. This is noble, until we begin to hinder what the Lord wants us to do. Jesus never beat anyone over the head with the words of His Father, but he was bold always. He never tried to manipulate His message into a neat, politically correct package. He was bold, but the key was, He was completely loving at ALL times. 1John 4:18 says "Perfect love casts out fear". When you truly love God and you are in turn loving people, you will no longer desire to "pretty up" the message because the truth is what needs to be told. It can be scary, but it is scarier knowing that we did not tell our brothers and sisters the truth. Do not get me wrong, the Bible teaches that there is a season for everything. I am not saying that you need to go up to everyone and make sure they have heard the Gospel. I just want us to take a long hard look at ourselves. Do our lives show our love for God? Is our love weak and easily destroyed? Evil is a very powerful force, but the love of God is stronger. If you are succumbing to sin's power, go to God. Seek after Him. Spend time with Him. Fall in love with Him. His love will lead you to a view in life that will change who you are and how see life. I suggest that you read 1John chapter 4, because this chapter really explains what I am trying to say here. Let me know what you are learning.

A Bad Day

2007-12-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Boy did I have a terrible day today and yesterday. I am trying so hard in life to let God do His thing. I do not want to stand in His way anymore. The problem is, I am struggling to let go. Actually, I do not even know whether I am letting go or not. That might not make sense, but let me explain as best I can. One example is this: I have had some unhappiness in the current job that I have. I just feel that many times there are completely unrealistic expectations put on me. The job I am doing is not truly like it was pitched to me upon accepting the position. THe majority of it I am fine with, but then, out of nowhere, I am expected to be fixing all of these things that people before me completely screwed up, but I do not know what I am doing. When I ask questions, I am given answers that are not answers at all. They just talk in circles and never get to the point. I know this rant means nothing to most people, and I cannot truly explain what is going on in this venue. How this relates to my blog topic is this: I am trying to let God rule in every area of my life (including my job), but I do not understand why God has taken me from one problem to another. Have I done something wrong, should I be looking for something else or should I just try to make the best of the situation? Tell me your thoughts!

I just know that I am being attacked because the enemy wants me to be confused. I am trying to just slow down and let God take me through each day. I am a little scared though, because I do not want to be stuck in a stinky situation longer than I have to. Also, I know that I can be my worst enemy sometimes. I tend to put undue pressure on myself and I take things far too personally. I have gotten better over the years, but I still really struggle in this area. I always think that people have a hidden mean meaning behind what they say to me or about me. I overanalyze everything, and I believe that this has lead to alot of my stress.

What I need to say now is important. You must know what I believe. You must know that no matter what our situation is, God is so much bigger. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. He wants to give us a "hope and a future". This is not just a statement He made in passing. He means it. No matter how confused I can get in life, I know that where I find stability is in Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I have to know that if I am truly seeking after God and giving Him my all, then He will take care of the rest. Habakkuk 4:17-19 says: " Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places." (ESV) I must be able to view my life in the spiritual and not in the natural. I must gird up my mind (and emotions) and give them to God. It actually takes such a weight off of my shoulders, because my only true responsibility in life is to glorify Him. That I can do, and I want to do!!

My New Blog

2007-12-04T18:58:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! As you can see, I have begun my own blogging adventure. I think this will be another great way to keep in touch, as well as hear what others have to say about my own views and convictions. I am just really wanting to write about things that can help propel people towards living out the things that glorify God, instead of thinking it is just too hard and giving up. Well, I will blog again soon. Peace out!