How can I be silent?

Every day, I probably pass by hundreds of people.

Hundreds of souls.

How many of those are saved?  How many know God?

How many are lost, and live empty lives?

Do I really care?

These people that I see everyday are important.  Everyone I meet today is special to God.  How can I ignore one of God's precious children?  He loves them and cares about every little thing going on in their lives.  How can I not care about someone's life?  They are each important.

Life-and-death important.

What makes the difference?  It all comes down to love.

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
 
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love." (1 Cor. 13:1-7, The Message)

This chapter is one that we hear a lot.  Many can probably quote it without thinking.  Seeing it this way, though, makes it fresh and new and real.  Without love we are bankrupt!  We can't advance God's kingdom without love.  We are hypocrites without love.  We refuse to share what God has given us.  We have an appearance of godliness, but deny its power.

People aren't being reached if we don't love.

Souls are going to hell because we don't love.

Eternally.

Separated from God, the only source of all that is good in our world.

Refusal to love is inexcusable.

I have no excuse to be antisocial.  Every soul is more important than almost any reason I have to ignore people.  So look them in the eye.  Smile.  Talk to them.  Show sympathy.  Listen.  Show them God's love.

Then even if you are never able to physically tell them about Christ, your life has been a witness.  You have not stood by and watched a soul go to hell because you did nothing.  God will use you, in ways you may never know.  Just let Him.

Love.

Rebecca

Encouragement For Singles

I recently came across this video, and I love it!

The speaker delivers some wisdom about waiting, and it is so encouraging to hear her description of qualities her future husband will have, and qualities she is working on having to become the kind of wife he will need.

This next song always encourages me when I am thinking about my future husband (if it is God's will for me to marry).

I really like the Civil Wars, and this is my favorite song of theirs.  It reflects the thoughts of a lot of single people, wondering what their future spouse will be like. 

I hope this might encourage you if you find yourself thinking about your future spouse anytime soon,

Rebecca

Be careful what you wish for...

...in a good way.

First of all, I'd like to apologize if you've found some of my previous posts depressing.  I intend for this blog to be a place where I can be honest about what's going on in my life, and the past month and a half or so was characterized by struggles, but also by growth.  I'll elaborate on this later.

I spent a lot of time since the post "Forgiveness: A Letter to a Friend." asking God to help me continue to forgive the person I wrote about in that post.  I came across a book I have called "What Are You Waiting For?" by Dannah Gresh.  It is an excellent book about sexual purity, but the lesson I learned from it this time was a completely different one.  Long story short, I realized that I had a tie of hurt connecting me to that person.  So I prayed for God to heal the hurt and break that tie.

A few days later,  God appointed for me to see this person from a distance.  It's so hard to describe, but all of the hurt, bitterness, and unforgiveness that I had just melted away.  I was finally able to forgive and turn it over to God.  I was able to acknowledge that even if the person never spoke to me again, I would be okay.

The next day, I ended up seeing the person and spending a lot of time with them.  It was the first time in a very long time that the way this person acted did not affect my mood, and I have no doubt that it was a God thing.  I was able to come away from that time feeling truly glad that I had been able to spend time with them, and hopeful that the two of us could really be friends again.

I am praising and thanking God for this, and it has made me SO much more lighthearted now that I don't have to worry about this anymore.  This is just one more example of God answering the prayers of His children and working in their lives.  How people can make it through life believing that God doesn't exist when He is at work all around us is something I don't understand.

Rebecca

Letting it go

For some reason, this has been a very hard time for me. I've been struggling lately with discouragement.  We visited a church that my parents used to go to a long time ago today, and it "just so happened" (I believe that with God there are no accidents) that the Sunday school lesson was about discouragement.  The topic was Jeremiah, and all of the things he went through because his message from God was rejected by everyone.  He, of all people, had a reason to be discouraged, and he was at first.  But when he stopped looking at his problems through the lens of his experiences, and started looking at them through the lens of God's power, then he was cheered up.  He could really do nothing about his circumstances, but when he trusted them to the Lord, he agreed to let His will be done through him.
I've tried to surrender my problems to God, and I will keep trying.  The problem lies on my end, not His.  He doesn't refuse to keep my problems, I just seem to decide that He needs help taking care of them and take them back.  I think that's how it goes with humans, though.  It goes against every fiber of our being to let someone else have the reins of our lives.  God knows this, though.  It's how He created us.  If it was easy to give control of our lives over to Him, then we wouldn't have that discipline to make us more Christlike.  We sang the song "I Surrender All" today. In the past few years, I have taken that song really seriously.  If you say "I surrender all" but then willfully withhold your burdens, or just ignore the meaning of the words you are saying altogether, then you are lying to God.  But it occurred to me as we sang it, you don't just say "I surrender all" once and are done with it forever.  Even from day to day, we will encounter new problems and struggles.  We have to keep releasing our burdens to God.  It's the only way to renew the peace of mind that He gives us and wants us to be able to keep.
Well, I guess I just need to take my own advice, then.

Rebecca

When You Feel Like There's Nowhere Left to Turn/ Waiting on God

I've been thinking on this lately.  I've found that when you actively give your life over to God's plan, He tends to eliminate the other alternatives you have to following His will so that you will be able to depend on Him more fully and readily. This does not mean you do not have a choice, it means He will make the right path more visible.  This is most apparent when you lose everything. You've left no stone unturned, tried every option, taken every opportunity. You feel like there's nowhere left to go. Then you realize God is there. He has been all along. He has just waited for this moment to make Himself known. He steps forward in this bleak and empty place, and He says, "You think you have exhausted every choice, that you have nowhere left to turn. You have done everything in your own power to accomplish your goals, but it has not worked. Are you ready for my power? You have searched everywhere for love, but the kind you need is nowhere to be found. Are you ready for my love? You need your soul to be satisfied, but you have only found emptiness. Are you ready for me to bring you satisfaction? You've run after sources of false fulfillment, and your strength is gone. Are you ready for my strength? You are sick and tired of life. Are you ready for me to give you a new life, one full of purpose? If you are, you have a new choice to make."
There are several times in a person's life that this can occur, several times you feel like you have run out of options and realize that, in spite of what our minds can comprehend, God has a plan. We have a limited viewpoint. We cannot see what lies around the corner. God does, and He is preparing you for it right now, if you will open your heart and let him.
In my life, I had become a little frustrated. Like most unmarried women, I had been looking at the "prospects" that were in my life. It seemed that I had run out of opportunities there. The ones I could be interested in liked someone else or were otherwise unavailable, and I had remarked to some of my female friends that it seemed like there was no one else in the world to meet. (Note: If my future spouse is among the guys I already know, then that's great, it just means that God has not revealed us to each other yet.) Then I stopped and thought about it, and I felt God was telling me, "You see so many "wrong ones" around you. Now are you ready to wait for Me to bring you the right one?"
"Yes, Lord, that would be fantastic. Tomorrow would be nice..."
But that's not how it works. Waiting on the Lord means waiting for however long He has determined without insisting on my timing. It means not trying to pursue or flirt with guys to get them interested. It means not saying "Okay, God, while you're bringing me my future spouse and all, I'm going to be over here hanging out with this guy, because he's kinda cute. And if you don't bring me my future spouse soon enough, I'll just marry him, okay?" It means waiting on God's leading to begin a relationship with someone whom you sincerely feel may be your future spouse.
I would love for my next relationship to be with my future husband (I say "next" because I've been through all this before). But that may not be what God has planned. I can be assured, however, that God will use anything that He places in my life as an opportunity for my growth. He already has. "God works everything out for good for those who love Him". Also, in the meantime, God wants you and me to grow and mature, and become people that our future spouses will want to marry. As singles, we have the opportunity for a season of growth unlike any other. We don't have to worry about pleasing our spouse and all of the other responsibilities that come with being married (or even in a relationship, they take a lot of time and work too.), we only have to please God. And also, if you take the time to develop a thriving relationship with God, the other relationships in your life will improve too, as you become more Christlike. So you see, if you surrender your plans to God, He will prepare both you and your future spouse, and then He will bring you together at the perfect time. If you give it to the Lord, you can marvel at His grand plans as they unfold and create something you would never have dreamed of, in all aspects of your life, not just this one.

Forgiveness: A Letter to a Friend

I will just be honest here.
For the past couple of weeks, I have struggled with bitterness.  I had been very close to someone, someone who I called my best friend, and the way they have acted towards me recently has made me very upset and sad.  This person has been the cause of a lot of hurt in my life over the past few months, and I don't know how to fix things between us.  It's been a big source of worry for me.

A few days ago, God gave me the answer.  My mom, siblings, and I were cleaning, and I was taking a short break.  We had the radio on a Christian station, and a song came on that I had never heard before.

I listened to every word.  It really hit me hard.  Some of the lines especially impacted me:

"It moves away the mad inside

It's always anger's own worst enemy"

  I would love to get rid of all the anger and hurt I have towards this person.  I have to be willing to let God remove it though.  I can't just hold on to it, making myself sicker and sicker.  When you have surgery, you have to rest and let the doctor do his job.  God wants to take away my anger, I just have to release it to Him.

"It'll clear the bitterness away

It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what its power can do
So let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you"

The longer I refuse to forgive someone, the longer I am trapped in a prison of my own making.  If I succumb to hatred and bitterness, it will rule my life.  God is supposed to rule my life.  We have a problem here.  However, we are not alone in this.  God will help us to choose forgiveness and love over bitterness and anger, Christlikeness over sinfulness.

"Show me how to love the unlovable

Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness"

When a person treats you badly, it is easy to see reasons why you should not have to love them.  When a person you care about refuses to talk to you, they can seem pretty unreachable.  But Jesus Christ was mistreated and abused by the very ones He came to die for.  He prayed for forgiveness for them.  Our world would not listen to God, so he sent Jesus to reach the unreachable. 

Should I not do the same?   First, forgive to release the bitterness.  Who am I to refuse to do for others what God did for me in such a large amount?  Next, show the love of God to this person no matter how they treat me.  Even if this person refuses to talk to me, acknowledge me, or even notice that I exist, I still need to show them Christ through me.  Then, try (with God's help) to heal the broken relationship.    Lastly, I need to pray for this person.  I still love them and care about them, even if they don't seem to in return.  Even if they never know, God knows.

So, if you, the one I am talking about, are reading this now, I want you to know that I forgive you.  I have before, and I will continue.  I pray that God will be with you, and that He will guide your steps.  Please know that I will be here if you need a friend. 

Love,

Rebecca 



 

God the Artist

Have you ever seen "The Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross? If you haven't, it's a show where an amazing nature painter, Bob Ross, starts with a blank canvas and begins to apply paint. As the show progresses, his plans for the canvas will begin to take shape. He will cover the top of the canvas with blue, and a sky appears. He will add little dabs of white paint, and all of the sudden, it's a cloud, becoming more and more realistic with every new thing he does. He will make a line of black across the canvas, and before your eyes, a mountain will be formed.

For me, watching that show causes me to wonder what it would have been like to watch God as He created the world. Unlike Bob Ross, however, God started with nothing. He didn't have paints, or even colors. He didn't have a clean, white canvas, he had a vacuum (not the kind you use to clean). And finally, He didn't have a paintbrush or any tools, He created us with His spoken words. Isn't that amazing? We are God's words! We, and everything else, exists because of them and we consist of them. He said "Let there be light" and there was light. I can't walk into my room, lay some fabric on my sewing machine, and say "Let there be a new dress". It would never work. Besides, I would already have the materials. God created light out of nothing! There have been dresses before, and fabric, and sewing machines, and thread, but before God spoke the phrase, even the word "light" did not exist. But once God spoke it, not only was there light, but it was exactly what God planned and wanted. Have you ever thought about that? God not only created light, but also the idea of light. No one else in the history of the world has done or could ever do this. Talk about starting from scratch!

Today I saw a butterfly. I didn't just see it though, this time I really observed it. It landed on my hand, and I looked at its wings first. At first glance, they seemed to be a rather uninteresting shade of brown, but, looking closer, they had small circles bordered in orange, with pink and blue in the very center. The tips of its antennae were little ovals with a stripe through them. It was licking (or smelling?) me with its tongue, and I thought about the exquisite array of muscles that were working in such a small space. Its back was covered in fine brown soft hairs. This creature was so tiny, yet God cared enough about it to paint it with beautiful colors. He cared enough about it to give it a complicated system of muscles and senses for it to function. He not only knows when it loses a hair, He cares. I realized this butterfly and I are in the same boat, uncertain of our futures but in the hands of a loving God who knows and cares and directs our futures.

God is the ultimate artist. He not only paints our world, He paints our lives. Much like a Bob Ross show, we are watching God stand before a blank canvas. He puts a bit of paint here and there, uses this brush and that color. We wonder what He is working on right now. We wonder why he is using that color. We wonder what His plan is for the canvas and what it will look like when finished. But we just have to wait and see. He knows what He is doing. When we see a black smudge across an otherwise perfect canvas, He sees a mountain taking shape. We just have to trust His plan and follow His will, for only then will we finally see that finished product of a life well lived for God's glory and purposes.