212

Okay, Im going to be honest. I cant think tonight. There are a couple of topics that I really want to touch on, but

I cant seem to get the words on the page in a way that might make sense to anyone but me.
So tonight Im going to share with you a blessing that has been so special to me over the past 6 months. Im not a people person. That would probably surprise some people, but I am perfectly happy with my dog, my computer or a good book, and my parents. Yes, I have learned how to function in groups of people, and I love hugs from people I love, but overall, im not a social butterfly.

I am reserved until I get to know someone. Yes, I can make it seem as though I am not, but I am very careful what information I share with someone before I get to know them. There have been two or three people that have been such an encouragement to me when I’ve been struggling. They are there with Scripture, with songs, with a listening ear, and a heart that lifts me up in prayer. When I am weak, they are strong. They point me to Christ and help me to take my eyes off what seems unfair now, and look to what God has done and what He continues to do for me.
But, what’s great, is that the friendships that I’ve been developing with these people aren’t just them pouring into me. In some of the cases, I’ve also been able to encourage and help them. I love how the Lord seems to teach me things not just for my own good, but also for the good of those that He brings in my life for me to minister to.

Rarely are we strong at the same time, but when we are, it’s a special time to share what the Lord has been teaching us through the hard times.

Today’s Blessings:

1.The godly friends that the Lord has brought into my life.

He Sees my Tomorrows (196)

Good evening! Tonight I cant decide whether to do a Mother’s Day post, or a graduation post. So I don’t think I will do either. I can do a Mother’s Day post tomorrow, and I still have the whole month of May that I could do one on graduations.

As ya’ll know, I’m reading about 4 great books right now. The newest book that im reading is “The Power of God’s Names” by Tony Evans! Let me tell you, I’m less than 50 pages into it, and it is so so good! I’ve been chewing on this quote for the past few days:

“Whatever God is going to do for you, He has already done. Whatever God has planned for you to do, He has already planned. Whatever God has purposed for your life, He has already purposed. Your job as a follower of Christ isn’t to outwit, outplay, or outsmart God- to try to figure out your own personal destiny for yourself. God has already drawn the map of your life, and it’s a good life filled with both a hope and a future. It’s a plan that is self-perpetuating. You just need to obey Him fully so you can enter the rest He has planned for you.”

Why is it that we think we can know better than God? God sees the beginning and the end. Not only does He see it, He has planned it. It’s done. Completed. Finished. Before we were even conceived, God had each and every day of our life planned. From our first cry to our last breath, our Creator God has planned it all. I think sometimes we forget that God knows further ahead than we do. We try to help God out. Afterall, He’s so busy keeping the world turning that He must need some help, right? Wrong! What God wants from us is our heart. He wants our obedience. He wants us to be resting. He wants us to be at peace knowing that He’s in control. Nothing comes as a surprise to Him.

When something comes your way and catches you by surprise, remember that it didn’t surprise God. He’s in complete control.

Today’s Blessings:

1.Got to see an old friend today.

2.A God that has all of my tomorrows wrapped up in His hands.

-Christy

I’m Back!! (141)

Hello once again! I promised you I’d be back, so here I am! Believe it or not after 130-ish day of blogging it was rather challenging to stop. Im so very glad to be back with you all. I would like to take today’s post and explain to you why I stopped as well as some of what occurred in my little life this past week.

Alrighty, why I took a break- Basically one of my blog posts was copy/pasted to a page where it was taken completely out of context and made to say many things that were not to meant to be said or even implied. The break was taken to ease some tension on my end and step away and look objectively at the situation. If I responded to those remarks I wanted to do so in a Christ-like manner and not a reflex action of anger or spite.

So much has happened this week. It was very much a week filled with victories and defeats. There were moment that I praised the Lord for and moments where I just had to grasp His hand and tell Him that I would trust Him. One of the major things that the Lord has been working in my heart about this week was faith and fear. Last Sunday I actually wrote a blog post even though I didn’t post it. It was pretty much a summary of the message that I heard that morning in church. I listened made note of the thoughts that I wanted to take with me and carried on with my week like usual. The interesting this is later that week the sermon series that im listening to on the radio talked about faith and fear. He said something that I think a lot of us lose sight of when it comes to following God and making decisions. The preacher said that it’s okay for fear and faith to exist simultaneously. You don’t have to be completely void of fear to step out in faith and trust God.  It reminds when my dad was teaching me to ride a bike. I think I was the slowest learner ever when it came to learning this skill. I have plenty of scars on my knees to prove the intensity of this endeavor. When I climbed onto my super cool magenta colored bicycle (with hand breaks) I was terrified, but at the same time I knew that my daddy had a hold of the back of the seat. I had faith that my dad would be holding on to me, but that didn’t completely take away the fear. My faith just had to trump my fear.

That’s the same way that it is Christ. When He asks us to step out in faith He’s not asking that we be void of fear, He just wants us to trust Him despite our fear. It’s okay to be afraid we just cant let that fear paralyze us into disobedience. The more that we trust Him and take those steps towards Him the easier it will be to trust Him in the future.

I will provide a link to the post that I wrote without posting last week, and also provide the link the sermon series that I’ve been listening to.

The blog: https://blessingsinwaiting.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/prone-to-wander-134/

The sermons: http://livingontheedge.org/series/good-to-great-in-gods-eyes/daily-radio

The blessings:

1. The way that we can step out in faith and trust God despite our fear.
2. Blogging again! How I’ve missed you all!!
3. Spring is coming (even though it’s snowing outside…)

Never say Never (126)

As we have already established several times here on Blessings in Waiting, I am a control freak. I would like to think that im a control freak on the road to recovery, but I don’t know how true that is. Im working on it though.

Part of my control freak tendencies interfere with my trusting in God. I catch myself modifying my prayers to what I think God can do or would do. I sometimes only pray if I think it would be something logical that God could do. The issue there is that God doesn’t operate on our human timetable or logical reasoning. As it says in Ephesians, He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think! God created you and me. God organizes all circumstances in our lives. God is more than capable of knocking you off your feet with good and perfect gifts.

Today’s Blessings:

1. A God that can do far more than I ask or think.
2. All of the good and perfect gifts that He delights in giving me.

Christy

Suffer Patiently (124)

Im gonna be super honest with you guys. I almost quit. I almost said, “Enough of this blogging thing; Im sick and tired of trying to be positive when life is hard and seems unfair.” But, what do ya know? Here I am. What brought about the change of heart you ask? Well actually a few things.

First of all, I hate to quit. Quitting is just something that isn’t hardwired into my DNA. In my mind, if I quit, then Im letting all the people that told me that I wouldn’t keep up with blogging, win. And there is no way that I would let that happen.

Second, I began to think of how much easier it would be if I quit trying to have joy and just did whatever I wanted to. As I was mulling over these thoughts I was listening to a sermon that talked about how one of the main things you must do to have victory over your struggles is to endure. I looked up the definition of the word ‘endure’ and this is what I got.

“suffer patiently”

Yeah, my heart may be hurting, but that doesn’t give me the right to whine and complain and be sad all the time. To endure means to patiently put up with the things that you wish could be over instantly. I wish that I could just fast forward through all of the hard things, but if that happened I couldn’t grow to be more like Christ through the hard things.

Finally, I didn’t quit blogging because it forces me to find at least something good that happens each day. It requires me to slow down and think about what God is doing in my life. If I want to keep a God-focused out-look then Im going to have to work through the hard times and never forget that what God is doing is for my good and His glory.

Today’s Blessing:

The grace that God gives me to suffer patiently through unpleasant circumstances.

-Christy

Day 123

Sorry about the title, I just couldnt think of anything creative tonight…

Since being accepted to college I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. I’m sure as the time gets closer you will hear most of those thoughts, but I want to just touch on one today. I’ve been praying for two (well really more than that) very specific things since I’ve been accepted and even before. First of all, I’ve been praying for a good godly roommate. I’m the only girl in my family. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I’m spoiled, but let’s face it, I’m spoiled. I’ve never had to share a room, clothes, quietness, or anything. The only time I’ve had to share space was on school trips for about a week to ten days at a time and I was always very ready to be home and have some ‘Christy time’ for a while. I am very aware that I’m probably in for an eye opener, and I know that God will place me with just the right person for this time in my life, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to ask God for someone that I can get along with and learn from.

The second thing I’ve been praying for is similar to the first. I’ve been praying for some good godly female friends. From the time I started pre-school up till now, I’ve always had more guy friends than girlfriends. Yeah, I had some friends that were girls, but most of the time they weren’t real friends. They would get mad at me over petty things, I was never allowed to be better than them at anything, and they would only be my friend if they could get something out of me or their other friends rejected them. My very first friend outside of my family was a guy. All through high-school, I always got along with the guys better. It’s not because I was really athletic (haha, definitely not) and it’s not because I was like ‘one of the guys’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Having fair-weather friends  is part of what contributed to me being able to stand up for myself and have my own opinions. The older I get though, the more I realize that many ‘guy friends’ are interested in more than just a friendship. I’m not at a point in my life where I can offer anything more than a friendship. I’m not emotionally, spiritually, or physically ready to date or even think about dating anyone. It’s useless to develop a friendship with a guy and risk either of our hearts getting tangled up when those feeling can never develop into anything. My heart belongs to my Jesus. One of the last things that Rich told me was that he was worried that my heart had been damaged forever by our relationship. He finished that statement by saying that he could take comfort in the fact that my heart was in Good Hands. He couldn’t be more right. Since fully surrendering my ‘love life’ to Jesus I feel such freedom and joy in knowing that I can just be myself and let my heart rest completing in His hands. Sorry, kinda went on a tangent there. But that’s why I want girl friends. I want a friend that I can be 100% me with. A friend that I can share what Christ is doing in my heart and life. A friend that can be happy when im happy and encourage me when im sad, and a friend that I can encourage as well.

Well, that’s what’s going on in my brain right now. Hope that that was able to encourage you in some way.

Today’s Blessing:

Having my heart rest in Christ’s hands, knowing that He is good and never fails.

-Christy

Listening…(Pt2) (116)

Sorry this is being posted so late, but don’t give up on me yet, im still gonna post!

So yesterday I posted the quote,

“Imagine a man so focused on God that the only reason he looked up to see you was because he heard God say, ‘That’s her’.”

I proceeded to ask what the female side of this quote would be. So that’s where we are headed today. The man is the pursuer of the relationship. Believe it or not, that’s how men are wired. Whether they want to admit it or not, guys enjoy the ‘rescuing the princess’ part of relationships. And women enjoy being rescued. It’s in our DNA.

As young ladies we also should be listening to God, but what we should be listening for and listening to is a little bit different. We should be focused on God; that’s one of the ways that God is going tell the guy to look up. But I know personally, I am a planner. I like to have all my ducks in a row and have my life planned for the next 5 years. God likes to teach me often that He is the only one that knows the plans for my future and I have no control over any part of it. If I’m not careful, I will have out my ‘future husband feelers’ and inspect every single guy that I meet. That’s not what God wants!

God wants me to love Him.

God wants me to get to know Him.

God wants me to be looked after and feel protected by Him.

God wants to get through my thick head and have me realize that life isn’t all about high-school, college, marriage, kids, retirement. Life is about loving Christ!!

Also, in my case, I have a daddy that loves me and loves Jesus….A LOT, and even that is an understatement. Multiple times after Rich would talk to my daddy about our relationship, Rich would tell me, “You mean the world to your father.” When the time is right and the right guy comes along God will communicate to my dad if a particular guy is marriage material.

So I guess when it comes down to it, the ladies side of this would be,

“Imagine a woman so focused on God, that she won’t look back at you until God says, ‘I love you, and so does he.’”

Today’s Blessing:

Being able to love my Jesus and focus on Him.

Being able to trust my dad and Christ that they have my best interest in mind.

-Christy

More Than I Can Imagine (113)

I dont know about you, but i can think up some pretty amazing things that God could do. That verse promises that he can do far more than i could ask or think or imagine. That’s some pretty exciting stuff right there!! He has more than enough power to crush the earth with a single breath, but He is gentle enough to heal my broken heart and take care of my future. What an amazing God!!

Today’s Blessing:

1. The incredible things that God has planned for my future!

-Christy

 

What Are You Living For? (105)

Future. What pops into your mind when you hear that word? Well, that probably depends on where you are in life.

If you’re a teenager, you’re probably thinking…graduating from high-school, college….

If you’re a young adult, you’re probably thinking…career, college, marriage, family….

If you’re an adult you’re probably thinking family, retirement, grandkids maybe?

I’ve recently begun to wonder what happens in when you are old and all you’ve been doing is living for those future moments. If you’ve been living your whole life for whatever the next exciting milestone is what happens when you’re 90 years old? Do you start living for death? I picture myself sitting alone in an old recliner all wrinkly, my husband has passed, and my kids are all grown and have moved away. What thoughts am I thinking? What meaning does my life have now?

I’ve come to the conclusion that that’s what makes the difference. Whether or not you are cranky when you are old is determined by how and what you’ve been living for. I’ve met a lot of cranky older people in my life. As a matter of fact before I moved to Arkansas, I probably knew a lot more cranky old people than sweet ones. I used to think that the people were cranky because they had always been like that or they had unpleasant experiences in their lives. I also thought that the sweet old people hadn’t experienced any hardships or trials in their lives. Shortly after moving to Arkansas we started going to a tiny church that one older couple attended. This couple wasn’t exceptionally cranky, but they weren’t a super happy couple either. The lady had many health issues and seemed to live defeated by them. The couple had moved from their  home state so that they could be closer to family and didn’t seem very happy about that either. Then we found Village Bible church. As I have mentioned several times that we were instantly blown away by their friendliness. For the first month or so, I remember thinking that these people must have never had any hardships. Haha! I couldn’t have been more wrong. The longer I talked to these people and the more stories I heard the more I respected and wanted to model my life after these people. There were couples who were faced with infertility, couples whose children had been murdered, couples who had many unsaved family members,  and couples who had lost everything. The fascinating thing was that you rarely saw any of these couples frowning or pouting. These couples trusted God through unthinkable circumstances.

There was one couple in particular that made a huge impact on my life. They were in their late 90s. They always had smiles and you could see the love they had for each other radiating from them. They walked into church holding hands and rarely missed a Sunday even though they had to have someone drive them. This couple had children that were not walking with the Lord and had children that they rarely saw anymore. They had one son that had been murdered. Nothing shook the faith of this couple. They loved their Jesus and loved each other.

I want to have a life like that! They didn’t have a perfect life. Im sure that they wouldn’t have planned their life like it has played out, but they trust God anyway. They continue to rely on Him and continue to impact lives like my own.

What or who are you living for?

Are you living for your future? What happens when it gets here?

Are you living for your husband or wife? What happens when they don’t meet your needs?

Are you living for your career? What happens when you retire?

Are you living for your kids? What happens when they are grown?

Christ is the only person that wont change. He’s not going to move away or stop loving you. If you are living for Him you wont be rocked when the trials of life come your way. You wont ever see your life as pointless. God always has a purpose and a plan. Part of the plan for the old couple I mentioned was the way that they impacted my life and have challenged me to live my life for Jesus alone!

Lord, I trust You!

Today’s Blessings:

1. Whatever comes my way, I know that it’s part of God’s perfect plan for my life.
2. My puppy gets to come home from the vet today!!! J

-Christy

I Dont Wanna Mess Up!! (84)

What if I screw up my life?

What if I completely mess up God’s plan beyond repair?

What if I disappoint my family?

It seems like my friends, both near and far, are all struggling with the same thing, myself included. I don’t know if it’s because we are growing up and our parents are no longer making all major decisions. Maybe it’s because the light bulb is coming on that we aren’t 8 years old anymore. Or perhaps God is sending us through the same struggle so we can help each other through it. Whatever the reason, I think it’s time I make a post on it.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this actually. It probably started around the time I was a junior in high school. Just a little bit of background on me. I’m the youngest; not only in my immediate family, but on both sides of extended family. Well, at least the youngest girl. All of my older cousins are girls. I’ve watched them all grow up and make choices; some good and some…not so good. Since the time I was little, I purposed to not be like my cousins!! Not everything they have done hasnt been horrible, but I want to be different!! I don’t want to be status quo! In all of that purposing to be different the aforementioned questions have popped up several times.

What if I fail in my goal at being different?

What if I make the same mistakes they have?

What if I watch my mom cry herself to sleep over me, like I saw her do over them?

It really wasn’t until this recent trial with Rich that I finally came to a peace about this predicament. I came very close to messing up with Rich. Now, before you get your britches in a bunch, we didn’t come close to crossing any “major” physical  boundaries, but I made some compromises that I shouldn’t have. I made some choices that were probably less than top notch. What I find to be a huge blessing in the whole situation is that because I hadn’t completely shut out my parents and authority, God was able to use them to bring me back in the center of His will. This allowed me to realize that if I’m seeking the counsel of my elders, (sorry mom and dad, don’t mean to make you sound old….) and really desire for God to use me, then when situations arise that could throw me off course He loves me enough to give me a chance to make the right choice!

I’m currently reading “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. (Loving it so far) In one section He takes us to Jeremiah 1:6-10

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

 

I love it when people in Scripture remind me of me! Jeremiah, Moses, and others, like to tell God what they are capable of and what they are not capable of…Just like Christy! From this passage Mr. Chan said:

“I don’t have to worry about not meeting His (God’s) expectations. God will ensure my success according to His plan, not mine!”

If God wants me to do something, He will align circumstances to make it happen. When you feel like you are a failure, take a step back and see what God says. Are you really a failure to God, or are you just a failure at your own plans? Fortunately for us, God’s plan is the only one that really matters!

I say all of that to say this: Why worry about our future? Why worry about messing up? God’s not gonna let you fail to the point of no return if you are His child! That doesn’t mean that you wont face hard things. That doesn’t mean that you will never make a wrong choice. But when you do, you can be comforted in knowing that God’s plan will always prevail!

Today’s Blessings:

1. A God that is big enough to have my life all figured out and desires that personal relationship with me!
2. I don’t have to stress about my future! My God’s got it all under control!
3. My gramma didn’t break any bones when she fell! Praise the Lord!

 

-Christy