What Time I am Afraid…(130)

I was scared of the dark for most of my childhood, and if im honest, im still not a huge fan of it. I’ve always had this crazy fear of being kidnapped at night. To this day, when I move to a new house I always check out my bedroom window and identify any obstacles a potential kidnapper would have to go through to get in my window. Of all of the places that I have lived, the ones with big shrubs in front of my window have been my favorites. I also hated to be babysat. I didn’t like anyone but mom or dad and would whine and cry for quite some time after they left me. I think because of these fears my parents had me memorize this verse early on:

“What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.” Psalm 56:3

I tell ya, my parents were pretty smart in choosing verses for me to memorize as a child. I actually had forgotten about that verse until recently. I remember I was laying in bed staring at the ceiling and the Lord brought that verse to my mind. I realized in that moment, that that verse isn’t just for a child that’s afraid of the dark.

That verse is for a child scared of starting a new school.

That is verse is for a teenager afraid of being made fun of for taking a stand for Christ.

That verse is for the senior in high-school who has no idea what the future may hold.

That verse is for the young parent afraid of ruining the life of their child.

That verse doesn’t have an age limit or special conditions that have to apply before we can put our trust in Christ. It simply says, When I’m afraid- I will trust you! So when fearful thoughts creep into your mind, remember that God is more than capable of giving us the strength to conquer that fear if we just trust Him!

Today’s Blessing:

I love the simple truths that can be found in Scripture. You don’t have to have a degree in theology to grasp these concepts!

-Christy

Let No Man Despise Your Youth (129)

Today I would like to share a topic that a lot of people my age who want to follow Christ will hear from someone, at least once on their journey.

“You’re so young; you will change your mind about things when you enter the real world.”

“Awww, there there, you just haven’t experienced enough of life to realize that God is just a fake.”

“When you face a REAL trial you won’t cling to your naïve faith anymore.”

I want to be so angry when I hear these phrases. However, I take comfort in the fact that these kinds of phrases aren’t a new phenomenon. Paul encouraged Timothy to not let people look down on him.

“Let no one despise or think less of you because of your youth, but be an example (pattern) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12

Paul tells Timothy to not let other people discourage him because He is young. Instead he tells Timothy that He can be an example for the believers. Age has nothing to do with whether or not you can follow Christ and make a difference in the lives of others.

Maybe I haven’t experienced a lot in my short life, (although I think I could probably argue otherwise) but I have seen many people that have trusted God through unthinkable trials. When a person truly clings to Christ through a hard time they almost always come out of the trial stronger and more confident in their faith.

A trial doesn’t have to mean that you get angry with God. A trial doesn’t have to mean that you cant smile anymore. Looking back, the moments that I shook my fist at God were the darkest moments in the trial. The moments that I decided I didn’t deserve to smile anymore were the saddest times because I was letting the Deceiver win the battle. He was rejoicing because I was choosing to look at my circumstances instead of looking at God’s ultimate plan.

So today I want to encourage other young people. I know for a fact that God doesn’t have an age limit on trials. Just because you are young doesn’t mean that you are exempt from hard things. So don’t you dare believe for one moment that the struggle you are having isn’t real. God wants to give you the victory over the hard things. He wants you to fall more and more in love with Him through every difficult thing you go through.

Don’t think for even a moment that your response to a difficulty doesn’t matter because you aren’t an adult yet. Proverbs 20:11 says, “ Even a child is known by his acts, whether [or not] what he does is pure and right” Your response as a teenager or young adult can have and does have a profound impact on those who watch you go through your struggles.

No matter how old you are it is incredibly important to follow Christ no matter what!!

Today’s Blessing:

1. The grace that God gives to go through trials no matter your age

-Christy

Lightbulb (128)

I had a light-bulb moment today. Let me tell you about it.

When I received my college acceptance letter I was really more shocked than anything. I was excited, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not what I thought God was going to do. I couldn’t believe that that was God’s will. Since receiving the letter I have continued to be in shock. Because I prayed so specifically for God to be clear in this matter I knew that this was His answer but my heart had been growing attachments elsewhere. When I received the financial aid letter from the school that I really wanted to go to I discovered that that would a legitimate choice because I was able to get enough aid. So at that moment I had a choice. I could choose to go to the school that I had set my hopes on or go to the school that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was the one that my God wanted me to attend. I was so certain that God was going to make it possible for me to attend a school in southern Arkansas. It was to be further away from Rich- I was going to minor in ministry. Those seemed to be good things right? I mean, there is nothing wrong from trying to put as many miles between Rich and I as possible, right? And a ministry related course of study? God cant hate that, right? No, I don’t believe He does hate those things, but that’s not his plan for me. He had it worked out for me to go to a school that is not secular but almost, and not have a ministry degree. I’ve really had a hard time wrapping my head around that thought. God would get the most glory if I went to a Christian School, right? That’s when the light bulb came on. I’ve grown up in a Christian home, gone to Christian School, and now it’s time for me to let my light shine in a new way and in a new environment.

If I’ve learned anything in my short life it’s been that God doesn’t change based on your geographical location. He is the same at every university whether it be in Arkansas or Michigan or somewhere in Africa. So I’m no longer surprised at His very specific answer to my prayer. As a matter of fact I’m really excited because I know that I am about to be in the very center of God’s will; As a child of God there is no better place than that. I am most certain that my beliefs are about to be challenged and I will be faced with decisions to follow God completely or let Him fall to the wayside. The choice to follow God completely is up to me. In order to avoid waking up one day to life filled with regret and ruin I must make daily choices to walk hand in hand with my Jesus and let Him change me daily.

Today’s Blessings:

1. Finally coming to a peace about God’s decision.
2. The fact that God never changes.

-Christy

Blessings in Scripture (125)

I’ve had a pretty great day hanging out with my momma. We had some necessary errands, but mostly we just went wherever we felt like and took all the time we wanted to. At one of the places we stopped I found two canvas posters that have a couple of my favorite Bible verses on them.

Psalm 37:4 (as most of you know, is one that I have claimed throughout my struggles recently.) Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Isaiah 26:3 (this also is one that I have claimed and continue to claim regularly. It’s the one that I repeated to myself while my family drove up from Arkansas.) You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Im so glad I found these! Now they hang in my room as a reminder of all that Christ has brought me through and all of the things that He will continue to do in my life.

Im not going to pretend that I haven’t been struggling this week, but I am so thankful for my Jesus. His grace is always sufficient, He is trustworthy, and He always, always, ALWAYS, has my best interest in mind.

Today’s Blessings:

1. Finding the posters with some of my favorite verses on them.
2. His grace that’s always enough.
3. His trustworthiness

-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

Should Loving Jesus Change my Life (122)

I have a question for you all.

Should loving Jesus change your life?

That seems like a simple enough question right? Of course loving Jesus should change your life. But do you really believe that? If you took a survey of people that spend time with you in an average week, would they know that you love Jesus? Now, im talking about if your facebook friends or your followers on twitter know that you love Jesus. Im asking if the people who interact with you face to face know that you love Jesus.

If you love Jesus it should change your life. If you love Jesus loving what the world loves should make you uncomfortable. Lets just clarify something real fast. When I say that loving Jesus should change your life, im not saying that you should cover your car in Christian bumper stickers, see how many WWJD bracelets you can fit on one arm, or hand out your used church bulletins to everyone you meet. When I say that loving Jesus should change your life, Im saying that it should change your inner life. Loving God should change your heart. It should make you seem different, but not, ‘that guy is WEIRD’ different, but more like, ‘I wish I could be like that’ different.

Ya know what’s really cool about letting Jesus change your life? When you let Him transform you, through the reading of His Word and prayer, the outside changes happen automatically. Sometimes you might not even realize that the change is taking place. Just like when someone walks away from Christianity. They don’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll ruin my life today.” It’s a slow gradual change that many times they don’t even realize is happening.

My challenge for you today is to get lost in God’s love for you. Let Jesus change your life from the inside out.

Today’s Blessing:

Because Im waiting for God’s timing in many areas, this has allowed my love for Him to deepen.

-Christy

God is Not Abandoning You! (117)

 

I hear a phrase like this a lot by believers and unbelievers alike, “If God really loves me, then why does He keep taking away the people and things that l love? Why does He put me through hard things? If He really loved me, wouldn’t He make my life easier?”

Here is what I have to say to that. If God didn’t love you, He wouldn’t try to direct your life at all. He would just let you wander aimlessly and let you eventually kill yourself off with stupidity. But like the quote above says, “God wouldn’t bring you this far to abandon you.” God doesn’t like to see us struggle, but He knows it’s necessary to produce an individual that will love and serve Him with their life. It’s just like the example I’ve used of my parents giving me swats. They didn’t spank me because they enjoyed seeing me cry and scream, they spanked me because they loved me too much to see me behave wrongly. That’s the same reason why my dad ended things with Rich. If he didn’t love me, he would have let me continue down the path of a relationship before the time was right. But he loves me, so he let me endure deep temporary heartache instead of life ruining pain that could have come as a result of an early relationship.

So, I want to encourage you today. God has an incredible plan for your life! He hasn’t been dragging you through the fire because He hates you, but because He loves you and wants the absolute best for your life. God hasn’t brought you this far to abandon you. He loves you!!

Today’s Blessing:

A God that wants what’s best and is willing to put us through difficult  things in order to produce an individual that loves Him above all else.

-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

Listening…Pt1 (115)

Well hello there! So glad you found your way over to “Blessings in Waiting” today.

Remember several weeks ago when I posted about self control and I had this rash that was teaching me self control. Well the rash hasn’t gone away and in fact it has spread up my face. It is currently hanging out around my eye which makes seeing and focusing on things rather difficult. Basically my eye is swollen and I look like I might have been in a fight. (You should of seen the other guy, black and blue and bloody…just kidding) So todays post wont be lengthy. Lets get to it!

I really like this quote. I cant wait to marry a man that has God as his single focus. I cant wait for him to have a relationship with God so strong that it’s like God is sitting in the other room. But I also like to think of the female’s side of this quote. What would be the equivalent? What would be going on between the girl and God?

That, my friends, is where I am going to leave you today. (Told you I’d be brief) I will pick back up with this thought tomorrow.

In the meantime, today’s blessings:

1. At least my eye isn’t swollen shut.
2. A God that desires an intimate relationship with us.

Memories From a Blanket (73-74)

I am so very sorry that I failed to write yesterday. I was sick!! I wasn’t sure I was going to write today until my mom surprised me with a chiropractor appointment scheduled after work!! After an adjustment and a few muscle tests, I am feeling much better! I no longer feel like I am going puke!

The first day that I was sick, mom decided to wash my favorite fuzzy blanket. This meant that I had to find my second favorite fuzzy blanket to cuddle up with on the couch. I found my fuzzy penguin blanket in a zip up pouch that I had not opened since we moved. I pulled it out and instantly noticed that it still smelled like Arkansas! Call me strange, but every house I’ve ever lived has a distinct smell. They aren’t necessarily bad but every place has a different one. The last time I used this particular blanket was one of the times that Rich came over for an afternoon. I was cold, as usual, so I used to blanket to drape over my legs while we sat on the couch. So this blanket smells like Arkansas and Rich; so many good memories in that smell! It smells like comfort and happiness and good times! I almost hate to start using the blanket again. I know that eventually the smell of the blanket is going to wear off. I can’t just reapply that scent like I could with one of my favorite stuffed animals when I was little. Once this scent is gone it will never be able to come back. Even if I see Rich again or move back to Arkansas the smell will be different.

It’s like that with all moments in life. Many times we don’t approach things like that though. We live through so many moments that we forget that we can never get any of those moments back. We make decisions, or snap at loved ones and seem to forget that once that moment in time passes, it can never return. Time is so very precious!

This time that I have between high school and college is time that God has given me to impact the lives of others. It’s possible that God will move me again before I know what His purpose is. It’s possible that I may never know who I’m impacting, but I must use the time that God has given me to the fullest!

Today’s Blessing:
1.The good memories that came from the smell of my blanket

2.The time that God gives us to impact others.

-Christy