the small things

so yesterday i went to out to ice cream with my good friend lauren and we had such a wonderful time talking like always, and we got on to the topic of lifestyle evangelism. we both have had many experiences in our lives with people, and through our lives we have had the opportunity to share the love of God, simply because that person was watching our life, and noticed something different.

when i was going to school at rhema, we had a class about evangelism. we studied different types of evangelism, and one of those was lifestyle. the teacher of the class stated that he felt that lifestyle evangelism was one of the most powerful tools that we have to be a witness for Christ in this world. a lot of people will not listen to a preacher, or even step foot in a church, but when they know you are a Christian, they WATCH you. they probably will study your life harder than you will ever know. each day we have the opportunity to share Christ in a powerful unspoken way, and that is simply by living your life in a manner that will bring glory to Him. whether it is in simply smiling at someone every day, preferring someone in line, buying someone lunch, not swearing, not being hateful or angry, in whatever it is you have the chance to be a shining light for the Lord.

last night Lauren said that with living your life for Christ and being a witness that it isn't even in the big things that people notice, but its in the small day to day things that we don't realize. i have known this to be true in my life. with many of my coworkers it has been the simple things that they have brought up as a reason that made them know there was something different about me. whether it is my optimism, my kindness, my joy, or my conscience to not lie, cheat, swear, drink, smoke, or whatever it is, they are the things that don't phase me or seem big at all, but to the outsider who is watching, it speaks volumes.

i guess my point in all this is that each day remember to glorify God in your life and your actions, you never know who is watching you and you may be the only Jesus that they will ever see. make sure that you reflect Him in a manner that He is worthy of. this is something that i constantly have to work at, every day is a choice, but the results have been awesome for me, and i know they will be for you too.

a time and a season

lately i have really been thinking a lot about what God has called me to, what He has purposed my life for. i can't believe that it has been over a year since i graduated from rhema, that is so mind-blowing to me. the thought of my call to ministry has been on my mind a lot lately, my heart is yearning so much to see what the Lord has shown me glimpses of over the years start to be fulfilled in my life. i feel like there is so much more that i should be doing, and i would love nothing more than to have my job be in the ministry right now, but i know that there is a time and a season for it.

it's hard for me because i see people i graduated with and i see them in ministry right now and i ask the lord why can't i be doing that? silly i know to compare my call to someone else when the Lord has individual things for each of us, but i know you get what i mean. i know that the Lord is preparing me right now for that time when i will be in ministry, but its hard to not be anxious for it. sometimes i feel like in the daily grind of working a secular job that i am not really doing what the Lord has called me to, and its silly for me to think that because what better ministry opportunity is there then working in a secular workplace with people who need Jesus so much. the devil tries to get in my mind and belittle what it is that i am doing working right now, but there has been many chances for me to share my faith with my coworkers that i am doing ministry work, but just in a different way.

my heart yearns to walk in all the God has shown me, but its all in His timing. the call of God is something that will never be lost in my life, i will do all that He has shown me and more, but its all one step at a time. it's that growth period that i need to go through before i can do all the other things. you can't get ahead of what God has for you in this season of your life. daily i have to remind myself of that, to not get ahead of Him, to not be impatient, but trust in what He is doing. i know that i am where i am supposed to be, and even though i don't understand it all, i may not see all that God is doing behind the scenes but i just have to be faithful to the here and now.

i will continue to be passionate about the lost, passionate about helping them to find Christ and the greatness of the Father, it is what i am wired for, its what my heart beats for. i want to see this world impacted by the Father's love in the way that i have been. i can't wait for the plan he has to unfold in my life, all in HIS timing.

and he'll do it again

so lately scott and i have been facing some challenges in the financial realm. now, its not anything horribly challenging, but things have been tighter then usual. with paying off final bills for the wedding, and having gone over budget a smidge, it made things tighter than we are used to. now why am i sharing this personal part of my life with you? because in every obstacle and challenge that i have faced, God has ALWAYS been bigger.

not only where things tight because of the wedding and honeymoon expenses, the cherry on top of that was that my break pad on my car needed to be fixed, among other things that needed to be cleaned up, so there was another expense that didn't need to be added to our already tight looking finances. Praise God that He is always BIGGER then our problems! scott and i were talking about this situation and he was really down on it, not speaking faith or the word of God over the situation, just really looking at it from the worldy perspective. so i stopped him as he was talking and i took the time to remind him that God has never let us down, that He has ALWAYS been there when we needed something, when we couldn't do it in our own strength He has made a way. why would this situation be any different? why in this situation would He let us down? scott agreed with me, and said well we need something to happen because we can't do this on our own.

and nevertheless the very next day we got a call from someone who knew of our situation and wanted to make sure that we knew that if we needed a little extra help with paying for my car repairs that they would be there to help us. PRAISE GOD! it was so awesome that the day after scott and i decided to speak the word over our situation that God was able to step in and make a way for us! even better news is that things ended up not being as tight as we thought and we probably won't need to borrow the money from that person, but we still have a way if we need it.

i guess my point is always remember the goodness of God. there is so much in life that the Lord has done for you, and in those moments when things get tough and the devil is trying to get you down, and get you focused on the problem at hand, look up to Him and remember what He has brought you through. remember His faithfulness and what awesome obstacles He has taken care of for you. if He did it once, He will do it again, that is a promise you can rely on!

what are you dreaming about?

i LOVE the word of God! i love how you can read one thing and it will explode a million things inside you from just ONE word from God. this weekend pastor mac had a great message on imagination & expectation and it really stirred me up. he was talking about using your thought life to imagine what the blessing of God could be in your life. he encouraged us to set aside time in our day to imagine our life as God see's it, through the word and the promises contained in it.

this morning while i was at work i spent some time doing that. i was folding some invoices that i do everyday and instead of daydreaming about getting more sleep, i thought about my life and what God's word has to say about it. i thought about living a life that is truly BLESSED beyond measure! it got me really excited! there are so many things and dreams that the Lord has placed in my heart and i spent some time just imagining myself doing exactly all that He has shown me. it is so exciting to think about fulfilling the call on your life, and doing it with no lack but having MORE then enough to reach the world with the power of Christ. there could be nothing better!! :)

i love how if all we ever has was just one promise, one verse in the word of God and that would be enough for the rest of our life, but God gave us so much more than that! He gave us an entire book filled with the promises He has given to us and it so much more then we will ever understand in this life! praise God for His word!!!

here i go again

so i am again to blog my little heart out!! i tried to start blogging again earlier in the year but with the wedding and everything else that was going on, it wasn't something that i could keep up on a daily basis. however now that i am a old married lady [not really but you know what i mean :)] i think that i can keep this up! blogging for me is pretty theraputic, it helps me to clear my mind and keep track of my own thoughts.

so what is good in life for me? scott and i have been married a month now, it feels like it has been longer than that yet i feel like our wedding was yesterday. it is funny to me how that works! the past month has been such a fun time of learning and growing together as husband and wife. it has been so interesting to finally live with him and learn a lot of new things about him, which to me is so funny since we have been together for 5 1/2 years. i love living with my best friend, waking up to him in the morning and then going to sleep with him at night, there really is nothing better!

being married has been such a growing experience in my relationship with the Lord as well. it is so wonderful to experience one of the greatest blessings that God ever created for His children in the gift of marriage. i now can understand why there is such an attack on marriage and what it stands for in this world, because it truly is such a blessing from God. there truly is nothing like it, and i am so grateful to know what marriage truly means. anyways, i won't blabber on forever, i am sure in future posts this subject will continue :)