3/17/2014 0 Comments Just smileI'm hoping and praying that everyone had a wonderful spring break full of rest, fun, and laughter. If it wasn't, then just be thankful that you had the week off from school! If last week wasn't your spring break and this week is, then I hope you have fun because all the people back at school are jealous of you! Haha. Well, we all know that life comes with ups and downs, it's cliche to even say that. However, when something goes wrong in our lives, we automatically jump to the "my life sucks mode". We fail to remember the times when we were happy or when things were going okay in our lives.All of the positive and happy memories just dissolve and the negative is magnified. We can't help it, it's human nature. So it's easy to praise God when everything is going great in our life. When we have nothing to worry about and everything is just fine and dandy, praising Him is easy. Nevertheless, when something doesn't go exactly how we planned, or something negative has occurred, do we continue to praise God? No. We're all just wrapped up in our situation that we forget to praise Him. Instead we stop praising him and start complaining. Maybe we should just stop and think. Would you want a friend who only stuck with you through the happy times in your life? Instead during the hard times, we should think about the positive events that have happened in your life such as getting a great grade in a class, not getting run over in the hall, playing really well in your sport or getting a paycheck.We should continue to smile and be thankful for everything that God has done in our lives. You're alive, you're breathing. You should smile and praise God whether you're going through a mountain or a valley in your life right now. He sees your heart and where you're at and loves you either way. I hope that this week you smile. It doesn't matter if you're going through something terrible or something amazing, you'll thank yourself in the long run when you have smile lines instead of frown lines. Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” -Nicole
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2/25/2014 0 Comments You are moreSorry it's been a while since I last posted, with scholarship packets, school, work and other things, I've just been so busy! Anyway, here's what's been on my mind lately: So there's this song on the radio that always happens to play when I turn my radio on in the car. The lyrics say something like: "You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes, You are more than the problems you create,You've been remade." The more I think about it, the more that it really hits me. Our mistakes do no define us. Our past does not define us. We have been remade into what God sees us: his precious child that he unconditionally loves. We shouldn't continually to look down at ourselves and beat ourselves down over something that we said or did yesterday or even a year ago. I know it's hard to let go of our past mistakes sometimes, but we must slowly learn how to do it. God forgave us and continues to forgive us even though we continue to make mistakes so we should learn to forgive ourselves. Daniel 9:9 says: "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him" What gives us the right to not forgive ourselves when God already has forgiven us? 2/9/2014 0 Comments SelflessnessIt's crazy to think how we've become so selfish lately. We've come to have a mentality of "I do what I want" or "I'm doing me and that's all that matters". With that kind of mentality growing rapidly in our generation, it makes me wonder what our future is going to be like. It's okay to be put yourself first and to do what makes you happy to an extent, but we shouldn't forget about how our actions affect others as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of being selfish too. I don't even realize it sometimes. We just get caught up in ourselves and what will make us happy and what will benefit us. We refuse to help someone even if it's something that won't even take ten minutes because we're "too busy". Imagine if Jesus was selfish and didn't want to die on the cross for our sins. I mean he was perfect and he was dying on the cross for OUR sins. What if he was just like "Um no God. I'm doing me and I'm putting myself first before all of these wicked people who just continue to sin"? Jesus is a perfect example of someone who walked in selflessness. He didn't have to die on the cross for our sins, but he chose to because he loves us. It's not wrong to put ourselves first once in a while, but if we continue to think that way and put ourselves before other people then where will that get us? Even if it's just holding the door for someone or letting them borrow a pen when he or she didn't have one, we can slowly start to be selfless. Who knows, maybe one act of selflessness this week can trigger something in someone and make them feel loved. I know that the world would become a different place if we slowly became selfless. "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interest of others". -Philippians 2:4 |
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