...Just Believe!

Child-like faith


"Do not fear, only believe." {Mark 5:36}

Have you ever had a Bible verse just speak to you? 

This one did. 

It's so short... only 5 simple words. Yet at the same time, it's incredibly inspiring.

How many times have you been scared? Unsure about the direction your life was taking? Doubtful that things would turn out right?

But what was there to be afraid of?

Isaiah 41:10 says, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

How many times have you said, "I can't do this!"? Worried that you weren't strong enough, brave enough, smart enough, pretty enough...?

But why didn't you just believe in yourself?

Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength."

How many times have you said a prayer only for it to never be answered? For God to not listen, and to leave you questioning His existence and doubting His goodness?

But didn't you have faith?

Mark 11:24 says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

You see what I mean?

So in Mark 5:36 we are told not to fear (or to cast our cares on the Lord, as Psalms 55:22 puts it.) but only to believe (believe that you can do anything, no matter how big or scary, John 14:12 puts it.).

Stop letting that fear or worry get to you, and start believing that you were given a truly wonderful and perfect, yes perfect, life by the One and only who can give life!

He'll never forsake you, and he'll always love you so much...

Just believe in Him, because He's got your back!

Crazy Things....

I'm sure you all know (and idolize!) Beth Moore.

Right?

I've been trying to get a copy of her book, So Long, Insecurity from the library forever, and it's still yet to happen!

Today, I discovered some of Beth Moore's videos....

Specifically this one. Maybe you've watched it before, but maybe not in a little while. Watch. Listen. Take it in.



Wow.

Isn't that amazing?

What a testimony Beth now has. She obeyed that seemingly crazy command from God. She stopped caring what other people would think about her brushing that man's hair. She had faith that brushing his hair was what God wanted her to do.

And it was.

Now let me tell you... no matter how much I want to be this amazing Christian, I'm not. I'm far from perfect, and I'm far from obedient. I most definitely would never have even gone near that man. I would have brushed off any feelings that I should brush his hair.

I'm just being honest here. And I'm sure you feel the same way as I do. Because honestly...
I'm selective. I'll listen to God, hear what He wants me to do, and then decide whether or not to do it {not}.

But that's not how it should work.

Experiences like Beth's in that video are precious. They are proof God is there. They are tests.

Without God, no one would have been compelled to reach out to that man. No one would have been touched by Beth's unbelievably kind actions, and therefore God's love, either.

God tests our faith through experiences such as that. He forces us to get out of our comfort zones and see the world in a new way. He forces us to do something we would have never considered.... and if we trust in Him enough to do it, we will be rewarded.

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ {Matthew 25:21}

He's going to keep us safe. He's not going to purposely hurt us in any way with one of His "tests". At the end of the day, it might not even matter to us that we didn't do something "crazy" God asked us to do.

But we will have missed out on a wonderful opportunity to show Christ's love to others. And even more importantly, to trust in Him and follow the plan He has for us!

So next time God urges you to do something, take a chance! Go for it. You won't regret it, and you'll learn something special about others, about God, and about yourself.

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy." {James 1:2}

Sometimes, looking "crazy" or "weird" is a good thing. No matter how radical the calling, if it is part of His divine plan for my life, I would be honored and yes, even proud, to be considered weird. What about you?

This Is Gonna Make You Stronger.....

Have you ever had a hard day?

A day where you just feel a little under appreciated, a little under loved, and just a little bummed about how your day went?

Have you ever felt like God doesn't care about you?

I know I have. Not recently, but over the course of my life there have been many moments when I felt like God could care less about me. I wasn't good enough, I wasn't worthy, He must hate me to make me go through such a touch experience right now...

If you've ever felt this way, then this post is for you.

Because let me tell you this: God DOES love you.

No matter what. He loves ever single person on this Earth, from mass murders to 2 day old babies.

We all make mistakes, of course.

We all go through trials.

God will test our faith in Him....

But True love endures any hardship.


So love God! Be faithful to Him. When you make a mistake, ask for God's guidance. When your at the end of your rope, hold on and pray.

God doesn't allow hardships into our life to make our faith weaker, but only to make it stronger. 

He tests us. But just believe, just hold out, and all will be well!

Hold steadfast under trial.


God doesn't allow any hardship to last forever.


No matter what your going through right now, no matter how hopeless you feel, know this: He is with you! Always and forever, no matter what.

Nothing can shake Him. God is your rock. Lean on Him when you aren't strong enough to stand up by yourself.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." {Psalms 28:7}

Praise God in all things, good or bad. In the end, everything will work out for the best. God will put you through trials, but he'll always be right there to help you out if you get stuck in the middle of this crazy obstacle course we call life.

In the end, all of life's trials will have been worth it. Because

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" {Psalms 126:5}

Just believe in Him, and all things will work out for good. I promise! 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." {Jeremiah 29:11-14}

Blessings to you, sweet friend! Whatever challenges your facing right now, you CAN handle.

You just gotta have faith. :)

Good Enough

I'm not good enough.

This is what I'm constantly telling myself.

You see, I'm a perfectionist.

No matter what I do, I just feel like there is a certain standard I'm not living up too.

I'll do something, people will praise me and tell me it's amazing, but I'll still clearly see all of the flaws. I won't be satisfied.

I constantly struggle with this. Oh, I'll just try one more time, I need it to be perfect! (27 times later.)


I don't know why I'm like this. Would I rather just be a girl without a care in the world? Truthfully, no.

I'm not perfect. I'm really, really, not. I'm just a crazy person trying to reach the clouds when she can't even get to the top of the tree.

But neither can anyone else!

This is where the hope comes in.

I'm not perfect, but I'm not any less perfect than anyone else! Don't believe me? There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. {Galatians 3:28}


We are all one. Meaning we all make mistakes, and we ALL fall short of the glory of God. None of us can be perfect. We strive so hard to achieve this, yet somehow it never quite happens. That leaves is feeling down. Instead, we should rejoice!! Why? But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. {1 John 1:7}


Our Savior IS perfect. He is everything. All the glory belongs to Him. I certainly don't deserve His grace, yet He lavishes it on me. Why? But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. {Romans 5:8} And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, {Hebrews 5:9}


He died for you and I, for all of the Earth, so that we may walk freely. He sacrificed Himself, and in turn gave us the best gift we could ever ask for: life! Think about the hate and torture He endured for us on the Cross. Our Savior did not hold that against them. He humbly sacrificed himself for them. Why? That's just the way He works. 


Guess what? No matter how imperfect we see ourselves, God won''t see that. He sees the beautiful, kind people that He put on this Earth for a reason! I (nor you, sweet friend) am not a mistake. God loves me no matter how unworthy of His grace I am. 

I know that for myself, I'm going to stop trying to be the perfect person. I decided that being perfect wouldn't be any fun anyway. Why? Well, because I want to be me. I'll be as perfect as He wants for me to be.

Daddy, How Do You Know God's Real?

Daughter: How do you know God is real? You can't see God.

Dad: The wind is real but you can’t see the wind. You can only see the leaves rustling in the trees. And pain is real, but you can’t see pain. You can only see tears. Happiness is real but you can't see happiness. You can only see the smile on someone’s face.

Daughter: Will something bad happen to me if I don’t believe In God? Will something good happen to me if I do? I need to know.

Dad: Oh, so you want to weigh the punishment against the reward and then see which way to go?

Daughter: Yeah, kind of like that. If believing in God means I get a bunch of good stuff, then I believe in Him. Or if something bad is going to happen, then I believe in Him. But if nothing is going to happen, then I really don’t know.

Dad: You’re a tough one. Okay… I believe in God. And bad things and good things have happened to me and will continue to happen to me. But because I believe in God, I find I can get through the bad things. And if I didn’t get through the bad things then I’d never be able to enjoy the good things.

This is the conversation I heard last night while I was watching {what else?} 7th Heaven. The Dad is Eric {Minister} and the Daughter is Ruthie {Youngest, about 6 years old.}

Ruthie finds out that her favorite cartoon character is not real, and it is devastating for her. It causes her to question... If cartoons aren't real, what else isn't real? Is God real? Of course, being a minister, this hits her Dad close to home and he is determined to get her believing in God again.

Just because you don't believe in Him, doesn't mean He doesn't exist.  



I thought this conversation was so sweet. She's a little girl. She doesn't know who to believe in, when to believe, why she should believe... It's all so innocent. :)

What if the conflict is bigger than this? What if it's an Earth-shattering, life-changing event?

We believe in God when things are easy. That's not a challenge. But what about when things are tough? Will we trust in God then? Will He be enough for us?

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Hardship is all the more reason to trust God. Sometimes, He may very well be all you have to hold onto. But that's okay. He's not going anywhere! His grace is abundant, and He's waiting to lavish it on us, if we can just trust in Him and be unwavering in our faith.

His Grace is more than real, and more than Enough.

I'm certain that God is there. No doubt about it. I've got faith, and that's all I need. To plant a garden is to believe... that your plants are going to grow. To follow the Lord, is to believe... that He's there, and that by His grace, we will be saved. :)

...He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” - John 20:24

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. - John 6:47

What makes you chose to believe?

Blessings!