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?

Refusing to Rejoice

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy's."

Almost a week ago, on this past Sunday, May 1st, the world started celebrating.


Was it a holiday? No.


Was there a special wedding or birthday? No.

Why were we celebrating again?

We, dear friends, as a whole, were celebrating the death of someone else.

Osama Bin Laden.

I was on Twitter when I got this news. I can't tell you how many tweets I saw regarding how great this was. People were so happy! As a friend said, "5-1-11. A small revenge for 9-11-01."


Now, don't get me wrong: I realized what he did. I know who Osama Bin Laden is, yet at the same time, I could help but feel... sorry for him.


This is probably the only time I will ever get into a political issue on this blog. Really. I'm not much for politics. However, I feel like this is important to share. It's okay if you don't agree with me!

When I saw this massive out pour of people rejoicing over this situation, it made me feel bad. I mean, I sincerely hope that when I die (in 100+ years!), people aren't rejoicing about it.


Granted, I'm not planning on blowing up any skyscrapers, either. 


I don't know about you, but I refuse to rejoice. Our country has been on edge for almost 10 years, trying catch this man. And he's finally caught.


I've come a long way learning to be a compassionate, empathetic, non-judgmental person (still working on it, actually).  This is why I cannot bring myself to get excited over another mans death.


It's the principle of the thing. No matter who they are, I simply won't celebrate. I can't.


Blessings!

What about you? Do you see where I'm coming from? How did you react? Are you rejoicing, or are you refusing?

Not Missing It!

This year, for Lent, I gave up all drinks besides water. {Seeing as how I'm addicted to tea, this was a challenge for me!} At first I missed drinking tea so badly. I couldn't keep my mind off of it! Plain old unflavored water just couldn't compete with delicious flavorful green tea!

It's been almost 2 weeks now, and I don't really miss tea at all. I know that I'm only drinking water until Easter, so I don't dwell on tea. This little experience has led me to a bigger, much more important question:

What if, instead of a break from drinking tea, you take a break from your relationship with God?

Just a break, right? When it's over, you'll turn right back to Christ and build you relationship back up again.

Only... what if you find that you DON'T miss it? You aren't longing for your relationship with Christ back. You are content to just drift away and take which ever path Satan leads you towards.

Then we have a problem.

Some things that we give up over the course of life {like tea!} are beneficial to us. They improve our lives.

Other things, like Bible reading and our time with the Lord, should not be given up. Ever!

The thing is, that once we get more lenient and stop spending time in the Word, we start to get used to it. It becomes routine for us not to read the Bible. We stop MISSING it.

We should miss it! We should crave every second and delight in all of our precious time building up our relationship in Christ. God's Grace is a free gift, and we should be enjoying that gift our whole lives.

Think about it. Be proactive, so as not to miss out on something great. We don't know how long this journey we call life will last, so we must make each moment count.

What is something you have given up that you really should NOT be missing out on?

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

Blessings!

Even God has a Sense of Humor

Yesterday, I was making a quick dinner for my family. Bisquick Chicken (that I DID NOT eat, being a vegetarian), a few packages of chicken flavored Lipton pasta sides, and some green beans. Very simple.

The noodles were done cooking, so I set the lid on top and went back to my laptop. My sister heard a big popping noise, but I told her it was just the oven.

A few minutes later, I went back to the kitchen to check on everything. I grabbed the handle of the noodle pot and pulled it off without even glancing at it.

{Cell Phone Pictures. Sorry for the horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE quality, but you get the gist.}

Shattered. That’s right all the glass in the lid shattered into a thousand pieces. Miniature glass pieces went flying. I could not have been more shocked. As you can see, the glass was all mixed in with the noodles, making them inedible. 

Truthfully, the effect of the shattered glass did look pretty cool. What is not cool, though, is that apparently some of those glass shards landed on the floor. And I stepped on one. My foot hurt for the next thirty minutes.

This was definitely an unexpected surprise in my weekend. I’m just thankful that no one got hurt, because broken glass is definitely a hazard. It could have easily gotten into someone’s eye, but luckily we had someone looking out for us.

Afterwards, when we had eaten dinner (with white rice instead)  and cleaned up the glass, we all had a good laugh about this. I mean, really, who has ever seen the lid the a pot  just spontaneously shatter like that?

So the lesson I’ve learned coming out of this weekend? God has a sense of humor. Isn’t that such a relief?

Blessings!

Does He give up?

Today, I was at my 11 year old little sister's middle school to pick her up. I don't usually do this... but its Friday, so why not? I also had to bring over the permission form for a field trip that she had forgotten to bring with her this morning.

I navigated my way down the hall to her locker, where we met up. She said to me, " I have to lend my friend my notebook so she can get some notes from when she was sick. Will you go turn in the permission slip for me?"

"Well, okay but meet me out front in ten minutes." I told her. I wasn't crazy about squirming my way down the hallway, the only 18 year old amongst a bunch of 11, 12, and 13 year olds, but whatever.

I was actually kind of excited because the teacher I had to turn the form into had been one of my favorites. She always loved me back in my middle school days, so I figured she would appreciate a visit.

I walked into the room and was immediately greeted by an exclaim of surprise. "Sydney! How nice to see you again! Class, this is Sydney, one of my favorite students from about, what, 5 years ago...?" I was embarrassed, but it was sweet.

Anyway, we chatted for a few minutes and I gave her the form. There were still kids in her room, as they were staying after school to finish missing assignments.

I had heard a snippet of a rather disturbing conversation between 2 boys. They were talking about...um... well, where they were going to get drugs. And some other inappropriate things as well. Cringe. As I passed their table on my way out, I heard the one boy say, " Well, God gave up on me, so..."

That's it. Just those seven simple words. I couldn't believe it. I know in my heart that I was meant to hear those words. To come to this great revelation about God. I drove home in a daze (don't worry, I was still paying attention to the road!), and now here I am, writing this post.

None of us are perfect. None of us are truly *worthy*. Our great God though, He give us His unending grace anyway. I firmly believe that he doesn't give up. No matter how many mistakes we make, how many times we have to ask for forgiveness, He will always love us. God is mighty, His grace infinite.

"In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit," - Ephesians 1:13

So to this young teenager (whose name I know is Alex) : God hasn't given up. He's just been blown out of perspective, made to seem unattainable, but he ISN'T.

Repent. Ask for God's grace and His guidance in your life. We've all done wrong, but God is willing to give us a new life. A clean slate.

"For sin will have no domain over you, since you are not under law but under grace."  - Romans 6:14

Don't lose perspective. Closeness with God is something we can all achieve. Really, it's US who give up on God. Don't give up. Change your life!

As I was writing this post, the words to the song, Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath, came to mind. We have to open our eyes, and choose to see what God wants us to see in our own lives and the lives of others.

Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight

Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath

There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time


I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you’ve seen the people all along

So there you have it: God NEVER gives up! His grace is more than enough. 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness." - 2 Corinthians 12:9 

Blessings!