Love to me is exactly what the Bible says it is::
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5, 7-8, 13) Since i started high school every year i have prayed for God to give me a “word” to manifest on for the year. 2017 it was humility and this year it happened to be LOVE. This was laid on my heart about a year ago and I was for sure expectant to see what God was going to do with me and how he was going to use me in 2018. Rest assured he did. I cannot explain to you first before going in depth,, what following God’s will can do for you. That was probably the biggest thing i learned throughout the year. It might not be what we want and it could possibly be so hard, but the result is always so so worth it. If you know me personally you know that this word for sure came to existence in my life in ways i definitely did not expect. The instance that sticks out the most to me is during sophomore year i was so bitter towards people in my classes so i never wanted to talk to anyone or have any sort of interaction. Once 2018 came in i thought to myself this year I’m supposed to love so how can i love if I’m so bitter towards these people. So one day i decided to “love” on them and really just become school friends. Nothing too serious. I started to really enjoy these people and built up friendships and relationships with people i would have never expected if i didn’t “love”. I began praying that I can just be a light and impact to whoever God wants as well as God impacting me. It turned into me finding how to love someone in a completely different way than i thought i would ever be able to do. This is why i say God is ironic because 2018 hit me like a curve ball that i just never would have ever expected to come. I learned to love the Irish people, i learned to love my friends , i definitely learned how to love family and value them, and i learned how to love individually. This year i laughed, cried, got angry, learned, i questioned, i watched a bunch of sunsets, but i definitely can walk out of 2018 saying that i loved. Some days it was so hard for me to want to listen to God and hear the slightest whisper of I’m here, just be patient. He gives overwhelming peace and joy and for that I’m so so thankful. I definitely want to say do not do not do not ignore God’s calling for you. It won’t be what you expect bc duh He’s God, but being in the center of God’s will is the best thing ever. Happy or sad. I also want to say that being in prayer is so rewarding. I wrote down most of my prayers for the year and looking back at how God answered them truly shows that He is so faithful and is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20). I prayed for God to come in like a hurricane and I can tell you confidently that He did in so many different ways. I wouldn’t take back this year for anything and I’m so beyond thankful for the highs and the lows that have taught me all one thing— trust God. The greatest commandment is to love. Love for whatever reason because that’s what Jesus did. And i pray that moving forward i can become like him more and more each day falling in love with the Lord as if i have nothing else on this earth.
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The story of Ruth has so much underlying truth that I think can be hard to see if you just read through it. I broke the story down into two weeks and I began to see how extraordinary God is and how he perfectly weaves together everyone’s story. Naomi became a widow, just left with her two sons which married Ruth and Orpah. Then their husbands died. Now Naomi and her two daughter in laws are all widows. At that point they were probably feeling abandoned by God and maybe some what worthless. Naomi decides she wants to go to Bethlehem and Ruth BEGS to come with her. This isn’t just any old thing Ruth wanted to do. What appeared as coincidence was God’s hand continually at work. Little did they know God was going to restore them there and pick them up to show them just how sovereign He truly is. He will never leave us where we are at. Something better is always coming. Wasting our time “shaking our fists at heaven” when we can run full-force into His arms, trusting He can redeem even us, even this, even now. Ruth soon began working in the fields to which belonged to Boaz. Boaz knew her circumstances and encouraged Ruth time and time again. “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:12 Ruth probably still feels hopeless but working for Boaz did more than she could imagine. She was simply following God’s lead, taking the next right step and like Ruth, we cannot see everything in our story, let alone His Story. We aren’t meant to. But we can follow God’s lead, knowing that our yeses to Him make a Kingdom-size difference, even when no one sees. The family line looked like it was going to be cut off which is scary enough knowing that now because Jesus was apart of Ruth’s family line. I don’t think there is any time where God did not come to provide. He is our ultimate provider and that is clearly seen in the story of Ruth. He chose US on the cross and in fact, there is no sliding scale according to our worthiness. He will continue to bless us time and time again and will come out faithful every. single. time. A few nights later of working in the fields Naomi tells Ruth to lay at Boaz’ feet to which she does and Boaz gives her the promise that he will marry her. This statement is truly a blessing because that meant — God is faithful to provide. But it never comes without obedience to him. If we are willing to follow God and trust in what He is doing He will never leave our stories unfinished or unredeemed. We pull back the curtain and see that Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi was so much more than an address change; it is a tiny piece of God’s grand plan. Soon Ruth would bare a child Obed, who would be the father of Jesse. And Jesse’s son was David. David also happens to be the direct ancestor of Jesus. Ruth didn’t try to plan out all of this. She simply followed God. He is the only one who knows the plan and has the power to put it into action. What God was building was beyond her predictions and planning. God makes Ruth an ancestor of David and the Messiah. It is the greatest of honors. This is the story God was penning all along, from the beginning of the book.
The story of Ruth shows us that there are no insignificant people in God’s plan. Instead of planning and building, let’s sit in the promise of our Redeemer, believing that God is sovereign and His redemption is already ours. He has been weaving something beautiful in you all along. god will make a wayIn the Old Testament one of the first stories was that the Israelites were slaves In Egypt and pleaded and cried out to God to get them out of that mess. God led them out of bondage from Egypt and soon came to the Red Sea. It seemed like a dead end. The cried out “ Could we not have died In Egypt?” “Did you have to bring us into the wilderness to meet our end?” As it turned out the dessert and the sea were just opportunities for God to show his amazing power to his people. He parted the Red Sea and let his people through DRY GROUND. For 40 years they traveled to Israel and oh what a journey that was. But guess what,, God didn’t leave them where they were. In the Old Testament we were promised someone coming. A savior, Emmanuel, a child to be born. But everyone waited and waited. And most pretty much gave up on God. “Why was he waiting so long to bring our savior?” People creating religions and sinning against God like never before. Israel was in a pit. Dry season after dry season. Then God stopped at Malachi. Where is God? Why hasn’t he sent a prophet. Is that Savior said to come even coming? 400 years of silence. No prophecies, no miracles, nothing. But then the cry of baby, from a virgin comes Jesus. The promised Savior who came to put death to death and he did that. Wow. God DID NOT leave us where we were. Before Jesus our relationship had been broken with God, but through Jesus we can get right back to him. God made a way when it seemed like there was no way. Today you may feel like the Israelites did. How can i pass this. How can i get through this? God can and part your “ Red Sea” If and when he wants to. That’s the beauty of it though. Your time while waiting for God to move could be months, years even. Israel waited over 400 years for Jesus to come. That must have took a lot of trust In God to believe he was still going to do what he said he was going to do. We are going to go through times like getting to a dead stop at the Red Sea and the 400 years of silence, but i promise he has not left you and if God’s not done working,,, why would you want to be done in this season of waiting? 15 things that happened at 15
1. I WAS A VEGETARIAN FOR A YEAR!! This was a weird decision I made at 14 but I completed it at 15 and it was pretty challenging and weird not being able to eat chick fil A and all that but I managed and only cheated a few times ON ACCIDENT 2. I learned tons about what I look for in a guy - this one may be obvious for some but over all I learned a lot about myself in the aspect of what I want to do relationship wise and I did a few blogs on that as well. 3. I WENT ON MY FIRST AIRPLANE- when I went to LA I was able to have this experience with some of my best friends and I loved every second of it and i was able to see God’s creation from another view point. 4. I went to LA and met a bunch of my best friends today ( you know who you are ;) )- I started raising money for this trip last October and by January I had raised over what I needed and that was a huge blessing within itself. Then when the time came to go I was so flippin excited. That was one of the best trips I’ve been on and I’m so thankful for it and everything it taught me. Like I said I was able to gain 20+ great friends from that trip!! 5. I saw Lauren Daigle twice - this chick is my boo and I saw her at the For King And County concert in December and then again in May at the outcry tour. Love that woman. 10/10 recommend her and her music. 6. I went to the semi finals for Alabama- my dream school as of now obviously but I was able to have to opportunity to attend one of the biggest games of the season and college football in general. How cool and how fun is God. 7. Tiffany moved to my school and we became best buds - I had prayed over Tiffany for over a year and my prayers were answered by sending her to my school and now blessed an amazing friendship out of that. 8. I went to Passion for the first time ever- this church had been one I wanted to go to for so long and me and my dad got the chance to go for their Christmas opener and lemme tell you I was hooked the second I walked in. 9. I cut like 20 inches off my hair- I grew my hair out pretty long and then cut it above my shoulders which I have never done before so thought I might include that. 10. I developed a lit church group - I got some SWEET friends at church now that I can have lots of fun with and talk about God all at the same time. It’s super cool. 11. I became one step closer to getting my license - got my permit, did drivers ed, and now I’m on the final step to my license and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been waiting for this day since I was a little girl and I’m PUMPED. Prayers for that r needed lol 12. My summer was super lit including camp and getting my first “ job” - I was able to have the luxury of becoming a 3 year old and a 1 year old’s babysitter and it’s so wonderful I LOVE IT. And summer camp was a blast and I wrote more in depth what happened in my second to last blog. 13. I completed reading the whole bible twice- I started in 7th grade and challenged myself to read the whole bible in chronological order of when everything happens , and I finished it for the first time in 8th grade and then a second time last year and by December I will have read it 3 times all the way through so THATS SUPER COOL 10/10 recommend!! 14. I completed freshman year which included me getting my first letter and my brother graduating- this year will be very hard to top. So many amazing things happened along with my brother growing up:((( 15 . Finally , I learned what to give up in my life to put God first - Many lessons were taught this past year but most importantly was that I need to give up one of the biggest things in my life but I can’t wait to see what God does with this next journey and year of my life. I have been really thinking about this lately.
So most of us will marry someone one day. An amazing man or for the guys , a outstanding girl. Most likely it will happen in 8-10 years from now. It may sound far away , but I love to prepare now, and encourage to prepare now. None of us know who that special person will be BUT God. You may know him / her now or maybe you will meet them in college or at your future job. None of us know. I'm just so pumped because I know God made a perfect guy for me. Someone that I will literally want to be with 24/7 and a man who keeps me pushing towards The Lord. He will be that " goals " guy to me which just gives me so much joy. Right now you may be in a relationship, which there is nothing wrong with. I'm not here to tell you to stay off limits from guys / girls. I'm NOT here to tell you that you're an awful person for doing stuff more than a hug or whatever. I just want to point out that God made that special man / woman for us to have such a special connection with. Ladies,,,, please try to not give yourself away to teenage guys. It can bring regret even if it seems fine in the moment. It can bring hurt. Heartbreak. I hate seeing friends go through that. I challenge y'all to put up barriers and guards from boys / girls no matter what has happened in the past. It's okay. God knows you and he knows how to help you so just always learn from the situation. it's okay to say no to some stuff. Who cares if you are a " good girl / guy " . Lemme just tell you that your future husband/ wife WILL thank you for not doing stuff with those people and SAVING it for him/ her. One thing I do is I pray. I pray over my future husband. I pray that he will save himself just as much as I am / am attempting to. I write prayers and letters to him quite frequently ( which some of my friends do as well so if you do you aren't alone ). I pray God will stay at the center and that we will just be so closely bonded that our marriage will be so amazing. I pray so many other things that matter to me about guys but I just encourage you to PRAY about him/ her and PRAY that God will give you calamity and rest that you won't feel an urge to have a relationship with anyone before him/ her. I also would say to make a list for what you look for in that special person so that when you think of dating, talking , or going for someone that you can go through that list and if they don't meet your requirements that he/ she is NOT worth your time. I have found it pretty handy to use because it opens my eyes to what you could be getting myself into. And ladies and gents... If you are so deep into your walk with God and so in them with him, that special person is just going to jump on that race with you and walk WITH you daily. It's just going to be so wonderful .. trust God in that no matter what the past looks like. WARNING** before you read this just take into account how my grammar is and how y'all know Im always over the place but PLEASE try and understand what I'm blogging about **
June : a learning season this first month of the summer is coming to a close. So it's been a full month with no school and way more free time, which means way more life learning ( at least in my case ) > Summer started off with a bang- camp.. At camp I was able to go with an amazing group and boy did God bring conviction. First few days were great but had some what of pain that came with them. By Wednesday night I was ready for a revival or SOMETHING. It was obvious to me that God had been preparing my heart for that night. Wednesday night we learned about your identity in Christ and a life that should be ours. I realized so MANY things that night. WOwOWow !! One main thing that will stick with me is " you don't have to live that way anymore " nothing requires you to stay the way you are. God WANTS you to grow and He WANTS you to become the person He put you on this earth to be. I cried so hard that night more than I ever had in a while. I thank God so much for that night because I'm constantly thinking about what went down that night. Also God is so good that even my best friend got saved that night as well. Beach camp was a week to remember this summer for sure. > After camp came time to spend with my friends outside of church.. My friend Tiffany and I went to see a movie about a week after camp. Title: Beauty and the Beast. It's so weird how much conviction was brought through that movie. I honestly learned so much from it even though it's just some basic Disney princess movie. All Belle wanted was to know what happened to her mom, get a rose, and read. A prince wanted her so bad that he offered her marriage. She denied it because she knew he wasn't the guy for her. She wasn't sad or hurt bc she had to give up a opportunity every girl looks forward to. She just patiently waited. Storms came in her season of waiting. She set out to fix the storm on her own. Coming to find a beast next to her dad. She bravely takes her dads place. Is blessed with a palace pretty much all to herself, and then falls in love with something she NEVER would have expected. ( As a side note her dad tried to tell the city about the beast but NO ONE believed him. Did he give up to save his daughter. No. He knew what he believed in which is what we have to do with Jesus. He is THERE YALL. HE IS. And we have to trust that. ) in the end she gets a beautiful man and it's just so wonderful to see the gift that came out of her sorrow. Bc she WAITED. > YouTube Honestly you the realist if you read past " YouTube " as many of you may know I LOVE YouTube. I used to create content and I didn't like that so I just stuck to watching creators. YouTube has such a big part of my life. It's probably my most used social media just because I'm on it ALL the time. Most of my friends know my favs from the oldies to my newest favs. This summer I have really tried to learn from these people I watch everyday. One thing I have taken away is that they are THEMSELVES. People love these creators and most of them have said that in the past at school they have been hated extremely. I just love to see so much hope in that bc we can KNOW that God has so much for us beyond high school. SO MUCH. These creators are themselves and though some don't like them, there are people that do bc of who they are. Ahhh I just love that bc I've really just tried to be myself lately and I know that if someone doesn't like me , whether it be a boy or a girl , someone does. And someone will appreciate me for myself and not a girl I make myself out to be. > the 12 year old Aja ( aka before I really cared about my relationship with Christ ) About 2-3 years ago I was Christian but not a striving Christian. I have just learned to be so thankful for where I am at. It may not be where I want to be but GOD IS SO GOOD AND FAITHFUL. He brought me out of the pit I was living in and restored me. But there is more restoring to do !!! Always > Finally I know that there is still one more month for myself to learn this summer. So this last month of summer, I am asking the Lord, “Revive Me! Revive me according to Your Word!” FROM PROVERBS 31 MINISTRIES- Let this be our prayer: Psalm 119:25 + -Revive me according to Your Word. v.25 -Revive me in Your ways. v.37 -Revive me in Your righteousness. v.40 -May Your loving kindness also come to me, O Lord. v.41 -I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. v.48 O Lord, we pray that you would revive us, your daughters. Thank you for Your Word, which is living and active. We are sorry for turning our eyes toward vanity. Forgive us, and turn our eyes back to You and Your Word. We want to love Your Word. Give us fervent love for Your Word. Give us love for Your commandments. Help us to meditate on Your statutes. Let this summer be a time of reviving our hearts.Amen. And ladies and gentlemen,,,, He heals .. Reflect- God is helping change who I was to who I'm meant to be. I feel like a cloud floating in a pool. Or maybe it's just bc I'm tired idk ( lol ) but conviction is amazing. I feel like I haven't been close to God but I have just now realized that I may not be " focusing " on His word , but WITH His word I'm changing my character to a Godlier, more like Jesus PERSON. We should want to be a disciple of Him. A person who gives their all to change their lives to reflect Jesus' light and be THAT LIGHT. ( In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus - Philippians 2:5 ) This is so others can see Him through you. Sometimes it doesn't require us to go and talk about Jesus to every person we see or to only to read the Bible every second, but can also mean changing YOU. It starts with YOUR FAITH. How are we supposed to reflect Him if we are mean and hateful to people. I used to be like this to some people and we ALL fall short of this. We aren't perfect but as trying to be a light we can spread our kindness. If we are so kind to everyone, people will start to wonder why we are so jolly all the time and that GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY!! An opportunity to switch the subject to Him -- to tell others about His wonderful deeds, how Jesus makes us so happy, and how He gives us that spirit. By you being kind and loving can spread so many seeds BC OF YOU and YOUR FAITH. No one can steal our joy of OUR FAITH. Do not be afraid of that bc obeying God will take you places you can't imagine. ( All of this is for YOUR benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to The Glory of God - 2 Corinthians 4:15 ) Jesus had to be that guy who was nice and sweet to everyone and wasn't afraid of it. So I encourage you all to go out and as you read this go and send someone a nice message of love and care. Try tomorrow to do tasks for others without them asking bc it will go further than you think bc that's just how great Our God is. Your life on this earth is short . . . but God is big. So focus on matters of eternal significance while you are here. You live on a planet with billions of people who’ve never heard of Jesus. As a follower of Christ, you have the hope. You have the truth. You have the life. You have Jesus. That’s what matters: letting Jesus be known. So step into the fight in the name of Jesus! This day and age people are so stuck on being " cool " or being like everyone else and fitting in as cliche as that sounds and how much everyone hears it. It's true. Girls and guys just want to live in the moment and make decisions that aren't the best but God is SO forgiving. Kissing, making out, and more is normal at this point. BUT please listen to this. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. AT ALL. You do not have to make out and date just bc it's the cool thing to do. Some take it more seriously than others and I'm not here to tell you that you can't do that I'm just saying it's not required to be " cool ". You can be that person who WAITS. Waits to see what God has in store for them after high school and onto your adult life that really counts. What you do know I'm telling you WILL. NOT. MATTER. ( most likely) guys cannot bring that pleasure that God can bring forever. It's a temporary pleasure, a worldly pleasure. If you don't have God REALLY centered at the relationship then how is it better you for eternity. Hearing this you may have a hard heart or maybe you have an open mind. Maybe you do not want to hear me say this bc you are happy the way things you have right now. Those worldly things will pass but one thing remains forever. That is God. So you don't NEED a boyfriend to be cool. Lemme tell you.. I have tried to keep myself pure and have fallen short just a tad but I know that God has forgiven me of that. And I still have friends. But that gives no one the right to make fun of anyone bc they haven't kissed or held hands or gotten touched by a guy. It really doesn't matter. So in situations like that Be the bigger person and don't care what they have done sexually with a guy or girl. It. Does. Not. Matter.
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