New Year, Renewed Mind

So today is the last day of the year, and normally around this time, we start making New Year Resolutions. We seem to have a list of things that we would like to change about ourselves. I know for me, I would like to write the posts for my blog sooner than the morning of, allowing me more time to make the blog say what I want to. For others it may be going on a diet, or doing better in school, or working harder at your job, or what ever you can think of. I have a challenge for all my readers this New Year. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Coming out of the holiday season, where we were stressed about family coming over, or nervous about what presents we will get, or busy writing thank you cards, this is a good time to renew our mind and turn our focus back to God. God has a plan for us that is pleasing and perfect, but it is sometimes hard to see with all that happens in life. I encourage you to take time and renew your mind to focus on God and his plan for you this New Year's. Happy New Year!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for another year, with it's ups and downs. Thank you that we have a chance to reflect and make goals for the up coming year. I pray that we are able to renew our minds, and focus back on you God, and that this year we will each be able to follow your plan that you have for us. Thank you Lord for another year!

From Stories to Reality - The Book With No Pictures

This is the last post for this series. When I was thinking of what to write about, I was trying to choose some other novel, but it wasn't until my mom checked this booked out from the library that I thought of doing a children's book. The book is title The Book With No Pictures, by B.J. Novak. Now the first thing that you think of when you look at the title, that it is going to be a very boring book, because of the lack of pictures. Most of the time, pictures are what make children's books so great, and one without pictures might be really boring. Right?
Wrong.
The book was so fun to read with my dad, because the book makes the parents who are reading the book make all sorts of crazy noise, and they have to say funny things. This incident reminds me of how much we stereotype people, especially when it comes to who can be saved and who can't be saved. John 7:24 says, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” When we just look at a person and we automatically made decisions about them and if they can be saved, we aren't using the right judgement. The right judgement, involves talking to the person, and getting to know them, and even then it isn't up to us to judge if they will be saved, but it is God's. We just need to let everyone know of the good news of Jesus Christ, and then let God work in their hearts. Some people will accept Jesus and some won't, but we can't judge if they will or won't based on appearances. Just like how The Book With No Pictures, turned out to be fun to read, and how I wouldn't have done a children's book if it wasn't for my mom, we can't make judgement with out talking to people. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for getting to know us for who we are and not as some stereotype. Help me to see people like the way you see them, and not be so fast to judge based of appearances. Help me to share your news with everyone, no matter what they look like. Thank you Lord for your constant love for me. Amen.

From Stories to Reality- Christmas Story

The past two times in this series I have used non-fiction stories to talk about. But since it is Christmas time, I figure that I write about a story that relates to Christmas. The story that I am using can be found in Isaiah 9:6  which goes, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." I chose this story, because of it's location in the Bible. It is found in Isaiah, which is located in the old testament, but if you read the passage, it sounds like it was written at the same time that Jesus was born. It was prophesied years before Jesus, that he will be born. This was a story to the Jews at the time, and it was passed down from generation to generation. It was a story, until Jesus came to Earth and made it a reality. Jesus became a wonderful counselor and the prince of peace, and the everlasting Father, and so much more, the night that he was born in manger, in the City of David. Jesus made this story that had been around for a while into reality.
Now, there is so much more to this in how it can apply to your life. We each have a story, whether it is something that we had to overcome, or a victory that we have won. God had already written our stories a long time ago, before we were even born. He knows what is going to happen, and he knows all the plot twists before they happen. He will take your story that he has written and make it a reality if you let him. Just like how Jesus turned a story into reality, God is willing to do the same with you if you let him in. I know how much we each want our own realities to come true, but the story that God has written for us, will play out so much better in reality than anything that we will write. You just have to trust in the story that God has written for you.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for sending you son down in a form of a baby, to come and save my life. Thank you that you already have my story written out, and I trust you that it will be amazing when it comes to reality. I know that it is hard to trust a story that we don't know the end to, so I pray for the courage to trust and follow you in all that you make reality for me. Amen.

From Stories to Reality-"Eve and Adam"

Another really great book that I read was "Eve and Adam" by Michael Grant, and Kathrine Applegate. The book was about a girl, Evening (Eve for short), who got into a terrible accident because of an apple, (I could go on a tangent and write a whole other blog about this but I won't.) Then while Eve is recovering in her mother's hospital, she has the task to create the perfect boy, Adam. On this software, you could create a boy, from the eye color, to the activities that he did, to how smart he was, to his age, and so on. Eve creates what she believes is the perfect boy, but when it comes to life and interacts with her, she quickly discovers what she thought was perfect wasn't.

Now there are two ways I am going to go with this. First, is the role of playing God. It was mentioned a lot in here, of playing God and creating someone. Eve realizes that playing God is a lot harder than it seems, when it comes to creating something. Now let's think, God is God, and he didn't just create one person who was perfect, he created billions of people and each one is perfect in their own way. Psalms 139:19 says, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." This verse just reflects how great God is when he created us, and how he sees us as being perfect. It is hard to see that sometimes because of sin that has entered the world, but we are made perfect to God.

Another thing that I take away from this, is that we might know who we want to date, but who we might think is perfect may not be. Eve created Adam, so that he could be her boyfriend, because at the time she wasn't really popular with the guys. But at the end of the book, she realizes that who she thought was perfect, Adam, wasn't as right for her as Solo, who had helped her though her stay at the hospital. We all have people who we think who will be great for us, whether it is a celebrity crush, or a cute guy at school. The thing is that we don't know who we are suppose to be with, but God does. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "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." God knows who who will marry, and he also know when you will meet, the date you will go on, and so on. We have to trust God that he has the perfect guy for us, and we should pray for our future spouse, praying that they are growing closer to God. 

This was a really great book, and there are so many more blogs I could do on this book, but I chose to write on these two because I think they're the most important. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for creating me to be perfect, and thank you for your plan of who I am going to marry. I pray that when the time is right, that you will show me this person, and I pray everyday that he is growing closer to you. Thank you for being so invested in my life, that you know the plans of my life down to the last second. Amen. 

From Stories to Reality-"Sold"

This is a new series that I am doing. I got inspired for this series because of the book that I was reading. It was a fiction story, but there was so much real world implications behind it, and the more books I read, the more it sunk in that I could write a series about the real world implications behind some stories. The first book that I want to talk about is Sold by Patricia McCormick. The story is about a girl Lakshmi from Nepal, who is sold to become a maid for people in the city to help pay off her family's debt. But little does she know at the time when she is sold, that she was sold into prostitution. At first Lakshmi doesn't want to be there and she tries to stand up for herself, but she finally breaks into doing what the lady who brought her wants. Towards the end of the novel, an American asks if she wants to be freed from this life, and finally with hesitation, Lakshmi says yes and the American rescues her.

Sure this may be a fictional story, but the author went to Nepal and did her research about girls from Nepal who are sold into prostitution.  This is real and present and thousands of girls are affected by this. Matthew 25:40 talks about helping the least of these, "The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"  Now most of us don't have the means to helping theses girls first hand but there are other ways to help. First of all you could pray. Prayer has a lot of impact, more than we know. God hears all of our prayers, and he takes them to heart. Praying for these girls is something that we all can do to help them. Another thing that you can do is just to talk about it and raise awareness. There are lots of us who don't know what is going on in countries outside of ours, but raising on an issue like this can help more people step up to help. Lastly, if you want to do more, there are many organizations out there that you can donate your time or your money to. One organization is Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking, and there are many more out there you would need to do some research.

Dear Heavenly Father,

               Thank you for bringing to our attention to what is happening to girls in Nepal and all over the world. I pray that you would be with those girls and that you will safely guide them out of the place that they are in, and show them how much you love them. Thank you for the people whose hearts are for helping these girls, and I pray that they can be successful in helping these girls. Amen.

Little Impacts

I think more of us should be like the young girl I met in Walmart last night. I had dropped a pack of tomatoes and they popped open, and this girl bent down and picked every last one up, and smiled when she gave them to me. She didn't think twice, she just did it. I bet that some of us would have walked around, or we would have felt obligated to pick them up. It is amazing how God can put one person in your life for a moment and they can make a huge impact. My family have problems when we all go shopping, and we were on each other nerves before we even got to the store, but conflicts and tensions happen. This girl totally lifted my spirits an I didn't feel so tense afterwards. It's amazing to think about that every moment of interaction can make a difference to someone else. This reminds me of Matthew 25:35-40. The first part goes, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Most of these occurrences where we have the opportunities are just spur of the moment opportunities. We don't always plan to feed someone who is hungry, or give them water or a place to stay, but we just do it, or we should just do it. We become trapped in our schedules or our thinking or whatever it is, and we miss the opportunity to feed someone, or give them cloths, or pick up their tomatoes. Sometimes, it takes us just doing something without thinking, to create these moments that change someone's life. You never know what the other person is going through and you don't know how much of an impact that your action will have on them. But you have opportunities to impact people's life with little things and it is very rewarding. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for placing people in my life, whether it is to impact me, or to impact someone else. Help me to take advantage of every opportunity you give me to impact someone's life and to show your love. Help me to not think, but to just follow you and to listen to everything you are telling me. Thank you Lord. Amen. 

Patience is a Virtue

Many of us growing up might have heard the phrase that patience is a virtue. Most of us have gone numb from hearing that verse so often. Patience I have found is something that we lose often and easily. You can't make a basket in the first shot, and you get impatient. Your grade doesn't change for weeks and you get impatient. You have to finish the long list of chores before you can have any fun, and you grow impatient. There is miscommunication between you and someone else, and you get impatient with them. On top of that, we show our impatience though a multitude of outlets. We get violent, or we gain an attitude, or we raise our voice, or we just tap our foot repeatedly. We lose our patience easily. God knows that we are quick to lose our patience. Some of us probably think that if God knows about our short patience, then why does he make us weight. When we want something, we want it now. not tomorrow, or next week, or next year, but now.
Believe it or not, but God has a plan for each one of us, and he has a reason for making us wait. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.'" God has your best interests at heart, and he knows what he is doing. I was visiting a college last week, and for their chapel service, they had a pastor from a local church speak. He was sharing how in college, all his friends were getting married, and he didn't even have a date. He wanted to meet his wife right then, but if God would have gave into him, he would be in a world of hurt. At the time he prayed, his perspective wife was 15 and he was in his early 20's. That would have caused legal problems, that he didn't intend to have. He did marry her when she got older, and they are happy together, he just had to be patient and wait.
God doesn't want to hurt you, and he knows the implications of what could happen if he was to give you what you wanted right now. We think that God has a grandiose plan of why we have to wait, but it could be as simple as the fact that it is illegal on earth. He isn't out to throw you in prison, or get you killed, and he is looking out for you. He wants what is best for you, and what is best might require you to wait a little bit. Trust me, I have my own lists of things that I want God to do right now, but he is making me wait. It is difficult but know that you are not alone. Everyone is waiting for something, so get together so that you may encourage on another to be patient. The thing that we want will be much more rewarding when it is in God's will and in God's time, and not our own. We may never know all the motives of God, while we are on Earth, but we have to trust that he has our best interests in his heart.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for having a plan for my life, and keeping my best interests at heart.  Help me to have patience as I wait for you time, because I trust you and your reasons for making me wait. I will wait to see what your plan is for my life, and how you can take me and use me for the glory of your kingdom Lord. Thank you for caring about me so much Lord. Amen.

Walking Upstream

As Christians we know that we are to be different than that of the world. For 1 John 2:15 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The things of this world are the sins that we commit but  we are then told are okay. The biggest one that I can think of is having sex before marriage. We are told that if we have protection, then we are safe to have sex before marriage, but the Bible could not disagree more. For you can't truly love two things at once. If you truly love the Lord, than you would not fall to the patterns of the world, but if you love the world, you can't be with the Lord. The Lord is perfect, and he can't be by things that aren't perfect. All of us will find ourselves in a place where we will have to either choose to Lord, or the world.

Now this can be a hard concept to grasp, because if we live in the world, we are going to be tempted, but if we seclude ourselves, then how are people going to see God's love. So picture a river that is flowing pretty good. Normally, we would love to go floating down it, because it is fun, and it is very easy to do. In this example though, going down stream is falling to sin. So we could sit on the shore so that we can avoid sin, but you're not really there to help people who are falling in deeper and deeper sin. The other option is to jump in the river, but you walk upstream. You are in with the people who need to be saved, but you are different in the fact that you are walking upstream. Since upstream is the opposite of downstream, the opposite of sin is God, then walking upstream is walking towards God. Will it be easy: no. If you have ever tried to walk upstream, then you can testify how difficult it is, but you aren't doing this along. When you slip on the slippery floor, just reach towards God, and he will catch you. Probably one of the most clever thing I have heard is that we all will drown at some point in our life, so drown towards God who can rescue you. When you place your trust in God, he will be there for you. It is better than you trying to save yourself, which you can't do. But when you walk upstream, you are making clear the choice that you will walk a different walk than that of the world. By doing this, you are being a light before others, like we are described to do in Matthew 5:16.

The key to being the light is to be different. You can be a good person, but being a good person doesn't save anyone, for salvation is based of faith and not acts. If people can't tell the difference between people who are floating downstream and you, then you need to reflect on who you love more, the Lord or the world. Being different will raise questions in people, giving you the opportunity to share the gospel, and leading them to salvation. It will be difficult, and it will be uncomfortable  but know that God has "overcome the world"(John 16:33).

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending you Son to save us. I pray that you will help each one of us reading this now to live a life that is different from that of the world. Thanks for being there when things get difficult, but help us to keep on chasing after you. Amen.

Digging Deeper into the Christmas Story

So it is finally December, and it is around Christmas time. In my Bible study at school, we are going through the book of Luke, and we are talking about the birth of Jesus. But we are talking about the passage in more than just a story that we hear once a year. You won’t believe how much knowledge you can gain in just 7 verses. The passage I’m sharing with you today is Luke 2:1-7 which goes:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Now I’m going to break down the passage some, but I’m not going to do all the work for you. The passage starts off by talking about some historical facts about the times. During our Bible study, someone asked why was that important. Well these historical facts could be compared to public records, to prove that what was happening in the Bible, actually happened. It gives us a reference point, to what was going on during Jesus’s life.

But there is more to that. Caesar made the decree. At that time Caesar was the ruler of the known world. He was the most powerful human at the time, and his decisions affected the child of God. If the decree wasn’t made than Jesus could have been born in any place else but a manger.

But if you look out farther, it really shows that God is in control. It had been prophesied that Jesus will be born in the town of David, and if it wasn’t for the decree that was made by Caesar, then Jesus wouldn’t be born in the town of David. It goes to show you that God is in charge of everyone, no matter how powerful you are.

Now for the second part of these verses. I’m not going to break it all down for you, but give you some questions for you to ponder. There are no right or wrong answers though, and if you want to share what you think in the comments then go ahead.

Was it important that Mary was only pledged to Joseph and not married to him?

Why is it significant that Jesus was born into complete poverty, when he could be born into wealth and money because he is God?

Does the distant that Mary and Joseph traveled add anything to the birth of Jesus?

These are just three questions from a multitude of questions you could ask. Christmas is more than just a baby born in a manger. When you dig in deep in the actually passage, than you can discover so much more. I pray that you take time to dig deeper into the story of Jesus’s birth.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for you son that came to this Earth to save us from our sins. Thank you for your Word, so that we may grow closer to you, and we can truly find out how great and powerful you are. Be with us this Christmas season, as we share this time with our family and friends. Amen.