Update

I know recently that my post haven't been up to par with some of my previous ones, because of lack of time and lots of other reasons. Over the next month, I plan to redo and revamp my blog, and put more time and effort into it. so beware if my blog changes over the next month, and if you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this blog where I am able to share about who you are. I pray that over the next month that you will take this blog and let it be what you have in mind for it. Amen.

A Lesson From Grandma

This past weekend was my graduation, and my grandparents came out for the weekend to go to graduation. I enjoyed having them over for the weekend because I don't often get to see them. One thing that I noticed was that my grandma was always happy. I believe one of the reasons is that she was always thankful. She would be in conversation with us, and we might say something negative, but she would interject saying something to be thankful in that situation. She always found something to be thankful for in any situation. We can all learn from her because we often don't look for things we can be thankful for in the situation we are in. This reminded me about 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that says, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." My grandma embraces this verse because she was always saying things to be thankful for, and as a result she always had a smile on her face.
I know that it isn't always easy to give thanks in every situation. Most of the time it would be easier to look at the things that are going wrong in our life. But when we take time to stop and think about what we can be thankful for, we tend to have a more cheerful outlook at life. And if we practice finding what we are thankful for, then it can be second nature, just like it was for my grandma. I am thankful that my grandparents were able to come out to celebrate with me this past weekend. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all that you do for me. I know that even during the storms that you are still working for me and I am thankful for that. Thank you for the people who are older than us who we can learn from. Amen.

Clean Room

Growing up, I bet most of us were told at some point to go and clean our rooms. We then went to go clean our rooms, even if we didn't want too. Then as soon as we clean our room, it would turn back into a mess in a few days, which would require you to clean your room again. The funny things is that when our rooms was a mess, we are still able to find still able to find the things we are looking for, they are just buried beneath all the stuff, that has piled up.
The funny thing is that our lives are like our rooms. We work to organize and tidy up our lives and to work on living for the Lord. But soon after we figure it out and get it in order, it gets buried under the chaos of everything that is going on. We could one day be confident in who God is and what he has planned for you life, but a few days later, that confidence could be buried under doubt, fear, and confusion. The things is that characteristics like that don't go away. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." When you seek God, things like confidence, self-discipline, love are a few things that are added to you by God. Once they are added, they can't be taken away. No where in the Bible does it say that if you mess up enough, then God will start to take away from you. That is not who God is. We all have these characteristics in us through the Holy Spirit. They just get buried by the mess in our lives, just like how things in our room get buried by other stuff. We have to keep searching for these characteristics from getting buried, and sure it will be difficult to more the layers of stuff that we have placed on top, but we can do so much, and it just requires finding the faith that we bury deep down.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for adding so much to my life. I pray that when the life gets crazy, and all that you have given us is buried, tat you will help us to find the gifts you have given us. Thanks for always being with us, even when we feel separated by the stuff we let into our lives. Amen.

Perception

I am the one full of doubt.
I am the one who is shy.
I am the one who would rather
Go hide in the corner than talk to people.

Or at least that is what I thought.

It is funny
How you can go through life,
With an opinion of yourself,
That is totally different from
The people around you.

Not only that,
You walk through life,
With a view of yourself,
That is way different
Then the way God sees you.

God calls us his children.
God laid down his life for us.
God has forgiven us of our sins.
God loves us.
But we often forget all of that.

We shouldn't let our views
Affect the way that we think God sees us.
For all these traits were written in the Bible,
Never changing with time.
But we often based our view
on how we are perceived,
based off our ever changing emotions.

I am loved.
I am forgiven.
I am his child.
I am not forgotten

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your constant love, and for the fact that you don't change. when i am changing constantly, it is good to know that I have a rock to lean on. Thanks for being my rock. Amen.

The Beauty in a Sunrise

I'm sorry that there was no post on Wednesday. This week has been busy with getting everything together for my last week of school.

For today, I want to talk about sunrises. Sunrises are beautiful, and they are the way that god shows his love is breaking through the darkness everyday. I found this verse in 2 Samuel 23:4,that fits perfectly with this topic. "He is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth." If you have ever looked at a sunrise, you can understand just how beautiful they are, and how God made each one unique to each day. In our lives too, God is still a sunrise. When we feel like we are in our darkest place, God is that light that breaks through the darkness into our lives. That moment when he does is so beautiful and so unique to that moment in your life, that it deserved some time to just be watched. Just like how the sun breaks through the dark every morning, God breaks into our lives, and the light he gives shines in us, and even through we may leave the light to go back to the darkness, or the darkness over takes us, God will bring a new sunrise, and a new breath of light into your life. And when you let him just be a sunrise for you, there is so much peace and comfort found in there when you sit back and watch how God is working in your life. I pray you take time to enjoy the sunrise!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being a sunrise in our lives, when it feels like we are in a dark place. I pray that I will let you break into my life, and I can enjoy all the marvelous things that you are doing. Thank you for loving me even when I am in such a dark place. Amen. 

Fight the Good Fight

So we are approaching the end of the school year. Some of us are already out of school, some end this week, and some end school at the end of the month. I know that most of us have slowly started to lose interest in school, and you just sit in class and day dream about summer. I want to encourage you to keep working hard all the way up to the last day of school, and keep fighting the temptation everyday to slack off. 2 Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Finish the school year with the ability to say that you fought the good fight all the way up to the last day of school, and that you still remained faithful through the hard times. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to learn. I pray that you will give us the strength to finish out the school year strong, and keep fighting the good fight. Thank you for always being with us through the trials of school. Amen.

Tests

For most of us, when we hear the word test, we freak and try to find any way to get out of them. Well for the next two weeks, I have a test almost every weekday because of IB. So the first two test I have were English, and like any other English test, you have to write essays. So the last English test had more of an open ended question, and I just went hard with it, and as I was writing my conclusion, I wrote somethings that even caught me off guard. The way I wrote, and the topic I wrote about exposed so much about me and why I do what I do, and this test is a test for my IB Diploma, not a test to discover who I am. But in actuality, God created test as a way for us to discover more about ourselves so we may grow. James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Tests were designed to show us were we are lacking so that we may grow in those areas so that one day we can be complete, not lacking in anything. The thing is that in today's society is that we have so much standardized tests that test have become a thing that we must do, and we don't take advantage of taking the facts that we don't know to grow from that. We then take this attitude and apply it to the tests that God gives us. We try to get through them as fast as we can to get onto other things in our life, but we don't stop and take time to learn from these tests. Then the test comes up again in another form and we get frustrated that God is just giving you the same test over and over again. Trust me, it is extremely annoying. The thing is that God wants you to be complete and not lacking in anything, so he gives us these test, sometimes four or five times over, so that we can learn from it. That is why the verse starts out with the fact that we are to be joyful for test, because it brings us closer to being complete, and that is something we all should be striving for. So no matter if it is a test from God, or a test from your teacher, go into it with an attitude for learning, because you may never know what you may just learn about yourself. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for giving me tests so that I may not lack in anything. Help me to have an attitude that is excited for the chance to learn from each test, for all you do, you do out of love, and never to hurt me. Thank you for your love even when I run away or try to avoid everything you have given me. Amen.

My Everything

A couple years ago, someone showed me a video. It was a skit done to the song "Everything" by Lifehouse. I immediately fell in love with the song and the skit that was in the video. The reason why I fell in love with it, was because it shared the simple truth that God created us, then we turned from him, yet he still died on the cross for us. The skit is so well perform, and it fits beautifully with the music. The song "Everything" is so beautifully, and if you haven't heard it, the message is that God is our everything. If you haven't seen this video, I suggest you take the time to see it. The link is posted below.

Everything Skit

Dear Heavenly Father,
Than you for your love that you give us, and thank you for being all that I need. I know that I may forget from time to time, so please help me to remember this fact when I fell like I'm at my lowest point. Thank you for the love I don't deserve. Amen.