Watching for When He Speaks

I read something in my devotional recently that has been really helping me out. It reminded me that not only is Christ the King of Kings, He also desires to be our very best friend.

You might remember learning this at a Vacation Bible School, or in Sunday School class, but have you ever really stopped to think about what that means? I haven't in a really long time.

Think about how you act with your best friend. Do you talk to each other all of the time? Whenever something happens, good or bad, do you want to tell them about it? Do you feel better when you're around them? That you can be yourself and not have to be anyone else?

That's how Christ wants us to be with Him. We don't have to try to be perfect for Him. Instead, He wants us to be real with Him. He wants us to tell Him exactly how we feel.

Even though we wish it weren't so, our friends aren't always with us. They go on vacations, they get super busy and don't have time to talk. Sometimes they can disappoint us even, because they're not there. Yet, that will never happen with God. He'll listen to us no matter what. No matter whether we're upset, frustrated, or angry. And He loves to hear us tell Him how awesome of a day we're having.

It's hard to talk to Him at times, I know. Especially when we don't usually hear anything back like we would if we were talking to a person here on earth. It can get a little frustrating. Are we just talking to air? Are we crazy for even opening up to Him? What I've started to do is, when I'm talking to God, not to close my eyes and expect to hear Him answer back right away. Instead, I start looking for little things that He speaks through.

For instance, I was really nervous about a test that I had coming up, and I was sure I wasn't going to do well on it. I was telling Christ about it, saying how scared I was, and you know what? The test wasn't so bad. That was a little answer. I never heard Him say a word, but that was a way for Him talking to me. Some people might call it conicidence, but we know better. It's really God talking back.

When we start to look for His answers in our lives, it helps us to dig deep. It's really easy to believe that God doesn't hear us, that He never answers our prayers. But He does. Sometimes, instead of just listening, we need to start looking. 

Just Enough Time

I've started school, and have almost survived my first week. My thighs ache from walking up so many stairs, my early morning class is feeling earlier and earlier, and I know I'll have a huge chiropractor bill once the semester over from carrying such heavy textbooks. With all that said though, I wouldn't change it. God has blessed me this week, and I'm so thankful for the smooth sailing I've experienced so far.

I think I've admitted once before that when it comes to school supplies, I'm a complete geek. It's still true. When I was starting school, I tried so hard not to go to the nearest Target and just splurge on colorful pens, new binders, folders, notebooks, rulers. They make my heart go pitter patter.

In the end, I decided to be a little modest in my purchasing school supplies, because, I had most of the stuff I needed already. But what I considered an essential was a day planner. At the bookstore, we've been putting out more and more planners and one caught my eye while I was stocking the shelf once. It was pink, with funky flowers on it, and it even came with stickers! I liked it immediately, and deemed it the one for me. On the front it says the "Do-it-all Planner". Right after I purchased it, I began filling it with my class schedule, my work schedule, and all of the things I still hoped to accomplish this week. It was my do-it-all planner after all, so I was determined to live up to it's name.

It's now Thursday, and aside from going to the classes and working, I haven't done anything on that I had filled in those columns. Yesterday, I was bemoaning this fact. I was being so unproductive! I thought to myself.

I've realized that I can't do it all. All the stickers in the world will not be able to aid me in helping me accomplish all that I think I can do. It's a really hard concept for me to grasp. When I realized this revelation, I whined to God, "But God, I got a planner!!!!! Why can't I do everything? Why can't I go to school, work, write my book, turn in homework, write blog posts, and still hang out with friends and family?"

But God has helped me realize that I've fallen in the trap many people do. We try to fit so much in our days, our weeks, our year that we really forget who gave them to us in the first day. Christ gave us those days to live, and He can just as easily take them away. And how do we repay Him? By getting mad at Him for not giving us enough time.

How I see it, God made the days to be 24 hours for a reason. And He also had all of our days planned way before we were ever born. He fit them perfectly in the twenty four hour time slots. If we are asking God what His will for us that day, and sincerely try live it out, I don't think that day was a waste. Even if we don't accomplish half of what we want. This is another part of digging deep for joy. When we don't finish all that we want to, it's hard to say, "Well, I've tried my best." But when we trust in God to take what we've done and turn it into something worthwhile, that's part of being joyfully. The weight to get everything all done is gone, leaving room for joy. 

Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with busy. And you can bet that I'm still going to be using my day planner(though I'll go easy on the stickers). But, unlike my planner tells me, I'm not going to try to do it all. I'm going to try to do what God has willed for that day. It's much less stressful.

How has your week been going?

Embracing the Day

Hello, friends! I hope this week is starting out well for all of you!

I must admit, I am not as much of a morning person as I wish I was. Once I am awake, I like the morning, and I want to be awake, but it takes me such a long time to drag myself out of my bed it seems. My sister is so NOT a morning person, that even when she's awake, you know she'd rather be back in her bed fast asleep. What happened to the days where I hated to go to bed, and couldn't wait until I woke up?

Yet, with the way my schedule is, mornings are really the only time I can be productive. I work alot during the day time hours and once the night time rolls around I've already made other plans. So, if I want to get any writing done and have a little prayer time, I have to wake up earlier than I'd like.

At first, when I realized this, I grumbled a little bit. I think I whined a little too. Do I have to wake up so early? Is writing really that important? What about prayer time? Would God understand how tired I am?

Though it'd be easy to make excuses for myself and say that I don't have to wake up early, I know it's not the right thing. My relationship with Christ is even more important to me than sleep. And if I don't carve out some time where it's just the two of us, our relationship would suffer. And I don't want that. Same with my writing. I do LOVE to write. And if I want to be a writer someday, I have to be willing to put in the extra effort for it.

So instead of being grumpy about waking up earlier, I've decided to embrace the day. Because when I embrace, and accept to do something that I really don't want to, that's part of digging deep. Instead of complaining about it, accept it and make the most of it. It completely changes your entire day around.

That's what I intend to do. Because though I'd rather catch another hour's sleep, I know that it's important that I keep up with my friendship with Christ and be willing to go the extra mile. It's important to keep writing, even when it's hard. So, tonight, I'm planning on going to bed earlier than I usually do so that I can wake up a tad more refreshed. And yes, tomorrow, right when I wake up, I'm going to embrace the day.

Little Love Notes

Confession time! I am hopeless when it comes to stories. Especially ones that involve faith, hope, friendship, love. I like drama and intrigue, and maybe a little mystery. Pretty much, I like any kind of good story. 

One that I fall for quite often is the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. I love this story--and not just because I want to be Belle when I grow up. ;-) When I was younger(okay, even now)when I'd watch the Disney classic, I'd sigh and want to dream about the same wonderful story happening to me. If only something so magical could happen to me. That a prince such as he could love me, and sweep me off my feet(I mean, he gave the girl millions of books! If that's not true love...), and send me love notes.

But you know what? Even though the thought of living in such a fairy tale is rather desirable, I'm starting to discover something different. When I live in the moment, I start to notice the little blessings God has given me. You know what those blessings really are? Little love notes from the King Himself! Who needs a prince in disguise and his flowery gifts, when Christ sends me multiple messages to me, declaring His love. 

The breeze as it brushes against you face, is really a kiss He's blown your way. The sun as it warms your back is really just His way to show a small fraction of the amount of love He has for you. A really good day at school or work is His way of wanting to see you happy. 

God is extravagant when it comes to His love. He gives, gives, and gives. Even when life is hard, that doesn't mean He's stopped loving you, it just means that He's helping you grow stronger. 

That's why it's really important to not get so stressed out that you forget to remember to look for the blessings in life. Because God is constantly sending little love notes our way, and we wouldn't want it to go to waste would we? 

This song is one of my favorites, and it always reminds me to count for Christs love notes. Can you think of any love notes you have received from Him? And on a side note, what is your favorite fairy tale?

One Drop of Thankfulness

One of my favorite things to do is to daydream. I sit in my reading chair, close my eyes, and day dream about stories, characters, even my to-do lists get invited to the party. I get some of my best story ideas when I can just sit in the quiet and let my thoughts wander.

Yet, one of the dangers of daydreaming constantly is that I tend to wish I was somewhere else than where I am. You know, if I'm at home, I wish I could be out and about having adventures. If I'm out and about all I want to do is go home. It can be kind of frustrating and annoying. I call it the day dream blues.

But rest assured, after battling them for months, I have found a solution. It's called thankfulness. Being thankful in the moment I'm living right now, helps me not be unhappy about not being in the place I want to be.

It's really quite straightforward, but not always very easy to remember. And for a forgetful person like me it's even harder. So I've started to keep a journal about the things that I want to thank God for, and every night I write down three things. I'm trying to get better at thanking Him for the things I see at the moment I see them, but I'm not always very good at it I must admit.

The thing I love about thankfulness, is that the smallest drop of it can make a huge difference. Say you are standing outside, after it had just rained, waiting for the bus. It's cold, it's damp, and it smells like wet grass. Hot chocolate sounds pretty good but you aren't able to have any. Pretty miserable, huh?

The way to defeat it, my friends, is easy. Say you are looking across the street, and you notice a large puddle. Taking a deep breath, you say, "Thank you, God, for puddles that reflect the sky." This get's the ball rolling. Then you look at the trees around you, and you murmur, "Thank you, God, for the dark color bark, soaked in rain." Then you notice how the color contrasts with the leaves and you think,  "Thank you for the saturated green of the wet leaves."

And you keep going and going. Pretty soon, you've forgotten about how miserable you were, though you might still have a chocolate craving. But by this time the bus has pulled up to pick you up.

One drop is all it took to turn a situation from dark to light. From depressing to hopeful. Trust me, it makes a huge difference. And you wanna know the best part? When you starting spotting those little things to be thankful for, you experience joy. Pure and cleansing joy. By being thankful in unpleasant situations, you're digging deep. 

Can you list three things, three little drops of thankfulness, right now?

I'll go first
1) The song of crickets, chirping outside
2) Fluffy pillows 
3) My big bookshelf stacked with books

Your turn. I'd love to see your list too. :)

A Gift Freely Given

I don't know about you, but I like getting presents, especially on my birthday. I like seeing the shiny wrapping paper or hear the crackling of tissue paper. A little jolt of excitement will shoot through me when I open it. Even the smallest of gifts mean a lot to me.

But as I was thinking about the posts I wanted to do this week, and how God is so much greater than our problems, I realized He has given us the greatest gift that we could ever hope to receive. I read this in my little bible the other day which really helped me realize this all the more:

                 "So what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?" ~Romans 8:31-32 (message translation)

Reading those verses makes me feel so inspired. So loved. And I realize that, even though there was no special occasion, God has freely given us a most extravagant gift.

God has given us the gift of his life. Before he came down to earth, we humans were in pretty bad shape. We had no way to get to heaven, we had no destination to look forward to after the life we lived on earth. But because Jesus came down and died for us, he opened the gates of heaven for us. He defeated thousands of years of sin and death so that we could have life. Because He gave us his life, we now can live joyfully, because we know that no matter what comes our way on earth, we still have a home in heaven. This gift God has given to us is so much better than any present that comes wrapped in pretty bows or shiny paper.

God truly is bigger. And He gave us His life to prove it. So no matter how hard life seems, don't get discouraged. Just remember, "With God on our side like this, how can we lose?"

Have a good week! Remember to keep digging deep for joy! :-)

Song for the Week~ Chris Tomlin

Following with the theme earlier this week of God being greater than our problems, our struggles, our worries, I decided to post Chris Tomlin's song, "Our God" today. I really like to close my eyes and lean back when I listen to this song. And instead of actually singing along, I let my heart sing with it. I almost turn it into a prayer. Saint Augustine once said, "Singing is praying twice." Now I don't really think he was talking about singing the latest Taylor Swift song, but I think that maybe Chris Tomlin song is okay. :)

Remember that our God is greater than anything that life can throw at you. Because not only He's God and, well, He can handle anything, but because He's been through it as well. Disappointment, heartache, even physical aches and pains, he understands fully how that feels. That reassures me that I'm not alone. Hopefully that thought reassures you as well.

In His Hands

Sundays are my favorite days of the week. Thursdays are OK, and I do admit Friday does have it's own swagger to it, but Sunday really does take the cake. I usually stay up too late the night before, so when I wake up the next morning for church I have the kind of fog in my head that only a good hot shower can chase away. But even with being still sleepy, and being stiff or sore, getting up to go to church reminds me where to put my focus. That despite how I feel, whether I'm great or not, maintaining a strong relationship with Christ is more important than anything.

I need reminders like that. 

This Sunday, while at church, I was singing a song along with the rest of the congregation when I paused over a part of the lyrics. Call it the writer in me, but when I heard a small phrase it jolted me awake even more than my hot shower had. The song said, "You take away the sins of the world."

When I heard that, I couldn't help but smile. God has taken away my sins. He's won in the epic battle between good versus evil. He's got me in His hand. 

Great, inspiring thoughts, right? I thought so too. But then the little voice in the back my head whispered to me, "Are you going to remember that tomorrow? How about Wednesday?"

I never have liked Wednesdays. 

That annoying voice had a point though. It's so easy to feel close to God and know that He is in control when I'm standing in church, singing my heart out for Christ, opening myself to Him. It's not so easy when Wednesday rolls around and oh-my-goodness I made a crucial mistake at work. Or I have a deadline that I have no idea how to meet. Or I forgot to call a friend that I'd told I would. In all the craziness, the messiness, do I still remember God is bigger than it all? 

Sadly, I don't always. I have mentioned what a forgetful person I am, right? But I'm determined to do try harder. Because in remembering that God is bigger than my problems, my worries, my "messes" in life, I find JOY. Realizing this wonderful truth, even when it's hard to remember, is another way to dig deep. 

So, I'm challenging myself this week and dig deep for joy by remembering that God is so much bigger than my problems. I am His and He's holding onto Me. And guess what? He's holding onto you too. 

Are you going to dig deep this week?

Living Joyfully

Have you ever met someone that, after you're done talking with them, you walk away feeling, "Why can't I be like that?"

Yeah, me too.

I consider myself to be a strong Christian. I love Christ, and I know He loves me. I know He is my Savior and that apart from Him, I am completely and utterly hopeless. A mess. But even with this wonderful, life changing knowledge, I am still not perfect. I break dishes. I cry when I'm frustrated. I get annoyed far too easily. I hoping I'm not the only one who has this problem.

For a very long time I thought that joy and to be joyful meant that you had to be singing and dancing around all the time. Break out your tap dancing shoes and go to work. But lately, I've been discovering something much different and I found it to be so important that I decided to create a blog about it.

Joy, at least how I have found it, is not always about feeling happy. Because, let's face it, in life you aren't always going to be happy. Loved ones die. Parents fight. Tests get poor grades. Your favorite shampoo gets discontinued. Okay, that last one isn't so bad, but you get my point. But even in the midst of the unhappiness, even in the things that try rob us of the joy, we can still live joyfully.

Sometimes being joyful means smiling at that one person who annoys you the most. Or not complaining even when if you've had the worst day ever. Or getting up and facing the day when you'd rather hide in the covers. That's joy too, even if it's not as obvious as singing, "Hallelujah!".

It's a joy that isn't always right at your fingertips. Instead, you'll have to dig deep. And that's why this blog was created. To offer encouragement, stories, and inspiration for girls like you and me to be joyful in our everyday lives. In the ordinary, monotonous things and in the exciting parts as well. I plan to post two to three times a week, because really, I need daily reminders to keep living joyfully. Yet I know that part of God's plan for us is to live joyfully, even if it's in a quieter, less obvious sort of way.

So how 'bout it? Are you willing to dig deep with me?