Familiarity

Familiarity is such a problem that modern day Christians are encountering more and more. I am going to begin a series on familiarity posts that I hope are encouraging for you. I hope in the midst of the familiarity you find in your faith, my posts can open your eyes the wonder of Christianity, but most importantly, the wonder of God.

I’ve had the opportunity to grow up in a Christian home my whole life; however, it has had its share of disadvantages through it all. This privilege that was given to me by my parents, but more specifically, God above, however, I have taken this privilege for granted.

One thing in particular that a lot of Christian children who are raised in Christian homes miss the extraordinary realization of the acceptance and dependence we find in Christ. We have lived a life of entitlement, at least, I have. I have lived feeling as though I can do whatever I want and come back to Christ for forgiveness and it’ll all be okay again. I am ashamed to admit this, however, it’s something that I’m working on and it’s detrimental that I come to terms with my feelings. Sometimes, our life with lack of ever being “without Christ” makes us less empathetic but in my heart, I am broken, for I find myself so very often unable to feel love and compassion. I know I’m not the only kid out there that feels this way! I know it! For all of you kids out there that have trouble like I do, that have trouble feeling the greatness and capturing the crazy love we have received in Christ, this is for you. Maybe you’re not even a kid, maybe you’re an adult and you feel this way as well! I don’t promise answers, I’m still trying to figure this out myself, but I want you to know that you’re not alone, and maybe, just maybe, by enlightening this topic more, we can take the first steps to figuring out the solution to this problem as well!

Contemplate your life; review your week, what have you done this week that brought you closer to God? What about further away from God? I don’t know about you, but this week, for me, was tough. I feel like this week had more “drawing away” in it then “drawing near.” I recently found myself contemplating my lack of sympathy for an individual caught between a rock and a hard place, in the shadows of sin, in the darkness of individual pain. I justified my numb feelings by saying “they did this to themselves” or “its best for them to figure out this for themselves” or even, I shamefully admit, I give up on them, I lose compassion and tell myself that I can do nothing about it. Maybe you’re reading this and you say “That’s true, though.” And while, yes, maybe this is true, I think we forget that in the midst of crisis, there is never a moment where we cannot do anything. Can we change the situation? No. Can we end the pain? No we cannot end the pain or change the situation, at least, not on our own. 

Part 1: prayer
Part 2: God's Word
Part 3: God's Acceptance
Part 4: A Forgotten Need
Part 5: Evangelism
Part 6: Christ's Light
Part 7: Sincerity
Part 8: Where Do We Go From Here? (closing remarks)

Familiarity: Prayer

 I wish to combat the belittlement, the forgotten, and the underestimated and underused power of prayer.

Prayer is quite possibly the one single greatest gift God has given us. Maybe you disagree, maybe you say eternal life is a greater gift, but no, I am sticking strongly to the principle that prayer is the greatest gift we have received from our father in heaven. We forget the wonder, the crazy idea that we have 24/7 access to the creator, the lover, the savior of our souls. We forget that God is the single most important individual in our lives. We forget how incredibly crazy it is that we have a chance, an opportunity, a gift, to not only wonder about our future, to contemplate our decisions, but we have chance to consult one who has the power to see the future, who loves us with an undeniably crazy love, who works all things out for good for those who love him. We forget that not only do we have the chance to talk to him on occasion, but our access and conversations with him can be never ending. Truly, this is a gift beyond all other. The one who has the power to do anything and everything, we have access to in an unfathomable way. What did you do last time you were in a situation that you had no clue how to deal with? You probably contacted an individual you trusted and knew they had good advice, no? So, fathom this, you have access to wisest, most trustworthy and understanding individual who ever existed. His “foolishness” is wiser than the wisest human who ever existed, do you understand? You have unfiltered access to the single wisest individual who will ever exist. He’s even wiser than Google! So how does that make you feel? I really hope that blows you away, because it sure blows me away! Prayer is a gift we take for granted. Prayer: It changes things.

Thrive

What makes the laugh on your face glow? What makes your heart beat fast? What makes your eyes glaze over in passion? What makes you thrive?

I think its such a sad situation when people find themselves to be in situations where they wither, not thrive. God did not place you where you are to survive, he placed you there to thrive. Whether it be the single mom of 4 children barely making ends meet, the elderly gentlemen confined to a wheelchair in a nursing home, or the child feeling trapped inside the place he's called home for so long. God did not place us here to just "get by!"

So meditate, for a second, on the idea that in all situations, there is always something that is thriving. What do you allow to thrive? Your dreams? Bitterness? Resentment? Or maybe, just maybe, in this season of life, your relationship and love for Christ is thriving.

God has us here, in this place, to thrive, but it's up to us on what we allow to thrive. We can choose to allow stress to control us and pain to dominate us or we can choose to raise our hands to our mighty God and say, "take it, take it all, take all the stresses and weight that has weighed me down for so long, God." In which case we find, when we sincerely surrender our hurt to Christ, that stress and pain no longer dominate us. It is then, and only then that God's peace thrives in our hearts. Where are you in life? Are you in a hard time? I know I am! But it's in this time that I find myself to be insufficient to thrive on my own, I need to remind myself to rest in his graces.

With that said, what are you passionate about? Find something you are passionate about and make the concious choice to always stay extremely interested in it. When we give our stress to Christ we find, not only his peace and grace in our hearts, we also find the time to use the talents and passions that are instilled in our hearts. When I remember to not obsess over my stress, to remember to feed my passions, I find the greatest fufilment. God gave me the heart that I have, the skills I have longed for and enjoy, not so I could spend my time "too busy" to enjoy these things. God gave us this awesome world to explore, enjoy, and dive into. In these everyday graces I find, not only my love for doing things I enjoy, but I find myself thriving off of Christ, for truly, he should be my greatest passion.

Weight

We workout, we pick up heavy things and put them down in the name of being healthier, stronger. In between the monotony of picking up and putting down where in there do we consciously choose to put them down? When the weight is too much to hold anymore?

What about if we forget about physical weight and think about mental weight, spiritual weight? Is that the same concept? It makes us stronger, but we can't carry it long, we have to put it down to let our muscles heal, rebuild. So here the same concept is revealed; these struggles make us stronger but we have to let them go, we have to put them on the rack. God is our trainer, he knows when we've had enough.

Wrinkles

Wrinkles are such a beautiful thing, are they not? They show years of hard work, they show years of wisdom, but you know what my favorite thing is that they show? Laughter. In a person's wrinkles, you can see a smile, even when they are not smiling. Wrinkles are often viewed as unwanted, and a bad thing, however, I view them as precious jewels.

You see on some faces the absence of laugh lines, of concern wrinkles.... And that leaves you, or at least me, to believe they are stoic and emotionless. Wrinkles are such beautiful prizes earned in a lifelong process of laughter and concern, so why do we view them as a bad thing? Oh how beautiful it is to wear the jewel of time upon your face! A privilege denied to many individuals whom shall never have the opportunity to reach such a lovely place in life.

Placing Joy first

So here I am, feeling sorry for myself. People have bugged me all night and last night as well. I sit here in the middle of it all feeling hurt by some of these things and just plain fiery mad about others. Its the day after thanksgiving (now, at least, its 3am..) So why have I found myself being hardened to thanksgiving? "I'm a pig." I say softly, as to not awaken the sweet girl with whom I share my room. So here we go, my 3am post about everything that I'm thinking about. Please enjoy...

".... Increase in us we pray, unveil why we are made.... We are your church we need your power in us...." I know this song doesn't have much to do with forgiveness, or thankfulness, or may be seemingly irrelevant.. But it made me think... If I truly was God to increase in me, to unveil my purpose, to give me his power in my life, how can I in the same breath hold bitterness against someone? I can't. I breathe out slowly. These emotions are natural, its true. But what's "natural?" Natural is our sin nature before Christ cleansed us. Natural is selfish, foolish, and dark and that's truly not my wish. (Don't get me wrong, I love nature and natural products, I'm not hating on em! ;) ) "...seek ye first the kingdom of God..." PSH that's not what I did first and foremost when news came in of these various situations, my initial reaction was that of anger, of injustice, of frustration, of sinfulness you may say. As I sit here I breathe easier now, I breathe lighter. It seems it's working... Lord give me strength. So a thought to leave you with as I depart: how can we be a light for Christ if we are being anger and bitter filled darkness machines for the devil?

Growing up (1)

Here I am, an adolescent,  caught between two worlds in a bitter clash of tough decisions. Maybe you sympathize cause you were here once, or maybe, you're like me and you're caught in this place now. Stress is high in future choices, my spiritual walk is at war every day, school and family stress is also a large part of my life, I try so hard to balance. It's a strange thing however that though I can sit in my stresses, and yet they dont bother me. My stresses drive me to tears one day and the next they are completely and wholly surrendered leaving me with this simply beautiful life. But where does this leave me? I lustfully look towards my future, wishing I could permanently place years of school behind me... but where is this elusive joy?

Im growing up and fighting every change. If only I could writhe free of this change, if I could remain a young girl in pig tails laughing with my brothers in eternal youth would I choose it? Would I choose to be young forever? Maybe I would. I dont know. This is the side of my stress, the downside to my growing up.

However there is a light...

Inside my immaturity, inside my spiritual struggles, inside my absentmindedness there is a great dawning beginning.

Here lies a young girl still caught in a case of naivety but with a stirring in her soul to go. To walk on the waters, to move mountains, to change the world.

Some laugh, others smile, and very few support me. "What a foolish girl for not having ambition in career!" I heard, but its much too late to change me. Im not leaving without a bang, I plan to pursue a strong education in which my ventures in the world will most certainly use if it is according to God's calling. This is the question... is it his calling? Im still waiting for the answer. "Here I am Lord, send me."