Who's will?

Sort of going on a theme here, since I haven't written anything in so long. So two posts in one day, woo hoo (actually in 1 hour, impressive right?)!  Again this post is based off verses in Acts.

Acts 21: 10-14

10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

 

I also thought this verse was quite eye opening, because  if you were told that you were going to be tied up by the gentiles for going somewhere and spreading the Good news... you might not want to go, I probably wouldn't, I hear jail isn't a very nice place. I think it's interesting that Paul was willing to do that, to go and to die. But it was the other believer's who were scared for him and didn't want him to go, it didn't mention that they'd be harmed or bound and thrown in jail, but they still didn't want Paul to go. They did eventually say "the Lord's will be done" and I thought that was terribly accurate to how a lot of Christians are today too, often it does take a little while before we submit to God's will, we worry about what might happen or what could go wrong, and yes it's a scary thought but doing things God's way usually makes things work out in the end! :)

Will power and sinful practises

 

Acts 19: 18-19

"Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas."

 

I was reading through my notes I'd made from reading Acts over the summer and remembered writing this one down, mostly out of amazement. To me it just seemed so amazing because these new believers obviously felt convicted by what they were doing and knowing it was sinful and against God, burned it all. Their scrolls and books on sorcery and just stopped doing it. They just did it. I mean I know personally that it's hard to give up the sinful practises, especially when they may not seem like they are. For example there are a couple tv shows that I watch and well... they aren't really something I should be watching, I have given up watching several shows that I know I shouldn't, so I haven't been a complete failure but it is difficult. And I don't think I could do the equivalent of what these new believers did, getting rid of my tv… well it's actually my parent's tv. But I couldn't imagine just burning it or maybe smashing it, like these people in Acts got rid of their things, again, it's quite incredible. And maybe it did take these people a while to do that, but from the text it sounds like they quit it almost right away.

So has this been convicting? (in my case yes)  I just thought it was a really eye opening verse, has anyone else ever thought the same thing while reading it?

Love like what?

Wow, I haven't written anything in what feels like forever. Honestly, I've had no clue what to write. But just now,  I felt compelled to write about how, over the last few months I've begun to realize what it means to really love someone and I've decided to share (And no, this does not mean that there is a 'special guy' in my life right now, because there's not, at least not on earth). 


Firstly, I've realized that loving someone is a  choice.  Just like Jesus chose to die for us. And no that's not always easy, making the choice. Even Jesus had trouble with it when He cried out 

"Your Will, not Mine!" - Mark 14:36

He had to make that choice, and it can't have been easy. 


Secondly, I've realized that if you truly love someone, then you don't just stop loving them, part of you still loves that person no matter what they've done to you or how far apart you've grown. 

Could you imagine if God did that to us? 

'Weeeell, that joke you made about me? that wasn't very nice of you, Plus I haven't really heard from you in a while, we've grown apart, Sorry, but I don't love you anymore...' 

Um, no, that's not how it works. 


Thirdly I've really been running over 1 Corinthians 13 a lot. It's probably my favourite chapter in the bible and it tells us exactly what love is. 

^{4 "}Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

To really love someone, you make the choice to love them, you don't stop loving them and that love should be patient and kind and all of the things above ^ 

It's a beautiful realization and something that  I've been working on with all the people in my life lately :) 

WWJD

What Would Jesus Do. Original right? *insert sarcasm*
But sarcasm aside, this is a very important question that everyone can ask themselves when they go to act or speak or ...do anything really. Thing is, this is often hard to remember and sometimes hard to apply in daily life.



If you happened to be going out for dinner at one of those fancy restaurants that have 3 different forks, and you’ve never had etiquette classes,  you may not know exactly what to do with them, (which fork can be used for which course of the meal and all that). however you would know what not to do - like use a spoon to cut your chicken, or to eat your food right off a knife.

The same thing can be applied to WWJD. You may not know what exactly Jesus would do, but you probably know what Jesus wouldn’t do.


Suppose you’re out and walking by a playground and you see a child has been pushed over by another child. Naturally most people would be upset or angry that one child had pushed another down. Uncertain of what to do you ask yourself What would Jesus do? Go comfort the pushed child? Calmly speak to the other child about what he did was wrong? Perhaps one or both. But maybe it’s easier to think What wouldn’t Jesus do. He certainly wouldn’t get mad and yell at the child (though it may seem like a natural response) and He wouldn’t tell the child that he’s a bad kid, or think that the child’s parents didn’t raise him very well. When thinking of the two sides of WWJD it may be easier to figure out what to do, or what not to do. 

So have you ever thought of WWJD as  what wouldn’t Jesus do?

 

Summer Photography

Well, it seems like forever, but I finally got out with my camera and took some amazing shots down around the beach!

The moon coming out as the sun sets! 

*It doesn't really show in the picture but the clouds sort of looked like mountains in the distance* :) 

The moon continues to rise in the sky

Alright, you caught me, i have an obsession with the full moon *teehee! 

Ah, a picturesque scene down by the pier with the lighthouse and  a wonderfully placed picnic table!

Night descends
oh look! you can still see the cloud mountains! :)

It might not look dark because of how bright the moon was buuut... this was taken around 10pm

A duck swimming in the moonlit waters. Special thanks to the zoom  function on my camera, I almost missed this one, the bird flew off just after I took this

sigh* I love the way the moon lights up the night! :) 

Well That's all folks! For now... :)

Summer

Well summer vacation is upon us all, and now I have what seems like unlimited time to sit around and be unproductive. However this summer I'm quite determined to do something with my time!


 And what better way to go about summer vacation then to spent it at the beach with some sunscreen and of course, my pocket bible! Along with 'dates' with my pocket bible at the beach (romantic eh?),
 I'm also sort of on a mission's trip... in my own house. I just really want to open up to my family about well... my faith, It's just something I don't talk about much, which is really terrible of me seeing as how it's such a big part of my life...  And hopefully God will be able to touch their hearts or use me to touch their hearts, but well, I don't like to admit it but...I haven't been doing a very good job of it...*looks at ground shamefully*  


However, myself and more importantly God  is working on that I trust :) 


Lastly, the thing that I wanted to work on most this summer (and for the rest of my life) is this... 

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Luke 10:27

Any particular verses or things you're trying to work on this summer?

A storm's a brewing

This post is probably going to end up being quite personal but it's easier for me to write what I'm thinking or  feeling than it is to say it.

I accepted Jesus into my heart either late October or early November 2011.

I don't remember exactly when or have a date, but approximately in a 3 week gap somewhere around that time.  I had sort of believed that Jesus was maybe possibly the Son of God for a little while (about 6 months), but the thought process was more like 'Ok, I believe this I guess... now what?' I never didn't do much in that six month gap before accepting Him except feel slightly insulted when someone would make fun of God.

I'd been thinking about really doing something about it for a while, taking the next step and all that, but I was really hesitant, i'm not one to jump into decisions usually, I think about pros and cons to most decisions (including what to eat, read or wear, ya it's a little extreme sometimes :p).

I'd been reading a lot of Christian testimonies or watching videos, and they were all really amazing and inspirational how all of these people's lives were changed, but I noticed that it was mostly stories about alcoholics, addicts or prostitutes. Now I have never had alcohol, touched drugs or cigarettes and I decided when I was about 14 that I would be waiting for marriage, so there was no way I was gonna ever go out and start selling my body.
 I didn't have any of these problems and compared to these people I had a really great life. In my mind, there wasn't anything to change in my life. I wasn't into any of this terrible stuff. That's probably why I hesitated so long, I didn't believe my life would really change if I did take the next step.

Boy was I wrong. 

At first nothing seemed to happen... and it took a couple months but the way I started to view the world was different, my heart was changing and to my delight so was my life. =D
 I started going to youth group regularly and volunteering at Youth for Christ (YFC), I might also start attending church regularly.

Of course, with all this change I knew there was going to be opposition to this, in fact I kind of expected it  and was surprised when it didn't come along...

No one in my family is a Christian, so not really having anyone else to talk to was and still is kind of tough. Once my parents started to notice that youth group and YFC had become a regular thing for a couple months though I started hearing things like 'oh that again', 'doesn't volunteering wear you out?', 'shut off that noise' (referring to the worship music I have a tendency to play), 'heresy', 'church is a waste of time' and 'brainwash'.
These things  are meant to mostly be out of concern from my family (I think) but they can really start getting to you. Same with things some of my friends say or...don't say. A lot of the time they no longer ask how my weekend was because it's very likely I'll go off on a tangent about how awesome worship was or God talk at YFC, so many of my friends have started to pull away as well the last few months, which is incredibly sad.

I realize this is nothing compared to persecution the Apostles faced, I just can't even imagine what that must have felt like, or what it's like in another country where people are killed for being Christian.  I could keep going on being an angst-y  teenager saying I have no friends and my family just doesn't understand me, but that's not the message I want to leave with who ever stuck around and actually read this incredibly long blog post.

I don't regret a thing. I love how my life is going and how God is just working in it all the time and is just continuing to change me, it's just awesome! I can't even think of words to describe it so I'm going to leave it at that! :) 

Random picture from Google, I thought it was cool

God bless! :) 

.

I lift my eyes

I haven't seen too many drawings to accompany this verse so...

I drew this, inspired by Psalm 121
I might add more shading or detail at some point,  but I'm content with it for now :) 

I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord the Maker of Heaven and earth. 

Psalm 121: 1-2 

The Door

A little while ago at YFC, the group of student leaders looked at this painting together and began to discuss it.

This painting is based on Revelation 3:20 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock" 

And we as a group concluded that there are two main points concerning this painting. 

Firstly, The door is supposed to be... our hearts! 

Secondly, we noticed that there is no door handle on the outside, WE have to let Him in! :) 

It was really rather startling coming to this conclusion, and very eye opening. A few weeks later I drew the below drawing inspired by the verse and by what we had talked about. 

The drawing is supposed to be a very clear adaptation of what we talked about. The actual place being your heart (and a house at the same time), and yet again no door handle on the outside. 

Like every piece of art the original could be interpreted differently then how we saw it. 

So any 'revelations' on what you think the original piece is saying? 

Food for the soul - Part II

A while ago I posted a picture/post captioned 'Food for the soul'. I was thinking about this picture and come to realize that it's not just what you are taking in or 'eating' but what you are (up)chucking back into the world (Sorry for the sickening imagery, PS. pun totally intended ;P). In most cases if you're absorbing all this good  then you should be giving back good, but that's not always the case, so pay attention to what you've throwing back in to the world too! :)

Original picture 

 

Waves

Have you ever just thought about waves? (And I mean the kind in an ocean not the greeting)
I was thinking about them the other day while down at the beach, and I just really love them, they're soothing and constant. it seems like the ocean (or in my case, lake) is breathing! :) 


I think the waves  and the lake are beautiful, particularly at sunset but then I thought about the one weekend in March where winds got up to 100km/h and the waves came up and soaked the other side of the side walk. And they flooded the beach! So I saw first hand the they could be pretty destructive. (not that I didn't already know that, but natural disasters don't happen often here)

Ok, to the point. I don't know if anyone else has ever thought about this but I think that human nature reflects nature...

It's both a beautiful and destructive thing. :) 

Any other similarities or insights? Agree? Disagree?  Leave a comment! :) 

Minor characters

There are so many intriguing characters in the Bible, specifically the New Testament (Seeing as I have yet to read 38 of the Old Testament books, I only know the major ones in there). However, I am always really intrigued by two very minor characters towards the end of the gospels. The two men who are crucified along with Jesus. We don't ever learn anything about them or who they were except that they were criminals. That's it, no thought about them. But I think they are so interesting and we learn a lot about both of their characters through the few lines they have.

 One seems to really have a grasp in his dying moments, he knew he'd gotten what he deserved for being a thief, while Jesus did nothing to be up there. Personally I think this guy had a lot of humility, he was willing to fess up and say he was wrong and let go of his pride (something we all have trouble with at times), and this is the way we are to act before God.

While the other man only really seemed to care about Jesus because he wanted to save his own skin, and he didn't exactly go about asking Jesus to save him the right way.

So those are two characters I always find very intriguing, they represent two completely different kinds of men and definitely contrast each other well.

Are there any small characters you find really interesting? 

If so, leave a comment and explain! :)

Oh, hey fellow bloggers

I've been pretty much silent lately, I've really had no wonderful inspiration to write about anything. However I''m going to start working on making my blog more interactive, isn't the whole point of blogging so people can discuss and interact with each other?  (you don't have to leave a comment and answer that lol)

So here's to getting discussions going! Hopefully I'll post something in the next couple of days! Take care! :)

ways of life

Nearly everyone has one motto or saying that they like, and some try to live their life by whatever the motto or saying may be and I think that is super important.  And there are some really good ones out there but personally mine is this...

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you.

                                                                                           ~ John 13:34

After actually making the effort to do this I've noticed it's quite life changing. I mean yes there are still people who are not nice to me and who I'm not fond of but making the effort to at least like something about them makes them tolerable. 

So that's one of my life mantra's, what are yours? :) 

 

conforming to the world

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

-Romans 12:2

For class last week our task was to give up technology for the week, cell phones, tv, internet, ipods. And really its remarkable being able to give it up. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of tough, when you're used to everything in the world distracting you and suddenly you can't use it, it's a little bit irritating.

Without being  'plugged in' to all my gadgets last week I actually got a lot more done,  slept better and worried less. And another plus, I had time to finish reading Genesis! (Though I'm still convinced I'll be an old lady before I finish the Old Testament)

 What I learned: It's so easy to be conformed to the world, and it's not really a good thing. I spent a lot more time reading and just being with God. It was pretty awesome! So just take time out of your day and go do that, its a really great experience. :) 

Good vs Evil?

 "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

- Anne Frank

Sometimes I have moments where I can't decide whether this world is good or evil. And yes that sounds terrible but when you think of all the destruction, corruption, lies and hate in the world it seems like it, right?

And then you read stories of human compassion, kindness sympathy and love in the most terrible of circumstances and it's just so so beautiful! And that's when I decide.

 Love is the strongest thing in the universe! 

(and also my favourite thing in the whole universe)

I feel like it can conquer anything and everything and that is just so awesome and encouraging!  :) 

What if...

What if today you woke up with the only things you thanked God for yesterday?

This quote I found, Wow, it's just really powerful. It makes you think huh?  

I'll leave it at that, make of this what you will.