Loving life with Jesus

Street lights shine into the darkness of the night all around the city. Above, the sky is sparkling bringing off the radiance of perfection, but down below, I don't see perfection, but pain and brokenness everywhere I look. I see broken families, wounded hearts, addictions, homelessness, lost souls looking for some comfort, but unsure of where to find it. Hunger coursing through their bodies, holding on to the little belongings they posses.  Most of my life, I have been pretty sheltered from a lot of things, including homelessness. You briefly see a homeless person sitting alongside a building, but most times you pass by not thinking much of it. A lot of the darkness is hidden away from the eyes of the public throughout the main streets you drive or walk on everyday. When you don't intentionally go out looking for the people who are living on the streets, you won't see it and most times it will get pushed to the back of our heads.  I was given the opportunity to go out with...

  Everyone has giants in their lives that come and knock on their doors, threatening to take away their confidence, peace, and happiness. Even though the giant, Goliath, that David faced in the bible was a real human being, our giants are not humans but rather things like, fear, doubt, insecurity, habits, etc. These giants, when we are confronted by them, can seem larger and scarier than they really are. It may seem impossible some days to stand up and fight against them especially when they have been a part of our lives for so long. But no giant we ever face is too big for God, because the giants before us will never be greater than the God who is beside us. God is always standing with us, fighting for us every single day of our lives, and too many times we forget that we have the creator of the whole world fighting our battles for us. Deuteronomy 3:22, "For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory" . When w...

  Our world is full of fear, and that fear can rub off onto us without us even noticing. It creeps up like an animal looking for its prey, and jumps at the right moment when we are vulnerable. We need to always be on the look out for devil so we can be prepared for when he tries to attack us. There are so many different tactics that the devil will use to attack us with, but one very common one is fear, and especially in our world today, we can see it everywhere we look. The amazing thing is, we do not have to allow that fear to affect us because we have a weapon against it, and that weapon is faith. In the bible, God promises us that we can trust Him that He has everything in control, and will only do what is best for us, even when we may not see it sometimes. When Satan takes that fear and plants it into our heads, he is trying to control us and make us believe that God is not in control. We can either allow him to have the satisfaction of winning us over, or block him out and fil...

  I can not believe that it has already been 8 months since I started Bible School and now I am living back at home again. These past 8 months, I had my life planned out for me and did not have much to worry about. The thought of leaving scared me, because my future is unknown and I would be leaving what is comfortable to me and all the people I love. After living in this amazing place, I thought that moving back home would mean I would be downgrading back to how my life was like a year ago before I went to Bible school. These past few weeks I have been wrestling a lot with this idea, and God turned that idea I had and flipped it around to show me how I should view this change in my life. God showed me that living a life with Him is never downgrading, and even though it may physically look like I am downgrading back to my old life, I am different internally and can take this change and have a whole attitude and perspective on life. God is bringing me back home for a reason to...

Life can throw unexpected situations at us that can be sometimes difficult to handle. As humans, we love the comforts of our lives and planning out every situation we go through or have to face. The problem with that, is that there is only one person who knows exactly what is going to happen and has control, and unfortunately that person is not us. We may think we can control what happens, but really the only thing we have control of is how we react and respond to the situations we find ourselves in. Are we going to surrender and say yes to where God is leading us, or are we going to ignore His calling and stay in our comforts? I am not saying that our comforts are bad, because they are not....unless they hold us back from following God. God will put us in situations for His purpose, to test and strengthen us, even though we may never understand why. Instead of being afraid of the unknown, we need to trust God and step into uncharted waters with faith. He will never put you in a situ...

  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Imagine if the whole world could live by this standard that God has given us? There would be so much peace, love, and unity between everyone, and the world would be a different place. To truly love someone is to do what 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says. As humans, with our sinful nature, we have a hard time putting on love and showing it to everyone around us. God is love, and is the greatest example of how we should love someone. God gave up His only son to die to save us because He loved us so much, and could not imagine heaven without us. Not only did Jesus willingly die for us, God is SO patient with us, forgives us no matter what, rej...

  Lungs too heavy to breath, heart racing, hands shaking, all while you mind is racing with the thoughts, "When will this ever end?" Stomach turning, body sweating, "What is wrong with my body? Am I going to die? I can't catch a breath....I can't breath." Anxiety, panic attacks...unfortunately a normal part of a lot of people's everyday lives, but it does not have to have the power to take control of your life and tell you, you are messed up because your body reacts the way it does. It can a part of you without being you. I have always been a person who thinks too much and when you add that with stress it does not mix well. I started getting anxiety in elementary school because of bullying and stress and I have had it ever since. I got my first four panic attacks this past year and the first time I had it, I thought I was going to die. Knowing what to expect, now helps me to recognize it quicker and deal with it so it does not get out of control. But r...