Love Suffers Long

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter. It talks all about what true love is and what true love does. The chapter is great, but I have a hard time letting it sink in and change me unless I have personal experience with it.

Have you ever had someone in your life that is hard to love, let alone get along with? I have. She is young, so I try to let her mature on her own and just keep learning, but it's tough. My family was asking for prayer about the situation at church on Sunday and that is when someone reminded us that "love suffers long". All of a sudden 1 Corinthians 13:4 clicked.. "Love suffers long...". That is exactly what God is trying to teach me right now. I wish I could just absorb knowledge from the Bible, but that doesn't seem to work for me or many others. We have to go through the testing. I am being tested on loving this child unconditionally because love is supposed to be long-suffering.

1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love suffers long..." Love everyone no matter how hard the challenge sometimes.

His Great Plan

It's been way too long since I last wrote on here. I guess that's because of insecurities. Stupid insecurities.

I almost always have something to say...something the Lord has put on my heart, but fear holds me back.

Fear that you won't be able to relate. 

Fear that I won't do justice to what The Lord wants me to say. 

It feels like it's a big responsibility to speak on behalf of The Lord...and it is! But if I let the fear of carrying that responsibility hold me back then I'm not being obedient to Gods call. 

After all, He did say,

"What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 

Matthew 10:27 

I've been learning the past year or so that life is this huge process. 

I'm sure most of us have heard someone say God has great plans for you life and it's true!

I think when we hear that, and see that truth in the Bible, we begin to want that and long to see what that great plan is.

We want to get to the final destination. 

We want to see how this whole plan unfolds.

And that's great because it motivates us. 

Occasionally though (if you're like me) the outcome becomes your focus. You've got your eye on the prize and you don't want any distractions. You want to get there ASAP...and you miss the whole point of this glorious plan.

Plan Definition

dictionary.search.yahoo.com

n. noun

An orderly or step-by-step conception or proposal for accomplishing an objective.

A plan is a step-by-step process and it's that way for a reason! God longs to reveal himself to us. He longs to teach us and see us grow in wisdom. The outcome isn't what will teach us...it's everything we did to get there.

It's those testing times where we are unsure of where we're supposed to go next.  

It's those times when everything is going smoothly and we learn to bless The Lord.

It's those times when nothing seems to go right and we have no choice but to lean on Jesus and seek His face...and we learn to bless Him through the hard times as well. 

And as much as we just want to run away from the process...we will never escape it. So we learn how to handle it. We learn how to grow in it because we know that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame," 

We are built in the process. It's where our character is built. It's where we make relationships. It's where we fall more and more in love with our savior...and it's then that we realize just how important the process is.

        "We want everything right now, but faith is found in the process.” - Russell Evans

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:2-5

You're reaching out to me

Oh I can see

You've got something beautiful planned

So I'll take hold of You

I know You'll pull me through

No matter what happens

I will follow You

I love the fact that the Lord truly wants what is best for us, and the promise that He will work EVERYTHING together for good! What's better than having the one and only God loving you and looking out for you. Nothing.

I say that, but I lose sight of that so easily. The moment I stop spending time waiting on the Lord, and let whatever is going on in my life, or even in the world, get to me, I forget that God is in control.

When I wrote this song I had that in mind. At that time in my life I was seeing so much hurt around me and it was so heartbreaking, but I wanted to look at all of that brokenness and see that there is hope for all of these broken people and me. 

Thank you Lord

You've made a way

There is healing in Your name

God is good...ALL THE TIME!

There are times in life when you question why you are where you are. You question why God would put you there if it causes so much stress, or so little results or fill in the blank. I think the answer is clear, but sometimes very hard to accept.

The Lord wants your faith to grow.

In order to be rooted in the Lord and unwavering, our faith has to be put to the test. We cannot have strong faith unless it has been tested. It is in those times...in those places, that we must look to the Lord for peace and wisdom, and we must cast our cares upon him and let them go.

I want to learn to bless the Lord in all circumstances. I want to be refined by the hard times I go through...not knocked down or discouraged.

Lord it is pitiful how much I let hard times get to me. Your Word is supposed to bring life. Your Word is supposed to be an anchor for my soul. So Lord I pray that I and anyone else who struggles with discouragement would trust that you are in control. And that we would allow the hard times to refine us and make us more like you. All glory and honor to you Jesus!

Revive Our Souls

The law of The Lord is perfect! It revives the soul...

Remember that! I pray that you would not let yourself drown in guilt from the past. That you wouldn't become judgmental. That you wouldn't feel that you are past the Lords forgiveness. Jesus Christ gave his life for YOU and his law is meant to bring revival in your life. It is meant to revive your heart and soul...so let it! Accept the love and mercy God is pouring out on you right now! 

But don't miss the message God has revealed to us through His word...love The Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Do EVERYTHING you do to bring glory to the Creator of heaven and earth. The one true God!

Grace and peace to you! 

-Ally

Her new shoes, and the God moment

A couple nights ago God just decided to teach me a whole bunch of amazing things.

My sister got new shoes this week so she wants to wear them everywhere. She can't tie them on her own so before she went to kids church on Wednesday she was strictly told NOT to take her shoes off until she got home. It just so happened that at kids church that night the game was called "the shoe game" which requires taking off ones shoes. My sister was the only kid who did not play the game of the night.
It amazes me how young we are when God starts teaching us and testing us. My sis definitely passed her test of obedience. I can't easily remember any test I went through when I was young, but they must have been there. She was still joyful when she got home that night and told us that story.

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." -James 1:2-3

The other thing God taught me happened while I was reading my devotional and Bible that same night.

"Then the king said to me, 'What do you request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, 'If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it.'" -Nehemiah 2:4-5

Here is Nehemiah, a simple cupbearer of the king. The king notices Nehemiah's sad face and asks about it. Nehemiah explains that the city he loves lays in ruins, so how can he be happy. So the king grants Nehemiah's wish to go and rebuild the city wall and gate. But in verse four it states that Nehemiah prayed to God before he responded to king. In all of his stress and sorrows he remembered God. "...So I prayed to the God of heaven..." And then Nehemiah answered the king. Nehemiah found favor in the kings sight, therefore his request was granted. Also, notice that Nehemiah wasn't even worried about how he was going to rebuild the wall; he just knew that God was going to help him.
-Jocelyn

GODS NOT DEAD!