Take A Step Back

So I know it's been a while since I've posted, you'll have to excuse that, I've just gotten so busy! But no worries I'm back now :) haha I got the idea for this blog on Mother's Day actually and I'm JUST now getting around to it...

Most of us travel through life worrying about ourselves, our lives and those of the ones we love. We become so wrapped up in ourselves that we're focused on only our path, about how something effects us or what's going to happen to us. Yes those things are important, but that's not looking at the big picture. The way I've come to see it lately is that God is weaving one giant tapestry, the most ornately beautiful sight you could ever behold. Well in His tapestry each one of our lives is a thread. As humans we're zoomed in, all we can see is our thread and the threads closest to us. We are unable to grasp the entire picture. God has woven all of us together for a reason, we are where we are for a specific reason. But if we were able to just step back and look at His design, we all need each other. The design is so intricately laced that each one of us is connected somehow. God just never stops amazing me, everywhere you look people are connected in some way, and when it comes to it they're a support system. God wants us to have relationships, we are designed to do so, but that design goes so much deeper, because God knows before someone is even thought of their exact life. But not only does he know every detail of what that person will ever go through or feel, He knows every detail of what a person who interacts with that person or knows that person will go through or feel. Even further, He knows exactly what they'll need from each other, and everyone else ever to touch their life, and he choreographs their paths to intersect at exactly the right time. How HUGE is God?! I'm telling you I will never be able to wrap my mind around such enormity. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is, when you start to get self absorbed, where all you can think about is what's happening to you and what you're going through, just step back. Step back and just trust Jesus, I promise you He's got this. He knows what you need and even though you're not always gonna like it, and it's not always gonna feel good, "It's for you're own good." haha I know everybody's heard that one before. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.... 

Psalm 62:8-10

Poison Control

So I know I've already done a post on the dangers of anger, but I saw this on a friend's status the other day and it hit me at a really important time for me right now. It said:

"Being mad with somebody is like drinking a strong poison but expecting them to die"

It's not that I'm angry, I'm not mad at all actually. But I feel like we can substitute any bad feeling or emotion into that. For me it's jealous and wanting to be better and wanting them to hurt too and bitterness and wanting to win. But you know what? That's so un-Christian-like of me. All those feelings are is poison. They eat you from the inside out and destroy you. When you harbor feelings like that it hurts you just as much, if not more, than whoever it is your opposing. So why even feel them at all?

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every other form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

- Ephesians 4:31-32

Well we all know it's never an easy task to be nice to someone who is nothing but terrible to us. We will never have the same heart that Jesus has and be able to love someone so unconditionally and harbor no hate or bitterness. But we can try. I've had so many instances this week where I've found myself full of bitterness and rage and then just recently a sense of.. defeat.. Like I've failed. I hate all of those feelings, they hurt to be inside my body. So I started my bible quest as soon as my bible and I were reunited and as always it didn't disappoint. As soon as I flipped it open I was led to Jesus talking about Judas. Even though Judas betrayed Him in the most terrible of ways, Jesus still died for his sins, and for the sins of all of us. Jesus never felt hate or bitterness towards Judas or throughout His entire situation. That fact makes me step back and look at myself a little more. I am SO selfish to have bitterness inside of me. Who am I to judge another or hate? God is the only rightful judge. How hard does that hit? For me it hits pretty dang hard. I always find myself judging people I don't even know and I shouldn't.

Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

- Leviticus 19:17&18

I don't know about you, but it's hard to completely forgive somebody of something horrible. If a friend stabs you in the back, how hard is it for us to forgive and love that person? That's really hard to do. I'm not the kind of person to hold grudges against somebody just because of something a person has done to me. But if you mess with my family or say something bad about them, it's all over in my mind. I will never look at someone who does that the same way and I'm learning that that's the wrong attitude to have. Revenge, although it may feel like such a desperate need, is not the right way to go. God said that we're not to "seek revenge or bear a grudge" but that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is so hard for me you guys, I'm struggling so hard with it, but I'm praying about it. I'm trying to get to a place where my heart is completely free of malice. Malice, according to good ol' dictionary.com, means the desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seatedmeanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy.

I think it's safe to say that we've all had a time in our lives when we've wanted revenge. Maybe not in the physical sense, but you just want the person who has wronged you to feel some sort of pain, like the pain that you've endured. I may be wrong, but I feel like most people have been there. I mean you already know that I have haha so basically from here on out I am going to stop and catch myself anytime I feel bitterness or a desire for malice, and I'm going to remind myself of this post and the verses within it. Let's look at this one last time just to wrap it up,

"Being mad with somebody is like drinking a strong poison but expecting them to die"

I'm done drinking the poison. Are you?

FaceBook

So on my way to pick up Kasey this morning for Chik-fil-a and FCA I passed a church sign that read, "Facebook means you will see God's face when you read His book." How true is that! I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. Well it got me thinking and about how often people put other PEOPLE before God by living on facebook and reading about other people's lives for hours rather than sitting down and reading about God at all. I'm not gonna lie to you and say I don't sit on facebook for insane amounts of time and get completely ADD but I'm sure gonna think about it more. See I left my bible at the farm Sunday and have been entirely lost without it these past few days, we should however be reunited by tonight. :) But back to my point! I just loved that sign. The bible is my all time favorite book, it's got wayyy more answers than any dictionary or encyclopedia could ever give you. How awesome is that?! I just never cease to be amazed by that fact haha. 

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

 

Therefore, you see God's face when you read His word because he IS his word! *Insert Twilight Zone Music Here* God is everything. That's a mind blower if you ask me. The point is that a lot of non-believers have difficulty grasping God because they can't see Him, they can't touch him. But they can! God dwells in every person who has opened their heart to Him and let Him make His home there, any God consumed person that you touch was created by Him, any word of the bible you see is His face. God is the creator of everything ever to exist. 

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:3

Instead of reading our newsfeeds for the latest goings on in our friend's lives, why don't we just try this week to read God's newsfeed. Instead of being so quick to jump on facebook when you're bored, dive head first into His word. Nothing makes Him happier than being with us :) So I'm gonna give Him that much. Nothing I could give Him could ever amount to what Jesus has given and gives us but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try my hardest to give Him everything I've got!

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105