Today I just want to share my heart about what God has done in my life since I've moved to Fargo-Moorhead. I left my hometown brokenhearted and completely let down by someone very close to me and I was grasping for hope in the deepest pit I had ever been in. I had heard of Chi Alpha from a friend and decided to go the first week of school. I went to the Underground at MSUM and found myself amongst beautiful people that believed in, trusted, and relied on a personal God. That night I rededicated my life to Christ. I continued to attend Chi Alpha and very quickly found myself amongst the best friends I have ever met in my life and I am so blessed to call them my family. Just because our hearts belong to God doesn't mean we don't face troubling times, we just have hope that better days are coming and trust God will bring us through. During what could have been a stressful finals week I instead remained at peace and made sure to spend time with Jesus every day. God definitely blessed me throughout the whole week and I have never been in such an intimate place with Him in all my life. And the best part is that I have so far to go! To go deeper into relationship and grow even closer to Him...
Amongst all the joy and peace I've received from my Daddy, I have fought Satan continuously as he tries to push me further and further from my goal. Satan's ammo was my past; memories, feelings, dreams, pain, Satan grabbed everything he could to pull me back to bury me in the pit God had rescued me from. At the Chi Alpha Girl's Night I was prayed over and found myself truly fulfilled by God with memories of the past completely swept away. I am no longer haunted by images of the past because God has blessed me with forgiveness and has repaired the cracks and has made my heart new. Every once in a while if I let my guard down, Satan tries to sneak his way in with lies from the pit of Hell. The devil tries to bring me back to my sin, make me feel guilty, and drag me further from God. When I notice this happening my first reaction is to pray; I pray God will remove anything from my heart and mind that is not of Him and he does. I am set free from my past and have been given a second chance to create a new identity in Him.
Fireflight has a song called, "What I've Overcome" and the lyrics are as if they were written straight from my heart. (There's a link to the song at the bottom of the page.) I don't know how I could better explain my current situation than through the lyrics of this song. I have such a passion for God and a joy in Him as if I have been born again. I'm free from my past since he has spread it as far as the east is from the west and has buried it in the bottom of the ocean! Amongst my Chi Alpha family I am not my past, my family does not judge me based on what I've done because that's not who I am. They see me as who I am in Christ, my identity comes from Him. I have struggled to see myself in the same light until very recently. I kept myself from forgiving myself and it blinded me from seeing the beautiful woman God has made me to be. I now see myself as His daughter who He loves beyond what my imagination can comprehend. He sent His son to die for me and has forgiven me even though I don't at all deserve it. He loves us beyond what we deserve because we are His creation, His children. He has called us to be sons and daughters of the light and has put His favor on us. We are blessed and loved!!!
Today my prayer is that people from my past could push aside what they knew of me and instead see who I've become as I am now the woman God has created me to be. This is the hard part about going home, I really don't like to go home to the people who treat me as though I've never changed. The people who gossip, sling bad names about people, who think of me as the person I used to be. Take note that from my experience, as well as my friends', people's perceptions of you are not easily changed. People may recognize a change but most continue to treat you as if you are still the same person you were before. Be careful about your words and actions as people chose to define you through them. Especially those currently in high school; your reputation sticks with you for a long time. Is yours one that you want to stick around? If not, change it NOW! You don't have to wait for the summer, next year, or college to start over. By the grace of God you can do it today. No it won't be easy, change never is, but you can be redefined by a God who is so provides healing and guidance. If this is you and you want to put the past behind you and move into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ please pray with me.
Father, I'm sorry. I've let the world control me and I no longer look to you for guidance. Please forgive me for the sins that have buried me and have brought me apart for you. Jesus would you come into my heart and put all the broken pieces together and fill the cracks and crevices so that the devil has no power over me. I pray that you are near to me and would speak to me so I can walk in your ways. Daddy I thank you for the work you are doing in me and I lift up your name for the great work your are doing in my life. God put people in my life that will help me walk with you and lead me into a personal relationship with you. Set my heart on fire. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
May God bless you abundantly and set you free from your past in the name of Jesus. God Bless!
Love,
Paige
Here's the link to Fireflight, "What I've Overcome"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKonnpA71yE
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
From the Deepest Pit to a Solid Rock
David, the man after God's own heart. In Sunday School I was taught about all the great things David did, about how God put favor on him and blessed him abundantly. How David wrote a lot of Psalms. But what I wasn't taught about was David's brokenness, the despair and depression he went through as he was being hunted by Saul. Why were we not taught the whole story? Because I believe that the man of God that David became was because he turned to God to lift him out of the pit he was buried in.
Psalm 40:1-2 (NIV)
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:1-2 (NLT)
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
David cried out to the Lord while he was hiding out in a cave on the mountain side and was patient. There have been times when I've prayed and wanted an answer now and not waited on the Lord and have made the wrong decision. David cried out and waited for God to reply to him. In this verse he's suggesting that answers sometimes take patience and time of prayer. If you speed things along they may not happen at the time God has planned them for, so slow down and wait on the Lord.
God lifted David out of his pit of despair, all the dirt and grime that was burring him alive. God will not let you drown, he will deliver you from anything that has consumed you in your past. I have experienced this first hand. I can't believe I haven't even been in Fargo-Moorhead for four months because God has lifted me out of the pit I was buried in and has delivered me from my past. He has given me such love and joy. He has comforted me so that I may comfort others who go through something similar to my troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). He gives me wisdom and clarity in His word. He has blessed me and is so good. No pit you are in is too deep for God to lift you out of. No matter what you have done, where you have been, God can turn your life around and give you a second chance... or a third... or a fourth. He just wants you to live as His son or daughter of Christ.
God took him out, cleaned him off and set him on a solid rock. God is our solid rock our ground to stand upon. He will never fail us because love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8) and how God loves us! It's an indescribable love that is overflowing for YOU! Something that Pastor Bob spoke on at church this past Sunday was that God plans for good to come out of the troubling times and that because God is with you, your troubles are good. This spoke to my heart in such a big way because I know God plans to use my past and my struggles to build me up and to build up those around me, but I never really considered my troubles to be good. In my eyes there was no good in troubles only after the struggle did I see a greater purpose. So if you are struggling ask God to open your eyes to His purpose and the good that is there in your time of trial.
You may be wondering why I listed two translations of the Psalm when they are so similarly worded. NIV ends in "and gave me a firm place to stand" while NLT ends in "and steadied me as I walked along." I find comfort in both but would like to explain what my heart has explained to me. God gives us a firm place to stand basically restates that he has set your feet on a rock or solid ground, easy to understand. But "[He] steadied me as I walked along" says that as we stumble and start to tip over or fall that God will be there to steady you. God is so faithful, He will not let you fall. He is holding on to you and walks you through your life helping you over the cracks and around the crevices that can lead us into another pit and away from Him. Walk your days with Him and you will be steadied in your weaknesses! And in pursing a life with God you too with be a man or woman after God's own heart.
May God bless you in abundance and reveal His will for you. If you find yourself in a pit may God deliver you from your sins and transgressions. And set you upon a solid rock our Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins to give us new life. Turn to Him in prayer and seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and He will steady you in your walk of life. Praise God for the joy we have in Him. Amen!
Psalm 40:1-2 (NIV)
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:1-2 (NLT)
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
David cried out to the Lord while he was hiding out in a cave on the mountain side and was patient. There have been times when I've prayed and wanted an answer now and not waited on the Lord and have made the wrong decision. David cried out and waited for God to reply to him. In this verse he's suggesting that answers sometimes take patience and time of prayer. If you speed things along they may not happen at the time God has planned them for, so slow down and wait on the Lord.
God lifted David out of his pit of despair, all the dirt and grime that was burring him alive. God will not let you drown, he will deliver you from anything that has consumed you in your past. I have experienced this first hand. I can't believe I haven't even been in Fargo-Moorhead for four months because God has lifted me out of the pit I was buried in and has delivered me from my past. He has given me such love and joy. He has comforted me so that I may comfort others who go through something similar to my troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). He gives me wisdom and clarity in His word. He has blessed me and is so good. No pit you are in is too deep for God to lift you out of. No matter what you have done, where you have been, God can turn your life around and give you a second chance... or a third... or a fourth. He just wants you to live as His son or daughter of Christ.
God took him out, cleaned him off and set him on a solid rock. God is our solid rock our ground to stand upon. He will never fail us because love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8) and how God loves us! It's an indescribable love that is overflowing for YOU! Something that Pastor Bob spoke on at church this past Sunday was that God plans for good to come out of the troubling times and that because God is with you, your troubles are good. This spoke to my heart in such a big way because I know God plans to use my past and my struggles to build me up and to build up those around me, but I never really considered my troubles to be good. In my eyes there was no good in troubles only after the struggle did I see a greater purpose. So if you are struggling ask God to open your eyes to His purpose and the good that is there in your time of trial.
You may be wondering why I listed two translations of the Psalm when they are so similarly worded. NIV ends in "and gave me a firm place to stand" while NLT ends in "and steadied me as I walked along." I find comfort in both but would like to explain what my heart has explained to me. God gives us a firm place to stand basically restates that he has set your feet on a rock or solid ground, easy to understand. But "[He] steadied me as I walked along" says that as we stumble and start to tip over or fall that God will be there to steady you. God is so faithful, He will not let you fall. He is holding on to you and walks you through your life helping you over the cracks and around the crevices that can lead us into another pit and away from Him. Walk your days with Him and you will be steadied in your weaknesses! And in pursing a life with God you too with be a man or woman after God's own heart.
May God bless you in abundance and reveal His will for you. If you find yourself in a pit may God deliver you from your sins and transgressions. And set you upon a solid rock our Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins to give us new life. Turn to Him in prayer and seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and He will steady you in your walk of life. Praise God for the joy we have in Him. Amen!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Love
Wow how God has comforted me and provided guidance for me through His word lately. Last week I found myself struggling, with homework to do, trying to decide whether or not to quit my job, missing my family, everything seemed to pile on as a burden. But as He promises God always brings us out of the darkness and into the light. He will provide for us no matter where we are or what we're going through because He is the author of our storybook.
This morning I woke up and read Romans 12:9-21. The focus is love, my favorite subject. I love to be in love and I don't mean like in the movies. I mean honest love. The love God has for us and gives to us. Love that never fails. Romans 12:9 (NIV) says "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." It just so happens that this verse is also the KLove verse of the day provided in the New Living Translation says "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." I love the simplicity of the NLT verse, it is straight forward and real, something that is easy for me to understand and apply to how I live and love.
"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them." To me this means not just saying you love someone but really loving them with the love you receive from our Father. This love is unconditional and honest, without hesitation. How many times to do overuse love in the day? It's become normal to say "I love that song," "I love that class," "I love the cake I made." Is this true love? Do you really love it or do you just like it? Same goes for relationships. Guard your hearts. Professing you love someone means you really love them. Once again I think back to 1 Corinthians 13, all the guidelines of what love is. To be honest, I don't trust myself in saying that I have loved unconditionally in past relationships. But now that I am living a life with Jesus in my heart I trust that God will provide for me a spouse that I can love unconditionally. I'm simply waiting on Him to correct my heart so that I can love my beloved in the way that He does.
"Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." There are so many things that are wrong in this world. Things that push us away from God and His plan for us and lead us into sin. We are to hate these things and in doing so run away from them. We all know what is right and wrong, we all have a conscience and have been taught what is ethical. So why would you stay in a situation that leads you to sin, that separates you from God? Instead of sticking with the things that lead you to sin, hold tightly to what is good. Currently, I am holding onto my friends from Chi Alpha and my Rivercity church families that are continuing to grow each day. I hold tight to my Bible, sometimes literally in this Fargo wind! I hold tight to my purity and the new life I have in Jesus. I never want to be who I've been but instead continue to grow in faith and be an example of Christ's love.
God's love is unconditional, limitless, and the best promise we've been given. He will love us no matter where we've been or where we are. He will lift us out of our pit and will bring us into the light as we learn to live out His will for us.
Thank you Jesus for your life and for the perfect example you are of God's love. Give me your heart, help me to love like you. Because I want to be completely in love with you. Amen.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
David, A King But A Human None-the-Less
David, the king of Israel, is someone we look to in the Bible as a "Godly man," someone who is a model of loving like God. Yet David had is fair share of worldly problems, and wasn't always close to God. He saw a lot of heartache and fell into a deep depression when he was being hunted by Saul. Saul wanted to kill David, so David fled. Then as Saul got closer to David, he would be forced to flee again. The poor guy is getting chased everywhere and takes refuge in a cave. I would assume he had a lot of time to devote to prayer and meditation while in solitude.
David was an author of 73 of the psalms. Some psalms are joyous and uplifting of praises and thanksgiving to God, others express deep emotions about some of the author's most rock-bottom times. This morning I was lead to Psalms 69-71, written by David when he was obviously seeking freedom from a pit of depression. In Psalms 69 David is crying out to God to save him from the depression he is facing. He turns to God for deliverance because he knows God can raise him up, he's trusting in Him. As I read this my heart aches just imagining the amount of people who are sinking in a pit and who do not know Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.
Throughout the Psalms, David goes from depressed to joyous, from hopeless to hopeful, from complaining about his current situation to relying on God to take lift him up. How many times do we flip flop between being happy to sad, from being motivated to lazy, from being lifted up to sinking in a pit. David is every bit human yet parts of his story exude God. David had God in his heart and let God be in control, he knew God would not give him more than he could handle so he trusted and waited on God.
When we are in times of depression, sorrow, grief, despair we are to turn to God for redemption, salvation and healing. God can clean any wound, heal any scar, and strengthen your spirit no matter what your past. Because "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Luke 18:27
David was an author of 73 of the psalms. Some psalms are joyous and uplifting of praises and thanksgiving to God, others express deep emotions about some of the author's most rock-bottom times. This morning I was lead to Psalms 69-71, written by David when he was obviously seeking freedom from a pit of depression. In Psalms 69 David is crying out to God to save him from the depression he is facing. He turns to God for deliverance because he knows God can raise him up, he's trusting in Him. As I read this my heart aches just imagining the amount of people who are sinking in a pit and who do not know Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.
Throughout the Psalms, David goes from depressed to joyous, from hopeless to hopeful, from complaining about his current situation to relying on God to take lift him up. How many times do we flip flop between being happy to sad, from being motivated to lazy, from being lifted up to sinking in a pit. David is every bit human yet parts of his story exude God. David had God in his heart and let God be in control, he knew God would not give him more than he could handle so he trusted and waited on God.
When we are in times of depression, sorrow, grief, despair we are to turn to God for redemption, salvation and healing. God can clean any wound, heal any scar, and strengthen your spirit no matter what your past. Because "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Luke 18:27
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Who Are You Trying To Please???
God is so good! The Bible, God's word, is a manual of how to live our lives pleasing to Him. The Lord led me to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, I didn't realize how much guidance a 5 chapter book could provide. Living to Please God. The first verse of chapter four says, "We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more." For me this verse is saying, "Yeah you've got the concept, now work harder to live in a way that pleases your Father."
This urge to please God brings me to Galatians 1:10 "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." As Christians we should be living to serve Christ, if we desire to be servants of Christ we cannot try to please men but must be trying to please God. Similar to my post about the 21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge, I can always find some sort of excuse to do something other than spend time with God. There are so many things that I can fill my time with that are not pleasing to God. Ignoring the fact that my Daddy wants to spend time with me creates a space that allows Satan to come between us. When I'm not spending quiet time with God each day, Satan finds ways to sneak in and warp my thoughts or even my heart. As I desire to spend eternity with my Father in Heaven, I will work to live in a way that pleases God.
Getting back to 1 Thessalonians, Verses 3-5 focus entirely on sexual immorality. Living in a society where sex is used to sell everything, even diapers, sexual pressures from the media and our peers is hard to ignore. But if we want to please God we must lead pure lives. Verses 7-8 say, "For God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." If we are not living a pure life, we are rejecting God. And our Father in Heaven punishes us just as our earthly fathers punish us. To avoid punishment, most likely from both fathers, like a pure life, spend time to learn from Jesus' example.
Verses 9-10 mention how we have been taught by God to love each other which led me to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 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. Love never fails." What an awesome gift God has given us by loving us! "Love never fails," and since God is love, He will never fail! God is wanting us to love on others in the same way He loves on us.
Verses 11-12 are to the point in saying we should lead a quiet life and to mind our own business. In doing so we will gain the respect of others and will not be dependent on anybody. So let us live our lives dependent on God alone, working to please Him alone. Trusting in Him that he will provide for us, no matter what.
God Bless!
~Paige
This urge to please God brings me to Galatians 1:10 "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." As Christians we should be living to serve Christ, if we desire to be servants of Christ we cannot try to please men but must be trying to please God. Similar to my post about the 21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge, I can always find some sort of excuse to do something other than spend time with God. There are so many things that I can fill my time with that are not pleasing to God. Ignoring the fact that my Daddy wants to spend time with me creates a space that allows Satan to come between us. When I'm not spending quiet time with God each day, Satan finds ways to sneak in and warp my thoughts or even my heart. As I desire to spend eternity with my Father in Heaven, I will work to live in a way that pleases God.
Getting back to 1 Thessalonians, Verses 3-5 focus entirely on sexual immorality. Living in a society where sex is used to sell everything, even diapers, sexual pressures from the media and our peers is hard to ignore. But if we want to please God we must lead pure lives. Verses 7-8 say, "For God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." If we are not living a pure life, we are rejecting God. And our Father in Heaven punishes us just as our earthly fathers punish us. To avoid punishment, most likely from both fathers, like a pure life, spend time to learn from Jesus' example.
Verses 9-10 mention how we have been taught by God to love each other which led me to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 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. Love never fails." What an awesome gift God has given us by loving us! "Love never fails," and since God is love, He will never fail! God is wanting us to love on others in the same way He loves on us.
Verses 11-12 are to the point in saying we should lead a quiet life and to mind our own business. In doing so we will gain the respect of others and will not be dependent on anybody. So let us live our lives dependent on God alone, working to please Him alone. Trusting in Him that he will provide for us, no matter what.
God Bless!
~Paige
21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge
Sometimes I catch myself making excuses for why I'm too busy to pick up my Bible to read. "I've got too much homework, Glee is on tonight, I should really do some laundry, Sammy asked me to hang out," the list is endless. But last night at my Chi Alpha small group I realized how important reading God's word really is to me. Thinking back on times where I've read my Bible in the morning, my day seemed to always go better. Even if something negative did happen, my reaction was more positive and I handled difficult situations with more grace. I'm starting a 21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge along with the members of my small group. I encourage you to do the same. 21 days, 3 weeks, each day just taking 5, 10, maybe 20 minutes to read the Bible. As I'm typing this I just decided in order to keep me accountable, I will be posting what I'm reading and where God is using it each day.
God Bless and Read On!!!!
~Paige
God Bless and Read On!!!!
~Paige
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