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!
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