Vocation Here and Now

One of my favorite things to talk and think about during Christmas, is Mary, the Mother of Jesus and her complete submission to God and His plan for her. 

I, myself have a really hard time trying to figure out what God's plan for me is. The great thing though, is I do not need to figure it out. God already has it laid out in front of Him since the beginning of time. I would like to share some details about my struggle with Christ's plan for my life. Of course it deals with relationships, so I am sorry for being redundant, but I hope this is something that some of you could relate to.

In the course of about four years, I have very seriously liked 3 guys. Pathetic I know.  Each time, I invested way too much of my emotions and thoughts into them, so in turn my heart was broken and it got worse each time. My biggest desire in life has always been to be a wife and a mom. I want to be able to keep a lovely home for my husband, to love and cherish him, to support him and encourage him in his walk with Christ. Eventually, I would love to do the same with my children and drown them in love and teach them the even stronger love that Christ has for them. But when I look at my history with guys, and how so many of my friends have boyfriends or a plethora of guys talking to them when they are not even interested in marrying for a long time, it really hurts. I wonder if I am ugly or weird in some way, too preachy or to flirty or anything else that is unattractive. After I figured out the last guy I liked clearly didn't feel the same way and after a period of dealing with the heartbreak, I decided that I am now too scared to like anyone for a very long time. I am sick and tired of my heart getting broken and all of the drama and stress that comes with liking someone. It took so much out of me. I know that God has not revealed the right man yet, but I trust He will.

So in the mean time, I am learning how to fully submit to Christ and trust in his plan for me. Just like Mary, His plan might not be what I would like, but I know His plan is more marvelous than I could ever imagine. I need to focus on today and what Christ is calling me to do today and that is to be a student, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and witness for Jesus.


²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High....³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”... ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”
³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her."

Luke 1: assorted verses

Joy and blessings this Christmas! 

Mel :) 

Flawless Beauty

Hello beautiful people! Hope this post finds you all doing well, lavishing yourself in the joy and peace our God grants us each day :) 

Earlier this week, my town had it's first big snow. It was so beautiful, coming down continuously and smooth. It definitely was beginning to look a lot like Christmas :) The ugly, dead and brown grass was slowly covered by the pure white of the thick snow. The woods behind my house turned from a creepy, dirty, dead place to a winter wonderland. 

This snow-covered scene is a perfect picture of what Christ has done for us as sinners. He came to a sin corrupted world as an innocent baby. He lived a life of perfectness and took our place on the cross and endured the most excruciating pain that there was. 

By Jesus' death, we are made righteous, (right with) and holy, (set apart) in order that, by the grace of God, we might enjoy eternal life with Him in a perfect paradise. He takes all that is dead and dirty in us and covers it to make us as white as snow. 

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. - Isaiah 1:18

Enjoy being clean and free from your sins this day and always! 

Mel :) 

His Presence

Good afternoon! Hope everyone has had a good week so far :) I am so excited to share with you today in hopes that it will give you comfort and peace. 

At my school, we have chapel every Tuesday and Thursday. It is always something I look forward to. It gives me joy to worship and learn with my friends and peers. Well like I touched on yesterday, I had a rough day. My heart was broken and I was having a tug-of-war battle between feeling stupid and being angry towards another. I was mad one minute and the next was balling my eyes out asking myself what I did wrong. 

Sadly, before I turned to the peace and strength of Christ, I relied on myself and ended up inflicting myself with physical pain to numb the mental confusion and pain. Now I have a mark to remind me that I cannot handle life on my own, but only by the grace of God am I going to come out of the storm. Because I relied on my own, failing strength, I didn't feel God presence. I shut Him out and I fell as a result. Later that night I prayed he would enable me to trust in His plan and to give me peace and help me through and to turn to Him as a first option. 

Well today He really spoke to me. Like literally. Chapel today was about restoring relationships and praying for God's guidance in our relationships and trusting in His plan for our lives even if it is not what we had in mind. Once again I started to cry, however this time it was tears of joy! I felt Christ there with me. He knew I was struggling and he cares because He loves me forever. He wanted me to know His presence in my life to never give up on Him. It gave me so much peace and I know I constantly need that reminder because I continually forget. 

Christ is there for all of you and He will never leave you. He cares about every hair on your head and He has you in the palm of His hand until eternity. 

Happy Advent!
Mel :) 

Answers

To start off, I would like to apologize for not posting in forever! To be real, I just didn't have any good content and I didn't want to be repetitive. Finally today, the Lord has placed something in my heart that I think He would like me to share. It stems from something very personal that I have been going through. It is heartbreak. Real joyful and positive I know right? Well, eventually it will turn out joyful. I am sure of it!

During the season of Christmas, a big thing on our minds is gifts. What we should get for our family and friends and what we want from our family and friends. We kind of do the same thing with God sometimes. We ask Him for things. It could be something materialistic, or it could be something like peace, joy or comfort. Those three in particular are things I pray for a lot. Sometimes, though, we receive answers that we don't want. Like "no" or maybe the answers never come at all. 

Recently I received the answer "no". It was extremely hard and I blamed myself for even asking or wishing for what I asked God for. It caused my heart to break and streams of tears to run down my face. I thought to myself " you idiot! why even consider that a possibility!". I didn't thank God that He gave me an answer at all. It was all about me. What I did wrong instead of what God was doing in my life. My mom put it this way " God gives us one of two answers: yes or I have something better. Which, if you are more pessimistic, you can think of that as no, or you can be optimistic and anticipate and trust that God has an amazing plan in store! 

This is also fitting because it is the season of Advent, which means the "coming". So as we wait for the coming of our Savior, Jesus, so we wait on those answers and trust in whatever God has in mind! 

Blessings to you this Advent Season! 
Mel :)

Contentment and Awe

It's hard to be content. That is just a reality that everyone faces. We always want more and what we have is never good enough. For some it might be they need the newest technology, for others it might be achieving that 4.0 grade average, for me it's learning how to be content with out a significant other and waiting for the perfect one God has in store. 

But what are we supposed to to while we wait for that special man or women, or instead of whining that we can't afford the new iPhone 7? Well today I found contentment in the world and people around me. For English we sat outside to write a description of what we saw, felt, heard and smelled. It was so fulfilling! I looked around and ultimately felt God right there beside me. I was in awe of His creation and how beautiful everything was. 

I can be content because I have so much! Why rest on the one thing I don't have when I have a thousand other blessings? I am in complete awe of my Savior when I look at those blessings, big and small. I am not missing out. I can see the evidence of Christ providing for more than my daily bread when I focus on the positive. 

Look around you today and see everything that God has given you! 

Blessings to you all! 
Mel :) 

Emotional Wirlwind

Being a teenage girl is hard enough when I have to deal with the ups and downs and trying to decipher what are real emotions and what are just part of growing up.  

About a week ago I had one of the most insane emotional whirlwinds I have ever had. My mind felt like it was filled with slush and it was sloshing around and I couldn't think straight. I was fighting against my emotions. I felt guilty about some of them and I just wanted to silence my mind. My body ached and I had streams of tears coming down my face in the middle of English class as my friends watched me and wondered what was going on. 

I honestly didn't care at the time that I was crying in front of my class. Now as I think back on that day it is totally embarrassing and I don't know what was going on. One moment I was crying all over my A&P notes and the next I was laughing at a joke my teacher told. 

To be real, I haven't completely gotten over some of those emotions. I don't know when I will get closer to the answers that I want, but I do know that the Lord is leading me where I need to go. It might be a scary ride, but He is holding me in His hand through it all. He won't leave me and He won't leave you. Christ the Lord has a plan for you. You might have to go through some pretty intense storms, but it's going to be worth it! 

Blessings to you this week!

In His peace, Mel :) 

Pursued

Gosh it has been a hot minute since I last posted and today I am just going to run away with my thoughts. I'm sorry if some or any of this does not make sense, but I hope I can get my thoughts across to you all.

As some of you might already know, I have a passion for learning and teaching the purpose of dating, how to do it in a God-pleasing way and how to enable it to fit to each individual. I hope I can not only sympathize with some of you but also empathize with you too.

I know from personal experience that it can be hard to let someone pursue you and by someone I mean letting a guy pursue a girl ( if you are a guy and you are reading this, do not leave! You can learn from this too). I have been taught my whole life that I should never chase after a boy but instead let him chase after me. Well let me tell you, that's a lot easier said than done. As soon as I felt a guy reaching out to me in a "more-than-friend kinda way ( or so I thought), I would go right after that. It was exhausting and frustrating and it usually ended up in me scaring the poor guy away.

What could I expect from approaching the situation that way? Of course guys wouldn't like us girls coming right after them. God created men and women to be very different from each other. Part of how He created men was to desire have to "catch the girl", not to have her run right up to him with her eyelashes fluttering.
That is not the way to go about things. Instead we, as young women need let ourselves be pursued. If a guys really likes us and wants us he will go out of his way to make us feel special or to pay attention to us. 

It's the same when it comes to us and God. We don't need to do anything to be wanted by Him. He already does love us and He gave up His Son to make His love known to us.  I love the passage in Ephesians 5 that shows husbands and wives how to love like Christ and His church love. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 

Hope this passage spoke to you and blessed you. 

In His love, Melody

Everything is Poop...Say What?

Good evening lovely people! I would like to share some thoughts and expand on the Bible study I enjoyed while at the Youth Gathering. We studied the book of Philippians and I have to say I absolutely LOVE that book! Man so much great stuff packed in there!

I am going to focus on chapter 3 verses 8-9.
     " Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. "

In our world, having stuff is a big deal. The more stuff you have, the cooler you are. It's a fact and sadly it's normal. I deal with dis-contentedness ALL the time. I see what my friends and others have and I want it. I think I need more and more. We as Christians, though, need to count earthly things as loss because they will not last. They will not come with us to heaven as much as we want them to. 

Our worth is not in what we own, but in Who owns us. We are Children of the Heavenly Father! Heirs to the Kingdom of heaven. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to endure a horrific death so that we might be with Him in Heaven ( John 3:16) When we except His love and forgiveness we can boast in that. We are works of the Ultimate Creators hands. What other evidence do you need to prove that you have worth?

In this chapter Paul describes what he owns here on earth as rubbish...in Greek terms that means dung or poop. Wow, some language there! The point is He wanted to get HIS point across. Without Christ we are nothing. But the good news is, We DO have Christ!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is SO much joy in those words. I pray that, not only for me but for you who read this, realize this as you grow in your faith. That if we lost everything we ever owned, including our loved ones, we would still have joy and hope in the Lord and His promise of Salvation. Just think about Job and how the devil attacked every aspect of His life. He lost all of his riches, his family and even became deathly ill. But he STILL praised God. I pray that we can also do that too :) 

To finish this off I want to point out verse 9. We do nothing to gain Christ. He has done it for us. We don't have to stress about how much good or bad we have done in life. Because if we did that, we would all go to hell. JESUS took care of the cost. Don't make his sacrifice seem like not enough by trying to get Salvation on your own. Rest in peace that it's taken care of. All you have to do is follow.

FYI a lot of these thoughts are from the leaders of the Bible Study. Though some are my own. Just a disclaimer.

Choose Joy this day!!
Mel~

Unexpected Experiences

I have to apologize for not posting in about four months. Here I thought that during the summer I would be writing a post twice a week. But I back and I am excited to be sharing how The Lord has been working in my life this summer.

Typically I like to hang out at home and not really travel. This summer though the majority of July was spent away from the comforts of home. One of the places I went was New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering for Lutherans.
I was really excited to finally be a part of it! I was hoping to grow in my relationship with Christ and to be refreshed! Well The Lord had a different plan, as almost always. Instead of being uplifted, I was   frustrated and annoyed. Instead of getting advice through the seminars that I could apply to my life, none of it seemed to really apply to my situation. I was so upset with how the week was going. I tried to put my motto of Choosing Joy to action and to hold my tongue when I could have said a lot of nasty things.

But now as a look back on what happened that week, The Lord really had a plan to teach me some things. He taught me how to hold my tongue and how to be a positive witness among those who were negative and whose actions were of the world. Through some of the mass events, Christ spoke directly to me and made me bawl of happiness and relief. Oh how I felt the loving arms of my Savior around me during those moments!

The fact is, we all know we all have flaws. It a part of the whole sin package. But The Lord knows we can't overcome those flaws on our own. We need his forgiveness and his grace and his love. Without those things we are dead to sin. I thank God for the unexpected experience I had on the trip. It has strengthened my faith more than I could have known!

Your sister in Christ, Mel

A crazy bunch of things

So I have decided to kinda just let my thoughts out about life in this post. I was inspired by some Tumblr quotes. So here it goes.

I thought he was the one. The guy the Lord had picked out for me. I even prepared to give part of my heart to him. But I already had. Because when he stopped talking to me, my heart broke like we had actually been together. I asked God to intervene if he wasn't the one, but when I got the answer, I was mad. That's not what I wanted. Why can't I have that special someone in my life. I'm ready for it. Or am I? Maybe I wasn't and that's why I got the answer "no". What do I need to do to be ready? Is it my maturity? Is my faith too weak? Do I even need a guy? No, not really. I am fine and confident without one. He wasn't worth my time anyway. I deserve better. Yet I feel like there isn't any better than him. But I need to focus on other things. God will bring the right guy in the right time. I need to focus on school, friends and family. It's not like those thing make life any easier. I know I'm blessed beyond belief but sometimes I just can't handle life anymore. I just want it to freeze. Nothing to worry about. Just me and Jesus. In prayer and song. No homework to worry about. No social drama. No tears, no stress. God why can't you just give me a break, because that's what I think I will do: break. Give me strength and comfort. Protect my faith as I get older. Help me to rely on You in all of this. In the long run it means nothing. In time all these questions will be answered. People and stress will be forgotten. Homework will be done. And You, You will remain the same. You will never leave or forsake me, for I am Yours.

Open Your Eyes

I want to start off with apologizing for not posting in such a long time. To be honest, I haven't had good ideas for a post. I am really excited for today's post though! Hope you enjoy it :)

I went on a mission trip to New Orleans last summer with my youth group. Our main mission was to open our eyes to the people around us. Even though Hurricane Katrina came over ten years ago, there is still a lot of hurt and damage in that city and that week we saw a lot of it. Some of the worst.

You would think that our mission would be to help and change others who were in need there. In a way it was, but I changed as a person that week.

I started off the week by just wanting to help. I looked down at the people we saw and worked for. I felt pity on them, yes, but I also felt superior to them. I thought I had it better and I never wanted to imagine being them for one minute. 

I couldn't picture being without all of my nice things: having a safe place to lay my head at night, knowing that I would go to school the next day, be fed at least three times a day and to have more than enough clothes to wear. 

The more we talked as a group, though, each night, the more each day I changed my outlook on the world. Instead of judging or feeling superior, I felt equal to them. We are ALL children of God. Sinners in need of a Savior.  

The truth is, the people that I encountered each day were amazing people. They had so little, yet they were some of the richest in joy and contentment. By the time the week ended, I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to a world were nothing was enough. Where everyone was self-centered and rude and discontented. Where negativity is the normal way to respond. 

That week in New Orleans, Christ opened my eyes to the people around me; His people, people just like me. People just like you.

Have a great week! In His love,
Melody :)

It's over and done

Today is Good Friday. The day that Jesus was beaten, nailed on a cross and died as a crucified Savior.  Today was the day when all of our sin was washed clean. Forgotten. Forgiven. Forever.
 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Luke 24:7  

This is what had to be done for our salvation. For the Son of Man to be lifted up and offered as a perfect sacrifice for many. His sacrifice was out of the love He had for us. The pain-for us, the blood-for us.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Matthew 26:28. 

Our salvation has been paid for. There is nothing left for us to do except to take Jesus into our hearts as our Savior. 

In His promise, we have the hope that just as He rose from the dead, so too will we along with our loved ones who have gone before us be raised.
We have the occurrence that on the Last Day we will be with Him in paradise. 

Sorry this was a shorter post and that I haven't written in a while. I don't think this message really needs a lot of words. It's simple. Jesus loves you, He has a plan for you. Part of that plan was to die for you.

Blessings to you all this Holy week,
Melody :)

The Power of Prayer

So it's been a little bit of a crazy and overwhelming week. It seemed to me that life was getting a little bit easier for me and I had been more happy and joyful then I had been in a long time. Then all of a sudden, the hard news started rushing in.

On Monday night my Aunt called crying. My cousins had found my Grandma lying on the floor. She had fallen the night before and couldn't get up. She is paralyzed on both sides. I was in shock and since we didn't know how bad it was ,we (my family) hoped that she wouldn't live through the night. 

I couldn't picture being without my Grandma so soon. I didn't want her to leave yet, but I knew that if Jesus wanted her home, that's the way it had to be.  
Being so scared for my Grandma's life, I did the only thing I could think to do and that was to call my best friend Bekah. I barley said anything and she told me she was on her way over. She ran in my room and hugged my hard. She didn't say much, but what she did say was the best thing " have you prayed yet?". She was right. I immediately started to pray and so did she. I could hear her whispering to not take me Grandma yet. Exactly what was in my mind. I know that God used Bekah for me that night.  

I felt a peace after we prayed. I knew that Jesus heard me and He had me and my Grandma and my whole family in His arms. Everything was going to be alright. 

Then on Tuesday I found out that a dear women in my life has cancer. Nothing can really be done and  there is no telling how long she will live. I couldn't understand why God would allow all of this hurt and sad news to fall upon me in such a short amount of time. Then my mom told me the attitude of my friend. She was joyful and content. She knew the Lord would take care of her, even if that meant to take her to her eternal home.

I thought to myself that if she, the one with cancer could find joy, certainly I could. I prayed that I could trust God to give me peace through the rough stuff. He did. 

Lastly, before Lenten worship last night I had one of my lows. I leaned over to my mom to tell her that I was about to cry and I didn't know why. I started balling in the church balcony. Church was about to start and the devil decided he didn't want me to worship my God. So my mom prayed over me. She prayed for peace and comfort to come on me, for me to find joy in worshiping my God. Again I felt peace. I wasn't all fine and dandy after the prayer, it took sometime to be OK again. But I knew the Lord was hovering over me and I was in the palm of His hand.

Prayer is such an amazing gift God has given to us all. We can talk to Him about anything at anytime. We can have a one-on-one conversation with him anytime we want. Go to God in happiness, sadness or stress. He wants to hear your voice and help you.

Your sister in Christ,
Melody :)

Dating-It's Purpose

So it's a little ironic that I would be the one to write about the purpose of dating and how to date because I have never had a boyfriend or really gotten too close to having one.

I have had my fair share of crushes over the years and some were definitely more serious then others. But I have been taught valuable lessons from my parents and siblings as well as observing my friends who have been in and out of relationships. 

Dating now a days is definitely very popular and it can distinguish what kind of person you are; if your popular, pretty, sporty, smart etc. Dating almost places you in certain levels on the social status. If you aren't dating someone, that can bring you down. You might think to yourself "What's wrong with me? Am I ugly? Do I need to work out more? ( that one is me for sure) Do I need to bump up my grades?". Tons of things come to mind when we do or don't have that significant other.

Sadly, one thing that rarely comes to mind when people are looking for a relationship is the purpose of that relationship: to find the person God has called you to be with, serve and serve with and love and to cherish for the rest of your life. 
Dating has become a game to see if we can get the hottest, sportiest, smartest boyfriend or girlfriend in school. Or worse yet, who can we get in bed with the fastest. What fun is that??

Datings ultimate purpose is for finding that spouse that you will be with till the day you die (no pressure or anything). We should be discerning in who we choose to date. What are they like? Do they meet what is the most important to you. Moreover, are they a Christian?? 

It's hard to not say yes to anyone who wants to go out with us. But think about it; do you want fast, or forever? (shout out to the eHarmony commercial :) ) 

So make a list of what you want in a spouse, and don't settle for anything less!

Have a Great day! God's blessings :)
Melody

Shared Emotions

While I get ready on Sunday mornings, I like to listen to Christian praise music to prepare my mind for worship. Today an interesting point was made that I heard. Christ has experienced every emotion we have and in some cases, more serious.

This is really good to think about in this season of Lent as we dwell on what Jesus has done, is doing and will do for us. Because of everything He has done, He has had to face hurt, anxiety, sadness and happiness. 

Jesus faces hurt every time we choose to go against Him and He cries for us. But He rejoices in us when we repent from that sin and with His happiness He forgives and completely forgets. 
Jesus cries over us. In John 11:35 all it says is "Jesus wept". He wept for His friend Lazarus. Even Jesus dealt with loss as many of us do. 
In The Garden of Gethsemane, while Jesus prayed, He was so scared that He prayed to His Father that He might not have to give Himself up. ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 

Even on the days when we feel like Christ won't or doesn't understand how we feel and can't help us get better, remember that He has felt the same way as you have and He wants to give you His joy and peace every chance He gets!

Blessings to you on the star of another week
Melody :)

Broken Become Stronger

Sometimes it's hard to understand why we go through hard times. Times that we feel like we will never be able to get through. We feel week and helpless and it just seems like Christ is standing on the sidelines.

I think most people have heard the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" or the famous song by Kelly Clarkson "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger". One of those sayings are true and the other isn't. Can you guess which one isn't? The "Sticks" one is false. Words can hurt us the most. 

But Kelly actually has a good point. The struggles that we face day-to-day can really make us a stronger person, especially when we rely on the Lord to help us get through it and to heal us from the hurt. I heard a fact once that when you break a bone, it becomes stronger after it has healed. Isn't that amazing! We can think of us going through a time just like that. We break a little, but once we ask Christ to help us, He promises to not only heal us, but make us stronger in our faith and reliance on Him.

The Lord might let us go through some difficult times so we can break, but then heal again through Him. He calls us back to Him reminding us that we can't do life without Him. Christ does not make the bad things happen, He only allows them to happen to us. 

So if you are going through a hard time right now, maybe think of it as Jesus saying "come on back to me! I love you <3"

Blessing to you this day!
Melody

Our Father...

This past weekend I attended a youth retreat at my friend's church. It was a wonderful experience that I have been blessed to have for the third time now. It is filled with church services, morning noon and night. Bible studies, fellowship and classes. It was the spiritual refreshment I needed!

Because of being in worship lots over the weekend, I spoke the  Lord's prayer many times. It's something that can be said so mindlessly because it is so often used in church or in the home. But have you ever really dug into it? It's the most beautiful thing! It's the prayer that the Lord asked of us to pray.

So I will break it down a little bit and share with you what it means to me.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven...
Just this in itself is beautiful! He asks us to call Him our Father! He is the ultimate Father to us even when we don't have a good earthly one. He provides for our needs and cares and loves us with all of Him, His life! Now if you are His children and He is the king of the Universe/Heaven, we are heirs to Heaven. Heaven in our eternal home. Not here. 

Hallowed be Thy Name...
His name is holy, perfect and just. It is different then any other name. It is then name of our Savior.  It describes who He is: Emmanuel-Savior of the World. 

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...
Earth is not forever. This is only the beginning. There is a whole eternity in Heaven to come. To praise, worship and thank the Lord for all He has done. In the mean time, we ask that only His will be done. We need to leave our lives up to Him. Let Him determine who you are. Don't let the sinful world or your sinful self do that. For heaven is holy and perfect. It is the Lord's home. Who wouldn't want it to be like heaven on earth?

Give us the day our daily bread...
This is my favorite part of the prayer. You know why? because it forces me to focus on THIS day, not the days ahead. To not worry about what will come of this day or any other. Jesus provides for the here and now and that's all we need to think about. We need to put our trust in the Lord's providence. Rely fully on Him and His perfect plan for our lives. 

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...
Daily we should come to the Lord with our confession and sins. He will never withhold forgiveness with repentance. He yearns to forgive us. He wants, so desperately for us to repent, turn away from our sins and start new again with Him at the center! Likewise we should not withhold forgiveness from others

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...
The devil's goal is get us to believe his lies and to tear us apart from the Lord and His truth, for He IS truth. The only way. We can't fight the devil on our own and I have learned that the hard way. Only with Christ's name and power can the devil be defeated for us day after day. But that's just it: he is defeated. We don't just try. Christ succeeds. He is the Victor and we with Him.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever...
His kingdom never ends, it will never go away. His power and glory have been, are and will be never ending and always here. He will never leave us.

Amen.

Where I was this weekend: http://higherthings.org/

Discerning and Ways Out

So a lot has gone on in my life since I last wrote and there are so many things that I could write about. But there have been two big lessons that I have been taught these last few days that I think would be very beneficial to you also.

I have been faced with some choices that were set before for me and there was a good choice and a bad choice. I knew the difference between the good and the bad, but my sinful self desired to do the bad. I was given the way out. I knew that what I wanted to do was not of God but of the devil and yet it's what I desired. Sadly to say I didn't take the way out.

We are faced with these choices everyday. Weather it be going to a  party and having the pressure of drinking or not, or falling into the temptation of sex before marriage with that special someone. Even the little things like choosing the piece of fruit over the brownie. We need to be discerning about what is good and what is bad.

In Proverbs 10:13 it says: Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense. 

In being discerning about making the right choice, we are wise. Wisdom comes from God and so when we make the God pleasing choice, we receive a gift that God also holds. How cool is that?!

When you are faced with a choice between good and bad, figure out the way out of it, or be discerning and follow the right path which is the Lord's.

Blessings to you!
Melody :)

Always Here

I just finished my Theology class and it spoke directly to me. Here is what it was all about:

Lately there have been a lot of tragedies near where I live, three children died in a house fire, a young college student died in a car crash and there have been many others dealing with sickness and disease. In class we watched a sermon from yesterday that asked the question: where is the Lord in all of this?

A lot of times when stuff like this happens that same question comes to mind: Why would Christ allow something so horrible to happen? He doesn't, it's all the devil and his scheming ways.

The pastor said that God has never not been at our side. If we reject Him, He will leave us on our own for a time. But when it comes to His people, you and me, He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. Pastor also remembered in Daniel chapter 4, when Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo were in the furnace. Who was with them? The Angel of the Lord was. They didn't even smell like smoke when they came out!

The fact of the matter is the devil and sin allows these things to happen to us to tear us far apart from our Lord and Savior. We need to be in the word, sing the Lord's praise and pray continuously. When we do that, the devil has no room to make a home. 

Your sister in Christ, 
Melody :)

Overcome

Since realizing that my depression was not just a once-a-month feeling, that it was actually something serious, I have been more aware of the thoughts inside my head. They can scare me sometimes.

Like today. I had a great time with friends at a sleepover. Lot's of laughing and good talks, so of course we stayed up late. I was in the middle of making my bed after they left and I layed down. The want to do something that I knew was wrong came into my head. I so badly felt like I needed to do it. But the longer I layed there, the more I felt God's hand on my back telling me not to. It was as if He said to just go to sleep and you won't feel guilty for doing something I knew was wrong. 

When I woke up I heard the music playing that I left on before my nap. It made me start thinking about losing one of my friends, or hurting myself. All of a sudden I felt like I needed to self-harm. I have never had the feeling to do so before. I looked up, around my room to see what I might use and then remembered the pair os scissors in my dresser drawer.

I knew I shouldn't do it, but I felt the urge. I sat on the side of my bed and looked at the dresser. Once again God told me no. I am still safe.

Today God helped me to overcome a scary moment in my life. Never would I thought I would want to self harm. But because of His miraculous love for me, He overcame the thoughts of the devil for me. I can't be more thankful!

Look to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever!
Melody :)

Surround Yourself

Most of us have our best friends in life. The one who we hang out with at school all the time, have sleep-overs with, or basically live at each others houses. 

If you have someone like that in your life, you are truly blessed! As Christians, we need to be around others who share that same love for Christ as we do. Christ should be the center of everything, not just at youth group or church. Christ should be your entire life. Jesus gave His life, so the least we can do is to make our lives about serving others which in turn serves Him.

We need to be around those who encourage us in our faith.  Who pray for us, and acknowledge the Word as God's word and follow it. 

In Philippians 4:8, it says: Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is pure, lovely or honorable, think on these things. 

Surrounding ourselves with people who don't live according to God's word won't help us think of lovely and pure things. Newsflash! This world is full of sin and we need to try our hardest to remember who the real Guy in charge is. 

God knows what is best for us. His ways are honorable, true and right. We need to be with people who are trying just as hard to think on the truth of God's word. 

Now don't go judging everyone who isn't a believer, nor completely ignore them. Make them a mission. Be a witness to them and show them the love of Christ, after all, that is why we are here!

Melody:) 

As Far As the East is From the West

Being someone who struggles a lot with guilt, it's hard to think of God as being a God who throws sins out the window and loves us still the same. 

The fact of the matter is, He does. Christ so desperately wants us to know the strength of His love. He wants His people to have a foretaste of the feast to come I guess you could say. He doesn't want us to miss out on the opportunity of knowing that He, our God cares about us so much He knows the amount of hair on our head. 


In Psalm 103:12 it says: "As far from the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." God doesn't see the sinner in us a much as we might think. He sees His child in need of love, forgiveness and a never-failing Father. 

Now don't go and sin as much as you want because Christ does forgive us. Forgiveness comes with repentance. We need to repent of our sins on the daily. When we act against Christ knowingly, with out feeling sorry, God's heart breaks into a thousand pieces. Think of it as your own child, whom you deeply love and want the best for, rebelling against you. The worst part, they know it and they still choose to. 

Christ loves, cares and forgives His children everyday, even before you ask for it. So proclaim proudly the grace, forgiveness and salvation found in YOUR God today!


In His Love,
Melody :)

Inside Beauty = Outer Beauty

A lot of people deal with low self-esteem or low confidence.It's easy when the world has these unreal expectations. 

But we are God's children! We are only in the world, not a part of it. So how does this help us with our confidence in our looks or personally? A lot actually.

When we shine as a light of Jesus, people see that. You know what? It's a beautiful thing to see. Jesus is the definition of love. He gave up His perfect self for us because He loves us. 

God wants us to "be" Him here on earth, so that means to love and forgive unconditionally, be selfless and use our gifts for His glory. 

When we behave "like" Jesus (as much as we as sinful people can), that is true beauty because God is the appidemy of beauty. 

Actions reflect who a person is, and if they are beautiful on the inside, they are most especially beautiful on the outside!

Remember Who made you beautiful!
Melody :)

Not On My Own

So I am going to share something that, to be really honest, I am scared to. I don't want to sound desperate for attention and the reason I don't/ haven't talked about it is because I felt like that's the reason I told myself that I had it.  But no matter what other people say, I know the Lord is here for me as well as my family and that is all that matters.

I have depression. It's not really bad, but I have recently had thoughts of suicide. It scared me a lot. I didn't think It really mattered because I didn't think I had depression. Like I said, I didn't want to be sorry for myself. 

Nothing in my life has gone really bad. I haven't lost a friend or been raped or anything like that. Like i have mentioned in my other posts, I know it's the devil telling me lies. He has been telling me that when life seems to be too overwhelming, that I have to handle it all by myself. 

That's the problem. I can't and God knows that. I need to lay my burdens and my sad news and stress at His feet. That is way He came to earth. He wants it all. 

I don't know what you are going through right now. But you are not alone. Even if you feel like there is no one on earth there for you, you must remember there is a God you loves you and wants to take all that off your shoulders. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts. Don't do it! I can't say that enough. Ending your life is NOT THE ANSWER. Your life is not your to take. 

I know that I am repeating a lot of what I have said in others posts, but I don't want any of you to forget. Also I would like to say that I am not making this blog into one about depression. I don't think that is what God has called me to do, though it will come up more often. If you would like a blog that talks about dealing with depression in a Godly way, I recommend my friends blog: http://depressedbutblessed.blogspot.com  This blog is truly amazing!

Blessings to you and know that God is our strength!
Melody :)

Thankful Everyday

I seem to look over blessings a lot. I let the bad things get to me. Those are the things I seem to remember from a day.

To be real, life sucks when I dwell on the things that go wrong. But these last few days have been some of the best I have had in a while. It's been spent with family and close friends. I haven't laughed this much in a long time (or eaten that much too).

It's been so nice to really see God showing blessing upon blessing to me after a stressful first week back to school.

So I have a challenge for you. For two weeks write down at lease three things you are thankful for from that day of the day before ( depending on when you write). You can start a journal for them or you can comment on them in the new tab I will make for this challenge. If you continue after the two weeks are over, you are still completely welcome to continue writing them in that tab.

Write anything from that day. That fact that you can see and wake up in the morning are blessings right there! Noticing blessings throughout that day helps us to choose joy (my motto) and helps us to see Jesus in our lives, right next to us.

Love, Melody :)

Relax

During this week I have had Winterim at my school. It's a week of focusing one one subject for the whole week. I am in Zumba and Yoga. We have time to work out hard and get ripped! ( haha not really) and also to rest and focus on God's Word. It's been really nice to have a little more down time this week despite not feeling 100%, but I have also never felt better. Working out and taking some time to just stop and dwell on the important things, God new exactly what I wanted and needed! 
It seems like it's been a week of that:noticing how God is really present in my life. I see Him working and answering prayer more then ever and it gives me so much peace and comfort.
At my school, I have a few friends that deal with mental illness and depression. It seems like a big problem in our school as I bet with many others. We regularly have people come to speak and lead chapel at school, and my friends and I really wanted someone to talk about how to deal with and get through depression in a Godly way. Well the NEXT day that prayer was answered! We had a woman named Kristen Anderson speak to our school for an hour. She had delt with serious depression after being raped and the loss of four of her closet friends. After losing both her legs to attempted suicide, she gave her life fully to Christ. So much of what she talked about related to me. Some of it scared me, and some of it comforted me and reminded me that I wasn't alone. God was really listening to my needs this week, as always. Sometimes I just don't see it.  
I do deal with the days when I wonder if God is really paying attention to me, considering all that is going on in the world: shootings, fires, unorganized and unstable government, wars. Why would God pay any attention to small, insignificant me? Well the fact of the matter is He does. He cares about me just as much as the rest of the world including you. I read this Psalm today and is really gave me comfort and reminded me that God has everything under control. He provides and protects me and you everyday!
God's blessings and peace to you!

Kristen Anderson's book: Life, in Spite of Me

Psalm 27

Of David.

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
    to devour^[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
    and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.
¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

¹³ I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

How I Am

Life has been full of blessings lately for which I am very glad. I was able to visit family in NE for Christmas (including my adorable 2 month old nephew Peter!) and I had a slow and relaxing break from school. Also, this week is Winterim at my school and I have been doing yoga and zumba all week. It's been great! 
Tonight was a change though. To be honest, my mom and I were not very nice to each other this evening as we were running late for Epiphany church and those words between us set off a trigger in my brain and I began to feel down. It seems like this is when my "depression" ( I say that because I don't want to really call it that because I don't think it really is) kicks in. I felt stuck in that negative phase the rest of the night. Through church and most of Youth Group after that I didn't really feel like I was of the sound, mind. I am so sick of that abrupt emotional change. I don't expect it and it comes at the worst times. I was trying to prepare for church, to worship my God and I felt like I wasn't really mentally there at all. For that I feel really bad. 
I realize that a lot of times when I get these downs, it's Satan attacking me. He didn't want me to prepare and be excited to worship my God tonight. Satan wants me, really all of us as far away from our Savior as possible and will do anything he can to accomplish that. We can't let him into our minds. What I didn't do tonight was order Satan away from me in the name of God. When Satan tries and attack you, you tell him off by saying that you are a child of God and that he has NO power over you. When you say Jesus' name, Satan has to go away. God is the only one who can defeat him. 
So next time I will speak out against Satan because I am a child of God. I belong to Him and deserve my joy in Him!

Your Sister in Christ,
Melody :)

Choose Joy

How do you usually feel in a day? Happy, grateful, or joyful? Negative, snobby, crabby, or mad? I feel a lot of those emotions, but all in one day. There are days when I just feel like talking to no one for no reason at all. When I choose to act that way, I become very negative and I'm not very nice to my friends. I am stuck in that mood all day. Is there no way I can become happy again but until the next day? The truth is we all have the choice to choose how we will act and behave everyday. 
One thing that I do when I feel down or negative is write "CHOOSE JOY" on my wrist. This way I am reminded every time I look down, that I have the choice to be joyful, thankful and bright. I can be joyful and not fake the happiness part. I can be honest and say that I am not always happy. Happiness is a temporary feeling. Joyfulness is a perspective and an attitude, so it's something that you can BE.
As children of God we have SO much to be joyful for. God has put us here on earth. He wants you. He came up with the idea of YOU. You are an original of God's mind. You came from God's thoughts. You are beautiful. You deserve to be joyful! Your sins have been thrown so far that not even God remembers them. You are loved by the God of the universe that He gave His only Son to have YOU with Him in heaven if only you take Him into your heart as your true Savoir. 
Choose Joy today and always. You deserve it! 

Blessings to you! 
Melody :)

Contentment with One Thing

You can't seem to find contentment now a days. It's so hard with all the stuff you can get. The world tells us that what we have is never enough. We need to get more and better things. THEN we will be happy. 
Well that's one of the biggest lies we hear today. Some of the wealthiest people I know have the crappiest lives. A marriage is falling apart, troubled kids, and the biggest problem: no faith. They are losing out on the One thing that can fill that empty space in their hearts. The reason those earthly things don't fill that void is because it's shaped like a cross. 
Jesus is ALL we need. If we are living on the street, but have Him, we are the richest of all. We have the promise of eternal life with Christ. Believing in Christ doesn't mean life is going to be easy. In fact it's going to be very hard. In the world today Christians are getting attacked more and more every day. Jesus tells us that because of Him we will be hated and scorned more: "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:22.
Being a Christian doesn't fit into the world. But we need to look to the promise that God made to us in the beginning, and be content with His Son: Jesus Christ!

Thanks for over 1,000 views!
Melody :)