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 :)
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, September 19, 2016
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
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
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
Thursday, August 4, 2016
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~
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~
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
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
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
Thursday, May 5, 2016
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.
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.
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