Psalm 8:3-5

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?"

Do you ever think about how incredible God is? I have to marvel at just how...complex, yet so simple His ways are... God created us, and He created everything around us. How amazing it is that He loves us, despite our mistakes! We can make every mistake, screw everything up, and He still waits for us. He's there when we need Him, and here when we don't think we do.

Honestly, ever since I moved three hours away, and even when I came back, Sunday has sort of become...routine. If I'm being totally real, it always has. It's so easy to just praise God on Sunday and say "Yay, I can't wait for next week!" That's the way things go sometimes. Anyone can be a real Christian, love God with all your heart and say you want to change the world, and then fall right back into your weekly routines. That's what happened to me. I saw everyone around me praising God and I decided to 'step out of my boat' and go a little bit further. I NEVER used to raise my hands in church, I was reluctant to serve, and honestly, church was starting to become more about the people in it, or the experience of worship than about God himself. But I started raising my hands and I said "God, I'm commited." Then we moved. I got angry, and I said that no church could ever replace C3. That's where I felt God. I felt like I left God there, too. And going into those churches in Statesville, I was never open to them. I pushed God away a little bit, and every night I asked Him where He was. When we moved back, I expected things to go back to normal.

We were home, so it'd be the same, like we never left, right?

Wrong.

Relationships had changed, a lot of people had left the church, there was a new youth pastor... I was disappointed. But I was happy to be back. Thing is, I kept that whole Sunday-routine mindset that I adopted in Statesville. Every Sunday, come in, hang out, go to service, sing praises to God, take lots of notes, leave for lunch, come back for youth, sing, lift my hands, take more notes, hang out some more, and go home.

I'm typing this up because I'm proof that God can forgive you for the dumbest things. Just because I moved didn't mean God did. He was there through all of it. This past Wednesday night was First Wednesday with Pastor Carl Lentz from Hillsong NY. First, WHAT AN AMAZING PASTOR HE IS! The whole night was absolutely incredible...there are no words. It changed the way I saw church, God, a just Christianity. I feel like there is so much more to it than what I've experienced. God is too big for anyone to understand, and there will always be more. You don't just wake up and say, "Yup, I've reached all the potential God has for me. I know everything there is to know."

Point is, God loves us no matter what. You'll never make enough mistakes for Him to decide to give up on you. That doesn't mean He can't be disappointed, though.


I'm not a very good blogger, so I hope there's a train of thought to this...

Exodus 14:11-14

They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

What do these verses say to you? When I read this story the first few times, I always wondered 'Hasn't God proven Himself to them already? Why do they still doubt him?' And yet, I have to admit I'm a hypocrite to say that. I think that all of us have, maybe not doubted, but wondered at God's reasoning. Do you ever have situations when you think 'God, why? Things were going so well.' or even 'I didn't think things could get worse, but you proved me wrong, God.' I mean, maybe it's just me, but I can feel much better about praising God when things are perfect. It's when they get hard that I start questioning the road He's leading me down.

This past summer, I've felt like my relationship with God was going backwards. Like it was going from the relationship I've gained the past three or so years, back to the religion I had always had. I was confused and angry. I asked 'God, why move me here if you knew I was going to feel like this?' I questioned His reasoning. Why would He make us move here? And then, we find out we're moving back. Of course, now I'm ecstatic. I love Johnston County, and even more, I love C3. That's home to me. But at first I was frustrated. 'God, I'm finally accepting this move. I'm finally okay with this, and even better, I'm even kind of happy here. And NOW you decide we can go back??' But I heard this passage at C3 yesterday and it was like I was hearing it for the first time. Christian Painter put it in a new way, one I hadn't seen before. And I was like 'Oh. Wow, that's me.'

So there's a little insight to my struggle with accepting God's way. I understand where the Israelites are coming from in this passage, but I also realize that neither of us were right. God has gotten me through so much. So what right did I have to question him now?

I hope this helps anyone who needs it.

Psalm 100:5

(NIV) "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues throughout all generations."

The Lord is good.

Hi love endures forever.

His faithfulness continues.


Certain situations can cause us to forget this. Is it really so hard to remember God is always here? Is life so complicated that we can't believe He loves us? It seems like that sometimes. Psalms 100:5 is my all time favorite verse. This verse has gotten me through so much. I first found it when I was looking up the word 'faith' on BibleGateway.com because we were moving. I needed something to remember whenever I felt like things were out of control, and God showed me this verse. It's so simple, but sometimes it's just so hard to understand.

People, the human population, is so messed up. We're failures in our own minds. We think that when nothing else could get worse, there will be something. We put ourselves down for attention. We spend all our time thinking about that amazing person, yet never say a word about it. We are simply complicated. So how could a God so perfect love us so unconditionally? I can't sit here and tell you I understand it, because I don't. 1 John 3:1 says "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." It's incredible and amazing that God could love us so much!

Psalm 139:17-18 "How precious to me are your thoughts O God, how vast is the sum of them. Were I to count them the would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake I am still with you." Do you realize how often He thinks of you? It really blows my mind.

I'm so off track...what I meant to write at first was simply that I am realizing more and more that even though things are tough, God's still here and He has a plan. I can get so angry sometimes when I hear stuff like that because I think, "I know that! I know there's a plan. It doesn't mean I have to like it!" But, I believe that as great as things were, and as bad as things SEEM to be, things are going to be better than I could have ever imagined. It's just the waiting, the getting through that I have a problem with.


So that's what's been on my mind.

Revolution 2010

So there isn't really a verse for this post. I just kind of wanted to update the blog and sort of explain what Revolution was like. Every year, C3 has this weekend retreat for students from 6th-12th grade called Revolution and basically, it's just awesome. Not only is it a place to just have sooo much fun and make new friends, but it's a time when God can really change your life, without the distractions of life.

So this was my first year going to Revolution. And even though I did get sick halfway through Saturday and missed the end, I absolutely loved it. YouthQuest from Liberty U was there, and the improv that they did was hilarious. Isaac Terry, one of the guys from Youth Quest did a message on Saturday morning, and the funny thing is, it really didn't hit me until last night. I'm not sure why, maybe God just planned it that way. But something he said, about sin, really just hit me last night while I was listening to Hillsong. The song that was playing is called More The Life. The lyrics "I love you more than life," got me thinking. I was just thinking about how when you say something like that, you have to mean it. You don't say you love God more than your life if you aren't willing to die for Him. So then that's when what Isaac Terry said hit me. He said that Jesus died the worst death for us, and every time we sin, it's like we spit in His face.

Long story short (ha, I think I skipped that already), I just really realized that how I'm living is so not the way God wants me to.

1 Chronicles 16:34

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

This past Sunday was Valentines. It's a day of love. Honestly, I'm not real into it. The last "valentine" I had was when I was...probably eleven or twelve. So, I was just a kid, and it's not like you understand love when you're that young. However, I can say I do understand one kind of love, especially now. I don't think I got it when I was that young, and it's only been four or five years since then, but I can honestly say that I've grown up a lot since then. And especially in my relationship with God. That kind of love I understand now? Agape. That's God's love. It's a love that can't really be "understood", but it's because it's so...I guess you could say, out-of-this-world. Ha. :) And it is, literally. It's unconditional love, and that's the best kind of love you can have. It's literal definition (and I found this on Wikipedia; life saver. :P) is Agape- the love of God or Christ for mankind. It's supernatural and amazing. Basically, He died for you. He died for all of us. That's how much He loves us. One of my favorite songs (currently my all time fave, though it changes pretty much daily) is "Tear Down The Walls" by Hillsong United. It's an awesome song, and it really fits the message of this post. The line 'Let love tear down these walls, that all creation would come back to You, it's all for You'...it's exactly what I feel. Because this love that God offers to each and every one of us is so real and so unconditional, that you can't help but be moved by it. I never quite got how God could love every SINGLE person, because the thought of anyone loving rapists and murderers, or any sinner for that matter, was beyond me. But reading His word, and hearing what I hear every week at church, and even the lyrics to these songs...I get it. But then, I really can't, because this is God we're talking about. No one can fully understand the miracles and the ways of God Almighty. It's unbelievable, but then believing is faith, and I have faith in God. I believe it, I just don't understand. But I'm finally okay with not fully understanding His ways. I believe, and I love God. That's enough for me. I'm going to do everything I can to return it, even if I don't deserve it. I love Him because He first loved me.

"Oh for all the sons and daughters who are walking in the darkness; You are calling us to lead them back to You. We will see Your spirit rising as the lost come out of hiding. And every heart will see this hope we have in You." ♥

I pray that the world can see the hope I have in Jesus.

1Thessalonians 5:19-23

(NIV) 1 Thessalonians 5:19-23 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the passage that we focused on at church Sunday morning. Our very own Chris Pipes led the message, and did a good job of it if I can say so. And I am proud to announce that I am using my very own Life Application Study Bible to write this blog. :) (Christmas present). The last bible I got, I got in 4th grade. And it was a King James I think...I'm using NIV from now on, if anyone was wondering. So, this bible is pretty cool. It's got all this information about the verses, much more than I was going to say. For instance, for verse 19 (Do not put out the Spirit's fire;), it says that we should not ignore or toss aside the Holy Spirit's gifts. It's more or less what I was thinking, too. Mostly, I thought, don't ignore the Holy Spirit. As for verses 20 and 21, you can pretty much see what it means. And I think this is something that's really important, and something that leads some religions astray because they aren't doing this. TEST EVERYTHING, it says in verse 21. This means, don't just take what you hear as truth. Look it up in your bible and see for yourself. This is also a handy life lesson too. Gossip, specifically, is taken, a lot of times, as truth to some people. I'm not trying to blame anyone either, because I've done the same thing. "Really? She did that? Oh, not talking to her anymore." Sound familiar? Although, I know a lot of people have been on the other side of it too. Anyway, my point to this random thought is, gossip always hurts SOMEONE.

So back on track, avoiding evil. This is in verse 22. "Avoid every kind of evil." Now obviously, we can't avoid everything because of the world we live in, but honestly, this verse makes a lot of sense. Just don't give into temptations. Because then you give Satan a foothold, and then you start to lose track of where you are. Been there. The last verse talks about being kept "blameless before Lord". Apply the Bible, and let God be part of, every aspect of your life. Don't just go listen to a message on Sunday and then do whatever the rest of the week. Live it.

So, that's what I learned Sunday. :) Oh and by the way, I had a great Christmas. Comment and let me know how yours' were! ((Happy New Year, too!)) I'm a bit late, huh? Haha.

-Lauren :)