A Letter to Men

It is with a heavy heart and a burdened spirit and a fragile mind that I write this blogpost. It is a topic that has been weighing down upon me, causing me great turmoil and fear. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it and how it has affected so many, many lives. I try to aim my blogposts to both men and women alike; young and old. But for this post I am aiming it specifically at men, no matter the age. Men who are old. Men who are young. Boys who have yet to become men. Brothers and husbands and fathers and uncles. This is my letter.

Dear Men,

Every little girl dreams of getting married. I work at a daycare and half the time my little girls are playing "marriage" or "house". Every one of them talks about being married to their husbands one day and having sweet babies and being mommies. While they aren't old enough to fully comprehend the responsibility of such things, it is still something they desire, from a very small age. I was one of those little girls. 

For years I have prayed for the man that God has set aside for me. I have prayed he comes quickly. I have prayed he seeks the Lord and loves little ones and loves me. I pray that he knows how to lead me. But as of late, I have begun to become discouraged by such things. Days go by. Months. Years. And as I have gotten older I have been forced to recognize the utter ugliness of the world I dwell in. Pornography and sexual temptations haunt young men around every corner. When you're young you don't realize it, but then something happens and suddenly it seems so much closer and so much more real than it did before. Porn used to be an ugly word, followed by shame and lust and sin. Nowadays, it is thrown around freely. As if it is just a part of life. As if it is okay. As if we should just expect it to always be around. As if it is perfectly normal for every young man to have seen it and struggle with it.

The average age for a male to view pornography is by the age of 9. Nine. 9. 9. As I stated previously, I work at a daycare. The kids I work with are as old as six. It both startles and scares me to think that by the time my young boys are 12, most, if not all of them, will have viewed pornography. By the age of 16 many of them will struggle with porn addictions. 10 years and the little boys I once knew will be forever tainted. It breaks my heart into a thousand pieces to think upon such things. Because they are so innocent and so sweet and one day they will have wives and girlfriends, who will never be able to compete with something this graphic.

I have seen women struggle over the fact that their boyfriends or guy friends or husbands struggle with porn or a sexual desire that cannot be quenched. I myself have been a victim of a young man who decided to choose porn and temptation and lust over me. Perhaps you don't know it...perhaps nobody has ever told you what it feels like when someone chooses a computer or an iPhone screen over you. 

 I knew a young man who was addicted to porn by the age of 16; he started viewing it when he was 10. Josh Duggar recently admitted he was cheating on his wife and struggling with porn as well. Strippers and pornography and graphic movies and unfortunate sexual interactions have forever changed the world. They have forever changed the world for so many young women who are put up to compete with things that are horrifically violent and devastating and painful and ultimately unreal. And nowadays I wonder...is there even a young man who hasn't looked at porn? Because now I expect that every man, every young man and boy has viewed such things. The movie/book "50 Shades of Grey" is celebrated and now more and more women are told that they should be able to take on mental, physical, sexual and verbal abuse in order to maintain a man. But where in the Bible does it say that men are supposed to abuse and hurt their wives and significant others? I have yet to find such a thing. In fact, I believe the Bible says otherwise. Colossians 3:19 says, "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them." Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". 1 Peter 3:7 says, "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." I have looked. So far I don't see anything about God telling men to view pornography and hurt their loved ones.






I am 19 years old. I used to be excited about getting married. Now...now I'm not so sure. I am fearful. Because I have already been left behind for a girl on a computer screen. And I know, like I know many other women have felt, like I could never compete with that. She is perfect. And photo shopped. And told how to act. She does whatever a directer tells her to do, even if it physically destroys her. How could I ever hold a candlestick to a girl that's so flawless? She does things I am too afraid to do. And if I'm not willing to do it, a trip to the strip club or elsewhere will fix that right up. Or will it? I never thought I would be so worried about getting married. I want to be married. I want to have kids and a happy home. But I do not want to be betrayed. Or abandoned. Or have something so fake be put above me. I am already hurt by the possibility because chances of meeting someone who has saved himself or not viewed pornography are so slim they are little to none. I am not saying they are impossible, for all things are possible with Christ. But sometimes it feels like my odds aren't very high.

This letter is a plea. A plea to men. To the men who have wives - I have given you evidence to not view pornography. You have a wonderful wife that God gave you - why would you treat her such? There is a big chance she gave you her everything...and now it is time your body is hers, and only hers. To young men who have yet to have wives but perhaps have girlfriends or are struggling - please turn away from temptation. Pull a Joseph and flee! Flee from sin and run into the arms of God. You will save your future wife/girlfriend so much grief if you choose not to act upon your sinful desires. To fathers - encourage your sons. Please, oh please fathers, encourage your sons. Encourage your sons in the way of the Lord. Encourage your sons to save their minds and their bodies for their future wives. Some of you fathers have daughters. How would you feel if you find out your little girl couldn't stand a chance against a glowing screen? How would you feel if your daughter felt forced to sexually exploit herself because the world tells her that is the only way she can keep him around?

William M. Struthers writes, "Pornography thus enslaves the viewer to an image, hijacking the biological response intended to bond a man to his wife and therefore inevitably loosening that bond." Bonds are broken. Relationships are torn to shreds or put under strain because of something the devil is trying to use to fight against us and fight against God. But I encourage you! Take up your shield and raise your prayers and the Bible up and fight off such temptations! For the Lord is strong and he will fight for you (see Exodus 14:14). 

1 John 4:8 says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." We are called to love one another, men and women alike. And when we choose to give into sexual temptation and let satan run ramped we are choosing not to love. Not to love wives. Not to love one another. Not to love girlfriends or someone's daughter. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Men love your women. Love your wives. Your girlfriends. Your future wives. Your future girlfriends. Love them enough that it prevents you from allowing temptation and struggle to enter into your life.

This is a call to arms. A call to fathers and sons and uncles and husbands and boyfriends. A call to young men and boys and old men who have walked the earth for many years. A call to defend the Lord's word and yourselves from satan's desperate attempt to tear our world limb from limb. Kick satan's butt. Scream at him and tell him you know love and will not fall into his ways! Resist. Flee. Run from temptation, take up your cross and follow the Lord desperately.

Signed,
The Girl Who Was Chosen By A Man 2000 Years Ago



"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." - James 4:7

The Yoga Pants Epidemic

I go to a Christian college currently, and for some reason, one of the most talked about topics is yoga pants or leggings. Should girls wear them? Should they not? Should they be banned? Are they...appropriate? These questions seem to follow me everywhere, so it's forced me to sit and think about this whole "yoga pants" or "leggings" epidemic. Apparently, this is a big topic we should all be concerned with, since it is making such a huge impact upon our planet (insert sarcasm here). Here at my school, half the school is pro-yoga pants and the other half is anti-yoga pants; there are even young men on this campus that tell the girls that if they are going to wear yoga pants over to the boys' dorm, to just not come at all because it's "too much of a struggle". Like I said - it's constant. And while this is continually a topic, I can't help but want to slap someone in the face every time it comes up, mostly because those conversations are absolutely ridiculous. Now don't get me wrong, I am all about modesty. I think a woman's body should be treasured and looked upon with beauty and not lust, but I don't believe that we should suddenly try and hide a woman's body just because it can be a struggle not to look at it. And deep down, I think most men generally know that it doesn't matter what a girl is wearing - they are still going to look. But here is what really aggravates me about this topic...it's not in the Bible. Yoga pants are not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

I went on a missions trip to Haiti last February, and I got to see what life was like in a third world country. And just last night I watched a film titled the Boys of Baraka, all about boys in Baltimore, Maryland that had the chance to go to Africa for a boarding school to help them get into high school. An estimated 44 children every hour die in Haiti, and 1 in 10 children in Haiti will die before the age of 5. In Baltimore, Maryland, a group of about twenty or thirty boys attended a school meeting and were asked if they had ever been suspended - everyone raised their hand. One young man said he had been suspended 8 times - that year. One of the parents in the movie Boys of Baraka said: "When you send your kid to a Baltimore school, you send them to jail." They basically think that jail is the kids' only option because that's how bad their situation is. When the kids in Baltimore see a fire happening down the street or there is a huge group of cops gathered around people, they don't bat an eye. "Oh, it's normal to see a person's house being burned to the ground." "Oh last week we saw a 17 year old kid get shot in front of our apartment." "My dad shot my mom in the leg so he can't take care of me because he's got 13 years in jail." "My mom is addicted to cocaine." In Haiti there are swollen bellies from lack of food, moms crying because their babies are dead, children dying of starvation and diseases. In Baltimore, Maryland kids are getting shot and getting into drugs early and most of them may not even make it out of middle school - for the majority, high school is unlikely.

And here we are, discussing yoga pants.

Is yoga pants biblical, or is it biblical to be taking care of widows and orphans? To be taking care of the people I have just described above?

And yet, here we are, discussing yoga pants.

Because suddenly, yoga pants and modesty is a bigger issue then dying kids and struggling parents.

James 2:14-17 says, "What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless." This is a call to action - do not sit idly by and discuss yoga pants, when you could be doing something that actually changes the world - something that could change a person's life forever.

Matthew 5:42 says, "Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow." We are asked constantly by our churches and the people around us to help the poor and needy, but we turn our noses up and say we "don't have time". Except we do have time; we just choose to not use it wisely. Your "time" could save someone's life if you allowed it to.

Romans 15:1 says, "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves." We need to come alongside the people that surround us, the people like the Haitians I encountered and the young people in Baltimore, Maryland. There are people everywhere in need; there are orphans and widows wherever we turn; there are struggling families and starvation no matter where we are.

And yet, here we are, talking about yoga pants.

So my proposition for you is next time you are debating yoga pants or leggings, perhaps it's time to put off that conversation and deal with more biblical issues. 

The Disobedience of a Child

For part of my junior year and all of my senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to help out in a second through fourth grade classroom (shout out to the amazing Mrs. Teachout). There were eighteen loud, joyful, crazy, sweet and loving children that I got the pleasure of meeting and spending time with. Each one was unique and special in their own perfect way. I loved every second I got to spend with those kids, and it will always be something I treasure deeply. Though as much as I adored the kids, there were some times when things would go south. I remember once I had to scold a second grader for using a swear word; another time I had to spend half an hour trying to coax a child out of the bathroom...they had decided they wouldn't come out until it was time for lunch - cheeky monkey! Another time a little girl called her younger brother stupid; I remember asking him if that hurt his feelings. His reply? "Nahh...she's stupid too." I love kids, and I love working with them, but I can't help but face this fact: they can sometimes be disobedient.

As I sit here thinking about the disobedience of a child, I have to wonder...are we, God's kids, disobedient little children too? We are called to care for the poor and the widowed, to look after and love others and praise the Lord and spread the Gospel, but how often do we actually do that?

This past week at my school, it has been World Outreach Week, and we have had missionaries from all over the world, from small villages in Africa, to China and Europe and the States. God was working everywhere, and it was brilliant to see. But during that time, I remember a missionary sitting down with me and discussing missions. During the time I was listening to him, he offended two people, cussed a few times and he had probably the coolest mustache ever - I liked him instantly, because he was honest. He looked at my friends and I and said: "This stuff about 'God's call' is silly. God presents you with an opportunity, and you take it. And maybe you don't want to, or maybe you do. But you do it anyway, because we are called to obey the Lord." He then proceeded to tell us that as we walked through our lives, we were either doing one of two things: leading people to Christ, or leading them away from Him.

Did you hear that? Did you read what I said? We are supposed to obey the Lord. Our greatest purpose on this earth is to spread the Gospel to anyone and everyone and to praise God. I feel like so many times we get caught up in other things about "Christianity" and "religion" and certain acts, like how passionately we worship or if we have any spiritual gifts and if we are being "good" people. News flash... None of that matters. Is worship your life? Has worship or going to church or being apart of a religious group become such an idol that we forget our true purpose in life? Have we become so distracted by  wanting to have spiritual gifts or do something great or be apart of something or be a "good" person so badly that we let it get in the way of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of others? We are either leading people to Christ or dragging them away based on what we do and how we react and how we decide to spend our time. So why do we get ourselves so caught up in other things instead of doing what God has ultimately called us to do? Yeah, I think those things can be important, but I've noticed that we can become so obsessed about that stuff that we forget about that Jesus guy and his pretty sweet Father that chose us over everything else. How disobedient little children we are... How very disobedient that we would worship the resources The Lord has given us rather than Him.

There's a passage in Matthew that says:

"They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." Matthew 23:5-10

We get so caught up in these things and wanting to be noticed, that we forget why we were put on this Earth and what God has actually called us to do. We aren't supposed to want recognition, because in that we are disobeying the Lord and saying: "No, God, we can worry about them later. But right now I just want to feel happy and good and nice - and besides, I'm doing it all for you anyway." We let ourselves and our own feelings get in the way of the Holy Spirit and that breaks me up inside and hurts every bone in my being. Who are we to tell God that we're cool worshiping Him because it makes us, selfishly, feel good about ourselves but that's more "important" than spreading the Gospel and saving people and praising the Lord unselfishly? We become so distracted and enraptured by the flashy, that we forget spreading the Good News isn't supposed to be flashy, but humbling.

We are such disobedient little children, so much so that we use things the Lord has given us as excuses and distractions from bringing people to Him. We kid ourselves into thinking that we're all doing these things for God, when really doing those things and being blinded by them for our own selfish reasons is causing us to be disobedient and forget that we should be bringing people to the Father.

So stop being arrogant about all these tools God has given you. Stop getting distracted. Get your head on straight and recognize that we have great things to do for The Lord to glorify and obey Him, and we should joyously be doing those things in abundance. We are supposed to be harvesters, not lazy employees that just sit around shouting encouragements and feeling good about ourselves until every once and a while we decide: "hey maybe I should spread the gospel today!" Be a harvester - reap the field, and do the work you were created to do! Don't ignore it and forget your purpose here. If you are the one standing in the way of a person coming to Jesus, that puts you in the Lord's way as well, and we should be fighting with Him, not pushing against Him.

Matthew 28:19-20 says:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So go and make disciples and praise the Lord.

A Letter of Love

I am a sinner. It's not a question; it's not an idea; it's a fact. I am a sinner. I'm a sinner and I don't deserve Jesus dying on the cross for me. I don't deserve the Lord of all creation choosing me and pulling me out of this wretched darkness. I look at myself and realize that I am not a "good" person. By wordly standards, I may appear to be. I've been to Tijuana, Mexico, spent the summer of my sophomore year living with a missionary family (shout out to the amazing Ward family) in a small town only a couple of hours from La Paz, Mexico, traveled to Haiti to spend a couple of weeks in the mountains to help the people there, worked as a VBS and middle school leader; I don't drink or do drugs; so does that really make me a good person?

Some of you may be nodding your heads yes, but I am swiftly shaking my head no. No, I'm not actually a good person. R.C. Sproul said: "Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once and He volunteered." The only "good" person to ever walk the face of the earth died 2000 years ago on a cross for people who did not deserve it. I am not a good person...I am a sinner. But. But I was chosen.

One day, the Lord sent His only son to Mother Earth, and so it was that true and perfect love was born in a stable, in the form of a sweet, precious baby that was destined to die for you and I - the picture of unworthiness. And so I was chosen. You were chosen.

And suddenly, an epic pursuit began.

No longer are we alone, being pursued by nothing but people, who come and go as they please and stop pursuing after they get tired or bored or settled. So He chases desperately after us, until we finally turn around and allow Him to slam into us so hard that His love echoes throughout our every cell and we can't help but be enraptured by it. Every bad thing, every debt, every mistake, every terrible late night decision, every rude word, every feeling of self-loathing, every moment of weakness, is wiped away by God's letter of love: "I have sent my one and only Son to die for you; to take away your sins. I have sent my one and only Son to die so that we could have no barriers between us. I have sent my one and only Son because I love you so much that I would give up anything to be with you. I have sent my one and only Son in a relentless pursuit of you."

Psalm 23:6 says: "Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever."

God loves you. God found you. God pursued you. And God will never stop pursuing you. How's that for true love?

UN-thankful

Ahhhhh November...fall leaves blowing about the road, Winter whispering of it's slow return, turkeys, football, blustering winds and gorgeous colors. I love November; it's easily one of my most favorite months, that is, if somebody could have a favorite month. Despite my list depicting November, I left one thing out of it: thankfulness. November is the month of thankfulness. Seeing as Thanksgiving is during late November, some genius person decided to make the entire month about being thankful. Hence, November is now the month of thankfulness. I like this idea a lot - an entire month dedicated to being thankful about things; talk about brilliant! While we can probably all agree that we like the "thankful month" and like talking about what we're grateful for, how come we are so positively un-thankful?

I love looking on Facebook and seeing everybody posting what they're thankful for on each day of November. I think it's a really sweet idea and it helps people realize all the great things they have in life. Except, when it comes to the rest of the year, how come things that we're thankful for are never talked about? Not only that, but how come (during the rest of the year and even during November) almost 100% of our time isn't spent rejoicing and being glad for what we have, but whining and complaining about what we don't have?

For example, I am thankful for getting to scoop dog poop. Now, don't take this the wrong way and think I'm thankful for dog poop...no, that's not what I mean! I'm thankful for getting to scoop dog poop because it means that I have the dog I truly love. Or, I'm thankful for slow drivers. Not because they're plain slow (because let me tell you, I can be super impatient sometimes!), but because they remind me to slow down and take a breather. Or another great example, I'm thankful for chewed shoes; not because they were chewed, but because I had a sweet Bernese to chew them. Things that seem like they should be complained about, can actually be rejoiced about!

Now take a look at your life. You say: "My husband never does this or that and he's just not contributing to our relationship" or vice versa. Or maybe you say: "I just don't feel like going to work today...I hate my job". Or perhaps (and here's a common one): "I hate school". Or even, "My kids just never listen to me". Those are all classic "whines" that we, as people, use on a regular basis. Now, I'm not going to deny that I never say these things, because I can assure you, I'm just as sinful as the next gal. Those are some of my favorite whines! But, they're wrong to whine about. You complain about your husband and after ten, fifteen years of marriage and you want a divorce because you have spent too much time being un-thankful for what you have. Maybe it's time to think about how nice it is that you even have a spouse to help you raise your kids and provide for you. Did you know that throughout the world, hundreds of children are being raised by single, poor mothers that would love to have a husband to help them? Crazy to think that you may be kicking your husband out, when another woman is desperately trying to get a husband. Same things go for husbands that think their wives aren't contributing. Or you say you hate your job, but hundreds upon thousands of people don't have jobs and can't provide for themselves or the ones they love. Who are we (me included) to complain about work when others don't even get the opportunity to fill out a job application? And then we sit and complain about school, but at least we get to go to school. If you go onto World Vision and search through the children to support, nearly every one will say that the child is currently not in school. Why? Because they don't get that opportunity like we do. And we complain and complain and complain about how our kids aren't listening to us when perhaps just across the street from you a woman just found out she will never be able to have children of her own. Since when did we become so selfishly ungrateful? What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday? Then what would life look like for you?

God didn't die on the cross so we could whine and complain and be un-thankful. Nope, definitely not! We have so many opportunities here on Earth, yet we decide to spend tons and tons of time complaining about the things we have. Paul was thankful for a jail cell and suffering...but we can't even be thankful for a comfy bed and a roof over our heads. Little children in Africa are thankful for a single pair of shoes or a deflated soccer ball, and we can't be thankful for fifty pairs of shoes or ten autographed, perfect soccer balls. God didn't create us to be whiners, but thankers! November shouldn't be the only month that we're thankful in...we should be thankful all the time, any time, about anything!

The Bible says: Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

That text right there commands us to be thankful in all circumstances, because this is God's will. This means that no matter what is going on, and what we want to whine about, that we should be thankful anyways. If we started counting our blessings instead of our "don't haves", don't you think we'd be a lot happier? Every time I get in a funk and start to feel depressed, my mom always sits be down and makes me say (out loud) what I'm thankful for. In a matter of minutes - sometimes seconds - both of us are smiling and laughing and I am feeling perfectly fine. So don't just post on Facebook in the month of November about what you're thankful for - shout to the heavens everyday of your life what you're thankful for.

So what are you thankful for?

Lazy, Baby

It's an everyday sort of problem - I don't even think we go a day without doing it. Sometimes that's all we are, and other times, we just choose when to be it. Most of the time, we make the conscious decision to do it - to become it. What exactly am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about being lazy. Everybody struggles with laziness; in fact, I don't know a single person that doesn't struggle with it at some point in their life. Some of us out there try to fight laziness, whereas others just accept it and become lazy. Yet, there are different forms of laziness. The first form is just being generally lazy. For example, not cleaning your house, ignoring homework, trying to worm your way out of responsibilities, etc. The second form is where we're too busy being lazy that we let our flesh (our sinful nature) get the best of us - I'll talk more about this later. God hates laziness, did you know that?

After spending my entire life in the ministry, I've become attune to laziness. It's something that now stands out to me (and which I have also participated in). Again, I'm not talking about being lazy like cleaning things up or just wanting to sit around; I'm talking about spiritual laziness. Spiritual laziness so undeniably prominent, it almost hurts. So what exactly is spiritual laziness? I'll give you three examples of things that I've learned and things that I've observed.

Not reading your Bible is a part of spiritual laziness. So often times we are "too tired" to read our Bible, but we're perfectly okay to go read a book or watch a movie or even go hang out with friends. We're willing to go to work, hang out with people or spend time as a family, but as soon as it comes to reading ones Bible, suddenly God hits the bottom of the list. How dare we put God at the bottom of the list after all He's done? Satan tries to trick us into thinking that reading our Bible is exhausting, but really, it's not. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I used to struggle with this type of laziness - I still do sometimes. I used to say that I was "too tired" or just "didn't feel up to it", and I was being unbelievably sinful when I was doing that. Talk about stupidity on my part!

The second type of spiritual laziness is serving. Where I live, people would rather shove their money in your face then actually do it themselves. This means that they'd rather give you their money to hire somebody, then to actually commit to the work themselves. Sure, they may have good paying jobs, but that doesn't mean they can't serve. When we don't serve, we're throwing all that Jesus did back in God's face. We're saying that Jesus was strange, and that his work was so lowly we wouldn't even dare think about doing the same thing. Jesus went and hung around with dumb sheep boys and obnoxious sailors; he sat with crazy children and poured his wisdom into fools. Why does it seem so hard for us to do the same? We don't want to help set up church on Sunday mornings because "we've got no time" or we don't want to be a leader in VBS because "we've got too much going on" and we can't help out in the youth groups because "kids just aren't our thing". But God calls us to be servants, so we must abandon that spiritual laziness, take up our cross and follow him.

The last type of spiritual laziness is commitment. For example, people say they want to "help", but they never want to commit. They say they want to serve or they want to have a stronger relationship with God, but for some reason, they let satan talk them into believing that they just can't commit to it yet. Or they can't make it to church on time because it's "too early", even though it's at ten in the morning and they're up for school by five. Or they sit and complain about how bad the church (or youth group, or worship band or children's ministry or bible study) instead of trying to help the church out. I used to sit and complain about how I just didn't like my youth group very much, till I realized that this world is not mine, that youth group is not mine, and I am not going to let my sinful flesh get the best of me. I'm on this earth for God, which therefore means that I need to commit to my church and my Jesus. It means that I need to be supportive and offer up my services and commit to whatever I do. "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." Psalm 16:3 is what the Bible says, so why do we always try to be so flighty? We need to buckle down, stick with where God's got us and invest, instead of allowing satan to run our lives.

The Bible says, 

"A lazy life is an empty life, but “early to rise” gets the job done." Psalm 12:27

We are not meant to be lazy. We are meant to be alive and on fire for Jesus! This means we should be spending time with him as much as possible for as long as possible. It means serving in his name, because we get to serve. It means committing to following him, supporting his church and being more like him. Being lazy isn't any fun; actually, it's kind of exhausting. So stand up and stop sitting around being lazy. It's hard to see the whole sunset, when you can't peek over the mountain.

A Broken Trust

My title seems like it's going to be sort of deceiving, doesn't it? "A Broken Trust" - what's that supposed to mean exactly? It sort of seems like maybe I am about to start ranting about how someone broke my trust or something, but that's not what this is about at all. So, take those ideas and shove 'em far far far away, because we don't need them! Although, this blogpost is about trust, just perhaps not the kind that would first come to your mind when you hear the word.

I have a friend, and saying she is incredible and wonderful and absolutely the greatest person on the entire planet wouldn't do her justice, because she is so much better than that. Every time I get together with her, I am blown away by just how unique and amazing she is - literally, blown away. I really am blessed that God put her in my life, because there aren't even words to describe my thankfulness. She is a beautiful godly woman and constantly manages to teach me something new. But, this has to do with trust, not just me getting to brag about an amazing friend! Anyway, let's get to our story.

I ended up getting the opportunity to hang out with this girl recently (which was fantastic, by the way), and as we were talking we got into a more serious conversation about our lives. She was telling me a story about when she had been going through a difficult time and how instead of just sitting around and wallowing, she decided to sit down and pray - yes, pray. Isn't it weird how often times, our first reaction isn't to pray, but to have a pity party? So, I asked her what happened when she prayed, and she said, "I was just asking God what I should do, and all of a sudden, clear as day, He said 'trust me'." Trust me. Trust me. Trust me, God, the Father, your Lord. You know what she told me after that? She said that she would trust God, because He had asked her to. How easy she made it seem - or how easy it actually was.

Sometimes it's hard to trust God...or rather, it's hard to allow Him to have the steering wheel in our lives. We constantly feel as if we know best and that we could write a better story for our lives than He could. Unfortunately, that isn't true. I personally know exactly what it feels like to have a broken trust between God and I, and I can honestly tell you that the broken trust wasn't initiated by God, but by me. Sometimes I struggle with trusting God, because I worry about whether or not He'll do what I want most. I worry that, perhaps, God doesn't entirely know what I want and that He might not give me specifically these things. Or other times, I get worried that He is going to shake up my world and change my plans, something which is really hard for me to understand.

Recently, I thought I had all these plans. I was running around like crazy with a broken trust between God and I, because instead of trusting Him to make my life beautiful, I was trusting myself. Want to know what trusting yourself gets you? A few bumps and bruises and tears. Want to know what trusting God gets you? A wonderful life full of ease and happiness. Those seem very different when you compare them that way, don't they? Which is why I say to you, fix your broken trust between yourself and the Creator. He knows - knows - the plans that He has for you (Jeremiah 29:11), and that is something we need to trust in. Butting in and changing things throws around God's trust like an old shirt you're too lazy to hang up - crazily and constantly. God told my friend to trust Him, and she did...instead of her life turning to shambles, she went through the rough patch but came out better before, instead of going through a constant battle if she would've just trusted herself. Whatever happens (or is happening) in your life, whether good or bad, trust God, because he ultimately knows the plan.

Trust God. Don't trust yourself. Sometimes satan tries to trick us by telling us we know best, when really, we don't know that much at all. Sure, we may know a couple of cool facts, but not all of those combined can compare to what God knows. If you have a broken trust with God, perhaps it's time to fix that once and for all, and gain the life God has originally planned for you.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which paths to take." Proverbs 3:5-6