It's an amazing World

Have you ever heard of a thing called gracefully broken? I’d heard of it but didn’t really understand it until today. Because I have been broken, but that’s good! So I’ve heard this story of a broken nose where this guy broke his nose and it kind of healed on its own, but then he went to the doctor’s and they told him they were going to have to break it again for it to heal properly. Ok, well that stunk, of course, but if they hadn’t broken it never would have healed all of the ways. So I’ve been going through some stuff and have basically hated myself completely for the past 4 months, and today it kind of came to a head. I was freaking out. Falling apart. Hurting. Then I finally broke down on my knees, and I cried like I have never cried before, it was like with each tear I was finally letting go of things that had been weighing on me for months. It didn’t feel good exactly. But it kind of did. It’s hard to explain. Well, it was kind of like I’ve been patching myself up all of this time and then God’s the doctor and He’s like “Nope, if you want to heal properly you’ve got to undo all of this stuff you did and let me do the healing.” So me crying was me undoing all the patchwork that fooled me into thinking I was OK. I got to talk to my mom which also helped. Telling someone else is hard but it makes you feel so much better when you have stuff going on. It was like what I was telling myself was fake, and then my mom told me what is real. Broke the fake healing and started the real healing, if that makes sense. And now I feel freer than I have in a long time. I know I’ve got to face the consequences of what I’ve been doing, and things will have to change, but now I’m not pretending every thing’s OK, I’m taking steps to make everything OK. It hurt to be broken, yes, but now the true healing can begin. So that’s good. It’s really good actually. So when you are on your knees and feel like you have failed at everything, feel like everything is going wrong, remember God might just being breaking you with love so that you can begin a true healing process.

Dear God,

We are not always the best we can be. We mess up, and we make mistakes. Sometimes we try to cover that up. Sometimes we pretend it’s OK. But You God, You know our hearts. You know what is real and what is not and You know when it is time to take off this fake healing and start some real healing. Your plan for us is so good God. Let us never ever forget it.

Amen

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each-other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the LORD forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

                                             Colossians 3:12-14

First of all I would like to point out what really stood out to me the first time I read this; the two words “dearly loved’. We are dearly loved by our heavenly Father. He loves us dearly. When I think of those two words I think of my youngest brother, James. I love James dearly. Yes, he messes up, yes he can be a little pain sometimes, but I do, I love him dearly. That is how God loves us; yes, we mess up, yes we disobey, but that doesn’t change the fact that He loves us dearly. Secondly, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Love binds all of the other ones together in perfect unity. Isn’t this true though? If we love our neighbor, and treat them like we love them, then all of the other ones are, or should be a part of that love. In one of my Bibles there is a little insert (this is a girly Bible, so guys just hang in there for a minute) it says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have one outfit that was always in style? Something you know you could put on and look your absolute best?” It continues, but I’ll put it in my own words.You have that outfit. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love, that is what looks best on you. Hate is ugly, kindness and love? They are beautiful. Unfortunately I don’t always act in a way that shows that I love people, and I regret that, but I try, and I think that effects how people see me. Forgive as the LORD forgave you. It’s hard sometimes, but in the end it will same a lot of pain and conflict.

Dear LORD,

Please help me to wear the clothes of love and kindness everyday. Please help me to live my life so it can be described using these words. My heart would soar if that is how people described me. Help me to forgive God, for you forgave me when I most certainly did not deserve it. I love you very much.

                                       -Amen

Hi!

I hope you are all doing well on this fantastic Sunday! I’m sorry that I
haven’t written in a while. I’ve been thinking a lot about life and the
Bible. Within the past week, I’ve dissected the first 15 Chapters of
Genesis, but I couldn’t really find a theme to write about. However,
this morning during my prayer journal God sent me what I needed. So here
goes.

Please look up 1 Peter 5:7.

You know, we all have these little problems in our lives. These little
things that don’t really matter that much to anyone else, and won’t
matter in the grand scheme of things. I know I still pray for them, but
it’s been a while since I really thought about how amazing it is that He
cares. I am one person. One in the current 7 billion on this earth. I
don’t see myself as that important, not in the lives of others, not in
my community, certainly not in the whole world! God does though. He
thinks I’m important. He is present in my little life, He knows what’s
going on, what I’m thinking. He thinks you are important too! You are
one in 7 billion, and not only does He see you, He knows your thoughts,
your dreams, the desires of your heart. He loves you. He knows what goes
on, every little detail, in every person’s life. Isn’t that absolutely
incredible? There are so many, and He knows us all. It’s more than my
tiny little brain can comprehend! Sometimes it feels like He is so far
away, that God is this distant person who just sits back and watches the
world go by. This is not the case though! He is right down here with us,
and for those who have accepted Christ, in us! He understands what we
are feeling, and why we are feeling it. This is something that I have
needed to remember recently. It is such a blessing to have such a
loving, caring God. Praise Him!

Dear Father,

Thank You so much for caring about us. Thank You for being there with us
as we go through this life. Thank You for this wonderful blessing! I
love You very much. I am blessed and amazed that You love me too! Thank
You for my life, for all that You have blessed me with!

-Amen

As you go on with your daily lives, please rememeber how much God loves you! I hope you have a great.

His Humble Servant,

Aubrey

There are so many ways to connect with so many people today. In a way, it is good, and a blessing, but it is also a distraction. I have found myself many times using the time I had set aside for God to connect with other people in the rest of the world. Instead of studying my Bible I find myself browsing the Internet, without purpose. It is so important to make it a priority to connect with God before you connect with the rest of the world. It’s important to say, “OK, it is now Bible study time, and that’s what I’m going to do.” I have found myself saying, “Well, I’ll just check my email first.” and then I get distracted. I am working on not doing that, on knowing my tendency to get distracted, and not giving in to it. I know that if I open my computer it usually takes some time before I shut it again. Therefore; I don’t open it. It is a long process, and I am by no means saying that I have completed it, but it is one that needs to be started. If it’s your phone for you, then leave your phone in the other room and then go do your Bible study. It’s hard, we have become so addicted to electronics that we push to the back of our minds this idea of unplugging for a while. It is really important to conquer this addiction though, because we are so busy looking at pictures of everyone else’s lives and reading about them that we miss the ones that God has put right in front of us! It is so important to be able to disconnect from social media and texting and to reconnect with God, and our families. The average person spend around 5 hours a day on their phones. They can’t put them down, they can’t leave them home while they are someone else. It is a serious problem! That’s 5 hours that we could be spending with real people, 5 hours that we could be doing something nice for someone else, 5 hours that we could have spent with God, or family, or friends. When I first heard this average I thought, “Surely I’m WAY below that.” Then I got this app that tells you how much time you are on your phone? I was below the average but way over my expectations. The first day I was on my phone for 2 hours! I was shocked, and determined to lower that number. Now I average about 30 minutes a day, which is still a lot, but not quite as much. Sorry guys, this is a very long rant that kind of ambles all over the place!

Dear LORD,

Please help the people of this world to disconnect from the screens and reconnect with You and the people You have placed in their lives. It’s hard sometimes, but with You we can do anything! Thank You for forgiving our sins when we ask, and please help us to sin less!

Amen

*The app mentioned above is called Quality time. This is not sponsored.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for creating me. Thank You for blessing me with so, so much. Thank You for the incredible world that You made. You really are amazing! You made this whole, insanely complex world in 6 days! That is almost unbelievable! But You are an awesome God, and I do believe. Thank You for the people that You have put in my life, especially the ones who really care about me, and help me through my challenges. Please help me to be like that to other people. Please help me to help them through those challenges. Please help me to lead them to You even when life is hard. Please help me to imitate Christ. Please help me to be selfless like Him. Thank You for sending Him to take away my sins. I love You.

Amen

Most of us have known the story of Daniel for as long as we can remember. I know that I have! Because of that I never really took a closer look at it, that is, until today. Daniel 6 has one of the most incredible stories of faith that the Bible contains, and I think we could all take something away from reading his story again.

Daniel is someone who was respected by the king, and the people of the nation.  The king planned to set him over the whole realm. However, his fellow supervisors didn’t want that, so they came together and did everything they could to find something that Daniel did that would disqualify him. They could find nothing though, for Daniel followed the commandments of his king. So they decided the only way to go was so find something that Daniel did for the Lord, and somehow make it where that was also against the king. They went to the king, suggesting a law that, for 30 days, nobody was to worship or bow down to any person or God but the king himself. The king signed the law. The two men then went to Daniels home, and saw him on his knees, praying, as he did 3 times a day, everyday. They then seized him, and took him before the king, who was very much distressed about what had come to pass. The king could not release Daniel from the law, so Daniel was thrown into the lions den, and a large stone was rolled in front of the den. The king fasted and prayed that night that no harm would come to Daniel. In the morning, the stone was rolled away, and Daniel was still alive!

What happened inside that cave is uncertain, but we know that Daniel had incredible faith. He believed that God would take care of him, that God knew what was best. He lived because of his faith.  We know that he prayed, and his prayer was very much answered.

When we don’t know why something is happening, or why God is letting it happen, it is so, so important to trust Him. To trust that He knows what He’s doing. It is equally important to pray. To ask God for wisdom in a situation, or to ask Him for courage. He really does care, and He will help you.

Dear LORD,

Thank You for listening to us when we pray. Thank You for being there for us and protecting us when we are in scary situations, or when our hearts our on the line. Thank You for sending Jesus so that we can come to You with our sins, and You will take them away. Thank You for giving us the blessing that is the ability to pray. I love You LORD.

Amen.

Hi guys.

I would ask how y’all are doing, but the automatic “I’m good, how are you?” and the faux smile have no place on this website. Everyone has problems, nobody is truly fine. We have so many people with such vast, different, challenging lives that it is so hard to comprehend that every single person has the emotions and thoughts that you do. Isn’t it? It’s really easy to think of the world that centers around us, what is hard is seeing it everyone else’s way.  That person that you walked past in Walmart the other day? They have a life, a faith, a home, those little everyday dramas that you have. Every single person that has ever lived, that has ever walked on this earth has faced challenges. Some of them the successfully defeat, some of them they don’t, some of them don’t because they need help. For you school kids what about that person that nobody really knows? Who everyone recognizes, but nobody is really close to? I’m sure that they could use a friend in their lives and you could use another in yours! But we have nothing in common! You may think, well, that could be true, but the chances are extremely low. You see as human beings we all have a lot in common, it just takes some time and some digging to see it. God values all of us, and wants us all to look at each other with value. Just a smile, or a kind word can make somebody’s day, or help them when they are down. Give everyone a chance, and value every person.

Whoever is reading this, I wish you well with your life. I pray for you, and the people around you. I know you are someone, and that makes you so, so valuable. God loves you!

-Aubrey

Please look up Matthew 21:12-13

I would like to start out with a reminder of the importance of this week. We all probably know that Easter is coming up soon. For a long time Easter, to me, was about eggs more than it was about Jesus. About the events, about the dinner, the people, Easter clothes, Easter Sunday, all of this other stuff that really is not that important. I wish that I could say otherwise, but I cannot. Honestly it’s so, so easy to get wrapped up in all the… Celebration, and planning that we forget why we are celebrating. Why we are doing all of these things. For me I’ve never thought of the week before Easter as anything special, or different. This year I’m going to try to make that different, and I would very much appreciate it if you would all attempt to do the same! This week I am going to try very hard to spend a lot of time in prayer, and reading my Bible. I know that this isn’t necessary, but I’m also going to try to listen to only Christian music this week. Another thing that you can do is set a time in the morning everyday this week where you write down the ten biggest things to thank God for, and then (after thanking God for those things) fold the piece of paper and put it in a box. Then, on Easter Sunday you can open that box and read all those things to yourself. I’m not saying that you have to spend every second praying and reading the Bible, but I would reccomend doing something to make this week different than every other week.