Age doesn't matter

When I was little I thought everything was great...everyone was happy...I had child like faith and my world was somewhat easy. The trials I faced as a young person were my school work and liking boys. 

When I hit 18...my world changed. Since then, my Dad's heart failed, he went through 4 or 5 jobs, my Mom was raising another child, my siblings were all moved out, family members went to be with The Lord, I grieved over relationships and people I had lost, people close to me moved away, and dear friends went to be with The Lord as well. I struggled with depression and almost had an eating disorder, I went into physical therapy for my knee and started testing on my own heart and faith. 

A lot has happened in those 6 years.

I've learned to trust God with my relationships and put away my pride and be the person that those I love need. I've had to grieve and I've had to not grieve because I had to be strong. I've had to stand firm on my convictions even though I was questioned over and over again. I had to learn the beauty of communication. I had to know I'd be okay if I lost everything and everyone.  I've had to make God number 1 above everyone and everything and that's why I'd be okay. 

To those who say that age is wisdom...I'd like to see them as adults go through what I've gone through. I'd like to see them have a faith like my little 8 year old brother when he was faced with his Dad possibly dying. 

We all have a story. We all have faced our own trials. God does not see age...He sees faith. Kings were young in biblical times (I seem to remember one king being 10...nope 8!!!! 2 Chronicles 34:1)! Age obviously is not the point. It's faith and maturity. Wisdom and selflessness. God grows people...God gives wisdom. You can't get wisdom without Him. You can get a whole lot if you ask starting at a young age. 

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believer in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" 1 Timothy 4:12

So how old is your faith? Is it mature? Does it have a story to it? Or is it boring and only about the things you want?

"Consider it pure joy brothers when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. But when he asks he must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind." James 1:2-6

You see God longs for us to make it through circumstances and trials because they produce a harvest of wisdom and perseverance. He wants us to be stronger every day. Seeking Him and asking for wisdom are the ways we grow. If we aren't seeking Him we aren't growing. 

Every trial I've faced in my short life so far I made it a point to press as hard as I could into Gods embrace. And with each trial I went deeper and deeper with Him. So much so I am almost completely one with Him. And when I attempt to leave that embrace or not press into Him because I think "I don't need Him" I loose some of my identity and I don't know who I am. 

We weren't created to function without our Creator...we need Him. He Created us to be with Him. There's nothing His Creation could do to change why He created it. He still wants us. No matter our age. We are all looked at the same by Him. Jesus covers all of us. But how many of us are really pressing into Him? How many of us have wisdom because we've asked for it? How many of us have considered it pure joy when we go through trials because we know we have gone deeper with God and we know He is number 1 in our life?

I challenge you to ask for wisdom. And press into God today. You need Him. In trials and in good times. You need Him no matter how well you cover it up. The need it there, the need is real. Stop living as if you can function without your Creator. 

Learning more about faith...

It's interesting how we can know so much about God and be studying Him and His Word and there is still lessons every single day.

Recently, I have been searching the Lord (His Word and prayer) to see what He wants me to be doing. This has been a very emotional process because I tell myself that I don't want to choose something that God doesn't want me to do, but I also don't want to miss what He wants me doing, or fail at it. I get knots in my stomach when I think about the possibilities and how I have no clue as to what He wants. Then today, I read 2 Corinthians 1. I'm trying to go through the Corinthians this month...with it being the 17th, I am now in 2nd Corinthians. Paul talks in this letter about His and Timothy's sufferings for the Word of God. Now, I know that they were facing much deeper sufferings than I am, but they still can be categorized as "sufferings for the Lord". They felt like they were going to die (sometimes me emotions make me feel that way haha) but they knew that God could conquer death, and they knew God had a purpose for them, so they would have probably been okay with dying then if it was God's plan. Then they lifted their eyes (in a spiritual figurative way) and said "But this happened so that we may not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead" 2 Corinthians 1:9 They knew the God they served and that He is in every nook and granny of our lives and that He is trustworthy and reliable.

I trust God. But I think sometimes I try to rely on myself. Forgetting for however long that His very Spirit lives in me, to be my helper and counselor. And so I'm asking myself if being so concerned about if I am in the will of God is really what I should be doing? God is going to guide me, I just have to listen and be in tune. But I also think if He isn't saying much and I am seeking Him actively, then there isn't much I need to worry about. As long as I am continually asking Him to "Search my heart" Psalm 139:23 because "On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us" 2 Corinthians 1:10

So I am learning more about faith. My own personal faith. How I can rely on Him and trust that He IS ACTIVELY and CURRENTLY guiding me right now, because I am His child and His Spirit is in me and He is trustworthy and faithful! haha, I feel like saying AMEN! AMEN! :)

Starting To Write

I have had the desire to write a book for over a year now. After going through a lot of growing a few years prior, I feel the calling of the Lord to share my story. I try to type something out at least a page long 3 times a week. It sometimes is just a topic on my mind or something I know I want to be included in my book. My journey with God is still happening and I am still learning so much in this stage of life and I know I will continue to learn and grow. I am not done by any means. There is so much already in my head that I want to share and God is starting to get it out. It may take me some time, but I know I need to start somewhere.

My blogs are a part of my writing. Getting my thoughts out and having an audience to share with. 

I am so excited about all that God is going to do in the next years of my life as He speaks more to me and uses me for His glory. It is only the small beginning...it is going to be good.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please share posts that encourage you and keep checking back to see what more I have to share (I know it will be something haha)

This is why I write and speak

"Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰ Where is the wise person?Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolishthe wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signsand Greeks look for wisdom,²³ but we preach Christ crucified:a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,holiness and redemption.³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hiddenand that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this ageunderstood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spiritwithin them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spiritof the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ."

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16