Love Christ

In life, there are a lot of storms. Sometimes it feels that we have been through and are going through so many storms, that it is unimaginable to face another one. While other times, we live without storms, but we’re just waiting for the next to arise. It’s really easy to fall into the idea that because we are Christians our storms will disappear. We tend to go through the motions of life and turn to God on Sundays, when we go to church. It’s not until things get tough in life that we turn to God for a relationship. Matthew 8:23-27: “Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds a...

     I tend to place the role of perfection on myself. I tend to think that I have to live perfectly to be loved by Jesus. Perfection is just not attainable no matter how hard we try. Jesu is and will continue to be the only one to live a perfect life. If we aren’t careful we can make the role of perfection into an idol. We can make this the center of our focus instead of God. I was talking to my youth leader and he said, “When we place perfection n on ourselves it is out of pride. We are saying that the cross isn’t enough.”      The cross is enough, Jesus is enough. He lived a perfect life so that we don’t have to. We don’t have to worry about placing this role of perfection on ourselves because He doesn’t ask us to. He knows that it isn’t achievable. I find that when I am really stressed or I feel alone, I turn to this idea and concept. When I turn to things that could become voids in life, it's because I have expected God to understand my without m...

  Man, has God been working recently! It’s so amazing to see God move in my life and in others! Here’s a question that’s been on my mind recently - Am I recognizing God's presence and thanking him for the answered prayers in my life? I sometimes question the strength of my relationship with God. I think this is because I am comparing my relationship with God to what He is doing in other people’s lives. I start to ask God why it seems he is working and blessing for some and for others they are in constant struggle. This causes me to go down the rabbit trail of doubt. It’s hard not to compare myself with other people, but I find the people I compare myself to the most to are the people who are very vocal about the good things God is doing. I even compare my faith to "Social Media Faith". What you see is not always what is real.   When I start to compare myself to what God is doing for other people, I find it helpful to make a list of all my prayers. At the end of the wee...

       The past two parts in this series have been focused on making sure that we are shining our light. Have you ever considered that we have the same impact on other people? We need to make sure that we aren’t blowing out other people’s light because of jealousy, anger, or anything else. God has really been putting gossip on my heart recently. I feel like there is such a strong need for people to know what is going on and to know everything about everyone all the time. This can be really harmful, not only to us and our hearts, but to those who we are around. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the person constantly “spilling the tea”. (code for gossip) I know first hand how gossip can affect people. You can lose friendships through it and it is even harder to bounce back from it.  Why do we like gossip? I think that it makes us feel in control . Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if what we are saying is true or if it’s harmful, we are just so will...

  2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The second thing that I wanted to touch on in the “Let Your Light Shine” series, is new beginnings. I am covering not just the typical new beginnings, but also being able and willing to take the next step in your journey with God as well! I know for a lot of you, you may be switching jobs, getting into a relationship, starting school, moving, going to college to pursue a new degree, whatever the case may be we’ve all gone through a new beginning in our lives. One of the biggest new beginnings that I have had in my life was going into high school, there’s something different about high school, scarier almost, than going into middle school. I think part of it is the stereotype that high school gives. Everyone “clicks” into their friendships, classes, careers, and the whole social aspect in high school. I was so excited for high school because I thought that it ...

  Part 1: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I was thinking about things in this world that are relatable and something I could talk about. I was reading the book of Matthew in the Bible and it was talking about being the salt and the light of this Earth. Matthew 5:16 says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in Heaven.” - But how often do we let people blow out our light? How do we keep people from dulling our light? How do I show Jesus’s light through me? These were all things that I was thinking about while reading those verses, so I wanted to share with you some of the things that Jesus has put on my heart about it! There are so many layers to this topic, so I am making it a series! Whether your light has been blown out, you don’t know how to shine your light, or you want to know how ...

I want to challenge everyone at the beginning of this: think about your life. Are there things that you know are bringing you farther away from God? I want you to acknowledge them. The reality is, they’re bringing you farther and farther away from Him, but His time is coming closer and closer.  One thing I think that is easy to bring us away from God is our image. It is so easy to see flaws in ourselves. It’s so easy to wish that they weren’t there. We can find ourselves upset about them and the more we get upset the more we are willing to tear others down. There are things about all of us that we wish we could change, but God made us perfectly imperfect in His image. I want to ask you who you are allowing to speak into your life. Being a teenager, it’s really easy to let a lot of people speak into my life without even realizing that I’m doing it. It’s like I pass on a microphone to all of the people who don’t even know me to put their judgements and their opinions on me. We begi...