Been There...Done That

First - I would like to share a few Bible verses I am currently clinging to for dear life.

Psalm 139.
O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Proverbs 4
My children, listen when your father corrects you.
Pay attention and learn good judgment,
for I am giving you good guidance.
Don’t turn away from my instructions.
For I, too, was once my father’s son,
tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.
My father taught me, “Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
My child, listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.
Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
Turn away and keep moving.
For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
They eat the food of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence!
The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.
Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.

I don't like when my life shatters like glass. But, it happens.
The Lord keeps me. The Lord protects me. Whom then shall I fear?
Except myself...
Sometimes, I think I am the only thing that I should really fear.
Self-destructive is the term. But I believe the Lord can protect me even from myself.
I've been praying for protection and wisdom. Two things I dearly need.

Orphan? I think NOT!

I was adopted, literally by my current mother and father. There is something so comforting about adoption, you belong somewhere again. You have a family again. You are not alone again. But with human adoption there is also always a small fear, that the comfort of your new life could be taken away. That the peopel who say they love you will turn away from you.

There is no fear with our adoption as sons and daughters of Christ. There is only comfort, in knowing he is our Father and will never let us go. Being adopted, it means a lot to me to know that I am also adopted as God's Daughter. Adoption means everything to me. If I was not God's Daughter...who would I be? My adoption by God creates my identity, gives me security and reminds me of his love. In normal adoptions the parents pay money - but in this special adoption he paid with his own blood. As creepy as this may sound, blood is more permanent than money. God's love for us is more permanent that anything we have on this earth.

I always like to think of God having a gigantic book, and in that book he writes down the name of each one of his sons and daughters when they come to him. That book is his and his alone, only the Father, Spirit and Son have access to it. And when he writes those names down, he doesn't just use a normal pen or pencil. He uses an extremly permanent marker - you could even say he writes with his own blood. No matter what happens to that child of his after thier name is in there - it will never be taken out. We forever belong to God and nothing will make him take our names out of his book.

"Yet to all who recieved him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12-13

"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering." Romans 8:12-17

"We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children," Romans 8:23

"For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Galations 3:26

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:5

Be Faithful in the Small

The devotion book I am currently reading talks about how you have to be faithful in the small things. Both in spiritual and physical things. Personally, I have a horrible time with being faithful in the small things. No wonder I usually can't read my Bible every day - I can't even ware my retainers ever night!
This brings about the old argument between child and parent when said child wants to get her [or his] license. I remember one of my friends parents once saying, "if you can't even make your bed, how am I supposed to let you drive a car?" Every time my own mom would say something to this effect, I would blow it off, thinking its just a simple thing, when I get to drive, it's so much more dangerous and I'll be able to handle it - take it more seriously.
This brings me to God and what he wants from our lives. Sometimes it takes small things to then create a ripple effect and cause big things. Yet, why would God entrust us with something as big as possibly carrying his name to thousands of people, when we can't even carry it to a single person within our own youth group? [that was just an example] Sometimes God gives us small tasks [dare I say, seeming to be insignificant tasks] but all of those tasks are working with his final plan for our lives and for the lives of others. And it's God were talking about here, our Creator, Father and Savior - we owe everything to Him. How do we so easily ignore the small things he wants us to do?
I think one of my main problems with doing the small things for God, is that I wasn't listening. I hadn't taken the time to listen to him regularly so I didn't even have a clue what his "voice" sounded like. I'm pretty sure I know what his voice sounds like now :] But its still a challenge to listen to him day and night - I never know when he will reveal something to me or show me someone who is in need. Sometimes I feel that I'm so bursting with His calling in my life that I want to skip all the small things and just get out there and DO something great! But greatness is not achived over night. And something great can't happen without a foundation, no matter how small or insignificant that foundation seems.
Lord, I ask that you remind your Children that they can do all things through You. But that they must not over-look the small and insignificant.
- Sveta

James 1:1-4

James 1:1-4 (NLT)
"This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the "twelve tribes"-Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings! Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

Just recently I asked myself, how can anyone seriously rejoice from harship and pain? But, the words after that are what get me. "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." In every hardship that we face, we have a choice of either learning and growing from it, or succumbing to the hardship. I think my earlier question came from a misunderstanding of those words. No human could possibly rejoice when they are having hardships and enduring pain. Even Jesus himself could not do it. But it is what happens after that matters and decides where we are heading in life.

The great thing to this verse is the end - it tells us that after we have come through all of those hardships and have developed our undurance, we will be perfect. The thing is, we will never be perfect until we are with our Creator. This sends my mind into another round of whirlwind questions, all of which are silly actually. Why strive through those hardships if we won't see the end result until after we are dead? Most of the things that happen in our life I believe we won't understand until we are dead - we wont get the full picture until God can show it to us Himself.

As Christians our faith is based just on that - faith. I am currently reading a book called, "Butterfly in Brazil." Very intersting book and the title comes from a theory a man once made, if a butterfly in Brazil flaps its wings, will it cause a tornado in Texas? Such an insignificant thing, like a butterfly flapping its wings [something it must do] could cause something quite great to happen. This isn't meant to be literal, but it takes us to so many places with our faith. When we flap our wings after times of hardship and let the world see that God brought us through - that is what might cause a tornado far away and we might not even know it. We all have our every day things to do, as small as they are - they can turn into big things through God's power. :] I find that amazing.

Personally I am over joyed to see what the Lord has already done through the hardships in my life. And am so excited to see what he will do with my future hardships and life in general! Our God is an awesome God after all!