Patriotism

We are so fortunate. The sad thing is that people don't realize how fortunate we are. We have a military of dedicated soldiers willing to risk their lives for the freedom of our country and others. I can't believe that people would under-appreciate our country and the effect it has on our lives. Wow... All I know is that I am truly thankful for the lives that have been taken for my sake. And I am truly sympathetic for the grieving families of lost soldiers. It would break my heart to know that the people my relative/friend died for don't appreciate the life that he gave. I hope some of you realize how important it is to support our country and troops- even if you don't agree with them. Our country needs to have the support of every citizen.
May God bless America,
Amy

Mothers

Hey all of you moms out there!
I know that no one ever looks at this blog, but if you're looking, and you happen to be a mom, I have one thing to say, "Happy mother's day!" Thanks for everything you do! It's very appreciated.

Silence

Silence. Sometimes awkward. Mostly awkward. :) What we don't realize that silence is SO important. Without it in our relationship with God, we would do all of the talking. We still sometimes do... In fact, sometimes our lives get so chaotic that we put God out of our lives completely, only to crawl back to Him when we need something. Even if we do stop, we just start right out with our list of requests. Now, I am going to ask you. What if during the only time people talked to you, they asked you to do something? What if they didn't show any compassion, care, or love, and they just used you to get things done? What if they forgot about you for days, weeks, months, or even years, just to come back and ask you to do something? What if they blamed you for not doing something for them after they did all of these things? How would that make you feel? It would make you think that that person doesn't care, wouldn't it? It would make you feel like they didn't think you were important enough. It might even make you mad. Let's see how this fits with your walk with God. Instead of all of this, we need to read Matthew 6 and apply it.

"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door,
pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you openly." (Matthew 6:6) "In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be
done On earth as it is in heaven."(Matthew 6:9-10)

Jesus tells us that when we pray, we need to start out by praising His Holy Name and getting into a mood of worship. We need to make it known to Him that we only want His will in our lives, not our will. You won't believe how much that will help! Once you do all this, start asking what you need to ask. Although, sometimes it's helpful if you just forget about your problems and love on God. These things help a lot! Talking to God as if He was a close friend gives you a peace that surpasses all understanding. I assure you that it will help you in all situations.
~Amy

A Bleh day

Have you ever had one of those days? Nothing bad really happens, you're just having a bad day. Even when you try to get closer to God, you feel very far. I had one of those days earlier in the week. I think it's because of the CRCT. We have to sit in a room for two hours even if we finish the test in 30 minutes, and we can't talk or anything. Yeah. For some reason, ( This may sound crazy.) I think this distanced me from God. I know that may sound rediculous, but it really did. My mind set was on how dumb the test was, and how parranoid the administrators are about the whole thing. I didn't even think to acknowledge that no matter what my opinion was, I would still have to take the CRCT. Once I realized how far I was from the heart of God, I turned on the worship songs and started reading my Bible. Well, it didn't do much for me. I was laying there in my bed with a stagnent spirit. It seemed like nothing I did was helping. Now I know some of you experience way worse things than taking the CRCT, but this still applies to your situation. No matter what the circumstances, trust in the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5,6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own
understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

Even if it seems like nothing works, still pray and rejoice. It sounds ludicrous. Why would you rejoice for the bad things?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Things like that make you have bad days. The problem I have with this, is that I very easily let it get me down. Even if the event isn't really a situation worth making me upset, I sometimes blow it out of proportion. We all have times where we feel horrible and just want to crawl up in a little ball and go to sleep, but there is a timing for everything. For proof, just read Ecclesiastes 3. There is a reason that you are going through this, and in the end it will help you, as long as you trust in the Lord. Just remember, no matter how badly you mess up, Jesus still loves you and wants to get to know you better.

Thanks for reading!
Amy

My Testimony

Ok guys, I figured you should know my testimony. Everything in our lives happens for a reason, and me sharing this with you is one of the reasons why it all happened to me. Just a warning, it's quite long...
*Warning* My story is very long: When I was 3 I was saved, when I was 6 I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and by the time I was 7 I was a fervent prayer warrior. I believe in the gift of speaking in tongues, so that will be part of my story, but for any of you who don't, I won't judge you; that's just one of the ways I worship Jesus. I'll tell you how all of this happened, but these are the key points of my testimony:
1.losing the gift of speaking in tongues
2. the calling of my life to full-time missions overseas
3. making the decision to read my Bible every day
4. sick thoughts
5. losing my joy
6. re-dedication of my life and the witnessing to my friends.

When I was little, I was convinced that God had called me to the mission field. I didn't know where He wanted me, but that didn't matter at the time. I just knew that I was going to do anything He wanted of me, no matter how hard that was. I was (and still partly am) a picky eater, so I would pray and ask Jesus to take that away from me. After this mind set faded, something happened that I can't really explain. It's not that I moved completely away from God, but I didn't feed my spirit with the Word that Jesus provides for us. I was starving my spiritual body. That had a great effect on me and my gift of speaking in tongues. I lost that gift because I didn't use it, until it got to the point that I couldn't live the life I was living. Now you may be sitting there thinking, "She has no idea what true suffering really is. She's never done drugs or cut herself or done some of the things that I have done or that my friends have done." To an extent, you are correct. I might live a very good life compared to some of you, but it doesn't matter what home you live in- you can still be starving in a spiritual aspect. What woke me back to Jesus came at summer youth camp. I was worshiping, when I got the gift of speaking in tongues back. That same week I had a vision. I saw a starving young Asian girl with flies buzzing around her head with a longing in her eyes like I have never seen in anyone else. She wanted me to share with her what I had. This brought back the childhood dream of becoming a missionary. I now feel a calling on my life to Asian missions. (There's a whole other story about why I feel I specifically called to Burma, but that doesn't really apply right now. ) I think it was that same night, I felt I was supposed to tell this guy that God had a plan for his life. He started crying and told me that he had been thinking some suicidal thoughts. Wow, was I shocked! I had absolutely no idea. You certainly wouldn't know by looking at him. We prayed for probably an hour or more. This all went to show me the potential relationship I could have with Jesus every day if I just read my Bible and sought Him. I made a commitment to read the Bible every day. Well, that fell through. During the time that I wasn't reading my Bible, I began to have sick, sinful thoughts. They controlled my life. I knew I had to get out of that sin, so I began to pray. "LORD get me out of this. Only you have control over my life. I depend upon you fully and give it all up to you." After a youth convention where the speaker told us to get rid of these thoughts, I gave everything in my brain to God, and he renewed my mind. After that I lost my joy. Sounds ridiculous probably, but it happened. I wasn't depressed, but I was very pessimistic. I always had a bad attitude, and it was rubbing off on others. I began to search the Word and find scriptures like, "The joy of the LORD is my strength,." If the joy of the LORD is our strength, then what can we do without it? We surely would be very weak. Although I sometimes still have trouble with this area of my life, I am healed from that pessimism. In between this and the next part of the testimony, I started to doubt God. I knew in my heart that He was there, but I wasn't experiencing Him, which truly stumped my brain. I am very visual a lot of the time, so it was hard for me to accept something I couldn't see. I got down on my knees at the altar and confessed. I was relieved of that sin. Every time it would come up, I would remember giving it over to God. Lately I went to a youth event where the speaker challenged us to reach out to those around us, but first for us make sure we are right with God. I re-dedicated my life and focus to Jesus and to reaching others for Him. I figure that if I can't even reach out to others around me, how in the world will I be able to be a missionary in Asia? I felt like I should fast what was getting in the way of our relationship for 30 days- thinking about a certain young man. Now I have made a commitment not to date until I feel it is the right time, but this was to get any temptations away from me. (That's another story as well about why I feel as a 14 year-old I don't need to date.) Ever since then I have witnessed to some friends, and have TOTALLY reached a new level in my relationship with God. It's amazing. I wonder sometimes how people live without Jesus Christ. I now read my Bible every day, although I am still struggling with comprehending what I read. I am trying to get to a level where I can read the Bible and get something out of it- not just go through the motions. This comprehension is starting to come, somewhat slowly, and I love that Jesus shows me daily the progress I have made. The last things I need is to do things because I feel like I have to. I am so excited for what God has in store and am so glad to see that He has brought me from sad places into a life of love and repentance. Thank you JESUS! Sorry it was so long, Amy ♥

The Hurting

We don't realize how many hurting people there are out there.... including us. Many times people act happy simply because they don't want people to know the real them. They think that if people only knew what they really are like, then they would not like them and would reject them. Many times, they are right. People are not always what we wish they would be. We all fail others at one time or another, so why do we rely on others for approval? They may end up giving us some kind of approval, but I can guarantee you that it won't be very filling. It will only last for a little while. The only One that can fill our deepest desires and spiritual needs is Jesus. He is the answer. He is the One that constantly has a Peace that surpasses all understanding and knowledge. He's amazing. Why don't we constantly seek Him on a new level? Why do we settle for less? Why do we constantly ignore the fact that billions of people are hurting out there in order to allow ourselves to become lazy? We don't just say, "I'm willing." We say, "Here I am. I will go wherever you send me, even if I don't feel like it." We have to give our lives over to God or he can't do anything with them. You can't expect Him to give you a fruitful life if you sit on the couch all day long. It's like not giving an artist a slab of clay and expecting him to make an amazing pot out of it. It's not going to happen. It's as simple as that. We need to hear what God hears and see what he sees. He doesn't see surface appearance- He sees souls... lost souls that need Jesus more than anything else on the face of this planet. And you know what? Sharing the answer with these people is rewarding. Words can not even begin to describe the rush and excitment God gives you after you have shared with them the key to their gate. It's amazing....

Joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!

People have always told me that who I spend time with affects my attitude, but I never thought that what they were saying would apply to me.  I thought to myself, “Well, I’m a good Christian girl, and I don’t hang out with people that do drugs or anything like that, so that won’t happen to me. It only happens to people who come from a bad background and aren’t saved.” This mindset allowed me to be with people who constantly had a bad attitude. The problem was that I didn’t realize that they changed my attitude.  Because I was spending most of my time with these people, their pessimistic attitude was rubbing off on me.  It ended up like a chain reaction. I had a bad attitude, and the other people I spent time with were becoming pessimistic. After making a really mean remark to a group of people, I woke up to what was happening in my life. I decided from then on that I would change the way I acted and who I spent time with. This led me on a journey to figure out what the Bible says about joy. While searching the Word, I figured out that the Bible says many things on why we need joy, where we can find joy, when we need to be joyful, who can have joy, how we need to seek God while we don’t have joy, and what we do while in this situation. As time progresses, I will be posting "snippets" on each of these categories.