Test of Obedience
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5 I just started a series by Biana Juarez on the book of James. She titled the series The Scandalous Book of James because of the blunt language that James states the ways the church should be acting. Like in the above verses, how many times have we heard these verses
Mexico Mission Trip Video
Here's a look into our Mexico Mission trip through my eyes
Dios Le Bendiga
Mexico gave me a gift that I can never return, nor would I ever want to return. Mexico took a struggling, prideful, and terrified woman and changed her heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Rather, God used Mexico to do so in my life. Each time someone asks how was Mexico, I am not sure how to respond. Sometimes I would just give a simple statement of "It was great!" But within that statement hides many emotions, tears, and a love for los ninos. To help me condense all these random thoughts of the trip down I made a list
Happy Father’s Day
Fathers are just the best right? The ones you can always run to, whose arms are always wide open. My dad is the perfect dad for me. He loves me no matter what. He even laughs at my jokes. He likes to roll his eyes at my mom with me. He plays a bagpipe and has the full kilt attire with Piper shoes and everything. He even has a tartan tie. I want him to get tartan pants, but no such luck there. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. The color green doesn't belong on his plate. He hates the sand but loves the mountains. He redefines the meaning of a road trip, i.e. do not leave the road, no matter how bad you have to go to the bathroom. He has never left my side, no matter how mean I was to him growing up. I have learned a lot about a Father's love in these past few years. I have learned that our Father in heaven will never leave our side, no matter what we have done to screw up. He loves us unconditionally and he never changes. No matter what. He gives and he gives,
Forgiveness
I found this image a few weeks ago and planned on posting it here, but I didn't have anything to write to accompany it. I still don't. However, these past few days I have been thinking about forgiveness. What it means to forgive and to be forgiven. I hold grudges. Extreme grudges. Grudges that have lasted years. I struggle with this on a daily basis. What if God held grudges? Jesus taught us to forgive no matter what, 70 times 7. How can I ask for Christ's forgiveness for my lifetime of sins when I can't turn around and forgive others for individual actions. Then I also think about things I have done in my life that I have been forgiven for by my friends and family. I am so grateful to have earned their forgiveness. God by his grace forgave us for our sins when He sent His very own Son to die for us. For you. For me. By his grace, we are going to one day be able to be fully immersed in all His glory and be with Him in His holiness. I truly can't wrap my head around that, but without His forgiveness that wouldn't be
Mae & Mia
I met Amie Machelle Thompson more than 15 years ago. Where we actually met for the first time is unknown but we spent many years together in elementary school together involved in girl scouts. We shared a hatred of camping and the outdoors. We even 'got' poison oak at camp once and got to spend the rest of the camp in our tent. It wasn't always good times in girl scouts though. She was the spoiled brat and I was the cry baby. Some things never change. Middle school came and went but in our eigth grade year we took a class trip to Washington D.C. A trip I will never forget. That trip was 10 years ago. That's the trip Amie and I claim is when we became best friends. Since April 10, 2000 we have been inseparable. We shared many sleepovers, many tears, many drives, many trips to Disneyland, many tubs of ice cream, many many laughs, many summers, many beach days, many snow days, many boyfriends, many trips to the mall and swap meet, a few trips to D.C., and many movie nights. When Andy asked me to be his wife, Amie was the first person I called after
Jeremiah
This week I just finished up reading the book of Jeremiah. Overall I liked it but it was so depressing! But I kept on knowing that as in each book, God has given this book to us to learn from it and to reveal Himself to us through it. This is the first time I have ever read the prophets so it is very new to me but it deepens the rest of history so much. It adds another layer to the historical books of the bible like first and second Kings. I first started realizing this when I read the book of Ezra and Nehemiah last year. To learn that Cyrus was named years before he was ever to proclaim the rebuilding of the temple and that Jeremiah declares Nebuchadnezzar by name and even dares to count the years of the captivity. The overwhelming proof that Jeremiah was a true prophet of the Lord is astonishing yet because of the bad news he brought to the Israelites, because of their own iniquities, they sought to kill him! Mostly I have loved to place the verses that I have always treasured into context. Many people love Jeremiah 29, but to learn why
Starting On My Path
After graduating high school in 2004 I had no idea where my life was headed. After a few short months a life altering weekend changed my life's perspective forever. I discovered the never-ceasing love of Christ. Growing up, I had attended church and was heavily involved but I never truly asked Jesus into my heart nor was I leading a life centered upon God's will for my life. Almost immediately, God began to open doors for me to keep accountable to my new found faith. Through a mutual friend and a little help from Myspace, I met my husband-to-be. Andy is the man of God that I always wanted but never knew I needed and with him I began my journey discovering the promises held for my life found in God's Word. I even started to attend church with Andy, and while the church meets humbly in a local middle school, there is nothing less presented than the everlasting Word of God. More recently I have been blessed beyond belief with the job that I always wanted. In college, a professor asked me what I wanted to do with my career, and I casually threw out that I wanted to work for