Journal of Faith: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2:12

Today someone asked me about my favorite childhood memory.  I am in my mid twenties now and so I have a little distance from the kiddy life, but as I thought back I had a hard time picking out a favorite memory. I am very blessed to have had the childhood experience that I had.  My parents made a great life for me and I thank God.  I got to travel, I got to make different friends, I got to camp, I got to play sports, I got to go to amusement parks, and I got to spend lots of time with lots of family. Bless the Lord.  When I thought back to some of the greatest moments of my life I almost started to cry.  I have been so bogged down by bad things that I almost forgot all of the good things that have happened to me by the grace of God.  Right this minute I vow to do everything I can to remember the good that God has done for me and the great life experiences that I have had.  It gets hard for me to remember the good when I have struggles, ...

Sometimes I get so caught up in my mistakes.  How could God love someone so flawed?  How could God keep putting up with me when I keep making some of the same mistakes? I can be really hard on myself, and I am constantly searching myself to figure out how in the world I let things get so bad sometimes.  I guess I believe that if I beat everyone else to the punch at chastising myself it won't feel so bad when others do it.  Unfortunately for me I am worse to myself than most other people in my life including God.  I know that it is sad to God when I fail a test or get too into my agenda and end up misrepresenting him, but God sees it all coming.  Because God knows the end from the beginning, he is already prepared for every failure that I will make.   This helps me to stop getting too down on myself because I can look to God and say "Lord I am sorry, and I know that you have already grieved this moment in the beginning. He...

I just finished reading the book of Exodus in the Bible this morning.  God took such care in discribing how he wanted his tabernacle built.  He explained what materials to use, what colors to use,  what designes to create, where to put what, and he gave demensions for everthing!!!!  Then God told Moses which man to tell to make everthing.  Yeah, God was serious about the place where he would meet with the priests.  He even told Moses exactly the clothes that the priest should wear.  He placed the ten commandments into the arch of the testimony and told Moses to place the arch in a special place where only the priests could go.  This was before Jesus's sacrifice that ripped the veil of the temple symbolizing that anyone could come to God for themselves. Here is the crazy thing.  Every person who believes that Jesus is the son of God and accepts salvation through him is now God's new covenant temple.  If God took such care for the old test...

The Lord has been barraging me lately with the reality that everything, absolutely everything that I accomplish in this life is because he allows it to happen.  I consider myself to be an intelligent person, and I love to figure out problems and puzzles.  Here is what God told me today as I was getting a hug from my dad for helping him with something.  God told me when you succeed it's because I make sure that you can.  When you are able to figure anything out in this life it's because I whispered it in your ear and placed the tools in your hands.  No matter how hard I try to figure something out I won't unless God tells me, and sometimes no matter how I try to block out his voice and ignore his plane spoken wisdom to me I will understand certain things because he wants me to.  This is not to say that my efforts are worthless, but if I am straining to do anything it shouldn't overtake my efforts to hear from the Lord what he has for me.  I wouldn'...

So I find that there are certain things that when done make for a much better day than when I don't do them.  As a single mom sometimes it gets hard to do these and then everything seems to be a bigger ordeal for me. Lord help me to do better with that.  I would tell you don't judge me, but I know you are going to do it anyway so I will say please be gracious toward me.  1.  Start the snowball of positive thinking : For me this means prayers of thanks, reading my Bible, listening to positive music, writing a letter to God or to myself, even watching some Veggie Tales (what do you know about those Veggies?)  with my son sometimes.   The reality is there is enough negative that comes at me; why would I invite anything other than a flood of positive truth into my mind and my life? This is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it...or else!!!  haha just kidding (sort of) 2.  Wash up!: Remember when I said be gracious?...

So here is the thought for the day that is helping me to turn the corner on my sadness about my life.  Just as the arch of the covenant in the old testiment God spared no expense in his creation of each of us. He specifically gave me every skill and gift that I posess, and he made me with affinities toward certain things.  He did not make a mistake when he made me love all types of music; he did not make a mistake when he made me with thick hair and wide open eyes; he did not make a mistake when he made me athletic and curious; he did not make a mistake when he made me outspoken and academically intrigued.  All of who I am God meant for me to be, and every issue that I have with myself is something that can be resolved by drawing in closer to the Lord and loving myself better.  The better I see God in my life and the more I realize that God wants me to be ME, the better I will be able to discern my purpose and live victoriously in that.  God doesn't ...

I am asking God to do some amazing things for me and the world right now.  Some days I can get really robotic and it is as if days goes by without my presence at all.  When I wake up it's hard to remember where I am what I was doing or even who I am.  It's as if I spiritually stopped breathing.  What is even more odd is for me to look around once I have come back to life and see so many others who are still asleep.  When I step out of my house I quickly find that most of the people around me are the walking dead spiritually speaking.  I am asking God this next week to shock me and the world around me with a life giving energy.  I am asking the Lord to fervently revive my passion to a point of shock and awe at who he is.  I ask the Lord to shoot me right in the heart with purpose and passion for the work that he has for me. I am passionate about my relationship with him.  He is my guide, comfort, security, and benefactor.  He is the ...