God-Lovers! it's a faith fight

Hey God Lovers! Sorry I didn't post yesterday. With school and all the busy-ness everywhere I wasn't able to get around and sit down for awhile to write this out. But, hey, better late then never! This is the finale of God-Lovers. Sad. :(

I learned a lot from reading Proverbs. A lot. Between a smarty-pants to a loser, I learned what they are and what they mean. But reading Proverbs just added to this

MY FAITH FIGHT.

I was a Bible for Halloween this year. Yes, it's true. I was. :) I was kind of "ehhhhh" about being a Bible because I knew that I would be made fun of. I knew some people would like my costume...

and some would not.

I don't think I've ever felt so loved yet so rejected at the same time in my entire life.

I was trick-or-treating (of course!) with my friends from youth group. I would go up to a door and get laughed at in my face. I would walk with my friends to the next house and hear someone saying, "Ooooh, I get it. She's a Bible! HA-HA-HA." Yet, I would go up to a door and a lady said, "Hey! I read the Bible! Can I take a picture with you?" Me, "SURE!!!" Or in front of another house that had crazy Halloween decorations another lady said, "That's such an awesome costume! Can I take a picture of you?" Me, "YES!"

Though still there were people who mocked me. Laughed at me. Made fun of me. But, honestly, I didn't care.

I liked my costume. :)

(source)

God has us do HARD THINGS.

Life is a hard path.

Sometimes we go off road.

Get lost.

And have to find a map

to get back home.

But sometimes we have to get off the road that the world walks in.

Sometimes we have to take a different way.

Sometimes we have to go off the path

and leave a trail.

It's a Faith Fight.

(source)

Do you ever have those days where you think to yourself,

"Er...why did I not do that??"

All the time.

I feel you.

So it's like this,

If God said,

"I want you to go pray for that person."

What would you do?

It's a Faith Fight.

(source)

I'm a scaredy-pants.

Seriously.

Take me to Six Flags and I'll stay in the kiddie-ride section, thank you very much.

But let God be BIGGER than that fear.

Even though that fear is HUGE.

God is HUMONGOUS.

I named us God-Lovers, God-Lovers, because we love God. Does that make any more sense that what it already does? If you love God, we can love people. Even though people might not love us, I love them. I do. I truly do love people. They are amazing. They are worth more than anyone could imagine. And God loves them.

People reject,

but God accepts.

Believe it.

Life's a war,

but we got God.

It's a Faith Fight.

Love ya guys,

emma

God Lovers! week four

Hey guys!! I can't believe it's already the LAST WEEK of October! Can you? *sniff, sniff* That means it's the last week of God-Lovers. No!!!! But, don't worry, I'll have the final God-Lover post on October 31st. :) Hope you read your chapters, if not, don't worry about that either. These posts do not require them. So, let's get started!

Alright, so today I wanted to tell you want Jesus did not do. I think this is something we need to clarify because if I were Jesus, I would have done a lot things differently. So, to get things straight, I think I'll write out what Jesus did not do.

I went to a conference earlier this year (Equip Youth Conference 2011 in Anaheim) and the speaker, Robby Dawkins, said what he would have done if he were Jesus. He said this, "If I were Jesus I would have been born at the Super Bowl on the 20 yard line. I would have risen up and shot people with lazier beams from my hands at people..." he went on. That's basically what I remember and it still makes my laugh like crazy. If you saw this guy, he used a lot of sound effects while saying those lines and hand motions. It was hilarious.

Jesus was not born at the Super Bowl on the 20 yard line. Okay?

If I were Jesus, I would have "casually" strolled around town pointing and winking at people and then whatever injury they had would disappear. I would be like this guy below...

(source)

"Need a new arm? I know a Guy who could fix that for ya. No tips, thank you very much. I got this all under control." Or I would go get my beach towel and go to the beach with Peter and watch him fish while I would say, "This is the life! [cough, cough] Oh and by the way, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life!"

Jesus did not take the easy road.

What Jesus did was totally OPPOSITE of what Robby or I would have done. Jesus didn't come down to shoot lazier beams or wink at people. He came down to teach us how to be the children of God. He came down to teach us how to live a life to reflect Him.

As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

Proverbs 27:19

First of all, I got to figure out what I hold as #1 in my heart. Most likely, when you love something so much, you want to pursue it. You want to know more. And from pushing this on it becomes a habit. Something you love so much that anyone who sees you has what you love included in your reputation. That thing that you love so much is what's in your heart. It's what makes you who you are. It reflects who you are.

What if we replaced that "thing" with "Jesus."

What if Jesus is what you want to pursue. What if Jesus is what you want to know more of. What if Jesus is the One you push forward to learn about. What if He becomes your habit. What if you could reflect Jesus.

Well, YOU CAN.

But it takes a lot of trust. It requires the full package. Everything. Not some. ALL.

(source)

"Just trust me." I think that's all God wants from us. Trust. Trust, trust, and more trust. Have you ever seen those movies where there's the guy and then there's the girl and there probably about to jump out of an airplane and she's panicking, "I don't think I can do this!! Really! Seriously!! I CAN'T DO THIS!" And then he says, "Just trust me." and they jump out of the plane. (All the while, she's screaming her head off.)

Kind of like with God.

Someone once asked me if I would jump off a diving board into an empty pool and trust that God would fill that pool with water before I landed.

My answer was, "Uhhhhh"

I think that's what all of us would say. I mean, you want me to JUMP into a pool with NO WATER!? Are you crazy!?

But I think sometimes God just wants us to jump. You can't stay on the diving board forever. You can't stay in your comfort zone for the rest of your life. You have to move. You've got to jump.

I can't sit around waiting for Jesus to come by, wink at me, and then all of my life to go into order. I can't let something else be #1 in my heart. I'll have to jump off that diving board to give Jesus my trust.

"Just trust me."

-God

Questions:

Pretend Jesus was asking you this,

"Do you trust me?"

Here's this week's very short schedule :(

Saturday: October 29th, Read Proverbs 29th

Sunday: October 30th, Read Proverbs 30th

Monday: October 31st, Read Proverbs 31st

Missed the past God-Lover posts? Check them out here. Come back on Monday!

emma :)

God Lovers! week three

What's up God-Lovers? Ready for week 3? Hope so. Well, let's get started! Hopefully you read your chapters, if not, it's a-okay. You do not need to have read your chapters for these posts. But if you did read them, I send you an invisible pat on the back. :) Alright, let's get started for real now! :)

I don't know about you, but have you noticed that Proverbs is all about

wisdom?

Just about every verse in Proverbs continues to tell you the difference between a smart guy (the guy with all that wisdom) and the fool. I've always thought of a fool as the guy who doesn't know anything. Nothing. Nada. And as for the guy with all that wisdom, he's the one that makes you feel dumb. The smart guy, in my perspective, has got the "brains."

I was at my Bible Study last night and my awesome leader gave me a new definition for wisdom.

Wisdom = a listening heart

Wow. I mean, I thought the guy with wisdom is the guy who aces every test. But, no. It's the guy who's smart enough to take good correction when given. And the fool, that's the guy who's thinks he doesn't need to change. And sometimes, I think I may be that fool.

I've stepped back from God. I thought God could easily just boom out in a loud voice to me on what I should do next in my life. I mean, He's got the power! He could easily be like Iron Man and shoot lazier beams out of his bare hands. Why wouldn't He want to do that!?

And so I sat back in my chair and my heart was no longer listening, but off somewhere else. I mean, like I said, God's got the power doesn't He? I decided, let Him take the first move.

And that's where I became a fool.

From there, I've kept falling. Deeper and deeper. God has seemed so far away. I've been walking through fire constantly. Hurt has just been cut deeper and deeper in me. More bad things were happening. And all I could think was, Why? Why does God just sit back in His big, classy chair up there and watch me burn up inside?

Then there was always this soft whisper in the back of my head saying,

Sometimes you have to go through the fire before you can stand in the rain.

(source)

I've realized that God wasn't sitting back in His chair watching me slowly close up inside, but that was ME doing that to Him. I've closed off every door, every opening, and locked up my heart. It was as if I had a big sign taped up saying, "NO TRESPASSING." And so God just stood outside of my heart - waiting for me to unlock the gate.

"The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of man; it searches his inmost being." -Proverbs 20: 27

So God just stood there. Waiting for an opening. It's not like McDonald's where there is a 24 hour drive-thru so you can easily stop by any time. My heart was closed. And He was waiting to come inside and buy a burger. In this case, waiting for me to open up and let Him buy me back.

Slowly, I've been opening up my heart again. Slowly, I've been letting God take down my walls, my barriers. Even if He has to do it one brick at a time. Maybe I have to be a fool before I can have a true listening heart.

To wrap this up, I would like you to listen to the beginning of this song. You can listen to it, here. It's starts like this,

"Let the pain in my life, find it's healing in Your Eyes, every hurt, every loss, pull me closer to Your Heart. Let the wind and the waves bring a new courage and faith. I'm singing out, singing out..."

-The Lord is my Shepperd by Jeremy Riddle

I won't have many questions this week but I think this is something you need to ask yourself by yourself. Where do you stand with God?

Here's this week's schedule:

Saturday: October 22nd, Read Proverbs 22

Sunday: October 23rd, Read Proverbs 23

Monday: October 24th, Read Proverbs 24

Tuesday: October 25th, Read Proverbs 25

Wednesday: October 26th, Read Proverbs 26

Thursday: October 27th, Read Proverbs 27

Friday: October 28th, Read Proverbs 28

Missed the past God-Lover posts? Check them out here. See ya next Thursday!

emma

God Lovers! week two

Hey fellas! I can't believe it's already our SECOND week of God-Lovers! It's crazy how time goes by so fast sometimes. If you weren't here last week or the week before, welcome! I'm so glad to have you here. You can find these two past God Lover posts here. In the meantime, hopefully you guys read your chapters, if not, it's totally fine because you don't need to know anything from your chapters for these posts. :)

Today, I honestly don't know what to write. It's been a pretty tough day\week, so we'll see how this goes...

I'm a battle. I know, that sounds weird. But I've finally realized that my heart is in one place and my mind is in another. I'll be honest, I've never trusted anyone before. I'm the person who has to see it before she believes it. I've got to stick my toe in the water to see if it's cold or not. I'm not good with trust because I'm so scared from the things that have happened in my life, that I'll get hurt again.

My mind is always scared and preparing itself a way out,

while my heart...

it's been given all to God.

But my mind hasn't changed it's way on seeing things.

But my heart has changed it's ways on feeling things.

So they're in a conflict.

In between the battle though, I've got a friendship. A friendship I haven't been doing very well on because of my holding back.

It's my relationship with God.

You may think this is weird, but I don't see my religion as a religion, but a relationship. I believe that I can have a relationship with God. That I can talk to Him and just spend time with Him. I read about Him, I learn about Him.

That's what you do in a friendship\relationship.

With your friend, you talk, you write emails, you spend time with each other, and you learn about each other. But when you hold something back from that person, you're not showing them who you really are. Sure you might tell them about the greatest victories in your life but I think most of us try to avoid the topic telling them about lowest of the low points in our lives.

I know that I try to hide what has happened and what is happening in my life...

Even from God.

Because I'm afraid

that I'll get hurt again.

(source)
This is a song that has really stuck out to me. It starts like this,

"I stand before You, awed by Your Majesty,
Covered by Your mercy, Your blood has made me FREE.
DRAW ME TO YOU,
You set my heart on fire,

I WANT TO KNOW YOU,

You're my one desire..."

{I Want To Know You, by Jesus Culture}

listen to this song, here.

I can't have a relationship with Jesus when I don't let Him come in when I'm in darkest times in my life. I can't hide the hurts when Jesus died on the cross for my shame. I have to be me. I have to open up my heart even when I feel like I'm showing too much. Things have to be healed either now or never. They can't boil up anymore and have me constantly turning down the temperature.

I feel like God keeps on telling me,

"Emma, a band-aid isn't going to work this time."

So the verse that stuck out to me this week was,

Leave your simple ways and you will live;

walk in the way of understanding.

[Proverbs 9:6]

In other words,

Give UP the things you hold onto,

and grasp onto what God has for YOU.

I don't deserve to be loved. I don't deserve happiness. I don't deserve to have peace. I don't deserve to have this brokenness. I don't deserve to feel so lost anymore.

I AM WORTHY TO BE CALLED

A DAUGHTER OF GOD.

We were made for more. We were made to be loved. We were made for happiness. We were made to have peace. We were made to be perfect. We were made to be found.

We were made to be the children of God.

So this is who I am. And now I need to live like it.

Questions:

Do you hide what hurts?

Who's holding you heart?

Who's controlling your mind?

Continue reading Proverbs 13 today and Proverbs 14 tomorrow. Here's next week's schedule:

Saturday: October 15th, Read Proverbs 15

Sunday: October 16th, Read Proverbs 16

Monday: October 17th, Read Proverbs 17

Tuesday: October 18th, Read Proverbs 18

Wednesday: October 19th, Read Proverbs 19

Thursday: October 20th, Read Proverbs 20

Friday: October 21st, Read Proverbs 21

I won't be here next Thursday, so check back on Saturday for the next God-Lovers post next week. :)

Emma

God Lovers! week one

Welcome to the first week of God-Lovers! Maybe you were here last week for the first post or maybe you weren't, but sit back, maybe scroll down to the bottom to turn on some of the music I've got, and get ready to read. :) If you were able to fit in your chapters for this week, good for you, if you didn't, it's totally fine. You don't have to know everything that you learned from these chapters for these posts.

I told you last week that I would tell you which chapter I liked the most from that week and have some questions for you to answer. You can comment below with your answers to the questions or you can keep them private and scribble them out in a journal if you like. Do what's most comfortable for you. :) So, the chapter that stuck out most to me was Proverbs 4.

Above all else, guard you heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

[Proverbs 4:23]

This week has been a week of emotion in my mind and heart. I struggle a lot with trust - which means I struggle a lot with guarding my heart.

Who\what to let in,

who\what to take out,

and who\what to stay away from.

And when I can't guard my heart it doesn't do any good for my "wellspring of life." Instead of making "my frown turn upside down", it stays where it is. Everything goes down hill instead back up. My emotions is an ongoing elevator. Up, down, up, down. Most of the time, I'm in between.

I've let a lot of people, things, and thoughts into my heart. I've let them tell me who I am and what I'm going to become. And in the end, I end up back at Level One - the bottom of the elevator. That's when my thoughts start to clog and I get depressed. That's where the feelings in my heart start to come out and start to really ache.

It's when I feel really empty, alone, hollow. Like no one is there. Almost as if I yell into myself and no one calls back, just my echo.

(source)

The picture above is me.

That's been my heart.

That's been my thoughts.

That's been me.

Not a very happy picture, is it?

Let your eyes look straight ahead,

fix your gaze directly before you.

Make level paths for your feet

and take only the ways that are firm.

Do not swerve to the right or the left;

keep your foot from evil.

[Proverbs 4: 25-27]

I don't know what's going to happen to me two weeks or two years from now. I don't know what will happen tomorrow or in a month.

I only know what has happened.

And it's my choice if I want it to keep dragging me down.

Or if I want it to help pick me up.

Because who I was yesterday was what made me who I am today.

And what I am today will make who I am tomorrow.

So I'm keeping my gaze fixed on Jesus. I've tried it my way by letting things into my heart that I thought would convince me I'm pretty, good enough, or better than somebody else. I've had my way and it didn't work. I'm letting what I've held onto, go, and grabbing onto what will always hold me.

Jesus.

Even though guarding my heart and cleaning out my mind is a daily battle, I can make me into a better person as long as what I'm keeping in me is what

Jesus says is good.

I can renew my "wellspring of life" with Jesus. I can guard my heart when Jesus holds the key to it. I can keep on going in life, down that road, even when the path doesn't seem to have an end. I'll hold onto the trust in my heart.

Questions:

What verses\chapters stuck out to you in these past few chapters?

Do you have a hard time with trust? Why?

What have you let be #1 in you heart? Was it good to let in? Why?

Continue reading Proverbs 6 today and Proverbs 7 tomorrow. Here is next weeks schedule:

Saturday: October 8th, Read Proverbs 8

Sunday: October 9th, Read Proverbs 9

Monday: October 10th, Read Proverbs 10

Tuesday: October 11th, Read Proverbs 11

Wednesday:October 12th, Read Proverbs 12

Thursday: October 13th, Read Proverbs 13

Friday: October 14th, Read Proverbs 14

See you next Thursday, God-Lovers! :)

lots of hugs, emma

God Lovers!

So you've probably been wondering what that button that says 'God-Lovers' is all about over there. -----> Well, today, I'm gonna tell you. Ready? :)



For probably about two months now, I've been thinking about having a month Proverbs. Where everyday you read one chapter from Proverbs.

One chapter.

Per day.

Easy, right?

There are 31 chapters in Proverbs and there are 31 days in October. See where I'm heading? I'll be reading one chapter per day in October and so I will have read the entire book of Proverbs in one month.

I think I can do it.

I think you can do it too.

At first, this was just going to be a thing I was going to do by myself. But then I thought, "Why don't I tell some of my friends to join me?" So I did. And then I got a better thought.

Why don't you guys join me?

(source)

So take out your Bible and flip open to Proverbs. One day - one chapter- one month. I think we can do it. The chapters in Proverbs are pretty short, so take out maybe five to ten minutes out of your busy day and read a chapter. Don't worry, I might just have to lock myself in the bathroom just to get my chapter in - you're not alone! So...

Here's the official start of my online Bible Study

open for anybody to join

called, God-Lovers.

:)

Every Thursday, I'll post my favorite chapter from that week and tell you what I thought about it. I'll have a few questions and, if you want, you can comment with your answer. Also, in those posts, I'll include what you will read. So here's the schedule for this week:

Saturday: October 1st, Read Proverbs 1

Sunday: October 2nd, Read Proverbs 2

Monday: October 3rd, Read Proverbs 3

Tuesday: October 4th, Read Proverbs 4

Wednesday: October 5th, Read Proverbs 5

Thursday: October 6th, Read Proverbs 6

Friday: October 7th, Read Proverbs 7

I may have a few project ideas in my mind for this... I'm still not sure. We'll see what happens. :) Let me know in the comment section below if you have any questions... :)

Welcome to God-Lovers!

:), emma