No Eye Has Seen

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” This one challenges me more than I'd like to admit. I'm fairly young, I have a lot of life left to live and yet I often find myself worried. I worry about what to wear, or eat, who to hang out with, where to work, should I go to college? Questions like these and many others often fill my mind. I find myself unnecessarily dwelling in a state of anxiety. Why unnecessarily you may ask. Shouldn't you be concerned with your future? Especially at such a young age? My answer is no, no I shouldn't be. The word says that the lilies of the field are more richly decorated than even Solomon himself, if God cares so much about the flowers which are here today and gone tomorrow certainly He cares about me. Not only does He care, He has a plan too and for me to worry or try to make things work out one way or another is only pointless stress. For who by worrying can add even an inch to His statur...

John 1:16 “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” We have been given a gift so large we can't hold it. His fullness encompasses every good thing! All of it! The bible says He withholds no good thing from us. Along with these John also says we have received grace! Why you ask? Why in the world would I, a poor wretched sinner, be given grace? Simply for grace. Simply because our Lord's love for us is so immense we have been offered grace, and mercy. What I like best about this verse is that it uses the word "received". This word clarifies that we already have grace. There is no striving for it, there is no good works log that Jesus keeps up in heaven, no, we already have the grace of God. Now we just need to act like it. I sadly find myself falling into this mind set of having to be good enough for God. But praise the Lord that’s not the truth! He has given me all I ever needed in the form of His son who died to set me free. Free from...

Psalms 119:37 “Turn away my eyes from looking at evil things, and revive me in Your way.” It is easy to get distracted by this world. Especially now with modern technology and unlimited access to movies, shows, friends, and so on. As I’ve been here I have realized more than ever before how much these things take my mind off of God. What’s worse, I find myself using them to nullify, pain, and discomfort. Which sounds harmless until I am reminded that it’s the hard things in life that grow us the most. If the valley wasn’t hard the mountain top wouldn’t be exciting or worth while. It would not be rewarding to look back and see where I’ve been since I wouldn’t have been anywhere, I would have overcome nothing. Instead I would see years wasted by my efforts to ease the discomfort of life, and in doing so turn my ears off the to voice of the Lord. This is why, though communication with friends and family is not a bad thing by any means, we must be on guard, and seekin...

Jonah 2:8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.” It is so easy to get caught up in ways of living. Do this, Don’t do that, be a good little christian, and so on. In and of themselves the do’s and the don’ts the “guidelines” of life should be just that guidelines. But so often I find myself trying to uphold a broken law. I get so absorbed when I fail that I truly forget about the mercy of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness He offers. These rules quickly become idols in my life and they do take me away from the mercy I’ve been given. I feel like my failings take me farther and farther away from God until I can’t even see Him anymore. I get lost in a sea of doubts, lies, and all together confusion. I tell myself I’ve gone too far this time, but every time when I finally cry out to God wondering if He can even hear me through the noise I’ve created, He answers me. He leads me back to His grace and mercy and shows me that I don’t have to try to f...

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” In training we learned a song that used this psalm as it’s lyrics. I thought when I was singing that song way back in August that I was singing it with all my might and really truly asking God to change me. I think some part of me was, but I realize now that there are so many things I was still holding onto. Things I hoped God would just leave or not even notice. Boy was I wrong! Since being here in Cambodia I feel like God has shined a spotlight on the darkest shadows in my life. I have been embarrassed, frustrated and just plain mad at Him and at everyone on my team. I wanted to blame anything or anyone besides myself for the way I was feeling and the disconnect I felt I had with God. Through these past couple months God has slowly and gently opened my eyes to some big problems in my walk with Him. I saw how I was relying solely on my pastor to feed my spirit each w...