Where you are.

You start where you are. Stop looking for the future, stop looking for the great things you will accomplish twenty years from now. Stop looking at what it is in your life you have done and haven't done and what you should have done by now if your life is going to turn out exactly the way you planned it.
I sat in a sermon on this same topic over a month ago and it never really hit me until right now.
God has been revealing things to me in my life that I dream of doing in the future and the enemy has started to take hold of those things and turn my focus on them instead on living in the present. I am fairly certain I won't be at this school for longer than the fall semester but until tonight I couldn't stop focusing on not getting too attached because I would be leaving. Not getting too plugged in because I would not be able to see anything grow. And I actually started to believe that my being here was useless. I started to believe the lie.
A part of me began to wish I had never come here. How could I form caring relationships knowing I was just going to leave? How could I be a tool for God when I made the wrong decision and didn't follow His will in coming here?
But the amazingness of God is that He still uses me. He doesn't make me feel like a useless tool in the back of the shed because I messed up. He shows me that I messed up and uses me anyway. And it is such a blessing. I am close to tears typing this out because up until about 20 minutes ago, I believed the lies whispered to me that I was useless. But this morning I shared scripture with a friend on campus and just tried to lift him out of the funk he seemed to be in. He thanked me and we both went on with our days. It was earlier than 10am and I had just cut coffee out of my diet when this happened so by nightfall, I actually forgot our entire conversation. I was feeling a disconnect from the Lord and the lies I had been whispered were the cause of it. Then, a few minutes ago, I was reading outside of my dorm when my friend's girlfriend walked by. She told me how he had been so happy that I encouraged him this morning. It changed his mood. I laughed and told her I couldn't even remember what I had said. (All I really remember about our conversation was that I told him that if he needed my help to give me a bird call).
God used me to encourage him. And that is so encouraging. We start where we are. If you're willing, God is going to use you where ever you are. I may have made a mistake in coming here, but God is using it for His glory.   He used me today and that shows me I am loved more than anything else. That shows me that I can be used through my inadequacies. Praise God and thank you Lord Jesus.

Everything Happens for a Reason

     I can think of a ton of horrible things that happen in life that we as people decide to blame God for. How is it that we tend to see the tragedy in the situation, rather than the trial? Oftentimes, we find ourselves victims to the curveballs in life we're thrown and we continue to remain victims through that viewpoint. As I was reading my Bible last night (2 Corinthians 1) I started thinking about that circumstantial mentality. Meaning, your mentality changes upon the circumstance you fall victim to. In this second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul brings up his own sufferings that he and his companions fell victim to.

"8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

     Paul mentions that they "[D]espaired of life itself." Paul's current curveball was a threat on his own life and as he mentions, he "[F]elt we had received the sentence of death." But this was not something he and his companions were going to see as a complete tragedy, but a trial. Looking at the second half of verse 9, we see Paul realizes "This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." Everything happens for a reason. That trial you're going through, give it to God. Rely on him to fix it in His way and in His timing; it won't always be in the expected way. God has the ability to raise the dead so, why is it you're keeping your problems from Him? Why is it you're relying on yourself and your intellect when you can't see the full picture as God can? Stop holding on to that circumstantial mentality towards Jesus and no matter what the circumstance, give it to God. Keep joy in God by always finding stability  and a constant in Him as the world is always throwing new changes at you. 

Sharing is Caring!!

I haven't written in a few months due to a lack of time and really a lack of discipline on my part, because I really should have. I feel compelled to write today because of what I and a few others in my church have been studying; theology. Now, we were surveying 5 Point Calvinism and my pastor brought up the Global Status of Evangelical Christianity map. It was gratifying to see how salvation is clumped around different parts of the world because of the lack of missionaries in different countries and regions preaching the gospel. As said in Romans 10:14 (NIV), "¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” "

This statement calls us to mission! How is it people can be saved unless missionaries are sent?? Through the love of Jesus Christ we can do everything. 

I've once heard the quote, "How much do you have to hate someone to know the secret to getting to heaven, and NOT share it with them?"
Share your love, share your faith before it's too late!

Howdy

Hey, so just starting off, I want to introduce myself. My name is Haile and as my username insinuates, I used to hold strongly to Atheist beliefs. Back in this past October, I finally saw what I should have seen my entire life and came to Christ. A long arduous mental journey, as well as a story for another day is my testimony. I started this blog because I felt called to share my experiences, my thoughts, my emotions with others; sometimes it helps to know someone else is going through problems similar to the ones you're facing in your own life.