Keep God Center

Some nights, I lay awake and I
Can't push these thoughts away
I'm worried where I'm gonna go,
Where I'm gonna be, are you gonna
Be there for me?
When it feels like the doors are closin',
Gotta trust that you're doin' somethin'
Come sun, come rainy day,
You are all I need

In the dark, in the light,
In the morning and night
In the good, in the hurt,
In the places I hide

When I rise, when I fall,
You'll be there through it all
At the start, at the end
In the center of, the center of it
~ Center of It - Chris August

Lately I have not been getting very much sleep because I lay awake for a lot of the night. There are so many thoughts that I have had ever since camp finished (well even before then). I am headed into my senior year of college and that is a pretty scary thought. In the Spring I will be student teaching, but I have no idea where yet. That is just one of the many things that I think about because I would like to know and I know that there is so much that goes along with that whole experience. I am so worried about so many things that I shouldn't be worried about, but the sinful human nature in me causes me to worry about them and have millions of questions running through my mind about the next year of this chapter in my life. Sometimes I feel like I am stuck and I don't want to go back to school because I am afraid of what is to come, but other times I can't wait to get back and get it over with and on to the next chapter of my life.

A couple days ago I was reading a book and the following Bible verse was in the section that I read: "Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks." Philippians 4:6 Since then I have been thinking about this and trying not to worry about all the things that I have to get done before the next school year starts. I created a list and today I finally started getting a few things crossed off and it felt good and some of that worry started going away. My hope is that I remember to trust in God instead of worrying because He has the perfect plan for me and it has been planned that way for a very long time and that gives me hope. He is with us all the time and will get us through everything because He knows the storms that we can weather, but He is going to be there with us helping through those times. Since the beginning He has been there for us and He will be there until the end. I started this chapter of my life 3 years ago and in May I will end it and begin a new one. What we need to remember is that we need to keep God in the center of our lives. Not just our church lives, but EVERY single part of it. Not just a thought here and there where He is kind of behind the curtain waiting for the right time, but He needs to be at the very center so that we are constantly reminded of every great blessing He gives us.

Remember that in everything you do you need to keep God in the center of your life.
Justina Marie

NYG - Live Love[d]

This is going to be a different post than my usual posts on this blog. From June 28th - July 5th I spent in Texas. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod had a National Youth Gathering where around 25,000 people gathered for a week of time with God and learning more about Him. Talk about seeing the Spirit work in many wonderful ways in each person and through the entire time of the gathering. I was there as a volunteer this year (the past 2 gatherings I was a participant). Going in I was really excited to see how the other side looked and to help those participating have fun. I was also worried because there seemed to be many unknowns of what I would actually be doing and I am one that likes to know what it is that I will be doing as soon as possible and not right before I am doing it. But this got better when we got to Texas because we had training and I learned a lot of things during that that helped calm me and prepared me for what was to come for the week.

Live Love[d]
This was the theme of the gathering this year. There were so many powerful speakers at the mass events. As you may have guessed from the theme the whole gathering was based about love and how we are to live love and how we are to live loved. It was so awesome to see that many youth wandering around and learning more about Jesus. From being the participant to being a volunteer the difference was, at least from my perspective, that you don't get to go to everything and I also seemed to see God working more during this than when I was a participant. I was able to see God in so many of the volunteers seeing the things that they went out to do to serve the participants and the other volunteers. It was also neat to see Him working through the various youth that I was able to see at times.

The volunteers are put into teams and I just so happened to get the opportunity to be in charge of a team and make sure they knew when they had to be places and to get them there and lead Bible studies with them. At first I was so nervous and didn't know if I should take this opportunity, but then as I thought about it I decided it would be a good idea to do it because since I want to be a teacher I could use the leading experience. So I had a team of 16 and we got to know each other just a little over social media before the gathering. We were all strangers when we met, but as the week went on we got to know each other in great ways and I couldn't have been more blessed than to meet these wonderful people and get to work with them. They are truly amazing and they made me feel so comfortable to be in the leadership position of leading the Bible studies and making sure they were up and to the place they had to be when they needed to be there. I grew to love each one so quickly and it was hard to leave them and all go our separate ways, but I am looking forward to the chance of seeing them again to reunite and hang out, not only that but also in heaven with our Lord whenever that time comes for all of us.

I am so glad that I got the opportunity to meet all of the people I did and serve the youth like I had once been served as a youth myself. The memories will stay with me forever and I will continue to thank God for everything that He had planned for me during this time. To all f my Team XIT members if you read this: I love you all dearly and if you ever need anything just let me know. I will be here for you always and glad to help out with anything that I am able to. More importantly remember that God loves you and He is always there to listen to you through prayer and He is always with you. We will meet up again sometime and have a good time reconnecting!

~ "This is how God showed His love among us: He send His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him." - 1 John 4:9

The Other Side

When everything is broken
When it's hard to understand
When you've lost a place to put your hope
And you can barely stand

When your tears are falling faster
And your strength is almost gone
Well it's hard to imagine that you can carry on, carry on

There is a reason and all of life has meaning
There is an answer for these broken times
So keep on searching, seek and you will find them
There is an answer on the other side
~ The Other Side by Rhett Walker Band

There are so many things going on in the world and it seems as if a lot is broken. We are humans and the only thing we can understand about what it happening is that there is sin in the world and so things are going to happen. God has a plan for everything and we may ask why God is allowing these bad things to happen. Well the truth is that humans were the ones that caused sin to enter the world and God doesn't want the bad to happen, but the devil is able to tempt us and cause bad things to happen. We are sinners and we aren't perfect so there are going to be bad things happening. Sometimes we lose our hope and don't think that things are ever going to get better, but that is far from the truth. On this earth we will suffer and we will cry and sometimes lose our strength, but it doesn't mean that things can't get better.

God has His plan for each and every single one of us and there is a reason for everything that happens in all of our lives. For each of the times that we feel broken and things just seem to not be going right, there is an answer for all of them. We may not be able to figure that out at the moment or even close to the time of the hard battles we go through, but at some point we will understand why. We need to keep on seeking the Lord because He never gives us something that we cannot handle. He is also by our side and going to help us through the hard times in life. The answer to all these hard battles are on the other side. This means that heaven has the answers and we may never figure them out, but the good Lord knows every answer to everything that happens here on earth. So whenever you may have a hard battle that you are going through know that you may not find out all the answers or understand why it is happening, but God knows all of that and is there to help you through it.

Remember that God is on the other side and knows all the answers that we may not be able to figure out here on earth.
Justina Marie

Never Surrender

I don't wanna feel like this tomorrow
I don't wanna live like this today
Make me feel better!
I need to feel better!
Stay with me here now
And never surrender!

Put me back together!
Never Surrender!
~ Never Surrender by Skillet

There are so many things going on in this world that make us question different things in the world and what the motives are that people have and why on earth would they have these motives. Right now (and always) we can't just give up and surrender to the worldly things. There are also just many things in our lives that cause us to hurt and to be in pain. Sometimes we seem lost and confused and we just want to give up because we feel like that is the easiest thing for us to do. Like the song says is that we don't want to feel like we do now and we don't want to feel like it tomorrow either. We want to feel better and if we work through the situation without giving up and keep pushing through it, God is going to help us and get us to the point where we feel better. It is important for us to especially remember God in the times that we are down and count on Him to get us to where He has planned for us. We can't lift ourselves out of the deep pits that we sometimes get into, but God is going to help us get out of. Whenever you are in a time where you think about giving up remember that God is going to pick you up and put you back together and He is going to help you in the way that is according to His plan.

Remember to never surrender because God will pick you up and put you back together!
Justina Marie

Praise You in this Storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter were I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And tough my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
~ Praise You in this Storm by Casting Crowns

Yikes! It has been awhile since I have posted on here.. Sorry about that. As this song may hint I have been super busy and being busy is like being in a storm. For most people they don't like storms for whatever reason they may have be it because they don't like the noise, it scares them or because they had something planned outside and can no longer do that at the time they planned because of the storm. As you can see that I haven't posted lately... that is because I was super busy with a lot of homework and trying to figure out the things that I have to do this summer. As you could say it did seem like a storm because I wasn't just sitting back and letting God do His will. I was trying to get through the storm on my own because I didn't think things were going to work out and of course, God reminded me that He had the whole thing under control the entire time and that I just needed to trust Him and not worry about it.

In the song we see that God is always there and telling us that He is there with us. Often times in the storms we have we continue to look for Him, but don't always see Him even though He is ALWAYS there with us. We stumble and fall at times, but God is always going to help us back up. The troubles and storms that we go to are a part of life and we need to remember to praise God in those times just like we do in the good times. There isn't any difference in the good and bad times we go through because God is working in every situation for the better for us even if we can't see it in the bad times. We need to remember to praise God in all parts of our life even if we are in a tough situation. God is always with us and for that we need to remember to praise Him. Through our tears God is there holding us and going to help us through.

Remember that even in the tough storms you go through that God is with you and you should praise Him.
Justina Strecker

Beautiful Scars

For us, bruised and broken
For us, He was forsaken
Our wounded Healer
Suffered to set us free
See in His hands and His feet

Beautiful scars, beautiful scars
Reminders of the wounded love
That had carried us this far
Beautiful scars
Turning the marks of our pain
Into beautiful scars
~ Beautiful Scars by Steven Curtis Chapman




Sorry it has been quite awhile since I have written. These last few weeks have been pretty busy. So last time I wrote about Passover and the Last Supper. Even though Easter was 2 weeks ago I am going to talk about Easter because Easter is awesome and it really is something to not just be celebrated and thought about during Holy week, but truly every day. The lyrics posted above are from a song that really reminds me of Easter and what our wonderful Savior did for us. During Holy Week we think about Jesus and the suffering that He did while He was nailed to the cross. The lyrics say that for us He was bruised and broken and forsaken. We are the ones that deserve this because we sin and Jesus was perfect, but He suffered in our place and that is something to remember every day of our lives. Jesus who committed no sin took our place to die so that one day we could live with Him and His Father in heaven.

This song reminds me every time I hear it how much God cares for us. We live in a world where we would do things for others, but I don't know how many people would lay down their life for those who constantly sin. Jesus' scars truly are beautiful. They remind us about the sacrifice that Jesus went through. In our world we live in pain and suffering of many different circumstances, but if Jesus wouldn't have went to the cross than we would suffer in a completely different circumstance for the rest of our lives, but Jesus carried the cross and then proceeded to hang on the cross and die for ALL of our sins. Since I was introduced to this song I have looked at the scars on Jesus' hands (pictures, statues, etc.) in a completely different light. I used to look at them and think of all the pain that Jesus went through to save us from our sins, but after this song I see them as beautiful scars because He did go through all that pain for us and that is a beautiful thought.

Remember that even though Jesus suffered for us that His scars are a beautiful reminder of what He did for us.
Justina Marie

Passover and Last Supper

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, 'The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at the table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?" He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." Judas, who would betray him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?" He said to him, "You have said so." Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
~ Matthew 26:17-30

This was that Gospel passage at my church last night. I just wanted to share it with you as this is Holy Week. Last night we remembered the Passover and the Last Supper. Jesus knew that one of His disciples was going to betray Him at some point during the night. He didn't let that get to Him though because He wanted to be with all of His disciples because it was the last time that He was going to be with them before He died. He took both the bread and the wine and gave it to His disciples telling them that it is His body and blood and whenever they drank of it they were to do so in remembrance of Him. So as we take communion each time, we need to remember to do so in Jesus' name. It is a time for us to remember that Jesus' died on the cross to take away our sins so that we can be forgiven for all the things we have done. This should be reassuring to us because even though we have sinned, God loved us enough to send His Son for us so that we can be forgiven.

Remember that your sins are always forgiven no matter what they are.
Justina Strecker

What Wondrous Love Is This

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul.
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down.
When I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb who is the great "I Am"
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And through eternity, I'll sing on.
~ What Wondrous Love Is This

So as it is Lent I have sung this song several times throughout church services, chapel and praise and I love hearing it and singing along to it each and every time. God really has some wondrous love for us. We are sinners and our curse is that He should condemn us, but He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us and that to me is some really strong love. He sent His son that He loved very much to come into the world to live a perfect life so that all of us sinners could be saved because of His wondrous love. No matter the things we do, both bad and good, God will always love us and continue loving us throughout eternity. We go through struggles and get farther away from God at times, but He laid aside His crown so that we can be forgiven and live with Him.

We should lift up our voices for God because He has given us the ability to sing and so we should use our voices to praise Him. There are millions that join in singing praises to the Lord which is an amazing thought. He has freed us from eternal death and even though we will die on earth, we will live forever in heaven when we believe in Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We need to remember that God has freed us from death and we should be happy because we will live with God through eternity. Easter is coming up quickly and it is a great time to remember the wondrous gift that God gave us, sending His son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and then having Him die so that our sins could be forgiven.

Remember that God has a wondrous love for you.
Justina Marie

Happy 3/16 God So Loved The World

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God."
~ John 3:16-21

Today is March 16 (3/16) so I thought I would do John 3:16 and some verses following. During the time of Adam and Eve "The Fall" took place and sin entered the world. Since then there has been darkness in the world. We are all sinners and we sin every day. Even though there is still darkness in this world because there are those who don't believe and even those who do believe do commit sins, there is still Light in the world because God sent His only son, Jesus, to die for us. Through this merciful act of God we can all have hope. God didn't send Jesus to the world so that we would feel even worse because we commit sin and Jesus was perfect. He didn't send Jesus so that He would look at all of us sinners and tell us that we are worth no good and should be condemned. God sent Jesus for a much better thing and something that only one who is graceful can do. We are sinners and we need forgiveness and sometimes it is hard for us to forgive others, but because of Jesus we have hope that we are forgiven and will have eternal life.

The good news for us is that God sent Jesus to be our light and to save us from the darkness. Jesus is the truth and if we believe in that we come into the Light. Being in the light we can see all that God has done, does and will forever do for us. By being in the light we can see the evil things that others do and we have the power from God to turn away from the things of the darkness and go find something in the light to do. When we follow the light we are following the path to Jesus which then leads us to God. God sent Jesus to us so that we can go into the light and see all of the great things that God has done for us.

Remember that Jesus is the truth and the light.
Justina Marie

God Carry Me

Jesus calm my heart
Come near me please
Lord don't let these worries get the best of me
Oh I believe, that You're still here with me
Cause You meant what You said when you said You'd never leave

Carry me, carry me, carry me now
From my sinking sand to Your solid ground
The only way I'm ever going to make it out
Is if you carry me, carry me, carry me now
God carry me, carry me, carry me now
~ Carry Me by Josh Wilson

The past couple weeks I have been really worn down and tired. I have had so much on my mind and so many worries about different things in my life. Many times I questioned why all these things were happening to me because I felt like I was struggling and wasn't going to get anywhere on my own. My friends were surrounding me the entire time and I could feel that they truly cared about me and that God was showing through them. They were trying to help me release my worries and told me that I would be alright. God was using my friends to show me that He is working through them to help me realize that He is with me and helping me through these struggles that I am having.

What I need to remember and everyone needs to remember is that even when we are in the low places and struggling is that God is always with us. He is going to carry us through the tough times that we go through to get to His solid ground. It is important to remember that we can't get ourselves out of the struggles that we are in by ourselves. We need to know that God is the only one that is going to help us make it out of the sinking sand that we get into. No matter what we go through God is there with us and is carrying us through everything that we do.

Remember that God will never leave your side no matter what struggles you are in He will carry you.
Justina Marie

Inspiration from a Former President

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I have been quite busy with school and getting a lot of stuff done because next week is spring break and so that means there is to much to do for the couple weeks that lead up until that time. The video is about 5 minutes and the words in the video are the message that I think is a great inspiration that was shared with me and so I wanted to share it with others.

Ronald Reagan Tribute - Bel Air Presbyterian Church- 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvN1jTkzXbY

"I know now that whatever days are left to me belong to Him." This is a quote that really stuck out to me when I watched the video the first time. We go about our day and we often do many things, like I said lately I have just been doing a lot of homework trying to get all the things that have been assigned for me to do done on time so that I can turn them in. While doing so I haven't really been thinking about where God fits into what I am doing. Yes I still have been going to church and chapel, but I haven't been really living my life for Him as Ronald Reagan stated in the video. Even though we have busy lives we need to make time for God and make sure that all the things we are doing are for God because He is the one that gave us life and has a plan for us. Reagan also says, "We will never find every answer, solve every problem or heal every wound, but we can do a lot if we walk together down that one path that we know provides real hope." By this quote we should be reminded that we are not strong enough to answer every question that we may have, but that doesn't mean that we should give up hope. We should walk with others and bring others to the path that does bring true hope to us.

Remember that even though we can't answer everything that there is still a path to walk along that provides us with real hope.
Justina Marie

Losing

Well it's only the dead that can live
But still I wrestle with this
to lose the pain that's mine
Seventy times seven times
'Cause Lord it doesn't feel right
For me to turn a blind eye
Though I guess it's not that much
When I think of what You've done

This is love, this is hate...
We've got a choice to make

Oh, Father won't You forgive them?
They don't know what they've been doin' (oh no)
Oh, Father, give me grace to forgive them
'Cause I feel like the one losin'
~ Losing by Tenth Avenue North

When someone hurts us or inflicts even the slightest of pain to us, when often remember this and don't forget. There are times where we may not think about it, but that is always in the back of our minds. We know the people that have hurt us and even though we forgive them, we struggle to do so at times and we struggle to forget what others have done to hurt us. Matthew 18:21-22 is where Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother or sister that sins against him. Jesus told him not just seven times, but seventy seven times. Even if one continues to sin against us we should continue to forgive them for every mistake that we make. Not only because it is right, but because we also sin against others and we want forgiveness from them.

Jesus went to the cross to take away our sins. Jesus told God that He should forgive those who are torturing Him because they don't know what they are doing. Because Jesus told God this we can't say that He doesn't know how we have been hurt and the pain we feel from the bad things that others do against us. God felt a great deal of pain when Jesus was being tortured because that was His only son that He sent so that He could die on the cross and take away our sins. We have the choice to make on whether we want to forgive someone for the pain they caused us or if we want to dislike them because of it. Hebrews 8:12 says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." We ask God to forgive us and we should also ask Him to forgive others for they have sinned against us, but they don't know what they are doing. This is just like what Jesus asked when He was dying on the cross. The Hebrews verse tells us that God remembers their sins no more. We need His grace to help us forgive those that we struggle to find forgiveness for. At times when we struggle to forgive someone is when we feel like we are losing and so when we find it in us to forgive them we begin to feel better. It is because of God that we forgive others for what they have done.

Remember that God gives us the grace to forgive everyone and we just have to accept it and forgive them.
Justina Marie

Let God take the Lead

I know I'm safest when I'm in Your will, and trust Your Word
I know I'm dangerous when I trust myself, my vision blurred
And I ain't got no time to play life's foolish games
Got plenty aims, but do they really Glorify Your name
And it's a shame, the way I want to do these things for You, yeah
Don't even cling to you, take time to sit and glean from You
It seems You were patient in my ignorance
If ignorance is bliss, its 'cause she never heard of this

I could play the background
I could play the background
Cause I know sometimes I get in the way
So won't You take the lead, lead, lead?
So won't You take the lead, lead, lead?
And I could play the background, background
And you could take the lead
~Background by Lecrae

I really like what this song is getting out. Feel free to check out the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZosXYJYV8c to listen to the song and see the rest of the lyrics. There are many times where we try to do the things that we want to do and try to take control of our life. God sometimes gets pushed back and we begin to take control and think that we can do things on our own. We need to remember that we need God to help us through everything because He is the one that gave us all the gifts we have and the most important gift was the day of our birth when He gave us a life to live. It is important that we remember that when we start to try and do things on our own that we are going to have our path blurred. There may be plenty of things that we think we want to do or accomplish in our life and we might be on the path of not getting to them so we try to change what is going on in our life so that we can get them, but we have to remember that if we are being strayed away from something that we will be taken to something else because God is taking us there and it is His plan.

In life there are many people that want the attention to be on them, but we should want to play the background. Even the times where we try to go our own path God is working to have us let him take back control of our lives. Even though we may be ignorant of His plan at times and how He is trying to work in our lives, He is always patient and working to get us back on track. We should let God take the lead and we can be the background because He is going to lead us on the path that He wants us to go. He will not lead us astray of the things that He wants for us and wants us to do. If we get off the path He will lead us astray from that, but He is leading us back to the path that He wants us to be on and that He has planned for us. God has a wonderful plan for us and we should be willing to step back from what we think should happen and allow Him to take us allow that plan that He has for us. Each one of us has a special plan and so we may not be taken along exactly like our friends or families, but that is because we are all unique and need a unique plan to take us where God wants us.

Remember to let God take the lead of your life.
Justina Marie

God Will NOT Grow Tired

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
~ Isaiah 40:28-31

With school starting back up and being a couple weeks into the semester I have been working at getting back into a routine for this semester. At times I feel like there is so much to get done and other times I feel as if there should be something that I need to be doing. During the times where I have so much stuff that I need to get done I feel really tired and don't know how I am going to get it all done because it seems as if the list is endless and something just keeps popping up when I feel like I am finished. Sometimes I don't even see the finish line and I don't even know where the path is to the end. God is not like this with our life. He is always going to be our strength when we are weak. Even though we grow tired He will never grow tired and He will be the One that gets us through these times where we can't see the finish line. There may be a finish line of things to get done by a certain day, but getting those things done is just a tiny victory. The greatest victory on earth is when Christ died on the cross so that ALL who believe will be saved and one day live with God in heaven for eternity.

There are many things that we do in our daily life that keeps us busy and makes us tired. At times we may stumble and fall and think that we won't be able to get back up and on track with where we left off. What we need to remember though is that if we hope in the Lord he will renew us and give us the strength to persevere. "They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." This verse is hope for us to know that if we fall, God will be there for us to pick us up. If we continue to run and be busy with all the demands that life seems to have of us, God will keep us going and we will not be weary. We will be able to get through everything that He has planned for us in His glorious will and He will walk us through it and will not let us be stalled forever. God's plan for us may seem to be stressful or overwhelming at times, but He won't give us a load that we can't handle. The reason that we will be able to handle the load that He gives us is because He is right there beside us and will help us overcome the obstacles in life.

Remember that even though we may be tired and weary at times that God will NEVER grow tired and weary.
Justina Marie
^29 31 

Be Not Afraid

If you pass through raging waters
in the sea, you shall not drown.
If you walk amidst the burning flames,
you shall not be harmed.

If you stand before the pow'r of hell
and death is at your side,
know that I am with you, through it all.

Be not afraid, I go before you always,
Come follow Me, and I will give you rest.
~ Be Not Afraid

This is part of the song that my home choir sang last Sunday in church. It is a song that has a good message behind it. School started back up for me yesterday and I am getting back into the swing of things. With school just starting up I have been worrying and afraid of things that are supposed to take place this semester. Almost everyday for about the past week I have had new worries enter my mind and I then think about all the other worries I have and it just really gets me worked up and I become afraid of the things that I am worrying about. When I hear this song and think about it and many other songs I get a sense of relief and a good reminder that we shouldn't be afraid.

No matter what our worries are in life we shouldn't be afraid because as the song says, "I go before you always, come follow Me and I will give you rest." Those words are what stick out to me most and are the part that I continue to go back to. God has already created what is going to happen tomorrow and in many days to come. Those days that are yet to happen in our lives have already happened in His. He wants us to follow Him and He will give us rest. We don't need to worry about the things that are going to happen because He has a great plan for us and we can just relax and live the life that He has planned for us. Whatever it is that has us worried, God is already there at that moment waiting for us so that He can help us through those tough moments.

Remember that God is going ahead of you and He will give you rest so there is no need to be afraid.
Justina Marie

Undo What I've Become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You
Turn me around, pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring  me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, I need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become
~ Undo by Rush of Fools

Since it is still the beginning of the year, I thought I would write on these song lyrics. I am not sure about everyone else, but I know that there are many things that have happened over the past year to place me where I am in my life today. There were many things to get me where I am, become who I am and have some awesome people come into my life. With all of these good things though there are some things that weren't so good, but god brought me though it. At times we do things that we aren't proud of doing later or things that we wish we could have done better. No matter what mess we get into, God will always help untangle the mess and take us back to the path that He has planned for us. We need to remember that we can't do this on our own, but we can do it with the help of God.

There may be times where we feel like we are stuck and that the things that we have done will always be seen as what they are. If they were good they will be seen as good and if they were bad they will be seen as bad. In God's eyes though it isn't like this. God will forgive us for everything we do because of His grace for us. We will always be seen as good in His eyes because we were made in the image of God and He always forgives us. God is always going to be there and He will make our steps get back to the path that He has for us. When we stray away from Him, He will bring us back to Him in His timing and in His own way. We can't do it ourselves and so we need to trust God and allow for Him to help us and bring us back to Him. He is the only one who can undo what we've become and take us back to the person that He wants us to be. A person who is in love with Him and wants to live the life He has for us.

Remember that even though we do wrong things, God is always going to help us undo those things and He will see us as if everything we do is for Him.
Justina Marie

God's Unending Love

~Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin

Because we are sinners there is a weight that we have on our shoulders because we know thy we have done bad things. That weight can cause a burden on us and we can feel like we are unworthy of forgiveness. Jesus was sent by God to relieve us of that burden that we carry on our shoulders. The "chains" that make us feel this way have been set free by Jesus and we shouldn't feel that burden if we repent because God is merciful and forgives us. We should never feel that something we have done will keep God from forgiving us. We have been set free from our sins and there is nothing that will change that because of God's grace for us. A long time ago Jesus died for us and since then we  have been forgiven of our sins and way before then it was a part of God's plan that we would be forgiven of our sins. 

God has overflowing mercy for each and everyone of us. It is unending mercy that will never run out. It is just like the love that God has for us. His love will never run out and He will always love us with the greatest love of all. His love is unconditional. No matter what we do He will always love us with his unconditional love. The grace that God has for us is amazing. We are not deserving of how wonderful His grace is because we are sinners, but He is amazing and loves us and His grace for us is amazing and no one will ever be able to truly understand just how amazing it is. God's unending love and amazing grace are just a few of the many blessings that we have received from God. 

Remember that God will always love you unconditionally and He is gracious to you.
Justina Marie