Posts

Going Back to Basics

Sometimes we need to take a step back. Somewhere along the line, we forgot why we're doing this; we forgot what brought us here. This year, I want to grow in my faith even more and I'm convinced that the only way to do that is to go back to the beginning. This is what I know for certain - these are the things we must remember when forget who we are.. Jesus loves me! "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." John 3:16 This is the purest, realest love we'll ever experience. We need to remember this truth daily. All the other points flow out of this one. I'm free because Jesus loves me. I'm new because He loves me. I am forgiven because He loves me. I am free! "For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.&

Perfect - what to do when we fall short

We don't want to let people down, especially those we love. It makes us feel bad and unworthy of their time, love and effort. So, we know that God is perfect and wants us to also be perfect (Matthew 5:48), but we can't be perfect. For me, it's really discouraging to know that I am always failing, always letting Him down. I read The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and in the back of the book was a condensed little biography about him. Reading about him, how he was devoted to God and only God; how everything else took a backseat, I told myself that that was what I wanted to be like. I wanted my life to be all about Jesus and absolutely nothing else (which is incredibly unrealistic considering that I live on social media). So, as I'm sure you've predicted, I did fall short of that standard. I hated myself everytime I sinned and fell short and thought to myself "if I can't be perfect, then this isn't worth it!" Which is incredibly embaressing but here we

My Struggle with Prayer

Image
I love God and I love spending time in His presence: listening to worship music, journaling, writing, painting, but I struggle with prayer. I am fully aware that the key to a good relationship is communication, but I tend to avoid prayer any way I can. The fact that God already knows what I'm going to say and what I need makes me wonder what is the point of telling Him; it seems like a waste of time. I have a list of people and situation to pray for, but it feels so repetitive that I dread it. or sometimes, I'll lay in bed, half asleep, and tell God "You know who I always pray for," as though I walked into a coffee shop and asked for my usual. But talking to God should not be a chore - Jesus died on the cross and the curtain that separated us from direct communication with God was ripped in half. We have constant, direct access to God. We can talk to Him about anything, from anywhere, and we are taking that for granted every single day. Talking to God may be uncomfort

Surrender it to God

Image
Pursuing God is not something done with little to no effort, it's not an afterthought. It is done whole-heartedly. In order to truly pursue God, He needs to be the only thing you focus on; there can be nothing standing in the way. Your loyalty cannot be divided on this matter. We are not strong enough to clean out this blockage by ourselves, we need to surrender it to God. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  Hebrews 12:1 When you think you are sick, you go to the doctor and ask for treatment. You have to tell the doctor what you feel in order for him to help you. If you refuse to show or tell him what's wrong, how can he help you? Or, if your house catches on fire, you're not going to try and stop the fire by yourself; you need the help of firefighters. You cannot cure your disease or save your house

My Story

Image
Three years ago today, I asked Jesus into my heart for the first time. In celebration of that day, I'm sharing the story of my journey with Christ. Just so you know, in this post I'll be talking about my sexuality and mental illness. I really wanted to share this and I wanted it to be more in depth than just a few paragraphs. So, it's quite long, but I feel that it's necessary to tell you everything. I hope you find hope. ---- It's been exactly three years since I first invited Jesus into my life. It was in my old home, at church. My church gave the grade 9's Bibles every year and now it was my turn - that Bible is my favourite, I absolutely adore it. Sitting in the pew, feeling it's weight in my hands, I prayed. I wanted to change. I tried to read my Bible everyday, and though I often failed, the commentaries and charts within the pages motivated me and helped me to understand. I was in grade nine and had my best friend, Lauren, beside me through it all. We

Faith Like a Fire

Image
When I read Hebrews, I realized something about chapter 11 that really resonated with me: The people mentioned in this chapter were leaps and bounds out of their comfort zones. That's how they made it onto this list; by leaving their comfort zones and venturing off into territory that was scary and unknown. Noah - he made the ark like God told him to, even when no one believed the flood would come. He was likely regarded as crazy and his whole family would have been treated badly. Abraham - he waited for years for his promised son, but God told him to take the boy and sacrifice him. Abraham didn't hesitate to do the Lord's will, even when it meant losing a loved one. Moses - denied his royal upraising to instead suffer with the people of God. He was raised by the Pharaoh's daughter and would likely have had power in that position, but he denied that family for a better one, even though it meant a hard life. Rahab - she hid the Israelite spies in her house even though it

Waiting For God

Image
God promised Sarah that she would have a son, all she had to do was wait. Instead, she took matters into her own hands and had her husband, Abraham, sleep with her servant, Hagar. When Hagar conceived, she was at odds with Sarah and they felt like they were in competition with each other. Hagar had a son, Ishmael. Everyone thought that the boy was the result of God's promise, but then Sarah, at 90 years old, became pregnant. In the end, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away and Sarah's son, Isaac became Abraham's heir. (Genesis 16 - 21:21) If Sarah had been patient, she wouldn't have had to deal with Hagar's pride in her pregnancy and the slave and her son would not have been sent away. People got hurt because Sarah refused to wait. A better example of patience is the story of Jacob in Genesis 29:15-30. Jacob was working for his relative, Laban, and fell in love with his daughter, Rachel. Jacob worked for seven years to marry her, but all those years " seemed like o