fear and regret

I think most people would agree with me that a common fear is to live with regrets.

Maybe a person is nearing the end of his life here on earth and he regrets never going skydiving. 

Maybe a person is nearing the end of her life and she regrets never going to nursing school.

Maybe a couple regrets never traveling the world before starting a family.

I have secret that will insure that you will never have regrets...

In class, this past Tuesday, something the speaker said really stood out to me.

I thought I would share it with you.

Really ponder it.

Here it goes...

"You will never regret when you live by faith.

You will regret when you live by fear."

Go on ahead and read it one more time.

I have never thought of that way.

Have you?

If we live by faith, believing and obeying God's will...we will never regret.

You can't regret God's work.

He has a plan for your life and it's better than any plan you that you will ever come up with.

So you can trust that if you follow His will, your purpose in life will be fulfilled, God's glory will be revealed and you will live with no regrets.

If we live by fear, we will have regrets. No doubt.

On a surface level, if you really have the desire to skydive, but you're scared to follow through so you don't do it...you will regret that at the end of your life.

On a deeper level, if you feel called to go overseas to spread the Gospel and you don't because you're afraid...you will regret it. 

Living by faith isn't always easy. Putting aside your control and letting God have control can be pretty hard for us, humans. However, if living by faith gets hard, but you stick with it, God will surely give you joy in return. Sticking with it, is the key. 

Oswald Chambers says in his book, "My Utmost for His Highest", " Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let's apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against-tribulation, suffering, and persecution- are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. 'We are more than conquerors through Him' 'in all these things'; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation" (2 Corinthians 7:4). 

So it's rather simple, if you push past your fears and live by faith, you will live a life with zero regrets. You may not completely understand at times, but living by faith will create a regret-less life filled with abundant joy.

Which will you choose - fear or faith?

Don't forget to pray for the unreached people group of the day!

New Year challenge

Goodbye 2012 ~ Hello 2013!

 

I can't believe it's already been a year. It really has flown by. The first 8 or so months of 2012 were really hard because of my treatment, but it's been looking up the past few months. God definitely used 2012 to teach me a lot. He is still working on me for sure, but it has been really cool to see how He has used everything including Lyme Disease to teach me a few things. Although it has been an interesting, challenging year, I'm excited for 2013.

 

2012 ended with an awesome Murder Mystery New Year's Eve party with a high school homecoming dance theme, in which I was the Student Council Secretary also known as Clerical Katie. I got to dress up in a formal dress with a corsage and release my inner actress. Then shortly after the clock struck Midnight, I told one of my best friend's, "This is gonna by MY year...I can already feel it" and then I choked on my drink. Hmmm...I hope that's not an omen haha.

 

I almost said yesterday that 2013 is going to be a year to remember, but then I realized that 2012 is a year to remember too. In fact, every year is a year to remember, right? We may look back on our year and wish it had never happened, but God doesn't let a year go wasted. Yes, this year has not been the easiest. I've felt anger, denial, pain, confusion, exhaustion, doubt, but I know God didn't leave me during that time. He was there and had a plan the whole time. Maybe you've had a similar year. You're relieved that the year is over and hope that your suffering doesn't continue in 2013.

Today, I just finished a book called, "Tortured for Christ." It is an autobiography of Richard Wurmbrand explaining his life as an evangelical minister in communistic Romania during 1945-1964. He faced many years of suffering, as well as many Christians. He was tortured in prison for 14 years because of sharing the love of God with others. After brutal beatings and multiple imprisonments, Wurmbrand was granted amnesty. It is an absolute miracle that he survived and it made my suffering look nonexistent. The book introduced me to the many lives that were affected by the Underground Church and showed me the true joy that suffering can produce. Crazy to think that suffering can produce joy, huh? That just proves how amazing God is.

 

The book included letters from a nineteen year old girl who was brainwashed by the atheistic Communistic goverment but later converted because of the boldness of a Christ follower who shared the gospel with her. However, three months after this young girl's conversion, she was imprisoned because of her proclamation of her love for Christ.

 

She writes explaining her time in prison and the beatings and starvation in which she endured, but followed with this...

"My heart praises and thanks God that, through you, He showed me the way to salvation. Now, being on this way , my life has a purpose and I know where to go and for whom I suffer. I feel the desire to tell and witness to everybody about the great joy of salvation that I have in my heart. Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Neither in prison nor suffering. The sufferings that God sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith in Him. My heart is so full that the grace of God overflows. At work, they curse and punish me, giving me extra work because I cannot be silent. I must tell everyone what the Lord has done for me. He has made me a new being, a new creation, of me who has on the way of perdition. Can I be silent after this? No, never! As long as my lips can speak, I will witness to every one about His great love."

 

Her next and last letter of her life (while still in prison) ended with this...

"Since the Lord revealed to me the deep mystery of His holy love, I consider myself to be the happiest in the world. The persecutions that I have to endure I consider to as a special grace. I am glad that the Lord gave me from the first days of my faith the great happiness to suffer for Him. Pray for me that I may remain faithful to the Lord to the end."

 

Just like apostle Paul suffered for Christ, there are still people suffering just like he did. They aren't suffering with anger towards God, but with joy.

James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

 Amazing and convicting.

 

Yesterday I saw something Ben Stein wrote in regards to how America has taken God out of the equation. He wrote, "Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us."
 

I think he's right. It just doesn't make sense to me that here in America we are free to share our faith with others, but often we don't in fear of not being accepted. However, on the other side of the world, people are sharing their faith openly with others despite it being illegal. They are thrown into prison, beaten and persecuted, yet they still share the gospel with joy, while we don't speak up even though we have the luxury and freedom to do so without the fear of imprisonment.

Pretty sad, if you ask me.

 

I'm not sure if you're into making New Year's resolutions, but one of the many  goals I have for 2013 is to proudly speak of my faith with others.

Will you share that goal with me? Will you embrace the fact that suffering and difficulties can produce joy if you trust in God's plan for you? Will you realize that this world needs you to share God's love?

 

How are you going to share God's love with others this year? What are ways to overcome fear and replace it with boldness?

 

Happy New Year, friends!
 

Today's scripture reading for read-your-Bible-in-a-year plan is the book of James.

Thursday-book of 1 Peter

Friday-book of 2 Peter

Saturday-book of 1 John

 

Day 24 In Him we find...

Has anyone ever said to you, "Just be bold!" I know a few people who have told me that...several times.  Maybe you don't like attention or you're afraid to stand out. Maybe you doubt your abilities. Maybe you're afraid of the outcome. Maybe you don't have a problem with being bold most of the time, but maybe when it comes to your faith, you tend to blend in with the crowd. 

I know there are times, when it's comfortable for me to blend in with the crowd. There are times when I don't speak up about my beliefs when I should. Trust me, I'm not proud of this. I know it's something I need to work on, because I'm reminded by God's Word that as followers of Christ, we should be bold. We should be bold in our actions and in our words, just like Daniel, Moses, Paul and many others in the Bible.

In order to be heard in a world full of sin, we must speak boldly. We can't be shy when we speak about what God has done in our lives. God is bold, so He deserves to be spoken about boldly. Now, I'm not saying go scream down someone's throat, but be bold and strong with what God has given you. Acts 14:3 says, "Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord..."  Everyone deserves to hear the good news of Christ so we need to make sure they hear it! 

You may think that you aren't good with your words or you don't know what to say, but let me remind you, that God will make sure that you are equipped. He can use you no matter what. He can make you bold. Psalm 138:3 says, "On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul." If you struggle with being bold, go to God and ask Him to make you bold. Get ready because He will definitely give you opportunities to be bold! No doubt about it. 

In Him we find boldness.

Proverbs 28:1 - The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Day 6 In Him we find

 

Well, it's the big day...election day!

Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about who I voted for (although you could probably figure that out), who you should vote for, or anything like that.

So no matter what side you are on you might be afraid what the future holds. Even if you are reading this from outside of the U.S., you are probably afraid of something right now. However, I'm going to challenge you to NOT be afraid. That may be hard, but then again, it shouldn't be. Yes, this is a huge day for America, no doubt, but we have to remember that God knows what is going to happen. He has it under control and He has a purpose for everything, no matter who becomes our president. We should not put hope into man, but we should put our hope into God. He is the only one who can really give us hope. Now I believe that He can bring hope through a person, but ultimately He is our one, true hope. Humans mess up, but God doesn't. Now I'm not saying, don't worry about voting.

As citizens, we should vote and we should pray for God's will to be done.

So no matter who wins, God tells us to "Fear not, for I am with you...(Isaiah 41:10)". Psalm 112:7 (NLT) says, "They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them." So don't fear, but be confident in God's promises.

 

In Him we find confidence.

 

Check this video out! Mike, the lead singer from Tenth Avenue North talks about fear. Yep, another Tenth Avenue North video. What can I say, I love them!

 

This is the song that goes with it...

So fear not, be confident that God is strong enough to save!

 

The scripture for the read-your-Bible-in-a-year plan is Luke 21-22.

 

 



He won me over...he stole my heart

In my post, Are you a fan of...?, I talked about how Jesus always had crowds gathered around him, but another thing that has stood out to me during my journey through the Bible in a year plan, was that Jesus never stopped. He never said, "Man, I need a vacation." He kept traveling to teach and to be in relationship with people. Like my Dad says, he "was on a mission". His mission was to win hearts...to win people over.

This makes me think of one of my favorite songs, "Won Me Over" by of course, the one and only, Audrey Assad.

 

"Was on the run, a road that I ruined,
chasing a lie I thought I believed in,
Don't know why I do what I do

Running from you, is running to you
You're everywhere... I couldn't escape
You never stop - you never do.

[chorus] I was full of fear and prone to wander,
lost & lonely till the day you won me over, you won me over
I was halfway gone and going nowhere
Half alive until the day you won me over, you won me over, over

I should have known what I was missing
If I were you, I would have stopped chasing
Your love's too strong to let me go.

[chorus x2]

I was halfway gone and going nowhere..."

 

 

Can you relate to that song? I know I can. I think we have all experienced a "full of fear, prone to wander, lost & lonely" time in our lives. You see, Jesus doesn't want us to fear or wander or be lost and lonely. When He was here on earth, His mission was to win those people over. Even though He may not be physically here now, His spirit is with us and still winning people over.

 

He doesn't win just church going people. He doesn't win just people who drive the speed limit. He wants to win everyone over. Whether you've done drugs, been to jail, turned your back on Him, He still wants to win you over. Even if you are running from Him, He is still there. Most of the times when we run from Him, we find Him. "Running from you, is running to you.You're everywhere... I couldn't escape You never stop - you never do." God is a pursuer. He is a chaser. He does not give up. That's not His style. Just like He was here on earth, He would not stop teaching and loving people.

 

I love the lyrics, "I was halfway gone and going nowhere. Half alive until the day you won me over." We may think a life of luxury makes us alive, but the truth is, it doesn't. When we let Him win us over, we become truly alive. A lot of times we run after things that cannot make us happy, the worldy things. God wants to give us true happiness. So if you haven't been "won over", stop and look around. He is trying to show you that He is there and He wants you. He wants you to notice that He is the only one who can give  you happiness and a purpose. You may have this "worldly" film over your eyes that makes it hard to see, but God has the ability to remove that film and show you what you've been missing.

 

"I should have known what I was missing. If I were you, I would have stopped chasing
Your love's too strong to let me go." Don't waste your time on things that can't win you over, let God win you over. Let Him steal your heart. You don't want to miss out.

 

Do you remember when God won you over? What did it take for you to realize that He was with you the whole time? Were you running from Him?

 Feel free to leave me a comment! I'd love to hear about how God won you over :)

 

P.S.- If you are reading along with me, today's scripture is Mark 14.

 

 

 



My fear of yielding and merging...

In driver's ed, one of the things you learn is to yield. The definition for yield is "to give up, as to superior power or authority, or surrender." If you know me, you know that yielding has been a struggle for me. Being from a small country town, you don't have many opportunites to practice yielding. Whenever I would be in the city, I would freak out. Now when we are driving and yielding to traffic, we don't often think of those cars being superior to us. If you think about it, they are superior, because if we were to ignore the yield sign and just go, we most likely would be crushed into pieces by the traffic.  Obviously, being crushed to pieces is not on our to-do list so we should definitely obey those yield signs.  If you know me, you know that merging and  yielding has been a struggle for me. Being from a small country town, you don't have many opportunites to practice  merging and yielding. Whenever I would be in the city, I would freak out when I had to yield to other cars. I'm now over my fear of yielding (and actually quite good at it, if I must say so myself ;), but yielding can still be a hard thing to do at times.

 

So yesterday, I went to my grandparent's house to work on my t-shirt quilt sewing project. (I'm almost done...finally!) While I was there, they gave me a book that they thought would be a good read for me..."My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. My grandad has his own copy and is reading it for the third time (so it must be pretty good!) It's a year-long devotional book with short devotions. I started reading it today and I'm already loving it just after one devotion!  So I figured I would share with you the topic of today's devotion.

 

It is titled "Let Us Keep to the Point" and based around Philippians 1:20, ". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body , whether by life or death". The main idea of today's devotion is to yield to God, no matter what circumstance.

 

Just like we yield/surrender to traffic, we should also yield/surrender ourselves to God. Why? God has superiority over us and we can't argue with that. I mean can we command light and darkness and create a whole solar system? Don't think so. It is clear that God has authority over us.  If we don't yield to His will, we will be crushed to pieces. We will be crushed in a sense that we ignored God's calling on our lives and therefore, unable to find peace in knowing that God is using us for His big plan. Even though it might be scary yielding and merging on the highway, we should never be afraid to yield and merge our lives with God's will. Our goal should be  our absolute best for God. Chambers says, "Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only - my utmost for His highest." We should say with confidence, just as Chambers did, " I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone."

 

Yield to God. Surrender your life to Him and get ready to be used for the best mission on this Earth...showing God's love to others.

 

If you are joining in on the read-your-bible-in-a-year plan, today's reading is Matthew chapters 11 & 12.