Grace, Purpose? I Don't Like This God!

Yes, this is yet another post about your purpose in life. But I have been reading a guide book to the Old Testament for Bible in school, and recently, I just read about Joseph.

Joseph, the favored one, the smart one, the handsome one. Joseph, the accused one, the imprisoned one, then, the raised up one.

The story of Joseph has long been one of the most miraculous stories of forgiveness for many centuries.

The idea that you could forgive someone who threw you into a hole, forced you to stay in a cold, dark, probably critter ridden place. Then sold you away from your home and loved ones to cruel men who bound you, beat you, and left you to sleep in the cold. And after that life got to be okay when you were overseer of someone's house, but then because you were kind and good lookin' you got in more trouble.

Finally after a couple of years in prison, you got out, got popular, got married, had some kids, and life was hunkie dorie.

Until.... THEY SHOWED UP ASKING FOR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If this were some sick American TV show Joseph would have been absolutely terrible to them all! He would have beat them, forced them to go through everything that he had gone through, and then sold them to be slaves.

But he didn't! Instead God gave him the grace to love and forgive, thus saving the entire line of Israel!

Then at their reunion, Joseph says these healing and wise words.

"I am Jospeh your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."

Genesis 45:4-8

You know, many people use this as a story of forgiveness, and it is. But, I also see it as a story about God's plan for our lives. He had it planned out ahead for Joseph to be in Egypt at the exact time when he was most needed. And because of that, Joseph saved the whole line of the Jews, and ultimately Jesus! What a great testimony!

Rebekah, That Good ole' Smack in the Face

You may be thinking "Oh my goodness, what happened to Rebekah?!" when you read the title to this blog, but by smack in the face I do not mean physical, I mean an awakening, an awakening of my spirit to be exact. I was having a rough time in school, I still am,not because of the classes, no not academically, just spiritually.

Something miss Tracy told me when I told her I had decided to go to Public school is that she could see me as being a light in the dark, some on God would use immensely. I just thought "oh that sounds great"! Little did I know that it would affect me this way. It's hard! I am a big chicken!

I don't mind talking to people at school most of the time, if their beside me or I know EXACTLY what to say, but for some reason it's harder when it means crossing the street to visit a neighbor I have been praying for, or even crossing the hallway to talk to a girl I don't know very well about something she told me, or worse, one I know really well.

I have cried numerous nights because I know I can't do it, I can NOT do it. It depresses me in every way if I get afraid to go talk to that one neighbor girl and then I realize that night that I probably directly disobeyed something God was calling me to do. I am so confused, so confused! I pray for a long long time when I feel especially sad or depressed. (Yes depressed. that hateful word, the one were you picture those black-and-white commercials where it talks about "could cause suicidal thoughts.. ask your doctor today".) But really it's not nearly as bad because Jesus loves me, It's more of on my knees crying and praying for God to forgive me, or praying for strength to do it next time I feel a calling, or praying for the person.

Ever since I was young I had so much compassion for people, compassion that can only come from the Lord. But I have NEVER been afraid to say or do what I know is God (and I've never been unsure if it was), ever. I don't know why but I just lock up and I feel sick, and I don't want to do it. I am confused because I don't know if it's of the Devil or not. I am confused because I pray for the strength and I don't feel strong when I feel this way.

Slap in the face #1:
I talked to my mother about this and she say's that she just prays until the feeling passes.
#2:
My mother also told me that God does not want me to be sad, he is proud of me even if I disobey him.
#3:
GOD DOES NOT NEED MY HELP TO BRING PEOPLE TO CHRIST
#4:
It might be something I need to do even if I don't want to.
#5:
How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news
and the love of the King.
#6:
How incredibly selfish for me not to try to help some one else into the kingdom of God.
#7:
If it is God I will know exactly what he wants.

So maybe this helped you today. Maybe It just helped me to write it out. But pray for me, pray that there will be more of God and less of me, or all God and none of me.

Jessica, New Design

Well! Here goes! How do ya'll like it? I thought that this would give the blog a nice...fall expression! :) Please tell me if anything is wrong or doesn't look right!

Adios!

Celina, Administrator

So thought that is would be fun to let diffrent people be the Administrator of this website for like a week at a time so they can like change the look of thid website and like do polls and stuff so I am going to go in alphabetical order of who gets to go first and stuff sooooooo.............. that would make Jessica first, Jess you can now change the look and stuff of the website so HAVE FUN!!!! the order that we will go in is (I am going by last name)
Jessica
Lydia
Olivia
Hannah
Nora
Rebekah
Grace

Celina, Vacation!!!!

I am going on vacation in 17 days!!!!!!!!! I am going to Destin, Florida with one of my Best Friends Olivia! We will leave on the 8th with the Olivia's family we will be gone for two weeks but Olivia and her family will go home after one week. I am soooooooooooooooo exited!!!!

Lydia, a Pslam

Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.
he law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Just thought I would post this Psalm. I really like it :).

Grace, What it Means to be a Teen

Teens, hmm, that word often leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Not only are we stereotyped as messy, irresponsible no goods who are only worried about boyfriends-girlfriends, cell phones, text messages and iPod's. But the terrible thing is that a lot of those things are true!

It is an awkward age. For boys, their voices are changing, they are often growing like weeds, and sometimes are just a little awkward.

For girls, we begin to not only look more like adult women, but we begin to feel the pressure of having to look "magazine cute" in order to get our value. A whole crushing wave filled with hair, make-up, clothing, smiling, laughing, be witty and entertaining at all times comes rushing in almost without warning.

Well, some people have kind of this philosophy that teens aren't really worth much, we eat to much, we smell bad, our voices are squeaky, us girls are way too dramatic, and we are really concerned about lots of little in-important things that feel stressful and imperative to us.

A lot of people think that the teen years just have to be suffered through, they are dreaded, and people can't wait for them to be over so that we can mature overnight when we hit 20 and then go off to college and become successful and wise.

Some teens have this idea that this is party time. This is when we get to act up, be childish, play and laugh, flirt and be coy, eat, drink, and be merry to put it simply. Do you now wonder why we are stereotyped?

I have a different philosophy, one that some very wise people share. Such as my father and mother, and the Harris boys. If you have not heard of them, or read their book, "Do Hard Things" then I recommend that you read it as fast as you can buy or borrow it, and that you visit their website. http://therebelution.com/

These boys have a different idea, that the teen years are a growing time, a learning time, a time to build character. These are the years when you are forming a lot of who you will be later, and if you form badly, it is going to take a TON of work to track back and regroup.

Now is not the time to play games, now is the time to learn, to grow, to ask questions and listen to older wiser people. Now is the time to keep your eyes and ears open, to read your Bible, to learn to love other people and love your family. Now is the time!

Yes, I know. Something kinda hits you about 12-13 is identity searching. I know, I have gone through a bit, nothing as horrible as some people do. I have loving parents who are deeply involved in my life and help me out a ton! I have a loving God Who's Word I read every day to help me out.

Since this is such an issue for teens, here are some identity-searching tips.

First of all, who am I in Christ? Well, Grace(myself) is a beautiful, loved, child of God with a heart to love. I may not always live that out, but in my Spirit that is who I am.

Second, I am smart. I have a brain designed by the greatest Designer of all times! I can conquer my daily school challenges, and I WILL conquer them, because I have to.

Third, I am beautiful. I may not be the prettiest girl in the world, and I don't know that I want to be. I know that my future husband will think me the most beautiful and that is good enough for me. But I am also beautiful on the inside, I may not be 100% internally gorgeous all of the times, but I am mortal and that is all that can be expected.

Fourth. Well, I may not be the funniest, I may not be the wittiest, I may not be the most athletic, I may not be the best singer, I may dance like a cat with the croup, and I may sing in the shower. But I am exactly WHO GOD MADE ME TO BE! And I was made to fit His predestined purpose for my life, so I shouldn't try to be different.

Fifth. I am here to serve for God's glory. I don't know what that looks like, how He has it arranged, and whether I will like it or not. But that is what I am about, I am His servant, and He is my loving master. So accept it.

Accepting who you are and what you are and speaking the truth out loud or in your head and heart really helps. We are made in God's image, and are valuable and precious to Him just the way we are.

Now that we have addressed the identity issue, let us continue.

Part of being a teen is growing into an adult, and hopefully a mature one.

Something that can be good to work on is relationships. Some of the most grown-up people I have seen are those that are loving and encouraging in their relationships. They are people that I want to be around, they are people that are going to get irritated over the slightest thing, they are people who are willing to walk the extra mile for someone, those are people who have worked on their relationship skills.

Something else adults do, is be realistic. They say, "How much money do I have to spend on this?", "Is this really going to benefit my future?", "Am I wasting my time when I could be doing something better?", "Is this really more important than that, do I really need to spend any time on that?", "What will benefit others beside myself?", "What can I reasonably get done in this amount of time without going into cardiac arrest(aka heart attack)?", "Is this relationship going to be good for me?"

Yeah, YIKES! They think things through, weight them, consider them, make important decisions, and then they have to experience the consequences, for better or for worse.

Help! I am only 14! Yeah, well I am only 14. And I am not telling you that you have to go on such a large scale like what life insurance to get, or what person to marry, or what career to follow. But a lot of those same questions we can apply to our less weighty problems and situations. If we learn to do it on a smaller scale, then we are more likely to succeed on a larger scale.

If all of what I have just spent a bunch of time writing is Arabic to you, this sums up what I am saying to you. Being a teen doesn't mean party time, or that you have to live like the stereotype. Being a teen means that you now turn your life from a more childish perspective, to a more grown-up one. That you start training now for your life ahead. You will not regret it.

Our world is full of immature grown-ups making childish decisions that are hurting other people's lives. I wonder if they had made different decisions as teenagers especially if they would have different results.

I bet so, and I hope and pray that we all can grow up as wise children of God who can help others in need and raise our children for His kingdom!