Make A Choice

I’ve felt convicted lately. It’s taken some time to sort it all out, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it all boils down to my priorities. I’ve written about priorities several times; it’s an important topic! And yet, while I was fully aware of how important the subject of my posts was, I feel like I breezed over or somehow missed just how important it is.

When your priorities are out of whack, so is your life.

While trying to think of just what I’ve placed above God in my life, I suppose I could say almost everything. I didn’t purposely do so, but God slowly fell to the bottom of my list of priorities, and everything else rose to the top.

The funny thing is, I haven’t stopped praying, reading my Bible, going to church–any of those things. I just haven’t been putting as much effort or heart into them.

We have to make a choice. It can be summed up pretty easily: What’s highest on your list of priorities? Earthly things that promise temporary pleasure (and don’t always deliver)? Or God, who has promised to provide a place for us in heaven and can give us endless joy?

The answer is so obvious, it bugs me that I have to struggle with it!

Let’s be honest. Earthly things appeal to us, but they are temporary, and God is eternal. They offer brief pleasure, and God offers everlasting peace, love, and joy.

The answer is clear. The decision, the move to make our life actually match our answer–that’s difficult. But not impossible.

The God who raised His Son from the dead is always there for us. With His help, we can bring Him back to the center of our life.

Our life isn’t centered until He’s in the middle of it.

TTT

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I Hate Cliffhangers

I’d like to apologize in advance; this is not an ordinary post, but I had to let my frustration out somewhere.

Cliffhangers. I understand their purpose. I understand that it’s to get people to buy the next book in a series, or watch the next season/episode of a TV show. And I can bear them as long as the eventually reveal what happens. But unresolved cliffhangers? That’s just cruel.

Last week, while browsing through Netflix, we found a show called Persons Unknown. We immediately liked it. It had an interesting and unique plot, and it was relatively clean compared to all the junk you can find out there. It only had one season that was produced in 2010, and we found out it would be a cliffhanger about halfway through.

We finished the last episode about half an hour ago. Every new twist they added to the plot was horrible, knowing we’ll never find out what happens. This is the second time a TV series we like has ended on a cliffhanger in the past month.

Cliffhangers depress me. But if you’re looking for a good show to watch and you aren’t as bothered by cliffhangers as I am, I definitely recommend Persons Unknown.

That’s all for now,

-christrocks

Make Disciples

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

The passage above is the Great Commission: It is a command to spread the Gospel to everyone! But fear often prevents us from being the witness for Christ we could and should be.

Surrender

What does it mean to be surrendered to God? As Christians, we should be fully surrendered, but we are often only partially surrendered, if at all. We do this because we want to do things our way. We may pray “Your will be done”, but if we are not surrendered, we really want our will to be done.

So what is involved in being fully surrendered?

You always place God’s will above your own.

You sacrifice your own desires if they go against God’s will.

This goes beyond actions. Surrender mostly involves the heart. Does your heart desire God’s will above all things? If your outward actions make you appear fully surrendered, but your heart says otherwise, you are not surrendered at all.

To surrender is to give God control of your heart and your life.

Am I fully surrendered? I’d have to say no, but I can also say that being fully surrendered is what I want. I want to give my heart completely to God, and He’s guiding me to the place where I can do that.

Surrender. Give God control of your life.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

I’d like to share with you what I think are two of the most amazing worship songs ever. Please listen, and if you’re anything like me… well, let me just say that it’s okay to cry.

TTT

Second Chances

The God of second chances. I hear it all the time, and, well, it’s right. God has given us all a second chance. But if He were only willing to give us a second chance, I know that we would all be doomed.

Fact is, we mess up all the time. Just because we are saved doesn’t mean we no longer make any mistakes. And yet God is willing to forgive us over and over again. He is the God of thousands and thousands of chances. The God of mercy and unimaginable forgiveness. Why does He do this for us?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

TTT

The Deceiver

TV set. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons, and the themes would be something like “Believe in yourself” and “Follow your heart”. Cute idea, but bad advice for a Christian. Still, it’s how the world thinks, and it’s how kids growing up are told to think.

As I thought about this, the title of this post just popped into my head–the Deceiver. The devil’s the deceiver, right? We need to be aware that Satan uses tools to deceive us that are often a lot closer to home than we think.

“Follow your heart”. The phrase immediately brings to mind a verse, Jeremiah 17:9:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Going Nowhere Fast

Most people like to be independent. We don’t like being told what to do or how to do it, and we often don’t like it when we need help to do something. We’re stuck in this “I can do it myself” mentality. Being able to accept help, instruction, and correction from others is an excellent trait, but I’d like to look beyond that at another problem.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)

The Road to Recovery

Hi all, I’m back! Well, technically, I’ve been back since Monday, but today’s the first time I’ve felt up to getting on the computer.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your prayers. The surgery went really well; better than expected, in fact! The time at the hospital was really rough, but God was watching out for me.

I’ve been walking since Saturday (and I stood up not even twenty-four hours after my surgery), and I’m slowly getting stronger. I’m in pain pretty much all the time, but most of it’s been bearable; and when it’s not we have a supply of pain medication, though I’m trying to avoid taking too much. Mostly, I’m just tired of the pain, of the restricted movement, of not being able to lied down, get up, and sit down without help. No bending, twisting, or lifting. The other night I woke up, totally forgot about my back, and tried to sit up. Believe me, I needed pain pills pretty fast.

It’s going to be a long while till I’m back to normal, but I hope to be blogging frequently!

God bless,

-christrocks

Update

Surprised to be hearing from me so soon? So am I. Right now I am sitting at home in front of my computer, basically feeling miserable.

Today at the hospital everything appeared to be going smoothly. We’d done the paperwork and the nurses had drawn my blood, and I was sitting on a bed in a hospital gown. We were pretty much just waiting for the rest of the family to come in and say goodbye, and then I would go into surgery.

Obviously, that’s not what happened. After a few minutes, the doctor’s assistant came in and informed us that there was a problem with the screws (they were going to be putting rods and screws in my back) and that they most likely would not be able to do the surgery today. Later the doctor came in and said there had been a communication problem, apologized, and sent us home.

Needless to say, we were pretty upset that they’d waited until the last minute to even see if they had everything they needed. But it’s all in God’s hands, you know? I’m sure there was a reason we couldn’t do it today. I can think of a pretty good reason right now, in fact. Some time today, I started experiencing symptoms of a cold; I just hadn’t realized it since I’ve been having really bad allergies lately. So it’s a good thing: I wouldn’t want to be trying to recover from a surgery and a cold at the same time!

The surgery’s been rescheduled for Thursday. Thank you for your prayers so far and please continue to pray! And do pray that my cold disappears by then. I don’t think my nose can take much more of this!

God bless,

-christrocks

Please Be In Prayer!

Willow!!!

Today’s my last normal-ish day before the surgery. I say normal-ish because, well, it isn’t quite normal. My mom’s making calls to the hospital just to make sure we have everything right, my grandma and aunt are in town, and I’m spending my time cuddling Willow and Amber.

Please be praying that the surgery goes well, and that recovery goes well. Thank you and God bless!!

-christrocks