The unexpected pregnancy

Dear readers,

When it come to the saying “expect the unexpected” I think that it could definitely be applied to Mary, the Lord’s mother. See she was just an ordinary girl who happened to be engaged to a man named Joseph. But the moment that changed her life forever was when the angel showed up and told her that she had found favor with God, and she was going to give birth to a son that was going to save everyone from the sins of the world. I mean talk about the unexpected, right?

 I really can’t imagine what was going through her head, but how she handled this unexpected pregnancy was so good.  In fact while she was being visited by the angel that God sent to her, she responded by saying this in Luke 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant, May it be to me as you have said. Then the angel left her.” That’s one wonderful response if you ask me.

 She allowed God to use her in carrying his only son so that everyone he would meet later on in life would see all of the miracles and listen to the one and only true savior of this world that we live in. Hope this was a encouraging post for you all. God Bless. 

The best gift ever

Dear readers,

As the Christmas holiday is approaching we all tend to get caught up in all of the many things that we need to do. One of those particular things is getting presents for all of our loved ones. We always want to make sure that we get the best present ever for them, that way when they open it they have a joyous look on their face. But because of all the hustle and bustle we lose sight of what happens to be the best Christmas present ever,  and that’s the birth of Jesus. Why? Well because it’s the best news to all of us that the best gift is a savior who is going to save everyone from the sins of the world.

 If you really put in some thought into this, when we spell Christmas it has “Christ” in it. I remember when I was in the third grade my teacher was talking about just that. I always try to make sure that I remember that when Christmas comes around. We all forget about that because we are constantly trying to get all the presents wrapped in time for Christmas morning. 

 We all need to remember that the best present is a child born in a manger where animals hang out. That’s  something to think about  too. So I really would like for all of us to keep that in mind this Christmas season.  The best present ever isn’t some new gadget or a new outfit but an actual savior who saved people from the wrongs of the world that we live in. I hope that this was a encouraging post for you all. God Bless. Bye. Merry Christmas to you all. 

Witnessing

Dear readers,

We know that before the Lord left the earth he said to us “Go into the all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). So when he says this to us he basically is saying he wants us all to tell the good news and freedom people can have in Christ. Doing so is to witness to them. Now for some of you reading this it might not be very easy because we tend to say the wrong things while having the best intentions for them. However things can go wrong and not end well. 

See there is a right way to witness to people and there is a wrong way to do it. One of the many ways that we can witness the right way to people is to develop a good friendship with that person and then introduce them the Lord in a way that they can understand, it without saying certain things that could go over their head.  However keep in mind that when you’re witnessing that you shouldn’t say it in a way that sounds like a sales pitch,  because that is not what true witnessing is. 

Also you want to make sure to remember when you are trying to witness to someone that it’s the Holy Spirit that will draw them to the Lord and not you. We all need to trust the Lord and the Holy Spirit to work in that person’s  heart so that when they accept Christ as their Savior things will work out for them. Keep in mind that it takes time for some people to get to that  point and it won’t be easy either, so just trust in God when you’re witnessing to that friend who has yet to know Jesus. I hope that this was a encouraging post for you all. God Bless. Bye. 

Bad words

Dear readers,

I know for a ton of us struggle with swearing. The urge to say that one bad word or terrible insult. It’s a constant battle inside of all of us. Truth be told before I was truly saved I swore at someone. After I did this a enormous amount of guilt came over me. I felt like I really made God angry and disappointed in how his little girl behaved. 

I also thought of what my parents would say if they found out that I said those horrible words. So I never told my parents that I swore for years, until I found myself in a good place to say something about it. 

It feels so good knowing that I don’t swear anymore and I know for a lot of you it’s hard to not want to swear. But you’re doing the right thing by not doing it. That’s the Holy Spirit working in you.

 Here’s the real deal: the thing is that what you’re saying reveals a lot about what’s going on in your heart. Luke 6:45 says “The good man brings good things our of the good stored up in his heart and evil man brings evil thing our the evils stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” So try to keep that in mind when one has the urge to swear. God bless you guys. Bye. 

Blog #13 Friendships

Dear Readers,

Don’t we just love having a good group of friends that we can count on? Being able to talk about whatever we want with those people. It sure feels wonderful, doesn’t it? But the thing is, friends will come and go in life. If you have a good group now,  but said group starts to break apart,  then that’s just a natural phase for a lot of people. 

Also, never ever compromise who you truly are just to make others happy. Proverbs 29:25 says “Fear of man will prove to be snare, but whoever trust in the Lord is kept safe.” So what that is basically saying is you should never have the ‘real you’ get trapped in someone’s expectations of the life you have. However when you have a solid group of God-fearing people in your life who will care for you, pray for you, and show you so much love, then you are set. I know myself that I have such wonderful friends who care for me and, most importantly, love God. Bye. 

Blog 12 Mental Health

Dear readers,

There are tons of you out there that could be going through something like this. From depression to anxiety and much more. I personally have never really dealt with something like this. But I am here to give you some encouragement to help you all get through it. For some of you reading this I want you to know that YOU ARE LOVED. God understands what it’s like because he endured sorrow and many tears before he had to die on that cross. 

Also you shouldn’t feel like it’s your fault because this is your body’s way saying it needs help. The Lord is here for you and is here to comfort you. In Psalms 62:5-8 it says this “Find rest, o my soul, in God alone; my hope come from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; his my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God, he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, o people; pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge”. 

What that is basically is saying that you can find rest for yourselves when your feeling this way. You can find the healing that you need too. Remember this GOD LOVES YOU and like I said at the beginning of this post YOU ARE LOVED. Also remember God is much bigger than anxiety, depression and many other things. Have a blessed day. Bye. 

Blog 11 Fitting In

Dear Readers,

Like most teens or young people we all want to fit in with the cool crowd at school. We all want to be noticed by that really cute guy or we all tend to want to be with the popular people. But the thing is that when it comes to fitting in everyone should never have to compromise or change who they are just so they can fit in. 

See when it comes to being popular it’s not all it’s cracked up to be because once high school ends, well what comes next for that said person? Who knows what could happen to them in the next few years but I want you all to keep in mind that when you’re dealing with this issue that you should find good and God-fearing friends who are going to be there for you and pray for you. 

At the end of it all most of the cool people tend to do things that aren’t good and it will only lead you astray from the real friends that actually care about you. So in the end of the day don’t stress about trying to fit in because with the Lord’s help he will lead you to some really great friends. Hope this was a encouraging thing for you all to read. God Bless. Bye. 

Blog 10 Growing Spiritually

Dear readers,

I know for some of you growing in a spiritual sense can be hard or it may seem that the desire isn’t there. Well I know for me spiritually growing was something I dealt with and in some ways still am. Because the thing is that a person could grow up their entire life being a Christian, going to church, youth group, and such but that person would still be a spiritual baby. It takes effort to grow spiritually and I know for me starting to do that once I recommitted to Christ and took my faith seriously I began to feel pretty good.

 At first it felt like something you would put on your to-do list but after awhile God gives you that burning desire to grow in him. Boy it sure feels good doesn’t it? The Bible says in Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Which is saying that it’s God alone that can give  you this desire to grow in him everyday of your life. Once you get that fire to grow in the Lord things are going to look good for you. Must go. God bless. Bye. 

Blog #9 Worshipping

Dear readers,

Now I know a ton of you just really love to worship the Lord in church, myself included. You have that one song that really gets to you in so many ways that nothing else could. What do you guys picture when you worship the Lord? Well I know for me I see the Lord being pleased by the worship we all give him. I see a smile on his face too. Anyway when it comes to worshiping God I bet most of you will say singing if the most common thing. But there are other ways to worship that just singing, it could be by what you give or reading the word too.

 In the Bible John 4:24 says “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth”. Now that is something we’ll need to keep in mind while one worships. However the thing that does get to me is that nowadays when I have gone to visit other churches and we go into the sanctuary I always see a huge concert type stage and it looks like I’m at some concert and not worshiping God. I don’t need some big production or huge mega church to worship the Lord. All we need is to be spiritually connected when one worships the Lord. I must go now. Bye. 

Blog #8 Being Prejudiced

Dear readers,

Something like being prejudiced towards someone that doesn’t necessarily look or dress like you isn’t good. We all are God’s children no matter what we wear, background or even our social status is in life. These are some lyrics from a children’s song that I know and it may sound absolutely ridiculous by posting the lyrics but if you really think about it does have a really great meaning to it. Some of you may have sung this in church when you were little. It’s Jesus loves the little children. 

“Jesus Loves the little children

all the children of the world. 

Red, brown, yellow, black and white 

they are precious in his sight.” 

Yeah like I said i know it sounds so weird having to read these lyrics and ask what does this song have to do with the topic of prejudice? Well I will tell you how and that’s the line of red,yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight because it goes to show you that he loves all of his children no matter what they look like. He loves them just the way they are.

 Also in the Bible Galatians 3:28 says this “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female for you are all one in Christ.” That’s something to really think about and next time you see someone that you would not talk to on a normal basis try to start a  conversation with them and you may never know what could happen. They could become your best friend or even your future spouse. You just never know until you try it. God bless you all. Bye. 

Blog #7 Can God use me?

Dear readers,

I know for everyone of you reading this ask yourself this very question. What is my purpose in life or can God really use me? Most of us think that, no, he can’t use me and we make a list of a million excuses as to why he can’t use us. That said list would just go on and on and never end, but the real answer is yes he can use you to further along spreading the gospel to people to have yet to hear it. 

For example, Jesus’ disciple Matthew is someone who you would never have thought that he would become a disciple because he was a tax collector and people did not really like him. He would later on become a man who left that life and followed the Lord. I am sure that Jesus had many reasons as to why he chose Matthew and I think that one of those reasons could be to show us that no matter what life he had, once the Lord entered his life it changed for the better. He then would become one of the well known biblical figures that we know today. 

Another example would be Peter, another one of the disciples of the Lord. He was a simple fisher man until the Lord came and said to him, “follow me.” It’s crazy to think about how many ways that a once former fisher man and tax collector would then leave that said life and spread the gospel to the people that needed to hear it. So the next time you ask yourself, can God use me, the answer is a huge yes. You just need to let him show you how. God Bless. Bye. 

Blog #6 Idols

Dear readers,

Now you have heard it said that you shall not bow down to  idols. It’s one of the Ten Commandments that the Lord gives us to follow. But the thing is people tend to turn from that and start to worship other gods that aren’t Jesus. Now Jesus makes it very clear that worshiping other gods is wrong. In Exodus 20:3-5 it says “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath of in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me”. 

Basically it’s saying that one should never worship a object that isn’t going to do anything for you. All it will do is just sit around and collect dust and it won’t love you, give you grace and mercy that Jesus does. Also, idols didn’t die on the cross for your sins either or rise from the dead on the third day. Those things were done by Jesus and not a man-made object. So let me ask you this would you rather worship a man-made object or an actual living God that loves you no matter what you have done? God bless you all. Bye. 

Blog #5 Materialistic

Dear Readers,

Like all of us out there we are constantly seeing a ton of advertisements for so much stuff. From the latest model of cars, the newest iPhone from Apple, the newest model of cars and beauty products you name it. It’s everywhere we look and in some ways it’s nice to have those said things but in a few years something newer and better will be coming along and taking it’s place. 

There are a lot of us who would just love to have it all. But the big problem with that is no matter how much you spend just to get that newest item you will never be satisfied at all. So keep this in mind that the things on earth won’t last forever. Don’t ever set your heart on all of the materialistic items of this world. 

1 John 2:15-17 talks about just that. It says this “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For everything in the world -the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the father but from the world. The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever”. That’s something to really think about too. God bless you guys. Bye

Blog #4 Is God really there?

Dear Readers,

This particular topic is one of many that we as believers deal with all the time. The good old question of “is God really there” or “does He really care”? I know for a lot of us we ask that all the time, myself included. I know for a lot of you it seems like He doesn’t care when He actually does. In fact, He cares about you so much it’s insane to me. For example He cares so much about you that He gave up His only son to die for you. He took the wrath of all sins for all of us. He was on that cross dying for all of the people so everyone could be with Him. I know it’s crazy to believe but it’s true. He truly love you and cares about you. In fact in 1 Peter 5:7 it says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”. Just remember that always. Bye. 

Blog #3 Am I good enough?

Dear Readers,

I know that many of you tend to ask this question to yourself. Am I pretty? Am I good enough? We tend to ask ourselves this because it seems that the world we live in will tell us, "no" that we aren’t pretty and will never be good enough at all. But I know that it’s not the case because the Lord Himself made you the way He saw fit. He created you as a work of art and yet we often tend to think the opposite, that we look weird or I need to lose weight to fit in and the list continues to grow and we lose sight of what is really important. That God who created this whole earth loves you the way you are. You are all children of God and He would never want you to destroy the masterpiece that He made you and me to be. In the Bible Psalms 139:13-14 it says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well.” So next time you ask that question of, Am I pretty or good enough? The answer is a huge, "YES!" You're a work of art. God bless. Bye. 

Blog #2 Failure

I know for a lot us that the word failure isn’t our favorite. In fact the definition of failure is this lack of success, an unsuccessful person, enterprise, or thing. Talk about something we don’t want to hear. But the thing about failure is that it’s not final. A lot of people tend to learn from failing all the time. Some of the most famous people today learned from failing - Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others too. They all had failures trying to get their stuff made. But the end result was good because they didn’t give up. Anyway, when you fail at something know that you can talk to God about it and keep it all in perspective. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not for men.” What it’s telling you is that when you fail at something, it could be that you’re not putting in enough effort or perhaps God is calling you to something better. So embrace the better.  I hope this was encouraging to you all. 

Blog #1 My Story

Hey guys, I am here to tell you my story about how I came to know the Lord and how I became the better person I am today. So here goes, you might want to grab a drink of water because because we are going to be here awhile. 

How should this story start, oh I know... Once upon a time, no that’s too fairy tale like. I am one of three kids and I grew up in a very Christian household. I have a pastor for a father and teacher for a mother. So growing up I went to church every Sunday. I have heard every bible story you can think of from Noah to the creation of the world. Crazy right? Well as I got older I began to get pulled away from that and started to become more like the world than of what God wanted me to be. I guess you can say I started to run away from Him and when I entered middle school things got rough because I wasn’t really fully committed to Jesus. Because I loved Him but I wasn’t reading the word or growing in His word. Those years taught me so much and I shall tell you now.  Well like many of us all we want to do is fit in with the cool people. I remember a certain group of girls and they seemed to be nice. Well I started to sit with them in art class. Next thing I know I was saying things that were not good at all. I realized that these girls were not my friends at all. From that experience I have learned who my true friends are. 

I actually do have some really amazing friends today and I am grateful for that. I tell this because when it comes to friendships keep this in mind. Friends will come and go in your life. I truly thought those girls were my friends at the time because I did not have any friends except for one but she was at a different school. 

Anyway when you're having some  problems with friends, like they start to exclude you or something, remember this verse. Psalms 62:5-8 says “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, o people; pour out your hearts to Him for God if our refuge.” I keep this verse in mind to this day. It’s been helpful to me in the past few years.

Anyway, once those girls were out of my life forever, all I wanted to do was just pass middle school and move on like some of us today in some ways. Well when middle school ended I entered high school. Now high school for me was fine I guess. 

But I was still not fully committed to God at that time. See I was one of those people that would go to things from vacation bible school, young life and youth group. Yeah, I did it all and I was also one of those who had the Bible just to have. I never read it growing up really, I would only carry it to church only to put it back on my shelf for the rest of the week till Sunday came. I never really studied it, until now that is. It only took until after high school that I really needed Jesus in my life. 

See, I had this realization maybe I was not truly saved and I did not want to spend the rest of my life suffering and going to hell instead of heaven. So I recommitted myself to the Lord. Let’s just say it feels so wonderful knowing that I have a relationship with the One who created the whole world. From fish of the sea, stars in the sky, grass on the ground and many other things. 

Now and days I read the Bible everyday and it feels great in so many ways. Now let’s get one thing straight, being a Christian isn’t easy. There are costs to it and people that you know will try to get you away from Him, but I tell you this because you shouldn’t give up. Focus on the Lord always and read His word and things are going to be ok. 

I know that for myself because before I thought I did not need Him. But it turns out I really can’t live without Jesus in my life. I would just be a lost sheep wondering where her loving shepherd is. Before God we all tend to run away from thinking that we could all do our own thing when it comes to friends, family, relationships, the list goes on and on. Well turns out, we really can’t. Jesus loves us all and wants to be in a relationship with you. 

I know that He truly loves you too and if you let Him in your life things will turn out well for you. How you may ask? Well from recommitting to the Lord whole-heartedly things looked up for me. I now have a really cool job, a car that works and true friends who truly care about me. Not to mention I have a really amazing church family too. 

Well I guess that’s the end of this story. Just remember that the Lord loves you. Bye. 

John 3:16 “For God so Loves the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”