Thanks December 12, 2009

Dear God,

Thank you.

Thank you for silly socks

for wigs, to make people laugh

for amazing video skills

for late arrivals and good parking

for leaf-covered yards and leaf-piles

for rolled down windows

for singing whole-heartedly

for mistakes and forgetfulness that somehow make it better

for friends with strange obsessions

for mayo

for snickers vs. twix wars

for light saber battles

for unexpected calls “just because”

for sunshine

for goofy smiles

for bad pictures taken

for good laughs

for writing upside-down and sometimes backwards

for frantic calls

for good news

for tye dye spelled wrong

for accidentally matching

for movies about balloons

for non-existant birds

for caribou and meese

for stars

for the thought of snow

for leaf piles

for quirky habits.

Thank you.

Love Makes the World Go ‘Round October 19, 2009

I love strawberries.

They may be the best fruit made by God. Not only are they delicious by themselves, they can be cut up and put into a smoothie, they can become part of a fruit salad, or (my favorite) dipped in chocolate.

 

Love is similar. There are different forms of love and different ways to love.

 

Here are a few greek words for the different kinds of love:

• agape
• philos
• eros

Strange words to us, yes. But these words portray love as what it really is, not just the broad word that we associate with it.

 

Eros is a physical expression of love. It is only temporary, and is primarily based on physical attraction. Definitely a nice way to express love, but eros is surface level (when expressed without a philos foundation) and is not what we are focusing on today.

 

Philos is a bit deeper. This is your earthly love, the kind that forms a bond between friends, marriage, and family. Philos does have limitations and can even shatter the love between people. This love will not last without agape love, and is felt to varying degrees by every person.

 

Agape. This love is the most legit thing you’ll ever experience in life. Agape is the most perfect form of love, and God is the only one who can truly agape love. This love is characterized by all of the things mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13. Here’s the classic NIV version:

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷It always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸Love never fails.

 

These words express the fullness of agape love. They also reveal characteristics of God. Check it out:

 

⁴God is patient, God is kind.

He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.

⁵He is not rude, He is not self-seeking,

He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷God always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸God never fails.

 

Yeah, yeah. Whatever Lydia. Yay Jesus and all that.

Don’t worry folks, there’s more to it.

 

As followers of the Most High God, we are charged with the duty of doing our best to be like Jesus. Our goal should be to be as much like Christ as possible. It’s our calling, what we should strive for. Not only should we attempt to be like the only perfect person who walked this earth, we are called to be like Him. Within the first week of school, we were asked to write about our life’s philosophy. The primary content of that paper discussed my pathetic imitation of Jesus; how He loves people and I am called to do the same. That really is, I think, my goal in life: to be as much like Jesus as possible; to live nearly perfectly, to love wholeheartedly, to grow closer to my Father.

 

We should all be like Jesus. After all, we were made in God’s image. Why don’t we act like it?

 

We should not be conformed to the world, but to the likeness of his Son (Romans 8:29). Other verses encouraging us to be in the likeness of God are:

 

2 Corinthians 3:18

Galatians 4:19

Ephesians 4:13

Ephesians 4:22-24

 

Okay people, this is a hefty order. But I am definitely not asking you to be like him physically. You don’t need to master carpentry or wear a long robe or grow a beard. Simply be love. Because God is love. Simple, eh?

 

I love what the Message version says:

 

   Love never gives up. 
   Love cares more for others than for self. 
   Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. 
   Love doesn’t strut, 
   Doesn’t have a swelled head,
   Doesn’t force itself on others,
   Isn’t always “me first,”
   Doesn’t fly off the handle,
   Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

 

Legit stuff.

 

So how many times a day do you say the word “love”?

I love that band.

I love those shoes.

I love her.

I love food.

I love to sing.

The list could go on for pages and pages. But there are so many times during the course of twenty four hours that we say “I love this” or “I love that”. We need to be more careful about how much we say “love” and analyze whether or not we really actually mean it. Love has become such a surface level word; and when interpreted different ways it can mean an ambiance of different things and emotions.

 

Okay, so God’s love is the agape love mentioned before. The hard core, perfect love that none of us can truly achieve while living here on earth in these imperfect bodies. We just aren’t even capable of the kind of love that God asks of us. All love ultimately comes from God.

This verse is fantastic in its attempt to portray the love God has for us-by comparing the number of thoughts He has for each one of us with each grain of sand in the whole world!

 

Psalm 139:17-18

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
      They cannot be numbered!
 ¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
      they outnumber the grains of sand!

 

I’d say that’s a whole lot of lovin going on there. You think a lot about the people you love.

 

The way society depicts love is so skewed. Don’t believe in that junk. Live out the love that our Father has exemplified to us.

 

I read this in a book once. It’s like someone wrote their own version of the love verses in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love runs a marathon with blistered heels just to keep you company.

Love won’t take a break until you have what you need.

Love doesn’t get grumpy when you win the lottery but refuse to share a penny.

Love doesn’t act like a stranger just because you’ve got a big green booger in your nose.

Love, though perfect, isn’t full of itself.

Love doesn’t push itself into places where it is not invited.

Love never takes cuts in front of anyone.

Love doesn’t freak when you total your car.

Love doesn’t keep track of every single time you blow it.

Love doesn’t laugh when a jerk falls on his face.

Love doesn’t make the story bigger than it really is.

Love can be spat upon, beaten, murdered, and can still keep on loving.

Love trusts God implicitly.

Love sees the good even when you’re acting like a total loser.

Love doesn’t feel bad about what happened yesterday.

Love keeps running the until it reaches the end.

 

This is the standard that we must live by.

Living like that is living in God’s will.

Strive for that, my friend, and you will prosper.

–LEW

A Hastily Written Note: Time September 29, 2009

I sit here rushing, trying to finish this. I don’t have time for this right now. These precious moments I’m spending on this could be used for sleeping. So I apologize in advance for the awful writing I’m about to create.

But this is something that needs to be addressed. Especially since I struggle with it so much.

 

Time.

 

This tiny word sums up one of the most valuable things in our lives. We spend outrageous sums of money on it. We also don’t ever seem to have enough of it.

 

The older I get, the busier life seems to be. And my life is in slow motion compared to many other people I know. Somehow every hour of the day seems to be spent working on something, on doing something. There’s no time. Even for your average procrastinating high schooler. You’d think that we would wise up and spend less time procrastinating, and less time working. Nah. That’s not how it works. Especially for someone like me, who procrastinate by doing things that seem very important. For example, at this very moment, I am procrastinating. I have this wierd problem where I really don’t want to go to bed before ten. It’s just way too early. And I need to get this written at some point, right? Yes, I realized how warped this kind of thinking is.

 

Something I’ve always struggled with is making time for God. I go to mission trips and church camps and get fired up and tell myself that I’m going to read my bible every day. It usually lasts a week. Two if I’m lucky.

This is ridiculous. I can’t even commit time to my Father on a consistent basis.

 

It’s whacked. Think about it:

The God of the whole entire universe, who hears all of our thoughts, all of our prayers, and is everywhere at one time. Every second He’s welcoming new people into heaven, partying with His angels over someone who finally accepted Him, holds and comforts those of us going through rough stuff. All of this and so much more that we can’t even comprehend. All at one time.

God is doing all of that every second of every day for eternity, and I can’t even manage to spend five minutes talking to Him and reading His word?

 

Well, the bible does say that we need to chill out more:

 

Be still and know I am God.

 

Just be still.

 

Okay, that’s virtually impossible, but we do need to chill with God. Just like you make time for a friend, make time for God.

 

So how do we go about this? Well, I’m no expert. Like I said, I struggle with this just as much as the next person. But I do recommend getting daily devos sent to you via email (planetwisdom.com has good ones sent to your email daily), get a devo book if that’s how you roll. Journals are also great if you can actually keep it consistent. You can’t go wrong when you have accountability buddies. Having a friend bothering you and making you feel guilty always inspires spending more time with God. But seriously. Whichever thing you choose to do, get a friend who will remind you. A friend who will ask you what you’ve been reading in the bible lately. Someone who will encourage you. People like that are my favorite.

 

Look at this. When you spend time with God, He helps you out.

 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

 

Give it all to God, my friend. Talk to Him. He loves to chat.

 

God bless you, friend! Lean on Him, He’ll make your paths straight.

 

–LEW

Where are You, God? September 22, 2009

 

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?

Matthew 27:45-46

 

Have you ever experienced the feeling of being completely abandoned by God? You feel like He is not there. Like He has left you. Like He does not even give a care. It’s during that time that we feel utterly hopeless and heartbroken.

 

I remember that feeling. The feeling that I did not have anyone to go to. The feeling that I was completely abandoned. Of loss. Devastation. Hopelessness. It’s the worst feeling in the world, when you feel like you’ve finally hit rock bottom and you can’t imagine that there’s anything worse that could ever happen.

I remember that. I remember sitting on my bed, crying. Feeling broken, abandoned. And I was angry at God.

I remember, part begging, part pleading, part angry. Crying out to God; asking Him “Where are you, God?”

 

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

 

“Why did you abandon me?”

“What do I do now?”

“Where did You go?”

 

I know that each and every one of you have at the least felt a small degree of that feeling.

 

And check it. People in Bible times experienced this too:

John 11:32

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’.

Okay, not going to lie, this isn’t the most emotional moment, but there’s more to it. I promise, just stay with me here.

This was after Mary’s brother, Lazarus had died. She knew that Jesus could heal him, so she asked him for help days before Lazarus died. But Jesus didn’t come. He didn’t even show up. Not until after Lazarus had already been dead for days.

So, of course, when she sees Him, she wonders why Jesus didn’t show up. She has experienced the awful heartbreak of her brother, her friend, dying. She doesn’t question him. Contrasting with God’s style of answering questions with another question, Mary asks a question through a simple statement. Through that statement we can hear both a question: “Why?”, and an accusation “If you had been here…”

But Mary couldn’t see the whole picture. She couldn’t see into the future and see that Jesus was planning on healing Lazarus, that by bringing him back from the dead, Jesus would further display the awesome power of God. That by bringing him back from the dead, more people would come to believe in the most high God. And ultimately, that by bringing him back, Jesus was teaching us a lesson even today.

 

Every day, God hears questions like that from many of us.

 

But, my friend, it is OK to question God. Questioning Him brings us closer to Him, gives us an opportunity to lay everything out on the table and demand why God made it that way. There are so many times in the Bible where people question God. David asks, many times, where God is and why He abandoned him. The beginning of Psalm 22 is all about asking where God is, and how God doesn’t answer. Even Jesus, when he was dying on the cross, quoted Psalm 22 by asking God “why have you forsaken me?”.

 

One thing that we need to realize, though, is that God is there. He has His arms wrapped around us the whole time; through our kicking and thrashing and  crying. He is here. He is there. He, in fact, is everywhere. Not only that, but He has a plan.

 

There is a reason for everything. God often turns the greatest disaster that happens to us into something good. Many ask how there can possibly be a god when bad things happen. What kind of god would let his children suffer? What kind of god would let a family member die? What kind of god would allow awful things to happen?

 

A kind God; who loves us enough to give us the power to make our own decisions.

A God who has a plan that is so much greater than just one event, day, year, or decade.

A God who is deeply, madly, in love with you; who cherishes you and holds you in his arms. Who’s heart is broken every time you are hurt, heartbroken, or even scratched.

 

This same God is the One who created the earth. He created you. And created me. Who created everything good. Who created heaven. And the way to get there.

 

 Friend, He is always there for you. No matter what.

Isaiah 43:2, 4

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
   When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
   it won’t be a dead end—

That’s how much you mean to me!
   That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
   trade the creation just for you.

 

So even when everything seems hopeless, God is there. You may feel alone and abandoned, but God will never leave you, he will never forsake you. Life is tough, but my God can take it. He is the savior of the world, depend on Him and walk with him.

 

You are not alone.

 

–LEW

Paths, Truths, and Choices September 3, 2009

I’m sure that y’all have all read the poem by Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken, also commonly known as the Road Less Traveled. I think that I would like that poem, except I was forced to over-analyze it in 8th grade…

Anyways, it talksabout two roads and how this guy is travelling and has to choose one of them. It describes the two roads: one of which was clearly the most popular-with a well worn path. I think if the poem was written today, the road wouldn’t be described as “And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth”. Nowadays, it would be more like “I looked down the first road, where trash and scum gently lay”. But anyways, that was the first road. The second seemed much less travelled, because  the “leaves no step had trodden black”. My friend Robbie Frost ends up the poem with his ever famous lines “And I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”.

But Robert, what happened next? What was the road like? Was it rough, with wild animals and monsters trying to eat your head off? Was it calm, with beautiful butterflies and all sorts of wood-creatures who came to assist you down the path? Were there lightning storms? Fire swamps? Rodents of Unusual Sizes? Or was it gorgeous, with lovely flowers and little fairies dancing in the moonlight? Was there sunlight all day? Without a cloud in the sky?

What was it like, Robert?

What happened?

That’s the thing. He doesn’t tell us. Which may be the real reason why I don’t like the poem as much as I would have otherwise. Suspense is great in books, but only when there’s a sequel coming.

Guess what, folks? We have many opportunities to choose paths, like my friend Robert did. We have many tough decisions. I remember toward the end of Freshmen year, my english teacher was complaining about how at least 3/4ths of us had written a particular paper on the same exact thing. We were asked to describe a difficult choice, about the process of making the decision and how it was resolved. Well, of course, give that prompt to a bunch of idiot freshmen and what do they initially think of?

“An important decision that I had to make was when I had to choose between taking German and French”.

That, what you just read, is the pitiful thesis that my poor teacher had to read over and over and over again.

Ridiculous.

All that to say, we make so many choices, even throughout the course of 24 hours.

What should I eat?

What should I wear?

How should I do my hair?

Should I drive down this road or that one?

Should I obey the law of “no cop, no stop” or not?

 

You get the idea.

 

Withall of these choices comes another question. Is there absolute truth?

I remember having an argument discussion in my English class about this.

I believe in absolute truth.

Many do not.

As a believer in Christ, you must (I think) believe in absolute truth. If not, then everything we believe is idiotic. There is wrong, and there is right.

For any of you who do NOT believe in absolute truth, imagine this conversation with me:

 

Sam: “Look, the sky is blue!”

Jane: “No it’s not, idiot.”

Sam: “What are you talking about? The sky is definitely blue, jerk-face. Unless your truth is that the sky is some other color.”

Jane: “Well, I believe that the sky is red. And don’t call me names, it’s rude.”

Sam: “I can call you whatever I want, because my truth is that it’s not rude to call people names.”

 

That may be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever written…

But for reals, it says in the Bible that “I [Jesus is talking here] am the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). That means that there is only one way to get to heaven.

 

Anyways, back to the subject of choosing stuff.

What do you base your decisions on? Yourself? What you want? That’s the case with most of this world…we’re all so selfish. What we should do, when trying to decide something, is consult God. I mean, He definitely knows what you are going to do before you do it. Heck, He knew what you are going to do five years from now before you were even born. Talk to God before making any decisions. Make sure He gives you the okay before taking action.

 

And don’t just ask Him. Listen to Him. Do what He says.

 

Come on, it’s God we’re talking about.

Check out the book of Proverbs. Like, the whole book is about how you should seek wise council, be patient, listen to others. It’s the book of wisdom.

When you are about to make a really important decision, who do you ask for advice?

Do you ask anyone for advice?

What you need to do, friend, is find a couple of people that you really trust. People you respect. And who can keep their mouths shut if you need something to be confidential. Find someone who is wise. Someone who won’t give you the answer you’re looking for, but the one that may hurt you. Find a couple people like that. You won’t be disappointed.

I was just flipping through Proverbs (as I should, since I told y’all to read it) and came across this: Proverbs 3:6 “in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Yeah, I totally just now found that verse…and wrote that stuff about the two roads that Robert Frost talked about like 30 minutes ago. Cool stuff. See, if you ask God about what to do in every situation, He will “make your paths straight”, which I think is saying that He will help us out and make the road a little easier.

We don’t need to be worried about what’s coming down the road. We’ve got the Lord of the universe on our side.

 

God bless you and keep you safe in this crazy life we’re living in.

–Lydia

Roses are Red August 20, 2009

Roses are red, violets are blue, flowers are pretty, and you are too!!!

It’s true.

Ever since middle school or elementary, nearly every girl in this society has become obsessed with a desire for acceptance and have obtained this desire to be truly beautiful. It’s true, don’t deny it. If you are a female, you know that this is true. Something else is true, too. You are beautiful.

That is truth.

Very few of you actually believe it.

If you are like me, you probably just rolled your eyes. And you may be thinking that I’m really overrated right now.

Now please excuse me while I get atop my soapbox and prepare to preach.

 

You, yes you. Sitting there reading this. You are a beautiful creation made by the God of the whole entire universe. Here’s how it first got started. God created you. In His image.

In His image.

 

What are some words that come to mind when you think of God?

Majestic.

Holy.

Strong.

Accepting.

Gentle.

Handsome.

Beautiful.

Perfect.

There are bajillions more, but that’s just a small list to help you out.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.

So you and I were created in His image. Which means that you are created to be all of the things listed above. AND it gets even better.

Genesis 1:31

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

You were created by God, and you are also a very good creation. You were created beautiful. Don’t think any different. When you look in the mirror, do you focus on the good or the bad? When you see yourself and point out the bad things, its like a slap in God’s face.

I hate my zits.

I hate my hair.

I should be thinner.

I’m too pale.

Each of those thoughts, and any others that you may have that degrade yourself is like a slap in the face to God. You’re pretty much telling God that what he created isn’t good enough. That he messed up.

It’s not like you were conceived and God went all like “oops! Didn’t see that one coming…I guess I’ll just fix her up real fast. Man, I hope she turns out all right…”.

 

Um. No.

 

God doesn’t make mistakes.

 

Everything He created was created for a purpose.

 

That means you.

 

You have a purpose. Before you were born, or even thought of, God knew you. Before you took your first breath, God set you apart for a specific purpose. Check this out: no one else can fulfill the purpose that God has set for you.

 

You are necessary.

 

You have a purpose.

 

You are unique.

 

My friend, do you love yourself? I hope and pray that you do, because if God loves us, we must learn to love ourselves. Otherwise we cannot love others, and thus cannot obey the most important commandment, to love others and to love God.

When you look at yourself in the morning, stand up straight, look yourself in the eye, and say to yourself “Dang girl, you look good today!” Do it. Right now. Get your butt out of that chair, stand up, get in front of a mirror. Do it. Believe it.

Did you know that David did that? I doubt that he actually stood in front of a mirror and told himself that he was a good lookin fellow. However, in Psalm 139:14 (you knew that verse was coming, didn’t you?) David was letting God know that he did a good job. He was celebrating himself. “I thank God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. That’s David’s way of saying “God, you did good with me!”

Another thing: don’t just know that you are beautiful. Don’t just know that God created good when He created you. Don’t just know that you have worth. Don’t just know that God loves and adores you.

You need to believe it.

I know that I have flaws. Heck, I could look in the mirror right now and point out a zillion things that are “wrong” with me. But I believe that God created me to be beautiful. And I try not to focus on the bad. You are your own worst critic. I know that I am. Your friend may look at you and see all this greatness, but when you look at yourself, you see all the ugly, awful stuff that no one else notices.

 

Focus on the good.

 

Even if there’s only one thing about your appearance that you think is alright, focus on that one thing. Your eyes, your hair, your skin, your height, your shoe size, whatever. But you need to find that one thing.

Focus on it.

Dwell on it.

Think positive.

Then you’ll be alright.

You are a gorgeous, wonderful person, we’ve established that. But now its time for the inside. Time to see what’s on the inside, beneath the skin, where few ever go. (You knew that this part was coming too, didn’t you?)

The inside of your spirit, your soul, your attitude, your thoughts, who you really are, that is the most important part.

Honestly, I didn’t always believe this. I still don’t sometimes. But bear with me.

1Peter 3:3-5

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

If you don’t have a beautiful heart and a beautiful spirit, what do you have when you are older and your outward beauty has faded?

 

Okay, now picture two girls in your head for me.

The first:

Pretty, possibly gorgeous. Nice clothes, bod, and skin. Amazing hair. Everything you could ever want. Popular, too.

But she’s the biggest jerk you ever met. A mean, rude, and crude girl.

Attractive? I think not.

The second girl:

Plain, nothing special about her appearance. Average in every way, with imperfections and flaws like the rest of us.

But she has the sweetest, kindest spirit, with a good attitude, and she’s genuine.

The second girl, she is beautiful.

 

Check this out:

1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

 

The world looks at someone and says that they are useless.

God looks at the same person and uses them to do something great.

 

One last thought:

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, and he will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

The LORD rejoices for you. It’s not like God is just up there in heaven, looking down on us and sitting in this big throne: “Wow, I’m glad Sally is alive down there.”

Nope.

God’s up there with a big grin on his face, dancing in circles and laughing because he is so in love with you.

 

Psalm 45:11

The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.

Rewind. What?

Yeah, you heard that right.

The King is enthralled with your beauty.

God, creator of the universe, all powerful, all knowing, and all mighty. That same God is enthralled with YOUR beauty, my friend.

 

You are beautiful.

May God bless you and keep you safe in the days, months, and years to come.

Your sister in Christ,

Lydia

Hello world! August 20, 2009

Hi. It’s me. Check back with this site every so often…if everything goes as planned I’ll be adding more rantings and ramblings soon.

God bless.

–Lydia