God is Love

A blog dedicated to helping others grow in faith and lead a Christ-driven life.

[youareloved54]

This app is great, esp. if you tend to spend more time on your phone than reading your bible (like me!). With this app, you can do both!😃 It has every translation imaginable, plans with specific topics, reminders/notifications, and (my personal favorite) a daily bible quote! One of the easiest and best ways to start off your day connecting with God is to use this quote as a cup of coffee per-say, to help jumpstart and energize your communication with Christ for the rest of the day. If you haven't downloaded it already, I'd highly recommend it! (P.S. It's free! Doesn't get much better than that!😉)

[youareloved54]

Soon to be 2015...what?!

I realized that over the years I haven't posted much on this blog. Whether it's insecurity of sharing my story or uncertainty of if it will bring others to God, I've realized that no harm can come from sharing God's love and light! Imagine how different things would be if Jesus curled up in fear or shame when others judged Him for being the son of God! And that's Jesus' life! A life so much more difficult than yours or mine. It made me ask myself who am I to selfishly keep God's work in my life and this world all to myself? God is meant to be shared and experienced with others and I hope that this blog helps bring God closer to you, or you closer to God. Because no matter what, He is there waiting - ready to forgive and love you and bestow you with His mercy. No matter the sin or life you've led, God is waiting and I hope to help others see God's magnificent grace through myself's and others stories, thoughts, lives, blogs, etc! So one of my many New Year's Resolutions is to use this blog to share Jesus with the world and glorify the King of Kings!☺️ Praise the Lord!💒

[youareloved54]

A picture I took while driving (not recommended!) and the clouds looked so beautiful! Despite the dark ones there was still light shining through. Once I got into town it started to rain, but the sunshine stayed the same. It reminded me that God's light shines through the darkest night, and His love overcomes any sadness! Praise the Lord❤️

[twloha]

You can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.

- Lupita Nyong’o

[youareloved54]

(via twloha)

[youareloved54]

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old fellow who always prayed, 'Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.' After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently. He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this...I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time; it's withstood a lot of weather; it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing. But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall. Then I got to thinkin about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time... I've withstood a lot of life's storms. I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times. Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't. So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.'

Unknown

[tocherishlove]

Experience: the most brutal of teachers. But you learn, by God do you learn.

C.S. Lewis (via tocherishlove)

[loves4free]

[youareloved54]

"Last evening I paused beside a blacksmith's door And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime. 'How many anvils have you had,' said I, 'To wear and batter all these hammers so?' 'Just one,' said he; then said with twinkling eye, 'The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.' And so, I thought, the anvil of God's Word For ages skeptic blows have beat upon; Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard, The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone."

John Clifford

(God will always prevail. He is unshakable!)

[lexiiiiilouu]

"Courage is fear that said its prayers."

General George Patton (via exposeherfaith)

(Never let your fear decide your fate.)

(I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -Philippians 4:13)

[youareloved54]

For those who suffer from anxiety, always remember this: if you have time to worry, you have time to pray! I'm someone who struggles with racing thoughts every waking moment! It feels like there's a little energizer bunny, well more like 10,000 of them, running around in my head! Sometimes it's hard to pray even though you want to, and sometimes it's hard to not pray with a worrisome manner. What's helped me is to 1) never worry about praying and whether you're doing it right or wrong, and 2) always pray for God to lead the way (for He knows best!) instead of praying for something you want/need. Recently I was in the hospital with a family member, and spent some late-night time in the hospital's chapel. I came across these wonderful pamphlets, and one talked about prayer! The author explained it beautifully, to paraphrase he said that 'prayer is doing things with the awareness of God's presence'. To me, that helped a great deal, because often times prayer was so official and holy! Yet it hit me that God isn't just up there, he's down here on Earth! So why wouldn't prayer be down-to-earth too?! I started to replace my worrisome thoughts with consciousness of God's presence! I try to always pray to Him rather than worry, because not only is it more worthwhile it's calming! God is peace and love and joy! So though it may seem impossible to never worry or a joke to think of God in the same room while you eat a PB&J and stress over life, try it! Start small, and stick to it! Doing things in awareness of God's presence is a small adjustment with huge results! It helps to eliminate worries and build a stronger relationship with the Lord! Most of all, remember that no-one is perfect. We worship a perfect God! He is perfect so we don't have to be. Let your worries be consumed by His wisdom and let Him lead the way. Prayer is a form of communication in your relationship with God, and worry a mere evil disabler. Ask God to lead you to Him instead of to your worries and wants and need. Because it all comes down to this: If you have time to worry, you have time to pray. You need not worry about anything anyways! Because if God is all you have, you have ALL you need! :)

[youareloved54]

[youareloved54]

8/16/13

Keep you chin up, kid

Head held high;

Keep those sorrow-filled eyes,

Towards the starry sky;

Because it doesn't matter,

if your feet are on the ground;

As long as your heart is with Him,

(have no worries)

He will keep you safe and sound <3

[youareloved54]

9/19/13

Today I started mentoring with E-! :) As always, I was nervous and not the best at talking wholeheartedly, but God helped us take the first step toward a mentorship that will last for years to come! :) It was especially hard to talk around the subject of my father. Which is okay! But one part stuck out to me and it was when we were talking about me being saved in NC, and she asked me 'was was it that made you turn your life over to Christ? Why did you become Christian?'. The answer immediately popped into my head, but I didn't have the courage to brave it and instead babbled on about some other stuff. But I've thought about it more and know how to put the memory, reason, and answer into words! The answer that had popped into my head was actually a memory - the memory of being saved by Jesus. It was when A- was holding my hands and told me that when my father died and was standing at Heaven's Gates, God would be before him, and He would ask my father of his sins and if he lied or had one trace of anger, anguish - evil - in his heart God would send him away. God forgives all sin, yet hates sin; He forgives sinners, yet hates their sin; He loves us and makes us new, and until we go and honestly lay ourselves and all our sins down before the cross, God won't settle. He is good, and pure, and He loves me. He will make my father pay for his own sins, I do not have to. He (God) is my Father now, and He will *never* abuse His power or put impurity in my soul. He has fixed my heart. I am loved and forgiven. Always. It is SO hard for me to say I am pure, so hard, but in Christ, I AM PURE! He is sorry, so I don't have to be, but I am. Because I feel fault and guilt and fear and responsibility. I did when I was saved, and I do daily in life. Still, when I worship My God, those feelings are gone and He is sorry. Not because He pities me or feels bad, but because He feels goodness and has been there holding my heart in His my entire life. He is sorry the Devil ever had a grasp on my heart, but He knows He has no fault. God is sorry in a way no-one else is, because He is sorry and will make my father pay when his time comes. That's what I mean by that! I digress. With that memory, and those reasons, I give my answer: I gave my life to Christ because He needs nothing more from me than myself to love and fill with His goodness. He love me, forgives me, stands by me, believes me (and in me), always. I am Christian, always. I am loved and forgiven. I am a Christian. I am no longer indebted to my fathers sins or my broken family, only to My Father (the King of Kings) and my broken heart. He is my home. In Him I find peace. In Him I find hope, and love. In Him I find myself. God finds me enough, and though I am not worthy, He gives me worth. I am old, ragged, and bruised. I come with a lot of baggage. I am a Christian. God makes me new. I am loved and forgiven. I am a Christian. I am Christian because He loved and forgave me, and that is more than I could ever ask for. :)

May all the Glory go to You, O lord! <3