God is Good!

Today I was praying to God about a lot of different things but mostly about how much of a failure I am in living a life honouring to Him. I live life as if it is all about me and the things that I do each day. Well, despite my discouragement this morning, God certainly came through and spoke very clearly to me and this is what He showed me...

Psalm 107

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

² Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
³ those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.^[a]

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
⁶ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
⁷ He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

¹⁰ Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,
¹¹ because they rebelled against God’s commands
and despised the plans of the Most High.
¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
¹³ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
and broke away their chains.
¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.

¹⁷ Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food
and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of his works with songs of joy.

²³ Some went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.
²⁴ They saw the works of the Lord,
his wonderful deeds in the deep.
²⁵ For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves.
²⁶ They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
in their peril their courage melted away.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunkards;
they were at their wits’ end.
²⁸ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea^[b] were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.

³³ He turned rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,
³⁴ and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
³⁵ He turned the desert into pools of water
and the parched ground into flowing springs;
³⁶ there he brought the hungry to live,
and they founded a city where they could settle.
³⁷ They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a fruitful harvest;
³⁸ he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
and he did not let their herds diminish.

³⁹ Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
⁴⁰ he who pours contempt on nobles
made them wander in a trackless waste.
⁴¹ But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
and increased their families like flocks.
⁴² The upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked shut their mouths.

⁴³ Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.

Do I need to say anymore? God is soo good! It was not just coincidence that this passage was in my devotions this morning. This was my Heavenly Father showing me Himself in a personal way! I love You LORD!

A New Perspective

You know those Bible passages that you read once and in the moment you're like, "Oh that's good stuff! I should remember this!" Then later, when you really need the encouragement from the passage you can't seem to recall it? Well I've been reading "Conformed to His Image" by Kenneth Boa lately and let me tell you, there are a lot of good Bible passages referenced in there! I was really discouraged these past couple of weeks with my relationship with God, I was not focused on Him, I was being ungrateful and discontented. I was failing to recognize or acknowledge how good God is! One quote that I read this morning that I want to highlight from Boa's book is, "Our daily choices shape our habits, and our habits shape our character. Our character in turn guides the decisions we make in times of stress, temptation, and adversity. In this way, the godly actions of maturing believers are outward displays of increasing inner beauty." But one of the most important things that I often forget is that life isn't about me! I just cannot believe how much God continues to pour out His blessing on me even though I am so unfaithful! I may be on another spiritual high for now but I know that God is always working and he will continue to do so! :) Praise the LORD!!

Declare Tour!!

I just finished a two week tour with a tour team called Declare. We travelled across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba visiting different churches, hangin with the youth and representing our school. It was a great time with nine members packed into a fifteen seater van; needless to say we felt much like a big family at the end of our tour. It's hard to stay focused on ministry when you're feeling tired and the days are non-stop but God is good and He sustained us all. God blessed us with excellent billets, safe travels, and encouragement. Often it felt like we weren't doing much for the people we visited but many people said that they were blessed by our team and wanted to have us back sometime. I think that it was a great way to end off my last year of Bible College. Thank you team! You were all wonderful and I really appreciated getting to know all of you and serving alongside you!

The Journey of a Girl

Once upon a time, there was a 15 year old Christian girl named Jessica. Now this girl had a dream. She was going to begin dating a Christian boy when she was 16 and then marry that boy and they would live happily ever after together. Jessica thought that her dream was ideal and perfectly possible. But she overlooked a couple of details...

1. God was in control.

2. She had to wait for a good Christian boy to ask her out.

Now fast forward to the Summer. Jessica made a good guy friend. Her first close guy friend, in fact. He treated her like all her friends treated her. They texted each other, saw each other at church, and even began phoning each other while Jessica was babysitting. Jessica got to know this guy pretty well and she shared a lot of deep emotional things with him and he shared back equally. This attention that Jessica was getting thrilled her, she was floored that this guy would want to be her friend and spend so much time chatting with her. In fact, Jessica spent so much time chatting with and texting this guy that her parents began to wonder about this friendship. They suggested that Jessica stop using her phone to communicate with this guy for awhile. She really did not like that idea and neither did the guy but they listened...for only two weeks and then they were back at it full force. By this time Jessica was 16 and things got really deep and this guy soon wanted to date Jessica, but when he asked her Dad...

Jessica did not really know the details of what happened but she was soon in tears hearing the apologies of this guy who was once one of her closest friends. She never saw him again after that...

Jessica's dream came crashing down and as she finished high school at age 17 and headed off to Bible College, she was determined to chase after God and guys would not get in her way. She did not think God wanted her to have a boyfriend for a long time anyways.

During her first year Jessica got to know lots of great people and even had a few good guy friends whom she was determined to treat as her brothers in Christ and nothing more. Yes, she was liked by a couple of guys but she was not ready for a serious relationship and she only saw these guys as solid brothers in Christ (and she still does). She found herself quite distracted from God by a few guys and she was determined to change that for her second year.

Jessica wanted to make sure that she avoided being distracted by guys during her second year. She wanted to be like her mentor back at home, do two years of Bible school, then become a Registered Nurse and then God would maybe provide a husband. This plan Jessica didn’t mind so much since her mentor was a very godly woman; she was happy to follow in her footsteps. Little did Jessica know that God was going to change her plan.

Yup, within the first month of her second year of Bible school Jessica was unexpectedly distracted by a certain godly blue eyed blonde guy named Matthew. The weirdest part was that she was not sure where her feelings were coming from. After talking to a couple of good friends, Jessica decided to try and get to know Matthew as a friend by making small talk, asking him about his homework and hanging out in the same friend group.

The middle part is complicated because of a lot of mixed emotions and figuring stuff out but the end result was that Matthew ended up asking Jessica to be his girlfriend and she said yes!

Things have not been easy for Jessica and Matthew but they are trusting God and slowly (and joyfully) getting to know each other day by day. Things did not work out the way that Jessica dreamed but she is very glad for God’s work, her current relationship was worth the wait. 

Of fear and little brothers...Part 2

Now here is the story of my revenge... :)
About 6 years after being scared out of my mind because my little brother decided to jump out of my closet, I found an opportunity to get him back.

One hot Summer afternoon at about 1:45pm, I got home from work at Canadian Tire. Usually I would get home at about 2:30pm but I just happened to be early that day. When I arrived home, I noted that both of my parent's vehicles were gone, which suggested that nobody was home. So when I opened the front door and walked in, I automatically assumed that I was the only person in the house. That's when I heard my three brothers' voices coming from the basement. Here's what I heard...

Alexander (13) "You guys quiet! I think I heard the front door!"
Landon (7) "Yeah Daniel! Shhh!"
Daniel (4) "Heeheehee"

As soon as I heard that Alexander didn't know who was home, I quickly formulated a plan to scare him. I could only imagine what must have been going through his mind. He had always been a very cautious babysitter and I could almost hear his thoughts...Oh no! I swear I heard the front door but usually I can tell who it is but not this time. Why are they being so quiet? Oh no! It must be a theif or a murderer! But I am responsible, I have to protect Landon and Daniel but they're being too loud, the guy upstairs is going to find us for sure, I have to get them to be quiet somehow! I hustled down into the family room and peered down the basement stairs through the open door, the boys were playing video games and so I snatched my opportunity to hide myself behind the basement door and peeked through the crack in between the door and the doorframe.

Alexander was still frantically yelling to get the boys quiet...

Alexander "Can you guys just be quiet for like one second while I look upstairs? I need to check if someone's here so shut up!
Landon and Daniel "Ok!"

As he began to slowly climb the basement stairs my dog Maggie decided to come and start sniffing at my feet, Alexander was almost all the way up when I kicked my foot at her and she began to back up and bark.

That did it, Alexander got freaked right out and began yelling at Landon and Daniel and soon all three boys were up those basement stairs, up the upstairs stairs, and locked in the upstairs bathroom.

I snuck upstairs to hear what was going on, holding back laughter the entire time as I heard...

Landon "What's going on?"
Alexander "Shhh!"
Daniel "Why are we hiding?"
Alexander "Shhh!
Landon "But who's here?"
Alexander "Landon! Don't you know how to shut up!? I don't know who's here but if you keep talking...do you want to be killed!? Shhh!"

I couldn't take it any longer, but for some added fun I banged on the bathroom door a few times before I proceeded to walk downstairs and plop down on the couch.

Literally about two minutes after I sat down, my Mom came home and said her usual "Hello!" as she came in. The boys heard her voice and immediately came out of their hiding spot to tell her what had happened. As soon as Alexander saw me he turned red with fury and could only say, "You!"

So I think I got even with Alexander pretty good after the closet incident. I don't think he can outdo me now ;).