Overthinking...

So I think way too much, way too often.

so we talkin'...

I sent this to myself as an email on September 26, 2013 and I wrote "I needed to vent. (h.c.) I probably wont know who I'm taking about when I read this in a year or two... It's cool, they probably weren't really worth it." And I'm right, it wasn't worth it. So I post this now in hopes to re-encourage myself and others to know that dark season only last for a little while. Keep pressing though.

So we talkin’... we frands...

I don’t get it. I don’t expect you to give me the world.. Nor do I really expect you to make me yours.. or do I? I’m pretty sure I just established the truth about our friendship, that anything more wouldn’t be worth it. Our values... Our way of living... They wouldn’t mesh, wouldn’t merge, wouldn’t make it. We’d explode eventually, but are you willing to help me pick up our pieces? Am I willing to pick up yours?

This doesn’t make sense. I shouldn’t care as much as I do. The fact that you lied to someone else about our simple little friendship... it just gets to me. What did I do to be in your lie? I really do believe if you have to lie you’re wasting your time.

But who am I to tell you about how to live... how to conduct yourself in front of other s or while in secret... I’m not your maker, I’m not your keeper. I’m not your lover, that’s for certain. It’s all about love though. The unfulfilled longing to be loved. To be wanted. To be certain that I am his and he is mine.

We frands... we talkin’...

Love..... something that isn’t worth giving up on. I’ve learned that recently... But who I’m fighting to love may need some reconsidering. Because loving someone who doesn’t love you back would just be a set up for burn out. It is really worth it for me to invest my time into you? What are my motives? What are yours? Will this amount to nothing... just like the rest have thus far?

God’s love is so different though. His love is so “there”, so perfect, overwhelming, really.  When you least expect it and when you need it most, it’s there. His love has come to me in the form of protection! In the reassurance of my worth! In the promise and hope of going to something better and greater than I could ever imagine when I finally leave this world! But in the meantime, while I am still here...

God I ask you to keep me close to your heart, for me to sense your love even when I don’t feel it. Please give me wisdom in this situation, guidance in my speech, let Your Holy Spirit fill me. Teach me Your ways, cleanse my thoughts, help me to stay pure and holy. Thank You for Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note to self:

Get the focus right.

Remember where you’ve come from, and how He’s brought you here.

Work out your salvation.

Never give up on love. REAL love.

Free will

free will

noun

1. 1. the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; 
2. the ability to act at one's own discretion.
3. (as per Google search "define free will")

What about my free will?

If anyone ever questions you, oh fellow Christian, about "free will", this should help in answering. Remember be gentle... "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" - 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) 

Deuteronomy 30: 19-20 (NIV)

"This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

We've all been given the ability to make our own decisions, aka free will. 
The choice here is between life and death;

between one or the other

there is no "best of both worlds"

Should we choose death, a life without God, we will be given it. 
But in choosing life, life will be given and that to the fullest in Christ Jesus!

brief note: now, someone may question "the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate"... No one is forcing anybody to choose the way of life versus the way that leads to death. It is ultimately our choose as individuals to choose the way in which we want to go. Hence, the free will part. 

John 10:10 (NIV)

"The thief [the devil, the one who lives for death...] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they [us, humans] may have life, and have it to the full." Emphasis mine.

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Choosing life is like selecting the best gift ever! 

The choice is ours, so we might as well choose what's best for our souls! 

A gift has to be received before it can be rendered effective. 

For more information on how to understand and receive the gift of eternal life, check out the links below:

How to Know Jesus

Thanks for reading,

Amanda

...and a video for those that want to be refreshed and reminded this is not a religion.

Quote from "Close Enough To Hear God Breathe" by Greg Paul

Each time I find myself in a new phase of life, I become aware that the period I have just passed out of -the period in which I thought, "This is it! This is what I'm here for!"- was really mostly a preparation for where I am now. By this, I become aware that redemption is at work in me, turning the junk of the past into treasure. This is the power of redemption. It doesn't merely release me from slavery,but sets me on the path to a true home. It not only heals, but gives a previously unknown strength too. The very Locus of suffering becomes a place of glory. 

I wonder, sometimes, should I be aware at the last there I haven't long to live, if I will be delivered into a moment of awesome clarity, the understanding that the whole journey up until now has been for the purpose of bringing me to this moment. In that moment, I will here it; no longer a quiet breath, but a joyful summons, deeming me-

My Beloved.

mission accomplished

we are done

completed

perfected

finished

successfully accomplished

flawlessly executed

polished off

concluded

all wrapped up

carried out to completion

done

finitio.

it's over

but we made it

:)

**making it to the end of a successfully executed group project is such a good feeling; but honestly, i'm glad it's over!!

Skit Guys Jesus Memo

There is this amazing duo. A duo of amigos that make amazing skits with intense messages. Although I don't know their real names (never really looked into it), they still have a major impact on my spiritual life.

I came across this video the other day; it was a good read, I must say. Hope you enjoy it! 

Heavy Rain 2013

Ordinary people giving ordinary praise to an extraordinary God, and He absolutely loves it when we give Him the praise that He so rightly deserves. We love Him because He first loved us; we weren't even looking for a Saviour, but He still showed up and extended His hand in love!

Wonder where God is? He's right here with you.









Notes from the Friday night service
on January 4, 2013

Speaker: Anthony Maclean



Watch it here








Deep thoughts: if God was here before
the beginning of everything what was He doing? If there is a God, what made
God?








There is nothing in the world that is
self sustaining (or existing), everything that exists relies on something else.
However, there has to be a starting point. There can't be a continuous cycle of
this depending on that depending on this and so on. So what came first, mind or
matter? Mind. The mind created the matter. 








Genesis 1:26-27




Blog post: Seth Godin. No one is
going to pick you. Pick yourself.




Bed rest! Be still, relax, and slow
down. In the stillness you will find life, or at least save it. 




If you always see yourself as sick,
or in pain, all you will be is sick. Unless you see yourself the way God see
you.... Think positive.








Romans 8:5

It's your mind that will make you
spiritual or carnal. What are you putting into your think-box?

Walk by faith, not by sight, but we
don't drive that way. 

We need to fill our mind will
spiritual things rather than carnal things.

We shouldn't turn off our
relationship with God when we watch movies; He's with us always.








James 1:13-15 (NIV)

Jesus set us free, we need to renew
our mind to live our in the freedom He's given us. Our desires are usually on
our minds, and hearts, so if you're envisioning the carnal thing, you'll soon
fall into that temptation. 

(Philippians 4)








Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT)

Blessed is the one who does not walk
in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the
company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who
meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by
streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not
wither— whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 NIV)








Dry seasons never have to happen.
There are different seasons, but being dry won't happen when your roots are
deep within the riverbank, soaking up the water from the river. 






Read the bible till you can take it
with you, not memorizing, let it be life changing. (Pearl in an oyster, the
grain of sand is turned over and over in the clam, and over time it becomes a
pearl). 








Isaiah 55:1-2

Sudoku: why labour for what does not
satisfy?






Ignorance. Knowledge. Wisdom. Understanding.








Movie clip: Inception... In the safe deep down
inside you, God wants to plant a truth that will totally change your reality.