Deer

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God.” Psalm 42:1 (NIV)

 Imagine that you’ve been out in the hot desert sun all day long without a drop of water and you finally come to a fresh stream and take in that wonderful, clear, soothing water. That is how the psalmist in Psalm 42 felt about hearing from the Lord. We also should be like this deer he mentioned. We should crave the living water of the Lord as much as we crave and need water for survival. Whether we feel downcast and disturbed like the psalmist or if we are experiencing God’s greatest blessings, we should put our hope in God and thank Him for the things He has done. Not only should we cast our cares on Him, but we should also seek Him in joy and in despair, for He is our water of life (John 4:13-14).

Casting Cares

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)

 When I was little, one of my favorite songs was derived from this verse. The lyrics are: “I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. And any time I don’t know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon you.” In fact as I sing along typing this, I realize it’s still one of my favorite songs. Most of my life, I have been full of worries. Even when I was a kid, I would worry about my parents getting in an accident or that some other horrendous thing would happen. That song has always been a comfort to me because it’s a reminder that when things are out of our control and when we feel like everything is about to crumble, God is still in control. He wants to take our burdens upon His shoulders and carry them for us. So take comfort in His words and do not worry (See Matthew 6:25-34).

Blessed

“Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments.” Psalm 112:1 (KJV)

When we obey God and live for Him, we will receive His blessings. My pastor likes to say that even if you never receive another blessing from God beyond salvation, you can still consider yourself blessed because that is the greatest gift you can ever obtain. But, if I really stop and think, I know that God has blessed me far beyond salvation. I have food to eat, a roof over my head, friends and family that care about me, and the list could go on and on. Sometimes the trials of life cause us to forget our blessings and we only see what we don’t have. In those times, we must learn to count our blessings. Another B word is found in Matthew 5:1-12; the Beatitudes speak to believers about how they are blessed.

 

Armor

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11 (KJV)



What better way to start off this month and this blog challenge than to put on our armor? Armor is used as protection or defense from outside penetration. Without armor, we are left venerable during an attack. Those of us who are Christians are under attack by the devil every day and we need the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:11-18 to protect us from these attacks. It’s a choice we make each morning, do we start the day in prayer that we can stand in truth and righteousness and take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Word of God, or do we carry on with our own business and go out ill-prepared? I know from personal experience that it is far better to seek God and put on His armor from the very start of the day than to look back on a day full of regrets or bad decisions. So, my challenge to you today and each day this month is to put on the armor of God that we find in Ephesians.

Challenge Accepted

          I have decided to participate in the 2015 Blogging From A to Z Challenge. So, for the month of April, skipping Sundays, I will be posting about a topic beginning with each letter of the alphabet. I have chosen to go with the theme of Life Lessons from the Bible, which is pretty much the theme of this entire blog! Most of what I post will be about verses or people of the Bible that have spoken to me personally. My posts will also be shorter than usual to keep things going. Even though this is not in depth, I hope those of you reading enjoy taking this trip with me. I will be mentioning passages of scripture in my posts, and my challenge to you is to read them and get your own deeper understanding of my topics. See you on April 1!

Breaking the Silence

           It has been quite a long time since I last posted anything.  I feel as though time has been against me, but I haven’t really been busy, at least not busier than normal.  I guess I’ve been sort of stumped for writing ideas and I really haven’t felt like writing a lot lately.  I have not even been journaling as much as I used to.  My creative side does not want to allow this to keep happening, so I am beginning again.  It is about time I dust off this old “pen” and take it up again.  With a new year already well underway, almost 2 months in, to be precise, I have felt inspired to make my own resolutions.  There have been many inspirations over the last couple months prodding me back to writing.  I recently finished a Bible study in Colossians which helped renew my prayer journal.  I came across a Great Courses catalog last month and ended up ordering some courses, including a couple on writing.  I’ve watched 2 lectures from one course about the way we structure sentences, and it has been enjoyable so far.  I’ve felt inspired in other areas as well.  I have always been excited about learning new things, so getting these courses has been encouraging.  I have also been studying Mandarin Chinese with Rosetta Stone, which has been tough but interesting.  I have been reading fiction on a more regular basis again.  All of this has helped me to feel renewed, inspired, and ready for some positive new beginnings/changes in my life.

This may not sound interesting to you.  Maybe reading, writing, learning, and Chinese sound too boring or too difficult.  My point is this: do whatever it is that inspires you.  Seek out ways to renew your interest in life.  Seek God above all else, because He is the ultimate source of inspiration and redemption.  God doesn’t want us to mope about in a pity parties about the state of our lives, our economy, or our country.  We need to go out and make the most of the time that’s been given to us. 

I hope to write more often.  In fact, I’m thinking about participating in a blog challenge and I will provide more details if I do decide to take part. I also hope to make a few changes and updates to this blog and those will come as time allows.  Until then, it has been nice to come back and I hope those of you who read this will enjoy whatever comes next :)

A Year in Photos

November 2012-October 2013: A Photoblog

(Warning: Most of these pictures are unedited) 

 



 





 

 Note to self: This site is not meant for organizing many photos...do not attempt a photo blog in this manner again!

Note to readers: I love taking pictures, especially of nature, and I took most of these throughout the past year. I hope you enjoyed this different expression of myself despite the spotty presentation of it.