Iron Sharpens Iron

Proverbs 27:17-- "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

So recently, I have realized how many people in my life are sharpening me, or making me grow. There are people in our life that dull our blade by discouraging us, or sharpen it by encouraging us.

I think being sharpened by someone, is having a conversation with them that makes you think and discover new things about the Bible and/or theology, or hanging out with fellow believers who challenge you and/or pray for you. I know there are more examples of it, but thats what I can come up with at the moment. :)

God has place a few people in my life more recently(you know who you are ;) who I get to converse about certain things that we are both trying to figure out. We also encourage each other in prayer and just wanting to know how each other are doing in our walk with Christ. It is so important to have accountability partners in your life! I know I have stressed this before, but its so true! I don't know if one can survive without people who they can talk to about real stuff.

Anyways, be encouraging to one another; sharpen each other! Love on each other with words and actions! Be honest and trustworthy toward each other! Challenge each other!

Word of the Season: Discernment.

So this summer, all of the interns that I worked with were asked to find out a word that best fits us for what God is teaching us this summer. My word all summer was "undoubtful"--which I made up :) It was pretty much "faithful." But the big part of it for me was how I had been doubting God and what he can do. God really showed himself to be right away and made me see how nothing is impossible with him. The definition of my word "undoubtful" began to change to me. It then meant how I doubt myself in sharing my faith in different ways. So God continued to give me opportunities to share my faith in crazier ways than I ever had before!

I loved having a word to work on over that season of my life. The other great part about it, was I had 20 other people around me keeping each other accountable to their words. I think it's better to have someone that also has a word that God wants to teach them about, so both of you(or a group of you) can ask each other about it. It was/is such a growing experience!

My word has changed since this summer. Now it is "discernment"--pretty much learning to listen to God and discerning what he wants me to do for my career. I am learning a lot through this. Now, I don't have anyone keeping me accountable, so if you'd like to, let me know :) I would love to keep you accountable to your word! Anyways, discernment has a broad meaning in the christian faith. I am trying to discern whether or not to pray for a random/or not random person if I am feeling led to, or discern what to say or not say in a conversation, and even discerning what my purpose is to expand God's kingdom. I LOVE growing this way!

I encourage you to ask God what he wants you to learn this season of life, and then ask someone to keep you accountable to that. I think having a "word" is a way to keep us wanting more and desiring to know God more every day. Pray about what word fits you best right now, and ask God to give you opportunities in a way that makes you grow with your word.

Your Body is a Temple

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies."

Recently, I have had the desire to keep in shape; eat right and exercise. But my reason behind it is not to look good for myself. I honestly believe that I need to be healthy as a way of honoring God with my body. I am trying not to eat junk food, or drink pop-essentially putting trash in our bodies, that God never intended for our bodies. Now, you may completely disagree with me on that, but it is just the conclusion that I have come to.

As for striving to be a woman of God, we need to be modest about the way we present ourselves. Meaning- dress modestly. Now we all know that we can be in fashion, and also be modest at the same time. God doesn't want us to be "of the world" or essentially love the world.(1 John 2:15)

I think it is so easy to fall into being like everyone else, instead of different. But if we keep the right mindset about being in shape or being healthy, God will bless us :) The mindset would be remembering the God we serve, and why we want to glorify him. Keep your temple "clean" and use it to honor God.

Great Night!

So tonight me and my sisters through my parents a 25 year anniversary surprise party! It was such a blessing to see how many people care for them! I loved seeing my parents get surprised! It was so great, because it doesn't happen very often!

I am reminding daily how blessed I am to have been brought up in such a tight family. :) And tonight just made it even more apparent. Lee and Judy Timmerman hosted the party, and we are so grateful to have them in our life! God has blessed us beyond measure with that couple. :)

Our cousins from AZ showed up with our grandparents tonight, and that completely surprised my mom and dad! It was so much fun to see extended family make the trip to MN! I love how close we are! It is just so great to be a part of a "rare" family--a very close family.

Be thankful for your family :)

Patience.

I really appreciate you who can work with kids all day. I just babysat a 5 year old all day for 8 hours. I had fun with him, but wow young kids really do need attention ALL OF THE TIME! Ha. I know someday I will have children, but I hope it'll be different as a mom! I think it will :)

God has been teaching me patience for as long as I can remember. I had a father-like figure tell me once that I will always be working on patience. Which is so true, because I know I can't just become patient over night. Every day, God gives me opportunities to be patient, sometimes I take them and sometimes I don't.

Colossians 3:12: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience."

I am learning to walk about "wearing patience." So next time you are in a hurry and the car in front of you is slow, remember to be patient and don't worry so much about time. Another way God challenges us in patience is our future. Don't be anxious about where God is taking you in the future, just have faith that it is for your good. :)

Prayer Works!

Okay so I know that sounds cliche, but its the TRUTH! I love to pray, and God seems to always always always answer! :) Think about what you have prayed for recently, and ask yourself if God has answered in any way. Sometimes we just accept whatever it is, and don't realize that it is a gift from God.

I think its a great idea to write down how God has blessed you and thank him for it! It will be so cool to look back on those journals one day and realize how much God has been lovin' on you from day one. I was reminded yesterday that God has been "loving" on me like crazy, and I hadn't thought about it like that. But it is SO true!

I love Jesus :) and he loves me. :) What a great thing to know! Over this holiday season, really think about how God is lovin' on you! You'll feel so blessed all of the time! Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Thank God for how stinkin' blessed we are :)

Laughter!

HAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHA! Laughter. It is much needed every day. I haven't had much laughter over the last couple weeks, and I got my dosage tonight :) I am realizing that I am so blessed by who God has placed around me. Think about who is around you, and who God has placed in your life to bless you. Thank him for that today!

I love how God works in crazy ways. You pray, and he answers in the most unexpected ways! I prayed for God to provide joy in my life, and tonight he answered that with lots of laughter!

Laughing is so healthy, its good for you to laugh till you cry or your stomach hurts :)

I know my blog isn't deep tonight, but I just felt like sharing that little snip it about laughter :) Have a good day!

Be Joyful!

James 1:2:"Consider it pure JOY, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds."
Wow. PURE JOY. Is it possible to have joyous trials? I guess so. It is saying that we need to be joyful at all times! Even through hardships. How do we find joy in difficult situations?

The one thing that always brings me joy, that I am reminded of by the Holy Spirit, is this: We have a Saviour, who saved us from all of our sins, HOW GREAT IS THAT?! Should that bring us enough joy in itself? Ask Him to remind you of that whenever you think your world is about to end.

Oh and another way to find joy--we have and ALMIGHTY GOD who LOVES us unconditionally! I know that we know this, but it is so easy to forget that. We don't have to earn God's love, he loves us in whatever we do! :) I love that! If we screw up, he still loves us.

Yeap, we pretty much have an awesome God. <3

Forgive and Forget

I think as brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to forgive each other of wrong-doings and then seriously forget about it. Don't hold grudges against each other. God calls us to love one another. If we screw up and hurt each other, we need to forgive each other as a result of love.

It saddens me to see my brothers and sisters in Christ hate each other. 1 John 3:10 states "This is how we know the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother or sister." Now I am by no means perfect, I do have people in my life that I don't like that much, but I know that I have to love them.

First thing to do is pray for that person, than confess it to that person--tell them that you have a "hard heart" against them, and explain why. You will be so blessed when you obey what God calls us to do--confess our sins to each other. That conversation can end really good, or it could end really bad, but you have to be prepared for both outcomes. If the person that you are confessing to knows Jesus, they should definitely honor you for talking to them.

Pray. LOVE. Be Real.