How Can God...

If you type in the phrase 'How can God' into Google, the drop down gives you a glimpse into what our society's heart looks like. The top three answers that Google provides are (in this order): how can God help me, how can God use me, and how can God forgive me.

Truly these are some great questions, and ones that we have probably all considered at some point. No doubt we have all been in a situation where we needed help, and we wondered how that help could be administered to us. When we are grieving over the loss of a loved one, burdened by the financial stresses in our lives, or struggling with an illness of our own, we often wonder how God can help us.

The Psalms are replete with cries of help to the God of the universe. Should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need God's help, please remember these verses:

"Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, 'The LORD be magnified!' But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD things upon me. You are my Help and my Deliverer; do not delay, O my God." Psalm 40:16-17

While we may hurt in this present life and find ourselves in troublesome situations, our God and Father has salvation. If we will trust in Him, He will deliver. He is faithful to save!

There may be times, though, when we feel strong and confident in God's promises, and yet we feel aimless and without purpose, so we ask ourselves how God can use us.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Should you ever question your purpose in life, or where exactly your focus should be, look only to these words of Jesus. He has given us a specific purpose: to teach others the way of salvation and bring them to Him. Each and every child of God should be out teaching other people how they can become a child of God. And if you aren't a child of God? Please read this post on how to get into the body of Christ!

Finally, the question of how can God forgive me. This is a question that I have personally asked time and time again. How is it that God can forgive all of my sins? How is it that God will remember none of my sins anymore? How is it that God won't get tired of me coming and asking for forgiveness for the same old sins? And yet, the Bible tells us that we can be confident that when we ask, He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9).

I love the book of 1 Corinthians, and this passage may be one of the reasons why:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but your were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (6:9-11; emp mine)

Regardless of how many sins within this list you are guilty of, there is a way to overcome, and that way is by being washed in the blood of Jesus. These Corinthians had been homosexuals and thieves and drunkards and adulterers, and yet they weren't anymore. What changed? First, they quit practicing those things (repentance). Next, they were washed (baptized) clean of all of those past sins.

God can and will forgive you. How? Because He loves you so much. So much that He gave His only Son to die a cruel and painful death for you (John 3:16). How blessed we are to have such a God that will hear our cries when we need help, who will give us purpose and direction in life, and will forgive us of all of our sins so long as we confess them, turn away from them, and are washed in His Son's precious, cleansing blood.

Leading Ladies: Esther

Finally--back to our Leading Ladies series! Sorry for the hiatus! Election season puts me in a tizzy!

I'm going to trust that you are familiar enough with the story of Esther that I don't have to quote it at length. If you aren't, I would encourage you to read the book in its entirety, as it is a beneficial study (and very intriguing).

So, what kinds of things can we learn from Esther:

1: She was pure. Those chosen to 'go before the king' after he dismissed Queen Vashti were virgins. Had Esther not remained pure in her young life, she would have never been under consideration to be the new queen. But, since she'd purposed in her heart to remain pure before God, she had this opportunity. As Christians, we have an opportunity every single day to decide whether or not we will be pure--from the clothes that we wear and the way we present our bodies to the things that we listen to and shows that we watch. There may be opportunities for us to teach others about God's beautiful word, but if our lives aren't pure, we may take ourselves out of the running for helping that person's soul. How sad if we were to take opportunities away from ourselves! Sadly, though, Christians do this.

For example: if we're on our way into the movie theater to watch something that isn't wholesome and we see someone we know (who may be a struggling Christian, a babe in Christ, or a person we've been 'working on' for quite some time) -- are we negating everything we promote/teach based on the way we are acting--based on the way we're living? Our lives must be pure (and subsequently our hearts--Mt. 5:8) so that we can take hold of every opportunity to do good in God's service.

2: She used her position for God's glory. Had Esther not listened to Mordecai, the entirety of the Jewish population might have been wiped out. Mordecai so eloquently states in Esther 4:14, "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

God's providence is something that I whole-heartedly believe in, yet don't quite understand how it works in my life. Still, I trust that God has a plan. Like Esther, I believe that there are unique opportunities afforded to each of us. Perhaps you are placed in a certain job just so you can influence your co-worker. Maybe you are in a certain town so that you can help an entire population of people. Whatever your lot in life, be willing, as Esther was, to use that position to God's glory.

And note that Esther did not use her position because it was easy. She displayed an amazing amount of courage by going in to the king's chambers without being summoned--this could have gotten her killed! Still, because she was willing to put the greater good ahead of her own lot, she went in anyway--not knowing how the king would respond. Had she not been willing, people would not have been saved. Likewise, if we are not willing to boldly proclaim Jesus in our lives (to our friends, family members, co-workers, cashiers, etc.), people will not be saved.

3: She remembered who she was. This one will be similar to our last point. You see, when Esther became queen, she could have forsaken her Jewish heritage. She was beautiful, rich, and in a powerful position. Quite frankly she could be whoever she wanted to be, have whatever she wanted to have, and do whatever she wanted to do. We know, though, that she didn't. She kept Mordecai close (and listened to his council), and ultimately saved her entire 'family'.

We live in a sinful world and there's no escaping that fact. As Christians, when we go out into the world in our day to day activities, we must remember who we are. It is not ok for us to 'forget' and let a few curse words slip when talking to our co-workers or when a car pulls out in front of us. It is not ok for us to 'forget' when there's a popular movie coming out that doesn't adhere to God's guidelines for things we should think upon (Phil. 4:8). It's not ok for us to 'forget' because the weather is warm or we're taking a trip--and modest clothing just isn't practical. It isn't ok to 'forget' when we're out shopping for Christmas presents and someone cuts us off, takes too long in line, snatches the last of an item, or anything else. First and foremost, we are Christians, and we must always remember that. That is why Paul urged the brethren at Philippi to mediate on pure, lovely, true, right things. The more you meditate on something, the more likely it is to stick.

4: Her inner beauty mattered more. While Esther was beautiful, there was something else about it that made the king love her. The text tells us that not only did the king love and favor her, but so did all of the other people who came into contact with her--even the other young women who had been chosen to live in the king's palace. Now, think about what you know about beauty pageants. Are all of the beautiful contestants best friends and super nice to each other the entire time? Or is the jealousy, envy, and backbiting? Had Esther simply been outwardly beautiful, I'm sure the majority of people around her would have felt the latter--jealous, especially in light of the special treatment she was receiving. And yet, Esther is loved by all. That speaks volumes for her character!! She truly must have been a beautiful woman on the inside for every person to love her.

I believe this point is especially pertinent to parents of teenage girls. I have been extremely disappointed recently in the outfits that I'm seeing on Facebook of 'Christian' teenage girls. While I am friends with some of the girls, mostly I am seeing these immodest clothing choices put on display by their own parents.

As a former teen girl, I know how impressionable they are--especially when it comes to their bodies. Every thing that you praise or put down will stick with them for a long time. Why not, then, put a little less emphasis on their physical beauty and more on their inner beauty? Challenge them to have a pure heart--it will make enforcing a modest dress code easier. Challenge them to remember who they are--it will make the discussions about dances and parties easier. Above all, though, encourage them to beautify their hearts. Esther spent 12 months preparing for the king. Encourage your daughters to spend time preparing for their King.

This isn't an exhaustive list by any means. There are so many things we can learn from Esther. I challenge you to read more about her and find more ways to implement lessons from her life into yours.

The Triumphal Entry

In Luke 19 we read about the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem. I'm sure that, like I, you have known this story from a young age: Jesus tells the disciples to go and loose a colt that has never had a rider. They then spread clothing on the colt and on the ground, and Jesus rides in.

That's the end of the story, right?

Verses 37-40 tells us this:

"Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: 

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

I love that final phrase: If these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. I have a question for you (and me) today: Who is making the noise in your life, you or the stones?

We should be giving daily, constant praise to our Lord and Savior, yet often times we're silent. We're spectators. Or sometimes, maybe we're even like the Pharisees, quieting efforts that other followers of Jesus are making. This cannot be! We must constantly and consistently point others to Jesus with our words. We cannot rely on the stones to cry out that God is our Creator!

My prayer for us all today is that we will be like Jeremiah, who said:

"Then I said, 'I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.' But His word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; I was wearing of holding it back, and I could not." (Jer. 20:9)

The apostles are great examples for us, too. When commanded not to spread the name of Jesus, they answered "we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

Who is forbidding you from speaking out about Jesus? Who is forbidding you from telling the world about His great love? We must be like Jeremiah and the apostles, where we cannot but speak the love that we know and have experienced.

One day it may be the case that people will try to silence Christians. The fact that they will try shouldn't be what scares us, though. We should be scared that it would be so easy to do, because so few Christians are speaking out about their faith and hope.

We must change. God has created us for a purpose, and that purpose isn't a silent one. We must speak out about Jesus, today and every day that we exist on this earth.

Why I'm Here

I love to write. Since I was little, I've scribbled all over nearly every kind of paper writing short stories, poems, essays, or just long notes to my middle school friends. Writing has been a part of me since I was very young, and that is ultimately why my mom and I decided I should major in journalism at Freed-Hardeman University.

While at Freed, I learned a lot about writing all different kinds of things, such as press releases, news stories, term papers, and everything in between. I wrote my first full-length novel there and also started my first blog (and chronicled my four years there with immaculate detail). Through all of my lessons and writing classes I learned the ins and outs of punctuation, sentence structure, and word choice (though I have by no means retained it all). While all of those things were (and still are!) fascinating to me, they weren't the lessons I really needed to learn.

During my junior year I studied abroad in Italy for three months. They were the most magnificent, life-changing months of my entire life thus far. Sitting on a bench overlooking the Tuscan countryside, I was privileged to take creative writing classes taught by one of my now dear friends, Jenny Towns. I learned so much from her in those three months, but perhaps the greatest lesson I learned came when class was dismissed.

Multiple times throughout the week, a few girls would go running down the hill that our ancient little city was nestled upon. During those mile-long journeys, we spoke candidly of our lives back home and our relationships with God. During one such run, I remember talking about certain problems I was facing, and Jenny told me that God had a plan for my life. She told me that I could only try and choose what was right and best for me in the moment, but ultimately I needed to leave it up to God.

The problem I was facing doesn't matter anymore, but Jenny's answer echoes to me even still. God has known me and had a plan for me since before I was born (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139). All this time, I've been so focused on writing all of my own stories that I never stopped to realize that God had been writing it all along.

That brings me to today. While I love writing and piecing together thoughts, I am not the author at all. God is the Author, and His story is the most beautiful that has ever been told. I am simply a tool, one of many, that God uses to spread the message of His love. That is why I am here.

I don't have an agenda for this blog. Instead, I only want to be a tool in telling the story that God penned so long before I came into existence: the story of love and redemption for man.

I love to tell the story. Twill be my theme in glory. To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.