Give up on yourself

When you give up on yourself you begin to rely on him. When you are willing to abandon your own little dreams you begin to get excited about his plan. When your way has blown up in your face again you are ready to see the wisdom of God's way 

This is something that I really need to remember, I want to start embracing those moments when I feel like I'm at the end of my rope, and I'm confused, and don't know what to do and I feel like I've done everything that I can and things seem out of my control, to seize them as an opportunity to completely trust and rely on God. To be excited about moments where God has to be the one to move and come through, where I can totally let go of control and realize that he's the one in charge and he has a bigger, more magnificent plan that I could ever imagine. To remember that his way is always better than mine and that even though I might fail, feel hopeless, defeated and want to give up, God is all powerful, never tires and his plans always come through! 

With God there is no better place to be then at the end of myself ...when I am willing to confess how weak I am I am most ready to reach out for the grace that can only be found in Christ

"I'll sing of the wonderful promise

that Jesus has given to me;

'My strength is made perfect in weakness,

My grace is sufficient for thee.'

And lest my poor heart should forget it,

Or ever forgetful should be, 

He still keeps repeating the promise,

My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, over and over and over 

My savior keeps saying to me;

My strength is made perfect in weakness,

My grace is sufficient for thee."

"The Least of These"

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Matthew 25:35-40

In today's world it's so easy to get caught up in the materialistic society. To get so caught up in yourself, your family and your own wants, needs and desires that you forget to notice those around you, those who are hurting and in need. We walk right by them & without a second thought. Instead of showing God's love to others we are more concerned with our own selfish wants and desires.

Yesterday I made a quick trip to Walmart to grab a couple ingredients that I needed for my brother's birthday cake. It was a simple trip I ran in got everything I needed & was on my way. My plan was to hurry  and get back home as fast as I could so I had time to finish baking the cake. (God had other plans). It started as I walked out of the store there was a guy standing there from an organization that helped women who were abused after seeing the two people in front of me completely ignore him and walk by I felt bad so I stopped to listen and rummaged through my wallet and found a dollar to stick in the jar. He thanked me profusely and I walked away to my car thinking what a nice person I was haha :P  

Then I got in my car and as I was leaving the parking lot the light was red, I looked around and saw a lady and a small boy sitting on the grass and she had a sign next to them "Single mom, in need of some help God bless!" I thought maybe I'll give her some of my spare change, but then the light turned green, as I drove off I had a nagging feeling in my heart that God really wanted me to go help the lady out, but I argued in my head about how I was on a time crunch and how I had to have the cake done before my brother came home, how I needed to save money since I'm going back to school in a few weeks  etc. etc. but even with all the excuses I was coming up with I still felt God telling me to go back, that she needed help and more than that hope. So I turned around and I sat in the McDonald's parking lot, realizing I had no cash I was trying to figure out what I should give them so I thought I'll just get them some food from McDonald's but I didn't know what type of food to get them, so instead I went back to Walmart, ran in and grabbed a Walmart giftcard, & God even blessed me the lady in front of me in line had a cart full of groceries and she told me to go in front of her since all I had was one thing, God's great like that.

Anyways, after I grabbed the card I drove over to them & I decided to park the car and go up and talk to them I figured I might was well make it personal, when I walked over there I looked at her and I could see the desperation in her eyes, I said that I wanted to give her this giftcard the little boy eagerly snatched it out of my hand and stared at it with a big smile. The mom burst into tears, I said some compassionate words and she thanked me over and over and I almost left with that, but the Holy Spirit kept nudging me and before I walked away I asked her if I could pray for them, so right there in the grass with 2 complete strangers I prayed for them for protection and help and most importantly that they would learn how much God loved and cared for them. As I walked away to leave she looked at me and said "thank you for giving me hope." 

That right there was worth the extra 15min, to be able to bless and help someone in desperate need and show them God's love. Seeing their gratitude and the smiles on their faces blessed me so much. They may think that I helped them, but really today they reminded me how amazing it is to give to others. I re-learned how to show God's love to those around me in practical ways, instead of being selfish and only thinking about myself. 

Too often I think about my needs, how I'm a poor college student, my loans, gas, textbooks, etc. instead of realizing how amazingly blessed I am! God has given me way more then most people and yet everyday I take it for granted, I take the fact that I have a family, a nice house, a car, a job, the ability to go to school, a laptop, phone and all my other blessings for granted. God has blessed me so much so I want to be a blessing to others and show them his deep amazing, unending love! 

"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" 2 corinthians 9:7

Treasuring Life

Summer is almost over, & I want to savor and soak in all the little details & live in the moment instead disconnecting for the rest of the summer and looking to the new school year. 

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19   
I want to be like Mary and treasure the moments of life, so here are some things from this past week little moments that I'm grateful for and  want to remember 

- Talking and laughing in the driveway at 7 in the morning with my brother before we both head off to work for the day 

-My big brother calling me "little sis"  always makes me smile

-Cuddling up in my bed reading a good book while listening to my brother play the guitar

-Dance parties in the car with the little siblings 

-Spending the afternoons baking 

-Cuddle time with my sweet niece Jalese

-Spontaneous roadtrips with friends 

-My little nephew gasping with excitement when he saw me and running up to give me a hug and kiss 

-Morning hugs from my mummzy 

-Sitting on the porch gazing at the stars 

-Working out, and being able to do 100 push ups

-Comfy blankets and pillow pets 

-A new set of beautiful baby twins being added to the family (can't wait to meet sweet Addison and Lucas)

-Playing the piano for the first time in a month


These are all simple everyday little moments that often I overlook, but really these are moments in life that make it so beautifully wonderful and these are the moments that I don't want to miss or take for granted, instead I want to treasure them up and enjoy the present without trying to rush into the next thing!

The truth will set you free

Sometimes it's so easy to believe lies that our hearts or the world tells us, instead of believing the truth of God's word and what he says. We all have lies that we listen to, so I challenge you to figure out what lies you've been believing and see what God has to say about it, start telling yourself the truth and memorizing scripture to help remind and encourage you and free you from the lies of satan. 



Recently I made this list of lies v. truth for a friend and it ended up encouraging me, so I thought I'd share! 

God will never forgive me for what I've done 
 Truth- "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) 
  We are fully forgiven in Christ 

God can never use me 
Truth- "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
   God will empower you to accomplish the plans he has for your life  

I am full of fear 
Truth- "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self‑discipline." (2 Tim. 1:7)
  When I am in Christ I have nothing to fear 

If God loved me he wouldn't let bad things happen to me 
Truth- “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
  God has my best interested at heart in all he does 

I'll never stop hurting 
Truth- "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 24:12)
  God will heal our broken hearts

I'll never be good enough 
Truth- "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

" How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[b] so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:14)

  Because of Grace we are viewed through Christ's perfection 


No one will ever love me 
Truth- "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
  God's will always love us, with an everlasting love

I'm not strong enough
Truth- "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."(2 Corinthains 12:9)
"Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."
 God will give us grace and strength when we are weak." (Isaiah 40:31)

I'll never change 
Truth- "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17) 
"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) 

God will finish the work that he has started 

My Name....

Even though almost everyone calls me Becca, my real name does begin with an "R"

My parents named all 4 of their biological children after people in the Bible and for me, they obviously decided on the name Rebekah (except they modified the spelling haha) she's the woman in the Bible who i'm named after, when I was little I would always get excited when we learned about Isaac and Rebekah in Sunday school,  because she had the same name as me! Now that I'm older when I read about her, I see a woman who loved God and there are many things about her character that I hope I will be able to emulate 

Rebekah was an extravagantly gracious woman, when Isaac's servant came to the well, what did she do? She offered to give him a drink AND water all of his camels until they were finished drinking, think about how much water that is, one camel alone can hold 20+ gallons of water, and she offered to water ALL of them, freely and graciously and she did this for a complete stranger! 

Pure Servant's heart---she was willing to serve without the promise of a reward, she was willing to give up her time and energy without promise of recognition simply to serve others. 

How often do I serve, and expect a reward or at least a thank you? Instead I want to serve others in order to show them God's love, not to get anything for myself. The awesome thing about this is that when you selflessly serve others it causes people to stop and worship God and that is exactly what the servant did he praised and thanked God for being so good and faithful

Faithful in the mundane and ordinary tasks---Rebekah didn't wake up that day thinking oh I'm going to be proposed to today and get to go on an adventure and be married, no it was just an ordinary day for her and she was faithfully serving God through it, without knowing that anything out the ordinary would happen 

I tend to get "bored" of the routine of everyday life, and long for big task or challenges or great new ways for me to serve the Lord, but really I need to just be seeking God in the present where he has placed me and seek to be faithful and follow him wherever he has placed me, whether it's so called "exciting" or not 

Didn't hesitate to enter into the unknown---when Rebekah agreed to marry Isaac she was agreeing to leave behind all that she had known, her hometown, her family and the comfort of familiarity, to go to an unknown place and marry someone she had never met before, but she trusted God and knew that he would be faithful and he would guide her. She knew that although this next step might be "unknown" to her it was "known" by God. 

And because Rebekah was willing to follow and obey God she was blessed! 

Just like Rebekah we have choices everyday as to how we are going to go about our tasks, whether we are going to be generous, loving and kind in what we do, or whether we will be selfish, impatient and rude. God notices and rewards our consistency and obedience (even in the mundane tasks of life)......Just remember Rebekah :) 

Thankful for the lessons that "Rebekah" is teaching me, even if my spelling is different! 

Unfathomable Love

God went through so much for me, because of his love! He left heaven where everything was perfect to come down to a sinful earth where he traded his crown to be born in a stable. He was abused, mocked and made fun of for me, and ultimately he was tortured, betrayed and killed. He gave up his LIFE for me!  

Why? 
Why would he do that for me?
This is the question I ask myself all the time...why? the answer is simple, but life changing 
because he LOVED  ME 

So when I think about all that Christ has done for me...All that he endured on my behalf so that I could be forgiven of my sins and have a relationships with God, why would I ever doubt his love? How can I, when I look at all that he did for me, so that I could be his called daughter. 

God gave up everything for me, so how much must it hurt him when I doubt his love? When I don't believe it? I mean I know it hurts me when those close to me doubt my love and sincerity towards them, so how much more God? You see the thing is nothing I do surprises God, when he died for me, he already knew everything I would do, he knew how I would wander, how I put other things before him and all of the thousands of times that I would sin and mess up. He didn't go into the relationship blindly, no God loved me KNOWING all of my unworthiness and all of my failures! When I fail and make mistakes God doesn't look at me and say "man I wish I had never chosen her and I wish she wasn't my daughter anymore" instead he looks at me and tells me to run into his grace, that it's okay, because that's the why he died for me, because I'm a sinner. He tells me to come and live in the freedom of his forgiveness and love. It hurts him when I'm overcome with condemnation, because that means I'm not believing him, not believing that he is calling me with arms wide open to come and experience his love and forgiveness like never before, not based on anything that I do, but solely on his unchanging character.

It is when I begin to understand God's love for me, that I can then go and truly love others, but first I must see God's unfathomable, extraordinary love. 

"Knocking" - Hosanna Wong

God is knocking on our walls of guilt and shame and he wants us to let him in, he wants to restore
and heal us, will you let him knock down the walls in your life?

"You don't have to put up walls for safety 'I am your protection, I am your satisfaction." There is redemption, there is restoration, no matter why you're hiding if you listen carefully you can hear him knocking.....

Scars

I looked down at my legs the other day and they're not very pretty my legs are full of scars.... But as I started looking at my scars I realized that they each came with stories and memories I looked at my knee and saw a big scar and it reminded me of the states tournament in volleyball how I killed my knee and the band-aid kept falling off cause I was sweating too much haha or the cut on my shin from being a klutz and tripping up stairs... I like my scars because it reminds me of my past and memories that I otherwise might of forgotten... I feel like God does the same thing through the wounds of our hearts, yes he heals us but we still have scars to remind us...to remind us of God's faithfulness, how he never left us and of how he took our brokenness and made us whole and not only are the scars for us to remember but they are also testaments to the world. We don't have everything together, we've been hurt, wounded, gone through pain and struggles but look at how good our God is! He took all of our brokenness and pain and made us whole again! He healed the pain that we thought would never go away, and wrapped us in his healing arms. So next time you look at your scars don't wish them away instead use them as a reminder of all the wonderful things God has done in your life. 

Self-Sufficient

Independent and Self-sufficient 
Those are two words that you could use to define me. 
I've always liked jumping right into new situations
I like to be able to do things myself 
I'm not very good at asking for help 
(even with silly things like opening a can)
When I start things I'm determined to figure them out / finish them
(on my own mind you, I hate it when people tell me the answers to things before I figure it out)
I don't mind doing things for myself
like cooking my own meals, shopping, laundry, working 
in fact I quite enjoy it 
& Being single well that just means I can
be even more independent in my decisions haha

I've been told that being independent
and self-sufficient is a good thing
(whenever people have told me I have those traits I've always taken it as a compliment) 
I've been told those characteristics help you to succeed 
and they are right 
but only in some ways 
You see when it comes to my relationship
with God, my independence and self-sufficiency 
follow right along and that is not a good thing
when I bring those character traits into my 
walk with God then I end up neglecting important truths 
I try to use God as a safety net just in case I need 
a little help on my climb up 
instead of realizing that he is the one pulling me up 
I think I can handle the Christian walk on my own 
I try to "be good" 
to serve others 
to love God 
to share Christ's love with others
to trust God 
to be a good leader 
to read my Bible and pray 
all while trying to juggle the rest of my life
like being a good student
working my jobs with excellence
being a good friend 
caring for those who are hurting and in need 

And you know sometimes I fool myself and I think
"Hey I've got this! Life is going really well" 
I think that I've done a good job and that 
I've been able to overcome a struggle 
and I sit back and think that life is going great
I must be doing a really good job with my life
but then what happens when all of the sudden
a trial or a struggle comes? 
When situations in my life happen that I can't control
someone dies, my friend is sick, school is overwhelming,
conflicts arise, people hurt me, or work isn't going well
Then what happens? 
What do I do? 

Well when wave after wave hits me 
when I come to the end of my rope
when I feel like I can't go on anymore 
when I just want to sit and cry 
that is when I realize that I 
don't have to do it on my own 
I don't have to try and pretend to be 
self-sufficient 
(because lets face it I wasn't really ever self-sufficient)
I'm not meant to try and live life alone 
by my own strength and power 
instead all I have to do is rely solely on God
to rest in his grace, love, mercy and strength
to realize that he is the ONLY one who is 
self-sufficient 

when the feelings of being 
alone and overwhelmed come 
as much as I hate them 
and as much as I fight them 
I want to try to embrace them 
it's for a good reason, because I'm trying 
to do something I was never meant to do
I'm trying to live my life alone and by my own power
and wisdom 
As much as I hate admitting it,  It's something that
I can't do on my own

So instead of trying to do things on my own
like I always do 
I want to try something different 
I want to seek God's strength daily
to ask for his grace and wisdom 
to deal with this crazy journey of life 
to realize that it's okay to be weak and inadequate
and that once I truly realize that I can't do anything 
not even wake up in the morning without God sustaining 
my life (Psalm 3:5)  
then I can finally live a life full of power and grace 
one where I don't have to strive to muster up my 
own might to succeed 
but one where I seek the power of Christ in my 
life and live in the good of his grace! 

I am going to lay down my pride
and self-sufficiency 
and humbly come before Christ 
acknowledging that I cannot do it on my own 
but that it's okay, because I don't have to. 
I have Christ's grace and power in my life! 

I will trade in my self-sufficiency for Christ-sufficiency 

"Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God."  2 Corinthians 3:5

Theme of the Summer

This summer...it's only been a month into my summer, but so far it looks like the theme of my summer is trusting God. Letting go of my plans and desires and following where he leads me. Trusting God that his plan is far better than mine even if I don't understand it. 

 I might have thought that I had the perfect summer outlined and planned in my head and when I would imagine my summer the picture seemed beautifully perfect, until it actually began and nothing seemed to be going right, people close to me were in the hospital, my plans seemed to be shattering around me, I even had to turn down a job that seemed absolutely perfect for me! At one point I just sat on my bed and cried, "I don't understand, what do you want God, what are you trying to tell me? Where are you leading me? Just tell me what's going on!" 

I so desperately wanted to follow God, but I didn't now how when everything seemed to be crumbling apart. I wanted God to guide and lead my summer, but I didn't understand what that meant. I wanted God to just come out and make it obvious what job I was supposed to have, what class to take, where I was going to serve etc. etc. etc. , and I figured if God would just show me his plan for my summer then I can just trust Him completely, but that's not exactly what God had in mind. I realized that if God told me the outcome of everything then I wouldn't actually have to trust him at all. You see it's easy to follow God when it's clear and you know what is going to happen, but it's when life hurts, and is hard, and complicated and you don't understand, that's when trusting God is hard, when there's the possibility of being hurt and let down, but you still have faith and keep following God that's real trust. 

Soo this summer I will chose to trust God, to trust him instead of worry, instead of trying to control things on my own, I will remember who God is and trust my good, sovereign and faithful God! 

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,
Trust Him when thy strength is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Seems the hardest thing of all.
Trust Him, He is ever faithful,
Trust Him, for his will is best,
Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus
Is the only place of rest.  

Trust God

"Welcome challenging times as opportunities to trust me. You have Me beside you and My Spirit within you, so no set of circumstances is too much for you to handle. When the path before you is dotted with difficulties, beware of measuring your strength against those challenges. That calculation is certain to riddle you with anxiety. Without me you will not make it past the first hurdle. The way to walk through demanding days is to grip my hand tightly and stay in close communication with Me. Let your thoughts and spoken words be richly flavored with trust and thankfulness. Regardless of the day's problems, I can keep you in perfect peace as you stay close to me."

Such a perfect reminder from my devotional this morning! Ohh how often I think about the tasks or difficulties in my life and I let myself get overwhelmed and anxious, by it all, but that is because I am not keeping my eyes on Jesus and looking to him for my strength. Yes, life is hard, and yes I am weak, but my God is strong and faithful and good and in control of it all and he will give me the strength to overcome whatever trial or difficulty I am facing no matter how hard or painful it may be. I simply need to stop looking to myself and instead trust my amazing savior who is most definitely worthy of ALL my trust.

"You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you."  

       Isaiah 26:3 

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, 

for my power is made perfect in weakness.'

 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly

 about my weaknesses, 

so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 

2 Corinthians 12:9

Contentment

In this day and age contentment is not something that comes easily to people. Naturally I am always looking at what I think I need or things that would make my life better instead of seeking to be content in all circumstances I feel the need to complain and instead of being grateful I always find something that could be changed to make thing better. Or I look at the awesome things other people are doing and I wish that my life was more like theirs  Being content doesn't just have to do with things/possessions/money either it encompasses all of our life, it means being content with what we have, who we are and where we're going.

But God has called us to be content in all circumstances.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. -Philippians 4:11-12

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.   -1 Timothy 6:6-8 


Contentment means being satisfied and at peace with God's will in all situations. True contentment comes by comparing what we have to what our sins deserve and not by simply being thankful that you're better off than someone else. When we are content we are resting in the gospel and the fact that God has orchestrated all of our situations and that he has provided for us all that we need, and that everything that happens in our life will be for our good and God's glory.

I'm back!

It's been a while since I've posted....last semester was crazy, but great! Now that it's summer though hopefully I'll be posting more often! For now here's some truth that I've been mulling over. 

"When feedback hurts, angers you, makes you cry, puts you on the defense or offends you – that’s when you know it’s good. It hurts because it’s true, and you get the obnoxious privilege of deciding whether you’d like to remain indignant, in denial and a fake kind of strong or risk looking momentarily weak in order to find true strength and healing and be more Christ-like. It’s an art we’re all trying to master. Feedback takes an extra measure of humility."