A Temporary Home

     Temporary home. These words have been on my mind for a long time. Almost this whole year. At first, I didn't know why. I didn't understand. What was so fantastic about the words?

     God has been teaching me a lot about things like this. About earth just being a temporary place. And about Heaven being an eternal place. For a while, I kind of forgot about that. I thought earth was where it's at. I enjoy living, I love being here, I love my life! But this isn't where we're going to stay forever. We're going to join God in Heaven one day, forever.

     I'm going to be honest. It took quite a long time for me to fully accept that. With so many people I love leaving earth and moving on to the eternal place, I felt like I was empty inside. Sometimes I still feel empty inside. But God showed me something. He showed me that earth will one day be gone. Earth will be gone, but Heaven will still be here. Because Heaven isn't a temporary place, it's a place that will always be.

     It's a beautiful thing to know. It's amazing to realize all over again that I'll see everyone one day. Because some days when I wake up in the morning, I feel sad and full of pain because I miss everyone. Sometimes I wish people would stop dying, that they would just stay on earth. But this is just the time before we live, this is the place we wait for our heavenly birth. Because God is going to take us all to Heaven one day.

     You know what? Yes, I miss everyone, yes, I want to see them again, and yes, I just want all the sadness to be gone right now. But I am willing to be patient. I know I will be brought together with them someday. But until that day, I'm going to thank God for every day that he has given me in this temporary home. Because I know one day, I will be in the eternal dwelling place of God, forever and ever.

Snowboards, Humming, and Poor Substitutes!

Wow! It's been a while since I've written. A long while. I probably should have blogged sooner, but to be honest, no matter how much I wanted to, I just didn't feel like it. But now I kind of do. I'm not exactly sure where to start. I mean, I've learned so much in these past couple months. I could start with what would be the easiest to understand and then work my way up. But why would I want to do that? I'll just start in the beginning.

Most of you know that in February, I broke my wrist. Ouch. Major ouch. Yeah, I was trying out this cool thing call snowboarding. Everyone kept telling me how fun it was and how I should totally go for it! So I did. I took about six lessons. And on the sixth lesson, I was getting ready for a race, accidentally hit an ice block, and when my stupid board got stuck in it, I fell. So fun, I know. Still did the race though. So HC. But anyways, I'm getting sidetracked again. I had to have a cast on for about 6 weeks. I was not impressed with that. But I learned something very important.

After a week with a cast on, I began to go a little crazy. I missed my violin. I missed my fiddling time. And I must have hurt my ribs a little bit, because it got pretty sore when I sang. So singing was painful for a while, and fiddling was out of the question.

The day after I started to go crazy, a very wonderful woman, who has influenced my life in many ways, and who I call Oma, passed away. She had been battling cancer for a long time and finally went to be with Jesus. I'm not exactly sure of what I should say at this point, but I was definitely shocked. And I was definitely in the I-need-my-violin mode. But of course I couldn't play.

Music is my way of healing. I feel incomplete when I can't sing or can't play. And humming was a poor substitute for it all. Without music, I didn't know how I could possibly heal. So I packed away all of my sadness and left it there. But something strange happened. I suddenly didn't feel like singing. And even though I wanted to play my violin, it wasn't so bad anymore. I felt okay just leaving it all, because I didn't know how to cope anymore.

One week passed and I was totally okay with doing this. But when a few more days had gone by, something else came up. Another very special person who I love passed away. I don't like to write about it and I don't like to talk about it, so I won't. But that affected me a lot. It was sudden and with the last loss so fresh, I didn't quite know how to deal with things. So I got angry. I don't mean the Let's-trash-everything-and-destroy-everything angry. Just the kind of anger that stays bottled up inside.

I was pretty angry with God. I had no way of dealing with any of this. And I felt lonely and different. I had a lot of friends who helped me through this. But a few of them told me that it wasn't okay to be angry with God. Well, why not? We're angry with the people we love all the time. Why isn't it okay to be angry with God? He knows what we're feeling anyways, it's not like we can hide anything from Him. In fact, I told Him a few times that I was angry. I kept loving Him and following Him, but I was still angry.

It took a while to realize something. For so long, ever since I can remember, I'd been relying on music to heal me. To help me through things. To comfort me. Music was my go-to. And that's not how it's supposed to be. I was forgetting that God needed to come first in my life. He was my comfort. He was my healer. He was my strong tower. I can't believe how mistaken I've been until now! I've always thought that I had a pretty strong bond with God. But how strong can it be if I don't even go to Him for healing?

And it's strange, but as soon as I realized that, my wrist was okay to go. Everything was healed. Couldn't even tell it had been hurt in the first place! There was a possibility that it would never fully heal, but with God's powers and my realization, it happened. I've always had faith in God, faith in His healing abilities, but now, I finally have faith in His ability to heal me emotionally and spiritually, not just physically. Because God is a healer in everything.

And yes, things still get rough now and then, and at times, I still question why everything went wrong. But even when things don't look so good, we can't see the bigger picture. We don't know what will happen. God makes beautiful things out of the dust. So when things turn to dust, just hold on. They'll get better. When you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.

What Will You Become?

Yeah, it's me again. I'm back. So guess what's pretty cool? Newborn babies. Life. What we do with that life. And how it affects what happens to those around us.

Alright, so I held a little baby today. An adorable little baby girl. Not even a month old yet. I love her cute little fingers. Her little feet. Her beautiful eyes. And it all makes me wonder what she'll be like when she's older?

People looked at us as children and thought the same thing. It's a fact. Some even say things like, "Well, she'll be a writer!" or "She'll be a singer!", etc. I'm even guilty of doing that! But it's fun to see things play out, isn't it?

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with all this. I'm just writing this at random, and I haven't had a main point in all of this at all. Maybe I'll just come up with something on the way...

What about us? Have we grown up to be what others thought we'd be? Maybe someone pointed at one of us and said, "Now there's someone who'll make a difference in the world!" but have we? Have we actually made a difference in the world. I know... I'm young. But if I really tried, I bet I could. Anyone could, if they really tried. So what's stopping you from trying?

Many people die without having made a difference. Do you want to be one of those people?

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." ~ Ephesians 2:10

It's Not About Us

A new year is coming. It's usually the time that people starts asking questions. Wondering where to go next. Wondering what to do. Some are making plans. Others are just letting things roll and wondering where they'll end up.

There are those who are sad the year is over. And those who are relieved. Me? I'm a relieved one. I'm happy this year is almost over and done with. I'm excited about the things that could happen this year. The opportunities that could present themselves.

But there's one thing that we usually miss. Something we often go about in the wrong way. Every year, we ask ourselves these same questions "What should I plan for this year?" "What decisions will I make this year?" "Where will my steps take me?"

What we should really be asking is "What is God's plan for me this year?" "What decisions will God make for me?" "Where will God take me?"

We're not living for ourselves, so why are we acting like we're the ones in control of our own lives. We're living for God, so shouldn't we be talking to Him first before making any plans? So many times when we make our own schedules, we forget that God is the one who is in control. We need to constantly be reminded that God wants us to work for Him every year. He wants us to make our decisions with His presence, with His leadership. Because what is a plan if it doesn't include God's calling in our lives?

It's difficult to always stay focused on that though. But one thing that helps is remembering: God gave us everything we have. Shouldn't we give back to Him?

So this year, instead of asking "Where will my plans take me?" ask where GOD'S plans will take you. Because His plans are the only ones that matter.

Happy New Year to everyone!!!!! God bless!!!

Is Salvation The Only Thing? Part 2

Now, in my last blog post, I pondered on whether or not salvation was the only thing God had/has in mind for us. No, I haven't found all the answers, and I doubt I ever will, unless God shows me Himself. But a few things have been revealed to me.

So far, as far as we know, in the beginning God created us to be companions. Some people take this as God being lonely. And others merely as God just figured He might as well make someone to talk to. Why not make a whole universe and add different stars, moons, and planets, where life is only on one planet, called Earth. God wanted companionship. That is why He created us. But we couldn't just survive the way He lives.

So He created Earth. Now this is a little bit confusing for some. Some think that God only created man because He had animals running around everywhere and needed someone to take care of them. But God knows everything. He sees into everything. Yes, even the future. He knew He was going to need man to take care of it all. He's God! And so He made man.

And God had the companionship that He needed. That He wanted. He had man to chill with. And He could come down onto Earth and just hang. But all would not be perfect in Eden. Oh, no. Someone had to sin. Someone had to just flip everything backward. Morons.

Sin. It separates us from God. And sometimes each other. You all know what happens next. Their punished and kicked out of Eden. And that is when everything is really set in motion. Thousands of years later, He sent His Son. So yes, God did create us for companionship and to be with Him, but because of sin, that ended. And the only way we can get that back is if we come to God through salvation. Through Jesus. Because that's the only way.

God may have other reasons for creating us, reasons that He hasn't mentioned, but this is the number one reason. We live to worship Him, we live to follow Him, and we live to come to Him.

I know, this isn't really anything new, it's something that we all knew before, but still... It's something that we should always remember. We should always remember why we were created.

Is Salvation The Only Thing? Part 1

On Monday, in youth a topic came up and ever since then, I've had it pestering me in my head! It's getting annoying and persistent and I'm looking for answers. My question is: Is salvation the only thing God has in mind? Do we just get saved, follow Him, die, and then go to Heaven and worship Him for the rest of our lives? Or is there some other thing? Something we missed? Or just something that He hasn't revealed to us?

God created us for companionship. So He could have someone. He created us to watch and take care of Earth and everything He's created. But is that all? Is that really all? Isn't there more? Isn't there something else?

The main question is, if there is, then WHY has it not been revealed to us? And if it has, then why haven't I found it with all my searching? Is it too big for us to comprehend? Is that why we haven't found it? Or is it something that we CAN figure out, we just haven't looked hard enough?

I think there is another reason... Whether or not God will reveal it to me... Is what I'm wondering. And so this week, I'm beginning a quest. A search. I want answers. And I'll search until I find them.

I'll let you know when I find them... Come back in a few years. ;)

Perfect Christian? Doesn't exist.

Perfect Christian? I don't think so. It doesn't matter what you do, face it, you'll never be perfect. That's just the way things are and will always be. Just because a person becomes a Christian, it does NOT mean they become perfect. Opposite of that. It's harder, as hard as it is to believe.

David, a psalmist says,

"I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” (Psalm 16:2)

See, we're not perfect, but there is Someone who is. God. And He accepts us no matter what. No matter what we do, He is always there to love and accepts us and welcome us into His waiting arms.

Parents always see their kids as perfect. No matter what they do. They still know their faults, they still know they did something wrong, but they still love them. God is that way with us. He knows we've done wrong things, He knows we've sinned, but when we ask Him to, He wipes it all away. He cleans our slate. And still accepts us into His family with loving open arms.

Such a loving and perfect Father! Amen?

"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." - John 7:37-38

"All who are thirsty, All who are weak, Come to the fountain, Dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow Be washed away, In the waves of his mercy. As deep cries out to deep, We sing, Come Lord Jesus come!" -All Who Are Thirsty - Kutless