Just Simply Amazing

How many of you have ever asked God to lighten your load? I have. Think about this… Instead of asking God to lighten your load, what about asking Him to help you bear your load? It says in the Bible that God will not give you a challenge, a task, or anything that is to hard for you to handle (paraphrased by Addison).

I heard a story once, and it goes like this. Jesus gave three men each a big, heavy, rough, wooden cross to carry on a long journey. So they started off and after a little while one of the men, when he thought his load was to much to bear, asked God to lighten it. So, God chiseled a little piece off of the top of the man’s cross. The other two men just asked God for the strength to be able to carry their crosses. Time and again, the first man asked God to lighten his load and every time God complied and chiseled away at the cross. Finally, the three men reached their destiny. They made it to the everlasting canyon were they were supposed to lay down their crosses across the chasm and then walk across into paradise. One by one, the men laid down their crosses and walked across the canyon to the treasures Jesus had in store for them. As the last man laid down his cross, he realized that it was to short; his could not reach the other side! Too many pieces had been chiseled away.

Think. How many times have you asked God to “lighten” your load and missed out on the reward He had in store for you? Why don’t you start asking God to help you bare your burden, to help you go through tough times, instead of asking Him to take them all away. Everything happens for a reason, whether good or bad, they are all a part of His plan.

In and through Christ
Yawdy (Addison)

“Graduation ~ The happy memories of yesterday, the joyful moments of today, the hopes and dreams of tomorrow.”

Photos by Ben Gribaudo

Photos by Kelly Jantz

“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts. It is easy to talk oneself into a decision that has no permanence – easier sometimes than to wait patiently.”          ~Elisabeth Elliot

I’m graduating this Saturday, May 29th, 2010. I can’t believe I made it this far! People are asking me what I am planning on doing next and honestly I don’t really know. I just think that it is amazing how life can change so quickly! I make plans, people around me make plans, and…God makes plans. And for some reason, God’s plans are the ones that come to pass, whether I want them to or not. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” In the past few months, but especially these last two weeks, God has really been showing me that His plans are the plans that prevail.

Right now, one chapter of my life is coming to an end. Another is just beginning. The last chapter was filled with so many surprises and twists and turns. It was (and still is) filled with laughter, good memories, tears, growing pains, ups, downs, and many, many things that I cannot even begin to describe!  This next chapter is full of… unknown. My life song right now is a song called “while-im-waiting” by John Waller. (Click on the song title, to listen to the song.)

I am waiting. I am wishing. I think I know what I want, but I have no idea what to expect. There is only one absolute and that is; God is in control. And I am so glad that He knows what is going to take place for me this summer, this next year, and beyond!

During this time, while I am waiting for God to show me where to go, I am taking the little steps He is leading me to. While I am waiting for God to give direction, I am working on becoming a woman after God’s own heart and serving, without reserve, the people around me. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 ~ ” ‘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. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord…”

Following God,

Brianna.

Do temptations seem to over-power you?  Does it seem that no matter how hard you try to be strong, that you lose the fight over your temptations? We all feel defeated when we give in to our temptaions, it doesn’t matter what it is.  There is Hope!

Turn your temptations into weapons against the enemy and his army.
This one thing has been true to work without fail with everyone who does it.  This has worked for me personally and for those I and others have recommended it to.  Right now, ask God for the strength to commit to do this every time you are tempted.  That means right now.

Here it is…. Pray for the salvation of of another person and for that person to be a mighty warrior for God’s Kingdom.  This is someone whom you don’t think is saved. 

The enemy will figure out real fast that it’s better to leave you alone and go trip-up someone else.

How to Put This Into Action

1. For each temptation that seems to defeat you, think of someone that if they were a believer could be a great influence for the Kingdom of God  (note: this could be a friend, family member, relative,  or a business, governemt or world leader)
   
2. Decide to pray for this person to be saved and for them to be a mighty warrior for the Kingdom of God.  The Bible says in James 5:16 that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” and in 1 Peter 3:12 that “for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer”
   
3. Pray for this person every time you are specifically tempted in this area and you will soon find that your temptations will decrease and most likely go away completely

Do It Now.

We would welcome comments either direct or annonymously of how this has worked for you.   

Robert

“The reason people fail is becuase they give up what they want most for what they want right now.”

~Jason Gaddis

“Lord, bless this day with it’s hassles and stresses…

Expect a few A.S.A.P.’s and quick S.O.S.’s .

If faith can move mountains, then Lord, help us prove it–

When works get piled up, help us dig in and move it!

Let us borrow your patience when ours stetches thin…

Give us strength to rejoice in this day, Lord. Amen! “

How many of you ever ask God to teach you a lesson, but then did’t like the way He taught it to you?

This has happened to me more times than I care to remember. I have prayed, “Lord, give me patience today.” And it seems like everything that could go wrong… does goes wrong. I am late for everything. People ride my nerves or tick me off. I can’t think straight. I burn breakfast, drop my lunch, argue about everything, and can never smile at the people I pass by.

One day I asked, “God, can you please help me honor and respect my parents today?” Next thing I know, Dad calls me over and asks me to do something that wasn’t “part of my plan”. I throw a fit, get upset, whine, complain, and then feel bad because now I’m acting like I’m 17 going on 4!

Each and every day it seems like some prayer that I have prayed comes ringing through my head and I have to make a choice to either listen to God’s promptings or just keep living life the way I have been and never change, learn, or grow. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t just sit me down and give me a “Patience Pill” that will last twenty-four hours or give me an extra dose of “Obedience-in-a-Cup” and send me off  to have a great day. I mean, why do I have to go through the hard things to learn my lessons? Then I really started to think about it. If God never allowed those hard things to happen in my life then I would probably have a conditional relationship with God. I would use Him and talk to Him when I needed to and not because I had a desire to do so.

The other day I read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 which says, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” I was so ecstatic!! I go through rough times, live hard days, and listen to hurtful words because when I am weak, then Christ is strong. That’s what I want. I want Christ to be strong in me, shine through me, so that His name may be honored and glorified in and through all things!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to be brilliant and ask God to help me have an amazing day. (whoops! yeah, I know) So, I prayed and the rest of my day went… wonderful!! It was incredible! I couldn’t believe it! I asked God for a great day and I got one! Everything went amazingly! I didn’t lose anything, fight with anyone, school went wonderful, I had an amazing chat with one of the teachers, lunch was good, and I had tons of fun! Everything was wonderful until I got to Bible Club. I was the one telling the Bible story for large group that day and as I was preparing I found out that my bible and all my notes had been left behind!! I had forgotten them!! I started stressing out and wondering what in the world was I going to do! Well, there goes my amazing day! I thought. I was sooo discouraged, but I decided to press on and ask God to help me see the good in all things. I quoted Romans 8:28, “All things work together for the good of those who live Him and are called according to His purpose.” I walked up to tell hte story and God’s strength, wisdom, and knowledge got me through the story without hitch. After the story some of the kids came back for counseling and one of them was a 10 or 11 year old girl named Selena. She is in my small group so I knew a few things about her. She has a very hard time in school because the teacher and many of her classmates tease and pick on her. She is very sensitive to what other people think and say about her because she had been hurt in that area so many times! Well, I asked her what she wanted to talk about and she said, “I…ummm… I want to know why Jesus died.” Selena and I talked for almost an hour and at the end of our conversation she prayed and asked Jesus to save her from her sins and told God that she trusted Him and wanted to follow Him the rest of her life!! I was so excited I started crying! I felt like shouting to everyone in the whole world, “God is good!!” The Lord is so faithful and He really does have a purpose for every single little thing that happens. Trust God through everything.

~Brianna

February, Thirteenth the plan uncovered.

All the guys in Character first including me got together a couple days before this marked date to make a wonderful valentines day for all of their sisters.

First the guys and gals went out at different times to do different stuff the guys thought we had nothing to worry about when we went to wal-mart to get flowers or whatever we wanted for our sisters. Well when we pulled up the girls were also there, and they were going to get their brothers something since we weren’t going to be there.  When we showed up, that all changed.

When we got back at the training center we had about one hour before we had to be ready.  Each of the guys had their own way they had told there sisters when to be ready.  I asked my dad to tell my sisters for me, since it was getting late and I had to make sure that they had plenty of time to get ready.  He told them that they needed to get ready to go out, but he didn’t tell them who would be taking them.  They assumed that our dad was taking them out. (but were they right?)

While the girls got ready in their room, I got ready at my friend’s place, so they would not suspect anything.  Four-thirty was when I was supposed to get them.

It was cool because each of the guys were meeting there sisters in a different place and acting like they didn’t know that they were going to do something.  One of the guys even pretended that he had no idea what was going on.

Five minutes to go, and our cheufer, mister Ben, was not ready yet.  Needless to say, we all had some stalling to do.  As I was about to knock on our door, our mom opened it.  This was good, because if I had knocked then that would of ruined the surprise.  Since they already saw me I just walked right in.  Jocelyn wasn’t there yet so I just stood there.  Since Brianna, Camille, and Jocelyn thought that Dad was taking them out, they were wondering what I was doing all dressed.  Brianna asked if I was going too.  I obviously ansered yes.  Then Jocelyn came up so dad said, “all right if you will step out in the hall please and go with your brother he is going to take you girls out”.  All together in silence (I think they didn’t know what to think) we rode down the elevator with Ben and stopped on second flour.

Ben said, if you will go ahead and step out and to your right and wait right here.  So we waited and then he came out with Samuel and Sarah Waller.  We all walked together down the stairs past the front desk where some of the other interns were going to see us out. One of them said, “Ooooh look, Addison couldn’t have just one; He had to go with three.  I smiled and gave him a hi five as we walked to the back door where we met Titus and Kaytra Copper.  We were now all together as we entered our fifteen passenger limo.

We all got dropped off at different places.  I picked Ted’s; a Mexican restaurant.  As we walked through the doors, one of the lady’s sitting on a bench said, “Oooo, look at that.  He’s got three.”  We all thought that was pretty funny.  Another man that was sitting next to me as we were waiting said, “So is this a birthday party or something?”  I said, ” no, it’s for Valentines day.”  “OK, your just taking all three of them out right?”.  I said, “Yes, and these are actually my sisters.”  He said, “Well, that makes more sense because I could see the resemblance in you two.”  He was pointing to Brianna and me.  “But I didn’t want to embarrass you or anything by saying you look like your girl friend.” We shared this with everybody else and everybody got a kick out of everybody’s night.

We finished the night by taking pictures back at the training center. I really had a great time out there and I think everybody else did too.  I look forward to next year.

Talk to you readers later.

Addison