You are all this heart is longing for
Jesus, you are all my soul is pleading for

What can separate us
From the love of Jesus Christ
Nothing this world can even change
The thought I once was lost
But now been given grace
It's a mystery that I will not chase

I don't understand it
How you love the way you do
Even when I've fallen
You always lift me up to you

It just blows my mind that no matter what I do, how much I ignore, how often I stand Him up, God always loves. People in this world will turn their back on you if you turn your back on them. God never will. No matter how hard we've slapped Him in the face, He never turns away. People in this world can love you one minute and the next hate you. As humans, we cannot show unconditional love...undying love. But God can. And all of this just blows my mind away; that my father is so awesome and loving no matter what I do. And He helps me through life. Without Him, I would be nothing.

Father God, I thank you for being awesome. I thank you for the unconditional love that you surround me with everyday. I thank you that no matter how many times I stand you up, you're always there waiting anyway. I thank you that when everyone else on this earth fails me, you are waiting with arms spread wide open. I thank you that when I get lost, you call out my name, leading me straight back to you. And I thank you that when times get rough, I can come to you at any moment and fall into your arms. I thank you that you daily take my burdens and carry them on your shoulders...for me. Father I ask that you would take my life, mold it, shape it...make me like you. I pray Lord, that I would be a sanctuary for you to dwell in. That I would be pure and clean in your eyes. And that as I pick up my cross and walk with you daily, I would be a light for the world of darkness around me to see. I pray that you would shine through me to those around me, that they may be drawn to you and share in the joy that I have in my initmate relationship with you. I love you father. In Jesus Christ's name I pray, Amen.

Oh Lord I am strong in you..."My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." [2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV]

I'm human, I'll screw up. And it completely blows me away that You forgive everytime. No matter how many times I screw up, no matter how many times I show you up, You never show me up. I am so grateful for your amazing love and compassion. And it is my prayer that I would become more like you, that I would be a shining light on this earth for you. I love you. Thank you. Amen.

Let your faith shine right through.
You know it's the world versus Jesus and you.

How much more true could that be? Everyday we go into this world, fighting against temptation and sin. And at times it is going to seem absolutely hopeless. It is going to seem like the whole world is against you and there is no one around with the same mission as you. And people are going to laugh at you and persecute you for the message you are trying to spread. And you are going to want to curl up into a ball and say "I can't do it God. It's too hard." But you know what, YOU AREN'T ALONE! You have Jesus on your side. And He has more power than all the people of the world put together. So those couple kids in your class that are constantly putting you down...they're nothing compared to the strength that you have on Jesus' side! and remember

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." [2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV]

In your weakness you are made strong in Him!

So LET YOUR FAITH SHINE RIGHT THROUGH! because it's the world versus JESUS AND YOU!

God Bless

"We are a moment, You are forever..."

We sang this in church today and it really made me think. What is our life? In perspective of the big picture, just a moment. While it's happening, life seems soooo long. It seems like that can be all there is. But in reality, our life is simply a glimpse. We have all of eternity in heaven with God. So why do we insist on getting caught in the moment? Why do constantly screw up? Why do we constantly push ourselves farther away from God for a brief pleasure? Why do we let temptation get the best of us? Because we are only human. We can't not sin. Every time we give into a little temptation and sin, we fall farther away from God. So why do we do it? Why do we risk our eternity in Heaven with God for a brief moment, for one thrill? For me, it's because I forget exactly what these lyrics reminded me. I forget that this life is simply a moment.

And today in church as I was singing praise to God, I just had to stop and think. I just had to stop and think about how small a moment is. I had to think about how much and how little can occur in a moment. I know one thing that is for sure. I want to do as much as I can in my moment for God. I want my moment to be for God. Not for me. I want God to be my forever. God is the only thing that can be forever. Everything else is of this world.

"You are the love song I'll sing forever..."

Unfailing Love

Last night at youth group, everyone was all crammed together in the parlor of the church because it has some kick butt air conditioning and it was pretty dang hot. So we're all here in the parlor and we were having praise and worship. I was sitting on the floor and I was just praising God. We sang this song, Unfailing Love. It really hit me. No matter how many times I screw up...God still loves me. I screw up every day. Everday I fail God. Everday I hurt Him. But everyday...He comes back with his arms wide open. It's like this dream someone once told me about...I get up on a stage and I completely hurt this person...I put Him down...I go against everything He's ever taught me and I get off the stage and He is waiting there...with arms wide open and a tear in His eye. I run over into His arms and say I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you. And He says...it's ok...i'm still here...I love you...I forgive you. And it hurts me so that everyday I fall into the jaws of sin and everyday I cause pain to the One that loves me so much. I don't want to hurt the people I love. I am ever grateful for my Father's unfailing love and there is nothing more that I want to do than return that unfailing love. But I'm only human and I do not have the power to give unfailing love. Nor do any of the people around me. The people I am closest to...they can hurt me...they can turn their backs on me....they can give me up...they can put me down...and it scares me that the people I put my trust in could change to something completely different just like that. It scares me that I could be all alone in this world with no one... But that can never be true. Because I have God who gives unfailing love. He will never turn His back on me. He will never give me up. He will never ever go away. He show unfailing love.

Miracle

You know how you never really think you'll ever experience a miracle? When you think of miracle you think of a race of people living in the desert for 40 years and then finally getting delivered to the promise land...or Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead...or the leppers being cured of their disease. I think that any situation that God places his hand on is a miracle. That means, daily life is a miracle. The fact that I woke up this morning, got out of bed and went to school is a miracle. A small one...but a miracle. I mean what are we? We are living dust basically. After all, God formed man out of dust. That in itself is a miracle. But the fact that that dust got up and breathed air and walked the earth and reproduced and created the population of the world is an even bigger miracle. I think that the world is God's miracle and right now i am in absolute awe of how amazing my Heavenly Father is....my father is the creator of the universe.

Charter Oak Youth Advance

When you go on a weekend trip and you experience one of the most amazing experiences of your life, you just have to keep going on that trip. I 6th grade I went to youth retreat for the first time...it was the most amazing experience of my life. The Holy Spirit's precense was sooo amazing that it can't even be described in words. Every year since then, I have gone back to youth retreat and every year I experience the same feeling. It is overwhelming to the point that i find myself kneeling on the ground, tears streaming, my hands raised toward heaven all out praising God. Sometimes, you get caught up in the motions and your not really praising God...its really easy to get used to going through the motions, but God doesn't want the motions, he wants sincere worship from us. He wants more than a song, He searches much deeper within than what we do...He looks into our hearts. He doesn't hear what comes out of our mouths....he hears the words of our heart. The feeling you get when you truly worship God is the most wonderful feeling in the universe...what could be more wonderful that the warmth of the holy spirit all around you...taking the room over, completely blocking out all worries of the world...just you and God, the creator of everything, your father.

God really spoke to me this weekend. I think He really spoke to everyone that was at camp allegheny this weekend. Yeah, we all had a blast, ate junk food, got very little sleep, froze in the snow and played some really bizarre games, but there was a lot more than the fun we had this weekend. It was about fellowshipping with fellow christians. It was about advancing in our relationships with Jesus Christ. Through the messages that God had for us this weekend, I know that I have definetely grown in my spiritual life. We learned about the mask of comformity, the mask of control, the mask of self-reliance and the mask of religion. This weekend was all about taking off the masks...

The mask of conformity: God made us to be who he wanted us to be. He didn't create us to conform to the world. What does it mean to conform? To change who you are. There are people in the world that make you conform to what you're not. you can be conformed or you can be who you want to be.. what God created you to be. don't conform to the ways of the world, be a leader, not a follower. Why do we conform....to fit in...to gain popularity, fame, success, keep a reputation, because we don't want to be lonely. There are many reasons. GOD'S DESIRE FOR US IS TO BE THE PEOPLE HE CREATED. Not what the world wants to conform us into. we need to get rid of the fear of being ourselves. It takes one person to stand out for others to feel strong enough to be themselves. One person is all it takes...so be that person. Be yourself...don't conform to waht people want you to be

The mask of control: what is control? having complete power of something. When you wear the mask of control, you take charge of your own life. What does surrender mean? to give control to someone else. To relinquish control to another. We need to surrender to God. We need to give our lives to him. He wants to be in control and he needs to be in control. God knows what is best for you and with him in control, you are promised eternal life in heaven. Maybe you haven't surrendered your life to Jesus yet, and that would be a good start to getting rid of the mask of control. Maybe you have surrendered, but there are still areas of your life that you still have control over. You need to surrender those...give it all to God.

The mask of self-righteousness: People are not good by nature. You cannot earn your way into heaven. It does not matter how mant good deeds you do in your life. Our righteuous acts (good deeds) are worthless to God. True righteousness is to be in right standing with God. Righteousness is from God through faith in Jesus Christ, not good deeds. Jesus died on the cross for our sins; He became sin for us so that we could exchange our sin for His righteousness. Good deeds don't make you right with God.

The mask of religion: God is displeased with us when we worship him by routine and the expectations of men. We need to have a real relationship, not religion. We can look all nice and religious on the outside, but God sees our hearts, not what we do in church. God wants our hearts, not just us to go through the motions of everything.

This weekend was amazing and I will never ever forget it.