Authentic People {A blog party}

Hello!  I am participating in a blog party hosted by Abigail over at Rear Window.  It's called "Authentic People".  I'm going to answer a couple of random, fun questions about myself so y'all can get to know me and all my quirky 'glory'. ;-) Just kidding.

Ok, so as all of you know, I'm Sarah.  I'm a young lady who loves the Lord and strives daily to be more like Him.  It's a tough job, but the best one ever.  I'm almost graduated from high school (very excited about that), love playing fiddle, piano, guitar, and enjoy spending time with my family.

Probably the weirdest thing about me is that I like to eat all the tiny chip pieces first, then the larger ones, then the whole ones... yeah.

My Favorite household chore would be organizing little things here and there.  But, I have to be 'in the mood' to want to do it! hehe!  It also has to be things that need to be organized, but haven't been done yet (because they are the little things that don't interfere with your day to day life)

I like sausage, Canadian Bacon, Bell Peppers, onions, olives, and pineapple on my pizza. (definitely pineapple!!)

I enjoy waffles and pancakes both. :-)  (and I've got the secret to making really fluffy pancakes/waffles... hehe!)

I definitely like hardwood floors all around. :-)  I always loved hard wood floors.... and then a lovely fire place!!! (that burns REAL wood.....)

The last time I laughed was today.. I enjoy laughing.. a lot! But, the last time I laughed really hard was probably last week. :-)

The first song that pops into my head is........ "Amazing Grace".  I was playing it on my fiddle today. :-)

Click HERE to find out more on participating! It's pretty fun. :-)

I am also participating in my lovely friend's "Thankfulness Challenge".  Once a week starting tomorrow (though the challenge technically starts yesterday) until the 24th, I will be posting a list of list of things I am thankful for in preparation for Thanksgiving.  Sounds like a great idea, right?  It is always wonderful to be reminded of the blessings in your life.  So, click HERE to check it out!

In Christ's Service,

Sarah

Life lessons- my challenge post #1

Life lessons are always hard to learn.  I have heard people say ‘learn it the hard or easy way’, but I think most of mine are the hard way.  I can’t say I am complaining because I think they stick with me more than when I learn it ‘the easy way’.

   My hard lesson that God taught me this week happened yesterday morning.

Mom had set up a new plan for kitchen clean up.  Normally all of us kids do the kitchen clean up.  We each do our own thing.  Usually Becca or I would wash the dishes.  Then, as the boys got a little older, they started helping with the dishes.  Well, it seemed like who ever was milking that month would end up doing a lot of the dishes.  So, Mom decided to give it a little change.  Two of us milk each month.  We swap around so we can take turns getting a break and whatnot.  The plan, then, was that whoever was NOT milking had dish duty.  They were responsible for all the dish washing.   Ok, now that I have bored you with this little explanation, I can now tell the story.

            This is my month for washing dishes.  Yesterday was the first day.  However, the person who had dish duty in March did not finish cleaning all the dishes.  So, when my turn came up, I was going to have to wash all the dishes that this person had left behind.

My reasoning was this person needed to finish the job and not leave things for other people to clean up.  Mom decided that, yes, this person needed to finish up the dishes.   

I began happily cleaning up the kitchen (putting away food, wiping counters, etc) and then found out that Mom was playing ‘April Fool’s’ on this person that they didn’t need to clean up the dishes(she sent them to do something else, as I found out later on..).  Needless to say, I was rather upset.  Not because I had to wash the dishes (I don’t mind doing that, really), but because this person who had not finished the job went out of the kitchen happy, leaping, etc, and not caring a whit that I had to clean up after them.  I began washing, angry thoughts flooding my mind.  How dare they!  How could they just walk off without even a look of sympathy, or better yet, an offer of help?  It was just terrible!  I had to clean up this mess that this other person had left.  I now had to do all of the work so that this person could go and have fun.

            Then God smacked me with that famous 2x4…… “Sarah,” It said, somewhat sorrowfully,  “Have I done any less for you?”    I began to realize that Jesus had done SO much more for me.  He had cleaned up my mess of sin by hanging on the cross.   He died a painful death so that I could go free!  Why shouldn’t I do the same for my sibling by washing the dishes they left behind??

            However, Satan had other ideas…. Unfortunately, I let him talk me out of it.  I didn’t want to be merciful.  I wanted to be angry.  I didn’t want to forgive.  I went so far as to not even talk to my sibling.  Not helping this sibling make the breakfast.  I was mad at the person, and I was going to show it… I didn’t want to listen to that soft voice.  The more I thought about being mad, the softer the voice became until I could barely hear it above my own raging thoughts…

            Then I became ashamed of myself.  Was this the way to answer God?  He was trying to show me how powerful and beautiful His mercy was, yet I wasn’t willing to give it out as well.  I wanted to receive God’s mercy, but I wasn’t willing to give mercy to someone else.

            It reminded me of the story in the Bible about the one man who owed money to the other man.  The first man begged for more time to pay his debts, but the second man was unwilling and threw the poor man in jail until he could pay his debts.  Then, the second man had to go to a third man that HE owed money to.  The second man begged for more time (he wanted the mercy), but the third man was unwilling.  I was in the same situation.  I wasn’t willing to be kind toward my sibling.

            I had been reading in Isaiah this week.  The first part can be kind of sad because God is pouring out His wrath on the people of Israel, but as you get further into it, you see how God is still merciful.  He is willing, wanting to give the people mercy if they would just call on Him and turn from their wicked ways.  He wants to welcome them back with OPEN ARMS!  Yet the people still didn’t want to go back.  They didn’t want to stop worshiping the false gods.  They liked doing evil things and didn’t want to turn away from it all.

            I used to laugh at them and think, ‘the silly people!! If they would just turn back, all their troubles would be over!’….  and yet, here I was.  I didn’t want to listen to God’s gentle, rebuking voice telling me I was wrong.  I wanted to continue in my sin.  I had to make a decision.  Do I continue being angry, or do I let it go and be thankful, instead, that my sibling got to have some free time?

            As I was talking with my dear Mother later on, I poured out my heart and told her what had been wrong with me that morning (yes, I was noticeably angry).  She shared some advice-painful advice, but good advice.   I really don’t like it when she has to tell me the things that I need to change.  Yet, I also know that it is good.  If she didn’t tell me, I would never know and I would never be able to work on it. 

            I kind of felt like Eustace in ‘Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ when Aslan is scratching off his scales after he had been turned into a dragon.  It hurt Eustace to have them ripped off, but he felt so much better afterwards.

            Often times it hurts to be told we are wrong, but we can feel so much better if we turn away from our wrong and sin and run back to our Savior.  He will comfort us and heal us in such a wonderful, peaceful way. 

            After Mom and I had talked for a long time, I sobbingly sought forgiveness, and she gave it to me-willingly.  Then, I went outside, sat in my favorite spot on a low wall underneath a tree, and sobbed to God.   Have you ever been really cold?  You sip some hot cocoa and just feel it’s warmth seeping into your body?  When God is forgiving you, He gives you a peace that feels like that-only better.  It just creeps all over your body making you feel warm and safe.  Almost like God was hugging you right then and there.  

            So, the lesson God taught me this week was giving mercy.  I can tell you that it won’t be easy…. But I now have something to look back to whenever I feel angry thoughts beginning to surface.

What did God teach you this week?  I am anxious to hear your thoughts!  Oh, and I have to admit that I was not very faithful at reading my Bible every day this week.  Please pray that I will do better this coming week.

In Christ’s Service,

Sarah

For the "Challengers"

Howdy!

Ok, so May Amelia, one of the young ladies who have joined in the challenge, asked me when we were going to start.....  Well, I'd say let's 'officially' start next week.  That way it will give a bit more time for others to (hopefully) join in.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while doing this (we are NOT limited to this, just a few suggestions that I thought I would share).

~Try to post at least once a week.  If you can do/want to do more, go right on ahead.  However, make sure that you do post once a week.  This way we can keep each other accountable. :-)

~It doesn't always have to be something that God did in your life that week.  Sometimes God will do big things in our lives and sometimes we just have to be content with just being where we are.  However, as you read, if a certain Bible verse should stand out, post it!  I have had several times where I will be reading and a certain verse will stick in my head.  It may not really apply to what I was doing with my life at the time, but when I shared it with a friend, she would tell me that she really needed to hear that.  So, remember that we are here to encourage each other in the Word!!


Also, even after we have started, others are still welcome to join at any time.  If you feel that this won't fit into your schedule to post once a week right now, that is fine.  Just please join us whenever you can!!

One more thing....  To those that have taken the challenge, I am thinking about possibly doing an 'interview' thing.  Just asking a few questions about how you came to know the Lord, what are some things are that have been an encouragement to you as you go on your walk with the Lord, etc.   If you do or don't want to be interviewed, please let me know either way. :-)

May we Glorify God!!

In Christ's Service,
Sarah

Pushing Sin out of the way

Killing sin should be our ultimate pursuit.  We should not leave any remnant of sin to remain hidden within our mortal bodies.  Because, look at what our sin did to Jesus.  Look at His marred form.  Gaze upon it in deep reflection.  He was bruised, He was crushed, He was disfigured, He was trampled upon, He was pummeled with our sin.  If we truly love Him, we would make it a second by second pursuit to shove the very thought of sin from invading our minds.  Well, Josh, a second by second pursuit is too difficult.  It is near impossible.  Was it impossible for Him, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to endure complete brutal suffering, the furious wrath of God, in being identified with our sin, becoming sin for us?  No.  He sacrificed everything to endure unfathomable pain and suffering caused by our sin.  Our sin problem was what moved Him from a place of unapproachable glory to become our substitute, and His substitution provoked the very intricacies of destruction that was invoked by our sin problem.  Therefore, demolish sin.  Do not let sin gain a foothold, because Jesus Christ means more to you than temporary pleasure.  Kill it!

Sola Deo Gloria!!!!! 

After reading the really neat blog post above, written by Joshua @ A Warrior's Heart, I got to thinking………Based on the title of the post ‘destroy sin’, I kind of laughed when the thing that popped into my head later was ‘destroy buzz light year, destroy buzz light year’.  Although that is a cute children’s movie, I began thinking about the character of The Evil Emperor Zerg.  He is obviously the ‘enemy’ and wants to destroy/kill Buzz.  In fact, he wants it so much, that he is obsessed with it.  That is all he can think about.

As I thought about Joshua’s post about destroying sin, he said that we should really aim to shove any sin thoughts out of our minds, and that’s where I started thinking about Zerg….. you know, we really ought to be like him, in a sense.  We should want to destroy Sin so much, that we are constantly thinking about destroying it instead of letting it steep in our minds.  We should constantly be reading our radar to see if any thoughts that are going through our heads is sinful or not.  As my brothers would put it, we need to have our machine guns, bazookas, dynamite, grenades, etc, on the ready so that as soon as any red flag pops up on our radar, we can destroy it ASAP.

Well, how do we get a nifty little radar?  It isn’t as easy as buying one at your local Best Buy or Radio Shack and installing with only a screwdriver…   However, it is pretty simple.   What do you need????..........God’s Word.

If we can hide God’s word in our hearts like He tells us to, we will be able to discern whether this new thought that has popped into our head is from God or not.  Obviously Satan isn’t going to just come out and say, ‘you should hate your brother.’ He comes in a bit more sneakily. He comes from behind and whispers softly. ‘Isn’t that whistling your brother is doing really annoying you?  He can be such a dork sometimes. So inconsiderate. You know, you should pray for HIM to change.. I mean, isn’t that what we are supposed to do, be our brother’s keeper?’.  See, he doesn’t like to just barrage you with the real thing.. not just yet.  Eventually with all his little promptings and whisperings, you will soon find yourself hating your brother!

   

However, when we consistently read God’s Word and spend time with Him, we begin to know God in a deeper way, and when we know God in a deeper way, we will know whether such thoughts come from Him or not.  If we knew God, we would know that that little prompting to ‘pray for thy brother in pompous ceremony’ doesn’t come from Him.  God doesn’t work that way.   Instead, He would be prompting us to focus on our OWN sin areas – such as being selfish instead of loving toward our brother.

I said it wasn’t as easy as installing something with a screwdriver. And it isn’t.  Guess what? Satan REALLY doesn’t want us to study, live out, and love God’s word.  So, he is pretty much going to do whatever it takes to get us to not read it.  How? Oh, don’t worry. He’ll make up plenty of excuses.

Like this one I had the other morning.  As I went to bed the night before, I set my alarm earlier than usual so I could spend extra time with God before my day began.  Well, lo and behold, I had a terrible night. I couldn’t sleep very well, so naturally I was tired when my alarm went off.  Although the weather is warming up, it is still pretty chilly in the house in the morning.  So, Satan started popping excuses into my head.  ‘Do I really need to get up? I mean, I could sleep a little longer and still spend time with God.  Oh, it is so cold in here! My bed is nice and warm..’ as I started dozing off again, my mind suddenly jerked awake.  ‘Hey, wait a minute.  I wanted to get up and spend time with my Lord and look at what is happening!’  I hopped out of bed, quietly padded down the hall, and sat down to read from my precious Book.  As soon as I opened the pages and began to read God’s letter to me, all the doubts and problems I had before started slipping away.  The room, though still rather chilly, didn’t seem so bad any more.  I no longer felt tired from my long night awake.

However, even with incidents like this that can be encouraging, faithfully reading your Bible every day can get tough!  Satan isn’t going to just let me go that easily. Instead, he is going to aim at a different place.  It is up to me to decide if I am going to let his arrows pierce my armor or not.

I am proposing a challenge.  I am challenging my blog readers to join me on a journey.  The purpose of this Journey is to read our Bibles faithfully and encourage each other in the Lord.  Each one who decides to take up this challenge will read his/her Bible daily as best they can (if you know you will have a busy day, try to get up a little earlier so that you won’t miss that wonderful time with God!).  Then, once a week, we can go and post on our blogs what we read that encouraged us, what God did in our lives, etc. We will be able to encourage each other to keep reading, and better yet, we will be encouraged by what other’s are learning and reading.

So, who is up for the challenge?

In Christ’s Service,

Sarah

**Edit note:
If you are a reader of this blog but do not have a blog of you own, you are still more than welcome to join up in the challenge.  You can post your thoughts in a comment.  :-) I want this open to whoever would like.