Top 10 of 2011!

Here's the top 10 viewed posts of 2011!

1. Just Wonderful Me!

2. Dire Prayer Request! (Sadly, Aaron passed on and is now with his Heavenly Father but prayers for the family are greatly needed! Thank you!)

3. Orchestra 

4. Beauty. Directed at you girls! 

5. Flattering

6. Past Tense

7. Take a Look

8. My Heaven List

9. School has taken over my life

10. television

Thanks for reading my blog! You all have been such a blessing and encouragement to me in the past year! Have a wonderful New Years and an amazing 2012! I know that God has out of this world plans in store for each and every one of us this year. Just wait and see.

See you next year!
Janae

Let's fight, I'm ready!

When going into battle, soldiers prepare and train for weeks and weeks before hand. Their commanders tell them when, how, and what they will be doing in combat. They get them ready so that when the time comes, they can overcome the enemy. There's not chance of losing. In the book of Judges God used the battles in chapters 1-2 to prepare and ready the descendants of the Israelites for future battles.

If I'm going into battle I would want to prepare way in advance for any future complications. I wouldn't want to run into anything unprepared. The life of a Christian is filled with battles. The Bible talks about the battle between good and evil that's going on but God has already won. That doesn't mean that it's going to be easy, it means that God will bring you through anything because he has already won the battle and you are his through faith in him.

I think whatever struggles you are facing now are equipping you for the future. The struggles you face now all have a purpose and fit into the plan. Soldier go through rigorous training physically for their physical battles. We go through rigorous training spiritually for the spiritual warfare we engage in.

Psalm 18: 39

You armed me with strength for battle.

Judges 3:2

He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience.

Listening?

Psalm 66:19
But God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer
Psalm 116:1-2
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice:
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

Do you ever feel like God isn't answering your prayers? I think we all get like that. There's something we often forget; something very important. God always answers prayers, it's just not always how we want. God works in mysterious ways. His ways are not our ways and our ways are rarely his. We expect our prayer life to look like this.
Us: "God, please help me to get a raise in my job this week and help my friendship with Amy to keep together through this fight we're having."
God: "Okay, here's your raise and Amy will be your best friend next week!"
But that's so often not how it works. We most of the time don't get that raise and might lose our best friend. It seems horrible in that moment. As if God didn't hear us. As if he doesn't answer prayers and he has no power. Again we forget something very important. God always answers prayers, it's just not always how we want. He gives us so much evidence that he can work in miracles and that his plans are for the best in the end. We still doubt though. It's hard to know even with lots of evidence. He may be using you not getting a raise to bring him glory through being grateful or your friendship being lost when she wasn't a good influence on you. Nothing is wasted. God hears your prayers every time. He longs to speak with you and delights in your requests. Believe that he can do all things, but when he doesn't do all the things you want, don't lose faith in him and believe that he does still hear, it just might be a delayed answer for now. So listen to his answers as he listens to yours. 

Brand Spankin' New Folks

My mom just emailed me "Relax. Read Matthew 6. God knows all of the details." I grabbed my beloved Bible from upstairs and it made me cry. It was brand new. The old verses that I've heard so many times were brand new. It spoke directly to what I was so upset about today. It's amazing how almost every time I open my Bible it becomes brand new. It's in a new context because my life is the new context and it makes a world of difference. Never underestimate God. He can speak the most powerful words through the same verses you've known since Sunday School. 

Insensible Faith

Luke 2:1-7
Psalm 139:16

Setting:
Right after Caesar Augustus issued a decree making everyone get registered for the census.
Joseph and Mary are heading back to Bethlehem to become married and register together.
They're riding along and then it's time... Jesus is coming soon, soon, soon!

No time for heading home or even to look around town for vacant room in an inn. Mary pulls out her maternal instincts and creates the best place she can for her new born baby, who also happens to be the savior of the world, to sleep and lay in. She doesn't freak out by now because she knows that the Lord is faithful.

How can if be possible to have that kind of faith? To be able to stop in the middle of your journey and do what you have to do even when it's hard and makes no sense. Is it sensible to have your baby in a barn? No. Is it sensible to be pregnant and be a virgin? No. Is it sensible that God would pick a young girl who was scared and troubled to raise and have his one and only son? No. Is it sensible that God would send his one and only son down to save us? No. But still, all of these things are true and happened. It doesn't matter what's sensible. It matters what we do with illogical turn of events. Faith is almost more not of being sure of things unseen but of being sure of the future when all signs of the present point to no. Have faith like Mary; be sure of what God is leading you to, don't worry, and rest in the fact that God is SO faithful and knows how things should and will turn out. 

A Prayer for Him

Dear God, 
Please be with my future husband. Grow him so incredibly close to you. Bond him to you. I also pray that any relationships he is in or goes into will glorify you and bring him to you and me. Help not to become too emotionally involves with any girl or physically. Keep him pure for me as I keep pure for him, but ultimately both of us for you. Keep him safe everyday. Keep his grades up. Make him a leader where he is. Help him reach his potential and shine your light in everything he does. Let others confide in him as a leader and man of God. Let him show others the way to you. Help him through everything. Grow him close to you. Help him be all you can make him be. Let him be humble and great. Help him be wonderful. Keep him from entering into any relationships and getting too involved. Let all of them bring him closer to me. I love him already and am looking forward to the day we are together. I'm looking forward to when we are perfect for each other. That time when we complete each other since you have completed us so perfectly. Please make me the person not he deserves, but that he deserves if that makes sense. The person that is prefect for him. That completes him once you have totally completed him. That appreciates him and makes him feel loved. The person that he loves with all his heart.
Amen.

Love is Waiting

(Chorus)

I'll be waiting for you baby

I'll be holding back the darkest night

Love is waiting til we're ready, til it's right

Love is waiting

For all you single girls. God is taking care of evvveerrryyything. Nothing is being forgotten. God schedule is perfect. Couldn't be better. Whatever struggles you are facing right now God is with you, stay strong and pure. Follow God and he will bring you through it. He knows the way out.

2 Chronicles 20:15 "Listen,...This is what the Lord says to you:'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's."

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. 

You are such a blessing! Stay strong.

Janae

Past Tense

Happened. 

It's such a powerful word. Our past dictates too much of our present. God says, "Just let go." and we say, "Oh no, no, no..." Who are we tell God no? I've realized my struggles are tied to the past. What I'm dealing with now has a hint of back then. I thought I was done with that. I think sometimes God uses our past as a precursor like it says in Judges 3:2

he (God) did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience

But at the same time, the past can be used as a weapon from the Enemy. It can have such a grip over our lives. It can dictate our futures without any reason. 

Some times I feel like I never fully got over past hurts. It still comes and bites me in the back. It whispers the lies in my ear. It's times like those I want to jump into the words of the Lord and never get out. I want to jump into the future to escape the past. What I need to focus on is the present and the future somewhat also. I need to focus on what God is doing now and who He is. His promises to me. 

Happened. 

It's such a powerful word. Yes. Happened not happening. When happened is used, it tells us that something is over. There is no more strength in the power of what has been done. Nothing. Jesus overcame the grave and have us hope. You have overcome and through that have been given strength, faith, and hope. You know have previous battle experience, but the battle can not overcome you. You must remember what happened. God brought you through the battle overcame it for you and with you. 

You are a blessing and warrior that was won, is winning now, and will win all battles through God. 

Janae