Clouds and Thick Darkness....

Clouds and thick darkness surround him; 

   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 

Fire goes before him 

   and consumes his foes on every side. 

His lightning lights up the world; 

   the earth sees and trembles. 

The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, 

   before the Lord of all the earth. 

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, 

   and all peoples see his glory.

Psalm 97:2-6

Just take time to read over this passage and form a picture in my mind. Can you believe that we have the option to serve THIS God? What can stop THIS God? Whoever has this type of power and influence must of power over our lives. To me it's comforting to know that THIS God is my Father, watches over me day and night, and protects me in every step I take. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Lately God's been putting it onto my heart and into my mind that I need to love people. Especially with the new changes to our youth group, I think it's really key. THEN my youth pastor talked about loving on Wednesday night and this verse stuck out to me.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast, it does not envy, it is not proud. 

This verse means so many different things to me in so many different ways but here's a big one that normally doesn't get touched on when talking about this verse. We need to LOVE GOD. 

If I love God wholeheartedly, then why aren't I patient with him? 

If I love him so much, then why aren't I always kind (not just in my actions but in my thoughts) to others?

If I am so in love with God, then why do I get proud, jealous, and boastful? 

I realized that as an outcome of loving God, all these things will happen. And it's so important to love others and the first step to that is loving God. It's like this song. 

So this year I'm praying that God will put his "love glasses" on me and I'm going to make it my mission to love others and love God. If I love God, how can I be impatient, proud, and unkind if that's what love isn't? 

NOT Perfect

Don't think I'm perfect. Don't think I'm so good. Don't. Stop. Stop. Stop it! I'm not perfect. Every single person alive has faults and I'm one of them. Maybe you just don't know, but I have problems and faults just like everyone else. No one in history has been perfect except for Jesus. He's the only perfect one there has ever been and ever will be.

I'm just a little, a lot, sick and tired of people thinking that I'm "just too perfect, too good" or "little miss perfect" in a bad way. I'm not saying that every person thinks that I'm like this because I don't think I'm like this at all, I'm just sick of hearing it because I've heard more than twice. It's just that I'm no where near any of those things and I don't claim to be. Whatever is nice or good in me is all from Him, Jesus. Nothing I do that's good is from me. It's all from him. All the bad gunk in my life, now THAT is me. That's Janae. But, the whole point of being a Christian is to become Christ like. The life of a man or woman striving to become as like Christ is the life of a devoted Christian. So what's wrong with being nice, respecting your parents and others and trying your hardest?

I'm trying to become as much like Christ so that others see him in me, not think that I'm perfect. I have so many failures and times where I'm back at the feet of Jesus saying "sorry, sorry, sorry..." I don't broadcast my failures because who does that? Maybe my faults are less noticeable because I hold in my anger or sadness or jealousy or hurt or annoy when I don't want it to show; but they're still there all the same.

What I'm trying to say here is that I'm a sinner. I'm real and I try. The good in me is all the work of God because without him I'm nothing and that's exactly it. I'm not a goody-two-shoes I'm a Christian that works at it everyday, all day, as much as I can. And when people are nice, isn't that a good thing? We should love the improvements in people's character towards the likeness of Christ.

P.S. I hope this doesn't come off as conceited. I'm trying to say the opposite. 

Encouragement for YOU!

I just want to say that you are great and appreciated. And that all the hard work you do is noticed. Even if it feels like you're not making an impact, you are. Even if people aren't raving about all the things you do, God is. He notices. 


I know how easy it is to feel like what you're doing isn't really affecting anyone. It's super easy, to just give up because it feels like no one cares about all the hours you spent baking cupcakes for the bake sale, spending your Sunday mornings chasing after toddlers in the nursery, giving your shoe shopping money to help missionaries or putting all your effort into organizing a bible study. I know how you feel, I'm right there with you! 

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

Hebrews 6:10 

I just feel like what I'm doing right now isn't really mattering or making a difference the way I want it to or at all. So I guess this is encouragement to you and to me too because we all need it. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, child, student, young adult, not-as-young adult, or somewhere in between, every action you make for the glory of God, he sees. He sees how hard you try and all of the work you do and, let me tell you, God appreciates it so much! Without people like you, nothing for the Kingdom of Heaven would get done. Sometimes it's hard see the greatness of what you're doing, but it's there. So keep on keepin' on! There is no one like you to do the work God has for you so do it with all your heart and never give up because God rewards his children. 

Imagine if....

Revelation 1:8
"I am the Alpha and Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Imagine God told you how the end of the world will be. (Revelation 1:1-2)
Imagine God told you what to tell the King about his kingdom failing. (Daniel 4)
Imagine God told you to take your town and family to all enter into a foreign land and may or may not have to go to war. (Joshua 1:1-5)
Imagine God tells you you're about to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit and the baby will be the Savior of the world. (Luke 1:30-33)
Imagine God told you he loves you and died for you. (John 3:16)
Imagine if God still spoke today to us like he did during Bible times.

Imagine you didn't have to imagine that God still spoke to us the same as he did to the people of the Bible. It's true I'm telling you! The Lord of the Bible is our Lord today. He hasn't changed since the beginning of time. His word is eternal. His character is eternal. 

"And let there be night."

And so it was. After God made the light he let darkness come over the earth. We often think that God is ONLY in the light but God created darkness too and let it happen. We seem to think that when in our lives we come into darkness God has left us, but he hasn't. He has made this new darkness and let it happen. It's all in his plan just like the first seven days of creation. We never would appreciate the light without darkness just as we wouldn't appreciate the joy and prosperousness in our lives without feeling saddened and unproductive. God is always there through the thick and thin, through the light and the darkness and day and light. 

Night can be mysterious, adventurous, romantic, alluring and exciting. It can also be scary, dangerous, and extremely uncertain. It's all how you look at it. Once you take into account that God is ALWAYS There walking right next you it becomes a totally new experience. Maybe those fears of night are still there a little but it’s much better or now it’s something new to explore since God has got your hand. It’s like when I was younger and would have a bad dream. When I was alone in my bed it was freaky and so scary but as soon as I'd crawl into my parents bed and have my mom or dad holding me everything was going to be alright. That's what's great about God being Abba, Father; he comes into our nights filled with darkness to hold our hands until the morning comes and to reassure us everything is going to be alright.