In my devotional it was talking about being alone with God and the importance of taking that time to be alone with God. It briefly mentioned the bible verse where Jesus says that when you pray to go into your closet, shut the door, and then pray. Pretty much the only times I've hears this verse used is when talking about praying in secret so to not be boastful. But how much space and noise is in a closet? I’m thinking not much (maybe I’d like my closet to have more space like any girl would but...), so you're pretty much alone if you're in your closet unless you're playing hide and go seek or sardines but back to praying. So you go into your closet, shut the door, and its small dark and quiet. This sounds like you're alone and then you're praying, so you're alone with God. There's no room for other things in the closet because you're in there and then God.
It's important to be alone with God, away from all the distractions and worries and problems of the world. Sometimes in this crazy world it's extremely hard to just concentrate on God but without taking time to focus on God, you're relationship will start to go downhill. All relationships are two way streets. No exceptions. If you don't put effort in, you'll reap no rewards!
I believe so much in the power of prayer when more than one of us are praying but for individual growth in our relationship with God it’s important to have one on one time. It’s hard to become super close with a friend if you're always with them in a group, so why would it be different with God?
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Matthew 6:6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Also, I just found out about what this guy did, but it's still an amazing worship song. Don't hate on the song and Hillsong because of what Michael Guglielmucci has done, they didn't have any idea.
This song has always been pretty powerful to me since 8th grade when I was having bad health issues. I distinctly remember singing my heart out in worship with this song one Wednesday night at youth group last year. If you didn't know, I got into a bad skiing accident January of last year which gave me chronic back pain, neck pain, and headaches. I tried everything to stop the pain from my injury but nothing was working and I was singing out to God, "I believe you're my healer! Heal me! How much more can I take??" because honestly I'd been telling myself over and over again and others that God will heal me and I'm just waiting on him to do it, whenever he does it; but it's still so hard to really believe it. As summer started to roll out I finally got completely better, God followed through.
Almost exactly one year after my ski accident I was in bad car accident giving me problems similar to my ski injury but worse. I’m still recovering from it. I do believe now that with all my heart God is my healer.
To take kind of an opposite direction, I’m naturally a fearful person. Protective, motherly, fearful, cautious, oh and very emotional; that’s me. My car accident kind of started me on not a good path to being too fearful. Right after my car accident I was scared of being in a car. Then I was scared of driving, which is sort of a necessity. I eventually got over those; well the driving still scares me a little bit. Anyway, the school year got harder and harder so naturally I got more and more exhausted. In February, we started reading The Bell Jar, the book I posted about a little while ago. It bothered me a lot. It made me freaked out and paranoid that I would like her go crazy and do what she attempted to do. If you know me, this is really illogical. I love life and would never do such a thing. It still scared me.
Then, in the days afterwards the topic of suicide came up again and again and happened to someone from the high school I would have gone to in Oregon. I was beyond freaked out. Normally I would be freaked out about something but would then realize it wouldn’t happen. Ex. After I read Little Women when Beth died of Scarlet Fever I was soooooo worried I too would died from Scarlet Fever. Then I found out that the disease is extinct and even if I did have it we would just go to the doctor and I’d be fine.
Still, this was real though. It was close to me and nothing had ever scared me more. I was emotionally exhausted and scared while my body was trying to piece itself back together in the middle of my stress and little amounts of sleep. Every day I have to remind myself that God is with me all the time. He is all that I need. I have to remind myself of this verse that I’ve memorized and held close to my heart.
Psalm 91:7 A thousand my fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand, but it will not come near me.
As long as I have Jesus I know that I will be fine. My fear about grades, sickness, going crazy, all of it, has no place in my life when Jesus is there. The Devil is the father of lies and God is the God of truth!
2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that everyone that has Jesus has nothing to fear. God is your shield and rampart and will not let your foot slip! And you’re not the only one afraid of the future, everyone has dealt with it, but the thing is, everyone can have freedom too, through Jesus Christ!
P.S. It's almost summer! Here's a picture gorgeous picture (hahaha oh my backyard taken with my cellphone but still...) of God's goodness (:
You know this little girl right? Boo, from Monsters Inc? Well sometimes I feel a whole lot like her.
Do you know the scene where Sully does the scare demonstration for Mr. Waternoose and Boo sees? (I've seen this movie too many times.) Well if you don't remember or haven't seen the movie, you should watch it, and what happens is Boo is scared out of her mind. She's come to love Sully and before that time couldn't see him as scary. She saw him as her protector and friend.
This is the reason sometimes I feel like Boo. I've gone through my life and hit bumpy patches and had struggles but nothing that really made me question God. Nothing that shook my foundation up so that I felt completely lost, kinda like Boo. But, within the last few years, especially this past year, I've been shook up. I've felt lost, and so scared and most of all so confused as to what happened to the God I used to know that was my protector and friend. The things that happened to me lead me to, I feel like continually, ask God, "Why is this happening?? Why? I just really do not understand right now!"
What I've found out through the extremely rough patches is that God IS my protector and friend. This might be a little cheesy but here's the connection, Boo found out by the end of the movie that Sully was who she thought he was in the beginning. It seemed like what he was doing was horribly mean and nasty, but really it was all for her own good because he loves her. The same holds true for me and God. Sometimes it truly, truly seems like what God's doing is horribly mean and nasty and only brings pain but in the end it all works out for my good because He LOVES me!
Psalm 5:11-12
But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
When I was listening to this song I thought about in Genesis 1:3-5 where it says:
And God said,“Let there be light,” and there was light.God saw that the light was good,and he separated the light from the darkness.God calledthe light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Before that whole world was in darkness. Even with the sun giving light during the day and the stars and moon at night, the world was still lacking the true light until Jesus came. Now, anyone at anytime can have true everlasting light through Him.
People are constantly searching for this light with worldly things. If we don't show the light that we have within, how will anyone else find the light?
If we were all walking around in dark tunnels underground and some of us had night vision and flashlights but didn't tell anyone or shared our light, what good would it do anyone else? No one else would benefit from your sight when everyone could be!
I think it is hard to get the nerve to share our faith with those around us. But, we have the light and power of GOD running through us. God says, "It's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit." Just tap into the spiritual power of God that's waiting to be used. Turn on your flashlight and shine!
