Lonely?

If you have been around .Redeemed. for a while, you have read a post or two about me being single and how that is okay!  Click the links above for four recent posts about being single.  I just turned twenty-two and I don't think that I need to be in a committed relationship right now.  I strongly believe that it is okay that I am not even close to getting married.  I don't think that there is something wrong with me because I am waiting around for someone special.

I have heard Kelly Clarkson's Stronger several times before today.  But, today it struck a new cord with me.  Take a minute and watch the video.

Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. 

That is probably my favorite line of the entire song.  I can't tell you how many times I have had someone say to me, I just want you to be happy.  Since when do I need a man in my life to make me happy? 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous hand.

Isaiah 41:10

You know what I gather from that?  God is the only one who can make me happy.  He will strengthen and help me.  I don't have to fear, He is with me!  No man on this earth can fulfill me the way that God can.  No man on this earth can make me happy the way that God can.

My personal view point is that if my personal relationship with God is not in check and at the center of my life, then I am not living a life worth bring a man into.  If God is not the center of my life, then it will be easy for me to get wrapped up in a relationship with a man. 

So, right now I am working on bringing God to the center of my life.  Then, I will worry about getting myself out there.  I am still young.  I still have time.  It's all good!

Any young readers out there?  Are you getting heat from anyone around you about being single?  How are you putting their views past you and focusing on what you know to be true?  



(Four) Things to be Thankful for... Day Five

27. A song:  There are two songs that I am very thankful for this year.  The first is For the Honor by Elevation Worship.  I wrote a blog post about the line "We'll live our lives as sacrifice until You come again" and what that line meant to me.  That line has completely changed my perspective on a lot of situations, and has taught me to think about things in a new light.  I have shared this thought with several other people.  I am so thankful for Elevation Church and the Elevation Worship team.  They are amazing!  You can click here to buy Elevation Worships first nationwide CD that is titled For the Honor.  The second song that I am thankful for is The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets.  Every time I hear this song, I think about my ex.  Every time I hear it on the radio multiple times in a day, I take the time to reach out to my ex.  I have never regretted doing that.  Several times, it has been important.  God uses that song to speak to me.

28. A gift:  This year I am thankful for my boss getting me a gym membership.  This gift has sparked change in my life.  I am working out at least twice but am upset if I don't make it three times.  I am so thankful that my boss cares enough about me to get me a gym membership and say that she loves me the way I am, but knows I can be healthier and have a better life!

29. Something in my home:  On my dresser sits a picture frame that used to sit on Philips dresser.  One day when I was five or six, Philip took me to Glamor Shots to get glammed up.  He always called me a princess, and that day I got top notch princess treatment.  They did my make up, did my hair, and dolled me up for several different pictures.  This picture frame has two pictures in it.  When I look at the pictures, I remember that day with Philip and how special he was to me.  He always did everything in his power to treat me like a princess.

30. The thing I am most thankful for:  Elevation Church.  Through Elevation Church, I have come to know Jesus in a way that no one has ever taught me.  Through Elevation Church, I have found a group of friends who love me for who I am, encourage me in hard times, and who I can celebrate victories with.  Through Elevation Church, I have found a group of 7 middle school girls who are looking to know Jesus in a more intimate way.  Through Elevation Church, I have learned the importance of tithing.  I can't thank the eight families who moved to Charlotte to start Elevation enough.  The staff of Elevation is par to none.  They never give less than 100% at everything they do.  The volunteers at Elevation pour their heart and soul into the church.  They work harder than any group of volunteers you have ever seen.  I am most thankful for Elevation Church this year.  I am so thankful that God brought me there on that day in May of 2009. 


This five day series on thirty things I have to be thankful for has been truly eye opening.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I am a blessed girl.


Dear Reader,
You may not have made onto one of the categories that I wrote about this week.  But, I want you to know that I am very thankful for you.  I write to you.  I pray that you will read each of my posts and grow from or learn something from them.  I am thankful that since I started writing in 2009, you have read my blog over 1,440 times!  Thank you!  Please continue to read, and to share this blog with your friends!!

Sincerely, .Redeemed.

I'm Gonna Love You Through It

Martina McBride has a new song titled I'm Gonna Love You Through It.  I heard this song for the first time the other day, and knew instantly that I would write a blog about it.  I instantly thought about our relationship with Christ. 

When you're weak, I'll be strong

When you let go, I'll hold on

Martina McBride - I'm Gonna Love You Through It

I think that we have this relationship with Christ.  When we are weak, He makes us strong.  When we let go, He holds on. 

Just take my hand, together we can do it

I'm gonna love you through it

Martina McBride - I'm Gonna Love You Through It

No matter what the situation, Jesus is going to love us through it.  We can walk away from Him.  He will still love us.  We can turn our back on Him.  He will still love us.  

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Ephesians 6:10

I am thankful that I serve a God who will not leave me.  I am forever grateful that I serve a God that I can't fail.  No matter what I do, He is going to love me through it.  By no means is this an excuse to act carelessly with our lives.  We are human, we will mess up, even when we try our hardest.  Thankfully, He knows that.  Thankfully, He will love us even when we mess up.

I know that this post is super short.  I hope that it just serves as a reminder.  He is going to love us through it. 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

The Good Life

Happy Labor Day!

The past couple weeks I have had the song, Good Life by One Republic stuck in my head and on my heart to write about.  I typically would post the video to the song, but today Blogger is being difficult.  So, you will have to click the link above and watch the video for yourself!  Sorry!!

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

That is the chorus to this catchy new song.  There are a few things that I would like to tell the guys of One Republic and you!

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

How powerful is that?  This is the good life!!  The guys of One Republic seem unsure if this is the good life or not.  I want to assure you that we are the redeemed.  We live the good life.  If we are in Christ Jesus, we have the good life!  We have the unfailing love of Jesus Christ. 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37-39

Nothing separates us from the love of Jesus.  This is the good life!!!  Take comfort in Romans 8:37-39.  There isn't anything that you can do to make Him leave you.  There isn't anything that you can do to make Him hate you.  We are living the good life.  We have the love of Jesus Christ on our side. 

But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease,

without fear of harm.

Proverbs 1:33

Can it get any simpler than that?  This is the good life!  All we have to do is listen to him.  Listen to His direction in our life, and he will keep us safe and free of harm.

My prayer for you today is that you would stop wondering if this is the good life and take confidence in the fact that this is the good life.  If you have brought Christ into your life, you are living the best life possible! 

If these three weren't good enough for you, please pull out your Bible and read any of the ones below.  Any reason to doubt that we live the good life now? 



Genesis 18:14, Exodus 33:14, Joshua 1:8, 1 Samuel 2:2, Ezra 8:22, Job 42:2, Psalm 121:8, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Jeremiah 29:11, Nahum 1:7, Zephaniah 3:17, Matthew 11:28-29, Acts 17:27-28, Romans 10:9, Philippians 4:19, 2 Peter 1:4

Check out this link for multiple promises from God in each book of the Bible! 

For the Honor

This weekend at Elevation, the worship team played "For the Honor".  This is a song that the worship team of Elevation wrote.  There is one line of this song that I have not been able to get out of my head. 

We'll give our lives as sacrifice until You come again.

I can't stop thinking about what it means to give your life as sacrifice to the Lord.  This has so much meaning to me.  Any silent moment since I attended the worship experience, I have been thinking about what this means to me and how to put it into practice. 

To me, this means honoring the Lord in everything that I do, through my actions and my thoughts.  Several months ago, I wrote about what glorifying God looked like to me.  Re-reading that post, I have to sadly admit that I don't think I am honoring God in all the things that I do anymore.

I can quickly get upset with the children I work with.  I have to remind myself that they don't go to church.  I am their example of a Christian.  I have to honor and glorify God through all of my actions with them.  It is easy for me to watch TV and play Cityville on facebook for hours, and never open my Bible. 

Giving my life as a sacrifice to the Lord means doing only things that bring Him glory.  It means that I have to start turning the TV off and spending more time in the Word.  It means eating healthier to keep my body in a condition that is honoring God. 

In every moment of my life I have the option of making a good or a bad choie.  Thankfully, we serve a forgiving God and have a new 24 every morning.  From this point forward, I want to live my life as a sacrifice until He comes again.

To you:  How can you change your actions to live your life as a sacrifice to Him?  What does this mean to you?

Perfect

Warning: This video contains graphic content!

I have heard this song on the radio for weeks. The first time I heard it, I knew that God wanted me to write about it. But it took me weeks to figure out what He wanted me to say. I love this song.

Pretty, pretty please/Don’t you ever, ever feel/Like you’re less than/less than perfect/Pretty, pretty please/If you ever, ever feel /Like you’re nothing/You are perfect to me

Every time I heard this song, I was so comforted. God feels this way about me. He feels this way about you. You are perfect to Him. That was all I could think of to write this post. He thinks you are perfect. As I was trying to figure out how I could make that one statement an entire blog post, I looked up the video to the song. Woah! That video broke my heart. It is so graphic. Seeing how she carved "PERFECT" into her arm, and all the blood in the tub. It killed me.

Through that, God gave me the perfect blog post. Isn't it interesting how God works. Through a bloody wrist that had "PERFECT" carved into it, I saw God.

In high school, I struggled with fitting in. I got a job to buy "nice" clothes for myself. I thought that American Eagle, Abercrombie and Hollister clothes was all it took to fit in. I pretended to have this beautiful life. As far as I was concerned, the right clothes worked. I got invited to parties and hung out with the "popular" children. But, none of that changed who I was or where I came from. I didn't come from a great, happy home. I bought my way into being popular. I was pretending to be someone I was not. Hiding who I was hurt.

My sophomore year was tough. I hated hiding who I was. I hated not being able to talk about what was going in my life. I was just always dusting things under the rug. I began cutting myself. It was such a relief. I never told anyone. To this day there is only one person who knows that I cut myself. I never felt beautiful. I never felt loved. I knew nothing about the love of Jesus Christ.

I wish I had someone to tell me this when I was in high school...

Even if you don't fit in, even if you don't have a nice car... God loves you. God sent His only Son to save you! God wants your heart. He doesn't want you to hurt yourself. He doesn't want you to hurt. He loves you! He loves you more than anyone on this Earth will ever love you. He loves you more than your future husband will love you. God loves you. Jesus Christ died for you. Jesus Christ loves you!

Are you listening? This is to you. You don't have to be in high school. You can be a 25-year-old single woman who feels like she will never get married and looks in the mirror wondering what is wrong with her. You can be a 23-year-old man who has had sex with more women than you can remember trying to feel loved. Are you listening?

Jesus Christ loves you. He died on the cross for you.

Matthew 9:10-13 says While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'? On hearing this Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' For I have not come to all the righteous but sinners." No matter where you are coming from, it is okay. He still loves you. He came to Earth for you. Elevation Church exists for you. We don't exist for the saved. We are reaching people far from God.

I pray for the day that there is no one on this Earth who does not know the love of God. I pray for the day that there is no one who feels as if cutting themselves is the only relief to pain. I pray for the day that there is no one who feels as if killing themselves is the only way to save themselves.

Jesus loves you! Take heart in that!

In deed, the vary hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 12:7)

Grenade by Bruno Mars & eKidz

Let me start by saying... I love working in eKidz. Every week I have the opportunity to meet first time families. I get to hear a short story about what has led them to Elevation, hear from their heart and encourage them that Elevation is their new home. I love it!! My favorite part about all of it is that I get to see families come back!! I love giving out permanent tags. :-)

So, how does loving eKidz relate to Bruno Mars' song Grenade? I bet you are rather confused right now.

This weekend a family from Cherryville came to visit Elevation. I had the honor of checking this family in. This was a very interesting family. They took a year long course to become a member of their church. The husbands brother attends Elevation. He began to realize that you shouldn't have to attend a course or take a test to become a member at a church, and loved everything his brother had said about Elevation. He got on the subject of secular songs and how strongly he feels that many can relate to how God thinks about us. The first song he referenced I was not familiar with. Then, he mentioned Grenade. I had never taken the time to consider how much this song may relate to how God views us.

Easy come, easy go; That's just how you live How often do we take God for granted? We feel as if God is there and we can stray because He will still love us. We get comfortable in our relationship with God. We begin to think it is okay to have premarital sex because God will forgive us.

Take, take, take it all, But you never give How often do we take advantage of all that God has given us? Are you tithing? If not, then you are taking all that God has given you and not giving anything back to Him!

Many of us will easily throw what God has given us in the trash for the 'next best thing' or to 'do what everyone else is doing'. Is it worth it? God gave us everything we have!!

What if God thought I should've known better? I can't imagine what life would be like if God felt as if He should've known better than to forgive me for my sins.

Let me take this one step further. You said you loved me but you never did... When you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you committed to a relationship with him. Do you live your life in that manner? Do you live your life in a way to exalt the name of Jesus Christ?

And finally, You wouldn't do the same. Jesus Christ died on the Christ for our sins. He died on the cross for my sins. He died on the cross for your sins. Would we die the same death that Christ did on the cross for our sins? You can't honestly say yes to that. Do you live your life in a way to proclaim your gratitude for the death Christ died for your sins?

I am so thankful that this family decided to come to Elevation on Saturday. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to hear from this man's heart. He had some very insightful things to say. I haven't stopped thinking about what he said. I hope you take a minute to think about how these lyrics relate to our relationship with God.