Be Encouraged!!

As I am away at school, I’ve been kinda struggling with a lot. Satan is a Jerk and has been at me like crazy!!! But I’ve also noticed it in a lot of my friends lives and the many people around me.

I wanted try and encourage those of you who are struggling with life, and the many ups and downs that comes our way, to not be discouraged but be encouraged! There is something Good at the end of it! What were dealing with is only temporary and not forever! I almost feel as if some of us have kinda gotten use to a struggle (not sure what it is) and have kind of let it take control of our minds and thoughts, That we forgot about the very savior that is here for us and is ready to fight for us if we are only willing to give up control! If were willing to admit our hurts, struggles, failures,confusion or whatever it may be and just give it up to Him! Of course its not gonna be easy but its part of being changed and going through the fire and being forever Changed!

For some reason this has been on my heart for a while, possibly because I have been one of those people who have let their struggle consume them, until today. Today in Chapel at School, We briefly talked about being in the Potters hands (which is talked about a lot in todays church) but it had me thinking and had me take a glance at my own life, Being the Potters hands means to be in the Hands of God and letting Him mold you into His likeness. Sounds easy and simple but that may come with troubles and hardships. Look at all Jesus went through, Look at all he endured before even being placed on the cross! So much more than what we can take today, I mean for some of us, Getting a C on at Test is hard for us to do or stubbing your toe. All that we go through is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compared to what He has went through! He’s been tempted and tried!!! and then Lost His life on the cross for us! To save us from ourselves, and the many stupid things we do, but also to help us carry our burdens, to help us pull through every situation we may face in this life here on earth! Nothing is to big or to small for Him!!! Just Lay it down!!!
Whether its a Financial Need, Loss of a loved One, Academics, Lay it down! He is waiting for it!!

Don’t be discouraged or Negative when facing hard things in todays life, because Jesus has went through it! and He will help you get through it as well!

If He can overcome the World! We can conquer what we face while we are here as well! But keep in mind its not in our own strength! But in HIS!!! SO MUCH EASIER SAID THAN DONE But believe me, it really is in His strength and His power and Grace that pulls us through!!! We are more than Conquerors in Christ Jesus!!

John 16:33
- I have told you these things so that in ME [Jesus] you may have peace, In this world you may have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world!

In the midst of our weakness, Let HIS strength pull you through, you can’t do it alone! Depend on Him, get involved with community of believers and be open and honest with them in the things that you face in this life so they can keep you in prayer, and help encourage you in the time of hardships!!! Were a family!

” It does not imply that God won’t let you be stressed beyond what you can bear, OR challenged beyond your ability OR pushed beyond your threshold. In reality God gives you more than you can bear all the time, and ON PURPOSE! It’s only when you can’t bear the load that the strength of Christ kicks in… and HE becomes everything you need and more.”

Your all in my Prayers, I don’t know whats going on with half of you or Why God even put this on my heart, but I do know that its not only for me! So take it as you will, and if you need anything, prayer or anything I’m here!! Love you all!

In His Grip,

Tabitha

Isaiah 61:1-7 (message)

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.
He sent me to preach good news to the poor,
heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives,
pardon all prisoners.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies—
and to comfort all who mourn,
To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,
give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.
Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness”
planted by God to display his glory.
They’ll rebuild the old ruins,
raise a new city out of the wreckage.
They’ll start over on the ruined cities,
take the rubble left behind and make it new.
You’ll hire outsiders to herd your flocks
and foreigners to work your fields,
But you’ll have the title “Priests of God,”
honored as ministers of our God.
You’ll feast on the bounty of nations,
you’ll bask in their glory.
Because you got a double dose of trouble
and more than your share of contempt,
Your inheritance in the land will be doubled
and your joy go on forever.

As I read this I was thinking to myself WHOA!!! Thats exactly what I needed. I really feel like I am called Into youth ministry. I have had a ton of Doubt and everything with it though.

I mean alot has confirmed it to at the same time. My Life was spoken over back in November and Something that was said to me was ” Tabitha, You going to go from nation to nation speaking of a Hope, of a Love, that you have found In Christ and your going to change the lives of thousands of Young people”. Other things were said as well but that is what stuck out to me the most.

How did a guy, that new nothing about me, nothing about what I was thinking about with my life and what to do with it, How did he know that?

My answer- God!!!

Its just so crazy to see what God is trying to do… despite my past, despite all the things I have done….. I love it!!

More to come soon…

A New View!

        A couple of weeks ago, I COMPLETELY opened up to someone from a purity conference I went to. I told her about alot. Things with with my dad and etc. And honestly I barely know her, but I did it. Something I never have really done before, and a few days after I did that, I realized that that is something I have not been doing with God, I’ve only let him come in, in certain parts of my life. I opened my life up to God, Through crying screaming into my pillow, more crying, the million and one questions, everything. I took it all to Him. The more I have been finding myself doing that, I have also found that He is not afraid of all my questions of the crying or screaming, none of it. That he is here with me, he has gone and is going through this right beside me. That no matter what I could do, nothing will ever separate the love that He has. Just knowing that has been one of the best things for me these past almost 3 weeks now. No don’t get me wrong, I may not feel it all the time but, just knowing it and believing it makes its all the better.       

      Sorry please bare with me, I’m trying to make this all make sense and well I’m not sure if its working to well ha ha.   Something I really really have been thinking about is this..       

      The clearest message I have been getting through everything I have been going through is about my Relationship with Christ. One of my favorite quotes is ” Its not about religion but about Relationship” and well I have been seeing that my walk with Christ has not been with our Relationship. I’ve been so focused on Religion! I’m trying to explain this best I can so if it makes no sense at all I totally understand. But I have been in church for the past 4 years, and all I have been focused on is How I have to try to be perfect, that I can’t mess up and when I do mess up, Hide it, because if people found out, who knows what would happen. I don’t know why it was like that but as soon as I decided to give my life over to God for some reason it was like Perfection = Christian… ( I know different now). Almost like in order to be a “Good” Christian, you had to be perfect. I thought and lived by that for so long.  

      God has been showing me that even when I mess up He still loves me just as the same. That nothing as I said before can take away His unending love for me. That I don’t have to be perfect, or even try to be perfect, being perfect is boring. Now I’m finding out what It really means to be a Christian. To Live my life for HIM and for HIM only. That if I do mess up, His grace and mercy is there to catch me when I fall. .To be a Christian is about doing your best to follow God,to do what he called you to do, To love God, To love People, and to love life ( something my youth pastor has been talking about alot lately)       

     As for the Love God, Love People, Love life thing….   I love God. He is my Father, My provider, my Maker, my life, and despite what I have done, Nothing will ever change that. Its just amazing to even see that.   As for the Love People thing, umm well I’m working on that. I know there is some people in my life that I could Love more and Love them the way Christ has called me to do it, but I have not been that way with them. I know what Loving on People means in the bible, give to the need and so on .. but it also means forgiveness to me, if you cant forgive someone, your holding something against them, and your not loving the way Christ has Called to love.      

     As for Loving Life, this is the first time I have ever said this, but I love my life. I don’t like some of the choices I have made, some of the things I have to deal with but I still have to say I love my life. God has been showing who he is and what he can do in so many ways lately.. wierd ways too.. but thats  whole other  story. But My life Is being lived for Him. No more looking to other people to what to do but to Him.

     What is any better but to know that a God, that you have turned from so much, and have ran from so much, still wants you and is doing everything in His power to pull me back to Him. So instead of constantly running, and trying to be “perfect”, I’m going to just sit still and Let God be God. Let him work through this time in my life, because its probably the most difficult time that I’ve faced ever!     

       I’m only living today because God really Grabbed hold of me, I wish I could say it was the opposite but its not.I

    I’m learning ALOT.I have a Huge trust issue, with people and that even went to my relationship with God.. Well now I am proud to say this for the first time in my life and being 100% true with it …  I am trusting God with  my Life. I know what I am suppose to do, I know what he has called me to do, and its been confirmed ALOT. God is in control. Its all his deal anyway. I’m Not gonna let the enemy win over my life again.The doubts, the ” I dont think I can do this” everything. But I know that I am fully… FULLY!!! equipped by the word of God to do it.

     But to really say now.. He is my Rock and my redeemer. No matter how hard things Get, even in the tough times, I have to put my Focus on the truth, Not on the “feeling” of God, but the truth, Cause in the end, the truth is whats gonna set me free. atleast thats what I’m told, and I’m just believing that.  

 

 Tab

Real God, Real LOVE

Pursuing Christ lately has not been on the top of my “To-do” list lately. To be honest I have completely pushed Him off to the side, sort of just to the Back burner of my life. I’ve found myself in this “Pit”. A “Pit” of just pretty much self hate,brokenness,hurt. I was just taking it all as it was being thrown at me. I Dug this whole deeper and deeper as time went by. This is the way the past almost two months have been. The lies that I have grabbed on to weren’t making things better. Things telling me its not worth Going after such a powerful God,that it was pointless that I would keep messing up,would keep falling and tripping. That I couldn’t put up the fight needed to get out of this mess. A verse came to my mind through all of this,

Matthew 10:38-39…

” Anyone who does not take up his cross and Follow me is not worthy of me, whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it”

 I knew what it meant to “take up your cross”. To me it means take up everything that has ever been thrown at you, and take it to God and continue on with life, No matter how hard it gets just do it. 

       I know the scripture and I know what I’m suppose to say. What it all comes down to is I know religion, But to say I knew (know) of this personal relationship with Christ, I would be lying. I mean dont get me wrong, I did have a relationship with God at one point but these past few months I have Just forgotten about and lost all focus of it. But before these past few months my relationship with Him was not the best,I wasn’t honest with Him, I wasn’t open, Now I know what I thought was there, wasn’t real. I have not trusted Him the way I should, None of it. Now that I look back on it, it was the crappiest relationship ever. The cross I knew to take up and carry, even during the hard times, I threw Down and walked away. I stopped Going to church on Sundays, the Wednesday thing had just became a “ thing to do”.

         Last Night was different, my youth pastor didn’t even continue on his thing with purity ( I’m not gonna lie, I was kinda happy about that), but he went somewhere new. I can’t remember everything he had said but, one thing I do remember was the verse Philippians 1:6 ( someone had actually sent this to me about a week ago but I was like whatever it didn’t make sense to me then).

“Being confident of this, He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

After He used that verse ( he said it like twice),I just said oh my gosh. What the heck have I been doing. He just kept going on about his dreams he had and where God has him, and how it wasn’t because of his WISDOM or his KNOWLEDGE, but because of the Lords.

      Let me first say, I didn’t want to be there that night. I was sick and not feeling all that up to par, but I still went. After he was done saying everything I heard something I have not heard in a long time. I just cried, I didn’t even know why I was crying. I just was, but it wasn’t over anything I had going on or anything I was thinking, But the tears Just flowed, But I finally heard from God. It was more clear and Loud than ever. I wasn’t even looking for a meet with Him, I wanted to meet with Him, I wanted to find him again,but I had gave up on it. But He found me, I wasn’t doing anything, just sitting there against the wall, way in the back.He said

“Tabitha, Your hear because its real, your hear because You want to see me in a real way, a NEW way, and well here I am. I want you to learn how to be real, with me, with yourself,and with those around you. Its ok not to be OK all the time. What your Going through isn’t for forever. Let me help you, Let me In. Let me teach you REAL love, Love that doesn’t hurt. TRUST ME!

          I just cried more, it was almost like it was all new to me but at the same time, i knew it all. ( sorry if I’m not making much sense). It said so much to me, and made some stuff finally hit home. I’m not gonna say I’m good,I’m fine or I’m all better, but I have something Firm, and REAL to stand on. I found, No wait, God found me. What he has started, Hes gonna finish. No matter what it takes. I may fail at first but I know God is gonna get me through this. I’m gonna move forward NO matter what it takes.

 1 Peter 5:8-10 says:

“Be self-controlled and alert, Your enemy the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to Devour. Resist Him standing firm in faith, because you know your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all Grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will make you strong firm and steadfast.

I’m not gonna lie, the enemy had me down, and almost defeated. I have been listening to all his stupid lies long enough. Faith, These amazing few people God has recently placed in my life, thats whats gonna get me through this. All of everyones prayers thats why I’m where I’m at right now.

       I know and fully aware of the Road ahead. Its not gonna be an easy one, but I now have a rock to stand on. I see it, I know its here! I’m not gonna sink anymore.