Faithlessness and the Faithful One

2 Timothy 2:11-13

The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us; 

if we are faithless, he remains faithful-

for he cannot deny himself. 

God is so awesome. I truly believe that He is always faithful. I have to say that there are times when I have not been faithful like I wish that I was and I still saw the amazing faithfulness of God throughout my unfaithfulness. The christian faith is frequently used as a label but the truth is the life of a true believer is something that I am striving to be able to even claim. I want to say that I am wholly surrendered to the LORD and that I am trusting Him in EVERYTHING that I do but the truth is I am a work in progress and there is still a long way to for me to go. God is always faithful. I cling to that truth. Luke 9:23 &24 says

And he said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. This means that I am supposed to be giving God everything everyday. Time, thoughts, ambitions, decisions... I keep thinking about it and the truth is I have to wonder if what we call a luke warm christian is even a christian at all. This makes me really evaluate my own life. I know that I am not giving God my everything all the time and honestly I know that there is a lot in my life that I just need to let go of and place at the feet of God. I am encouraged that God is always faithful. That is so encouraging.... but I am also a bit overwhelmed by how much help I need. Selfishness is so easy. Following God.... I want to say that it seems really hard because sometimes it seems like only doing bad gets you anywhere but then God says if you love the world you hate me. He also says that "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." I know that I can trust God about this. He is always trust worthy... even if the christian life might seems hard or even impossible at times I need to remember that surrendering myself wholly to the LORD is the only way that I will ever understand what His burden really is light and that yoke is easy. I also need to remember this daily and pick up his cross every day. I have such a long way to God. Praise God that he never leaves us hanging. 

Grace

I am really learning about the concept of grace lately. I still have so much to learn but I feel like sharing a little bit about what I have been learning about grace and how it applies to me. 

The fifth definition of this word is probably the one that fits this situation the best.

Confession: I noticed recently how judgey I can get about those around me when the truth is I am just as rude, self-absorbed, mistake-ridden, ugly, and strange as anyone who I judge. 

What to do: Repentance and Grace. 

Lately I have been fascinated by the verse in Philippians that says 

Therefore, by beloved as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence by much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

I have always considered myself more of a Calvinist in that I have always stuck with the once saved always saved doctrine. However, this verse brings a few things to mind. First of all, YES we are blessed with the grace of God but secondly we need to remember that this is a God who is righteous, holy, good, faithful and trustworthy. He is always consistent and cannot be anything contrary to his character. Yes God is loving but we must remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and my God is the God who because of His love sent His only son to die for sin because sin is that wicked and that gross. God who is righteous and perfect and loving had a whole group of His people swallowed by the earth  when they sinned. God is so great and I want to have a very personal relationship with God but I also want to remember that this relationship that I have with Him is a gift of grace! It is an honor and I am told to work this gift of salvation out with fear and trembling. That seems like something to be taken very seriously to me.

In Matthew 7 Jesus says Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will measure you. 

I am feel so convicted by this because I know that I judge people for the silliest reasons but I could probably not pass my own standards. This is pretty embarrassing but mostly very humbling. I do not want to have everyone looking at or scrutinizing my life so why should I go around doing that to others? It bugs me that I can be so quick to judge or scrutinize the lives of others when I don't even have my own life in order. Since Hans and I got married I have every so often gotten a comment from one of my friends or acquaintances telling me how I should be doing marriage. I sometimes get so annoyed because a lot of these comments have come from people who are not married. When I think about this thought I know I am guilty of the same thing. It can be the easiest thing in the world to make criticisms about things that I know nothing about. Maybe that person is so big because they were abused their whole life. Maybe that guy dresses weird because he is poor. Maybe that girl is always making rude comments because she is just insecure about herself. Maybe I need to have a lot more grace for the people around me. I am FAR from perfect and I am really grateful for the grace that God gives me. Unfortunately too often I find myself acting like the man who had all his debts washed away only for him to turn around and oppress someone because they could not pay him back for that small amount. I have had ALL my debts washed clean by God and the tab was higher than I could have every paid off. I need to make sure that I am extending that grace to those around me. I need to get rid of my measurements of perfections or what is just right or just wrong and remember that my job is to love and not judge. This does not mean that I should encourage someone to do the wrong thing but I defiantly should not judge them for it. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says: 

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

I am so grateful to be covered by grace. I need to remember to show the same grace and love to others that God shows to me every single day. 

So Behind....

I know that I haven't been staying very updated with this lately but I don't know when I would have the time to. School has been very busy and as much as I would like to promise myself that I will keep going with this I know that I probably will not for at least a while. Perhaps I will get a bit more time to focus on this over the break but I don't know that I will. Also lately I have been debating about what I want this blog to be. Right now I don't think it really has a direction. More than anything this blog is just a random place for my inconsistent memos. I want this to be more consistent but I don't know when that will happen. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for God, my family, friends and my AMAZING husband Hans! I am blessed beyond what I ever would have hoped for.

Cars

So recently the car broke down and I am going to have to get a new one. I have become fascinated by the Volkswagen 181aka The Thing!

It is so awesome and was featured on the show Switched at Birth... Well I'm not sure featured is the right word but that show got me very curious...  Next I saw this fantastic picture and now I would really like to own one...

I'm not convinced this little dream of mine is actually realistic right now or that I will still feel the same about this beautiful yet crazy looking vehicle once it starts to get really cold but for now I am drooling a little over this beauty. In the mean time I will just continue to enjoy looking at pictures. I am such a girl in so many respects with this car. I did not look at the specs or engine details. I just wanted to know how awesome it looks.... O dear. If I were actually going to buy it I would care about the other stuff too but since I don't think that will happen I am just going to enjoy the view knowing that in my dream reality this car has awesome gas milage, will NEVER break down, does great in all types of weather and can plow through anything (like a herd of angry deer)... *Sigh* I never thought this would be my dream car but it probably will be for at least the next few months... beautiful. 

My dad is so wonderful!

I am blessed with an amazing Dad. HE ROCKS

At my cousin's wedding :]

AWESOME DRESS TO DROOL OVER!!!!

I completely LOVE this dress! If I could own it I would! 

Here is the link to this sensational dress! ENJOY!!! Also if you can get this wonderful dress then I am happy for you and I hope that you enjoy this! This is such a fun and elegant dress that I feel like it just needs to be shared! Enjoy!