Rough Season

 This semester has been the best, most defining of my college experience thus far. I have been victorious in many battles. However, it has also been tremendously hard at times. It has mostly been because of financial circumstances, but a lot of other things have come up to make life here a little harder.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

To put it plainly, it has really sucked! 

One thing that I've noticed myself doing is separating reality from the gospel. What do I exactly mean by this? I'm simply talking about the fact that when we go through tough situations, as humans, we tend to separate what's going on in our physical lives on earth from the reality that Jesus came (as the perfect man, lived a perfect life, endured nearly fatal suffering for our sins, died with those sins, and was raised to life three days later, therefore) having victory over ALL things, even our circumstances. And if God, gave His perfect son in exchange for our imperfections, shouldn't we expect Him to give us so much more??(Romans 8:32)

The reality is the gospel.

We cannot continue to live like those are totally separate things. As a believer, we live by FAITH and not SIGHT. Though things may seem bad, our treasure is in HEAVEN! Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). The enemy will consistently try to tell us through our circumstances that this life is all we have; that it is our reality. There is no eternal peace. There will always be suffering. That's not what our Lord tells us in His word! The reality is 1 Peter 1:6-7 as stated above. These trials build our faith until we are rescued and brought home! We have to hold on to the real reality. Jesus wins. His love never fails.

  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. -Hebrews 10:23

While I'll admit that this has been a crazy semester, God has promised His children who fight the fight of faith, that we will one day be with Him. Money cannot buy perfect love like His.

So until that great day brothers & sisters, PRESS ON! Philippians 3:13-14 

One Thing

One thing that we all can agree on about the world we live in, is the fact that it's always changing. From the new iPhones every year to the Presidential election every 4, we see a that the only unchanging thing about our lives is the solid fact that it will always change.

With this in mind:

How can we expect to stay happy? Statistics prove that marriages are consistently falling apart, and with that families are constantly changing. Good kids turn into rebellious teenagers and start to live as if their life has no meaning. Tuition rises for school, and students are forced to drop out. Think of something that you think is consistent...now is it really that consistent?

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Put yourself in these situations

• You've gone out with a boy/girl for a long period of time, and over crazy reasons, such as cheating or lying, you two break up.
• You have never met or have had a close relationship with you father, but when you start to become successful, he starts coming around more often.
• Your sibling who is addicted to cocaine has stolen money from you countless times, and keeps abusing substances.
• Your best friend got killed in a car wreck because of her irresponsible, drunk boyfriend would not let anyone else drive them home from a party.

Yes, those are pretty tough situations to be in, and in almost all of them I can honestly say that that in most of them, I would respond with hatred, bitterness, anger, and my heart would be hardened because of the hurt I have experienced. Ultimately, and sadly, my love  for them would change.

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Fact:God never changes . While this fact was, is, and will always be true, but I wanted to make a more relevant statement that can help all of us out. Even I cannot and will never grasp how deep or how wide this topic is. We sing about it all the time when we worship. It's His love. Yes, it's the promise that His love never changes! 

Why is this such a big deal?

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

-John 13:35

The biggest witness that I believe some of us can have to our family, friends, and nonbelievers is loving people on another level. As humans, our first unintentional feelings toward a person that hurts us is anger or sadness which often leads to bitterness, hatred, and loving less.We all know that we deal with this. Just the other day, I got a bit frustrated with one of my friends. At that moment of frustration, I had a choice: keep allowing myself to get pissed, or show grace despite these circumstances.

I kept on with my frustration.

Though that was the wrong choice to make, after I left that situation I kept remembering the vital situation that I was in with God, and how He treated me at that time.

I am a sinner. Before I knew God, I took no regard for Him, and I sinned, like everyone else. When we sin, its like our intentions are to slap God in the face! That's a lot worse then making someone mad! But God, rich in his mercy, sent His one and only Son, the only perfect being to walk this earth other than God Himself, down in exchange for my horrible, sinful soul. A crazy, unbelievable, yet beautiful exchange. Despite anything that I ever did, do, and will do to God, He still loves me the same. His love for me did not change, and His grace will always be enough. Think about your situation.

  Jesus never stopped carrying the cross with my sins, and your sins just because of our disrespect and unrighteousness. He never slowed down either.What does this mean for the followers of Jesus Christ? We follow His example! When we get physically or emotionally get hurt, fight your flesh because of God's love, for God's love. And this will not go unnoticed. People know when they hurt someone and they can see an upset demeanor. We are  weak and powerless, but God gives us power. We are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that the great power is from God, not us.
(1 Cor. 4:7)

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I know first hand, how hard it is to love in a world like ours. But Jesus did it, and with Him in our hearts we cannot lose. Love when you shouldn't love, and forgive when you shouldn't forgive. Your salvation came by because of God's grace. His grace came by His great love for us. SO, the next time you get pissed, upset, or angry, remember your two options. Continue to drown in your emotions or be gracious, despite the circumstance. 

Remember the choice that God picked for you.

1 John  4:19