Monday, July 14, 2014 Tumblr Post

http://faithhenning.tumblr.com/post/91827253085/psalm-50-22-23-msg

The Calm

Do you ever just feel like nothing is going on in your life? Well that's how I'm feeling right now, and I'm not too sure I'm liking it.

I've always heard that it is easier to pray and be close to God when something good or bad is going on in our lives, and I am beginning to realize that to be very true. For me right now, I will be honest, I've been completely going through the motions of life, not doing bad and just getting through doing "good". Boy is this dangerous, and I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, but as I try to get back on track and figure this all out, it feel good to just sit and write what I'm feeling.

One thing that God has really put strong in my heart is the importance of being raw and real in relationships. Recently a group in my class at school has started a Friday morning prayer time at the local coffee shop. Here we have a time of verse sharing (or what ever is on our hearts) and then we share prayer requests and pray together. For me personally, I have never been someone to go out and share my struggles in a group unless I'm really close to them, so its a little new and strange to think about sharing what's going on in my life. God has really been pressing it on me, that to have raw-real relationships with people, I'm going to have to break down the walls of fear and also the walls of my past and become open with this group of people. I am blessed to say that I know I can trust the wonderful people in this group, but its just a step of faith that I'm taking little by little each day.

A favorite quote of mine that I have found recently has really been the inspiration for my life as I've been walking through a calm time in my life. It is "In a world that's cold and dark, make it your mission to build fires." To me, this has been my spark for life because as a Christian, we can't just sit back and watch fires die around us, we should continually be stirring people up by spreading the love of Jesus that we have been blessed to know! For me even right now, there are people in my class at school that just need to be stirred, and its my job (and also the job of my other brothers and sisters) to look after these "dying fires" and bring them back to life. This is an important job, and its a job for Christians in all stages of their walks with Christ.

Ephesians 5:13-14
"But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 'Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'"

Thankful Experiences

Tonight, some of my sweet friends, the Lipscombs, came over to exchange Christmas presents as we always do. For me, tonight made my heart extra happy. Over the past couple of years, my friend and I have been through stuff that we never would have expected to have to go through, but I am so blessed to be able to say, that through everything that happened, our friendship never faltered. You know a friendship has its foundation on Christ when you can go through highs and lows with them, and boy, has this relationship been like a roller coaster.

 So, why did tonight make this little heart of mine happy? 

Because I got to see my best friend look truly happy.

I have known this girl and her little sister (that is my brother's age) practically since birth, so I know when she is hiding feelings from me, and tonight, after a long time, I felt that they were actually happy and that everything was finally okay again. And its not just because it was Christmas, but I feel like everything is "normal", as normal as things are ever going to get. Now the background story to why things have been troublesome, is a long one that I cannot share, but just know that it was something that affected their family, and so many loved ones around them. It was something that my heart is still somewhat broken about, but after seeing them tonight, I feel like those wounds are a little bit more healed. 

I feel truly blessed to have had the experiences that I have had with my sweet best friend, and while writing this post, so many sweet memories are flooding back into my mind. So many that it is almost overwhelming. Some good, and some not so good, but looking back, I can clearly see God's hand leading me, and my friend through the past few years. Now, the friendship that I have with her, is like a sister-we can go weeks without texting or talking, but then we can just see each other or text each other and its like we just catch up from when we last talked! Our conversations range from family stuff, to of course- boy talk (which we have a lot), and it is just like a sister relationship in the way that we would never "judge" one another on a mistake, and when one of us is going through a tough thing (with a guy or what not) the other is right there to just listen and talk it out! 

Looking back on our elementary and middle school days, I look at my friend and I and I see how much of an influence God has had in our lives as individuals and as sisters. I see how much we have grown to have our own personalities, and I feel so blessed to be apart of her life. My sweet friend is as stubborn and tough as a rock sometimes, but I am so thankful that we have talked about things that are sensitive to both of our hearts. I can honestly say, that without this friendship, I would not be who I am today, and I would not trade anything in the world for our memories together and our friendship.

"Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There's a time for silence; a time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny; and a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over."

Yet God Remains

"Here is the deepest secret nobody knows, 

here is the root of the root

and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; 

which grows higher than soul can hope

or mind can hide.

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars

apart.

i carry your heart.

i carry it in my heart."

e. e. Cummings

So many thoughts circling chaotically through my mind right now. Some exciting, some heartbreaking, and some things that are just there. 

The main reason for this post though.... is to share what God has shared with me recently. 

Some days, it is really hard being a Christian, but the Bible tells us that we'll have those days, so sooner or later I was expecting them to come, but I was kind of hoping that they would not come so soon. Being a Christian girl in the teenage years is a constant struggle, like seriously! I have thankfully been fortunate to grow up in a Christian school, so I have had the opportunity to build a strong foundation for my faith, but the moment I take my life into my own hands and step out before God has totally prepared my heart, things can go down hill, quickly. God is preparing my heart to go out into the world where Satan reigns over people, and God is showing my in the mean time, how much I MUST rely on Him. This time, God taught me the lesson of taking "relationships" into my own hands, and sadly it was a "relationship" with a non-Christian (which I was not aware of). Long story short, I tried taking control of my life and started talking to a guy who said all of the right things to make me believe that he was a "good guy", and posted all of the right things on social media, not hinting at all how dark his heart really was. I was blessed with a Daddy (God) who watches over me constantly, walks hand-in-hand with me, even when I don't want to, who knows when I have gone too far, and knows when and how to pull me back to Him. I knew exactly when God was pulling me back to Him, and even though I tried to go back to the guy I was talking to, God never gave up on me, and just kept pulling me straight to Him and His sweet presence..... and now that I am fully back, I look back to the guy I was talking to, and wonder what I was ever thinking by talking to him in the first place. 

Yes..... that was the short version of the story! Haha!

As I look through my prayer journal through this time, I see God's divine intervention in my life, and I see Him placing things exactly where they should be. I see Him showing me the path and that He walked with me through all of it. One prayer, I was expressing my feelings toward God about the type of guy that, to me, would be right in God's eyes for me to have. As I re-read this prayer, I think of the guy i was talking to, and I see how he had not a single one of those characteristics, and I immediately thank my sweet Daddy that He lead me to ending that relationship. It is truly amazing to me, that when I stop and just look at my life, I can really see how God has total control of my life. I can see how He is woven into the things that I do, and also things that I love and the things that make my heart happy. One night, I asked God to show me what it actually looks like to give Him total control of my life, because I had said those words so many times, but I never really knew what my life looks like when it happens..... But now I see that my life has been in His control the whole time, I have just tried stealing little parts of it from Him (which by the way, does not work, so just do not try it). 

God has control of this little heart of mine, and He remains Holy and loving, despite my crazy mistakes that I make along the way. So from now on, I have decided to just listen to God's sweet voice, who will never lead me astray, and will always call me back to Him. Just like in my friend Avery's last post about being sheep, this is a great example of how much we really are like sheep-we just keep on wandering away, but God (our great Shepard) always finds us and continues to love us. 

 

"I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine."

Psalm 50:11

Captured by Digital Age

(Just a cute little picture I made to add to this post!)
Recently, I have been listening to just a hand-full of certain songs. One of my recent favorites has been Captured by Digital Age. A sweet friend showed me this song, And Then, at my school's fall retreat, the praise band played it, and ever since, this song has been words coming straight from my heart up to God. His love has been vibrantly around my life lately, to the point where some days, all I can think of is how much he loves me!
These are the lyrics to my favorite song, Captured.

"Love
You've captured me again
Love
You steal my heart

And oh when I reach out
You're always there
You've captured me again
Oh God
You steal my heart
And oh when I reach out
You're always there

Cause love has come to rescue me
Your love has come to set me free
Your love, love is all I need
Your love
Hey!

Love
You've captured me again
Oh my God
You steal my heart
And oh when I cry out
You're always there

Cause love has come to rescue me
Your love has come to set me free
Your love, love is all I need
Your love

Your love has come to rescue me
Your love has come to set me free
Your love, love is all I need
Your love

I've never felt more found
Than when I'm lost in you
My head may spin around
Like the stars of the night sky do

Your love has come to rescue me
Your love has come to set me free
Your love, love is all I need
Your love"


So tonight, I had to opportunity to go to a things called The Reset Movement! It's a rally sort of thing, to encourage a revival in our hearts and our nation! The reason my girl Avery and I first wanted to go, was to see our Favorite band, Rend Collective Experiment play, and then it turned out to be a really cool thing to go to! (Yes, Avery and I completely fangirled pretty much the whole time while they were playing!) It was just so cool to finally be seeing Rend Collective In Person! Ahhh! I'm still just a little excited!!! And to make the night even better, WE GOT PICTURES WITH SOME OF THEM!!!!! Add them to the list of bands I've seen and had pictures with!!! These are pictures from tonight at the Reset Movement

 This is Morgan Nichols (Jamie Grace's older sister! So awesome to hear her amazing voice in person, AND get a picture!!)

 This is the lead singer for Rend Collective!!!

 Another member of Rend Collective

This is just Avery, Alli, and I after the Reset Movement.

 

This was an awesome experience, and memories were definitely made tonight!!! I just love my sweet Jesus!!

Habakkuk 3:2,4

" Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden."

 

 



Second Letter From Nassali

This morning, I received my second letter from my friend Nassali Gorret in Uganda Africa. This letter was the sweetest letter I have ever received, and it seriously almost brought me to tears just reading it. The fact that the Lord can bless me so greatly through Nassali captivates me and ignites my fire to praise Him more! Nassali and I are both 16 years old, and in her letter, she said it was precious that we were the same age! This blew me away because even though we live so far apart from each other, we are so much alike- in the way we talk and in the things we enjoy! She loves playing net ball, which is kind of like our basketball, and she loves sharing Bible verses with her close friends! Um, I love basketball, AND I LOVE sharing Bible verses with my close friends (AKA Avery, Tylar, and Alli)!

 

Here is part of what Nassali's letter said this morning:

" Some other things I enjoy is to appreciate every creature and praise God because of them like birds who sing hidden songs flying up to the sky... I am requesting you that you are precious because God created you in his image, so never argue with any condition just praise God. Thank you."

 

Is that not the most precious thing?

 

 

 

This is a picture from a friend's page who runs the youth gatherings that Nassali attends! These are children who live in a community where they are building new water wells so the community can have clean water!

 

 

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!"

 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

 Then the trees of the forest will sing,

 they will sing for joy before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth."

1 Chronicles 16:31-33

Not Ready For This

So this weekend, I went to the Oklahoma State football game/Homecoming. Both of my parents are alumni to the school, so of course, as a child, I grew up knowing that I was going to attend there for college. As the weekend went on, my heart grew more and more towards being prepared to get out of high school and head off to Stillwater and start a new chapter in my life. I left Oklahoma today, sure that in the next couple of years, I would soon be returning as a freshmen to OSU.

 

Well, in the car on the way home today, I was doing my usual Pinterest searching, and I came across pictures from a missionary who is currently on a mission trip called The World Race. Now, around a year ago, I found out about this trip, and knew that one day, I would be going on this trip! This mission trip is called The World Race, because you travel to 11 different countries... in 11 months! Crazy, I know! This trip is for adults from the ages of 21-35, so it would be after college. But as I was reading blogs and such today, I went back to the main page and saw a link to a list of trips for ages 18-21, called The Passport Trip. As The World Race is 11 countries in 11 months, the Passport trip is 9 countries in 9 months. As I was reading blogs from people who went on the trip, my heart was literally over flowing with happiness, but at the same time, a great deal of confusion. I went through the whole weekend and pretty much all of my life, knowing exactly where I would go for 4 years for college, and all of the sudden, I had this strong feeling that I will be taking a slight break from college for a year to go on this trip. Of course, a lot of prayer will be going into my decision for my college future, but now, I'm not really sure if I want to go to a big University for my freshmen year! My newest addition to my list of options, is to stay close to home and go to a small school for my freshmen year of college to save money for the Passport trip, and then go on this trip when I'm 19 instead of going onto my sophomore year. And then (maybe) when I return, go on with school until I'm old enough for the World Race.

 

So, if someone were to ask my right now, what my plans are after high school, unless they want to listen to me talk for an hour about my passion, I have no answer yet. Its honestly a little scary, but that is when I really really need to rely on God, because I know that He literally has every detail of my crazy life planned out! And if  I just let him take control, and do everything to the glory of Him, I will be able to walk confidently through my life, knowing that what I'm doing is what He wants me to do.

 

                                (Just a little new picture, that I found on Pinterest, that I adore.) 

 

 

"Spirit lead me where my trust is with out borders, let me walk upon the waters, where ever you would call me, take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith would be made stronger, in the presence of my Savior."

-Oceans by Hillsong United