Check out a post I found very interesting from one of my fellow Be Inspired! Bloggers:

http://www.beinspired-online.com/Daphne/

Love,

Christina

Click here to hear the song on YouTube

I’m really feeling the lyrics to this song. (See lyrics below)

God wants all of you. He gave all he had, his only Son that we might have a relationship with him. The God of the universe, the Lord that set the stars perfectly in the sky and made all things, knows your name and desires a relationship with you. He wants not some of you on Sunday morning but all of you. Just like you wouldn’t want to enter a relationship with someone that is not sincere about their full commitment to you, God wants the same thing from us. He does not want us distracted by people, drama, money, clothes, ideas, ANYTHING! He wants all of us, he wants our entire heart. God came down from Heaven to be with us, he loves you deeply more than you will ever know, more than any person in this world and he wants you to experience that love completely by opening your whole heart to him. I know it is easier to open our hearts to earthy things, especially men, because we can see and feel them, they seem more real to us. But know today that the love of Christ is more real than any love you will ever experience. Open your heart to God, He will NOT fail you. But, you will never completely know that love here on earth unless you rid yourself of the distractions in our life that prevent you from seeking God such as sin, unhealthy relationships, drama, the love of money, pride and whatever takes your heart, mind, and body’s attention away from God. It’s not worth it. Once you experience deep, true, and sincere relationship with Christ you will soon realize nothing is greater than his love. I pray you get to this point, that you may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:18-19 (NIV)

In Christ,

Christina

He wants it all – Forever Jones
There’s a voice that cries out in the silence,
searching for heart that will love him,
longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

There’s a God that walks over the earth,
he searching for heart that is desperate,
longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

and he says, love me, love me with your whole heart
he wants it all today
serve me, serve me with you life now
he wants it all today
bow down, let go of your idols
he wants it all today (x4)

There’s a God that walks over the earth,
he searching for heart that is desperate,
longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

and he says, love me, love me with your whole heart
he wants it all today
serve me, serve me with you life now
he wants it all today
bow down, let go of your idols
he wants it all today (x4)

Oh oh oh, all of you, more of you
wants it all today (whole thing x3)

he wants it all today, he wants is all today
so give it all

There’s a voice that cries out in the silence,
searching for heart that will love him,
longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

This weekend my good friend, Erica, and I had the opportunity to attend a women’s conference hosted by a small church in Maryland called Church of Deliverance. Looking at the church it seemed like we would be in for some old school bible study lessons for the entire day. I could not have been further from the truth. The theme of the conference was “Awesome God” and the Women of Church of Deliverance used creative activities, humor, and genuine love for women to encourage all in attendance in basic life principles that affect all women from all types of backgrounds and stages in life. The Pastor of the church lead in morning activities, and this particular Saturday we called her “Mother Awesome” to coordinate with the theme. There was one demonstration in particular that she did that I would like to share with you. She pulled out a kickball with the face of a woman drawn on it. Now the face revealed that this woman had been through it. She looked sad, discouraged, used, and abused. We called her “Awful Annie”. Mother Awesome explained that Awful Annie had low self-esteem which was demonstrated by placing her on the floor. This however, put Awful Annie in the prime location to be kicked, stepped on, and overlooked. This simple illustration perfectly shows us as women what happens when we do not place our self-worth in God, and God alone. If we choose, we can place our self-worth in other things; like clothes, money, looks, men, titles, or whatever. But eventually the clothes will grow out of fashion, the money gets spent, the makeup eventually has to get washed off, titles change, and people change and we find ourselves back in the same position as Awful Annie. God being the only person in our life that is never changing and eternally faithful is the only true source to our self-worth. He made us all lovely and placed value in each of us. He will never step on us, take advantage of us, and overlook us because He loves us and had given us the high position to be His daughters. No more rolling on the floor like Awful Annie, let’s choose to place our vale in Jesus Christ today.

Christina

Challenge: Believe you are beautiful. Most women don’t. If we choose to believe we are beautiful because we are created by God and that our beauty is defined by Him and not the counterfeit images the media tells us beauty is, then we invite other women to see themselves as beautiful also and every woman deserves to know she is beautiful. Beauty starts within, it starts with you.

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” – Psalm 31:30

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! – Luke 15:17

In Luke 15 we see the story where a son takes this inheritance from his father, runs off to another country and spends all he has living a wild lifestyle. When famine comes to the land he finds himself in need. He starts to work for a citizen of the country he is in and is sent to feed the pigs. When he realizes the pigs are eating more than him the bible says “he came to his senses”. He then thought to himself “‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!”(Luke 15:17). When he got in his right mind he realized here he was, starving and working to feed pigs when he has a father whose servants even have food to spare. Even if he was a servant to his father he would be in a much better situation than he was in the foreign country. He goes back home and asks for forgiveness from his father, who lovingly forgives him and does not make him a servant but allows him to reclaim his place as heir. Maybe we do the same to Jesus, we want to do our own thing, go our own way and follow our own plan. Coming to our senses means realizing there is no better plan than the plan Jesus has for us. Yes, doing our own thing gives us a since of independence but when we realize independence from God means an emptiness of the soul, and a void in the spirit we come to our senses and realize, there’s nobody or nothing like Jesus.

If you have found yourself in foreign territory, a place outside of God’s will, return to Him now because like the father in this story He is waiting with a forgiving heart, open arms, and a desire to place you in your position as His heir.

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. – Psalm 84:10

In Christ,

Christina

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. – Psalm 73:25

Christina

My mom recently ordered the Oprah Magazine for me. With every magazine there is some new way to make your life better or as Oprah would say it “Live your best life”. I just think it’s funny that Oprah has literally spent decades giving new ideas about how to live better, satisfied lives. If she really found one thing that really worked she wouldn’t have to keep searching for the next best thing.

When I’m alone you are my Friend (John 15:13; John 15:14-15)
When I’m hurt you are my Healer (Isaiah 53:5)
When I’m deserted you are my Father (Matthew 6:9; Psalm 27:10)
When I’m in need you are my Provider (Matthew 6:25-34)
When I’m brokenhearted you show Compassion (Matthew 5:4; Psalm 199:76-77)
When I’m tired you are my Rest (Psalm 62:1; Matthew 11:29-30)
When I’m upset you are my Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
When I’m fearful you are my Strength (Exodus 15:2)
When I sin you are my Salvation (Romans 8:1-4; Exodus 15:2)
When I’m unsure you are my Rock (Psalm 18:2)
When I’m at war you are my Fortress (Psalm 62:2)
When I’m less than you are my Worth
When I’m weak you are my Power (Psalm 147:5)
When I’m hungry you are my Bread (John 6:33-35)
When I’m thirsty you are my Water (John 6:35; Psalm 42:1)
When I’m trapped you are my Freedom (Romans 6:18-22; Psalm 31:4; Psalm 116:16; Psalm 146:7)
When I’m empty you are my Satisfaction (John 10:10)
When I’m nothing you are my Everything
Thank you Jesus

The Lord All Powerful will do this because of his strong love for his people. – Isaiah 9:7 (NCV)

I just finished reading a book called Girl Solider. It gives details about the deep history of corruption, suffering, and pain in Northern Uganda while at the same time interweaving the story of one girl’s journey of hope.

Background:
Currently Uganda is in a terrible civil war between the rebel movement called the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government (GoU). The LRA started out claiming to end the pain and suffering of the Acholi people, caused by a history of violence and corruption, however now it is very unclear as to what their motives are. Their strategy to increase their forces is to kidnap children and brainwash them into becoming child soldiers. Ironically most of these children are the very Acholi they originally claimed to be protecting. The initiation process to become a child solider is horrific and many lose their lives. Many are forced to leave their homes, schools, or camps and march long distances with no proper food or water. They are given weapons and forces to kill their parents, siblings, or childhood friends. Many girls are raped and “given” to commanders as wives. The GoU has provided camps for many of the Northern Ugandan people but have failed in protecting them as they are no more safe in the camps than their homes. Now before the sun goes down many children walk miles to safe places where the threat of a LRA attack is less. These Children are called night commuters. Life is hard, food is scarce, and for many, hope is gone.

Grace:
Grace was one of the many children forced to become a child soldier. Forced to leave home, kill, and become a wife to one of the commanders. Three times she almost died. Once she passed out due to dehydration and was buried alive thinking she was dead. Once she was ordered to be shot because she did not have her weapon (it was taken when she was buried alive) but for some reason she was spared, and last when she was making her escape, a bullet hit her but was blocked by a pot she was carrying on her back. Many times she wanted to die and attempted to do so but was stopped each time. She, as the other child soldiers, have faced horrors, fears, and atrocities that paralyze the human spirit that we can’t even begin to comprehend. Fortunately Grace knew God and continued to pray to him even in her darkest hour. When she started to give up hope something inside kept her going. She trusted God and when there was an attack on the camp she lived in many children ran to Sudan, but by Gods leading she made her attempt to go back home. God was with her and she ran into the help she needed and was rescued. She finished school, travel to the U.S to raise awareness about the plight on the children of Northern Uganda, even appearing on Oprah. Currently she is finishing her Senior year at Gordon College near Boston, MA.

Faith:
God cares. Many times when we see or hear about the tragic events around the world and feel that nothing will ever get better, that’s just the way it is. But that is not how God feels. Just like Grace, God cares for all his children and desires for them all to live free, loving, and joyful lives no matter how dark their situation is. Instead of looking away and feeling apathy I encourage us all to at the very least join in the faith that God cares and will intervene for his Children in need. In Isaiah 8:11-22 through Isaiah 9:1-7 we see a reflection of what is going on in Uganda: The LRA consulting mediums and spiritists leading to the distress and darkness on the people of Northern Uganda. But as the scripture ends it reveals a prophesy of the coming Christ leading to an end to the darkness and hope restored. As followers of Christ lets continue to pray for those in need and believe God answers His children when we call.

Grace and Peace,

Christina

I grew up in a Christian family and decided to give my life to Christ when I was eight years of after attending a Christian Summer camp. Once I got to college I realized I believed in Jesus as a savior but had not completely allowed Him to be the Lord of my life at a play I attended called “In and out of Christ in the College life”. That night I rededicated my life to Christ and allowed Him to take the lead.

I started regularly attending bible study and church in an effort to take this new commitment seriously. One night I went to a bible study entitled “I want to know Christ”. The scripture came from Philippines Chapter 3 when the apostle Paul was encouraging people to accept Jesus. He gave his testimony about being a very powerful religious leader and how all he had before Christ was not even comparable to knowing Christ now. He had given up all his power, authority, riches, and safety to follow Christ and encouraged others to do so as well because he believe Christ was more than worth it. He went from a self-righteous religious leader who killed Christians to a humble radical follow of Jesus. Something happened. When he was on his was to kill more Christians Jesus appeared to Him. Paul then realized Jesus was who he said he was and became one of the leading evangelist of his time who wrote most of the new testament. I was just so amazed about the change in Paul I learned about in the bible study.

I went home to study the book of Acts in hope to understand this radical conversion in Paul. A part of me wanted to experience God on that level. To get to a point where God is my ultimate satisfaction and all I ever believe I need is Him alone. I can only imagine how much freedom we as Christians could experience if we truly decided to trust God to fulfill all our needs and not rely on anything of this world, to not be deceived into thinking the things of the world can make us happy but to know, to experience that God is our fulfillment. As I read the book of Acts I learned of more people who had got to this point. They valued knowing Christ more than their lives as many were killed for being Christian, yet they did not stop professing the faith in Christ they believed it. I believe they did this because they knew Christ, they really knew how good he was, they believed in everything he was, and who He is to us.

I think once we start believing God we will experience who he is. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” You may believe Jesus walked this earth, you may believe he was born in Bethlehem, you may believe he was born of the virgin Mary. We know about Jesus but do we believe in him as John 3:16 says. Believing in Jesus doesn’t stop at only believing in His existence or where He came from, that’s only the start. Believing in Jesus means trusting He is who he says He is. The bible tells us God is our provider, our friend, our counselor, our protection, our love, our hope, our peace, our defense, He is everything to us and greater than all we have. But do we really believe that?

I made a decision then to not only believe of Jesus but to believe in Jesus but as Paul says in Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me”. It’s certainly a process and I too find myself putting more value in the things of this world than I should but I do believe Jesus is our ultimate satisfaction in life, I believe He is far greater than all we could ever want or desire in this world and I hope to spend the rest of my life seeking His face like King David when He said “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1). I do so in hopes to experience more and more of the truth of who He is and His gloriousness more and more every day.

Grace and Peace,

Christina

I always thought I would go straight to grad school once I graduated undergrad. Once I graduated I had no idea what I wanted to pursue in a graduate education so I didn’t go right away. Once I decided what I wanted to go back for, an MBA I was ready to go. However there were a lot of stumbling blocks along the way. I got to the point where I felt like it wasn’t going to happen and was on the verge of giving up on the idea completely. Then a close friend of mine reminded me of all the obstacles she encountered on her way to grad school: finances, getting transportation, and little support from her family, yet now she is almost at the end of her first year of grad school. Her testimony reminded me that God’s delay doesn’t always mean a denial. I decided not to give up as her testimony gave me a new determination to seek the dream God had placed in my heart. Once I did God starting opening up new doors. Ironically I’ve decided I want to get my MA in Theology. God was probably closing the doors before because I wasn’t heading in the right direction in the first place. I am so glad he orders my steps.