The Game of Faith

15-0. POW! She smacks the tennis ball at me and I fail to return it over the net. 5 seconds later: 40- 0. POW! She aces the ball at me and wins the first point.  That one game only lasted about 30 seconds, but we still had plenty more rounds to go.

She is winning 5-3 and I am serving.  I had never been so nervous in my life, but I was willing to take some chances.  POW POW POW POW! I win the point in about 20 seconds, leaving her wide mouthed and angry.  Her next point she decides that every shot I hit is out.  It makes me so angry I can't even play right.  After 5 times of her calling shots that were obviously in, out, I snapped. "NO, THAT SHOT WAS IN. SO YOU CAN GET OVER IT.  BE A PERSON AND STOP CHEATING."  I didn't mean for those words to come out, but they did. After that I was on a rampage.

I was franctically trying to get the ball in and hit it right.  My coach had already told me to calm down and play my game. (Luckily she had not seen my outburst and neither had anyone else.) In my head I found myself talking to God.  Dear God, please let me win this match.  she is already beating me 5-4 and I don't want to have to work even harder to win the 2nd set.  If I win, I promise I'll read my Bible more and be nicer to my siblings.

After the prayer I had just made while getting a sip of water, I felt terrible.  Who was I to try to compromise with the One who 1) gave me my tennis abilities 2) created me and 3) could take anything I ever had away from me?  Prayer isn't a time to compromise with God.  In fact, it isn't a request for the things you want either. 
Psalm 50:15  states:
"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Was I really in trouble because I was losing a tennis match? Or was I just being selfish and taking advantage of what I knew God could do?  I most certainly wasn't being humble. If anything I was being arrogant towards the One who had saved me from so much already.  Temptations, dating, healing of broken friendships, you name it.  He was there.

As I was trying to let this sink in I was still playing in the match.  This girl was mad after I had told her off about making bad calls.  So, once I hit her the ball and she returned to hit me in the chest with a ball going at least 110 mph.  I thought I was going to cry.  "Ohh I'm sorry, you okay?" she said in a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, I'm.... fine."  But I wasn't fine.  I had never felt so angry in all my life.  She was embarassing me and now she was not only hurting me mentally, but physically as well.  Too bad the set was over- her winning 6-4.  However, we still had a whole other set to go, and I knew more than ever that I was ready.  My first serve I felt fresh.  I was calculating the best place to hit the ball to her.  "Love all, first serve," I stated.  Then, a force took over me and I smacked the ball harder than I ever had before, and it planted right into her nose.  She screamed and started yelping as she went to find a towel for her nose bleed. "Oh, I'm sorry, did that HURT?!"

It had felt so great to finally say those words, but seeing that hurt on her face made me realize how I had felt the whole match, and how I had let it all turn to bitterness.  I hated that feeling.  Then I looked to the sky and in my mind told God that I was sorry I just did that, and that I was being such an idiot.  I wanted him to know that His will be done in the match, and it wasn't my decision anymore.   I was playing for Him now.  Not my team, not for the coach, and most certainly not for me.  Now, I'm not going to say I didn't get frustrated after some points, because I did.  But I tried to let God handle the situations and find rest in that He was right there with me.  2 hours later I had beaten her 7-5 in the second set and defeated her 10-7 in the tiebraker.  Total game time: 3 hours. Longest match of my life, but I had gotten through it because of the glory and power of God. 

I think it's amazing how God takes bad situations and turns them into important life lessons.  It's also incredible how much faith can do for you.  There's a song by Kutless called What Faith Can Do, and in one part it says "You gotta face the clouds to find that silver lining."  Basically, this means you have to go through alot before you realize what you really need in life.  God wants to supply you with everything necessary to live this life on earth.  Sometimes we just get caught in the moment and forget who exactly we are fighting for.  But I have a goal for the next time I see that girl.  I am going to play her without showing obvious frustrations, and I will compliment her at the end of the match.  This is the only way I can think of apologizing to her.  From now on, I'm not just living for Christ, I'm playing for him too.

"We faintly hear, we dimly see,
In differing phrase we pray;
But dim or clear, we own in Him
The life, the truth, the way."
~John Greenleaf Whittier

Mah Friend, Kendall Scott (She's legit)

Meet Kendall Scott!  She's been playing soccer since she first learned how to do a flip in the womb.  Ever since she’s never been able to put a ball down.  Her mad black hops and speed enable her to be the best goalie in the world.  Everyone loves her, especially God, cause she’s KENDALL SCOTT. People on other teams cower in fear when they see her bagel bag on the bench.  Watch out, she might just want your body ;) Oh yeah, and she’s a hot mess, so bring the towels and iced tea! (and Lauren File)

What is Home?

On Monday I went to All County YoungLife at Church of the Holy Spirit.  It's a place for kids from Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, and PH to go and just fellowship and have a great time.  After all the crazy games and songs the lights dimmed and a song was showing up on the huge screen against the wall.  It was a song called "I'm coming home" by Diddy.  Now in my opinion, he is a bad influence and has a foul mouth in most of his songs, but this one got to me.  In one part of it the background singers say "I'm coming home, coming home. Tell the world that I'm coming home. Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday.  I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes. I'm coming home." The whole song was basically about how you can have it all but in the end, you really have nothing unless you know where you are going.

After the song was over everyone was clapping and those lyrics just kept running through my head over and over.  Goody, the leader of the YoungLife at PH told a story about a women who had internal bleeding for 12 years of her life.  However, when she touched the cloak of Jesus she was instantly healed.  That was brought on by faith.  She didn't know who she was. Everyone thought she was rotten and disgusting because she had a disease, but she had faith that God could heal her.  Not only did he heal her though, but he forgave her of every sin she had commited and told her to go live in peace.  I think that's what it's like for alot of us.  We want to be healed, but don't have the faith that God can do it for us.  This is especially the case because we know we are sinners and screw up most of the time.

It's so easy to try to find comfort in being popular, having a sexual relationship with someone, or dealing drugs.  We feel accepted.  However, these are false sources of comfort and healing.  Whether you admit it or not, everyone wants to know where they are going and what they have to look forward to in this life.  Toward the end of the song, Diddy says
"Lot of fights, lot of scars, lot of battles
Lot of cars, lot of ups, lot of downs
Made it back, lost my dog
And here I stand, a better man!
Thank you Lord. I'm coming home!"
God will pull us through anything if we have the faith and believe that he will do so.  There is a place out there that is far better than we could ever begin to imagine.  A house isn't a home without the people you love, and who would be better to love than Jesus Christ? 

There's a place out there that God has planned out for us in Heaven that has so much to offer.  We can't settle for anything less than what He has already created for us.  Don't try to get used to this life for too long, because to God, our lives are like a blink of an eye.  Whether you have a home full of struggles and hurt or a functional family, this is not home.  We all need to find  the place where we belong, and that's in His presence.   Alot of people say the safest place a baby can be is in his or her mother's arms.  I'm here today to tell you that we are all God's children, and the safest place we will ever be is in his arms, in the kingdom we have been destined to live in for all eternity.

It takes faith to love and to hope and to trust.  It takes courage to want to do the right things for the right God.  This life is a privelege to take advantage of, and we have to believe that God can and WILL heal us of whatever struggles we have in our lives.  Find peace in Jesus. He is the ultimate shelter.  And if you don't have faith that He is here and always have been, well, just look at everything around you.  He created it all.

“Faith makes all things possible.... love makes all things easy.”

Fruit of the Spirit Part 5

Well. this is my last night focusing on the fruits of the spirit.  Unfortunately I haven't had time to blog as much as I would like due to homework and sports, but God is good.  The last two fruits I want to mention are goodness and faithfulness.  When living this life, these fruits can be quite contradictory.  As I think about salvation I realize that people have an extremely blurred view of it, and I would like to clarify that by talking about goodness first.

Many people believe that in order to get into Heaven, you merely have to be a good person.  That means no cussing, gossiping, or yelling at people.  If goodness was the only thing we needed to live with the Lord one day, doesn't it seem like we would be born perfect?  I mean, God wants to see all of us again when we die.  But it is not goodness that allows us to receive the blessings of the Almighty.  FAITH is what allows us to enter His kingdom.   Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” God is not tangible but the faith we have for him and his son are what saves us.  John 14:6 says
'Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'  He never said "Be good and you will be with my father one day." He said NO ONE comes to the Father except through HIM alone!  Following Jesus takes hope, love trust, and especially faith.  There is no easy shortcut to this life.  The only way is through Jesus Christ, and he is so worth it.  I have no doubt in that.  Focus on not only having faith in him, but being faithful to him by aiming to step up to advance his kingdom.  Goodness and everything else will soon follow afterwards.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

I hope this made sense to everyone. And sorry it's so short.  I pretty much knew the points I wanted to make in this beforehand :)

Fruit of the Spirit Part 4

Ever met someone that you can't stand to be around?  Most people I have asked this question, the answer is yes.  There is always that one person who can just enter the room and automatically be on your bad side.  Even though we aim to be nice to that one person, alot of times our motives become apathetic.  We become cold towards them, and perhaps even rude.  As Christians, we cannot choose who we are kind to and who we treat badly.  God views us all the same and loves us all equally. He expects us to do the same.

That being said, I want to talk about kindness.  It is indeed one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  How does it feel when someone treats you kindly when you first meet them? Does it make you feel good inside? Do you feel more significant and worthy of the attention? Or does it make you want to be a better person because someone else is treating you the way you want to be treated?

As a weekly church goer and an upcoming youth leader, I feel that there is alot expected from me, especially when it comes to my character.  Whenever I am upset or angry at someone my mom is the first to correct me and never even give me a chance to respond to my anger.  She tries to help me forget and react the way God would, which is easier said than done, being that I am still just a teenage girl.  Unfortunately, I have a past that makes it hard for me to reflect the kindness that Jesus showed his people when he was on this earth.  I would say that about 85% of every person I have ever called my friend has hurt me in a major way.  Most of those people I don't even associate with anymore.  When someone hurts you, the first thing you want to do is lash out at them, and then ignore them and give them dirty looks.  If you're really bad you might gossip about them.  In 3 years I have had to mature so much when it comes to broken relationships and heartache.  I'm still not perfect, especially when it comes to letting things go. But I have learned many things by trying to deal with people who hurt me or have no regard for my feelings.

First of all, I've learned to keep this main question in my mind: What would Jesus do?  It probably sounds corny, but it works.  In Luke 33-34 it says: "And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  Then Jesus said,  'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.'' This verse always got to me.  I mean, Jesus was not only the son of God, he WAS God.  At any moment he could have sent fire and lightning down and vaporized every single person who sought to oppress and harm him, but instead he asked his Father to forgive them of their sins.  I think that's what keeps me going and wanting to strive to be kind to people.

My mama has taught me alot since she gave birth to me nearly 16 years ago.  One of the best advice she gave me though, was "Sweetie, there are going to be alot of people in your life that hurt you.  But right now you need to find out who your true friends are and who you need to avoid.  Through everything though, treat those who oppress you with love, and kill them with kindness."  Isn't that awesome?  The greatest revenge you can have is forgiving those who seek to bring you down.  No one understands why you would ever be nice to them when they treated you like crap, and it really makes them think.  How stupid do you think the Pharisees must have felt when they tried to call Jesus a liar?  Instead of going into a rage and cursing them, he nearly stuck to the truth and responded calmly.

Kindness can be the ultimate source of revenge for you, and it also glorifies the Lord because being kind is what He called you to do.  If he could have treated us with kindness all those years ago, why can't we do the same to each other? Is any of us really better than the other? I know I'm not any better than anyone on this earth, even though I act like it sometimes.  So I guess what I am mainly saying is this: If you want to have a testimony and reach out to others in order for them to follow Christ, you have to make sacrifices.  That includes showing kindness to those who persecute you.  If you respond coldly and rudely, that testimony is blown.  Believe me, once you blow your testimony, it's very hard to renew it. Love your enemies and be kind to them.  It could just change their lives one day.