Soap Box

According to a study by the Pew Research Group, this generation of youth are the least involved in religion than any other.  At first I was shocked by this, then I got to thinking about all of the so called influences they have in their lives right now and I was just saddened.

I was watching Hannity the other night and they were talking about a new song by Lady Gaga called Judas and one lady said that this song didn't mean she wasn't a Christian it was just to sell records and make money.  Here are a few of the lyrics from the song...

In the most Biblical sense,
I am beyond repentance
Fame hooker, prostitute wench, vomits her mind
But in the cultural sense
I just speak in future tense
Judas kiss me if offensed,
Or wear ear condom next time

I wanna love you,
But something's pulling me away from you
Jesus is my virtue,
Judas is the demon I cling to
I was appalled when I read the lyrics to this song and can I tell you how many kids I have heard talking about how much they love Lady Gaga's music?!? 

A few lyrics from another one of her songs...

No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life
I'm on the right track baby
I was born to survive

We wonder why kids this generation are less into religion than any other generation?? 

I teach 6th grade Sunday School at my church and we have been talking about defending your faith and knowing how to defend your faith.  First you have to know what you believe in!!  I hear people say, "well I don't really pay attention to the words I just like the beat" or "I don't like that singer as a person I just like the beat of the music"  I am going to be the first to tell you, you can't listen to a song without hearing the words of the song.  I had a song stuck in my head the other day and I don't even know where I heard it from and don't even remember hearing it that day, but at some point I had heard it and got it stuck in my head, it wasn't a bad song, but the point is you are going to hear the words whether you think so or not.

You may think the music you listen to doesn't affect you, it's just music, it's just words.  Well when you get this stuck in your head and then you start to think, well that isn't what the bible says but she is singing about Jesus so maybe she is right.  Where do we draw the line??

I heard a kid tell me the other day that a certain singer was a christian because they prayed before their concerts.  Well their music doesn't reflect God at all!!

It's not just the music we listen to, it's also the movies you watch.  It is really sad how kids movies now have cussing and sexual innuendo in them, why is that even neccessary?!?  The movie HOP has the playboy mansion in it, seriously??  The movie Soul Surfer did not have one single cuss word or sexual innuendo or drinking or anything, they even quoted scripture, it was still very dramatic with out all the other stuff!!

I was watching on CBS last night a tribute to women country singers and one got up and sang and one part of the song said "I am hell on heels and I have done made a deal with the devil" I almost turned the channel but I didn't for some reason and I'm glad I didn't.  The next lady they honored was Carrie Underwood she sang How Great Thou Art.

This was on national tv.  I bet you she wasn't thinking last night if I sing, some trashy song I will sell records and have lots of fans.  Awesome song, I was in tears during and after hearing this.  Her voice is amazing & this just goes to show you that you can honor God with the gifts and the talents He has given you & you don't have to compromise what you believe in to make money or sell records!!! 

Healer

Last March my dad was diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia. It is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was snowing and I was on my way to work and got a call from my dad crying (I have only seen him cry twice in my 29 years & that's when his parents died) anyways he called to tell me that I needed to come to the hospital. It was the hardest day of my life! I remember I was so angry and upset and didn't understand why this was happening, (a year an 1/2 earlier he had triple bypass surgery). I just didn't understand why he had to go through all the pain again.

He spent several weeks in Emory taking chemotherapy and receiving platelets and blood because the chemo would wipe out all of that. He spent about 6 months going back and forth to Emory taking chemo treatments and getting blood. He would have good days and bad days but he never gave up!

About 6 months ago we found out that he was cancer free!! Praise God He is the ultimate healer!! You know, that was six months ago, but just last night it really hit me, my Savior healed my dad of cancer!!!  I don't think I have ever really thanked Him & praised Him like He deserves!!!

I heard this song last night and it made me realize that no matter what pains or trials we face He is our healer. Sometimes we just have to have faith and trust that He is there & run to Him.

Whatever you may be going through whether it's the loss of a loved one, a broken heart, broken relationships or whatever it may be, trust in Him, He is our healer, He is all we need, NOTHING is impossible for Him!!!

ABCs of Me

A – Age: 29
B – Bed size: Full
C – Chore you hate: washing dishes
D – Dog’s name: Sassy - boxer & Gypsy - minature pincher
E – Essential start your day item: potty :)
F – Favorite color: Pink
G – Gold or Silver: Silver
H – Height: 5'5"
I – Instruments you play: Clarinet, base clarinet.  I can play saxaphone a little, trumpet a little, & piano a little :). I took chorus for 3 years and band for 4 years and can read music.
J – Job title: Operation Round Up
K – Kid(s): none yet, but hopefully someday
L – Living arrangements: in a house :).
M – Mom’s name: Jackie
N – Nicknames: BB, Beebs, Becky Lou, Beck Beck
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: I don't remember ever staying over night
P – Pet Peeve: Liars
Q – Quote from a movie: "Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming" - Finding Nemo :)
R – Right or left handed: Right
S – Siblings: Michael
T – Time you wake up: depends on where I have to be, during the week usually around 6:30 or 7 on the weekends it just depends.
U- Unique fact: I absolutely can not stand other people's feet!!!
V – Vegetable you dislike: Asparagus
W – Ways/Reasons you run late: hard time getting out of bed, I am not a morning person!!
X – X-rays you’ve had: only when I've been to the dentist :)
Y – Yummy food you make: Lasagna :)
Z – Zoo favorite: Tigers and Elephants

Who is in control of my life?

I had really been struggling the last several days spiritually & emotionally. I have been stressing about funds for Nepal. The hardest part has been letting God have control. I know He will provide the funds it's just been hard to let go of the worry! I have been praying that I would just let go of all that and let God have all the control!!

I have 2 bosses at work and I don't know their hearts but I don't know if they are Christians. One of them gave me $100 toward my trip & the other said she was going to give me a check as well! What a testimony!!

I have been struggling financially and trying to find another part time job and nothing has worked out. Well today I was offered a part-time job it's not a lot but it will help :) PRAISE GOD!!

I've decided to give up a few things that have been distracting me from praying & reading my bible & when I feel like I want to do those things, I read or pray instead. I'm really shocked how much I was attached to those things, but really excited about the time I'm going to spend with God and can't wait to see what He is going to teach me!! I am giving Him COMPLETE control of my life!!

Digging Deeper

No matter how deep you are now, wade in deeper still.  Don't worry about what's going to get wet.  Don't stop at the point where you can keep your feet underneath you.  Get swept away.  What are you holding on to?  What are your hesitations to living a more Spirit-led life of faith?  What illusion of control are you clinging to?  Go all in!  Pray today that this will be just the beginning of a deeper relationship with God.  Pray that He will continue to beckon you to dive in and let Him take complete control of your life.  Ezekiel 47:1-2

What is stopping me from getting swept away in God's word, from digging deeper, from diving in completely and giving God complete control of my life?

My prayer is that I would be so lost in God's word that nothing or no one else matters, that He would have complete control over my life, & that I would dive down and have a deeper relationship with Him!!

What or who is keeping you from going deeper?

Soul Surfer

Tonight I went to see the movie Soul Surfer.  First of all let me just say, great movie!!!  It just goes to show you that producers and directors can make movies without any cuss words and they are still worth watching.  Well now that I am off my soapbox :).

I vaguely knew the story of Bethany Hamilton, I knew that she loved to surf and I knew that she lost her arm in a shark attack when she was I believe 13 or 14 and I knew that she worked hard to get back on the surf board because it was important to her.  However, what I didn't know about her story, is the most important part, her faith.  (I was very excited to see how many youth were in that theather as well :))  In the movie, her youth director recites Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to proper you and not to harm you, plans for a future and hope." 

Just before the attack she told her youth leader that she couldn't go on a mission trip because she had to train for her surfing competition.  After the attack, Bethany was struggling with how this was God's plan for her life and what she was going to do with her life if she couldn't surf.  She tries to get back in the water and surf some and then she realizes that there is more than just surfing.  She decides to go on a mission trip with her youth group to Thailand.  They had just suffered a bad Tsunami and this one lady is telling Bethany how she lost everything.  h a Tsunami and she gets to see the pain and hurt of these people who have lost everything.  One of my favorite parts is when she meets this little boy that just showed up after the Tsunami, nobody knew who he was or where his parents were.  She got him to smile and taught him how to surf and even got to witness all of the people getting back into the water for the first time since the tsunami.  At that point she said she realized that surfing was not the most important thing in the world, LOVE was.

If you know the story of Bethany Hamilton, you know that she did get back on the surf board and she did compete in competitions again and goes on to be a professional surfer (which was her dream since she was little).  She did all this by holding on to her faith and knowing that God had a plan for her life, even with one arm!  In an interview one of the reporters asked if she could go back to that day would she have still went out surfing knowing she would be attacked and she said she wouldn't have changed anything about what happened to her because she had reached more people with one arm than she probably would have every reached with 2 arms, wow!!

I know there are times when I think, "man why did God let this happen to me?" "how am I ever going to get through this?" but then I am reminded of one of my favorite passages in the bible James 1:2-4 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." 

We are all going to face trials, none of us are exempt from them, it's all about how we choose to face those trials and who we put our faith in.  No matter what I may face in my life or what trials may come my way, I know that my God is in control and I can either choose to be defeated by those trials and give up or I can choose to trust in God and know that He is going to strengthen my faith through those trials!!

What God has been doing in my life

First, let me give you a little background information about me.  I am terrified of flying, I have only flown once in my life and it was an hour flight when I was 27 years old and it wasn't because I wanted to.  My friend didn't tell me we were flying until she had already made all the arrangements and still not until a couple of weeks before we left (she knew I would freak out if she told me before).   I have never had the desire to go on a mission trip or anywhere in the world where I would have to fly to get there.  I just believed that God would never call me to go on the mission field because it didn't matter because I was dead set that I would never go.  I loved to hear people's stories about what God did on the mission field but I was sure I would never be sharing those stories.

Several months ago, God had really been dealing with me and I had begin to pray that God would use me to be a servant for him.  I prayed that God would allow me to be available to be used however he wanted to use me, whatever it might be (be careful when you pray that prayer and be ready to do what God ask you to do).  I love the song by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir "Use Me" (I love this video with the song).  I prayed everyday for about a week or 2 and my prayer was "Lord if you can use anything you can use me, allow me to be available to be used however you see fit"

Well after about 2 weeks of this I was at a Christmas get together for the college and career at our church, I don't usually go to that class or to the outings because they are all so much younger than me but they still invite me to all the stuff and this one was at Phillip & Carey's house so I thought I would go hang out.  My friend Amanda, who is actually older than me :), was talking about going to Nepal on a mission trip this summer and how she thought it would be cool if the college and career class went.  Well we got to talking and I asked her about the flight (she knows I don't like flying either) and she hesitated and said "ummm..about 16 maybe a little more.  Well I don't know what I was even asking for because I wasn't about to go on another hour flight, much less a 16 hour or longer flight.

I remember going home that night and saying the same prayer I had been saying for the last couple of weeks and singing the same song and I couldn't get Nepal out of my mind.  I remember saying no way that is not going to happen.  I am not going to Nepal, I don't want to and I am not about to get on a plane for that long.  So the next day, said the same prayer except this time the verse popped in my head "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.  Still I was like no I can't do this I am scared & then it was like God spoke to me as plain as day and said, "hey you have been praying for me to use you GO" wow, seriously?!?!  Well the more I prayed and tried to shake it off the more God was saying GO!!  The last part of that verse keeps me from being totally scared out of my mind "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"!!  That is so comforting for me to know, that no matter how scared or worried I may be, that when I am doing what God has called me to do then He will be with me always!! 

So this summer I will be going to Dharan, Nepal for 10 days, I am a little nervous but I am extremely excited to see what God is going to do in my life and through me in Nepal!!