"My soul thirst for God..." Psalms 42:2

Everyday the Lord is showing us His power, Glory, Grace & His Divine Nature.  He shows us miracles and little glimpses of Heaven.  He shows us His Love!  From the moment we wake up to the second we close our eyes.  Everyday, even atheist have some kind of connection with God.
Yesterday the Lord proved Himself to me once again as if I needed to be reminded, (He knew I needed to be reminded).  So here is the story...
I really wanted to go to the hospital in Alma to see my beautiful sister-in-law and my brothers new addition to this world.  The only downfall was that I had no money at all.  I literally had 5 dollars total in my bank account, which is my fault and I did not deserve the miracle and love that I received from the Lord.  So after I had a meltdown from realizing just how little money I had and not enough to put gas in my Jeep I kept going over in my head if I had any cash on me at all.  I then was reminded of the few dollars I had stored away in my dresser.  And it was just enough to get me some gas to drive home on.  Which was even more then I deserved.  Once I had the money in my hand, I humbled myself and asked the Lord if He was sure.  He was pretty sure.  So needless to say, the Lord heard my cry (literally) this morning.  His heart broke because my heart broke at the thought of not being able to see my beautiful nephew that He placed on this earth.  He reminded me about that money.  He revealed Himself again and He poured His love on me.  He had mercy on me and I did not deserve it.  I was a whiny baby, but He supplied.  He is so gracious to His children.  And all to often I forget to lean on God to supply me, so this proved to me once again that the only way to live is to give all my worries, thoughts, and praises to Him. 
Psalm 13:5
"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me."  I rejoice in my salvation that came from Jesus Christ.  I trust in His unfailing love.  I will do nothing but praise His name for the rest of my days here on this earth.  Because He has been too good to me at times when I do not deserve it.

Thank You So Much God Almighty,
Your Child

Perfect Gift From Above

Yesterday the Lord poured out onto this earth another reminder of His love, power, and goodness.  My precious nephew Maxwell was born.  He weighed 10.3 pounds, that alone is a miracle.

The Lord did such an amazing job on this beautiful boy.  He is just so perfect.  I could not ask God for anything better than him.  The Lord probably had so much fun picking out the way Max's face was going to look and whose nose he was going to have and whose eyes.  He made such a unique little boy.  I just praise the Lord Almighty for this miracle.  I praise God for this awesome gift He has given our family.  And it reminded me of this verse from James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."  Max was and still is a proclamation of Gods love.  It still amazes me that the Lord knew Max before he was even born.  All I know is that I thank the Lord for creating Max and for putting so much time and effort into Him.  For loving him already more than everyone in the whole family combined could.

Thank You Lord for Maxwell,
Kelsey

the One thing I'm sure of...

College is difficult even more so, chemistry is difficult.  I study, study, study and yet I seem to fall short from my expectation almost every time.  I have gotten some pretty low scores on some pretty important tests.  I have failed miserably a lot.  I have messed up information and I have forgotten a lot of things.  I have more questions than answers and I sometimes have so much going on in my head I literally feel myself loosing brain cells.  But the one thing that always reassures me is that no matter how many 36 % I get on chemistry tests, or no matter how many times I ask the same question over again, or no matter how many times I do the same silly mistake, the one thing that I know I can be sure of is that Jesus Christ is my Lord my Savior.  He is my light in this crazy dark world.  He holds onto me at night when I just cannot take it anymore.  He sits next to me when I am just totally failing that chemistry test.  He even tells me a bedtime story before I get rest from long and hectic days.  I am so glad that the one thing I am sure on is not anything of this world.  The One thing that I am sure on is whittling my Kingdom in Heaven.  He is rooting for me, He is guiding me, He is watching over me, and He already knew everything in my life that was going to happen.  I am so glad that the one thing I am sure of is True, Righteous, Holy, Pure, Just, Mighty, Loving, Almighty and simply Amazing.  I am so glad that the One thing I am sure of is Jesus Christ.
Thank you Lord for all you have done, and are going to do in my life.  Thank you for reassuring me that every else will fade, but Your love, and will for me has never been more strong. 

Find that One thing that you are sure of and embrace It,
Kelsey

"...working for the Lord..."

You do not just wake up in a day and bam everything in your life is fixed.  You cannot want a good relationship with God, a friend or anyone in that matter if you do not put forth the effort.  If you realize that you are not getting anywhere still after putting forth effort then it is time to evaluate.  How are you trying to reach that person?  Is it a way that they are able to respond?  But when does it get to the point where you give up or you stop trying so hard because they are not putting forth the effort either?  When can you decide that it is not worth it?  When is the right time for you to justify why you do not call that person anymore?  Never. Wanna know why?
We are to be imitators of Jesus.  He laid the foundation for us to follow.  Has Jesus ever decide in all His years that He was not going to talk to that person because they were not putting forth the effort?  Did He ever stop "calling" someone because He felt like it was not worth it anymore? Did He ever stop loving them?
Nope.
He went against the grain, He loved when others would never think about loving.  He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes.  Yup, that is my Amazing Father that I look up to and that I strive to be like more and more everyday.  You know what? If the Lord wants me to call someone every stinkin' day, I will.  If the Lord wants me to travel a thousand miles I will.  Because that is what you do for someone you love.  When you truly know how to love and when you know how to just look past all that "stuff" that gets in the way of someones personality, then that is when you can begin to see that you are not wasting your time.  What if that call happened at just the right moment, just the moment when they needed to hear someones voice?  What if that visit changed the way they see the world, people, or even God.  This verse in Colossians 3:24 helps me a lot especially when I do not feel like calling, visiting, writing a letter or even typing on this blog. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." 
Would you like it if God just gave up on you?  If He just stopped calling, if He just decided you were a lost cause.  And yet we do this to our Lord constantly.  We repeatably ignore His calls, we do not listen for His cue for us, we give up hope, we give up, we stop loving.  But does He ever stop calling?  Does He ever stop sending us mail, or stop loving us? 
Nope. 
It is time to evaluate the way you treat people.  It is time to realize that everyone is worth your time.  It is time you realize that Jesus Christ our Savior is sending us mail, and calling us and we are not getting it.  We are doing the same thing to Him that we do to other people. 

Start fresh with God, with your family and friends and give diligently to all of them just as Jesus gave to everyone. 

Do not be a slave to your old ways,
Kelsey

Jesus our God, Great and Mighty to be Praised

My heart is broken.
But I thank the Lord for opening my eyes once again and making me aware of just how low and broken this world is.  Something that major should not be hard to forget, but it is.  It is like I become numb to the problems of this world.  And it is not until the Lord shows me right there in front of my face how bad things are, and only then does the numbness begin to wear off.  The problems people face are so real, the sin that people are slaves to is so real.  It cannot get any more real than that.  I never thought it was going to be easy to be a Christian, but I also never realized the strength it takes to go through a day where you are constantly being persecuted.  Right now I am praying for the people in this world, for the "Christians" that need Jesus in their life more than ever, for the people who have seen and tasted His glory to make it more prevalent in their life, for the people who have His Words tattooed on their body to come to the realization of what those words mean.  I'm praying for the people who repeatedly use my Fathers name in vain.  This world needs Jesus more than ever now, I need Jesus more than ever right now.  "I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands."  Psalm 119:10  I want to make this verse my prayer.  That we will all seek Him with all of our hearts, and that we will not stray away from His commandments just because our society ways go against it because that's the point.  We are not supposed to be of the world, but we need to be in it to be that light.  I do not want to gain this whole world because my Father in Heaven, my hope my joy, my strength that He provides me with is much more important than the "norms" of this world.  The life that I have been given is a privilege and I am going to use it to the best of my abilities in honoring what the Lord has set for me. 

"The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, He saved me."
Psalm 116:6

Pray for this broken world,
Kelsey

Baby Lima Beans

This morning as I was finishing up a Christmas gift involving lima beans, hot glue, and a wreath (that would soon be covered in baby lima beans) I noticed myself picking out certain sizes and shapes of the lima beans before I would place it on the smoldering hot hot glue.  While doing this it reminded me of Mitch's sermon last Sunday.  He said that God has this big tool box and He chooses the right "tool" (us) for the job.  Some tools are made for a certain purpose and some have more than one.  But for the most part any tool you use could potentially get the job done, but it just might take more work.  And the same with my baby lima beans.  Either way I was going to use up all of them, some were going to work in a certain spot better than others were.  So in essence we are all baby lima beans in a old Cool-Whip container just waiting for God to choose us, maybe not necessarily to place us on hot glue but to place us where we are needed and to fulfil our purpose better.  Have you been a willing servant lately?
If not, become one now.

Be the tool that God can use,
Kelsey

Romans = love!

The Book of Romans is amazing!
I literally thank God so much for it.  Not only is it straight forward but Paul wrote it with oodles upon oodles of love and with that love he makes it very clear.  Many times while I was reading it, it was hard for me to even fathom just how real it is.  The verses relate so well with this day in age.  I would encourage anyone to read Romans!  It has humbled me, broken me, and showed me that God has many great things in store for my life.  He wants me to succeed and see Him in everything I do, think and say.  And I should because what is the point in life if I do not?  We read this book as a small group, and the last day as we were going over verses you could tell that all of the girls in the small group including me were just mesmerized by this extraordinary book.  But enough of what I think about it, just read it, you will not regret it.  Here is a sneak peak on just how dense this book is!
"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."
Romans 3:22

"But God deonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Romans 6:14.

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing the glory that will be revealed to us."
Romans 8:18

There are so many more great verses, but that would take up the whole blog page so just read Romans, okay?


Read & discover God's glory,
Kelsey

Seeking Council from the Great Counselor

Lately I have been struggling big time.  I have seen myself set goals and knowingly destroy them.  But then I quickly came to the realization that my goals are not going to be met in one day and that I certainly would not be able to reach these goals without help from my Awesome God.  I realized that they are going to take time and I just need to stick with them and pray for strength and for the ability to prioritize them.  Something that I also find interesting in my life is my ability to hold back.  I hold back from a lot of things and for different reasons.  Sometimes in my chemistry class I hold back because I feel like I'm never going to understand it so why even try.  And especially with God I hold back.  I have not yet fully grasp the concept of many things.  I hold back by not praying out loud because I feel as though I wont say the right things, but you know what who cares because I'm praying to God and for God so no one else should matter in that circumstance.  I also hold back by not stepping out of my comfort zone and not giving God the chance to mold me and make me a willing servant.  I also found that I give my best in other areas then for Jesus my Lord.  Okay the One who created me and this world for me to live in, and I do not give Him enough time.  That just does not seem right, if anything it should be Him that I exert all of my energy to, and it should be Him that is on my mind, and it should be Him that is my main focus.  The good thing about all of these "bad things" is that I'm able to see them and acknowledge the fact that I'm lacking big time, but nothing is impossible for me.  Nothing is impossible for anyone.  If you have a goal, seek council from the Great Counselor and allow Him to help you with the areas of your life where you are lacking.  Persevere no matter what with the help of Christ. 

Pray, Seek, Listen,
Kelsey

"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."
James 1:12