2012.

Just a quick post..

This is my heart coming into the new year. Take all I am and mold me, Lord!

Paint Your Picture by Julie Meyer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJtK79h2Go)

Pick me up like a paintbrush, God

Dip it in the colors of my life

Paint Your picture, Father

And fashion a heart that is wholly Yours

Take Your fingers, God

Master Potter Come mold the clay

Tell Your story

As You mold me

Fashion a heart that is wholly Yours

And write your name, write Your name

In the clay

And sign Your name, sign Your name

On the picture

Take all I am

Take all I have

I am Yours forever, forever

You are not a super hero.

Yep. You are not a super hero, and you were never supposed to be. Sorry to be a downer...but in the context I'm thinking of, this is actually a good thing. You didn't think I would be talking about real super heroes, did you? ;)

In today's Christian culture, I think there's a lot of emphasis on evangelism, and really living out your faith. People today have really taken the salt and light thinking seriously - which is great in itself. Unfortunately, I think that emphasis is so strong, sometimes we forget to take it in stride.

I believe the sense of urgency for our culture and our world is needed: the idea that we don't know how much time we have to be here, we need to impact the world around us as much as we can, the world needs us. That's good. But...wait a second...did we forget to leave Jesus out?

Yes. Sometimes we do. I think we evangelistic Christians get so caught up in "being the light", that we forget our source of light. We begin to believe that we have to single-handedly save the world. We start to think that we're superheroes, saving the world one convert at a time!

The point is, we are not superheros, and we were never meant to save the world by ourselves. In fact, we are not the ones who save the world...we can't even save a single person - but Jesus can. In the end, we are just (sometimes) the people He uses to get His message told, and to display His love. Every single time someone gets saved, it is because of Him and His Spirit's tugging on that person's heart - the individual who "lead" that person to Christ really can't claim much of the credit.

This knowledge is a huge relief. Personally, when I read books, listen to sermons, etc, about the good works we have to do, the culture we have to impact, the people we have to save, I get a little bit stressed out - how am I going to do all this on my own, and when will it ever be enough? Luckily, God has already thought of all that, and planned it all out. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." He's already planned all the good works you and I are going to do, and when the time is right, He will lead us right to them.

Jesus was right again. When he said that "My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light”, He meant it. He does not expect us to change the world all by ourselves. He already knows what needs to happen to fulfill His plan, and He has already set it in place. In the end, we are not superheroes, and we cannot save the world on our own, we just serve the One who can - the ultimate superhero.

Shpeel.

Sometimes I start thinking, and God just starts talking to me, and I have to write it all down. Hence the following post. He is so good!

You probably know about God's omnipresence. You know that He's with you all the time, wherever you go, etc. And that's wonderful. But you know, sometimes I think we just stop there, and don't take advantage of His presence, and the fact that HE is with us, 24/7! What does Him being with me at every moment entail?

I don't think it's about just Him physically being with me all the time. It's about Him being available all the time. Being there for me all the time. Being present with open arms..all the time.

There are a lot of Bible verses about how He is holding us in his right hand...some even say that we are holding his right hand. I love that picture. When I think of that, I get the image of a little girl holding her daddy's hand; secure, at peace, and totally unafraid with him. That little girl (or boy, if you prefer) is you. And that daddy is Father God, leading you through life with your hand securely in His.

What's amazing is even when we want to pull away, we can't. Even when we get distracted from Him, and look to other lovers, He is still faithfully holding our hand in His. Psalm 73:22-22 says, "I was so foolish and ignorant - I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You. Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand."

Honestly, I get depressed easily. I may feel guilty, sinful, whatever. But the fact that my God is never going to let go of my hand is amazing to me. His love is overwhelming.

In the movie Evan Almighty, Morgan Freeman (who is awesome), as God, says "Remember, whatever I do, I do it because I love you." Even though that's not in the Bible..I think it's true. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. Everything He does stems from His love. He is love. He will never stop loving us.

He says in Psalm 81:10, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things." What's so beautiful about our relationship with God, is that even though we were created to serve Him, and to please Him, we always end up on the receiving end. When we worship or obey Him, He blesses us way more. He is always going to love us more. The sacrifice He gave for us (Jesus) is way way wayyy more than we could ever give to Him. But you know what's even better? Is that He loves doing it! He loves filling our lives with good things!

I think the devil loves to downplay God's love. It's really easy to get distracted with the culture, ourselves, and just the busyness of our lives, and forget how much we are loved. Perfect love casts out all fear. I'm willing to bet that a lot of other things come from perfect love, too. And that probably does not sit well with Satan. So, his plan is to tell us lies, and distract us, so that we forget, or even start to downplay God's love.

So right now, just remember that you are loved, more than you can imagine. He knows you, loves you, and cares about you even more than you do for yourself. Rest in His love for just a minute, and know that your Daddy is holding you in his secure, victorious right hand.

It Is Well

This week, I was bogged down in homework. I had multiple bad hair days. Some of my friends ignored me. I felt lonely sometimes. I was tired a lot, and stressed out most of the time.

But you know what? I have literally nothing to worry about, because as cliche as it sounds, it is well with my soul.

This is an idea that God keeps reminding me of...it's so simple, yet we usually forget it altogether. The things of this world are so unimportant, so temporary, and we spend so much time worrying about them. In the end, it is well with your soul, so what do you have to worry about?

This is kind of an ambiguous phrase, so let me 'splain. ...No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (hehe!)

Out of body, spirit, and soul, I believe that your soul is the most important part. If your soul is at peace, everything else will be too. (And by soul, I mean basically where you are spiritually.) Let's look at some facts.

1. You are loved by the God of the Universe, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords - you are loved by the same God who knows everything about you and sees and has seen every sin you have, or ever will commit. And He loves you beyond what you could ever imagine or understand.

2. You've been saved from your sins, saved from death, by the same God of the Universe, and the only thing He requires is that you love and believe in Him. Your sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west.

With these two facts in mind, what in the world do we have to worry about?

Answer: Nothing. Nothing in this world or outside of it. If I've given my heart to Jesus Christ, it is well with my soul, and nothing this world throws at you can change that. (Interesting fact: one of the definitions of "well" is "In good health: free or recovered from illness." Hmm..my soul is free and recovered from sin.) So even if I have an awful week, and it never gets any better, it's okay. My soul is what matters the most. And it is well with my soul!

The song God used to remind me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6yDFn3OAFo

So I know this really cool guy...

God is really cool. Like, seriously. And He really doesn't get a lot of credit for it.

You know what I think sometimes we forget? We forget that God isn't like us. Ha. That's a wonderful thing.

What I mean by that is, God isn't as fickle as people are. He's not going to abandon us for others. He doesn't play favorites. He won't love us one day and ignore us the next. He's never going to pull the rug out from under us or throw us under the bus, if you will.

You probably already knew all those things. I did too. But sometimes that doesn't really play out in our lives. My question: if we know that God is all these amazing things, why don't we trust Him more?

Okay. If you're anything like me, at this point, in the back of your mind, you're like, "Psh. I trust Him. Maybe other people have trouble with that..but not me."

I get that, because that's what I would normally say. But we have to wrap our minds around the fact that every time we worry, we're not trusting God. And I mean every time.

George Whitefield once wrote, "I fear upon examination, we should find that most of you have not so much faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the devil himself. I am persuaded that the devil believes more of the Bible than we do. He believes the divinity of Jesus Christ...nay, he believes and trembles, and that is more than thousands among us do."

Does that stand out to you as much as it does to me? The devil trembles. And he doesn't even like Jesus. Jesus isn't even on Satan's side. So how much more should we tremble when we think of His power, and even better...His providence?

The truth is, God wants to (and does) take care of us a lot more than we let Him, or expect Him to. In every circumstance, He will provide. A lot of times, we say that God is interested in the small things just as much as the big things...but we don't realize how small. Seriously. He cares about every single, tiny detail in our lives, and if we just trust Him with it, He'll take care of everything. Trust me, when you're worrying about something, it's a lot easier to give it to Him than worrying about it yourself.

In the end, God does a lot more than we give Him credit for. But you know what's great? He loves doing it. He truly loves taking care of His kids. And that makes Him pretty cool.

Secret Agents pt. 2

So...secret agents. I wrote a post on it a few weeks ago (keep scrolling down to read it), but God put it on my heart again today, with a slightly different perspective.

Jeremiah 9:3 says, "Lies, not truth, have grown strong in the land. They go from one evil thing to another. 'They do not know who I am', says the Lord." Uh, was this written in 2011? Because this definitely sounds like our culture today. I am no exception to this verse. I was reading it today and realized that this definitely can (and sometimes does) apply to me. But again, I ask...is that "secret agent behavior"? Am I just blending into the world, not making any effort to be different?

The truth is, the world has a lot of dirt and grime and slime in it. And whenever we sin, we're just adding to that. Obviously, I know who God is. You know who God is. But if we act like we don't...well, what's the point of knowing who He is, then?

Lukewarm Christianity is rampant today. As in, today, July 8th, 2011. And it was yesterday. And it has been for a long time. But that's really, really not how it's supposed to be. Colossians 3:16 tells us to "let the message of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives." God isn't just supposed to be a piece of our lives. He and His message are supposed to fill our lives, every area. Completely. This isn't about being cool, or looking good. Honestly, sometimes it does make you look cooler to act like you don't care, or to go along with what the world is doing. But that's not what it's about.

God doesn't call us to look good or be cool. If anything, He calls us to be weird, and look different. At least, to the world's eyes. To His eyes, though, we are pleasing, and beautiful, when we follow Him.

Seriously, I'm tired of being an undercover agent. I don't want to keep pretending I don't know who Jesus is. I'm turning in my badge. Will you join me?

Joyjoyjoy

So, this was a Buzz post, and I did warn you that it may turn into a blog post in the near future. Well..here it is. This is something I've been thinking about for a while...basically, a very substantial reason (for me, at least) to always have joy, no matter what else is happening. Let's talk about it.

First, I want to distinguish between two very similar things, in order to clarify: joy and happiness. As one of my friends pointed out..how is it possible to have joy all the time, even when something really tragic happens? That's where these definitions are helpful.

I define happiness as sort of a surface-level emotion. You can be happy for one moment, but if something bad happens, it can change, and you can be sad. Etc.

On the other hand, in my mind, joy is deeper than that. It's more than a quickly-changing emotion. It's an underlying reason to be thankful. A reason to live, maybe?

Okay. That was helpful. I like definitions.

The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to "be joyful always." In order to be joyful always, we need something to be joyful about, right? Right. And in order to to be joyful always, that thing we're joyful about needs to be always there, right? Right. Okay.

When I really think about it, God is the only thing that is always there and will never disappear. More specifically, His two biggest blessings: love and salvation.

It's so crazy to think that the Creator of the universe, the King of the world, and the One who knows your every awful thought and secret sin...loves you. He doesn't just tolerate you. Doesn't just kind of like you. He loves you. Seriously, you have no idea. Think about the person you love most in the world, and multiply that by a hundred. He's crazy about you. So, that's reason enough to be joyful. But God is so cool, He throws in another reason...

It Is Well With My Soul is one of my favorite hymns. I normally don't like hymns, actually, but I love this one. One of the verses reads,

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Anddd that pretty much sums up the point about salvation. Just like you have no idea how much God loves you, you probably don't have any idea how many times you've sinned..or are going to continue to sin. But you know what? All of them were nailed to the cross right next to the God who loves you.

And that's a reason to be joyful.

Most cliche post ever.

It's funny how God takes things that I thought I knew, and teaches them to me in a whole new way. He teaches me things when I'm least expecting it, and somehow, it's completely new to me, even though I may have heard it all my life.

Where does beauty come from? The good Christian answer is beauty comes from the heart. Beauty is only skin deep. Blah blah blahhh.

As a girl, sometimes I fail to believe that. Or, even if I do, I'm like..why can't I be beautiful inside and outside?

(This is not going to be a post about me and how I worry about my appearance. Just bear with me.)

So yesterday, I was thinking about that, and God told me something: beauty comes from the heart. ...Okay, I knew that. But for some reason it felt really new to me. And so then today, out of no where, He says..."there's a big difference between looking beautiful and being beautiful."

Maybe you already knew that. But for me, it was really, really new. The statement can be applied in a couple different ways, but how I think of it is this: Someone can look beautiful on the outside, but you know, that doesn't really make them beautiful. You just look good. But what God said was true. Beauty comes from the heart. You are beautiful (or not) because of your heart.

You know what's ironic? I think worrying about outward appearance is one of the things that makes a heart sort of disfigured. I never want to say someone's heart is "ugly", but some things that can hinder beauty (maybe?) are jealousy, pride, anger, selfishness, etc. I would categorize worrying too much about what you look like under selfishness.

Obviously, everyone has some of these. You are never going to be perfect, and you'll always deal with sin. But that's not to say you can never have a beautiful heart. Why?

Well, here's the good news: Jesus specializes in beauty. He has the MOST beautiful heart. I believe that he enjoys taking sinful, grimy things, and making them beautiful. All we have to do is ask.

Honestly, I want to look beautiful. But even more, I want to be beautiful. And, luckily, I don't need eyeliner, a flat iron, or designer clothes for that. I just need Him.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." - Psalm 51:10

I've always wanted to be a secret agent!

Seriously. When I was anywhere from 7-12 years old, my friends and I would always pretend to be spies...usually spying on my parents (never letting them see us, of course) and writing down "clues" in a secret language in our notebooks, then running back to our secret hideout (usually a closet) and discuss what we observed.

That dream has passed, and I've moved on to different things. I still think it would be cool to work for the FBI though.

But do I already?

Obvious answer: no.

Surprising answer: Sometimes I act like it.

But not for the federal government. Nope, I'm undercover for Jesus!

Seriously, Katie?

...Yes. It's a new idea that God revealed to me that I am so ashamed of. I think I, and a lot of other Christians, act like I'm an undercover agent for Jesus much of the time. My real identity is Katie, the Jesus-follower, but aside from revealing my true self at Secret Agent HQ (church), I'm undercover, trying to blend in with the world, and hoping they all think I'm normal, making great efforts not to reveal my true identity.

Okay, obviously, it's not that drastic. I don't intentionally try to hide the fact that I'm a Christian or purposely blend in with the world. But I think we get on the verge of that sometimes.

The truth is, we were never, ever, ever meant to be undercover for Jesus. We are meant to be obvious, conspicuous, totally noticeable flames in a world of darkness. We were not made to blend in with the darkness. The world is full of grimy, ungodly things: do we really even want to be like it?....I don't. And truthfully, I don't think the world needs anymore grime and slime in it. It needs light. We are the light.

We only have one chance to live in this world, with the people around us, in the situations we're in. So I propose that we shine as hard as we can. Take risks, Jesus is worth it. (They say that faith is spelled R-I-S-K.) Live out LOUD. We have so much freedom given to us by God and our country, and I think we need to take advantage of it. Don't be a secret agent.

I liked Lady Gaga better when she just danced.

And when she was the paparazzi. And even when she was kinda busy and couldn't talk on the telephone.

Okay, you know I don't normally write about current issues like this, but I have to get all my thoughts out about this crazy, talented, creative, powerful woman. Forbes magazine just named her most influential celebrity in the world. So we have to ask the obvious: What influence is she having on us?

If you keep up with pop culture at all, you know that Lady Gaga is getting really creepy lately. Random horns growing out of her body while she sings about being in love with Judas? Mmm, no thanks, I'm good.

This is just my personal opinion, but this girl has changed a lot since she first came on the scene, and it's gotten weirder, darker, and more infused with twisted spirituality. I was okay with Just Dance, and even Telephone. But I think it started going downhill with Bad Romance and that whole "era" - when "art" started becoming eery and non-human. And so now we're here and she's the most influential celebrity in the world with her new single telling us that we were born the way we are - whatever that may be at the moment.

At this point, Lady Gaga is mixing feel-good messages with twisted religion. The feel-good message in Born This Way is, obviously, accepting yourself; knowing that you don't need to change anything about yourself. However, the song literally says "No matter gay, straight or bi/Lesbian, transgendered life/… I'm on the right track, baby/I was born to be brave". Um, seriously? Talk about an era of tolerance. Obviously, blatant sin like that is not something to be accepted, etc. "Brave" does not mean living in sin. You are not "brave" just because you go against what's right.

But besides that, I just find it kind of twisted that Lady Gaga mentions Jesus in so many of her songs. But she's not blaspheming. She talks about praying, and serving Him, but the blatant truth is that you cannot serve two gods. Jesus said that you can't serve both God and money, and I think it applies to other things as well. You can't serve both God and your own fleshy desires.

Those are the problems. But I think the reality is, she's saying that:

1. You were made to be just the way you are, whether you're living in sin or not.
2. Yeah, of course I can serve Jesus and sleep with a bunch of people!

So, in the end, I liked Lady Gaga before she got really popular. When she..just danced.

It's good that I don't always get what I want.

Seriously. If I always got what I wanted, and didn't get what I didn't want, out of everyday life, I would never get anything done. I would never meet new people, never reach out to anyone else. I would never take any risks or be challenged in any way.

It's the same with little things in life as well as the big things. If you asked me at any given time if I wanted some ice cream, I would probably say yes. But, if I wanted ice cream all the time, and got it every single time I wanted it, I wouldn't be very healthy. On the other hand, 2 years ago, I didn't want to leave the church we were currently attending. We did though, and the new church is where I met my best friends. If I wasn't forced to do that, because I didn't want to, I would never have met these people who have blessed my life so much.

Life isn't always fair. We don't always get what we want, or what we feel we deserve. But God isn't as interested in what we want, as what we need. I need to not have ice cream everyday, and I needed to come to Calvary to meet these people. Because the thing is, we can't look very far beyond ourselves. But God can. He sees the huge, entire, complete picture, in which you and I are just a small part of. Whether God is interested in our wants or needs, He's definitely interested in our greater good, and sometimes that means giving us what we need, even if it's painful, rather than what we want.

NO ONE CARES.

Okay, well..people do care. They care about themselves. Most of them even care about you. But, when it comes to their image, or appearance, people are pretty selfish. It's kind of a crazy cycle: People are concerned with their own appearance because they're worried about what people think of them. At the same time, they're too worried about their own to really speculate on anyone else's. So um...doesn't that make the process kind of...counter-productive?

The point is, we as a society are too concerned about what we look like, and not enough on really who we are as people. Besides that, tailoring ourselves to what people think limits us, keeps us from taking chances, and sometimes keeps us from being who we really are.

I don't have an answer or a quick solution to fix this. But I think we should just remember that people are not as judgmental as we think they are. It's true: you really are your own worst critic. And as it turns out, God is the best critic. He's the truest. Maybe we should listen to him more.

An inspiring and alluring post title is unavailable at this time.

I value your opinion. Seriously. More than you know..and more than what's healthy. It's not just me, though....it's a problem people have been dealing with like since the beginning of time: worrying about what others think and altering themselves to fit those opinions. Some deal with it more than others, but I think everyone does it a little bit. Why else do girls wear makeup, guys act tough, and all of us exaggerate?

But the problem is, everyone has a different way of thinking. Everyone has their own perceptions. Besides that, people change their ideas and perceptions all the time. So how can we possibly please everyone?

..We can't. There is only one person who never changes, and that's God. His perceptions, ideas of what's good, ideas of what is beautiful, ideas of what is right...those never change. He's the one we should want to please. And if people don't agree with His ideals, they're not worth it anyway.

I know you've heard it before, but God's opinion is truly the only one that matters. It's impossible to please all your peers...but it IS possible to please God. He's given us a handbook on living for Him, and besides that, He loves us way more than anyone else ever could.

I have some bad news.

My friend, you have cancer. And so do I. And so does your neighbor and the cashier at Wal-mart and your second cousin and the guy on American Idol. Pretty soon, you're going to die. But nobody knows when. So until then, make the most of your life.

...That sounds pretty awful, doesn't it? Yeah. But it's true. We may not exactly have the conventional kind of cancer, but we do have a cancer called Just Being Human. Being human means we are all going to die eventually. Most people think that they have at least a couple decades to go...but seriously, you could die tomorrow. Somebody in the world is going to die tomorrow. And when that Somebody is about to die, what are they going to think about their lives? Who did they live it for? What did they do with it? Did they appreciate all that they had?

I know it sounds cliche, but it's true. Because you don't know if it's the end, live each day as if you were a cancer patient. If you actually had cancer, what would you do? Probably make a point to tell people you love them, thank them for what they've done for you, maybe make one last effort to tell people about Jesus. So why should it be any different?

Cancer or not, you could die any second. So live like you're dying: treasure the people around you, live each day for God, and take joy in the little things. Jesus came and died to give us life abundant. So live each day to the fullest.

Your Giant Meatball

The title of this post has a point, I swear.

One of my favorite movies is Horton Hears A Who...like the 2009/2008 version. And I can quote large portions of it. One of the lines, for example, is when Horton is talking to the Mayor, and the Mayor is like "Horton, I have to go, apparently there's some problem with the Giant Meatball in the Edible Parade." and Horton says "You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

I freak out about a lot of things. Especially recently, with all this debate craziness, plus other stuff on the side. And so, when I'm talking to God, my talking involves a lot of "what if"s. "But God, what if this happens? What if things don't go the way I want? What if I don't say the right thing?" So I was thinking about that today, and I remembered Horton's wise words:

"You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

Let's break it down: I sort of see the "Giant Meatball" as the silly little thing that you think is really big (hence the "giant"), but really isn't. In the end, it doesn't matter too much, and it's just silly. So you can take care of that, and go do whatever needs to be done with it. But then what? Let's look at what God says...

"Leave the freaking out to me."

You can take care of your Giant Meatball, but that's all you can do. Don't freak out about it. It won't help, trust me. Leave it up to God. He has a lot more capacity for it, and He can handle the "stress" a lot better than you can.

So, in the end, no matter what your personal Giant Meatball is, remember that number one, it's only a giant meatball. Yes, it's giant, but it's a meatball. It's not the end of the world, and it's not going to determine your entire life. And second of all...you can take care of whatever needs to be done with your meatball, but ultimately, you can't control what happens to it. Leave that to God. don't worry or stress about it...just give it to God. So, I say again...

You take care of your Giant Meatball, friend, and leave the freaking out to God.

Outside of Ordinary

I don't think there's such a thing as an ordinary person.

Have you ever seen a snowflake? I haven't, not that I remember, because I think there's a curse over Houston that says it can never snow here.

...but that's a different story.

Anyways, it's said that no two snowflakes are the same. Yet, unless you look closely at one...you would think they're all the same. I think it's the same case with people. People generally look at least something like each other...but when you look at who they are, they're all different. And when you really stop to think about it, is there anyone exactly like you?

A quote I recently heard that I loved is from Dr. Seuss..."There's no one you-er than you." When you stop and think about it, it's so true. There's no one better at being you, than...you. If you're looking for something that you're better at everyone else in, here's something. You're the best at being you!

I think God loves variety. He didn't have to create hundreds of tree species or thousands of different galaxies, but He did. In the same way, He didn't HAVE to create billions of people, all unique, all with their own special sets of talents and personality traits...but He did.

In the end, you're extraordinary. I've always been confused about that word, because it's like, doesn't "extraordinary" just mean "more ordinary"?

Um..no.

"Extraordinary", in my opinion, literally means outside of the ordinary. It's like in debate, when you say a plan is extra-topical. You're saying that the plan is outside of the resolution. So, I think extraordinary is being "outside" of ordinary.

So today, just take joy in being you. Because there is no one you-er than you!