Fresh From the Fight

God gets my attention in the most unlikely places.

Tonight, as I watching a movie and trying not to fall asleep, I heard the phrase (from a line in the movie) "fresh from the fight". And I was like...Woah..what does that mean?

I immediately applied it to Christianity. As Christians, we're in a war...everyone knows that, right? But sometimes, we forget. And we also forget how that exactly relates to our lives. I mean, if I'm not fighting for my life in some Communist country, faithfully preaching the gospel...it doesn't apply to me, right?

Ehhh, wrong.

I think fighting in the "war of good and evil" is just as present in your normal, everyday life as it is anywhere else. We fight the war by making choices that honor God, by choosing to say (or not say) certain words, do (or not do) certain things, and treat people maybe a little nicer than how they actually deserve to be treated.

A while back, my friend explained her own interpretation of sin to me: Our sins are forgiven, of course, by Jesus, but when we sin, it still grieves God's heart. But, when we purposely choose not to sin, it's showing our allegiance to God. It's saying, "I'm in God's army, so I'm going to choose to obey Him."

So basically all I'm saying is, everyday is a battle. Everyday, I can choose to say I'm on God's side. I want to be fervently fighting for Him.

...I want to be fresh from the fight.

Keep Your Knife to Yourself

Backstabbing...it's not just for murder mysteries. Lately, I've found it within my own life - in my conversations, my thoughts, my words. My friend Jacalyn was talking with me about it...how can we call people our friends, and then turn around and say how they're so annoying. They're so immature. They're such a flirt. I can't stand them.

Uh. What was that?

Yeah. We have to remember in all that, that God is always watching. And like...seriously? I've done that so many times, and then feel awful about it. How, in good conscience, can we be claim to be "friends" with someone then backstab them like this? It's just wrong.

So, what to do about it...Jacalyn and I came up with three main points to think about when talking about people...(or just..talking in general.)

1. Am I honoring God with my words?
2. If the person I'm talking about was standing right here, would I want them to hear what I was saying?
3. Would I want the same thing to be said about me?

So, I for one, am really going to try to hold to these 3 things, because I want good things coming from my mouth, and not bad. I don't want to backstab anymore, and I don't want you to do that to me either, so, for all our sakes..let's keep our knives to ourselves.

Sorry, I'm bad with names.

Actually, I'm not. But I know a lot of people who are.

Recently, a new friend invited me to her birthday party. We had been friends for about two months, and so I was like, okay, cool. I get to her party and I walk in, and she couldn't remember my name. I had to remind her. *Awkward.*

Another example: My mom had been friends with this lady for like 3 years, and I knew her too...so I see her one day and she couldn't remember my name and so I had to remind her she was friends with my mom and I was her daughter....*Also awkward.*

So, it's kind of awkward and embarrassing when someone can't remember your name. You feel like they didn't care enough about you to remember it in the first place, and then the next time they see you, they suddenly remember you. And so then that made me think..

I'm glad God is good with names.

I don't think you'll ever hear Him say, "Oh my gosh, I completely blanked out. What's your name again?" That's just not...Him. He cares more about you than that. It's crazy when you think about it. The Creator of the atom, and the flower, and the human eye, the God who planned out all of history, the One who came up with the idea of gravity...also came up with you. And not only that, but He thinks about us? He knows my name? It's crazy, and it's amazing.

So, just a reminder for today...God knows your name.


"My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand. "
-Psalm 139: 15-18

Things That Don't Matter

Hey. So last Sunday at church, our pastor spoke about being Christ-like and I was like..."Whoa. I totally forgot all about that. I should think about that more in my week." So I did. Fast forward to this evening...I was at a party and my friend was being rather mean to me all night and then the opportunity came to be "mean" to her back and I figured since everyone else was doing it, what the heck?

Ha. Fail.

Yeah, so that wasn't a great decision. So much for being Christ-like, huh? However, in that, I did get something out of it...something that I've always known, but don't always remember:

It doesn't matter what other people are doing.


I like lists. So let's make a list, shall we?

Things That Don't Matter:
-What other people are saying
-What other people are doing
-How other people look
-What other people think of you

Things That Do Matter:
-What God thinks of you

I know, I'm sounding Sunday-schoolish..but it's true. Just because other people are being mean, or saying bad things, or whatever - doing anything that wouldn't glorify God - that doesn't mean it's acceptable for me to do it. We have to constantly remember that God sees everything, and when He judges us, He doesn't see anyone else. When looking at our own actions, we have to use Jesus as the standard, and not anyone or anything else. Just because you're "better than most people", doesn't necessarily mean you're glorifying God, you know?

So just this once, stop thinking about others and start thinking about yourself. Regardless of what other people are doing, what am I doing? Would it be acceptable to God?

Because that's what really matters.

Humble Pie for Dinner

A quick snapshot of my recent thoughts:

For a while now, and especially since I wrote my last post, I've been thinking a lot about humility, and observing it (or the lack thereof) in other people. I don't mean to point fingers, and I'm not going to because I'm one of them, but so many people have so little humility. Part of it is our culture. The media and everything around us tells us how amazing we are, and how much smarter than everyone we are, and how we deserve to be respected.

This is all true to some extent, but we also have to realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things. Especially when it comes to God.

Part of the modern American mindset is independence - that I can take care of myself on my own without any help. But...that's just not true. We can't. God is the one who created us and died in our places. That means we're living borrowed lives. We are at the mercy of the All-Powerful God of the Universe, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. And fortunately, He loves us. We shouldn't just take that for granted, continuing to think that we're better than everyone else.

Our ultimate goal in life is to be more like Jesus. Or at least it should be. And the Bible says repeatedly that He humbled Himself to come live with us. ('Member the slug analogy? ;)

So shouldn't we do the same?

All Good Things..

Another debate-related post for you.

So, it's been 2 weeks since Regionals, and since then, I've been thinking about debate, missing it, etc. But in the midst of all that, God has really been helping me through my "Post-Debate Depression". Last year after Regionals, I missed debate and all my debate friends so much, I thought I would burst. But this year, God has been getting me to focus more on His blessings and less on myself and what I want.

It's surprising. This year was the best year, success-wise, I've ever had. I made more friends than I had before. I got close to the new ones and closer to the old ones. My partner and I are so close, we're like brother and sister. So..why am I glad the year is over?

The answer: All by God's grace. This year has been so much better for me, because I've been able to hang on to the fact that God has everything under control. Just in case you didn't catch that..God has everything under control. Everything. Your pairings. Your rounds. Your evidence. Your ballots. Your partnerships for next year. Everything. Everything.

I've also been hanging onto this verse:
"There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1

So hey. Remember: All good things must come to an end, but don't worry. The good things will come again. :)