Yesterday I went to Meijer to buy clocks for JAM. When I walked out, I had realized it had started to rain and said out loud, "Seriously??". As I gathered my bags out of my cart, this man came out from the corner, took his headphones off and asked if he could bother me a second. Now I admit, I get upset when people ask for money. I'm guilty of always assuming that everyone has friends like me that I can call and they would do anything for me. I said he could and he proceeded to tell me that he lost his wallet. I asked where he needed to go and he said downtown. I offered to find a ride for him and he said no, so I left.
I pulled into the church parking lot and turned around. I thought to myself, I am pathetic, I can give away $20.
I parked and ran back in. I went up to him and said, "So...you say you lost your wallet...did you report it?" He said he had and he lost it on the bus. Well, then I felt dumb. This was a true story. I pulled out my $20 and gave it to him. He told me he only needed a few dollars to get on the bus and that he would give me change. He wanted to re-pay me and I told him no and that I didn't want that. I said if he ever wanted to thank me, he can stop by the Vineyard. Next thing I knew, we were both getting emotional. Right then, the bus pulled up and I said, "is that your bus?" He said, "now it is- I got to go get change". We exchanged names and I left.
I was then overwhelmed and cried all the way back to work...only because I knew that man was on Gods heart, and I had obeyed.
My final thought from this encounter is this- I am constantly reminded by the world that my financial situation cannot afford to help others. I mean, I really don't have money to just "hand out". Yet God reminded me that because of HIM, I always have time and money to help others, because its not MY money, its HIS...
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
{worship thought}
"ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. for everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
i feel like this verse really portrays how i've seen WORSHIP lately. it all started this past spring with me being challenged to "see myself at the throne" when i worship. i have also always been challenged to "mean what you sing" while worshipping.
this year how i worship has completely changed, and i'm so grateful! it did just start off with me forcing myself to imagine me being at the feet of Jesus...and over time God has blessed that and made it so much more.
while i worship...i imagine that i am at the feet of Jesus and my whole past week of good and bad circumstances come to mind. i find myself thanking Him for all the blessings that past week, and pleaing for better outcomes than what i see coming.
what do you see when you worship?
do you hear God when you worship?
Saturday, November 12, 2011
{thankful}
things i am thankful for...
1. my husband: joel is such an understanding, hard-working,compassionate and loving husband. he is definately my better half. he calms me down, defends me, loves me, challenges me, and reminds me every day by his actions of how lucky i am to have married someone completely opposite of me:) he makes me laugh every day..fo real
2. family: i am thankful that my in-laws and parents hang out even when joel and i are not around. i love that they go out for dinner together and go to each others houses to visit without worrying whether or not joel and i will be there. i love that i am still close to my parents and can talk to my in-laws about anything! its such a blessing to have your parents and in-laws always in constant support of your marriage and who you are as a person.
3. my car: God told me the other day, "sara, your car will not die". needless to say, i wish i was getting a new car soon, but again, its not a priority!...i guess :) so i am thankful it will survive whatever we encounter until the proper time.
4. our apartment: i love my apartment. true, i complain about it sometimes. but its space that we NEED. my biggest worry is that we buy a house that has un-needed space. when we move, i will miss having to re-organize the closet every time i do laundry just so it all fits again...and i will miss my whole apartment being a laundry room.
5. my job/my church: LOVE my job. i love the kids, i love my volunteers, and i love how Jesus is working at the Vineyard. i love that we love people and i love that i am loved there as well. its such an open and honest place, where God is present and the Holy Spirit is always active. i love that prayer is a priority! the friends/support i have there is such a fun and loving aspect of my life. i couldnt imagine my life without those people!
6. small group/friends: i am so grateful that joel and i have a group of friends that we, hmmm, probably hang out with about every night. and some that come over once a week! :) i love living life with all of them! they bring so much laughter to joel and i's life. and i love that we each have others to go to and enjoy time with even when were in our pjs.
7. marriage: i love my marriage. i love that God has blessed our marriage and i love that it is easy for us to seek God in our marriage. marriage has been a blast :)
8. Jesus/God/Holy Spirit: i would be doing this whole paragraph in caps if i could :) i love being in love with Jesus. i love that i can talk to God and know that He hears me. i love that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in my life and has allowed so many blessings upon me, joel, and our marriage. i love that despite what people say, God still reigns. i love that He is the judge, and we are not. i love that He is in control, no matter what people do. i love that He is compassionate, yet just. that He blesses, yet punishes. God is God. and i love that i am not in charge of my own life! i love that He has it planned out for me already, and i can just enjoy the ride while loving Him.
what are you thankful for? lets not skip to Christmas!
1. my husband: joel is such an understanding, hard-working,compassionate and loving husband. he is definately my better half. he calms me down, defends me, loves me, challenges me, and reminds me every day by his actions of how lucky i am to have married someone completely opposite of me:) he makes me laugh every day..fo real
2. family: i am thankful that my in-laws and parents hang out even when joel and i are not around. i love that they go out for dinner together and go to each others houses to visit without worrying whether or not joel and i will be there. i love that i am still close to my parents and can talk to my in-laws about anything! its such a blessing to have your parents and in-laws always in constant support of your marriage and who you are as a person.
3. my car: God told me the other day, "sara, your car will not die". needless to say, i wish i was getting a new car soon, but again, its not a priority!...i guess :) so i am thankful it will survive whatever we encounter until the proper time.
4. our apartment: i love my apartment. true, i complain about it sometimes. but its space that we NEED. my biggest worry is that we buy a house that has un-needed space. when we move, i will miss having to re-organize the closet every time i do laundry just so it all fits again...and i will miss my whole apartment being a laundry room.
5. my job/my church: LOVE my job. i love the kids, i love my volunteers, and i love how Jesus is working at the Vineyard. i love that we love people and i love that i am loved there as well. its such an open and honest place, where God is present and the Holy Spirit is always active. i love that prayer is a priority! the friends/support i have there is such a fun and loving aspect of my life. i couldnt imagine my life without those people!
6. small group/friends: i am so grateful that joel and i have a group of friends that we, hmmm, probably hang out with about every night. and some that come over once a week! :) i love living life with all of them! they bring so much laughter to joel and i's life. and i love that we each have others to go to and enjoy time with even when were in our pjs.
7. marriage: i love my marriage. i love that God has blessed our marriage and i love that it is easy for us to seek God in our marriage. marriage has been a blast :)
8. Jesus/God/Holy Spirit: i would be doing this whole paragraph in caps if i could :) i love being in love with Jesus. i love that i can talk to God and know that He hears me. i love that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in my life and has allowed so many blessings upon me, joel, and our marriage. i love that despite what people say, God still reigns. i love that He is the judge, and we are not. i love that He is in control, no matter what people do. i love that He is compassionate, yet just. that He blesses, yet punishes. God is God. and i love that i am not in charge of my own life! i love that He has it planned out for me already, and i can just enjoy the ride while loving Him.
what are you thankful for? lets not skip to Christmas!
Monday, September 26, 2011
{He is close}
"the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" -psalm 34:18
this past month has been a doozy. growing up, we are so careless, and we always assume that relationships and life will stay the same, right? and then life happens. and kids become individuals, adults. and sometimes, life takes you different directions. even if we are family, we are different people.
this month, i feel like i'm learning another lesson that God wants to teach me. and i always find myself weary and exhausted in saying, "again!?? i JUST learned another lesson!"...sometimes i've heard God go, "i know...deal with it"
of course, i'm not positive He says this, but i feel it. it may be me telling myself to shut up and just do what i feel i need to do. i realize i keep learning lessons because i'm a crappy human being. i dont deserve any of the love and grace that has been given to me. but God loves me. God gives me NEW mercies every day. it amazes me! i'm loved! i'm forgiven! yet i'm such a horrible person! :)
im not iffy on sharing how i feel about this. because i think a lot of us feel this way when we re-encounter the undeserving, overwhelming love that our God has for each and every one of us.
"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him- but God has revealed it to us by His spirit"
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
this past month has been a doozy. growing up, we are so careless, and we always assume that relationships and life will stay the same, right? and then life happens. and kids become individuals, adults. and sometimes, life takes you different directions. even if we are family, we are different people.
this month, i feel like i'm learning another lesson that God wants to teach me. and i always find myself weary and exhausted in saying, "again!?? i JUST learned another lesson!"...sometimes i've heard God go, "i know...deal with it"
of course, i'm not positive He says this, but i feel it. it may be me telling myself to shut up and just do what i feel i need to do. i realize i keep learning lessons because i'm a crappy human being. i dont deserve any of the love and grace that has been given to me. but God loves me. God gives me NEW mercies every day. it amazes me! i'm loved! i'm forgiven! yet i'm such a horrible person! :)
im not iffy on sharing how i feel about this. because i think a lot of us feel this way when we re-encounter the undeserving, overwhelming love that our God has for each and every one of us.
"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him- but God has revealed it to us by His spirit"
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
{God will NOT fail me}
saying that "God will NOT fail me" is not a selfish thing. its not me saying i'm better than anyone, or that i have it all together. whats it saying? its saying that i believe and have faith that God fulfills HIS promises to even the least of these...me.
in the Bible, God has SO MANY promises about love, forgiveness, salvation, the Holy spirit, everlasting love, encouragement, provision, hope, blessings, answered prayers, Christ returning, peace, joy, freedom! are you sick, depressed, disappointed, tempted, weak, afraid, doubtful, fearful, grieving, suffering, having trouble obeying authority?
SO MANY ANSWERS...if only we took the time to read the scripture and be re-assured of Gods promises!
"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who LOVE HIM" 1 Corinthians 2:9
my hope is that every day i continue to love my Savior, who has promised me every good thing that He has. sometimes i feel so stupid for being doubtful and unfaithful to Him. yet He is faithful to me.
how unworthy! HOW LOVED! God works for the GOOD of those who LOVE HIM... such hope that we can cling too!
in the Bible, God has SO MANY promises about love, forgiveness, salvation, the Holy spirit, everlasting love, encouragement, provision, hope, blessings, answered prayers, Christ returning, peace, joy, freedom! are you sick, depressed, disappointed, tempted, weak, afraid, doubtful, fearful, grieving, suffering, having trouble obeying authority?
SO MANY ANSWERS...if only we took the time to read the scripture and be re-assured of Gods promises!
"no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who LOVE HIM" 1 Corinthians 2:9
my hope is that every day i continue to love my Savior, who has promised me every good thing that He has. sometimes i feel so stupid for being doubtful and unfaithful to Him. yet He is faithful to me.
how unworthy! HOW LOVED! God works for the GOOD of those who LOVE HIM... such hope that we can cling too!
Friday, July 29, 2011
{God meets us where we are}
something that has really been on my heart lately is the fact that God does, can and wants to meet us where we are. everyone has had a time in their life where it just seems like you need to stop. so many times i feel like giving up, i'm frustrated because i feel like my spiritual life isnt going anywhere, im persecuted, misunderstood, ignored, feeling not useful...
as i was driving in my car one day, i just cried out to God because i wanted my spiritual life to be out of the "dead zone". i was ready to meet God again and go on with my life.
i guess my point is this. yes, there are times when we just want to give up and want God to meet us. but does that mean we completely ingore what God HAS done in our life and decide to start making destructive choices? or does that mean we continue to make healthy decisions to the best of our ability and ask God to help us fall in love with Him all over again. calling out to God is seeking His face with all your heart.
what do you think?
as i was driving in my car one day, i just cried out to God because i wanted my spiritual life to be out of the "dead zone". i was ready to meet God again and go on with my life.
i guess my point is this. yes, there are times when we just want to give up and want God to meet us. but does that mean we completely ingore what God HAS done in our life and decide to start making destructive choices? or does that mean we continue to make healthy decisions to the best of our ability and ask God to help us fall in love with Him all over again. calling out to God is seeking His face with all your heart.
what do you think?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
{making God famous}
last week, i had the awesome and incredibly amazing opportunity to take the youth on a trip (Summer of Service at the Vineyard in Cincinnati, Ohio). as it is with every year, it is truly amazing and life changing. so much happens that week, that it takes months to debrief! that week only proves that the goodness of God can be so overwhelmingly peaceful and life changing.the great part was, was that there was no drama! in 8 years of being a youth leader, that was a FIRST! so thats why i may bring this up a few more times :)
the theme for last week was "making God famous". how brilliant, right? the song that came to my mind all week was I Will Boast! (Jeremiah 9:23-24, 1 Cor. 1:31)
the phrase in there that says, "i will boast in the Lord my God, i will boast in the one WHO IS WORTHY". it really hit me last week, i am not worthy. not worthy at all. but somehow God wants us to be worthy!
what makes me worthy? the cross! purely the blood of Christ has made me worthy.
the theme for last week was "making God famous". how brilliant, right? the song that came to my mind all week was I Will Boast! (Jeremiah 9:23-24, 1 Cor. 1:31)
the phrase in there that says, "i will boast in the Lord my God, i will boast in the one WHO IS WORTHY". it really hit me last week, i am not worthy. not worthy at all. but somehow God wants us to be worthy!
what makes me worthy? the cross! purely the blood of Christ has made me worthy.
the cross makes you worthy. the cross makes you justified.
we are worthy because we are LOVED. an act of love beyond understanding.
the action of the cross is the greatest act of fame.
i just need to stop and let Christ love me. i need to recognize that what HE did made me valuable.
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