Feed your spirituality!

Here I am going to compare God to our stomachs/bodies. Bear with me now, it will make sense soon. When your stomach aches it needs to be fed. Just as when your body feels empty you need to fill it with God. If you eat something bad for you, and too much of it it only makes the problem worse, then, or in the future. Just as if you don't feed your body God, or you feed your lack of spirituality with something else say... with the abuse of alcohol, drugs, or pain. You wind up feeling worse and most of the time more empty than when you started. So when things are feeling pretty bad, just know that the best thing for yourself is, and will always be more GOD.

p.s.- God is the only thing we can have endless amounts of and never feel bad!

p.p.s. - I don't remember where I heard this, it may have been in a different form, I don't want to take credit, but none-the-less I thought I'd share.

A thought today at church

At church tonight we were singing a song about How much God loves us. As I was listening I grabbed my notebook that I usually write down notes in as our pastor speaks and jotted down what I was thinking. So here it is.

Close your eyes after you read the next line. Imagine losing someone you love unconditionally and having the ability to bring them back from the dead, but they are blind of your ability to do so. Sad I know. Jesus deals with this on a daily basis. It's our job as Christ followers to show them how much Jesus loves them and wants to bring them back into his open arms.

Another thought I had came from a song by mae on their album (M)orning. The song is called (M)orning drive. It also came from a night at Church that our Pastor was speaking. I posted not to long ago on my Facebook status a question: "What do you wake up for?" Some of the responses I got were pretty good, and decent reasons for waking up. Unfortunately they were all wrong. As a Christian you should find strength in God. He gives us power and meaning. The correct answer is so simple. God. God is the reason we wake up. He should be involved in every aspect of our lives. He will give us lasting energy and love to spread to the world. So I challenge you to wake up tomorrow morning and ask yourself that question. Another question to ask, that I also like to ask is: How will I shake the world today? I like to think through kindness I shake the world. Be kind to someone who wouldn't expect it. Say hi to someone you walk by every day and don't acknowledge. You'd be surprised at the reaction you get. Heck, you might even make a new friend!

In another song (by now you're probably noticing that God speaks to me through music) by mae, The Fisherman Song (We All Need Love), a line is sung, "but it's so hard to love...the way that you want me to" AND IT IS. I have trouble too. Pray about it. God is there to listen, hold your hand, and lead you where he wants you to go.

From the GOOD to the seemingly BAD and back to the GOOD

I've had this blog only for a short time. I originally used it to read my Dad and Sisters blog but today something happened to me that I felt compelled to share. For those of you who don't know me I'm a 25 year old College student at the University of South Florida (GO BULLS!) I am a re-baptized Christian. I've always had God in some shape or form in my life whether it was from the time I was first baptized to the time that I was borderline alcoholic.

I've tried to think of ways that I could some how record answered prayers or the ways He works in my life, so that I could look back at the end of the year and realize how much God works in my life. These don't always have to be huge deals to you or myself, but its good to see the ways God moves positively in our life to shape a day, an hour, even a second!

So, on to the story. When I woke up this morning it was a normal day just like any other Tuesday. I woke up, made breakfast, called my work out buddy (whom never answers as early as I wake up), and made my way to the gym. As I was driving I was crossing an intersection and saw a woman on a motorized wheel chair stuck on a curb. She had a look of dismay on her face. You know.. the one that you just cant do something yourself. She looked up with that face to the people in the cars around her. Just then i realized that everyone in their cars were just staring at her! No one was even attempting to get out of their car! So I immediately swung into the first parking lot and sprinted over to the corner she was at. By this point one man was there to help, we got her up on the curb; pointed her in the direction of the Sweetbay she was looking for, wished her a good day and ran back to my car. Bare with me now this leads into the next part of the story.

When I got to the gym there was no parking angel. No close parking spot. In fact I had to park on the top of the parking garage! I thought to myself, "Well this is great! This is what I get for helping someone?!", I said this kind of jokingly. I'm perfectly able to go up and down stairs. When I made my way into the gym there was a regular employee at the front. He swiped my card and I began to walk away. Suddenly I heard my name from behind, so I turned around and faced the employee. He explained to me that with my membership that I could no longer work out at that store because they no longer carried my particular membership. I had transfered from a different gym to the current one when I moved from NW Tampa to S Tampa. I explained to him that I had been working out in this gym for three months and had never been told there was a problem. He promptly told me, "I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do about it." He then explained that I could either up grade(which would cost more which was a no go. I've praying about financial stability for a while now) or cancelling. I told him I would have my answer after I worked out.

After I finished my work out I walked back to the front desk and tried to reason with the man. He would not budge. It was almost if he didn't care if I was a customer there anymore. Beginning to lose my patience I decided to cancel. I signed a piece of paper notarizing my cancellation. I had already payed for the current month so I asked him if it was okay if I finished my month up. He again apologized (what you all couldn't here was the insincerity of those apologies) and told me that I wasn't allowed to. Up to this point I was pretty calm . However, my patience dam began to crack. For those of you who know me I like to talk with my hands. I began waving my arms and raising my voice telling him, "I am NOT driving to Timbuktu to work out. I've already paid this month and I am going to work out HERE!" He gave me the same spiel he had been and handed me a customer service number; obviously fed up with me. As I left and ascended the stairwell back to my car I couldn't help but think again, as i looked up at the heavens "This is what I get for helping someone, you work in mysterious ways Lord!" As I sat in my car thinking about what just happened I looked down at the number the employee gave me.

I decided not to wait on it and go ahead and call the customer service line, even if it meant I had to talk to an automated system for 10 minutes. When I called a sweet voice answered which almost immediately calmed me. It was a woman named Vivian. I explained to her my problem in which she HONESTLY and SINCERELY apologized. It made me feel much better. Well to end the story a little shorter because I'm realizing how much this has carried on haha. She upgraded me to a much better membership for FREE! I couldn't thank her enough.

God had really tested me and I almost faltered. At one point I almost lost my cool and blew up. The point of this story is stick with Him. We don't always know what his plan is. In fact I NEVER know what his plan is, but he does have one, and you better believe its in your best interest. God BLESS!

Pray Chain - The lead singer of our young adult band at Grace Family Church Kyle has a child who was just diagnosed with cancer. His name is Ezra and he is only 18 months. Please keep Ezra and the Matthews family in your prayers. Only through God can this child be healed, let it be heard!