The Worlds View of Love

The world makes its view of love clear all over TV and in most movies, right? It’s the sappy romance that ends in an intimate embrace and fading to black leaving your mind to wander… You know what I’m talking about: SEX. The movies make sex seem so romantic and lovey dovey and that everyone is doing it and that it’s a normal part of a relationship. Well, if you’re married, it is. Outside of marriage, it’s a recipe for heart break, depression and suicide.

Here’s what God says about sex: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is you abstain from sexual immorality.”- 1 Thess. 4:3 (NASB) He doesn’t make these rules for nothing, he knows that sex leads you down a road that is not his and his warning are all over the place in the Bible.

Another thing that God also knows (considering that he knows everything) is that temptation will always be there, trying to knock you to the ground. Luke 21:36 says this “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” God is saying right there is that we need to be on the look-out for situations that are going to tempt us and cause us to fall. He is warning us that it’s going to be out there and that through the gift of prayer, God is going to give us a hand to leap over those obstacles.

With that, it’s our job to use self-control to not just give into that temptation. That’s the whole idea of God giving us free-will, so that we can choose between right and wrong. God says in Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” We have got to be trying to fight temptation or God is going to recognize that we’re the world’s children wearing a sheep’s mask.

God isn’t going to condemn you to Hell if you fall from Him. He’s waiting to see you run back to Him and turn from the ways of the world. You’re His child and he just wants to see the best for you. Romans 8:1 tells us this: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.” If you are truly in Christ, God will not condemn you for sinning if you are in Christ because “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and created us that way.

Calling out to God for help is shown in Psalm 51:10-15. (Listen close now) It goes like this: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (That’s our call out to the Lord) Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore in me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Asking for help) Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing your righteousness. (Wanting to do God’s will) O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. (I want to praise You for what you have done for me).”

Falling away is easy, but running back to Jesus takes courage and A LOT of strength. In welcoming God into your life, you welcomed many problems and this is just one of them. God’s love is much better.

Friendlies!

Charles M. Shulz said this about friends: "Just thinking about a friend makes you want to do a happy dance, because a friend is someone who loves you inspite of your faults." Lately I've been having a really hard time dealing the smallest things and I wanted someone to turn to, but I felt like no one would really care. But reading the quote, it reasured me that if they're true friends they're not going to let my faults and shortcomings change their view of me. There is so much beauty in knowing that and it has the ability to feel you with love and confidence. This is to the ones who are there for their friends through thick and thin. Love them always and never force them to change an ounce of who they are.

Everything Rides on Hope Now

So, I've been think a lot about hope lately and how much of a roll it really plays into each of our lives. After the great flood that Noah and his family endured, hope was really the only thing that they had while they were afloat on the water, not knowing what God was going to do next. They held onto hope that life would be great again. Noah sent out a dove to see if the flood waters had receded holding onto hope that they had and that they could go back to life as normal. Without hope, what do we have to live for? Not much is what I'm seeing. I'm on my booty without hope or I'm laying in my bedroom floor feeling very depressed. Hope keps me alive and moving and knowing that the next day will be better than the one before! Okay, how does hope keep us going? It's just a feeling, right? WRONGish.... hehe. Check out this scripture: "For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hopel for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." (Romans 8: 24-25) Hope is like the little engine that could. That little engine kept hoping that he could make it and he did! (duh...) Get it? Hoping that you get that iPod for Christmas isn't really hope. It's wishful thinking basically. Sorry to burst your bubble! But hoping for joy to come and understanding of something is along the lines of what hope is really about! Think about it, right now. Where would you be if God hadn't given you hope to hold onto during bad times in your life? Me? I'd be dead.

Poetry keeps happening: It Goes Around Again

Babies cry and people die...
It goes around again
Sisters fight and hope is in sight
It goes around again
Hearts will bleed and you help ones in need
It goes around again
Days pass and memories last
It goes around again
But God lives and God gives
It stays ever much the same

Philosophy? heheh.

I once was walking with my dad through Lowe's, and he commented that he would like to have glass cabinets. I thought it was silly and said "Yeah, but then everyone could see the mess we have in them!" He replied to me "No, it'd give us a reason to keep them clean."



That story seems silly and perhaps it is, but the same applies to life. We keep secrets in our hearts and it gets all jumbled up like Tupperware in our cabinets. It becomes a mess inside of us. But the fact of the matter is that if we just let people into our hearts, we wouldn't have the jumbled mess because the stress and fear that you feel is no longer clogging up your life. Other people aren't hear just for kicks and grins, God gives us them to help. It's like, if you have glass cabinets, you put things where they're suppose to go. Like if you have bowls and plates in a cabinet(representing happiness in this senario) and you put pots and pans up there too(the icky stuff... stress, sadness) then it's gonna get all ugly. But other people coming over gives you inclines you to clean it up. I'm SO not saying to just fix everything when people are around, but your friends give you the helping nudge to clean you cabinets and to let your heart begin to heal.



If that makes sense, you amazing.

O-O-Obey-o

Obedience is such an icky word... it feels like your giving up your right to choose! But obedience really helps us. Strange, right? If we didn't obey people, then we'd be in heaps of trouble and always be grounded I would think. We're given rules to help us stay on the good side of our parents and elders, and more than that, to be happy with ourselves!

You know the saying: Ignorance is bliss? It's SO FLIPPIN WRONG!!! I feels all horrible to say "I didn't know" when we're in trouble. I mean, we say it most of the time when we realy do know(which feels WORSE... I should think.....) It's in our human nature to automatically go to what is good. God gave us this pull towards what is goodDeuteronomy 30: 12-14 goes like this... "It is not up in heaven, so theat you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." It's really clear right there that God gave us what is write in our hearts so that we may follow it. It's just a matter of what we choose to do! Now, I'll take a note from my sunday school teacher: I challenge you all to obey what people ask of you and what is right in the Lord's eyes.

I love you all very much!
Emily Elizabeth

Wait

My prayers go to you
Those who find themselves at a loss
God, please be with them
Help them through these troubled times

The storm will pass soon
And the silver lining will come
Just wait out the storm
It pass while you sleep
God will not let you continue to weep
My heart goes with yours

From where I stand, you're stronger than you know
Though the fears licks at your heels...
You'll learn to let it wash pass with the tides
Don't give up your hope, don't give up your faith
Wait out the storm

A thought for today

"But keep on preaching, preaching and heal the world
Lip service makes up look great

Do you feel
The weight of the world singing sorrow
Or to you is it just not real
Cause you got your things
Yeah we all have our things I guess

I guess my mind wanders off from time to time
Sometimes I convince myself that all is fine in the world
It's not mine
Why should I have to try to fix things I didn't create or contrive

....

Have the habits Had you
Has it been for long
Can you feel the souls behind what's going on" - The Rocket Summer


I was listening to this song and I realizes that it epitomizes our society... You often here us talking about how we need to help the weak or stand up for our beliefs, but think about the times you have. Again, we talk about the situatioh in Darfur and how we should help, but have you? Our society is all talk in my opinion. We'd love to help if it was the easiest way, but it's not convinient to us or we think that we didn't start the fire, so we have no reason to help. Our lives are nothing compared to what so many go through, but our things are more important, right? How can you take yourself seriously when all you do is talk. Get over yourselves and act! Stop passing someone in the halls that needs help and not helping. It takes no effort at all... who cares who's watching.

Love

"Without suffering, there can be no compassion."- A Walk To Remember

At numerous times in everyone's life, you will suffer. It sounds like a horrible thing, right? And when you do suffer I bet you think something like "Why me?" or "What did I do?" And maybe you didn't do anything at all, but it's merely a test of perseverance and faith. Sounds HORRIBLE. But what can make you appreciate everything good in life without pain and sorrow. How can you appreciate the birth of a child without death. That life brings what death had taken. How can you appreciate love without heartbreak of some sort? Love heals.

I know how hard it is too remember that there is something better in the midst of sorrow, because it feels like there is no way out. When it hurts, think of joy and nothing else. Hope is what keeps us alive, faith is what keeps us going. Never let go of that, ever. Once you do, pain encircles your life. I never want to see a person hurt, but that's where compassion comes in. When you see a little girl who scraped her knee, you don't walk by. You stop and see if you can do something, maybe even give her a band-aid. That is the reflection of God. Doing God's will is not always standing on street corners saying "REPENT!" or flat out telling people about Christ. When you help someone, they see love and love is God. It's in the stories of The Good Samaritan and of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan women. When you see someone hurt, be there for them. This is love, my friends.

Judge for Yourselves

It seems like I haven't written a really blog in ages. One with scripture and all. And aside from my poems, which honestly bore people that don't like poetry. So maybe you can appreciate this blog. I pose a question to you: Which is right? To obey man, or God? The obvious answer is to obey God. But I bet you're now thinking of which one you actually choose. Which brings the second questiong: Who do you follow? God or Man? Those two questions obviously have a right answer, but no wrong one. They do contain a truthful answer though.

More often then not, we choose the ways of man because it's easier than God's path. A lot of people think God is some stuck up spiritual monarch making life hard, but all he wants to do is make you strong. It's like if you want to lose weight: Man is the brownie and God is salad. The salad sure doesn't taste good like a brownie, but in the long run is better. That darn delicious brownie is going to give you indigestion and hour later, but the salad makes you feel healthier. (If that analogy did any good, give me a holla.) In Acts 4, this council is telling Peter and John to stop spreading knowledge of Jesus but they reply, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard." In a nutshell, God is coolier than these other peeps who are just going to make you bloated(refer back to the brownie analogy), so you should do God's will. I know it takes a while to get God's words out of your mouth, but think about that verse when you're face with a brownie-salad decision.

For Jesus

You're five feet away, but my voice doesn't carry that far
My heart cries out, but cannot be heard beyond the crowd
And Jesus... I'm begging you to save me
To reach out and rebuild this broken life

To many days I've wasted, waiting for nothing more than loss
Every sin in a day is nailed upon that holy cross
Oh Jesus
Take this broken life, and make me more like you
It's been about me for to long
Now I'm giving it back to you

No more tears, at least for the moment
I don't want to fall, again
Please here my voice, let me know that I'm not alone
My life will be for you
Once again!

You're the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end
My Savior is everything and so much more
Why did you die, for me?
But Lord, I thank you for opening this locked door

Run Away

She had the prettiest smile from a mile away
But you'd never see it with hatred holding her down
The way the poison could seep into her bones
And spread across a room like a wildfire

You'd never think that a girl so pretty
Could have a look that shot daggers from her eyes

What happened? To the girl I once knew?
What happened? What happened to you?

It's not like I ever struck a chord with you darling
But now I stand here while you just snarling
I didn't crush your dreams, now honey
It's that boy who's pulling your puppet strings

Cut the chords, that tie you down
Lift up your heart, as he pounds you to the ground
You're not some dog that should cower in the corner
Set yourself free... lift your feet and run
Just save yourself

Hero

A hero is still a hero, even when he's lost his shine
Even when his cape is gone and his hair isn't all in line
A hero can learn to fly again, even if he faced defeat
All he needs is a helping hand, to pull him to his feet
He's not a hero for personal gain
But a hero for all the ones crying in pain
While he may have spent some time pondering what to do
One day he'll find help, and you'll find the hero in you
A speeding bullet shall not kill him and make him bleed
He has The Shield of Love protecting him in times of need
When the poison sinks in, he'll find it hard to resist
But the hero in you helps him; will always insist:
That Love will overcome the evil that festers inside
That the Hero has rules that he must abide
A hero with a hero is two-fold strong
Solid as a diamond, always ready to fight a wrong
When you fall, he'll be there as you were
Standing by your side, so ready to serve
The Shield of Love is not ever to be felt by touch
But is the bond of heroes, it's love abounding much

The only Me

I'm not the smartest girl out of the bunch
And I'm not good at geometry
I hate most green foods as well as most beans
My favorite words to say are "I don't know"
And "Like".... but, like, whatever... I don't know
I'm not sure of what life is going to be like in twenty years
Or if I'll always have bunions
I know that I have some rad curly hair
And rosy red cheeks
I can't stand hypocrites
And that means that I sometimes can't stand myself
I'm happy with who I am
I don't need to lose 20 pounds to be happy
If I do, I'll just look better in a swimsuit!
I like peanut M&M's and gummy bears
Along with cookie dough ice cream
My sisters drive me crazy
And I can't play guitar hero
All I know is that my God is ALWAYS going to be there
And that I can talk to him about anything
Things get tough, but I'll deal with it
I'm just plain and ordinarily Me

I have found my silver lining in Jesus

For a while now, my life has been nothing but messing up and asking for forgiveness from God. It's exhausting, following the same pattern every week... never making things right like you've been telling yourself you would. Hawk Nelson has a song with a line in it that says "Nothing from nothing gets you nothing at all", and while that song in general has nothing to do with what I'm going through, the line does. I've been struggling a lot with the same sin, and I kept telling myself that I wanted out of it... but I kept going back to it. In my heart (though it may damage the image some people have of me), I never wanted to sever all ties with it. A couple of weeks ago, I met my breaking point: get away from this sin... or die inside. God gave me a smack in the face then and made me realize that I was tearing apart the piece of art that He had made me.Where had my real faith gone? Why did I follow Satan's path, when I had proclaimed my love of Jesus Christ only a few years before? I don't have any bible verses for you in this blog... but God told me to write about it. Is the person you are now, the person you want to be? I've finally let go of what held me so tightly... and the silver lining has appeared. Just putting your heart in the hands of God changes things so dramatically that it feels like you can breathe better, see better, believe in more things... just let it go, once and for all.

This is for the anyone who has gone through the same thing.