Make-It-Count Monday [Week 4]

Helping Without Judgment

God is perfect. He is the only one who does not make mistakes. He does not make perfect people, but He also doesn't make junk. We cannot expect anything or anyone to be perfect and we cannot hold anyone to such expectations or get upset with people when they make mistakes, because there is only one perfect being and that is God. God wants us to help each other with kind and loving hearts.

While on the cross, Jesus said "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Jesus was already on the cross; He was already in pain and dying. Yet there He was, asking God for our forgiveness! He was not judging those who crucified Him, He was still trying to help them! As many times as we try to help others, we must keep helping. God does not give up on us. We should not give up on each other. Pray for others as Christ prayed for us.

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" meaning that we should always forgive as Christ forgives us and always help as Christ helps us. When Jesus was on this earth, He did not judge anyone for their sins; He healed them for having faith, and told them to sin no more.

God is the perfect judge. We shouldn't try to do His job; we don't know what is in anyone's heart, but He does. That is why only He can judge others. We should support one another and build each other up. I hope that today, and every day from here on out, that we can help each other without passing judgment, without thinking we are better than those we help. And that we will help with a loving heart.

Let's make it count! I know it's Monday, and we've been calling this Make-It-Count Monday because Mondays just seem to be a bit harder to make count, but let's make every day count!

Have an awesome week!

Good Reads: Overwhelmed by Perry Noble

So many of my books, I stockpile from Lifeway because they always put books on sale for $5. So I have quite a few books on my shelf that I have yet to read because I buy them all at once for a really good price because I just hate to pass on a good priced book. It's a curse and a blessing. I usually choose a book from my shelf at random for my next read. The most recent book I read was Overwhelmed by Perry Noble. But this time it wasn't random. I chose it because I have really been feeling overwhelmed and it really seemed to fit into my life perfectly.

Perry Noble did an astonishing job writing this book. He applies scripture to real life situations in such a unique way. I enjoyed all of his real life stories that he told in his book. They are so easy to relate to that you almost think he is talking about your life! There are some pretty funny moments and some pretty serious moments, and they all point you back to the Lord. He does such an amazing job at helping you realize that your overwhelming situations are under the control of a powerful God!

There were many quotes from this book that stuck out to me but so I don't give away the whole book, I'll just show you one:
Only the truth of God's Word can shatter the lies of the enemy and cause stress and anxiety to fall from our shoulders like chains being removed from a prisoner's wrists.
-Chapter 11: Letting Go of Control.
That is so powerful and so true. I absolutely loved this book and it definitely helped me to look at the stressful circumstances in my life in a new light.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? I hope you get a chance to read this book. I believe it can help you understand that God has a special plan for you despite your difficult circumstances because He is greater than any problem, any enemy, and any hardship that you face and He can conquer it all for you.

Purchase Overwhelmed by Noble Perry Here

Thanks for reading! Have a blessed weekend.

Make-It-Count Monday [Week 3]

God Sets The Best Example
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” -1 Peter 5:7. When you have such a great and amazing God that wants to help you and guide you, it makes you want to help others and lead them to Him. I want to show everyone how great God is. I want to show them that God cares about them and there’s no better way to do that than to care about them the way God does.

Something we can do to help others the way Jesus does, is to make ourselves available. If we are too busy to help others, we are too busy to do God's work. Jesus always made Himself available to His disciples and anyone He came across! Jesus had a lot to do, but He was never too busy to help someone in need. Sure, times are different now and almost everyone lives fast-paced, but we should slow down for those in need.

Brian is great at making himself available to help others. He is just that kind of guy! And I love him for it! Someone can just call him up and say they need help with car trouble or need help moving, and he's on his way. He does this out of the kindness of his heart and I am so amazed by the love he has for God to do so much for others.

Have a Make-Yourself-Available Monday to Make-It-Count!(:

Make-It-Count Monday [Week 2]

God's Help Through The Bible
I believe God presents opportunities to us to help others and show them His amazing love. And the bible is our best guide to helping others.

“By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ.” –Galatians 6:2.

It wasn't too long ago that I had absolutely no desire to help anyone. At all. With anything. I thought that I had done just fine not having help from friends because I could do pretty much anything on my own. I'd get all bent out of shape any time any one asked me for anything. I got bitter. I would think, "Well, I never ask anyone for anything. Why do they have to come to me when they need something?" How rude is that?! Oh man, thinking back, I'm just so glad I am not in that same mind set.
God got me to start reading His word. Now, I love reading. In fact, I've finished a few books in a single day. But I have to understand what I'm reading. I have to be engaged in what's going on. For some reason, I just couldn't get into the bible. Maybe it was the translation I was reading. But I could not read and finish a book in the bible. So I would flip to a page and put my finger on a verse, just to see if it would be a good place to start. Well, God was putting my finger on some pretty important verses about helping and about being selfless.

I started finding a ton of verses that really opened my eyes to how important it is to help others in need. I'm so grateful that God has changed me. I'm not completely changed; He's definitely still working on me. I still have times where I really have to make myself help someone, but there are times where I don't even think twice about it! And that's improvement. It is much better than the way I used to react when someone asked me for help. We can't stress ourselves out trying to be perfect because it is an impossible goal, but we should definitely take time to really appreciate the little changes in ourselves that are helping us grow closer to God.

God speaks to us through His word. We can get our help from the bible, and we can also use the bible to help others.

I'd like to challenge you to memorize a verse about helping others. It can be the verse I referenced above, Galations 6:2, or you can choose your own verse to memorize. Keep the verse in mind any time someone asks you for help. After helping, see how you feel. It may be Monday, but you'll feel great!
Have a great week!

Staying Positive

Well, it's Thursday... Which means I survived. Positive
Tuesday, I was in an accident. Negative
God took my car, not my life. Positive
I was considered at fault even though the person who hit me fled the scene and had a suspended license. Negative
They caught up to him and had to arrest him.Positive for me/Negative for him
I still got a citation. I also DO NOT consider myself at fault... But nothing I can do. Negative
My car is also not drivable. Negative
I'm still oh so very sore. Negative
I missed my class and have a lot of catching up to do. Negative
Brian is sick so I'm taking care of him instead of him taking care of me after the wreck. And I've got to go to work and school and won't be home until 9 tonight. Negative

Oh I'm sorry... I forgot I titled this "staying positive". It is just so easy to focus on the negatives. I mean there's just so many of them! But there are just as many positives!

God gives us so much. We shouldn't doubt Him the moment that things aren't going our way. We must praise Him. Whenever something like this happens I just have to say, "Thank you so much, Lord. Things really could have been A LOT worse. Especially if I didn't have you." There is a promise from God that is very important, especially in hard times. He will never abandon us. He is always with us. He will never let us down. 

In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” -John 5:17

I know that God is with me, I know that he loves me, and I know that he has amazing plans for me despite my circumstances. Positive, Positive, Positive

It is not easy being positive all the time, even when we have Christ on our side. But focusing on the negatives... will keep us from seeing the positives. And I had to learn not to keep myself from seeing the good things that God has done for me.

I was stressing about not making it to work and not being able to go to class. I had no car to get from home to work to school and back home. Everyone told me that the most important thing was that I was okay, but I wouldn't let myself focus on that! How insane is that?! Here I was in a serious car accident and instead of seeing that the most amazing thing was that God let me walk away with just a few bruises, I was freaking out about everything that went wrong. It took a while but I'm so grateful that I'm alive! And I'm so grateful for the people that God put in my life to help me realize that!

Sure, I don't have a car anymore. And it was my first car. It had sentimental value. And sure, I got a citation that I don't believe I deserved. And sure, I'm not focusing on school because I'm taking care of my sick fiancé. But I have my life, and I have someone who loves me who has taken care of me when I was sick, and I'm happy to put everything aside and do the same for him. And I have an AMAZING God who protected me and loves me enough to put me through something that will hurt both of us but in the end make me stronger and wiser.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for helping me forget about all the things that went wrong and embrace the positives you put in my life!!! Amen.

I hope everyone is safe and having a great week!

Make-It-Count Monday! [Week One]

This semester I am taking a counseling class called intro to relationships for my degree in Interdisciplinary Studies EC-6. One of the writing prompts was about how your personal values influence you to help. I chose this prompt because I felt like I could really reach out to others about Jesus and how He is my ultimate help. I decided to turn this into a short series!

My personal values have a lot to do with my faith, and my faith encourages me to help others. I believe Jesus is Lord and proclaim him as my savior. He came to this earth as a baby; our savior came into this world vulnerable and defenseless. He lived a full life free of sin and has gone through every struggle that we face today. He humbled Himself. He did not come to boss all of God’s people around and demand that they obey Him. He gave up His seat at the throne to come and help those who would not only reject Him, but murder Him. God gave up His one and only son to save the sinners who disobeyed Him repeatedly. Romans 5:8 states “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He is my ultimate help.

Throughout the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus travelled with his disciples teaching them and everyone they came across, how to live in order to have eternal life. He helped them spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Jesus had a desire to help everyone He came across and He helped the people more than they could have ever imagined; more than they even realized. He cast demons out of men, gave sight to the blind, healed a leper, gave a paralyzed man the ability to walk, healed a bleeding woman, restored a girl to life, and so much more. But most of all, He died for us while we were still sinners, so that we may know God’s grace, love, and mercy firsthand.

Today, I just wanted to explain the series I'm starting and show what an inspiration Jesus is. Next Monday we will dig a little deeper on how we can help others! I'm so excited!
It's Monday! Wear a smile and help others! We will call it: Make It Count Monday!