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!