Becoming a true princess

Hey guys!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I've been working for pine cove. 

Yet I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you what I learned week 8 in Taylor, South Carolina.

The beginning of the week brought much needed disipline from the Lord. He was basically showing me how selfish I was and I just broke. I was so dissapointed in myself that I had been acting that way and I wanted to change. 

Yet, the next few days during camp...it was my job to teach humility to my campers. Yet, I wasn't sure I understood it myself...lol.

So, I'm sitting there teaching my campers about humility and ultra confused. I'm like I get your supposed to think of others more than yourself but you still have to take care of yourself right? Where is the balance? 

So anyway I'm sitting there confused trying to teach. Then God gives me the words to say and man it all makes since now so I thought I would share it with y'all.

So, I had been telling my campers all week that they were princesses because they were daughters of the king:) 

So I was telling them as a princess we must have a certain grace and poise. 

There are princesses out there that are snotty and like to brag but true princesses are grounded in who they are.

Then it dawned on me that humility is having an accurate picture of who you are in Gods eyes. 

For a true princess is so secure in who she is in Gods eyes that she doesn't need attention from anyone else!!

It makes so much since now! Humility isn't thinking that you are dirt but it's knowing how treasured you are in Gods eyes and how the girls and guys next to you are as well. It's being secure in how God sees you and the love He gives you that you can pour out His love to everyone else. 

For selfishness forces you to take and not to give. You need things as a human but the problems come when we look to the wrong person to fulfill those needs. When I look to the world, I will be forced to take and take to try to satisfy my needs. Yet when I look to Jesus, He gives me more than I could ever need. So then I have so much that I can give to those around me.

I don't know about you but I want to be a true princess. Who knows who she is and who God made her to be. Who looks to God to fulfill her heart so that she can give to those around her. 

I love you all:) thanks for reading:) 

All you had to do was ask!!

I've been on a trip to costa rica with my extended family.  I have cousin who is 4 and a cousin who is 1.  Let me just say that they taught me a lesson this week.

The baby, the one year old, is an interesting little man.  He is always curious, always reaching and wanting to do stuff.  He wants this, and he wants that.  The most interesting thing is that we give it to him.  The only time we don't is when it is dangerous, or unhealthily or unwise.  Yet, other than that we give him most everything he asks for.

Now, God is our father, and I know we have heard this a million times, but just hear me out for a second.  If God is our father, and He is greater and more compassionate that any earthly father, why wouldn't He give us what we ask for.

But here is the problem.  We don't ask.  I don't ask.

My Aunt told me a story about how she went on vacation with my uncle and at the end of the trip, he  asked her what she didn't like about the trip.  She listed off a list of things and to each of them my uncle responded with "Next time, Just ask!"

Why don't we ask?  I don't know. I think sometime I forget too or I think what I'm asking for is silly or something.

Yet if God truly loves us and promises to give us more than we can ask or imagine than why not ask.  Now if we ask if we can walk across the street while there is traffic, God might say no and we may not understand why.  Yet, why not keep asking? Why not keep talking?  Why aren't we squirmy like a one year old is?  Ready to move, always asking, wiggling and ready?

Instead we just sit and wait for God just to hand us stuff.  Have we ever wondered if He was just sitting and waiting for us to ask?

So, lets ask!!  I don't want my God at the end of my journey to say. "You could have asked!"

Lessons from a surfing chica

Well I've always learned best through analogies and while I was surfing God gave me a great one.

So last summer I went on a cruise. As I was doing my quiet time on the deck, I could see the expanse of water just go on forever and ever...and I saw that as Gods love...How it's so large and deep and wide and it just goes on and on. 

So, being in the waves and the surf yesterday taught me something. First of all is the water beat me up!! So I was like how is this work with my previous thoughts? Gods love is supposed to gentle and light but these waves are strong and powerful. So powerful they can turn rocks into sand.

Yet, Gods love is powerful and when we are hit with it we are never the same. He changes our heart of stone to clay!!! How cool is that that each powerful dose of Gods love is changing our hearts so that we can never be the same:) 

Now for the surfing illustrations.

A couple days ago I learned how to surf and it is so fun but....it will wear you out!!! 

My whole body hurts!! 

Life can be tough sometimes right?

So then I thought of another analogy. If the ocean is Gods love, then Jesus is our surfboard, our salvation. 

Now, when you surf your flat on your board then you paddle until it's time to stand up. This is the tricky part because I mean you are standing on a wave and so it's hard to keep your balance. 

Now, the analogy I was thinking of is the wobbly part when you are learning how to stand. I find this indicative of when we are learning to trust God and trust his love and his salvation. 

When I was first learning I would stand on my knees then try to get up...bad idea. 

Then I learned to stand with my feet but I would keep my hands down until I got my balance to stand up. Yet, in our life how many times do we waste time checking to see if our board, Jesus, is there. We stand on our knees or put our hand down or something. We ask if He is there if His love will catch us when we fall...we ask...we wonder...we worry. 

God doesn't want us checking the board or even looking back being scared of the wave. He just wants us to stand on His salvation and ride His love to the finish.  Yes sometimes we fall but Gods there to help us get back on the board.

Having a trust without borders is learning how to stand, learning how to trust that the board is steady and though life is rocky, Gods love is always there to help us and catch us when we fall!! 

Cuz a life with Jesus is one that will leave us changed by Gods love forever. It will allow us to ride waves. And though a surf board is hard it's much easier than trying to navigate the waves all by ourself. So let's trust in God to get us to shore, and I hope when I get to shore that I will never be the same:)