Why camp is so great?

Over the years I've been to many different camps. I've been to church camps, through Student Life and at Riverbed retreat center.  I've been to a camp that trained me for leadership in the church through the SBTC. I have also been to All-State choir camps.

This summer I am even working at Pine Cove's Camp in the City, as a counselor.    

Now, why do I love them and why do I think you should go to camp or recreate camp?

Because life change happens.  

Camp is a time where you out of your normal routine.  Your in a different place and it's a time to get away from all other distractions and focus on a specific thing.  

All the camps that I have been to, excluding the choir ones, that specific thing was Jesus.  

I get to get away, usually without my cell phone and just be at camp.  

I learn stuff, and I get close to the people around me.   There is just something about being stuck in the same cabin with the same people for five days that makes you bond.  Memories are made when you are so tired because you've been through rec and free time and haven't really slept much all week. 

It is a great experience. 

…

My family took in a foreign exchange student one year and we took her to church and evangelized to her.  We tried to show her what Jesus was like through our words and actions. We would tell her the gospel over and over but it was to no avail until church camp.  I had to beg her to go but she did and one night she gave her life to Christ.  She became a different person, a person that was kind and sociable and nice, almost instantly.  

So, I'm going to camp with my church tomorrow and I would challenge you to find a camp to go too, there are camps and retreats for all ages, youth and family camps alike.  

If you don't have either the time or the money, then make you own camp.  

Have a day, a couple days, or a week even, where you don't watch TV, get online, or use your phone.  Block yourself away from the world and focus on one specific thing, Jesus.  

5 ways to ignite your passion for the Lord

Sometimes there are seasons where we are going to church, and church camps and bible studies. Yet we are dry…so dry.  We are bored.

One your not alone.  We all go through places where feelings are dry, yet you don't have to stay that way.

Here are 5 ways to revamp your passion for the Lord.

1. Recognize that feelings are not everything.

During dry spells, it is easy for us to think that since we feel like God is so far away, that He is actually far away.

That is a lie for God says that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us.  His love NEVER fails.

Feelings are always real, but they aren't always truth.  You may feel separated from God, but that is not the truth, you are not separated from the Lord.

2. Remind yourself of the gospel.

The gospel is not just a tool to get people saved and quite frankly I'm annoyed that I've viewed it that way in the past.

The gospel is the only thing that changes us and sanctifies us.   The Christian life is simply a quest to understand the gospel more and more each day.   Seeing it in different lights and seeing it from different perspectives.

So, today dwell on what God did for you.  How the father had to look away as His Son took upon the sins of the world, and died a horrific death on the cross.  The fact that He did this for us, so that we could spend eternity with Him.  The fact that He rose from the dead.  We often forget that He didn't just die for us but He rose again miraculously so that He could be with us.

Take time to remind yourself of what He did for you, and what He is still doing for you.

3. Remind yourself of Who Christ is.

Take 5 min, just 5 min of everyday and recite characteristics of God, back to God.  If you need ideas for attributes, check out the blog post called Broken Hallelujah.

Tell Him that He is just, kind, loving, merciful.  Just reflect on His character and How lovely it is.

4. Worship Him.

I'm talking in your room by yourself.  Turn on your favorite song and spend some intimate moments, that are just you and the Lord.  I think of worship as a dance.  So, sometimes I just dance with the Lord.  I do this when I'm home alone and I can enjoy my date with the Lord.  I dance with Him.  I dance for Him.  I sing to him and I sit and rest in His presence.  It is wonderful.

If you need some great songs check out the album, You Make Me Brave by Bethel, or the Passion 2014 album, both albums put me in a spirit of worship.

5. Spend time with other believers talking about who God is and what God is doing in your lives

Yes, we go to church and bible studies.  But why don't we find one or maybe two other people that are the same gender and take them out to coffee and just share what God is doing in our lives.  There is nothing more exciting than hearing from others what the hand of God is doing in their lives.

So, now you have 5 ways to reignite your passion for the Lord.  Just know we all go through dry seasons that what makes the rainy seasons so special.  Yet, I love to have passion for my Lord, so I hope these help and if you have anymore ways, feel free to comment:)

I love you, thanks for reading.

God doesn't need you

Based on the title, you were probably intrigued and maybe asked yourself if Kenady has become a heretic?

Well, I assure you that although we don't hear this often in the church, it is one of the most life-giving truths once we fully understand it.

Let's start with God.  God is a triune God, meaning that He is one God with three distinct persons.  If you have questions on the trinity, you can private message me, but for now we are going to move on.

God loves himself.  Now, this makes us all cringe.  That means God is selfish right? No!! God is God and if He loved anything more than himself, it would be an idol.  You hear me?

So, once we can wrap our minds around this, it's really rewarding.

Next principle, God not only loves Himself, but God loves Himself, more than He loves you.

Now, this is hard for selfish me to get through my head.  I'm like no God loves me, He really does!

It's very, very true.  God loves you,  and He loves you more than anything else He created.

Yet, God doesn't need you.  Say what?  God is completely sufficient within Himself.  He has everything He needs.

This is hurtful until you understand a simple principle.

So, I really enjoy attention. I'm an only child.  Attention is like currency to me and whoever gives the most of it, must be the most valuable.

Yet, God is changing this attitude, thank goodness, through the way of my boyfriend.

I realized that I was really stressed out about our relationship because I needed him.  I was going to him to fulfill a God-sized need for attention.  Basically I was putting my happiness and contentment, in someone else's human hands, and that is stressful.  No matter how much attention he gave me, and trust me he gives me a lot, it still won't be enough because the hole in my heart is a God-sized hole.   So, when I turn to God to fulfill me in giving attention, I no longer need and/or desperate for my boyfriends attention.  This gives me a whole lot more time and energy to love him.

Now, let's relate this to God.  When God doesn't need us, He has all of his time and energy, which never runs dry, to love us.

The next truth is: God may not need us, but He wants us.

This is by far the most amazing news ever.  God loves me when I do nothing for Him.  I don't complete Him. That is why He can send His son to die on the cross out of love for a people, that could never love Him back.  God wants your love, but He doesn't need it.  So, He risks it all, to pursue us with His love.

I love this picture…See God's hand on the right is reaching for Adam, not out of need, obviously Adam is not giving God anything.  Yet, because God doesn't need Adam, but wants him, God can pursue us with all confidence even when He gets nothing in return. 

If God needed Adam, He wouldn't be going to Adam.  But because God wants Adam, there is nothing we could to stop God from running towards Adam. 

So, please share this post so that everyone knows that God wants them.

Are you robbing yourself of joy?

I was at pine cove orientation this past week, and a couple people said something that caught my attention.

They said: Comparison is the thief of all joy.

I've recently been convicted of comparison.

I look at people at DBU and I compare how busy they are to me, and how their relationships are compared to my relationship.  I spend my time and effort saying well she did it that way, and I'm doing it this way.  Well, her life looks like this so maybe that is what my future could look like.

The reality is if you keep comparing yourself to others, your never going to be good enough.  For they will always be someone better than you at something, and if there isn't you'll find something else to compare.

See how this could rob you of your joy.

God made each and every one of us, exactly the way He wanted to.  So what!  I can't spell to save my life, and my vertical is less than desirable?  That's the way that God made me and designed me.

That being said, we should also not compare our friends to other people in our life.  For me, this is a helpful step in analyzing a person.  It helps me to break down a persons characteristics and compare and contrast them with others.  Yet, my poor boyfriend gets the bad end of the deal because I'll tell him He is like some character in a book or something.

Yes the character might be a great character in a book.  Yet, just like it makes us feel bad to be compared to others, it makes others feel bad when they are compared to others.

How would you feel if you boyfriend and girlfriend kept comparing you to their ex-girlfriend and ex-boyfriend all the time?  I'd feel pretty ugly.

So, then why do we compare others?

That being said comparison is a waste of time.  I should use that time to be the best Kenady I can be rather than trying to be the best someone else I can be.  I'm not saying that role models are bad, or trying to understand people are bad, yet no one is exactly alike and that is what makes us beautiful. So, let us rejoice in our differences and similarities.

So, today lets celebrate the way that God made us and the other people around us.  Lets celebrate our victories and work together to minimize our weaknesses.  Lets understand who we are, and not get defeated when comparing ourselves to others.

Contentment leads to joy.  So lets stop comparing and rejoice in who God made us to be
.

Keep Calm and...

Feelings.  As a teenage girl, my feelings are like waves.  They go this way and that.  Sometimes I have still waters, but for the most of the time I have a raging sea.  Sometimes, my feelings don't make any sense.

Yet, around DBU, I keep hearing a phrase, "well, I had a peace about that" or "I don't have a peace about that."

This phrase used to kill me, because I was like "I don't have a peace about anything."

Yet, I was wrong, peace doesn't always change your feelings, yet it can be described in bible gateway's concordance as "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is"

My heart can be pounding and I can be nervous yet I can still have a peace about something, because peace is not always feeling, but it is a state of the soul of the Christian.

A bible story to illustrate this, is the story of three men and the fiery furnace.

So King Nebuchadnezzar erected a gold statue and issued a decree that when the instruments played that everyone had to fall on their face and worship the statue.  When the trumpets sounded, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down and worship the statue.  So, King Nebuchadnezzar angry gave them one more chance to bow down. To which they responded...

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

To which King Nebuchadnezzar responded by throwing them in the fiery furnace. He was so angry that he turned it up so high that the people throwing them in the furnace died.  

Yet, the King saw 4 men in there instead of 3 and they were walking around.  So the King summoned them to come out of the fire, and they were unharmed.  Then the king praised the one, true God. 

I love this story, but I just love how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego responded to King Nebuchadnezzar.  They had the peace of the Lord. 

They didn't know what was going to happen but they trusted in the Lord.  Now, I don't know but if I was being thrown into a fiery furnace I don't think, I would FEEL peaceful but these men, trusted in the Lord.  

A lot of times, God calls us to go outside our comfort zone to bring Him glory.  It is in these moments we must face our fears and we often don't feel very peaceful, but knowing God and trusting Him gives us the strength to make the decision. 

Now, peace sometimes can be a feeling.  Sometimes God chooses to bless us with a peace that allows us to feel okay, but that feeling comes from trusting God.  

Yet, if we trust God we can grow the seed of peace in our mind, so that in every circumstance and in every emotion we can bear the fruit of peace.  

It's Complicated!!!

If you know me, I tend to make things a whole lot more complicated than they need to be.

I'm the kid in math class that ttys to understand how each equation is derived. When the problem is complicated, it is more simple to me.

The reason why I hate history is that you either know it or you don't.  I was the kid that picked A an then later picked C and then went back to A and then was like you know what, I think it's B.  It was always A.  Always pick your first choice….lol

Anyways, I think about this principle when I start explaining how boys work to girls.   I always have to explain that men are simple, and that's why we think they are so complicated.  For we ask ourselves, "Why are they so simple?" This confuses us girls and leaves us constantly over thinking the men in our lives.

Yet, I realized I do this with God.  I over think Him.  His love is simple. His call is simple.  Yet, because it's so simple, it confuses me and so I try to make it more complicated because it can't be this simple right??

I run around trying to follow the rules, trying to please Him.  I try to answer all His questions.  I try to check all my items off the list.  I do and I do.

Yet, God doesn't want that.  His call is simple.  He says: All I want, is that you love me, and that you rest in me a little longer.

The pharisees in the bible missed it.  They checked off all the items on their list.  Modern day equivalent is: They had their quiet time everyday, they memorized scripture, and they went to church on wednesday, and even didn't watch R rated movies.

Yet, why did Jesus curse them?

Because THEY MISSED IT!! They were over thinking the problem.

Christianity is not Astrophysics,  it's simple.

God asks: "Do you love me?, Then feed my sheep"

God wants You….it's just that simple.

Spring Cleaning

So, in the dorms we have this thing called white glove at the end of every semester.  The resident director of our dorms comes down the hall and checks are room and grades how clean it is.  This is not tidiness, this is for cleanliness. You have to clean the baseboards, toilets, and shower drains.  It is so stressful because if you fail you have to pay money and do it all over again. We was not going to happen.  So, my mentor gave us all jobs to do and my roommates and I started cleaning.  Once I started, I couldn't stop.

If you know me my room is rarely clean, the only reason why it's clean at my house is my parents are in control of it now.

Most people think that I don't know how to clean, or just don't care and that's why my room is dirty.

The truth is, I don't clean because once I start cleaning I can't stop. I hate it.  I'm a perfectionist, and once I start cleaning that is all I can see, dirt and imperfections.

Then, I thought most of the time this is my view of God that He is my resident director tirelessly searching every room of my heart, and all he can see is my dirt and imperfections.   Then when I fail, He fines me.

Yet, this is not true, when God looks at me He doesn't say "Wow, what a sinner." Instead, He says, "Look at the girl I have redeemed."  He doesn't say, "Wow, look at what a mess you made," but says "Wow, look at my beautiful and precious daughter."

Here me now: God is not just sitting there waiting for you to mess up, and He is not just scanning for dust.  If you have been saved, you are the righteousness of God and He is standing up cheering you on waiting to see you succeed. 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God 2 Corinthians 5:21

God doesn't give us demerits; God gives us merits.  When I was in dance and cheerleading there was a demerit system, if you got a certain amount of demerits than you were kicked off the team.  You got demerits for not wearing the right clothes or being late.

Yet, God's kingdom doesn't work this way, every time we mess up He doesn't give us demerits rather every time we do something right He gives us an eternal reward.  Hey, I'm liking this system!!!

Now, back to the cleaning, when I have an incorrect view of God, it makes me consumed with how I look to him.   I want to clean my heart over and over, yet I don't have the power to clean my heart.  Cleaning my heart, is like what the pharisees did, and let me just say that didn't work out of them.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. Matthew 23:27

Imagine cleaning the bathroom floor with a toothbrush and the spit from you mouth, that is you cleaning yourself.  Plus, we are tiring ourself out and not getting anywhere, wasting our time trying to clean ourselves when we should be serving others.

So, instead of cleaning ourselves and being so consumed with our actions.  We must let God change our heart.  We must hand him the toothbrush and say, "I give up; I can't do this myself."

For God says that even our good works are like filthy rags.

God doesn't want perfection: He already has that in His son.  God just wants you, all of you, because He is deeply in love with you.  

So, let us get washed in the cleansing flow of Jesus's blood.  Let him wash our sins as white as snow.  Let us be refreshed because cleaning our hearts isn't up to us, because when He said, "It is finished"; He meant it.   Let us see God as a generous God giving us merits, and not a warden roaming the hall of our heart looking for trouble.  He is a generous man willing to pick us up when we fall and clean us up afterwards.  He is beautiful.  I love you God, Thank you for your word.

I know people need to hear this because I have to remind myself this a whole lot.  So, do me a favor and share this, so that many people can see God in a new way.