Have You Forgotten?

So..this weekend, I went to Winterfest, a huge youth retreat in Knoxville, TN. It was my 6th year going, yet every year I am amazed. It is so encouraging to see 25,000 young people excited about worshipping God. Now that I'm home, I don't feel like I'm on a "spiritual high" gained at a youth retreat, that will fade in a few days. No...God took me higher..it was incredible. Anyway..I'm rambling because to be completely honest, I'm still in awe of everything that I experienced. But, this blog is specifically for the sermon that was preached Sunday morning. All of the sermons were amazing..but this one was particularly eye opening. Reggie Dabbs preached, and his text came from a book that I completely overlook..the book of Hosea. He told the story of Hosea in modern terms...very interesting.

The main scripture was Hosea 2:13

" 'She decks herself with rings and jewelry and goes to meet her lover, but Me she forgot,' says the Lord."

How many times do we "forget" about God? It is so easy to allow other people, or situations distract us. We allow our thoughts to become completely occupied with other things, and we lose our focus on God. This breaks His heart, and is like we are slapping Him in the face. I don't want to break Gods heart. He loves us so much, and all He wants is our love and devotion to Him in return. If we could just put God at the core of our lives, and be completely and totally focused on Him, everything else will fall into place. Just a thought...

Seeking Peace....

Do you ever find yourself in a situation that you really aren't sure how to handle? I am often faced with circumstances that I have no idea how to deal with. I seem to be very capable of helping others handle their problems, but when it comes to my own life, I find myself feeling completely clueless. It is in these tough situations that I pray for the peace of God. I've lately found that the way to find peace is to seek God. Not to seek His hand, and what He can do, but to seek His face. When we worship God, and seek after His face, and His heart, we are able to get into His presence. In His presence, the saying "Let go and let God", truly is possible. We can release our problems, and tell Him about our situations. When we get into His presence, He changes us, breaks chains that hold us captive, mends our brokenness, calms our fears, and gives peace that passes all understanding-peace that only He can give. He says for those who are weary or heavy laden to come unto Him, and He will give them rest. Tonight, if you are facing a situation you don't understand, and you need the peace of God, I encourage you to worship and seek after Him. Open up your heart, and allow Him to surround you with His overwhelming peace.

My God is SO AWESOME!!!!!

So..I'm just gonna jump right into this blogging thing. Today started out as very rough, and I found myself stressing over trivial things, but tonight, wow..i don't even know where to begin. I always find myself telling people to "trust God" or "God hears your prayers", and while I completely believe in what I'm saying, I find it so amazing when God proves these statements to be true.

Lately, I have seen God intervene in situations that seemed irrepairable. Just last week, I prayed hard about something and the very same night, He came through with a clear answer. This week, I've been praying for a friend of mine, and a situation they've been facing. Tonight, they called, and God has completely turned the situation around in their favor. I'm in complete awe.

My favorite scripture comes to mind, "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me." (Psalm 138:8). I live by this. No matter how big or small your need, God can meet you right in the center of it. Once we cast all our cares upon Him, He takes care of the rest. He always loves us, and no matter what the situation, all we have to do is call on Him and He will take control.

If you are facing anything, tonight I encourage you to give it to God. I can honestly state and affirm that He answers prayer!