I have a Fiancee!?!?

So it is a new year.

Something that I am so thankful for.

A fresh start.

A new beginning.

Another chance.

God is so gracious!

This year I have started with a fiancee.

What an amazing blessing that has been!

People say that a relationship should be a

picture of our relationship with God.

I am amazed.

The fact that Jason has seen me at my absolute worse.

And yet he still loves me.

In spite of me.

In the same way-

Jesus knows me better than I know myself.

And yet He loves me in spite of me!

Jason is my prince.

Jesus Christ is my King!

I want to start living like Jesus is my King.

I was challenged last night.

See-I am a very fearful person.

Very timid.

Do not like to ever stir things up.

I am a people pleaser.

Always looking for people's approval.

I say that I believe the Lord is in control.

But in my day-to-day life I do not live like I believe it.

No more.

By God's grace I am purposing in my heart

to in this New Year

to start being more bold.

Not bold in myself.

But bold in my Jesus.

Bold in knowing that He will take care of me.

Bold in knowing that my Jesus will keep His promises.

Boldness.

Living for Jesus' approval.

Not allowing what people may think to rule my life.

But instead, just caring about what Jesus thinks.

Not being a people pleaser.

But being a Jesus pleaser

 (living my life for Him alone).

I can no longer just think about it.

Just talk about it.

I can pray about it

and then-

step out in faith.

Trusting the Lord to take care of me.

Fear and worry sometimes control my life.

No more!

I have freedom that is found in my Savior.

What is there to be afraid of

with Him by my side?

These are things that the Lord has been teaching me on this trip.

I am so thankful for a gracious, merciful Savior!

What a trip this has been!

And what fun it has been for Jason and I!

It has finally began to sink in

that we are engaged!

This trip we have
had many adventures-

We got to go to Silver Springs and ride

a glass bottom boat.

You could see 55 feet down in places!

We got to go parasailing

which was so much fun!

Drove through the night and got to Key West

in time to see the sunrise over the water.

I have a fiancee.

I am so so thankful!

This trip has been amazing!

Not only have we been able to have fun together

but we have also been able to minister

side by side

which is the neatest part by far!

It has finally sunk in!

I get to spend the rest of my life with this man!

I am so blessed!

God is so good!

All photo credits: Extreme Teen

A Video Blog

Here is the long awaited video blog!
Sorry I didn't get it up sooner it has been a crazy week.
The volume may need to be turned up
if you are having a hard time hearing it:



These girls need the love of Jesus Christ.
The healing.
The forgiveness.
The freedom that can be found in HIM!
So what are we going to do about it?

No way.

Ever had one of those times

 when you said:

 "No Way"

 to God?

I had one of those yesterday.

Actually, I have been having one of those for months.

So this whole weekend I have been really struggling.

I had been holding on to things.

I had been refusing to surrender.

I had been relying on my own "strength."

I had not been in the Word or in prayer.

I had allowed myself to get completely overwhelmed.

Then yesterday I got angry.

Now, I am not the type of person that tends to get really angry.

I get frustrated.

I get stressed.

But I don't often get super super angry.

Yesterday I did.

Why you ask?

Well because Jason and Danny had the audacity

to suggest that I delete my facebook.

*Insert look of shock and horror here*

Delete it?

What?

So I tried to laugh it off but then I started to get annoyed.

See, they wouldn't let me laugh it off.

They wanted to know why it was so important to me.

Why I just couldn't live without it.

So I started to think.

And steam.

And think some more.

And suprisingly I really could not think

of very good excuses I mean reasons.

"Ministry"

was the best one I could come up with.

Now, I am not in any way trying to bash facebook.

I believe that you can most definitely minister through it.

However, when it starts to consume you and your time

when do you draw the line?

So, I was just miserable.

I have realized something.

When you know that you are not doing the Lord's will

and yet you are fighting

what you know He wants you to do.

Well.

It is painful.

So this morning I woke up.

And I just felt dead.

No joy.

No peace.

Nothing.

Just spiritually dead.

So I texted Jason and asked him to pray for me.

And he called me.

As I was talking to him the Lord just put this thought in my head.

"What is an idol?"

Now, I love this definition of an idol by Leslie Ludy:

"An idol is ANYTHING

 that claims our ATTENTION

 and AFFECTION

 above Christ."

As soon as I thought about that another thought popped into my head:

"How do I know that something is an idol in my life?"

Here is another quote I think sums up the answer to that quite nicely:

"One way you can tell if

 something is an idol

or another lover in your life

 is that you are unwilling to let it go.

You can't picture living without it.

 Most of us,

 if we were honest,

 would have to admit that

we are unbelievably attached to worldly entertainment.

 Life would seem empty and bleak

 if we didn't own a TV

(or a computer, cell phone, again: fill in the blank)...

Even though we have everything we would

 ever want or need in Christ Jesus alone-

we still look to these other means

 for the peace, joy, excitement, and refreshment

 that HE HIMSELF desires to give us.

 All we have is the counterfeit version

 of peace and joy because

we aren't willing

 to let Him give us the real thing."

 (Leslie Ludy)

All the sudden I knew what I needed to do.

"Jason," I said,

"I need to delete my facebook."

As soon as I verbally spoke those words

I can not even explain the joy and peace that just flooded my soul.

It was as if I had been holding facebook up between me and God.

I would let Him have everything else except for that.

Why?

I guess just because of the status.

I mean I got to share my accomplishments with the world on there.

It was all about me.

Selfish ambition.

Pride.

Now maybe you remember this post that I wrote a few months back.

I didn't remember until just today.

I am going to share a few excerpts from it (in italics).

To view the complete post click below:

An Idol.

Do I think that facebook is bad?

NOT AT ALL!

For me personally however,

 it has become an idol

 and because of that it needs to be taken care of

 which is why instead of just deactivating it

I am completely surrendering it to the Lord

and deleting it.

 It had come between me and the Lord.

 Time spent on facebook was more

 of a priority in my life

 then time spent with my Savior.

 It is so shameful to admit that but it is true!

What about other forms of entertainment?

 Movies, internet, magazines, books, cell phones, fill in the blank.

 Are they necessarily in and of themselves wrong

 (well, within certain boundaries of course)?

 No.

What are the things in your life

 that maybe the Lord has been asking you to surrender to Him?

What do you think would happen if,

 instead of spending hours doing

*fill in the blank*

we used that time to get to know our God?

What if we treated our BIBLE

 like our cell phone

 or the internet

or the television

 or movies?

What if THE BIBLE

 was one of the first things

that we turned to in the morning?

What if we had to check THE BIBLE

 at least once every two hours a day

so as to not go through withdrawals?

What if, when we have been away from

 THE BIBLE

 for any amount of time we felt

we had to check it

and then re-check it?

What if we had been away from home

 and THE BIBLE was the first thing

we went to when we got home?

What if THE BIBLE

 was one of the last things

 we thought about at night?

What if we let go of those idols

 that have control of our lives and

instead threw ourselves at Jesus' feet?

What if?

This is something that is between each of us and God.

 No one on earth can make these decisions for you.

I want to live a 110% Surrendered life

 for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I read today in Galations 3:13:

"Christ has redeemed us

from the curse of the law, having

become a curse for us

(for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who

hangs on a tree.')"

To think that He willingly became a curse for you and for me!

He died on that tree...for you and for me!

The least I can do is live for Him.

And I want to.

Oh so desperately.

For Jesus Christ alone.

I want Him to be my everything.

I want Him to be my all.

I want people to see Jesus Christ in me.

So yeah.

Things are going to be changing on this blog.

Like, I am going to be posting a lot more.

The Lord has been teaching me so much and I

 just have so much to share with you all!

So stay tuned for some exciting things!

And to sum up:

Am I a super spiritual person just because I am deleting facebook?

No.

Do I think that people that have facebooks are sinners?

Uh no.

My challenge to you would be this:

really ponder what priorities you have in your life.

What are the things that fill up your time?

What do you turn to for refreshment, fulfillment, and satisfaction?

Is it the world?

Or is it JESUS?

Is Jesus Christ worth YOUR ALL

(even the little, seemingly "insignificant things")?



An idol.

What comes to mind when you think of an idol?
To most people it is this:





















(Photo Credit)

The past few weeks ,however, the Lord has been challenging me in many different ways and oi many different areas of my life.
It all started 2 Sundays ago.
My friend had invited me to a Bible study with a bunch of other young people and I had decided to go just because I really wanted to be fed spiritually and also interact with other young people.
The leader of the Bible study was teaching on a passage in Mark 4: 11-19. The parable of the Sower. Now, I had read and re-read this passage I do not know how many times but when Jason read these verses he asked a question that I had never thought about before:

"Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."
Mark 4:18-19

Here is a paraphrase of the question he asked based on those verses:
What is in my life that I am allowing to choke out the power of the Word and spiritual growth?
For some reason, I could not stop thinking about that question!
The Lord used that question to start to open my eyes to some things in my life that I was starting to realize needed to be disposed of because they were taking the place of my King.
I was starting to realize.
I was not quite there!
Then, last Friday, at Bible study I read a quote to the girls and asked them to ponder what it meant for a week and then come back with thoughts the next Bible study (which was last night).
I know that I already shared this quote with you in another post but please bear with me and just read through it again:

"God created us to experience vibrant, daily intimacy with Him and to constantly pursue even greater depths of relationship with Him. But too often, once we scratch the surface of knowing Him, we pitch our tent. We stop pursuing Him. We stop seeking Him. And instead of having a daily, passionate relationship with our God, we settle for an imitation. We become trapped in the shallowness of the Christian game. We sing songs about His love and read books about His grace, but we rarely experience Him in our daily lives.
To experience that something more that each of us longs for, we must put away the Christian game; reject our imitation of Christianity, pack up our tents, and embark upon the adventure of, TRULY KNOWING GOD. We must shake off the settler's mentality and become pioneers, passionately pursuing more and more of our King."

-Excerpt from "When God Writes Your Life Story"

I started to think.
Wondering what was in my life that was holding me back from experiencing Christ in an even deeper, more intimate, more passionate way.
Thinking about the compromises in my life that I knew were there but I did not want to give up.
Then the Lord REALLY started convicting me.
The tool He used was this video (once again, I know I JUST posted this but please bear with me and watch it again):



(Yes, the video is chopped in half and I can't figure out why on earth it is BUT I think that you can still listen to it and be really...challenged...like I was!)

IDOLS.
I started thinking about what idols I might possible have in my life.
*Katy commences squirming here*
I thought that I was pretty good.
I mean, REALLY!
I have devotions.
I spend time in prayer.
I even have a ministry.
I am all set, right?
There is no way I would have idols in my life.
WRONG!

1 John 5:21 says this:

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

Well, what are idols?

Here is a definition by Leslie Ludy that I found really opened my eyes to what idols really are:

"An idol is ANYTHING that claims our ATTENTION and AFFECTION above Christ."

This past week the Lord has been knocking on my hearts door, asking me to surrender something to Him and I have been fighting Him with all my might.
One way I knew that this something the Lord had been asking me to surrender to Him was an idol in my life is because I had been so unwilling to give it up.
What is this idol you may ask?

Here is my answer:









(Photo Credit)

You may be thinking: Well, what on earth is the big deal? It is just facebook!
The problem is that I am on facebook hours upon hours a day! It is one of the first things that I think about during the day, I have to check it at least once every two hours a day, when I have been away from the computor for any amount of time I have to check it and then re-check it, if I have been away from home it is the first thing I go to when I get home, and it is one of the last things I think about at night. I am CONSUMED by it...but NO MORE.
I realized last night that this obsession with facebook is holding my back from having a deeper, more intimate walk with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If I would only devote those hours upon hours I spend in a day on facebook to JESUS-how much would my life change? How much ore would I be free to be used by my Savior?
I desire to bring honor and glory to my Savior with my whole life. But, this IDOL (anything that claims our ATTENTION above Christ) was holding me back.

I was trying to fit Jesus into my life INSTEAD OF centering my entire life around Him.

Last night I KNEW what the Lord wanted me to do but I could not imagine giving up facebook even for a week.
I went over to prepare for my girls Bible study and was SO overwhelmed by what the Lord was asking me to do: Give up the HOURS I spend a day on facebook and instead devote those hours to getting to know my Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on a deeper and more intimate level.
Oh I fought. I watched that movie about the three questions and was convicted even more. I was almost in tears. I knew what I needed to do BUT I DID NOT WANT TO SURRENDER! I didn't want to GIVE IN.
The girls got there and I had one of those moments were...the light bulb just seems to click on. I realized that I could not live a double standard. I COULD NOT teach these girls about living a 110% surrendered life to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while I was not living one myself.

So, I chose.
I chose to surrender.
I chose to not only beg my Father in Heaven's forgiveness, but also, take extreme measures to getting the idols that I have allowed into my life OUT OF MY LIFE.

Do I think that facebook is bad?

NOT AT ALL!

For me personally however, it has become an idol and because of that it needs to be taken care of.
What about other forms of entertainment? Movies, internet, magazines, books, cell phones, fill in the blank. Are they necessarily in and of themselves wrong (well, within certain boundaries of course)? No.

When do they become a problem?

"One way you can tell if something is an idol or another lover in your life is that you are unwilling to let it go. You can't picture living without it. Most of us, if we were honest, would have to admit that we are unbelievably attached to worldly entertainment. Life would seem empty and beak if we didn't own a TV (or a computer, cell phone, again: fill in the blank)...Even though we have everything we would ever want or need in Christ Jesus alone-we still look to these other means for the peace, joy, excitement, and refreshment that HE HIMSELF desires to give us. All we have is the counterfeit version of peace and joy because we aren't willing to let Him give us the real thing." (Leslie Ludy)

What are the things in your life that maybe the Lord has been asking you to surrender to Him?

What do you think would happen if, instead of spending hours doing *fill in the blank* we used that time to get to know our God?

What if we treated our BIBLE like our cell phone of the internet or the television or movies?

What if THE BIBLE was one of the first things that we in the morning?
What if we had to check THE BIBLE at least once every two hours a day so as to not go through withdrawals?
What if, when we have been away from THE BIBLE for any amount of time we felt we had to check it and then re-check it?
What if we had been away from home and THE BIBLE was the first thing we went to when we got home?
What if THE BIBLE was one of the last things we thought about at night?

What if we let go of those idols that have control of our lives and instead threw ourselves at Jesus' feet?

What if?

This is something that is between each of us and God. No one on earth can make these decisions for you.

My challenge to you would be this: really ponder what priorities you have in your life. What are the things that fill up your time? What do you turn to for refreshment, fulfillment, and satisfaction? Is it the world? Or is it JESUS?

Is Jesus Christ worth YOUR ALL (even the little, seemingly "insignificant things")?

For me-my journey started last night.

I have decided to take a week hiatus off of facebook. Not because I think that facebook is a horrid, wicked, sinful thing BUT because I know for myself PERSONALLY I need to re-prioritize my time.

Note: For my facebook friends-I will still be twittering so the status updates throughout this week will be from there. I will not actually be on facebook updating my status'.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 John 5:21)

Is there anything you are holding back from Jesus today?

3 Questions.

(Yes, the video is chopped in half and I can't figure out why on earth it is BUT I think that you can still listen to it and be really...challenged...like I was!)

Total Abandonment

What satisfies?
What fulfills?
What completes?

The last 22 days have been some of the hardest of my life. And yet, they have been some of the best of my life.

How is that possible?

Jesus Christ.

Never before have I known His love in such an intimate way.
Never before have I known how much He is able to satisfy and fulfill us.
Never before have I known such completion!

TRULY WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!

These past 22 days I have really been thinking alot about what I have allowed to fill up my life.

I want a life that is 110% surrendered to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet-so often-I allow things to get in the way of my passionately pursuing HIM ALONE.

So.

I have started to have to prioritize.

Starting with how much time I spend on the computor.

Now. I am NOT getting rid of the computor BUT I am taking steps to PRIORITIZE how much time I spend on it a day. I can sit down in front of the thing and all the sudden two hours have gone by...while my Bible sits on my desk unopened until...well...last most days.

I have realized that I can not keep living a life for the Lord and yet still kind of...well...sort of...still be living a life for myself as well.

HE DESERVES MY ALL!

And my ALL is what I want to give Him...

He is so worthy!

"The Lord is my portion;" says my soul, "Therefore I HOPE in Him!"Lam. 3:24

What a comfort to know I can trust Him and never have to fear.

What a comfort to know that I can HOPE in Him!!

I keep asking myself how on earth I can have the God of the UNIVERSE as my Heavenly Father and yet I still look to other things and people to try to satisfy.

That is so wrong!

One of the hardest things in my lately has been being "single" once again.

These quotes have REALLY challenged me as I enter into this new season of my life:

"Rather than being preoccupied with solving the “dilemma” of our singleness, God’s Word says we should be consumed with loving, knowing, serving and worshiping Jesus Christ."

CONSUMED WITH LOVING, KNOWING, SERVING, and WORSHIPING JESUS CHRIST!

"Singleness is the incredible opportunity to be fully consecrated in body and spirit to Jesus Christ alone--to be undistracted by any other romance and free to be consumed by Him. " -Sacred Singleness ♥

I have decided to start taking advantage of this AMAZING opportunity to be FULLY CONSECRATED to Jesus Christ alone!

With that decision comes the need to start cleaning out some things in my life.

Are they necessarily bad things.

Well.

No.

But personally I know that they are areas of compromise...things that I have not surrendered to my Savior.

I was re-reading an old blog post of mine and thought that it was very applicable to what I have been working through lately in regards to total abandonment to my Savior.

"Decide (choose) not to ride the fence,
dividing your intersts
between God and the things
of the world.
Decide (choose) that God will
OWN your heart.
Trust Him and be willing to admit
when you are
wrong."
(Unknown)

It all boils down to a choice! Daily choosing WHO WE ARE GOING TO LIVE FOR. Ourselves? Or Christ?

"The reason some of us
are such poor
specimens of Christianity
is because we have
no Almighty Christ.
We have Christian
attributes and experiences,
but there is no
ABANDONMENT
to Jesus Christ."
(Oswald Chambers)

Have you ever stopped to consider what a difference it would make if each and every child of God started living their lives in TOTAL ABANDONMENT to Jesus Christ? If instead of living our lives looking no different then the world around us we CHOSE to be different and to be LIVING SACRIFICES for our God? Have you ever thought about what would happen if the young generation (OUR generation) stood up for Christ and were not ashamed to live for Him alone?

I have been thinking about it a lot...I know that I want to be 110% surrendered to Christ but not only when I am with others, oh no, when I am at home with my family and when I am all by myself. Every single second of my day needs to be lived for Jesus Christ...to honor and glorify and lift up HIS precious name...

"As a Christian:
'Your life is hid
with Christ.
You are not your own.
You have no time of your own,
no money of your own.
CHRIST
MUST
BECOME
YOUR
COMPLETE
MASTER.'"
(Leonard Ravenhill)

My deepest desire is to live and breathe my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...to live 110% for Him...to be a living sacrifice for Him...to honor and glorify HIM every single second of the day whether I am in a crowd of 100 people or whether I am alone in my room...He is so precious to me-it is time I start living like He is.

So those are just some thoughts that I have had lately.

Blessings to you all on this Easter Sunday!

He died for YOU and for ME...

The least we can do is LIVE FOR HIM!

He is worthy!

Guest Post #4: Singleness and No Compromise

Hey all you bloggers out there!
This is the last of four guest posts that range on topics from singleness to modesty to living a life of no compromise for Christ. I have really enjoyed all the posts that people Note: my words will be ITALICIZED and the actual posts will just be in REGULAR type. Now onto the series :)
Please feel free to leave comments and/or contact with any thoughts, questions, or your real life experience with singleness, modesty or living a life of no compromise and would like to share feel free. Also feel free to visit the previous guest posts:

Guest Post #1: Singleness
Guest Post #2: Modesty
Guest Post #3: Singleness

This final post is written by my dear friend Jane. She has been an amazing source of encouragement to me over the past year and I am so excited to share what she has written with you :)

Where where are you my beloved? -- Part 1 (December 2008).

Yes where is he?? i've waited for this special man that God will send to me since i was very young, i waited and waited until i started dating. Big mistake. Big big mistake, through all these hard lessons that God gave me, through much heartbreak i learned to be more pure in relationships, and to preserve my body as a holy temple of God. Temptations befall everyone, but i repeat again, DO NOT DO NOT give yourself away before marriage, God set those rules for a reason in the bible, HE knows what's best for us =)) Just wait however long it takes..the waiting does matter, and God is like a potter, HE prunes us slowly and he molds us to be the best wife, mother, and friend and lover and daughter of God. These single years have been such a blessing to me. I have not been single long, only since this July, 2008. I had to break off a very dear relationship, because the guy was not Christian..after much prayer i had to put my foot down and tell him that God is first in my life, it took tears, but in the long run i am glad that we never got intimate. I learned the hard way about that long ago, i don't want to get into too much detail, but it's obvious that God had to prune me the hard way. He molded me, refined me like fire, and made me pure again through HIS Love, Faithfulness, and His Word.
I went through a very long relationship with a Christian man for over 2 years, we were engaged too, but things fell apart slowly, and it was for the best. God knew that relationship was not meant to be. So HE took him away from me to never return..BUT i am glad for that, BECAUSE if the Lord never took HIM away, i wouldn't be WHO i am today! i've grew stronger and more spiritual on my own without a man. YET i know the Lord is good and HE will bring me the one i've been waiting for....
the only question is when???
The strange thing is i think God had already sent him to me, someone at church is such a great guy, BUT i feel this is not the right time, so i'll just wait for God to sort all this out ...and to make time perfect or to send me another...Only the Lord knows what's best for us..He does..always have FAITH in HIM and trust HIM, it took much hardships for me to learn to trust HIM more and to not lean on my own understanding but on HIS own. I always relied on myself too much, i'm trying to break myself away from that, it's a slow process, because i'm stubborn lol

But seriously, this waiting seasons have refined me like nothing else. And i know that this long long time will eventually prepare me to be a better woman, wife, mother and daughter of the King Most High.

I can only pray and hope to be a woman like the one in Proverbs 31. But it will take a lot of work on God's part and on my part. I pray a lot, the thing i lack in my spiritual walk is to read more of God's Word. I get sooo busy with college, work, life that i don't read the WORD often enough. It has to be my daily essence...i know that, and gotta work on that =))

Where are you beloved?? Part 2, almost 1 year later (October 30, 2009).

What can I write now almost 1 year later that I didn’t mention in part 1?
My words escape me, yet there is a truth I learned in this year alone about singleness is putting God first no matter what. I have learned what it is like to surrender to the Lord what it is like to get really much closer to HIM. And what’s it is like to leave it all at His feet. That alone has given me freedom. And honestly at this point almost 1 year later..I am not as concerned about when and how this prince will come. I know God will send Him in Due timing. But in the mean time like many other girls here on Katy’s blog said, we need to use our single years to glorify God Almighty J We need to use our single years to live life and to live to glorify God. We can not sit behind and wait wait for that perfect guy to come and then settle and date.
I’ve done enough dating in my life many years ago to have learned that dating is not what it’s cracked up to be.
Courting is a better option. But for some the best thing is to just be friends and then marry. But it all works different for everyone.
What I do know now one year later which I didn’t realize one year ago. IS that God truly has a plan, a future for me (Jeremiah 29:11-14) And if HIS plan is to keep me single now it’s ok. I’ve come to terms with that…as long as I have him as my Lord that’s all that matters. HE should be foremost the Lover of Our souls. I need to learn to see Him as my husband and HAVE Him as my best friend. I have struggled with so many temptations this week, yet the Lord has always been faithful. And He is always good.
And I can honestly say that IF I get married when I am 40 it will be well worth it. Yes I may have to wait awhile…but sometimes the Lord has to prune not just us but our future husband too. Sometimes he may not be ready either. I can honestly say today that if I got married when I was 22, it would have ended in disaster. I was just a babe then, not ready or equipped for marriage. I may be more ready now, BUT the Lord has his perfect timing in everything. We just got to Trust Him at all times and Wait on Him patiently. Waiting can be hard but is so well worth it. I am 30 years old and I have learned patience in these single years that I would have never learned if I got married when I was 20. The Lord has plans, a hope and a future for me and for all of you.
I am actually writing this all a 2nd time today because my file in Word document was erased, so I am redoing it all..But God had a plan in that too :))
One last thing we have to pray for our future spouse, for God to edify him and make him the best man HE wants him to become. Just pray for your future husband/wife tonight For God to teach them about humbleness, love, and being God’s servant. Just pray for their heart and soul. I think I said enough tonight.
Just remember to wait on the Lord, HE has the perfect time for when you 2 will meet, He has a perfect time for it all. It will be beautiful and so sweet, IF and only IF you wait. Don’t ruin it by dating. Don’t ruin it. DO NOT settle for anything But God’s very best. HE has had two of you in mind since time began. So just be patient my dear friends, Your waiting will be well worth it.
Here is a beautiful verse that has comforted me lately…It’s my new favorite and then I’ll close!

Psalm 27:14 (King James Version)

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

~~~
That verse has given me such peace and comfort.
I want to thank Katy for giving me the opportunity to post on her blog. Thank you Katy for being a good friend. And thank you for the opportunity to write.
Blessings to all!!

And...she's back (and talking in 3rd person)

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
As my title has already announced (but I am going to say it again just in case you did not get it the 1st time) I AM BACK!
Ok, ok, so I know I really was not gone all that long but some of the lessons that God has taught me (and is STILL teaching me) have made these last few weeks seem quite long.

*WARNING: At this time Katy gets real up close and personal*

I am going to shoot straight with you all. These past few months I have really struggled in my Christian walk. By struggle I mean I started to allow a lot of compromise into my life. I had fallen into this sickening, vicious circle of compromise, mediocrity and lukewarmness and the scariest part was that I reached a point where I did not really even care anymore. The ironic thing is that the stuff that I was dealing with is not even necessarily bad YET in my heart I knew it was wrong. Attitudes, the way I related to my family, pride, discontentment with where God has me...you name it, it was there!

The longer I allowed these compromises to continue the more I began to struggle. Then one day I realized that I could not be posting on this blog about being 110% surrendered while I was allowing these attitudes and compromises to take root in my life. One day I just could not stand the hypocrisy of it anymore and that is why I declared a blog hiatus. God began to work on me even more once I made that first step towards living a life with NO COMPROMISE. Part of that work was taking me to a place of loneliness and solitude so that I would finally get my eyes off of pleasing other people and instead started to focus on just pleasing HIM.

Throughout this journey I realized that this blog had become something that defined me as a person. If I had a ton of followers/comments I was so happy but if I did not have as many I would start to worry that I was not ministering as much as I should have been or I was not making a difference. Over time it seemed as though I became invisible and I really struggled with not being the center of things as much anymore (gotta love that pride that pops up in ones life just when you are LEAST expecting it!). I struggled with these feelings on inferiority and discontentment for a few weeks. Then I got a call from my adopted older brother and after listening to me pour out my frustrations and feelings of inferiority and not knowing who I was anymore he got really quiet. Then he asked me a question that went something like this (not exact but this is what I got out of it): WHO IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE DEFINING WHO YOU ARE? WOW! In that moment I realized how far off my focus was! In a split second my eyes were opened to how I had allowed discontentment (more about that later) and compromise to HINDER my ministry and the reason was because instead of looking to my Savior for what I thought was my worth I was looking to others. NOT GOOD! As Christians GOD is the One that defines us and without Him we are NOTHING. So why do we think that we are something in and of ourselves?

I have been pondering that for the past few weeks. So what am I doing about this?

1st of all I decided that I needed to re-surrender my life to my Lord with the intent of NO COMPROMISE and living each and every day 110% SURRENDERED to MY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

2ndly I decided to re-surrender this blog to the Lord. Please know that I do not want this blog to ever be about me. Whether you have been reading for awhile of have just found me my deepest desire is to be a mirror...of my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When people look at me I don't want them to see Katy-I want them to see Jesus Christ shining through Katy. As a part of that I have decided to start a new series which Lord willing will last ;) and my new theme is NO COMPROMISE not only in the big things but in DAY-TO-DAY life.

Ok...whew! I think that is it...what are your thoughts? What has God been doing in your life lately? I would love to hear about it :)

Blessings to you all!

No Compromise

"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you." (2 Timothy 1:8-14 New American Standard Bible)

"The gospel Paul preached involved making tough choices and taking hard stands. It is about putting your life on the line.
Losing popularity with your friends. Suffering for your convictions. What God wants is ALL of us-soul, mind and body."
(Keith Green “A Cry in the Wilderness” by Keith Green. )

Ok so the gospel is explained as: "the TREASURE which has been entrusted TO YOU." If we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ do we live as though we have a great treasure? What are we doing with that TREASURE?

ARE WE LIVING LIKE WE ARE CHRISTIANS? When people look at us WHAT DO THEY SEE? Have you ever seriously asked yourself that question? I didn't for a long time because I knew that I was not living the way I should be for the Lord BUT I then realized that ,again, it is about a choice. We CHOOSE how we will live for the Lord. We can be talk the talk at church and youth group and conferences BUT when it really matters do we walk the walk? Does Jesus Christ shine out of us NOT ONLY when we are at church but when we are with our family or even just by ourselves?

"One mark of the true gospel is that IT DEMANDS SACRIFICE FROM US. Sacrifice of having control of our lives, moment by moment. It challenges everything we do. But as we learn (it's a process) to embrace the gospel-and to realize that this world is not our final home-and when we live it out in our lives God will use us to call the world to Himself." (Keith Green)

The older I get the more I realize how it is so easy to fall into the trap of convenient Christianity. What is that? Only living for the Lord when it is "convenient" for us to do so.

It should not be so! God has really been challenging me lately to offer up every single second of my day for HIS honor and glory. He has been challenging me to live for Him EVEN WHEN it is not "convenient" for me for whatever reason (embarrassment, scorn, people misunderstanding). Jesus Christ abolished death for US! Why then do we find it such a duty to live for HIM?

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we are called with a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9). He has chosen us as His children! He has appointed us to go and bear fruit! (John 15:16).

So here is the question that really has been challenging me for the past few weeks especially:

What are we going to do about it?

As the body of Christ-as the church-what are we going to do about this awesome treasure that we have been given (Jesus Christ)?

Are we willing to let go of (surrender) all our dreams (huge one for me) and let the Holy Spirit take FULL CONTROL of our lives? To let go of everything that we hold close. To take up our crosses and follow Christ without looking back? (Luke 9:62)

In 2 Timothy 1:8 Paul admonishes his readers to not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Thinking about that...how many times do we have opportunities to witness but refuse because "we might offend someone"? How many times does the Lord lay something on our hearts but we refuse to do it because "it might make us look weird/radical"? Please believe me when I tell you that I have been asking myself these same questions over and over and have come to the conclusion that I do not want to be ashamed any longer!

Jesus Christ was not too ashamed to die for us on that cross...why is it we are too ashamed to live for Him?

Just some thoughts I thought I would share with you...

Here is one last question to ponder:

What choice will you make today? Serve the Lord 110% and make Him the center of your world or continue to live a "convenient" life only fitting God in when it is absolutely necessary?

Believe me...it is something I will be pondering as well...

**I got the image from Purpose Driven Photography and then edited it myself.**