14 for 14

Soo..  I know that at the beginning of every year people try to lose weight, save money, etc.  Every year I come up with my own list that stays in my head and really doesn't last too long into the new year.  Well, the other day I started writing down some resolutions....and ended up with 14.  With the job I have, the first lesson I teach is about goal setting.  I teach my students that in order to reach the goal the best you can, you need to make sure your goal meets the "4 goal-naming criteria".  These kept going over and over again in my head while writing my resolution.  Out of the four, the two criteria I made certain my resolutions met were that they were positive (avoiding words such as "not", "don't" and "won't") and making sure they were specific (avoiding words such as "more", "better", "some") by having specific dates or times to reach my goals/resolutions.  With that being said, I came up with 14 New Year's Resolutions that are focused on bettering ME (in no specific order):

1.  I will... only drink water, lemonade or breakfast drinks such as Hi-C, apple juice, milk, and orange juice.

2.  I will... only eat out once a week.  Exceptions are birthdays, special occasions, or visiting friends or relatives.

3.  I will... set a budget each month and only withdraw money out of my checking account.  Exceptions are emergencies.

4.  I will... write one letter or card each week and send it to someone by mail.

5.  I will... exercise for 30 minutes each day for at least three days a week.

6.  I will... start and end my days with prayer.

7.  I will... finish the Humility chapter in my checklist book by March.

8.  I will... get a credit card to use only during the dead time between paychecks.

9.  I will... eat one fruit each day.

10.  I will... share the gospel/witness to 14 people this year.

11.  I will... play a special at church one Sunday each month.

12.  I will... walk away from gossip, change the subject, or say something positive about the person who is being talked about.

13.  I will... read the whole Bible this year using the Bible App.  (Sections each day)

14.  I will... be an encourager to others by: speaking uplifting positive words, helping with their needs, or smiling at them.

Some of my resolutions started going astray with how I might could fix other people this next year.  I've said it before, if you're too focused on how others are living and what they may be doing "wrong" by your standards, you're probably not spending enough time focusing on the areas in your life you could improve.

Challenge:
Come up with positive and specific resolutions that help you to improve and make a better YOU.

In Christ,
Katie

Wide Open Doors

God is really working on me right now.  I can't begin to tell you how many times God has "opened the door" for me to love on someone and to just be a vessel that God could use to be a part of their life.  After the most recent situation, I am reminded of two other times.  These two times were different than the recent one.  I believe it was God who got me thinking about these two people who, at some point in my life, I had interaction with and I grew to care about them, whether they knew it or not.

One of them was a boy I had gone to high school with.  The other was a friend of the family.  I hadn't seen either in years, but at different times, I began thinking about them.  I "Facebook stalked" them trying to find out what they were doing now, but I never communicated with them.  At this point you're probably thinking to yourself, well this is a normal every day occurrence for me.  But here's where it becomes different.  With both of these guys, I found them on Facebook and not long after (weeks or months), I heard about their passing.  They were gone.  Just like that.  Now, I'm not saying that me adding them on Facebook would have stopped this from happening, but it makes me wonder, how would God have used me if I had just spared a few seconds to send a message?  Is our time so precious to us that we're missing the bigger picture?  Is our time so valuable that we can't even smile at someone we are walking by?

The most recent incident may not seem as serious as the two above, but it was an opportunity that God had provided and I walked away--TWICE.  We were prayer walking one week.  We stopped at the house across from the college, knocked on the door, and a girl named Makalya answered.  We asked her if she had any prayer requests.  She thought about it for a minute and replied, "I've never done this before."  DING DING DING DING!!!  HELLO KATIE!  If that's not an open invitation I'm not sure what is.  We asked if we could pray with her and we did...and we left.

A couple of weeks later we go prayer walking again.  Rose wanted to start with the house across from the school.  A lady was sitting outside and a man drove up; there were also two little boys with them.  We asked if they had any prayer requests and the lady said her family.  She started crying, but the four of them joined hands with us as we prayed for them.  Then we left.  Last week I was driving past their house and their was a For Sale sign, but no sign of the family.  I have no idea where they are now.

My challenge for you:
Spare a moment out of your day to love on someone.  You don't know what their going through and you honestly don't have to know.  If God places someone on your heart, send them a message to see how they're doing.  Be obedient.  If you're a Christian reading this, it's not about you.  Let them see Christ in you.

{Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. -Galatians 6:9-10}

A Plank-Eyed Saint

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

-Matthew 7:1-5

The other night my roommate and I were picking at each others "cleaning skills".  Rebeca, my roommate, had cleaned up the kitchen.  She wasn't at the house so she had texted me letting me know that she had done so.  I texted back in a joking manner saying that I had seen a few spots that she had missed on the dishes.  She replied with, "Have fun navigating through your room!!!....Just wanted to point out the speck in your eye!!!"  And my reply, "Touche."

To me, that is one of the simplest examples of how quick we are to judge others without taking time to evaluate our own lives. This is just something that has been on my mind for quite some time now especially as I see it taking place more often among Christians (I know this may be a little repetitive from a previous post...oh well). Unless we are holding other Christians accountable in a loving manner or are concerned for the souls of the lost, how others live their life should not be of any concern to us.  

There have been times where I have been genuinely concerned for other people and the choices they were making and just wanted to help out. Then there have been other times where I have been so disappointed/aggravated with someone that all I can do is complain about them or talk about how they should do something, but never taking the time to love on them or be accountable.

How I see it, if you spend a majority of your time talking about the things others do that you don't like, you're not spending enough time holding yourself accountable of the things that displease God.  You're not better than the person you're talking about. 

"God calls us to display his love to others.  Put your own feelings aside and persevere with somebody.  Show them the same love that God has shown to you." -EWomen's Devotional

A question that I have and ask myself: Do we pray about it as often as we talk about it?

God tells us to pray without ceasing and to pray for others.  How often are we really praying for the person we may see as unlovable or for the unknown situation that they may be dealing with?  Do we really know anything about them besides the things we train our eyes to see?

{With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be. -James 3:9-10}

{Anyone who claims to be in the lights but hates his brother is still in darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness; he doesn't know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. -1 John 2:9-11}

I can think of so many times (some recent and some a while back) where I would talk and talk about someone.  God  convicted me then and is convicting me now of how I need to love that person.  But, to me, saying that you love them is not enough.  "Our words of love must be backed up by actions of love."

My challenges to you:

  1. Check yourself. Look at the plank in your eye that's causing you to stumble.

  2. Ask forgiveness of the person whose speck of dust you keep pointing out.

  3.  Pray for that person AND yourself.

In Christ,

Katie Jo

Devotion Time and Karaoke

Ok, so I'll go ahead and get the Karaoke part of the title out of the way.  I downloaded an app called Sing by Smule.  Depending on your "level/status" you have to start off by joining in on other songs people have recorded and sing the parts they didn't sing.  Well, at first I couldn't find a song that I could just finish (I'm not a singer by no means by the way) and then I got to one particular song.  I couldn't get past the girl singing because I started laughing.  It's bad, I know.  But funny.  You should try it.

Now to the more serious topic: devotion time.  Dun, dun, dun.  So Nate issued a challenge out to our youth this past Sunday.  He wants all of us to start taking our Devotion Time/Quiet time with God more seriously.  He wanted to start out small and eventually work up to more.  His challenge for them is this:  read at least one verse every morning before you start your day.  I don't know about some of these youth, but getting up a little extra early this morning was a pure struggle!!  Here are the two verses I ended up reading:

{Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.-Philippians 2:12-13}

What I took from this scripture today is, it is so important to live out our faith not just in front of our Christian friends or the pastor or those who might judge us if we stumble, but to live it out every second of every day.  As many people have said, we tend to play the Christian role on Sunday, and then the who we "really" are throughout the week.  Why aren't we being consistent?  Why aren't we being real?

This morning at 6, Nate texted the youth reminding them to spend time with God this morning.  When I finally got up and got out of the shower (6:45ish) I read my scripture and also sent a reminder to the youth.  We've had two reply back today saying that they did their devo.  One did his this morning and the other did it this afternoon.  The second one didn't do his this morning due to not feeling well, but he realized that maybe his day would have been better had he started the day by reading his Bible.

I'm super excited to hear the responses back from these youth on Sunday and to see how God spoke to them throughout the week.  As usual, here is my challenge for you:  for one week, read at least one verse each day.  Think about what is means to you.  Then, as you go throughout your day, see if it applies to anything that happens.

In Christ,
Katie

I Won't Give Up On Us

Within the past 48 hours, I've had two people tell me that they feel their prayers aren't being heard by God.  Both are Christians.  Both are seeking answers to what is going on in their life.  One says, "For the past year and a half, it's like God has not been there. . .Pray for whatever because it's just wasted breath on my end" and "Feel like I've wasted several years of my life...since I felt like God "called me" here.  One says she's prayed for a situation or that God would give her peace about it and neither has been answered.  She told me, "Maybe your prayers will get heard."  I shared this scripture with the first person:

 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

I told my friend that God doesn't leave us, we take our eyes off of him.

Why are we giving up?  Why do we feel like God's not there or that he's not hearing our prayers?  It could be because things aren't going our way or we really don't have a grasp on the fact that God is in control of everything and he does have a plan for our lives.

I spent several months of my life praying for a certain someone, that God would work in his life.  This person and I don't see eye to eye anymore.  It's hard to talk with him, so I just pray for him.  It wasn't until a couple of months ago that I thought to myself, maybe I should pray for myself that I would be able to show love to this person--regardless. I will admit that I haven't shown God's love to him like I know I should and I can.  But, I haven't given up.  I know God has something up his sleeve whether we see the results in this lifetime or not.  I shared a dance with this person a few months back.  He asked me to dance to the very last song which happened to be "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz.  It just gets me thinking every time I remember this.

My challenge for you: don't give up.  Praying without ceasing takes faith in knowing that God is hearing your prayers.  A friend of mine sent me a text one time that read:

"When in doubt, Pray First.  All prayers are answered: yes.  no.  wait.  It's just sometimes harder to trust that third one."

In Christ,
Katie

P-R-A-Y that spells Pray. . .Do you have a request today??

I never intend on staying up this late during the week.  It just happens.  But I knew I wanted to write a post and share the events from the day.  The theme, as you could guess from the title, is prayer.  About the past week I've been going through the contacts on my phone and just asking my friends if there is anything I can pray for.  Do you really want to be a part of someone's life and know what's going on?  Ask what you can pray for.  I've been getting back a few responses here and there each day.  One prayer request that I got exactly a week ago was from my friend Lauren.  She asked that I pray for her Aunt (mother of 3) who had biopsies on her thyroid.  By the way, I had to look up the definition for biopsy.  Anyways, I wrote down her request, and sometime this past week I prayed for her Aunt.  Lauren texted me today saying they were all benign (yet another word I had to look up).  I'm not saying any of that to lift myself up, but to praise God.  He keeps opening up my eyes more and more to the importance of prayer.  Praying for each other.  Praying for ourselves.

Tonight, Nate and I had planned on cooking a Stoffer's lasagna and chilling at the house.  God had other plans.  It's amazing how he can take "hunger pains" and not wanting to wait 80 minutes for food and turn it into a night of fellowship with young Christians.  We ended up going to Circle Grill--because I was wanting me some onion rings and shrimp--and we ran into some youth we know.  After about an hour and a half conversation while eating, Saylor tells us that he feels God is leading him to be more active with his role in FCA at his high school.  He has a desire to get his classmates involved with devotions and just reaching out to them.  Nate encouraged him to follow through with it and not to give up.  Right before we headed out, we prayed for him.  Prayed that God would open the doors.  Prayed that Saylor's fire would not be burnt out.

During work today I came up with my own personal acronym for Prayer.  I kind of got the idea for it from the acronym for BLESS that I use for prayer walking (another post coming soon!).  Here is what I came up with:

P: People: Pray for my coworkers and the random people I interact with on a daily basis.
R: Relationships: Pray for my family, friends, significant other.
A: Answers: Pray for knowledge, clarification, truth.
Y: Youth: Pray for the youth at church, the students I will be teaching, and the other youth that I know.
E: Emotions: Pray in joy, sadness, thankfulness, doubt.  Pray for that emotion.
R: Report: Thank God for any answers to prayer.

I encourage you tonight---pray.  I know personally there have been several times where I did not want to pray to God.  Sometimes it was because I didn't want to hand a situation over to him.  Sometimes I'm just "too tired".  Sometimes I get distracted.  But, as Nate said tonight, praying and reading God's Word IS our time with God.  So what's your excuse?  He's there.

In Christ,
Katie Jo

Dear Future Self. . .

Every now and then I'll get to read a letter that I wrote to my "Future Self".  The letter is usually exactly a year prior to the date I get to read it.  I happened to open up my journal to find one dated for today.  It was a letter that was written at a Girls Devo last year with Amy Somerset.  I can't remember which youth girls were there, but I hope they enjoyed reading theirs at much as I did mine.  The letter was folded a couple of times so I'll share with you exactly how it read starting from the outside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{August 14, 2013 (this is the date which I was allowed to read the letter)
I am beautiful.  I am loved.  Someone died for me.  I am God's daughter.

Top of page:
The Beatles (favorite band)
Lime Green and Brown (favorite colors)
Haiti and Fair Bluff, NC (places I'd like to visit)
Compassionate, Artistic, Kindhearted (words to describe myself.

Katie
1 Peter 3:4
Proverbs 31:30

Dear Katie,
As I begin this new year in my life I am beginning to truly step into adulthood (hopefully).  Here are 5 positive things about YOU!

1. You KNOW when you are straying from God.
2. You are compassionate to others and try no to hold grudges.
3. You strive to not be negative or talk bad about others.
4. You are involved in church.
5. God has blessed you!!! (there was a heart around the 5)

 #5 will always be true.  Hopefully the rest will still be true in a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know why, but it just amazes me how God can use something like this letter to remind me of where I was and where I need to be.  My challenge to you: write a future letter to yourself.  Words of encouragement are always the best ones to read.

In Christ,
Katie Jo :)

"Can You Be Counted in the Company of the Committed?"

To Commit: to put in trust or charge; entrust

Synonyms: dedicated, devoted, loyal, faithful, devout, involved

Committed.  What does it mean to you to be committed to something or to someone?  I did this lesson with my youth girls last Wednesday night and it was a real eye opener to where they felt they were in their relationship with God.  To me, being committed means being consistent or being there for someone.  There are several things each of us can be committed to, but tonight we're going to talk about the most important commitment you man make--your commitment to God.  There are five stages I've come up with that you can be in to define your commitment with God.  I challenge you to take just a minute and really take a look at which stage you might be in:

1. You've heard the stories; you know who He is, but you haven't committed yourself to Him.  You haven't accepted Him into your life, dedicated your life to Him or been baptized.
2. You've said you've accepted Him into your life and maybe you've even been baptized, but those professions of faith were not followed by a committed life to Him.
3. You're new to the Christian faith.  You've recently accepted God into your life, been baptized, and gradually learning what it means to be committed to God.
4. You've dedicated your life to God, been baptized, walked a straight line the best you could, tried to be consistent in your commitment to Him, but you've found yourself burnt out or maybe not caring anymore.
5. You've committed your life and all aspects of your life to God.  You have your ups and downs, but you're still going strong.

Now, my second challenge for you is to take another honest look at the stage you're in and write down why you're in that stage.  Is there something keeping you from being fully committed?  Or, how do you stay fully committed?  I'd love to hear feedback!

Here is some scripture I shared with the youth girls:
Luke 9:23-25
Romans 12:2
Galatians 1:10, 5:13, 5:16-25


In Christ,
Katie Jo :)

Nothing Less Than Encouragement

In a world that is full of criticism and judgment, it's easy for us to get sucked into that kind of mindset.  Especially when you are surrounded by it a good percentage of your days.  I know, because I've been there, fully submerged.  You get to the point where nothing is ever good enough and someone's efforts are not their best.  Thankfully, God opened my eyes to the judging part several years ago--yes, I still do it--and he has more recently opened my eyes to the criticism that was so easily coming from my mouth.  Both of these areas in my life have been, and still are, gradual works-in-progress.

When most people think of the words "Judgmental" and "criticism", they usually think of Christian attitudes towards other people from all walks of life and backgrounds.  It's sad to say, but recently I've seen/heard just as much judging and criticism coming form the mouths of Christians and directed towards other Christians: whether it be a Christian who has gotten off track of their walk with God, someone saying or doing "the wrong thing", or just not living up to that person's expectations.  Once again, I am guilty of doing this in the past and more than likely in the future as well!

During these situations we tend to bring up scripture and apply it to how we think the other person (who is doing the judging and criticism) should be acting.  The most used one, in my opinion:

{Do not judge, or you too will be judged."}

-Matthew 7:1

I would like to bring you several verses of scripture that I believe God led me to last night which shows ways of responding to the judgment and criticism you face:

Love

{Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God's people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.  On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.}

-Romans 12:9-21

My question for you today, are you being an encourager or a discourager?  If you've been discouraged recently, SMILE, talk with God, read His word, and don't put your hopes in the people of things of this world; put your hope in our God who never fails!

[hope:] a strong and confident expectation that God is real, present, and working for my good, even when life spins out of control. (Becoming a Woman of Extraordinary Faith by Julie Clinton)

In Christ,

Katie

Memorial Day

So I've decided to post a quick little blog about Memorial Day.  I don't think I even really knew what this day meant until my college years.  It use to be a weekend where my Dad's family would get together, go camping, cook out, and maybe float down the river on our inner tubes.  I found some "fun facts" about Memorial Day that some people may not know.  I'm not much of a history buff myself, but here they are:

• Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, a day that was set aside to decorate the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers.
• Memorial Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1971 to take place on the last Monday in May.
• Each Memorial Day, soldiers of the U.S. 3rd infantry place American flags at over 260,000 graves at The Arlington National Cemetery.
• American flags should be flown at half mast until noon on Memorial Day, then raised to full staff until sunset.
• The National Moment of Remembrance was established in 2000.  At 3 pm on Memorial Day, Americans are asked to pause for a moment of silence to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Praying that God blesses those who have lost loved ones who served or have loved ones who are currently serving.

In Christ,
Katie J.

Fun facts retrieved from: http://nj1015.com/memorial-day-fun-facts/

Furious.

Yep, tonight Nate and I finished the night by watching Fast & Furious 6.  Does anyone else feel the need to buy a really nice car to race with after watching these movies?  It was a great movie, but it might help if I actually watch movies 2-4 now...

This morning at church went pretty well.  We had a "Place of Worship Build-Off" during Sunday School (Nate and I are youth leaders), followed by High School Senior recognition during the morning worship service.  I really do hope and pray these 8 seniors from our church are preparing themselves for the real world.  I'm 23 years old and just now started paying for all of my stuff including my phone bill and truck insurance.  Lord knows I couldn't have figured out this stuff when I was 18, much less been able to pay for it on my own.  I can't help but think that most of these 8 are going to have a real eye-opener experience once they leave mama and daddy.  But, "Life's a Dance You Learn as You Go."  There are many times where I wonder what would of happened if I had chosen several different paths after graduating high school.  Shoot, what would of happened if I hadn't grown up with all of the Christian influence and support that I have.  It's a scary thought to think.  I do thank God, because I know it was all His doing, that I have ended up where I am today.  The people I'm with, the places I'm at....It's a God thing.

(Enjoying dessert during lunch and practicing for our cake cutting in a year.)

Saturday Night Special

Hi Readers!

Due to my other blog being deleted by me changing emails, I decided to create another one!  I'm hoping to use this blog a little differently than my last one.  I would like to share more of the happenings in my life in case any of you care to read it.  What I hope you will get out of my blogs is just anything that will make your day, inspire you, or just give you something to think about.  With that being said, Goodnight!

In Christ,
Katie J. :)

(This is me playing a drum made out of buffalo skin!)