Waitressing....

Yesterday I was waitressing this table that required a lot of service, so when they left me the bare minimum tip I was pretty surprised, and a little insulted. As I was cleaning up the table however I realized that I do that to God all the time!

I understand that there are more things than money that we use to honor God, but we are commanded to tithe ten percent. Now, as a waitress, when someone only tithes ten percent, it kind of means you (as the waitress) didn't do a very good job, and therefore only deserve ten percent, the bare minimum. (Or at least that's my understanding :P)

So, when all I am doing is giving God ten percent I am only giving Him the smallest amount that I can give. I don't know what exactly I'm saying to Him through this, but whatever it is, I was challenged to not only tithe more than ten percent, but to also give more to local and foreign missions.

How can we not forgive?

So what is up today? Well…I was reading in Matthew (6 and 18) how if I can’t forgive others then God can’t (or won't) forgive me…that was pretty powerful…like, yeah, one of my friends has wronged me…but that doesn’t mean I can’t forgive them.

I have wronged Jesus a lot…I have done many sins that have broken His heart and hurt Him a lot, but He has forgiven me. In comparison to my great sins against Jesus, my friend has only sinned against me a little…I feel that if God has it in His power to forgive me then I have it in my power to forgive others…even more than that, I realized that I was being the servant who walked out of the king’s presence, forgiven with God’s grace just poured out over me, and then went and found my fellow servant to beat them and get my money back that they owed me!

I want so badly to have the grace for those around me…I have been forgiven of much, now I want to forgive much!

God, as always, is still in control!

These last few days have been kind of tough...I've really been struggling with just trusting God to be in control of my life, my dreams, hopes and aspirations! He asks us to do things sometimes that just don't make sense and are really hard...but somehow in the end (if we obey Him) I believe He works all things out for His glory! This are some words I wrote for a song (my friend wrote the music) a few years back now...It's God's words to His children, and it very much fits my life right now! Thank you God that You are patient and loving and don't give up on us!

Vs.1.
Your plans for happiness
Are nothing compared to Mine,
I have a plan for you
That will be clearer over time

Pre-chorus
And as your plans slip away
You fail to see my blessings
You hold tighter everyday
Instead of just letting go

Chorus
I see you cry again,
I see you cry again,
But I know that in the long run
You will be happier with My plan.

So as the tears fall down your face,
I will forgive you lack of faith,
And I will show you all my grace
As I unfold to you my plan

Vs. 2
And I have a gift for you
That will bring you joy and peace,
So open up your hands for Me
So that my goodness will never cease

nothing but Your blood...

Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to Your name.


I have never been much of a vision person. Normally God just speaks to me in His still small voice, it's very rare when I actually can see visions. But this is a vision God gave me when our MTS group was praying and fasting for Tlaxiaco:

I saw Jesus on the cross, and then His hand was over Tlaxiaco, and a drop of blood from His hand fell onto the city of Tlaxiaco and washed it clean.

That was it...but immediately afterward I knew what it had meant. The first thing was that God's blood was for the people of Tlaxiaco as well as everyone else...I know this is pretty basic point, but I really got a clear concept of how God died for everyone in the world, and for every single person here in Tlaxiaco! The other thing I felt it meant was that this was Tlaxiaco's time; their time to stop being blind. The light has come and it's time for them to step out of the darkness and into the light. It's time for the streets of Tlaxiaco to be cleaned by His blood!

It was just such a beautiful picture to me, and it encourages me to pray for the people here! God is a powerful God and He moves when we ask Him to, so let's start asking!!

Walking in the light...

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1: 6-7

We have been doing an inductive Bible study on the book of 1 John and this verse really spoke to me. The first thing that I got out of it was that walking in darkness keeps me from having fellowship with others around me, which explains why when I am having sin issues I struggle with getting along with my brothers and sisters in Christ. The other thing that I realized was I think that I have always thought that when I have been walking in the darkness that I have to get all cleaned up before I can walk in the light…but that’s not really true. This verse talks about how first we have to get in the light and then God cleans us. Isn’t that cool that God accepts us when we are still all dirtied up, and how in order to see out sins we have to step out into the light?

The day that I read this verse it exactly matched my life. I was going through some sin issues and wondering why all the people around me were so hard to get along with…that’s when God pulled me into the light…It wasn’t the people around me at all, it was me! I was walking in the darkness so I was blind to my own attitude and sin…but that’s where God also showed me the beauty of His grace, He accepted me back in the light before I had gotten everything right, before I was cleaned….Once that cleaning took place my fellowship with everyone around me was immediately restored…I couldn’t get over how easy everyone around me was to love. It hadn’t been them, it had been me all along!

I guess I’d never figured out how much my sin affects fellowship and unity, it just made me hate sin and fall in love with God’s awesome grace all the more! God is good and He cleverly reminds me of that so often!