Links to check out this week:

http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/godly-contentment/
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/godly-discontentment/

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/10996/

http://thedoghousediaries.com/

Check these out this week! If you've got some good links of your own to share leave them in a comment below!

God, Why?

This last month has been a very challenging month for me. As some of you had heard, my cousin was in a tragic accident and she died on Sept.11. No words can explain the pain that I have felt with this whole situation. There are many days that I just want to cry and not stop, and then there are the days that I do not think about it. Many people would ask, “well why aren’t you focusing on the positive things you have done with her”...it’s a lot easier said then done. During this time of pain and hurt, I have been upset, frustrated and have most defiantly asked God, “why?” Why did my cousin who was only 14 have to die? Why are her sisters left with no older sister to look up too? Why was a girl, who was genuinely such as nice, loving, person have to leave a world that she could have made a much larger impact then what she had already did? God, why? 

I know that God loves and that he is comforting our family. I know that, I believe it. But, as a human, I still have questions, frustrations and am just confused on why things like this happen. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives, and that God has been and will continue to work in this situation. I have seen glimpses of him working in the lives of my family members. You know how it is when you are kinda mad at a friend and you don’t really want to talk to them, but you know you should because it will make things better? That is where I am at right now with God. I do want to talk with Him, as I know he is my support. But my human nature wants to blame something, which I have to constantly remind myself not to do.  I am being completely honest with you guys as I want you to know that I am a person, I have struggles, but God is good. Even as I have struggled to pursue my relationship more with God during this difficult time, I have taken the time to do a devotion every morning. Do I feel like reading it? No, not all the time. But, every time I do, God reminds me of different promises he has given us. I would say within the past week, 3 out of the 5 times I have read something, there is a promise like “God will be your strength”, “God helps us in our struggles”, and so on.

I want you to recognize that it is okay to have struggles and that we all will have them at sometime. The thing I want you to recognize though is how you are dealing with it and are you turning to God or just choosing to blame him? I have cried, I have written my frustrations, I have talked to many people I trust, I have prayed. Whatever struggle, or hardship that you may be going through, God is our provider and he will help us in this time of our life. 

Praying for each of you, and if you have struggles or things you are going through, be sure to email/facebook/get in contact with one of us leaders. We are here for you!

Love you all!

Michelle

I’M ENGAGED!!!!!!!

Woooooo! I’d be pumped to tell you guys all about the proposal and everything when we reunite (which shall be amazing!) and how we met but for now I will just say that I’m just so looking forward to spending our lives together! … wait no, I have to tell you more im just too excited!!!:

We had known each other for a long time and were actually seeing each other during the summer. After camp it has just been amazing! As we have gotten to know each other better and better, we’ve spent more and more time together and my love for my, now fiancé, kept growing I knew that I had to make a move. I had actually known for a long time that we would be together forever. I think some of you figured out I was engaged already while you were at LDP this summer but I just wanted to fill the rest of you in. 

Anyway’s Im really looking forward to being together again cause the next time that’ll happen is our wedding day so it sometimes feels long but it’s gonna be so worth it because I know that my fiancé is perfect for me, like PERFECT. Like He is WAY better than I ever imagined! You guys will love Him!

He? Him?

Yup. 

One name.
Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus has been blowing my mind lately. I NEED his love and so I plead with him to show me more, and you know what? He does! (as he promises Jer. 29:13-14) As I’ve been talking with Him, He has been giving me some even bigger revelations of how I am His bride, we are His bride. You have got to get this: YOU are the beloved of the God of the universe. YOU, get to marry Jesus! It’s nothing sexual or anything like that at all. God is not a sexual being after all, it’s way better than that! But God chose the image of a marriage because of the picture of intimacy we understand when we think about it that way. God desires to have our love completely - for Him to be our single love - and it becomes so easy when we know how much He loves us. 

As I have been looking at the bible and studying, I found this video which talks about what I’ve been learning. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eOaWb7AIVVc

Crazy right?! The king of kings has proposed to YOU, He paid YOUR bride price for the opportunity for us to say yes to Him. He has sent us His Spirit as our comforter and helper until we meet Jesus face to face!

Every day lately has seemed like there is so much I want to get done and so little time to do it all! Can anyone relate? It starts getting hard to spend time alone with Jesus, you start going through your day forgetting about His presence completely and things get stressful. Isn’t it funny how stress always follows those first two.

Ephesians 1:10-11 [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages, to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose,… (AMP)

As I have been finding that God’s love for me is real - that He would want to make ME heritage, that he would want ME to be united with Him in heaven - all of my stresses seriously just fade to nothing and all of my worries are gone! Perfect love truly does cast out all fear! (1 John 4:18) God desired to make YOU heritage, so that YOU would be united with Him in heaven! I’m so excited to make myself totally ready for the wedding day when Jesus comes to get me; and that preparation and growing passion for Jesus is just between you and Him! You don’t have to do anything, you can just sit and BE with Him and fall deeper in love with Him!

It will you blow your mind how many parallels there are to what Jesus did at the ‘last supper’ and the culture of weddings in those days. It sure did for me, there was so many that I didn’t know were there and they are quite significant because it gives us so much better understanding of His love for us! If you want to check out more http://www.wildolive.co.uk/weddings.htm is fantastic!

What Im listening to: Song of the Lamb - Harvest Bashta http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=acxHngMnezQ

She has put up her EP for FREE at http://noisetrade.com/harvestbashta/make-us-ready to spread her own music! (don’t worry it’s a legit site)

-Seth

What I Love More Than God

   Watching the beautiful sunset this evening reminded me of the amazing and creative God that we serve, and my heart began to worship. It's in moments like that, moments of heart surrendered worship, that I can say that I love God above all else. He has the #1 and central position in my heart and life. 

   But, if I'm honest, there are also times when I love things more than God. Over the past few weeks God has been showing me more areas in my life where idolatry has crept in, and slowly pushed Him out. God has been calling me to surrender my control, my fear, my personal space and stuff (our house), and my insecurity in unknown social situations. Let me explain.

  As camp was wrapping up this past summer my mind started to think about moving back to Brandon and all the opportunities that may be waiting. When thinking about how to connect with our coworkers and friends that don't know Jesus, or don't know Him well, an idea came to me. We should start a bible study group (we call them Life Groups at our church) for new Christians and people who want to know more about God. Cody thought the idea was great and we decided to get it started shortly after moving back to Brandon. 

 I was SO excited about the Life Group... until a few days before the first one. Then things got real. That's when the worry began to set in. 

Worry that no one would show up. 

Worry that it would be so awkward if people did show up. 

Worry that they wouldn't like the snack that I made, or the house wouldn't be clean enough. 

Worry that we wouldn't have the answers to the questions that they might ask. 

Worry that we'd fail in communicating who Jesus is to people who have never heard before. 

And the whole time I was worrying I just kept hearing God's gentle voice saying, “I got this. I'm the One leading this Life Group, I'm the One working on these people's hearts. I'm the One in control.”

   And finally I listened. Finally I surrendered control, our house, and my insecurities to Him. I worshipped my God by giving Him the Life Group that was already His in the first place. I finally laid down my idols of control, comfort and security.

So now every Wednesday Cody and I open our home to whoever wants to come and learn more about our great God. We pray, we invite our friends and coworkers, and we wait expectantly for God to move. I'm so excited for what God may do through this Life Group!

    It really isn't easy giving up an idol.  And I'd like to say that that was the last of my idolatry, that I will always love God more than anything else. But I know that my heart is prone to wander and that idolatry will most likely creep in again in my lifetime. But I want God to be the thing I love more than anything else in this life. So I will let God tear down every idol that I place up before Him.  And I want to encourage you guys to do the same.  If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of an idol in your life, give it up to God.  Only God deserves our worship. 

This video is funny, but it holds a lot of truth.  We often love things more than we love God, even if we don't admit it.  

Enjoy!  

 

What is something you love more than God?  

Let us know in the comments below