Coffee With Christ: Who is God?

It's been a while since I wrote here. I have been very busy the past few weeks, and every time I have sat down to write I  have hit a wall. And although I have some other things to do today, I am here to write. It's been a blessed few weeks, especially since I am able to spend time with my brother who just graduated from United States Marine Corps boot camp. I could not be more proud of him, the stories he tells are funny and crazy. (See photos from the graduation on Still Adventure). Even though I've spent the week he is here going to class and doing homework, it's still wonderful to have him around for a few days.

February will hold a slight change of post content. March 1st is Self Injury Awareness Day and it has been laid on my heart to do a sort of "awareness campaign". Every week in February, I will be sharing stories of girls that I have met who struggle with self harm. Not only their struggle, but their victory in overcoming it. I will finish off on March 1st with my story, and how you can make a difference for those around you struggling. I think it will be good!


Now that we know what's going on in my life, I am excited to be starting a theme of devotionals to put up here. As I was thinking on this post the past few weeks, I wrote down an idea in my notebook. I completely forgot about it until I found it the other night.

I always talk about God, His goodness, the hope He gives, and the love that never ceases. However, I realized that some of you who may read this have no idea who God is. I find that not very many people know who God really is. It would take centuries for me to list and discuss all of the things God is, but I can take some time to talk about a few. Later on, I will get into more detail of certain characteristics, but today we will cover a few. God is so wonderful, and without Him I would be nothing. It breaks my heart that few know who He is. As a Christian, as one who has basked in the love of God and who has also taken it for granted, I am compelled to tell as many as I can about His wonderful love, and many other attributes. Once we know these, we understand why we must turn to Him and give Him our all.

I found these verses, and they have so much in them. It's beautiful. Read with an open heart, and let God use this scripture to work in you. Maybe you have already given Him your heart, but you're struggling with something, surrendering a certain part of your life to the Lord, or maybe you are simply forgetting His goodness.

Now grab your favorite mug with your favorite coffee/tea and let's read about God together.

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel 2:12-13

Gracious

It is defined as 'showing divine grace', but what does grace mean? 'The free and unmerited favor of God'. 

The Lord is gracious. God, the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the one Who created the universe finds in His heart to bestow His favor onto us, the undeserving ones. He looks past our sins, our denial of Him, our rejection, our lies, our cruelty, and He favors us. Not only those who have trusted in Him, He favors those who do not know His name. He favors those who out rightly degrade and blaspheme Him. He favors you, the broken and weary, the strung out and tired, the angry and hurt. 

God is gracious. God favors you. 

Merciful

Mercy is to forgive when it is within one's capability and rights to punish. God has the right to punish us, the right to send us to an eternal death for our sins. Yet, He paved a beautiful way to mercy and forgiveness. God sent His only Son to die a painful death, to suffer in anguish and be beaten, to have His beard ripped out and to bear all of the world's sins. A death that you and I deserve. However, all me and you have to do is accept the mercy that God is full of, and walk the paved way to Paradise. 

God is merciful. He will forgive you instead of punish you.

Slow to Anger 

How holy and worthy of our respect is the Creator. He desires for us to give Him honor, glory, praise, to follow Him unwavering, to obey always, to never falter in our faith in Him. Do we? Rarely ever. Does He deserve those things from us? Always. The anger that should be bubbling up from Him because we do not love Him as we are told to should be massive. Yet, He is slow to anger. He does not send fire and brimstone down from heaven when we say we hate Him. He looks down on us with a broken heart and calls us to Him.

God is slow to anger. 

Of Great Kindness

Too many people on earth have the idea that my God is a big mean One, Who looks down on us and scoffs at our stupidity, a God Who will send you to hell without blinking an eye, a God Who hates and wants to destroy. A God Who makes rules that are impossible to keep just so He can watch us fail. How unfortunate are those who think that. The God I know is a kind God. He is One that provides for me, Who feeds me and clothes me and knows the number of hairs on my head. One that blesses me with people and things I do not deserve. One that guides me through life and picks me up when I fall. 

God is kind. He is kind to the forgiven, and to the sinner.

Repents Us of the Evil

Repent means to literally turn away from. Me, you, your mom and dad, your boyfriend, your husband, your girlfriend, your grandmother, we are all walking down the road to evil. Not purposefully always, but we don't know that there is another way. Our Creator, the One who paved the New Way, will take us and turn us away from the evil, and set us on the way to Holiness. We must be willing, though. He is only waiting for you and I to say 'Lord, please! Turn me away from this life, give me new hope!', and after that, He will  put us on that Way to Paradise.

God will turn you from the evil. He will set you on the Right path.

Now that we know these sweet and beautiful characteristics of God, what are we to do about it? It is simple: 

Turn to Him with all of your heart. 

God wants you. He wants your heart, your desires, your dreams and passions, your sorrows, your brokenness, your sadness, your anger and hatred. Once you give it to Him, He will make your heart whole and fill you with love. 

Turn to Him, that's all. 

Inspiration, Motivation, Striving for the Best

This year, I made a list of things to do while I am 17. I have been a halfhearted, good enough person for my entire life. A person who does 'good enough' but not 'the best'. Someone who quits when I feel like it, a person who does not push to the breaking point. In school, I did well, but not my best, in the gym, I went hard, but not the hardest, in my music, I played passionately, but not the most passionately. I decided that that is enough halfhearted, weak attempts. I decided that dreams are not caught by jogging comfortably, but by sprinting until your heart bursts out of your chest. I decided to give everything everything I have in me, to try my best and then do better.

After deciding this I was faced with the mountain of a question: How?
How in the world do I give every single part of me to every single aspect of my life, my dream, my passion?

How am I supposed to give everything in me to my life when I can't even wake up before 9 a.m.? How am I supposed to sprint after my dreams when I absolutely hate cardio?

I believe in dreams, and going after them.  I have written about this before, but right now I feel like I need to write more about this. It seems like people are afraid to chase their dreams, or believe that they aren't sensible. I feel like people say "I always wanted to do that...", but I am asking "Why didn't you?" I refuse to be an 80 year old woman wishing I had done the things I dreamed of doing. I refuse to be married and have 3 kids and wish I went on that crazy road trip with my friends after high school. I refuse to let dreams just be dreams. I want stories, I want boldness.

It takes a lot of work and exhaustion to give your all to your passions and chase after those dreams hard. It takes motivation and a smart mindset.

Today, not only reminding you, but reminding myself, I'm going to share motivation to chase those beautiful dreams you have in your sweet little hearts.

I'm not going to lie, sprinting, jogging,  and even walking after your dream is such a difficult, tiring journey. Discouragement is so easy to catch and so hard to shake. I say that because yesterday, when I first began this post, my heart was all aflutter and my 'dream shoes' were laced up, and I was sprinting after my dream all morning. And today, I am feeling utterly discouraged and inadequate to chase my dream.

That hurts, a whole lot.

It's actually quite terrifying being a dream chaser.

Let's get our favorite coffee mug (I have several), and go over a few pointers.

Stay Focused

As we sprint, we see on the side lines the few people cheering us on. We see that new person, who is possibly over-enthusiastic. We slow down to take a closer look, and the next thing we know we're stopped in the middle of the Dream Marathon having a chit chat with this new supporter. Suddenly we're falling behind, and we try to catch up. Then, taking a look back, we see the new, over enthusiastic supporter is farther in the back, and walking away from the trail. Stay focused. Let those who cheer you on cheer, keep your eyes ahead, looking toward the Prize.

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." philippians 3.14

Don't Be Discouraged

If you have run any length, you know that the time drags on. 5 minutes can seem like half an hour, and you get discouraged, ready to quit before the time is up. However, discouragement can occasionally be good (if it is not too much discouragement). When you are discouraged, stop and take a breather. Ask yourself, 'Why am I discouraged?", and then make changes. Are you discouraged because you are thirsty? Drink some water:

"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." john 4.14

Are you hungry? Eat some bread:

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger;..." john 6.35

Are you tired? Rest, sweet one:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." matthew 11.28

 We cannot run endlessly without resting, re-hydrating, and carb loading. Jesus is the sweetest and most fulfilling place to do so. Don't give up, rest, and run a little further.

Believe in the Creator

I put 'believe in yourself', and then I realized, we can do nothing, absolutely nothing. We cannot run without the legs He created, or the lungs He drew, or the heart He built. It is only by the grace and mercy of our Savior that we even have dreams or hearts to chase them. It is only Him that can give us the strength and support we need to follow our dreams. So I do not say to you, "Believe in yourself, you can do it!" but rather, "Lean on God, He will give you strength and provide you with the means to accomplish what you desire." 

"The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed." psalm 28.8

Give Your All

What is done well, that is not done fully? If you have a dream, yet you do not give your all to it, then how do you expect to accomplish it? I have concluded that the only way to give my everything to everything, is to give my everything to Jesus. I am not my own person, I am His Dream Chaser. What I have to offer to the things I am passionate about is nothing unless I have given it to the Potter to mold and form into worth while art. First, give your heart, your dreams, your passions and desires to the One Who gave them to you, and He will surely help you sprint after them. What you have accomplished, you have not done so on your own. Give Jesus everything. 

"Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength." 1 chronicles 16.28

Now go and chase your dreams, or rest, or surrender so that you can start chasing. 

Coffee with Christ: Healing

There comes a point in time when we lose our childish, carefree ways, and begin to feel and think. When we reach this point, we are exposed to the great vulnerability of getting hurt.

There is the minor hurt, the scrapes and bruises on our hearts when friends don’t invite us to sleep overs or someone says something rude about you. Then there is the slightly more painful hurt, the hurt of foolishly falling for a boy and thinking you’re in love, making a mistake that you should have thought through. Finally comes the big pain, the pain that ripples through you and causes you to weep. Whether it’s losing a loved one, a child or husband, or someone taking from you that was not theirs to take, someone you trust betraying you in a large way, maybe it’s even getting put out of your home because your parents can’t take care of you, or your dad not loving you the way he should and being completely selfish, leaving you in the dust. This is the pain that does not so easily go away. This is no longer “band-aid” pain, but stitches and sutures, when much antibiotics are needed, and still you get infected.

We get infected with bitterness, depression, indifference, selfishness, hate. All because one person inflicted a seemingly unforgivable pain on us. Instead of the prescribed antibiotics we go to the drugs and alcohol, and even self harm and suicide.

We have all experienced this kind of pain. If you haven’t, you will. With this pain comes the hopelessness of never being healed. We try to look for a time where we won’t be broken into a million little pieces, we hang on to the “time heals all wounds” that everyone is telling us. All we see in the future is more pain, and the healing never arriving.

There is no “time healing all wounds”, there is only “getting used to having a gaping hole in my leg”. There is no hope for being healed, not for those who don’t know about the Christ, the Healer of all wounds.

Oh, but this is to the broken and hopeless and the ones in pain. I am not here to tell you there is no hope of healing, I am not here to tell you to get used to it. I have been in your place. I am young, and have not been through the worst, but I have experienced the unforgivable pain. But I have found hope, I have found healing. It takes a while, for the cells to grow back and to be healed enough to no longer need stitches.

There is Someone Who is skillful enough to bind up and heal any wound, no matter how severe, no matter how hopeless.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

“He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction” Psalms 107:20

“And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.” Matthew 19:2

Jesus was a healer during His time on earth. Thousands of people would crowd around Him just to touch the hem of his coat and be healed. He healed the blind, the lame, diseased, the demon-possessed. He brought people back from the dead! I know what you may be thinking. I’m not blind or lame or dead, I don’t need that kind of healing. Besides, Jesus is not even on Earth to provide the healing I need.”  And you’re right, you don’t need that healing, and He is not on Earth. But Broken and Wounded, Christ is in Heaven, waiting and anxious to give you the healing you need. He will lead you to forgive, and show you what love is. It is such a simple request we must put in, and such a sweet reply.

“ O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.” Psalm 30:2

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.” Jeremiah 17:14

“And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’” Matthew  8:7

Take a moment with me, and think on those words, I will come and heal him. How sweet they are, how powerful. All we must do is cry to God, cry for help, cry for healing, and He will come.

Even when we feel as though we don’t deserve healing, even when the pain is our own fault.

“Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.” Psalm 103:3

“I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.” Hosea 14:4

Christ heals, not because we deserve it, but because He loves us.

My Dear Broken Friend,

I am right next to you in line for this healing. I am not put together, I am not a cleaned up nor am I a perfect Christian. My brokenness hurts, and my wounds come back to prevent the good things of the Lord. However, healing is here! It is so readily available, and it is free, it is good, and it is oh so sweet.  I close with the sweetest scripture I have found. The words are written so beautifully, and they are filled to the brim with truth.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:21-25

As we go through our day, and begin this new year, let us always have hope. Hope of healing, hope of love, hope of joy. Let us always be waiting for the Lord, let us seek Him and His sweet and pure healing.

Don’t just read these verses and forget, think on them, pray on them, let the One who loves endlessly heal you.