What is our purpose?

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my purpose really is while I am here. I really hope that I am fulfilling my purpose, and I guess I will never really know until I am with my maker. But, I am going to try my hardest to do what I feel I am called to do. I am also going to try my hardest to work for the creature of the universe than for just doing what I am doing to accomplish a task at work. I know that it can be easy around here to get distracted by our tasks and not focus on what we are ultimately here to do.

I pray that God will continue to guide me as to where I am suppose to be serving him, whether it be in the church, at a non-profit, or getting married an being an at-home mom. Whatever it is, I want to follow him wherever he leads me, trying to live out my purpose here on earth.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
-Micah 6:8

I know I have used this verse before, but I truly believe that God has called us to do 3 simple things that society makes so much more complicated. I hope to follow this verse throughout my entire life and strive for eternal "acceptance" rather than earthly "acceptance." I feel like up until now I have focused on what others have thought and how many friends I have, but what is that going to look like when I get to heaven. What am I going to say to God, "well, I didn't spend as much time with you, in your word, in prayer, and serving you because I was too busy trying to be accepted by others on earth." I really hope that when I get to heaven the Lord says, "well done my good and faithful servant." I would rather have a few close christian friends and dive more into knowing and serving the Lord more than having earthly acceptance.

I know I struggle with this and hope that with discipline and help of other Christians I can continue to strive to live out God's purpose for my life.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5-6

I pray that I can follow these 2 key passages, both the one from Micah and Proverbs. I need a life change, a change to follow Christ with all that I have, not what is left over and live out what God's purpose is for my life...

Letting Life Pass Me By...

I was looking back at the last few months since I have been here and I have realized that I have not really been living life to the fullest. I have just been going through the motions of my day to day tasks. I do love my job and the people I work with, but since I work so much I find it hard to go out and find Christian friends that I can live life and be open with struggles that I am having.

I have also realized I am really good at putting on the facade of looking like I have it all together. But underneath I am screaming for help, I have so many questions and problems. I keep suppressing them so no one will think that I am not good enough.

A few years ago I attended a winter retreat where we talked a lot about exploring your sins and learning to expose them, get help, and grow from that. That was such a life changing weekend for me. But as I look at my life since them I have realized that I have reverted back to hiding everything that I am struggling with to make it look like I don't have any problems.

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." - James 5:16

God is so good!

I think I have made the right decision to move to Greensburg and God is showing me in little ways. Such as: finding this great place to move into in my price range, the blessing of the family that I am renting off being so hospitable, and the amazing peace I have in this move. Everything has been a smooth transition from the move being relatively easy for having to move on my own, to getting all of my bills and other things set up after I moved.

My family has been such a blessing as well- from the time I told them I was moving they have been supportive of trying to help me find a place from just hearing about it and played a big part in my deciding on the place I did. And since I have decided my mom has been a HUGE help in getting me stuff for my place since I have never officially lived on my own and had to get my own stuff. I am so blessed to have such a great family that is supportive of whatever I choose to do.

Greensburg is a great city as well! It has so much more than where I live before and more people my age! I am excited to start making friends and get more aquatinted with this place.

Tomorrow is my first Sunday at work and I am excited to start meeting people from the church and to see what their service is like! I am also very excited to work for Lieutenants DeMichaels, they are great people and I feel I will learn A LOT from them! I will have my own office, phone line, and a lot more resources. God is so good and I am so glad he is leading me here, I know I was doubting for a bit, but thank God that He knows what's best for me!!

I need to keep going back to one of my favorite passages:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5-6

He truly has made my path straight and that led me here to Greensburg and I could not be happier. I pray that I can continue to follow Him and trust him with ALL of my heart!

Joy

I have been realizing lately that I have found myself to complain a lot. For some reason I am always looking at the bad side of things instead of what could be or the opportunities. Just looking back I am frustrated with myself for getting that far into complaining and having a complaining spirit. God recently brought me back to a simple but profound Psalm:

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
- Psalm 100

We should always be joyful for what the Lord has provided for us and never take it for granted. We need to continually thank Him for what he has done in our lives and where He is leading us. Ultimately His will for our life will happen if we let it. I feel like when I complain I am not really see what God has put in my life and what He is trying to show me, instead I need to always choose joy and have a thankful heart!

Choosing Joy

Last Sunday God really taught me a lesson, not only did He show me I had a complaining attitude, He also reminded me I need to choose joy when situations arise.

It all started when I was waiting for church to start, I had gotten to the church and was mad that people were there early because they forgot to set their clocks back and that I was going to have to sing alone songs that I barely knew (even though I had picked them out). Then, a friend of mine sent me a text that said "Happy Sunday" and I replied back complaining about how bad my Sunday had started out and as I sent that text, God reminded me how much I had been complaining lately. So I grabbed some coffee and went out to the front steps and started to pray and God was really laying on my heart that I needed to start choosing joy and stop complaining, life is not going to change from me complaining all the time. When church starts I go up to sing and I feel like I blew it, but I didn't care, I sang for God while I was up there and that is all that matters. Then Captain starts his message and talks about the man with leprosy and how even though we don't have the physical leprosy, we all have a form of it ourselves- boom, again, mine being complaining. The message was just what I needed to hear. After the service I went up to Captain and first of all thanked him for the great message and told him I was sorry for my attitude at work. My co-workers did not need to here the complaining I was doing.

Then today, the day started out great, but when I got home from work I just got really frustrated and had to leave my house, I went over to a friends house and hung out for a bit, then I left and went for a ride and got to talk to my friend about a topic that is on both our hearts lately (love, relationships, and being lonely) and from that got me thinking about it with the chain of events after work and me thinking about this topic we were just talking about brought my spirits down. It was then time to head off to bible study, I ended up getting there a little early, so I was flipping through my bible and came across these verses
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."- James 1:2-8

Man that verse hit me, again reminding me when I get down about something or when I am going through trials that I need to choose joy (another reminder) and that I need to preserver through it. I am so blessed to have a God who loves me so much that the devil is trying his hardest get in, but God always brings it back.

I just have to give all my anxieties to God and trust that He is taking care of it in HIS TIME, not ours and through that we can choose joy!