Outta My Mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-xtDMDx_Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It's crazy how this song sums up how I've felt in the past.  I would always let my negative thoughts get the best of me.  They would start out small,  but soon expandem into a large gray storm cloud over my head,  and as a result life became joyless doom and gloom.  Sometimes our minds can be our own worst enemies!  Here's some fun science for the day!  When we have thoughts,  the neurons in our brain actually create pathways for those thoughts.  And the more we think certain thoughts,  the stronger these neural connections become.  So if we keep thinking negative thoughts,  the stronger those pathways and connections are and the easier it is to think negatively!  So now, I'm going to try to reconfigure my mind!!! I'm going to do my best to focus on the positive each and every day,  to strengthen those pathways, until those thoughts clear the dark clouds and finally reveal the sun.  And I'm going to give all my thoughts to God! After all,  who else has the power to transform and renew our minds? 

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will.

This verse is so common and I've heard it a million times, but for some reason it never really sank in for me. I never realized how powerful this verse really is. It reveals that if we allow God to  renew and change our mindsets, the Holy Spirit can truly transform us in great and powerful ways

God also gave us the promise of fullness!  I realized that me walking around all sad each day was not normal.  Of course people have their good days and their bad days,  their ups and their downs.  But really,  each and every day can actually be FULL of joy,  peace,  and righteousness! 

Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,  but righteousness,  peace,  and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I never knew that was possible, until recently,  thanks to Ally &  Paul:) But once we accept Christ,  we are automatically part of His kingdom,  and each day has this potential to be full of righteousness,  peace & and joy in the Holy Spirit!! Now that is a promise I am going to hold onto! I also never want to forget the joy of His salvation, because many times I do and just shove that thought and those feelings into a corner.  But no, I want it to be a new reality for me each and every day! I don't want to let the world take the one thing that makes life worth living and I don't want to satan distract me from the truth. Through Him I am made new; through Him I can fully live; through Him my shame and sin are gone; and through Him I am SAVED!!

Get me out of my mind
And into Your heart
- Anthem Lights

Drawing Nearer

I can't thank God enough for what he has been doing in my life, and in the lives of those around me. I'm just so in awe of His love!

So recently our youth group has a new leader, and she has turned out to be such a HUGE blessing in our lives. In the past, I've truly struggled with my faith and commitment to God, but I feel Him slowly, but surely, working in my heart. So I'm really excited to share about what our teacher, Ali, and her husband Paul has taught us recently about entering into worship and drawing near to God! 

So you know how sometimes during worship there's this feeling of distance from God, like there's something holding you back? Well, let's embark on this journey to enter into worship together!:)

Close your eyes and imagine this huge, beautiful, intricate door in front of you. It is the door that leads to the presence of the Lord. But when you reach out to open it....it's locked! And what's locking the door is sin. We learned in class that, most likely when we are feeling distant from God it is because of sin. I personally find that very true, because whenever I find myself falling into sin and temptation I instinctively draw further away from God, because I feel unworthy and unclean. So the first step to drawing nearer to the Lord is to repent. We ask God to not only forgive our sins, but to help show us how not to fall into the same sins again! And we can also ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any sins that we aren't aware of that are keeping us from drawing closer to God. Once we do that the door is unlocked, because God will always forgive us. He wants to let us in and draw closer to Him and He will never turn His back on us, no matter how far we think we have fallen, if we just ask for forgiveness and repent.

Now the door is unlocked, but just when you push the door open just a bit, you find something is blocking you! On the other side of the door there are multiple heavy blocks, keeping you from being able to fully open the door- and these blocks represent all of our earthly cares!

Matthew 13:22

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

The cares and worries of this world choke His word and distract us from God. Maybe during worship, certain random thoughts might pop into our heads such as..what should I wear tomorrow? Oh no, I need to study for my biology test tomorrow... Man, I need to take care of this, this and that later.. and hmm, what's for lunch? I know that I've found my mind wandering and distracted by worries of this world during worship many times! And that has also really hindered me from entering into worship with God. So just shout it out and cast all of your cares to God and give Him all of your burdens- whether it be about your school, finances, or the future- we can just surrender our hearts and all of our worries to Him, trusting that He will take care of us. It is truly a LOAD of our backs!

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Now all of those heavy blocks are finally out of the way! And we can now open the door! But as we walk along the pathway we find ourselves in front of gates! To open theses gates all we need to do is take time to thank God and praise Him. 

Psalm 100:4

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.

We can thank Him for even the simplest things, such as a roof over our heads, friends, family, food, even for our toilets! And as we keep thinking about what we can be thankful for, more and more things just keep flowing! There really is so much we can thank God for in our lives. Then we can spend some time exalting God's name and just praising Him for who He is! And it's awesome, because it says in the Bible that angels take all of our praises and carry them up to God in heaven!

It has been a long journey, but now that we have done all of these things, we can finally enter into worship- a place of complete and utter awe for God. And in this place, amazing things such as miracles and healing happen when we pray!

So many times I have felt distant during worship and I have had no clue how to open that door and get closer to God. So I'm extremely thankful to have learned about such simple but powerful steps to drawing nearer to Him! Doing these simple steps daily for just a couple of minutes, a few times a week, while listening to some praise & worship music, has really helped me a lot in my relationship with God. 

So here are the steps once more

1) Repent

2) Cast your cares

3) Thankfulness

4) Praise

5) Worship

I hope that through this, you can also draw nearer to Him!:)