Intimacy with God.

In an older post about Intimacy I stated that there are many different forms of intimacy, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Last night at Bible Study Pastor Marvin said something important. He said he and Georgine have a level of intimacy they wouldn't have without knowing each other in and out. They spent time getting to know each other. That is the same kind of relationship we need with God. We need to form a high level of intimacy with God that surpasses every other relationship we have. A spiritual intimacy with God is the highest form of spiritual intimacy we can have.

We need to be closer to God on all aspects of life then we are with even the closest person in our life. We need to learn everything we can about God. We need to know him inside and out. We need to let him into our lives for all aspects of life, the good and the bad. Many people just want God around during certain points of life. Some want him when there are bad things, some want him only during the good. While some blame him for the bad and take credit for the good.

While we try to achieve a certain intimacy with the people in our lives we need to be focusing more on gaining a higher level of intimacy with God. Why would we want anything less?

Is It Enough

The other night Todd and I went out for our birthday. yes we share the same birthday, but anyway we went to Buca Di Beppo for dinner with a few of our friends: well less than a few Donya, Tom and Michael. While Todd and Tom were putting our name in for another restaurant, were we could just sit and talk without so much noise, Donya, Michael and I were talking about relationships and Michael asked a question I thought was interesting. He asked "When does it come to a point when you say 'I've had enough It's not working." After he said that I got to thinking, that doesn't have to apply to our romantic relationships. When does it come to a point in our lives when we say "I've had enough, I cannot do this, it's not working...I need God." We always try to do things our way, but is there a time when we say it's enough.

We let things get to a certain point before we say "your will not mine." And the question I ask is when does it become enough? Jesus even said to God before he was crucified: "Father if you are willing please take this cup of suffering from me. Yet I want your will not mine." Jesus wanted God's will for his life even if it meant that he needed to die. How often do we say that unless life gets too unbearable for us to do it on our own? Or does the struggles go too bad that people tend to walk away from God?

I have had some people ask me how could I still trust God when I was dealing with cancer at such a young age. All I could answer was it was his will. He had a plan for me and for some reason part of the plan was for me to have cancer at this age. He also healed me within months. People see a miracle when they see me. I wanted God's will not mine. I felt like Jesus saying take this cup of suffering from me, but I wanted his will so I went through all the emotions, and feelings and experiences that cancer has to offer.

Anyway when does it become enough for us to say fine have it your way as most people say. God has a plan for all of our lives, everything that happens happens for a reason as part of his will and his plan. So my question to you is: Is it enough? Has it come the time when YOU need say Your will be done, not mine.

Opportunities

Saturday night Todd and I went to a baseball game with my family. Its almost the end of the season for the Wildthings so we went to see them play. Well, I got to be the fan of the game, which means I got to throw out t-shirts to the crowd. It was fun. I mention this because Dutch says a little something about you before throwing the shirts. I wasn't going to say anything about the cancer, but something inside told me to, so I did. He shouted that I was a cancer survivor and on my way back to my seat a lady came up to me. She has a friend who is dealing with Lymphoma as well. A young man of 24 which was how old I was when I found out about mine. Odd. But she wanted me to give him a call to give him some words of encouragement.

God gives us different opportunities to make a difference in someone's life. If I didn't sign up for the fan of the night, or ignore the feeling to have Dutch say I was a cancer survivor, I would never have this chance to talk to another Lymphoma warrior about God and how He is the great physician. We need to pay attention to that little something telling us to something: many times it's God telling us to do it because he has a plan with what He wants to happen. God gives us these open opportunities to do His will...He makes it easy sometimes. I wanted to start giving others encouragement and now is my chance. I don't what I am going to say to him, but I am not worried about it, I am praying that God gives me the words to say to help encourage him.

Not only does this opportunity help this young man but it helps me for when more people come to cancer support group. Sometimes we think that little voice is ourselves and ignore it. But sometimes it's just so strong that we can't.

Thankfulness

A dear friend of mine writes on The Sweet Diabetic blog, and once a week she lists things she is thankful for. I think it is a great thing that she does and it really makes me think about what am I thankful for. God wants us to give thank as well as praise, and honor. Psalm 75:1 tells us "We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds." We should always give God thanks for the many things He has blessed us with in our lives. So I am going to que from my dear Sweet Diabetic and list some things that I am thankful for.

1. Having a great church
2. Having a wonderful man in my life
3. Being cured of cancer
4. Having the ability to write
5. Sunsets and the ability to catch them on film.
6. My friends who support me no matter what
7. My family who love me no matter what
8. The ability to have gone to college and get a good education
9. My faith, I thank God for the struggles in life that strengthened my faith
10. Lastly I thank God for my life. Just for the fact that He created me and loves me no matter what I do in life.

What are some of the things that you are thankful for in life? No matter who you are or what you have, be sure to thank God for the things in life, and even the bad things because we always learn from the bad things in life. I mean I had a friend call and thank me for my friendship and not judging her. Just be sure to give thanks to God for all the blessings, and not just on Thanksgiving or at church.

Listen

The other day a friend of mine called she was very upset, but wanted to thank me for my friendship. She was going through a rough time with one of her friends who honestly was not being much of a friend. This friend of hers was threatening to reveal some secrets to my friend's husband. While I don't agree with some of the things my friend has done, I could never imagine doing that. I tell her what I think and the Godly way to handle things and leave it at that. I listen to what she needs to say when she's upset and many of the times I don't try to force her to do something different as many other people would try to do.

When I think about people wanting their friends to listen and just console them by listening to them, I think of Job. He wanted his friends to listen to him, and all they did was tell him he must have sinned greatly against God and made him angry. Finally in Chapter 21 verse 2 Job tells his friends "You can console me by listening to me. Bear with me and let me speak." Job wanted his friends to just shut up and listen to his despair. Sometimes we need someone to listen to our pain. When I dealt with cancer all I wanted was someone to listen to me when I wanted to rant and rave. Our friends want the same thing. They want us to listen to them when they need an ear.

One of the greatest ways we can show the love of God is to console our friends and family by simply listening to them. Who wants someone to constantly tell them when they are doing something wrong or trying to give them advice all the time? Wouldn't you want your friends to just listen to what you need to say so shouldn't we do the same for our loved ones? Job was in such despair and his friends weren't very consoling, instead I think they just made matters worse, and made Job feel even more depressed. They never once tried to lift him up or just listen to what he had to say. God needs us to be a source of comfort for the people in our lives, and part of that is to just shut up and listen.

Beacon Of Light

I have this friend from high school that I talk to from time to time and try to be a beacon of light for her. Sometimes I feel like I have failed because it would be months before I talk to her again. I know there are things in her life that she needs and wants to change and in the past I have been there for her, but lately I kind of backed off for some reason. I won't go into the story of her situation because that's neither here nor there. But my heart goes out to her and know that she will find the comfort she needs in Jesus.

Last night she called and we talked about things one of which being the situation she is in at the moment, and I just invited her to church. Sadly she said she couldn't come this weekend but I hope she can within the next couple of weeks. I do want to be a beacon for her as we all should be to our friends. It's part of witnessing to them about Jesus. We listen to them, invite them to Bible Study and church and if you are younger: youth group. Being a beacon of God's love to someone else can help us grow in our own faith in Jesus. I love my friend very much and I want her to see and feel the comfort and peace I get from Jesus, so why wouldn't I tell her about him and invite her to church? Honestly why wouldn't we witness to our friends and family. I know it's hard sometimes and things inhibit us from doing so.

But witnessing isn't just talking about Jesus to them, but inviting them to church, Bible Study, fellowship, and more. I know she has seen God's love through me because of our conversations, and that I listen to her without judging her actions, along with how I treat others. She sees my life so she sees Jesus. That's how our lives should be. People should get a glimpse of God through how we act, react, and live our lives.

My Redeemer Lives

I have to say my Wednesday night Bible studies are the best. I don't think I could survive the week without them. It's like a boost of energy for not just my spiritual side, but all aspects of my life. While my own Bible studies help, the fellowship with others and the insight of my Pastors are always an added bonus and just makes my week. For the past couple of months we have been working our way through Job. We focused on Chapter 19 last night. I admit Job is one of my favorite stories, second to the story of Ester. But chapter 19 Job talks of his plight and how his friends aren't acting like friends.

It was towards the end that made me really think. Verses 25 to 27 says I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! Now remember here is Job: he lost his family, his wealth, and his health. He's sitting there with boils on his body, stinky, puss oozing out and other stuff. He always talked of his depression and despair. He asked God why, but he never once blamed God. Those verse are proof that he still praised God. Even though he might not be referring to Jesus, he knew God would redeem him through all this.

How often through our own hardships do we give God praise? How often do we say "my redeemer lives?" When we go through some hardship we tend to blame God saying he caused them this strife. They think they are being punished for their sin or that God is just mad at them. God always has a reason for us to go through some hardship and struggle in our lives. We always learn and grow from our struggles and suffering. I know it's hard to keep a focus on that there is a good reason for our struggles and that God will see us through. Job said he is overwhelmed at the thought of getting to see God. When my uncle was dying of cancer, that is what he said. He was excited that he would get to see Jesus finally. Sure he was upset that he wouldn't be here with us, but he knew God had other plans. Sometimes it is hard to praise God through hardships, hard to see that there is something good that could come out of the experience, but we need to try and place our focus on God.

That is what church, fellowship, Bible Studies, prayer meetings, and other things churches may offer are so important. They help us keep our focus on God instead of ourselves. Job knew God loved him and wouldn't abandon him in his time of need. He just asked God why and after a while said he knew God would save him at some point. It might not be today, tomorrow or next week, but God will answer our prayers if it is in his will. He will save us from our struggles and hardships. It may not be what we think it would be. The point is that we need to keep in mind that God will be there for us, he doesn't make us go through hardships as punishment or out of anger. He does it out of love and wants to help us grow stronger in faith through the hardships we deal with. We can use any hardship we deal with as a testimony and witness to others
dealing with the same things.

Praise God: I know my redeemer lives!

Finding Oneself

I was reading a young woman blog on xanga yesterday. She was saying how she's having a hard time finding her identity. Most of the time she defines it on whether or not she had a boyfriend. How do we find our identities? It's so hard to define who we are with so much going on in the world around us. So many people want to fit into the crowd that they try to be whoever they are with instead of trying to be themselves. With all the "this is what to wear" "listen or watch this" "read this, act this way" and so on in life it's hard for one person to decide who they are and what they like when sometimes what they like or how they dress goes against the norm.

I think in order for us all to find our own identities we need to go against the norm. I found a lot of people were defining me through the color of my hair not my intelligence or what I believe. I define myself as a follower of Christ, and other things that don't seem to go against the norm, but do we really want to be like everyone else? God made us all different for a reason. We are different colors, personalities, religions, ethnicity, nationalities and so much more. We are different for a reason and if we keep trying to be like someone else we will never find out who we truly are. Many young women are obsessed with being thin, or wearing the right clothes or even having a boyfriend. So many girls are afraid to not have a boyfriend.

People are trying to define themselves by many superficial things. We should be defining ourselves based on who we are not what we have or how we look those things aren't as important as who we are as a person.

Criticism and Discipline

Too often we do not like to get criticized or disciplined. Many times it feels like we are being attacked instead of having someone trying to help us learn and grow. I know with myself i got defensive when anyone would criticize something about me, my writing, singing, looks anything. It's hard for us to accept criticism sometimes.

The Bible talks about criticism and discipline in Proverbs 13:18: He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame; but whoever heeds correction is honored.

Criticism: A sever or unfavorable judgment

Discipline: Training of the mental, moral, and physical powers by instruction, control and exercise.

We are one a path with God and many times we stumble and we fall. If we don't accept the discipline to do what it takes: read the Bible, pray, be in fellowship, and more then how can we grow closer to God? When we don't stick to discipline or be disciplined it's easier for us to fall from our paths. When we are criticized about things it easier for us or others to see where our paths need to be corrected.

If we ignore both we stay in a rut and can't go anywhere. If we don't heed correction of others how will we ever know what needs corrected? We aren't perfect. We know if we honor God by sticking to disciplined actions and the discipline of others we honor God. We will find success when we listen to corrections in anything we do. Remember in school when a teacher corrected us we learned. That's the same with God. We need to be corrected sometimes in order to grow.

Suffering

I got the chance to go to a different church yesterday. Todd and I went to Suncrest Methodist Church in Morgantown with Todd's best friend John. I mention this because of something John's pastor talked about: Suffering. We suffer daily, sometimes it's not something incredibly terrible, or hard, other times it seems unbearable. I went through cancer, depression and more. Todd had heart issues and is working on gaining his energy back. Others have been in abusive relationships, had people try to destroy them, lived in a hospital basically and more.

Something the minister at Suncrest said was about a man he visited at a hospital. I forget what he asked, but the man said "If Jesus could suffer on the cross for me, I can deal with this for him." That completely amazed me and as you can see really stuck with me. If Jesus could suffer for us, who are we to always complain about our own suffer no matter how big or small. Granted we are humans and will complain, but we can always use our suffering to become closer to God and bring others to God.

We suffer all the time, but it can never be the way Jesus suffered for us. There is a reason why we all suffer all the time. How can our faith grow if we don't suffer a little bit?