New Job

I recenty got a new job within the Human Services field. I cannot go into details about for confidential reasons. Human services takes a kind of compassion and drive that a lot of people I meet don't seem to have. A lot of people don't want to take care of someone else or be a councelor, or be a part of crisis intervention or whatever else would be considered a part of human services. It takes a lot of a person, mentally, physically and emotionally.

I think back to stories of Jesus and the healings that He performed. He healed lepers: how many people would be willing to touch someone who we thought didn't simply "look right." Jesus healed the blind, deaf, those who could not walk, those who were possessed, and many other things. Dealing in human services is some what the same idea. Dealing with the sick, mentally challenged, mentally instable, eldery, children. People have told my mom the job that she does would be something that Jesus would do. I personaly think it would be anything in the human services field.

I have been wondering the past week how I will be able to handle the odd hours, stress, and emotional strain, but I know God will give me the ability to handle it. God gave me the compassion and desire to this job and I do not think He would make it so that I couldnt be able to handle whatever this job. Sure there will be things that I have to be careful about and guard myself on, but it isn't something that cannot be done. I look forward to this job and thank God that he put something like this in my path and make me a part of this wonderful things SPHS is doing for someone.

Dear Lord

I was listening to a few SonicFlood songs today because I realized I haven't listened to them in a really long time. I came across one that I havent heard even though I have the CD. It is called Dear Lord. It is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard, and it has really made me start thinking things. The song is like a prayer crying out to God. The chorus says:

In my darkest hour
Your every promise comes shining through
You say You're here and you calm my fears
And I know you will never leave
Your word is true and You make all things new
And I know You're all I need.

Those words have never been more true. How often have we felt like we are in our darkest hour throughout life and the only thing that pulls us through is our faith in God? Sometimes, more often than not, all we need in life is God and His love. Sometimes the only person who will be true to us and never hurt us would be God. I know that God is always there calming my fears. There are times when I can feel his arms around me as I cry out to him for strength and guidance. We never know what this life is going to throw at us and we need to rely on God more for things. I will admit there is something in my life right now that I am struggling with and I am calling on God more and more to help me deal with it.

God makes things new and we know his word is true for us. There is no need to doubt anything the Bible tells us about God and that he would always be here for us protecting and guiding us through our hardships. This song...this SonicFlood song is a a great reminder and helped me put things into perspective.

Relationships and Trust

Every relationship requires some form of trust. I dated a guy who was trying to force me to open up to him and tell him things, which made it even harder to do. They guy I am seeing now, everything comes naturally to talk about and we grew close together very fast because of it. It is easy to trust someone when they don't force you to do something that may be hard for you to do. You can trust someone when they show you they can be trusted with different things you tell them.

Trust makes a relationship stronger: this is also true for our relationships with God. We need to trust God with different things in life. Acquire The Fire one of the speakers talked about trusting God throughout life even when we don't know where life is going to take us. Sure we don't know where this road is going to take us but we need to have trust and faith in God. We don't know where our romantic relationships will go but we have trust and faith in them that we will be willing to do different things to make it work and to see where it goes. Shouldn't we be doing what it takes to see where our relationship with God will take us.

Acquire The Fire

This past weekend was Acquire the Fire here in PIttsburgh, the last stop of the tour and I have to say it was amazing. I was a volunteer and didn't get to hear much of Friday night, but I was close to the stage area for Saturday, and they had tvs in the hall so I could still watch the seminars and hear the concerts. It was amazing. The music was so loud I didn't have go inside to see them and I didn't for Phil Joel (bassist for Newsboys) and 1 Man Crew. But I did for Jeremy Camp of course. But that isn't the point of this post.

Friday night I got the chance to catch the last 10-15 minutes of one of the speakers: Nick. He has armless and legless, and his testimony was amazing. He hit your hearts and made you think of your life and your walk with God. I cried when I listened to him speak. Then he gave the alter call...over half of the stadium got up and went to the alter, and if they couldn't make it down they stood in their seats. So many people stood up and showed their reliance on God. There were over 5000 teens and youth pastors/parents at Acquire The Fire, showing their love of God, singing the songs of praise. and listening to the speakers with intent. Some were even walking around saying "free hugs for Jesus" it was kind of sweet.

I was amazed to see how many teens were willing to stand up and say they believe in Jesus and follow him. Too often we hear bad things about this generation, but I looked at these kids and talked to some of them and it gave me hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. I can't wait for next year...

Unanswered Prayers

One of my favorite songs from Garth Brooks is called "Unanswered Prayers." It says so much within it that some people may not realize sure it is about relationships, but unanswered prayers could be blessings in disguise. How many of us have asked God to give us something we wanted or to give us something we think we needed and deserved? Pretty much all of us. Too often we get angry at God for not answering all of our prayers and whenever he doesn't answer them either it is not the right time or what we want isn't what God wants for us.

Too often we expect God to answer our prayers simply because we love Him and believe in Him. But that isn't the point of prayers and there will be times when our prayers will go unanswered. Unanswered prayers are God's way of showing us His love for us. What would we get out of having everything that we want? Wouldn't you think God would want to make sure things are good for us, and like I said half of the things that we want isn't good for us.

Too often in the past I had prayed for things that looking back on it weren't good for me, including relationships. God has plans for our lives and he does leave prayers unanswered so that his goal for our lives can be accomplished. Unanswered prayers help us see a bigger picture better, at least thats what I think. When we look back on life and see the prayers we wanted and see how better our life has become because of those unanswered prayers. We cannot let these unanswered prayers make us question God or ask him why all the time. Instead when we look back on things, thank him for the unanswered prayers and see the blessing within them; I know I have and still am. God doesn't answer our prayers because he wants to see us suffer or be in pain, he doesn't answer some because he knows its for our own good.

Hurts and Pains

It seems like a lot people around me are dealing with past hurts and pains. I was talking to a dear friend of mine: Cait. who is dealing with some past hurts from one person. She was saying she is mad at herself because she misses this person. There will always be people who hurt you, but because you have good memories with them you'll miss them and that's okay. ou dont want to let the pain and hurt make you bitter. Too often we allow people to make us bitter about our past hurts and pains.

I think we go through experiences like that to show us how strong we are or to make us stronger. My friend is fairly young and shouldnt have to deal with this kind of heart. She is unsure of who she can trust which makes me sad, but she is learning people are not always going to hurt her, and I think that is something God wants us to know. While there are people who will hurt us continuely, there are also people who could never hurt us. Trust is something that is hard for us to give out and I think sometimes need to picky about. We need to trust God the mot and that is one of the lessons I think we need to learn through our hurts: trusting God to help us through and heal our pains.

We cannot let our pains and hurts make us bitter and hard shelled. Too often our pains cause us to close people out and not let anyone else in. But with the help of God that won't happen and we can work towards letting go of those pains, but we need to give them up to God and when we do, we leave it there with God and to keep praying about it.