Resurrection

Easter is about Resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead so that we might have new life!

 However, resurrection only occurs if something has first died. 

The dictionary definition of the word resurrection is

to bring back to life; raise from the dead

Without death, then there is no resurrection. 

Jesus wants to give us new life. This was made possible when He conquered sin on the cross and conquered death in the tomb. This new life is promised to us in heaven, but He also wants to give us new life NOW! This new life is "Life to the full" John 10:10 FULL of joy, peace, and purpose. 

Here is the key:

In order to receive this new life, we must put to death the old. 

Galatians 2:20 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 5:24 

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Luke 9:23 

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Mark 8:35

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

John 12:24

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Colossians 3:5

    Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Every day we must choose to live the dead life, or the resurrected life.

Only Jesus has the power to free you from sin and death, and He is waiting...longing to give you new life! 

Stronger

Do you ever have one of those days? 

You know...the ones where you just want to run away, shut down, or curl up and cry? 

Well this was me the other day. Nothing big or horrible happened...

It was simply a bunch of little things that kept piling on top of each other. Before I knew it, I was feeling annoyed, angry, and insecure, and overwhelmed. 

Why God?

Why do these little things have to be so hard? 

Why do I have to feel this way?

Why don't you make it easier?

I asked God these questions, and I didn't get an answer right away. 

But, today on my way home from work the song STRONGER by Mandisa came on the radio. As soon as I recognized the song, I clearly heard God's voice.

Laura, your human vision can only go so far. You see your present circumstances, while I see your future. You see your weaknesses, while I see someone I can make strong. You see who you are now, while I see who I made you to be. I care about you more than you know. This may hurt a little, but I am changing your heart. I am the potter, and you are the clay. This is going to make you stronger.

Stronger by Mandisa

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
In time it's gonna get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger

God's will

Have you ever wondered what God's will is for your life?

Have you ever prayed for answers and only heard silence?

Have you ever been unsure about an important decision in life? 

In my last post I mentioned that I graduate at the end of April. I will have a bachelors degree in early childhood studies. I am currently a pre-kindergarten teacher at a childcare center, and I enjoy my job! However, it takes me about 45 minutes to get to work each morning, and alot of gas money. Also, I think I am just ready to be somewhere new. 

But where, and when exactly? Should I stay, or go? What if...how...why...?

This is what I have been asking God lately (As in the past 4 months). I so desperately want to be in the center of His will for my life. I don't want to make a decision without knowing it is what God wants me to do. I have prayed for wisdom, for clarity, for an answer, for something to point me in the right direction...

Recently, God has given me peace about a small part of this decision, but there are still SO many unknowns. 

Well God has also been teaching me something that I want to share with you. 

I randomly bought a 5 dollar book from half priced book store...It looked pretty interesting, but I wasn't expecting much. Well, in the second chapter I read this and immediately underlined it:

‎"Perhaps your period of waiting is God's way of showing you He

 doesn't want you to seek answers -- He wants you to seek HIM." 

~ Shannon Kubiak

WOW. Ok God, you have my attention...

Then, I just happened to stumble upon a blog post by Steven Furtick about God's will. 

I will share a glimpse of what the blog says...you can read the full post here.

"The point isn’t for God to make His will plain. His will isn’t the main objective. He is the main objective. He wants you to discover Him above all else.

As you run after God and his good, pleasing, and perfect will, remember these two truths:

God isn’t the shortcut to your best life. He is your best life.
God doesn’t want to give you the guide for your life. He wants to be your Guide.

The scariest possibility for your life isn’t getting God’s will wrong. It’s getting God’s will right but barely coming to know God in the process."

~Steven Furtick

I think God is trying to tell me something?

God wants us to know His will for our lives....BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, He wants us to know  Him. 

He does not want us to only spend time with Him to get answers...He wants to reveal answers and guide us as we spend time in relationship with Him. 

Here is the question

Do you want God's blessing on your decisions?

or

Do you decide to follow God? 

I am not dead

I am not dead.

Although the past two weeks I have felt pretty miserable...

I have had some kind of body aching, throat hurting, head throbbing, nose blowing ... thing going on inside of me. Therefore, all of my free time has been spent falling asleep on my couch and not blogging. 

Well, I decided I should just let everyone know that I am still alive and getting well :) 

Along with that thing attacking my body, I have this thing called graduation happening at the end of April! Woooot Woooot! 

This is quite exciting, but it also means that the next month I might feel a little overwhelmed. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that I am a major procrastinator...

Usually my view right before I fall asleep on my couch 

My wonderful, thoughtful, prince has taken care of me the past couple weeks. Friday, I came home to this card and chocolate :) 

On a brighter note, the weather in Minnesota has been GORGEOUS! Last night, my prince and I walked to dinner

On the way, God decided to teach me a little lesson :)

I could never see enough sunsets in my life. They are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.  Last night, this sunset reminded me that even in the snot filled days or weeks of life...God brings joy. It reminds me that in the crazy, busy, unpredictable-ness of life, God is my only constant. I need to take the focus off of my circumstance, and put it on His faithfulness.

(( hmmm...maybe my two-week icky sickness was simply God's way of drawing me closer to him )) 

I want to thank the acadamy

 I always have a hard time embracing Sunday nights, but tonight I am enjoying 

watching the Oscars and eating some frozen yogurt :) 

I had a great weekend! My prince and I spent some time with family, friends, and did a little cleaning. 

Saturday, we took our youth group snow tubing! 

It was lots of fun, but I am a bit sore!

We also had dinner with some fun couples at a fun restaurant called 

Chatterbox

They provide yummy food and tons of games...so fun! :) 

 I also spent some time at Half Priced Book Store, and got some new cheap books!

Now...I just need to find time to read them

-- OOOh to have more free time --

How was your weekend? 

Statistical Significance (say what?)

Before my blogging days I shared my thoughts as a facebook note. i was going over my notes today, and found one I would like to share.

 I do not claim to know all the answers, but I do know that God wants us to share the truth. He has put a passion in my heart for people to know the truth about their lives. What you believe about creation vs. evolution can truly shape how you view yourself, and the world. If you simply came to exist by chance, then what is your purpose in life? But if you were created, then your life is given a whole new meaning. 

So today I was reading my Psychology text book and something just occurred to me that I would like to share. Throughout the book it includes thoughts about evolution, explaining our lives through this theory. I normally just laugh a little and skim over the ideas that try to explain how we have evolved from nothing. Today I read something that I could not just skim over, and I quickly searched back through the book to find some definitions. In the beginning of the book it explains how we can scientifically examine things. It introduces what is called Statistical Significance.

Statistical Significance: "A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance." (Myers, p. 37) 

The book goes on to explain that "proof beyond a reasonable doubt means not making much of a finding unless the odds of its occurring by chance are less than 5 percent..." (Myers, p. 37) Therefore, a psychologist should not approve a theory unless it has a very low statistical significance. THEN, about three chapters later, I was reading about how science proves our existence and I read this...

"Had the energy of this Big Bang been the tiniest bit less, the universe would have collapsed back on itself. Had it been the tiniest bit more, the result would have been a soup too thin to support life..." (Myers, p. 169) 

so...WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? If science claims to use statistical significance, it would have to agree that the Big Bang theory is not very probable. In fact, it is very unlikely. So why is it taught as truth in schools today? We are being brainwashed into believing that "atoms no different from those in a rock somehow formed dynamic entities that became conscious..." (Myers, p. 169) Wow. That just sounds silly to me. 

I am SO thankful to know that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14)

"...God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish..." (1. Corinthians 1:20) 

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female he created them...then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!" (Genesis 1:1,27,31) 

always carry floss

Everyday Lessons from my life to yours :)

1. Don't cross your eyes for too long

You might get a headache

2. Never go grocery shopping hungry

You can come home with the strangest things

3. Don't leave an opened bottle of peppermint extract in your car

unless you need a new air freshener

4. Don't wear clothes you really like to work if you are a preschool teacher

you might become a fan of the tie dye fashion

5. Don't spray hairspray when your mouth is open

It's just is not a good experience

6. Always carry floss

enough said :)

Glasses

I have been wanting a new pair of glasses...

Lately I've been feeling a little adventurous and inspired in the glasses department :) 

Yes, no, maybe so? 

shower and murder

Phew! I had a BUSY weekend! 

Check out some pictures :)

A Baby shower for my sweet sis-in-law Ria

sports theme for her little boy Jude soon to be born :) 

sister, sis-in-law, me, mom

Murder Mystery Dinner 

in Stillwater, MN

can you tell which one is me? ;) 

We won the best dressed! And someone in our group won the best actor! 

Wahoo :D 

It was so fun to dress up and solve a mystery!

We got a deal on groupon (holla) for this event...I would recommend it! 

And... here comes another week!

not my words

Happy Valentines Day! 

I have to study for a test for class tonight, and I get a precious hour and a half with my prince beforehand...so my urge to blog turned into something simple.

I decided to leave you with one of my favorite passages! 

1 John 4

 "⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 ⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

 ¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

 ¹³ And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. ¹⁴Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

   God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

 ¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ¹⁹We love each other because he loved us first."

How sweet it is...

This weekend my prince and I celebrated Valentines Day 

Friday, my prince brought home pretty flowers! 

We went to our hotel and relaxed a little before dinner

We went to Bucas for dinner. Yummmmmy food! 

My prince finds it funny that I take pictures of all of our food ;)

We played some bananagrams, had dessert, and went swimming back at the hotel! 

Saturday we had breakfast brought to our room

(Part of our groupon deal was money for food...so great!)

We relaxed, watched some HGTV, and slowly got ready for the day. 

After checkout, we went to MALL OF AMERICA! 

Burritos for lunch :)

lots of walking and a few purchases!

We ended the day with coffee frozen yogurt...yumm

Saturday night we spent at home...

with cereal for dinner

watching THE VOICE

:)

We had a little two-day-much-needed vacation

It

was

wonderful

Sunday,

We went to a wonderful Sunday night worship service with some friends! 

Then, had a late dinner at Applebees! 

yes, we played bananagrams at Applebees :)

How was your weekend??