all the little moments

Hey everyone,

So its been quite awhile since I’ve last posted!  To be honest, school and homework has kept me extremely busy, and the thought of writing one more thing makes me a little bit crazy!!

In a completely expected twist, the busier I’ve gotten, the more disconnected I have felt from God.  I had started lacking on my quiet time and devotions and when I did them, it wasn’t long before my homework-riddled brain was wondering how I was going to complete the mountain of homework that had been assigned to me.  As I was praying tonight, I had a thought.  It was about how following God is a moment to moment decision.  Was it original or groundbreaking?  No, not at all.  But it had answered my question about how sometimes I could feel like God is right next to me, or how sometimes, I don’t even feel like a bleep on His “radar”.  For the first time in months, I felt like I had to write, and if I hadn’t the thought would be gone forever.

Here is what I ended up writing…

“I feel like me following God is a moment to moment decision.  I’m so fickle.  Ultimately, I have placed all my faith in Him.  Through every high and every low, I am His and He is mine.  I thank God every moment for that.”

Since I have accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, He has always been there for me.  I am His child now and nothing could take that away.  I know the God who called me by name and saved me from death.  And I know there is nothing that can separate us.  Not even a moment where my mind is focusing on a million things but Him.

If I have already been saved, what makes following Him a moment to moment decision?  Well, from my perspective, every future moment is unknown.  While I do know that I will trust God to be with me in every moment, I don’t know what each moment will bring.  But in every moment, I can choose to honor and follow God.  He has been teaching me to find joy in all circumstances and to seek out the bright spots of otherwise dim times.

While I do not know what the moments may bring, God knows and He has everyone of them ordered for me.  I will choose to honor the Creator of those moments, not because I have to but because I want to.  It feels me with such joy to be so close to God.  Whether I’m honoring Him in a moment of silence while reading my Bible, or honoring Him by randomly doing something kind for a stranger and expecting nothing in return, or honoring Him by raising my hands in worship, I know it will be at a moment when my soul is truly at peace.

God Bless,

Brittany

seeking His presence

As a part of our Christian walk, we should alway look to Jesus for guidance.  We should seek Him in everything we do, big or small.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but sometimes when I go to Him for wisdom or guidance, I don’t always feel like He is there.  As I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve realized that it’s not that He is not there.  Perhaps, and most likely, it is that I don’t always adequately prepare myself to enter His presence.

I was driving home from school today, and a million thoughts were racing through my head.  As I was listening to the Fish Radio Station (one of our local Christian stations), the host came on and read an excerpt from Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” (Ps. 139:7-10).

I know God is omnipresent, meaning that He is in all places at all times.  However, hearing the host say that verse made me stop thinking of the millions of pointless things going on in my head and really try to grasp the full meaning of the what he just said.

God is everywhere.  In the sky.  In the trees.  In everything He so beautifully created.  So how is it that when I seek Him, I don’t always find Him or feel His presence?  If He is everywhere, but I don’t see Him, its either because I am not looking hard enough, or I have put so many mindless distractions in front of me that I am blocking Him from my sight.

I have been feeling lately that I don’t always spend my time wisely.  I started to feel even more convicted about it while I was reading a book by Jackie Kendall.  In it, she said she had heard someone from a family ministry radio station challenged everyone to turn off their TVs for a month.  She said that while it seemed radical, what was also radical was how much time people spent watching TV, and how it distracts them from so many things, most importantly, God.

Between reading that, and then hearing the excerpt from Psalm 139, I realized how distracted I let myself get by trivial things.  Not just distracted, but sometimes consumed by them!  I realized I had a problem when I would plan specific times to watch my favorite TV shows, but I wouldn’t always give God the same consideration.  I was putting my wants ahead of Him, and as a result, I wasn’t consistently drawing closer to Him.  If my walk of faith was a race, it would be like I was doing quick 100 yard dashes, and then leaving the race to do whatever else I felt like doing.  God deserves more from me than a quick sprint.  I should be constantly training and fueling myself with His Word.  It is so easy to place something ahead of God, especially without us even realizing it.  I think it is such a humbling reminder to spend time with Him daily, with our whole heart, to make Him the main focus of our lives.

This is not an attack on TVs, nor am I suggesting you get rid of all your technology.  God blessed us with things so we can use and enjoy them.  If I offer any suggestion to you at all, its to maybe think about what you turn to most or value most.  If it is a thing, please don’t place it before God.  If you have been and you’ve been convicted about it, don’t worry.  Just pray about that something you may need to give up or cut back on.  If you do, I promise God will hear.  He is everywhere.

God Bless,

Brittany

following your heart

As a young girl, I was taught to follow my heart.  I was told that my heart would know exactly what I wanted and I must listen to it to be truly happy.  As I got older, I followed my heart, just as I had heard all my life, but instead of all these magical things that were sure to follow, I was left with nothing but heartache and uncertainty.

How could it be that trusting my heart would lead to its want to destruct itself?  How, after all those years of hearing innocent affirmations saying to “shoot for the moon and follow your heart on the way up” lead to pain that was caused by following those words?  My answer wouldn’t come until years later.  I was reading through my Bible, and a particular verse jumped off the pages and gave me that jolt of reality I so desperately needed.  “The heart is deceitful among all things, and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9.  Finally it felt as if all the weight of broken dreams and promises I was led to by my heart had been lifted off of me.  I had finally realized that by only following my heart was like giving into my flesh.  It was leading me down a path of destruction that I didn’t even realize I was heading down.

As God would have it, another verse found its way to me.  Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  Another translation says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”  I was confused upon reading that.  Your heart determines the course of your life?  I thought God determined your steps (Provers 16:9).  Then it hit me!  While of course God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us, if we are blindly following what our heart is telling us and not first seeking wisdom from our Lord, we will ultimately be deceived by Satan.  He has set a trap so great that many of us don’t even realize it until it crushes us.  Following our heart.

I’m not completely putting off the idea of listening to your heart, and if it comes off that way, it is only because this is such a serious and pressing issue.  I believe that the Holy Spirit can, in fact, lay things on our heart to do or say.  However, if we trust only in our hearts and forget to immerse ourselves in His Word and in prayer over things that He may or may not be putting on our hearts, we can so easily be led astray.

So what am I going to do about this? Scripture says to guard your heart.  Never to completely ignore it.  I don’t trust myself with the monumental task of guarding my heart, so I am placing it in the hands of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Before I wrap things up, I would like to leave you with one final verse.  It is Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; Test me, and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Protecting my heart may be a huge task, but I know someone can take care of it, and He’s already got everything under control.

God Bless,

Brittany

faith in her footsteps

I have always liked writing.  Ever since I was a little girl, when we would get an assignment in class where we had to come up with a story, most kids would sigh in disappointment.  I, however, would instantly be transported into another world of my own making.  Worlds where anything could happen.  All I had to do was imagine it.  As I got older, writing became my way of sorting through life.  I guess all the different worlds I made up when I was younger helped me because once I wrote something down, I could gain an entirely new view of my situation.  It was like magic.  Anything bothersome lost its grip on me once it became nothing more than ink on a page.

I will be the first to admit, I’m not quite sure why I am writing a blog.  I actually feel a bit weird opening up my thoughts to anyone with internet access, which in 2012 is quite a few people.  I can only say that for the past few weeks, I have felt it laid heavy on my heart to write my thoughts for people to read.  After praying about it for a while, I feel like God is the one laying it on my heart and leading me to do it.  I was so hesitant.  I prayed that if I was supposed to do this, He would provide me with the direction it was supposed to go in.  I even prayed specifically for a name.  If I heard nothing, I would just abandon this whole idea, which I was partly hoping for.  As He would have it though, the direction and name for this blog hit square in the face.

I heard one phrase clearly in the back of my head, “faith in her footsteps”.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  It dawned on me that while I wasn’t sure of exactly what my blog would be about, faith in her footsteps would be the name of it.  It has a nice ring to it, but it became more than that.  Many conversations I have with my best friend, Emily, have a lot to do about our faith and how it should guide every step we take.  I later remembered a story about a man who dreamed he was walking on a beach with the Lord.  There were two sets of footprints.  One belonging to him and the other to Jesus.  He was flashing through scenes from his life when he noticed that at some points there was only one set of footprints.  It happened only during the lowest points of his life.  He questioned the Lord and said, “Lord, You said once I decided to follow You, You would walk with me all the way.  I noticed that during the lowest points of my life, there was only one set of footprints.  Why did you leave me when I needed you most?”  The Lord replied, “My son, My precious child, I love you and would never leave you.  During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

People always say to write what you know.  One thing I know better than anything?  My life and how I have chosen to walk in faith, even when I wasn’t sure of where my next step would take me.  I don’t know what is going to happen with this blog, and I don’t have an exact plan of what I am going to write.  I do have faith that God will provide me with the words to say, and to anyone who reads this, I pray that you find my words as blessing or encouraging.  I hope you will join me in my walk of faith and know that whoever you are, wherever you are, you too can start your own walk of faith.  I promise you, it will be the most rewarding trip you ever take.

God Bless,

Brittany