He's alive!!!

Death where is your sting? Grave your victory?
Jesus holds the key, forever and ever!!!!

Joy, peace, love, patience, victory! It is ours in Christ Jesus!
Never have I felt so alive!
Who knew that baptism would take me where I thought I'd never be again?
Obedience. That's all it was!
God's plan is so much better than our own.

I'm no failure, God is going to use me.
And I CAN'T WAIT for what's next!

Until then, all things are done for the Lord.
Oh the Joy, Oh the peace, is this Jesus in me.

Freedom.

My heart was beating much faster than I was comfortable with.
But isn't that what we're called to?
A life of leadership. Being comfortable would mean complacency, not change.

It was so embarassing to cry in front of my friends and aquaintances.
But isn't humility necessary?
Love requires that you put away pride.

Fear consumed me, until I took the first step...
This Good Friday, Troy spoke on hope again.
I've heard it before, but I allowed fear to take the place of my next step.

Going up was humbling for me. It was me admitting, that after years of trying to do this Christian thing right, I still don't sometimes.

I was baptized by Hal Mayor in January of '97 at the great age of 8.
I've been baptized, I've repented when I "went wrong" and have had different obstacles in my life that I trusted God with, finding peace and hope in Him.

Too bad the Christian walk doesn't end there. lol
What was this uneasiness in my heart about? Why was God so distant at the time I needed Him to reveal to me what the heck was wrong?
I was going through the motions, and for a while I was almost forcing myself to believe God's Word, because that's hard to do when hope is dead.

I was suposed to be alive in Christ, but I didn't even want to wake up to the days He had so graciously given me. I didn't realize until now, that I was spitting on the gift of life.

So what was the big change?
Persistance.

I didn't want to give up on the most genuine thing in my life jut because I didn't feel good at the time, and that made all the difference.
I asked people to pray for me, for God to reveal SOMETHING, ANYTHING.
And just because it's not what I wanted gives me no right to refuse it.

I didn't get a clear answer on what God wants me to do with my life. All I got was a reinforcing of something I already thought I knew.
Whatever you do, do it for the Lord.

Previously, I had failed to take steps for God, and it was still eating me alive.
The devil was winning, telling me that I'm a useless failure.
And I knew! I knew I wasn't, God made me for great things, but I didn't believe it.

I had let God down, and I was so very hard on myself for it.
I was out of my control, my family was out of my control, my workplace and my own schoolwork, my relationships, everything. And I hated it.
No matter how hard I worked, I only grew tired and discouraged.

Do I have all the answers yet?
Oh my dear, of course I don't.
But I'm going to start living life one step at a time, for the hundredth time.

Things won't happen when I want them to. And that's okay.
God's timing, God's plan.

It was a decade since I had been baptized when God called me to obey Him again last year, but I was afraid of what people would think.
No more. Tomorrow morning, I'm getting dunked one more time, because contrary to popular belief, I'm a completely different person now than I was at eight years old.

If I can do this, you can do whatever God is calling you to do.
I know the challenges will only increase.
You pray for me, I'll pray for you, and God will work through all of us.

Reality

What is reality?
Dictionaries define it- the state or quality of being real, resemblance to what is real, a real thing or fact.

Philosophy describes it as something that exists independently of ideas concerning it, something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.

For one person, reality can be poverty, another, wealth.
So one could say, there is no reality that all persons share, but it is simply perception of the life we've been handed.
For some, there is a fine line between reality and negativity because of this.

I believe in God's reality, where nothing is impossible. Because in my reality, a healthy relationship centered around Christ is impossible. Changing my attitude and discipline habits is impossible. And forget about changing the world.

Oh, but in God's reality, all these things and more are just waiting for me.
All I've got to do is wake up everyday and choose to believe God's reality instead of my own.
Trust God's leadership instead of my own, and I must say, the most difficult, to let go of what God does not want me to control.

For God's Glory

All I seem to hear lately are complaints about how Flamingo Road Church is not doing everything right. Things are too extreme and we're not glorifying God.

My rebuttal is this:
1. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
2. If we do screw up, no one is perfect.
3. Humans make mistakes and yes, even church leaders are human as well.
4. God hates negativity just as much as you hate whatever we might do wrong.
5. God can use ALL things for His glory.

I've been at this church for 15 years. Even though I was young, I've been old enough to understand the changes that were taking place. Depending upon opinion, some good, some bad.

Depending upon opinion.

In my opinion, the church is doing plenty of good. Do I disagree with a few things?
Sure, every once in a while, but voicing them when I have no plan of action is simply negative and ultimately what tears a church apart.
As a whole, when I think of Flamingo Road, I think of a church with a vision who takes extreme measures to spread the Word of God. In that, things can go wrong, but as a whole, this church is my home. When the little things bother me, I pray that God will bring peace to my soul.
If you try that, and you still can't stand the way we're doing things, that's perfectly okay. Join a church you feel comfortable in, but don't bash something that God can and will use for His glory.

Don't let the devil use you in bringing down something God can use.

The pharisees of Jesus' time made impossible rules to keep in order to be "holy". At the time, it wasn't so very religiously popular to go against the grain of those rules. People were beaten and killed for disobeying them, but Jesus brought revolution. Rebellion, leadership,
forgiveness.

Just because it isn't popular, doesn't mean it can't be used by God.

Just think about it.