“the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Previous to this corona virus outbreak, I had been meditating on this verse. It is an encouraging and uplifting verse. You know what’s crazy though? The writer of this verse did not say this in a time of thriving for him. He said this when he had been through a hard time and just about 4 verses previous he felt like the Lord had forsaken him.

I would say we are in a time right now where we feel like we are not thriving. Things are not going our way. We cannot do things that we otherwise would have done because of this effects of this virus. I would say we are in a time right now where we have questioned the goodness of God. In fact, I would go as far to say that we have felt like the lord has forsaken us!

The change of perspective in these chapter is so cool to me. The chapter starts off by the writer saying how “he is the man who has seen affliction.”(vs. 1) He then even goes to write about how he feels as if the lord surely has turned his hand against him all day long.

It is just verse after verse explaining how he feels the Lord has forsaken him. I strongly encourage you to read the verses because it highlighted something very important in my life.

It is ok to bring your emotions to the Lord. Even if they are false! Much like the writer, I have felt forsaken by God. I have felt like he has forgotten about me!

It is ok to bring your emotions to God as long as there is a shift in perspective. The writer did not just stay in his “pity party.” He went on for 20 verses in his pitty party but there was a shift of emotion. You see what he did was he took the focus off of what things look like on the earth and took the Lord’s perspective by speaking truth into his soul. I love how he writes in verse 21 “BUT this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”

I love how he said BUT. the but in these verses signify the change of perspective. He called to mind the truth of who the Lord is and as a result found hope in that.. not in his circumstances.

he felt like the Lord had forsaken him BUT he called to mind truth. This truth is based on the Lord’s never changing characteristics.

he can call to mind truth… despite his circumstances.

“for the Lord will cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.”

The Lord will cause good and bad happen, but it will be according to the compassion of HIS steadfast love.

The change of perspective is something that I have learned to do. Like I said, it is ok to bring your raw and vulnerable feelings to God. These feelings are not often correct so you need to CALL TO MIND the truth of who he really is.

how are you going to call to mind the truth if you dont know the truth?

That is why it is important to read the Word daily because then you can CALL TO MIND the truth of his never changing attributes.

you can have confidence despite your circumstances by calling to mind the truth of who the Lord is.

It is so easy to have confidence in Christ when things are going your way.

When you have had a good day

When you get what you have been praying for

But what if things don’t go your way or your prayers have not yet been answered…

This is something that I have struggled with for too long now.

It is easy to be confident in Christ when I get what I want. It is EXTREMELY hard, however, to find confidence in Christ when the very thing I want… is not here.

When my prayers have not yet been answered, I question God. This questioning makes me lose confidence in HIM and ultimately confidence in myself.

One thing I realized is that We cannot and I repeat CANNOT find confidence in how things in this world are going.

You see, the world feeds us lies about confidence. The world says that we can be confident if we have the certain position or if we make enough money. We are worthy only if we have a certain status. We can only be confident if “things” our going the right way.

If we listen to the world, we will NOT BE CONFIDENT.

You may feel confident for little while, but the feelings of self doubt and unworthiness will come if you are not placing your confidence completely in Christ, regardless of the situation.

Hebrews 10:35-37

³⁵ So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

This bible verse doesn’t say to keep the confidence you have in the world (because you cannot be confident in it) No, instead it says to keep the confidence you have in THE WORD.

We can have confidence when we approach Christ and pray to him “that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” 1 John 5:14

So if the very thing you are asking for is not apart of HIS will, we can be CONFIDENT knowing that we are right where we are supposed to be.

but I know easier said than done…

so it got me thinking how can I learn to be more confident in Christ so that when doubts start to creep in.. when the world feeds me with lies about it…

How can I stand firm and secure in my CONFIDENCE found in Christ.

READ THE BIBLE!!!

seriously though… through reading in the Bible you can learn more about who the one is.. the one who says you can be confident and who says you are worthy.

when you learn more about WHO HE IS then you learn more about who YOU ARE

my faith did not become real to me until I started to read the word because that is when I learned more about my savior!

I do believe that one of the many rewards having your confident in Christ brings is how your confidence shouldn’t change when it is found in Christ.

Like, when you are having a really good day and everything is going your way..

all your plans are lining up, you have confidence.

but when that is taken away from you you dont have confidence or worth anymore.

when you place your confidence in Christ… it’s constant because HE IS CONSTANT.

Hebrews 13:8— Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever

Malachi 3:6—“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

see what I mean??? If Christ doesn’t change… then our confidence won’t because our confidence is a result of WHO HE IS

This is something I have learned through the many months I have struggled with confidence and self worth. I know, it has been awhile since I have posted anything because I have been struggling.

I am praying that I can learn more about the reward that having confidence in Christ brings but today I want to encourage you to read the word and learn more about the savior who gives you the confidence that WILL NOT change.

xoxoxoxo- Five and Two

let’ s face it… I love comfort.

I love to be comfortable. I love big sweatshirts with a big blanket wrapped around me on the couch. I love big t-shirts, and many days jeans are just too uncomfortable for me. Most days I choose to wear leggings or sweatpants. Some of my favorite things are tennis shoes, my big XL cotton t-shirt, my memory foam pillow, and work out clothes. All these things are very comfortable for the sake of fashion…. but what about being uncomfortable for the sake of christ? Do I, as a christ follower, choose to obey him, even if that means forsaking the comfort of my sinful desires.

God has recently been showing me how I let comfort stop me from fulfilling His calling for my life. So often, I choose the easy way out. Spending time with christ in little cute coffee shops, and hanging out with my close group of friends who live the same lifestyle as me are all areas of comfort to me.

these areas of comfort I stated above are NOT necessarily bad…. BUT these areas become bad when I let my my desire for comfort become greater than my desire for Christ. When I let fear of the unknown keep me from obeying God this is when comfort becomes a problem.

When I chose to follow christ… I chose to give up everything…. including my comfort

Jesus himself lived a very uncomfortable life. Jesus went to places alone (Luke 5:16), He met the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4: 1-11) , and he experienced hunger (Matthew 4:2). These examples are such SOME of the ways in which Jesus experienced uncomfortableness in his life.

I think one important reason why Jesus was so focused on forsaking comfort and becoming obedient to God was his purpose for coming to the world. His purpose for coming to the world was to make himself NOTHING.

When Christ was focused on making himself nothing… he could fully obey God and fully step out of his comfort by DYING ON A CROSS

7- rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 -And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

If we as humans focus on making our name nothing, just like Jesus then I do believe that we can choose God over comfort and become obedient to him- in everything

The more I think about my reasons for choosing comfort over Christ… the more I think about why I am choosing comfort. Most all of the reasons relate back to making MY NAME something.

when faced with uncomfortable situations I always think

what if the situation makes ME feel uncomfortable.

what if it makes ME feel less then.

what if I feel scared

what if I feel tired

what if I feel pain

all of these are thoughts based on ME. If I think my name is going to be at risk then I simply choose comfort.

When the focus is on making ourself NOTHING so that HIS name is everything…. that is when we can fully advance the gospel by stepping out of our comfort and confidently become obedient to God’s calling on our life.

As a christ follower, my worst fear shouldn’t be the fact that I am going to be uncomfortable. My worst fear should be not being obedient to christ and his will for my life.

Wherever Jesus calls me…. he is going to be there.

Wherever he wants me to go… he is going to be there as well.

He is not going to call me out of my comfort and let me stumble there with no purpose- that is just NOT who He is. In whatever he calls me to do, I can trust in the fact that he has great plans in it and a great purpose.

We may not find our ideal worldly comfort in what He calls us to… but we will find contentment. Here is what Paul had to say about contentment… in what I would say not a comfortable situation.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13

comfort comes from circumstances. Contentment comes from Christ and fully obeying him.

let’s take the focus off of ourselves.

let’s trade comfort for contentment that comes from obeying Him.

let’s get uncomfortable for the sake of Christ so more and more people can know our savior, Jesus Christ!!

5 & 2

-Madeline

So here tonight I find myself, as with many other days, feeling the “tug”of the world on me. It really is a constant decision to choose to follow Christ and to not choose the world when the world is tugging you

this constant pull of the world reminds me of camp. When I was little, I would go to church camp and one game we would always play would be tug of war. What you do in this game is you spilt into two teams and each team goes on opposite sides of the rope. Then, well, you just pull. Whichever team gets the rope past a certain point wins!! I didn’t contribute much, lol, but I remember one time I played it and the teams were so even. The rope would go in one direction and then the other team would pull it back. It was a constant battle for us to win because the other team was pulling just as hard!!

this is how I feel about my walk with Christ in this world.

it is a constant battle.

but in this tug of war… the war is our heart

On one end of the “rope” you have wholeheartedly following Christ. On the other end, you have the world pulling on the “rope”, stirring up mischief and planning to trap up your feet.

the world is inevitably pulling and feeding us lies that seem like the genuine truth….

it pulls us by…

telling us what makes us worthy

telling us where we should place our identity

telling us we should conform to it

what is the world “pulling” on you???

every day we are living out our christ centered adventure we are faced with a “pull” , on the enemies side is a side where you are faced with lies, inadequacies, and ultimately you are lead into a pit.

a pit of destruction

on the opposite side, you have christ, standing firm and never changing. this is the side where your identity is and your worth!!!

Romans 7- ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

as you can see, Paul felt the same way. Paul was being pulled opposite directions as well and did not understand it. He did not understand his own actions for he did not what he wants… in fact.. he did the very thing he hates!!!! The world was pulling on him too. Sin was on the opposite side of the rope pulling… but Christ was on the other side.

I think it is important in walking in Christ to realize that the fight between the world, aka sin, and Christ is a REAL ONE and we as humans need to be ready. We need to be ready to put on the “full armor of Christ”

PRAYYYYYY AND PLEAD WITH GOD FOR MERCY!!!

Ask him to pull harder on the “rope” than the world does.

Ask him to give you wisdom for when the temptation does come to choose the world… that you choose Christ!

lord,

I pray that when the battle is raging around me… I choose you! When the battle does hit me hard and knock me down I pray I repent and change my ways. Lead me in the Holy Spirit to choose you!! Please be the anchor and strength that I need right now. Help me to remember who I am in you. Thank you that you are on the other side of the “rope” with truths that are everlasting and never changing.

xoxoxoxo Madeline 5 & 2

let me be honest…. when fear becomes apart of my life, trusting God is really hard

I run into all these “what if” situations in my head. The truth is I overthink …

Instead of completely trusting God who has PROMISED to be faithful to me, I run to my own ability to navigate and control my life.

instead of running to the father, I run to myself.

of course, the outcome of this is never good. I feel anxious and I ultimately end of feeling lost

How can I trust God with everything?

Even when life is hard.

Even when my fears feel like they are greater than my faith

here are some ways even when life becomes hard to completely trust in Christ….

do NOT lean on your own understanding

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

when circumstances become hard…. my innate nature is to run to my plans. The result of that is ultimate failure because sin is hardwired into me.

how can I… someone who is so sinful know what’s best for my life??? The hardcore truth is that I CAN’T

I need to trust God with all my heart and not lean on my own understandings. When fear hits… I need to trust in Him with ALL MY HEART

I do not know all the glorious things God is doing in my life and I may not ever understand it. I just love the way that John Piper says,

God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them…Not only may you see a tiny fraction of what God is doing in your life; the part you do see may make no sense to you.

in other words….

trusting god requires me to not lean on my own understanding…

trusting god means I may not understand what HE is doing with MY life….

draw near to the throne of grace

Hebrews 4:16 says,

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

WOW. I love how the Bible is. I love how clear and honest it is. It clearly recognizes that I will be in need. There will be hard times.

BROKENHEARTED

CONFUSED

ANXIOUS

FEARFUL

The Bible fully acknowledges that there will be hard times and that following Christ is not easy. When I do feel this way I need to draw near to the throne of grace…

I will find Jesus there because he, like me, endured hardship, suffering, and pain. He can give me grace because he suffered as well.

When I am struggling to fully trust God, he has an invitation wide open for me to run to HIM for never ending grace.

REMINDING MYSELF OF GOD’S CHARACTER

Lamentations 3:21-23 says,

 “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

The way to grow in trusting God is by actively reminding yourself of God’s faithfulness and his never changing character.

I mean how could I doubt a god who has new mercies every morning?

how could I doubt a god who has love for me that never ceases and mercies that never end

but one things for certain…. I MUST actively call to mind these attributes about my God. I must KNOW them and TRULY believe them.

I know that 2+2=4

I know that zucchini is gross

just like I truly know these things… I must truly know Gods character and actively remind myself of it.

because I know that god is truly faithful and ready to give me grace, I can trust him with my whole heart

xoxoxox- Madeline 5 and 2

I don’t have a good testimony…

my story is just basic and boring….

I don’t have a “crazy” story to tell…

Have you ever found yourself saying these things or even thinking them??

If so, you’re in good company 🙂

I used to HATE it when people would ask me to tell my testimony. I would think of one of those statements above and ask that they would let someone else talk about theres. Obviously, I did not really think that my testimony was powerful. Someone who had more of a “crazier” salvation story would be more likely to bring someone to christ… rather than my “boring” testimony.

these thoughts are a lie!!

the truth is… every single testimony is completely amazing!!! you wanna know why??? BECAUSE CHRIST MADE YOU NEW regardless of your story.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old had passed away; behold, the new has come.

if ANYONE is in christ… he is a new creation.

regardless of what you went through before you accepted him…

regardless of what your “change” might have looked like….

if you are in Christ… you are made new.… that is something to celebrate and talk about!!!

a good reminder when telling your testimony is that….. we don’t need to prove anything

too many times we make our testimonies all about us… the emphasis in our stories should not be about us. Our stories should be about the one who made us new… the one who completely changed us… the one who saved us from eternal death to forever alive!!

the struggles you have faced may not be as “crazy” or as “intense” as someone elses….. but this does not mean your testimony is less impactful!

I do believe that our testimonies are the gospel played out in a real breathing kind of way… YOU. ME.

we have the opportunity to share christ when we share our testimony.

we have the opportunity to share the gospel with OUR testimony!

If we choose to not tell our testimonies then we choose not to use an important instrument that God has given us to tell others about him. Tell your honest struggles and ways you have seen Christ move, but keep in mind that his activity can speak for itself and that you do not need to prove anything. CHRIST ALREADY DID!!!

instead of comparing our testimonies to other people…

instead of thinking that our testimonies are not good enough…

LET’S SHARE THEM LIKE CRAZY!!!!

XOXOXOX- Madeline 5 and 2

It is amazing to me how when I wake up every morning, my thoughts are always focused on the worldly things.

my anxious thoughts….

what new posts are on social media…

who snapchatted me….

I am always focused on the world in the morning. Every morning I need to wake up and re “tune” my heart to Jesus. I think as humans we all have the tendency to just instantly think of our anxious thoughts in the morning and NOT really ever think about Christ and his word. We tend to think of the worldly things because we as humans are prone to sin/the world. At least, I know this is the case for me. What if, instead of thinking about worldly things (the things that come so naturally) in the morning, I thought about Christ and his promises. What if I meditated on his promises through the word and thought about what he wants me to do throughout the day.

We as humans have to re tune our hearts to Jesus each and every morning. We wake up and are prone to singing “off-tune” meaning we “sing” the world! Now, I am not really much of a musically talented kind of person but re “tuning” our hearts to Jesus is SO much like retuning a guitar. I do not know much about a guitar, but I know that when you play it you have to make sure that it is tuned. It is very common for a guitar to be out of tune when you first pick it up. Every time you play it, it has to be tuned in order for the guitar to sound its best. Just like a guitar, we as humans are prone to being “out of tune”. If we want to live our BEST life for Christ, then we have to retune our hearts for Christ every time we wake up much like a guitar when it is played!!!

Every single morning l need to remember to RE-TUNE my heart towards Christ. Giving him my anxious thoughts and asking him what he wants me to do in the day.

How can we retune our hearts to christ everyday?

READ THE BIBLE– Through this we can learn more about our miraculous savior, and we can learn just who he says he is. Doing this reminds us of why we need to serve Christ, and it refocuses our mind off of worldly things. It retunes us to sing a new song… not one of the world but towards Christ. It reminds us to look at life from God’s perspective and not the worlds.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:2-3

PRAY-yes, every single morning(and well all day). Ask him for guidance and wisdom throughout the day and confess of your sin. Ask him for help through the Holy Spirit to lead you in your walk with christ and where the lord may want you to go.

GUARD YOUR HEART AND PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF CHRIST– yes, you read it right. Guard your heart because that is the very core of your actions and thoughts. Every decision you make flows from it. Doing this requires that we fully put our trust in god. (I know it’s easier said than done.) We need to let go of our anxious/ worldly thoughts always but especially in the morning and give them to God.

I do believe that if I choose to do these things each and every morning that my heart will be “retuned” into singing a new song… one to christ and not the world.

xoxoxoxo- Madeline 🙂

Ecclesiastes 3

I am going to just be real with you all. Recently, I’ve have been in the middle of MY plans for MY life. I have thought that my plans for my life are better for me than God’s plan for my life. HA HA that sounds crazy that I would EVER even think that.

I have wanted this ONE thing from God for so long and I thought I was ready for it. So…. I decided to go for it and put my plans first because I really wanted it!!! I considered the fact that maybe it was NOT God’s time for me to have this one thing yet… but I had waited for so long for it and REALLY wanted it. so I decided to follow my plans.

When I was in the middle of my plans for my life, I felt miserable. I knew deep down that I was placing my fears/wants/desires above Christ. . I could feel the Holy Spirit convicting me the whole time I was in the middle of my plans…showing me my idols. It is so hard to completly trust God in EVERY situation in my life. Even in my deepest fear….and wants…

the whole time, I was trying to push something that was not meant to be.

I am not really much of a puzzle person because it takes so much time and patience…. butttttt “shoving” my plans before God’s plans for me reminded me of a puzzle. You know when you find two puzzle pieces you think are going to connect and then they don’t??? I don’t know what y’all do when this happens but for me I try and try for the piece to fit.

I push it and shove it just hoping that it will fit butttt it never fits??? why???? Because the creator of the puzzle knew that if that one wrong piece did fit.. then it would NOT make the picture of the puzzle (or whatever the puzzle is) look right.

Shoving the wrong puzzle piece into another one is exactly like what I was doing when I decided to put my plans above christ. Because I wanted this one specific thing SO BAD, I tried to get my plans to fit into my life. I shoved my plans… I twisted my plans… I squished my plans… wanting them to fit into the “puzzle.”

I didn’t want to wait for God’s timing just like I did not want to wait for the right puzzle piece.

I realize I have been putting my plans and fears before Christ… I have repented.. and am trying (with a lot of help from the holy spirit) to completely trust Him in the fears and to wait for HIS perfect timing.

ephesians 3:20

“Never forget that God isn’t bound by time the way we are. We see only the present moment, God sees everything. We see only part of what he is doing; he sees it all” -Billy Graham

.

hmmmmm… five and two???? what is the significance of these two random numbers??

let’s go back and read the VERY familiar story of how God took something very small and made it big… big enough to feed a MULTITUDE of people.

 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence in a boat, into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard of it, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.  But Jesus said to them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.  And they say to him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. ¹⁸ He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  And they all ate, and were satisfied: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. “

did you read that??? the little boy only had five loaves and two fish yet Jesus was able to feed 5,000 men. (plus more because of the women and children) this is crazy to me because it shows me how Jesus can bless what LITTLE you have.

what little wisdom you have… yeah he can make it multiply

what little faith you have… he can bless that and make your faith increase

what your platform for christ is… he can multiply that

all you have to do is bring the five and two to christ and DARE TO ASK HIM to multiply it. I truly believe that Christ has the power to multiply what little we as humans posses because of this bible story. Much like the little boy who only had five loaves and two fish, we are the same way. We come to christ with little to nothing and ask him to multiply our faith, our wisdom or whatever it may be. so today, I DARE YOU to ask Christ to multiply you. He can do far more than you can even imagine.

Bring the five and two and watch Christ multiply it!!

XOXOXO -MADELINE 5&2