Don't Worry, Be Happy...

What a crazy week!!! Sorry all for not blogging for so long. Okay, so I’m going to share with all of you my emotions/feelings of this week:  troubled, upset, frustrated, and the list could probably go on. I don’t know what it is, but I wear my feelings on my shoulder. It’s pretty bad. I get upset over the smallest things (although most of the time I won’t admit or show it,) and I constantly let those things rule over me. Yet, tonight I came across a message on peace by Joyce Meyers. All I can say is thank you Lord and thank you Joyce!!! I thought I would briefly share with all of you what I learned, and I’m still telling myself why I didn’t hear this earlier. First and foremost, peace is ours [it is an inheritance from God.] We don’t have to pray for it. It is already in us! However, we have to pursue it. Secondly, Satan is a peace stealer. He knows how to push our buttons, and he knows what upsets each one us. This speaks volumes to me. I now know who is responsible for stealing my peace, but I can’t just blame it on him. I am allowing him to steal it. When I let those small things rule over me, I am letting Satan win. We have to be able to recognize those things we let consume us and refuse to let that steal our peace. Lastly, we have to stop going with our minds and feelings and start following the Spirit. This is also a biggy for me, because often I feel as if my life revolves around my feelings.  It is up to me to stop giving into these feelings and pursue the Spirit—PURSUE PEACE. We must make this commitment: I am not going to live my life upset, discouraged, troubled, or depressed. I WILL NOT be ruled by my emotions.  Oh and jealousy…guys we’ve got to let that go. We cannot allow for jealousy to eat us alive. Seriously, so many of us (including myself) let jealousy consume our lives—every thought, every action. We will never live a happy life that way. We have to refuse to let it rule over us. So, I’m challenging myself and you all as well to refuse to let this stuff get to us. Remember, peace is ours. We just have to pursue it!

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Avoiding the Middle Road

One of the things I seem to be working on the most lately in my walk with Christ is refraining from becoming complacent. This is probably one of the biggest problems for most Christians today. Today in our culture it is so easy to make things a routine. We have this day to day routine or set of rituals that we must follow and sadly enough most of our Christian walks have conformed to this whole routine idea. I will be the first to admit I do it. I get to a point where I'm comfortable in my walk, where I'm not going through any troublesome trials, or I'm pretty happy with where my relationship with Christ is. It is then that I become complacent. However, Jesus does not call us to be comfortable or complacent. He calls us to walk how He walked--To live radically and to continually be growing in Him. "Radical" seems to be a scary word these days. It makes people uncomfortable. Well surprise, living a radical life is sometimes living an uncomfortable life. When you are living a radical life for the sake of Christ there are going to be plenty of times where you are going to feel uncomfortable...trust me. Yet, during these uncomfortable times, guess who is there to be your comfort??? GOD. I constantly try to place myself in situations where I'm outside of my comfort zone. I do this, because I want to challenge myself. I want to be able to take "me" out of it (my feelings, etc.) and focus on Christ alone. Although at times I may feel uneasy, scared, or worried what others may think, God brings me this comfort and joy I cannot express into words. In the video posted below, Francis Chan talks about how the church has created this new middle road. Today, we have put God in our box. Instead of us reflecting His image, we make it to where we want God to reflect ours. We have twisted God's word into something that is more comfortable or easy for us....we've created a middle road. I hope all of you take the time to watch this video and challenge yourselves to continually seek God, to not fall into complacency, but ask God to awaken your spirit and revive your heart!! I love the wording of Matthew 7:13 in The Message: "Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life- to God!- is vigorous and requires total attention."

A life to be thankful for!!!

As I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, "This has been one crazy year." (in a good way of course!!) I am definitely not the person I was last Thanksgiving. So much has happened since then that I have to give thanks for! First of all, words cannot describe how thankful I am for my gracious Father in Heaven. He met me on that wide road to destruction and delivered me from a wasted life. Everyday I am in awe of His redeeming love. He took me, broken and filthy, and cleaned me up, and I am eternally grateful for such grace and love!!!! Of course I'm thankful for my family as well. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful parents who support me in everything I do. I know there are plenty of times I take them for granted, but I really do appreciate all that they do for me. My sister, who is truly my best friend, is also such a blessing in my life. She is growing up so fast and becoming an amazing young woman of God!!!! I know she has touched so many lives through that sweet spirit of hers, because she has definitely touched mine. I am also thankful for all of my precious friends. Without their encouragement, I probably would not be where I am today. I cannot stress how important it is to fellowship with other believers. It has changed my walk with Christ. Times where I wanted to give up or times where I became complacent, my friends were there to advise, encourage, and pray for me. I also thank God for all the new people entering into my life everyday. I know every person I meet are placed in my life for a reason. Although I do not know what that reason may be, I am thankful for the influences I may have on their life or they may have on mine. As you can see, I am so very blessed and have so much to be thankful for. I hope every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Today, I encourage you to reflect on everything and everyone you should be thankful for. Even things that may not seem to be blessings remember this quote: "Every good poised to bless us, and every evil arrayed against us, will in the end help us boast only in the cross."

“Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.” -Psalm 136:2 

Now Thanksgiving is not the only time we should give thanks. We should be thankful everyday in every situation. Watch Joyce Meyer's video on a Thankful Attitude:

Overcoming Fear

So my precious friends and I just had our last session of Beth Moore's Study of Esther and let me tell you everyone should study the life of Esther! I could probably preach pages of everything I have learned from this study, but I won't. I just want to share some of the key points about fear Beth made that really have opened my eyes and heart. Fear is definitely a big issue for me. I'm a very anxious person, and some days it seems like worry and fear consume my life. Well Beth gave us this phrase to say to ourselves anytime we're facing a fear or circumstance: if ________ then God. This simple but powerful phrase has forever changed my view on fear. Seriously, think about it. What are we so afraid of? Why do we worry? If I fail then God. If this then God. If that then God. No matter what it may be God will always be there. He is saying to us, "Trust Me" [PERIOD]. Beth pointed out that the most common command in the Bible is "Fear Not." God is so much bigger than anything we could possibly face. He clearly tells us, "Don't be afraid." We get to decide how good our story is going to be and we're going to let something like fear hold us back??? We will never know abundant life if we remain in the tight fist of fear. Esther had to overcome herself in order to do what God had positioned her to do. She had to face fear, and her response??-- "If I perish, I perish." I long for the courage Esther had. Sometimes guys, we can protect ourselves right out of our calling. If Esther did not trust God, she would of missed the most pivotal point in her path. Beth even said it herself, "You may be one brave decision away from the most important step in your destiny." I don't know about you, but I sure don't want to miss out on my calling due to fear. Finally she left us with this,"Everytime you're in a tight fist of fear, remember you're in something much tighter."----> Isaiah 49:16: See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands<---- God has his hand of protection over us.

Vintage Love

So since it's Saturday, I am in the shopping mood...online shopping that is. First website on my list-- etsy.com. For those of you who have never heard of Etsy, I am apologizing in advance the damage this may cause to your wallets. If you love vintage, you will absolutely love Etsy!!! And just a heads up...some of the merchandise is a little pricey, but there are also some excellent buys. You really just have to shop around. That is what shopping is all about right??--finding great things at a great price! Anyways, just thought I would share some of the stuff I found today. P.S. if you can't find the vintage headbands for a cheap price, you can sooooo make them yourself! There are tons of how-to tutorials on the web.

He desires us...

So as I was driving to school this morning, this song by JJ Heller came on the radio. I immediately fell in love with the words. She sings, "Who will love me for me. Not for what I have done or what I will become." This is a question many of us ask ourselves. Yes, I'm sure some of you have that person who loves you for you, but sadly most people today don't feel as if they do. This is something I have trouble with in my own life. Growing up, I always wanted to be the center of attention. I desired so much for people to like and accept me, and I wanted so badly for someone to think I'm beautiful. Due to this desire, I have struggled in the past with poor self image-- so much that I had an eating disorder in high school. So many of us have struggled with this thought that no one loves or cares for us, and sometimes we will do just about anything to obtain this love. Our culture has convinced us to believe that we have to be stick thin, wear certain clothes, and do certain things in order to be accepted, loved, or desired. This is the enemy's doing. God loves us, and ultimately that is all that matters. To Him, we are BEAUTIFUL. He DESIRES us. We are His beloved, and He is ours. No one can take that away. I know with the world we live in today it's hard, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that our Father in Heaven loves us, and His love is never ending. It will never fail us. I came across this verse the other day, and it reminded me of what true beauty really is, and how God takes such delight in it. Ladies, this is what being beautiful is all about:

"You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." -1 Peter 3:4

Be true to who you are. Be precious women of God. Do not compromise. You are worth so much!!! And when you feel as if no one cares...God does.

JJ Heller's video:

First Blog Post Everrr!!!!!!!!

So since this is my first post and all I need to give you a little background info. For months I have desired to start blogging, but I never got around to doing it. I would come up with all these excuses why not to. One being-- "I'm just your average person. No one would be interested in my life." THAT IS THE DEVIL!!! No one is average. We all have a story worth telling.So here is my story: My name is Chelsea. I'm quite the goofball, but on a serious note I'm a changed woman. At seventeen years old, I thought I had my life figured out. I graduated at the top of my class, I had a scholarship to a great school, I knew exactly what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life...Basically, I had my life mapped out. Well after my first year of college, I was stuck in a rut. My life consisted of school and parties and that's pretty much it. I wasn't happy with who I was and where I was going. I just knew there was something more to life. I knew in my heart God had so much more planned for me. I can't really explain what came over me, but one day something just clicked, a veil was torn, and I just decided I'm tired of living out my plan. I made a commitment to the Lord that day that I was going to die to myself and my plan and take up His. Sounds easy huh? Not so much. For the first few weeks I struggled between my heart and flesh. The reason--- I didn't want to completely let go of my old life. It's not an easy thing to do, but eventually I did it. I had to let go of old habits and even good friends in order to completely live a life for Christ. Now I'm not saying I just dumped all my friends on the side of the road. I am still friends with them, I just no longer go out and participate in the activities I used to be apart of with them. Oh, and on top of all that I was expecting God to give me this blueprint of what I was suppose to do in life. Well, God doesn't work like that. The Bible is the only blueprint He gives you. I began to get frustrated with what I was suppose to be doing. I had no plan. Instead of seeking God, I was just seeking this "plan" I thought I was suppose to have. In all this frustration, I just started praying. I prayed, prayed, and prayed some more. Christ spoke to me and said, "Chelsea, I will lead you in the way you need to go, but you have to trust me and take a leap of faith." Woahhh. The day I completely gave all of myself to Christ. I mean all of me. I was immediately at peace. I put all my trust in Him and came to the realization that no matter what happens (even if I have no idea where I'm going) I will seek and serve Jesus Christ in all that I do. I had to forget all the details and just seek and love HIM. Ever since then it's been a wild ride to say the least. I'm not perfect, in fact, I have failed many times. Yet, He STILL loves me. No matter what you are facing or where you are in life, He STILL loves you as well. I just want you to realize this world has nothing for us--that a life for the world is no life at all. We are here to serve, seek, and glorify our Father in heaven. In giving Christ all this glory comes joy I cannot even put into words!
**Roman 12: 1-8

--Chelsea :)