I have come to realize that some of the reasons people have issues with God is because of what they have experienced with other people who called themselves Christians. 

Growing up in church I know I did not take my faith serious until two years ago. So I may have not looked much different from others in the world. That’s why now I try my hardest to really be more honest to myself and others about my walk with God.

But what always gets me is the way that other “believers” talk so much negativity about others and then turn around and try to use the Bible and justify their actions. It really does break my heart when I see people do this to someone. Because this is one of the ways that the devil can use to effectively push people away from God. 

Because it is so hard to not be discouraged if the same people who are supposed to be witnessing about God are the ones who are putting you down with negative thinking. 

But that is when I am reminded of what my pastor said. He said that we shouldn’t be surprised if we have bad experiences within the church because of other believers. Since we are all human and all have fallen short o the glory of Christ Jesus. We will never measure up to being some ideal Christian because we are human. There was only one person who was sinless and that was Jesus. 

In other words we will all make mistakes, but in the words of my pastor we should not let other people’s mistake pull us away from God. 

When I hear other people’s situations it makes me realize how true that is. Because      I know that I will never be perfect I can try to be more Christ like but I will always struggle with something. But I will try to continually go to God and try to overcome  obstacles in my life as the Holy Spirit reveal them to me. I just hope that my actions will never turn people away from God or give them the wrong impression of what Christian life truly is and who God is. 

One last note, I am only writing what I feel. I am not saying that I am so above this because truthfully I know I have many short comings myself. I am just writing this to express how sad I feel when I hear this happening. And how hard I will try to not do the same. 

This author is so great, I have posted on this blog before that I love to read. I do love romantic fiction books, but that usually have another element rolled in it. Like with the Sarah Dessen’s books the main character usually have something they are trying to get over. Like Truth about Forever, the main character was getting over the impact her father’s death had on her.

Well I am getting more into Christian fiction books and I happened upon this author when I got a Prequel to the series for free on my nook. After reading Danger in the Shadows I fell in love with the author. 

The guardian is not different in creating an awesome read. It is about Marcus the oldest of a family of seven, who all grew up in an orphanage. They adopted each other and as adults changed their last names. Marcus is a U.S. Marshal and his task is to protect a woman who saw someone kill a federal judge who was just going to be nominated from the Supreme Court. While protecting this witness Marcus has to face his problem with believing in God and the power of prayer.

It was such an awesome book, and for once I did not rush to finish to read it. But I took my time to really read through the story. This book was so awesome because it had mystery, romance, a sprinkle of humor, along with addressing the importance of prayer. 

I am always fascinated the way Christian authors are able to weave together a tale that feels so realistic and bring in elements of Christianity. 

I would give this book 5 stars, which I rarely do for books. And when I get the chance will defiantly buy this book since I got it at the library. I probably will end up buying the whole series because the book before this one was also fantastic. 

Next up is The truth seeker, which I have already started. 

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

This is a verse that I am committing to memory, because it is something I need to remind myself daily. 

Since I have so much time on my hands it is so easy to waste time and get carried away watching TV or trolling the Internet. But I am trying really hard to minimize the time I spend on both. This is because I am trying really hard to not allow the Internet to rule my life. Which is really hard in this day and age but I what I am trying to remember is that I have to take it one day at a time. 

I am using this book as one of my devotionals, since I have another devotional journal my mom picked up for me. It’s funny since they are both focused on prayer. But I really believe this is because I really need to have a more consistent prayer life. But there was one prayer in this book that I saw yesterday that I think I want to memorize so that when I can start or end my prayer with it.

Dear God, help me to have faith enough to believe You will answer my prayers. Give me the patience to wait for the answers to appear. Keep me from giving up and taking matters into my own hands. Instead, enable me to trust You have heard my prayers and will answer in Your perfect way and time. Help me to rest in peace during times of waiting. 

This prayer really hit me yesterday because of what I am experiencing right now. I cannot get a job as a phlebotomist (person who draws blood from you) until I have my license. So that means I have to wait for my diploma for the school to say that I am finished (which should come next week). Then I could send in my stuff for the state in order to get my certification then I can start applying for jobs. After that it will take at least 3 weeks if not more for it to come. 

So that means I have to wait patiently and cannot work yet, which is making me a little frustrated because I want to help my mom with my bills for the car and then my loans from school. 

But I am noticing that God, gave me this time to give me a little breather before I enter the actual workforce and become super busy. I am trying to use this time to really connect with God more and create a very consistent pattern of praying, reading the Bible, and exercising. This is so when I work I will not neglect spending time with God everyday.

What I noticed from my devotion from yesterday is I need to be like Abraham. God had promised him a son when he was 75 and did not get one until he was 100 years old. This shows me that God does not answer prayers in a fashion we would want, it may take weeks, months or even years to hear God’s answers to our prayer. But I need to be more patient with God and not take matters into my own hands. I need to patiently wait on God. 

Last week I was not able to workout as much as I wanted to. But now that I switched to the AM shift in the hospital I can work out more often.I really do like the gym but I think I need to mix it up and try to do my jillian michaels DVDS at least once a week. 

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

This was part of the devotion today from the power of prayer book. One thing that really stood out to me was how ashamed and fearful Adam and Eve were of God after they sinned. And I know for me this happens often too, I feel ashamed or fearful to be in God’s presence after I sin. So my first reaction is often the one seen in these verses, I try to hide from God by avoiding the things of God.

But something I need to daily come back to is the fact that being a Christian does not mean I will be perfect. I am human and the only person who did not sin was Christ. So I am going to make mistakes but when I do sin I just have to repent and keeping on coming to God. I cannot let the devil prevent me from following God and I cannot let my shame and guilt over run me. I have to confess to God my weakness and continue to walk with him. 

I do not want to be like Adam and Eve and turn away from God even though God was willing to keep His appointment with them even though He knew they had sinned. I want to continually follow God’s agenda and not try and set my own. This means making sure to make the time I set aside to spend with God is special and not to lose sight of how important the time I spend with God is. 

Right now I am going through this book called the Power of Praying through the Bible. It was my mom’s and the reason I wanted to read it is because I know this one part that I struggle to commit to doing on a regular basis. But now that I am making a real effort to put God first in areas in my life where I had not given him total control over I am starting to see amazing things. 

For instance I was praying about me doing my hospital hours and that everything would work out. And instead of doing my hours at a hospital father away from me where it would take me longer to complete all my hours, I am now going to work in a hospital closer to me. 

The reason this is so amazing is because yesterday God prevented me from going to the school where I took my phlebotomy class. And it was because there was somewhere there who really helped me out and even allowed me to start working earlier than I expected. Instead of working tomorrow, I am starting work today. So I am so thankful to God that everything turned out.

I am just reminded of how my cousins were saying that as soon as you give God what he is asking of you he then meets one of your needs. I am not saying this will happen all the time but this is a phenomenon that I am noticing at the moment. 

Almost a year ago I posted I was going to be on a hiatus that lasted about almost year. But now that I am no longer in school because I graduated in June (which I am still so happy about) I am going to start updating my blog more often. Right now I don’t have a job yet because I am waiting to do my hours in the hospital before I can get my license to draw blood (Phlebotomy). 

The main reason I started this blog was  to hold myself more accountable in reading God’s word daily and praying. This blog will still serve that purpose. I probably won’t post everyday about the different things I learn from what I have read in the Bible. But I hope to post at least three times a week on here except on weeks when I am really busy. 

But I am now going to try to post more often and this blog will also include other things going in my life. Like my sewing adventures ( which I started back doing). And it might even include my fitness journey which I have just started doing about two months ago.