Helping the less fortunate

The other day I heard a saying, "God does not ask us to help the less fortunate, He commands it." That really got me thinking. I have never thought of it as He demands it, but it makes sense that He does. After all, we are always the less fortunate and Christ helps us. So if He does that and we strive to be like Christ, wouldn't we do everything we can to help anybody in need. Now obviously we would need to be prayerful on how we help one another and how the Lord leads us to help whether it be by helping with funds, food, prayer, emotional support, ect. I know I am rambling so I am just going to let that these thoughts simmer some more. Tell me what you guys think.

I Can't Even Fathom

The past few days I have been pondering how great my God is. He loves me even though I mess up more times than I even know. He loves me when I am confused and angry. He loves me when I am elated. He loves me for my personality. He loves me for my flaws. He loves ME for ME! How amazing is that! What I can't fathom is how he never gets tired of me after all I do to mess things up. He is so patient and willing to just wait out my foolish actions and is standing there ready saying, "Now you have tried your way. Can we try My way now?" This year I have been praying for the Lord to give me trust. Trust in Him. Trust in the fact that He has my life in His hands and will not do anything to harm me. I can't fathom the amount that He loves me. Can you?

Reflection

Yesterday as I was taking my sister to the airport at four in the morning, I began thinking about my time in Africa. I don't normally get up at 3:30 A.M. to be out of the house by 4:00, but many people in Africa do it every day and don't complain about it. They are thankful for the jobs they do have and work very hard to provide for their family. As I was contemplating on how I can stay positive during my work and every day life my thoughts wondered on to my non-existent hot water at the house. My roommates and I had been without hot water for a week so we were finding ways to take a hot shower. The majority of those days we would just go over to a friends house and shower. People in Africa rarely have hot water to take showers in and most likely don't have friends that have hot water. Some people don't even have running water where they are at. This then brought me to think about how blessed I am to just have running water, let alone hot water. The Lord has been working in my life this week and showing me and reminding me to be thankful for not just the big things in life but also the small things in life. Let us all remember to be thankful in EVERY situation and for EVERYTHING we have and not just the good and big things that come our way.

Thoughts for the new year

I love beginning a new year. It is almost like a sense of a fresh beginning. A ton of people have new year's resolutions. I am one of those people. But unlike most, my number one resolution is not to have a healthier lifestyle or be a better person at managing money (both of which I do need to work on), but my number one resolution is to become closer with my Lord and grow in Him. This is probably the hardest thing for me to do since I am a person who likes to have control over my life. So for me to let Abba have all the control is scary to me but I know He will do bigger and better things with my life than I could ever do. I am super excited to see what this year has to bring!
Shalom,
SDOC