Real Faith

I had an incredible weekend, going to One Conference. It's a huge youth rally, with teens from all over Atlantic Canada, even the US. It was great; the speakers were awesome, the music was fantastic, it was a great time to worship and learn.

I dropped the youth off, and then headed back home. I got out onto the highway and I started praying a bit. A few minutes in and I was crying, asking God why about something in my life. I didn't understand why He was letting certain things happen when I felt He had told me - had promised me - something different.

It was easy at the conference to raise my hands, proclaim how I trusted God, how I know He has good plans - but when reality hits, it can get a lot harder.

Don't get me wrong, I still trust God has the best plan. It takes a while for me to get it through my thick skull, but I know He has it all under control. I just have to be okay with giving Him the control.

My point is, how many of us act the part on Sunday morning; worshipping God, raising our hands, praying, speaking words of encouragement to people... then Monday something really crappy happens, and we forget everything?

Let's let our faith become more authentic. Let's trust in God, even in the hard times. Let's trust God, even when we don't understand. Let's know that God has a good, good plan for us, even when we may not see how it will all work out. God wants us to praise Him and trust Him, even in uncertainty. That's what makes our faith real.

Tidbits I've Learned

I started writing a post but it wasn't coming together too well. Then I decided I'm going to make a post with just some little tidbits of information I want to share that I have been learning. So, enjoy!

1. Surrender and trust go hand in hand. I can't fully surrender if I don't fully trust. And I can't learn to fully trust if I don't fully surrender. (This is a process, it won't happen all at once. So be gracious to yourself.)

2. Trying to control everything is the most destructive thing I can do. Let go. Know God's got it all under control.

3. God will guide if I trust Him to.

4. God has the best plan.

5. God can make things happen if they are supposed to happen.

6. All God wants is a willing heart that is open to Him to work through.

7. God blesses those who are just trying to follow Him.

8. God has a purpose for my life. He gave me a calling years ago. He's given more specific direction since then. He is faithful to bring about opportunity for me to walk in that calling.

9. God loves me. He loves me in spite of my sin. (He doesn't want sin to be a part of my life, and He is willing to forgive me of it and help me overcome it.) He loves me in spite of my imperfections and flaws. He loves me, fully; completely; deeply.

10. He is causing everything to work together for my good.

God has been so good to me. He has been faithful to provide and to help me through everything.

He will help you too. Just trust Him.

Make Him Wait

I just came across this song called "Make Him Wait" by Abby Anderson.

I listened to it and my heart broke.

See, in my past, I have had relationships with guys that were not healthy and were not good. There are things I wish I could take back. Things I wish I had done differently, said differently... even ways I wish I had acted differently.

This song reminded me how important it is to not rush everything. I am always rushing through everything, trying to get to the next thing. But...

Life can't be rushed. There is nothing we can force. Life is like a puzzle, and the pieces just come together eventually. You can force a piece to fit, but in the end, something won't be right.

Same in relationships.

Don't try to force something to work together.

Don't try to force something to "fit" if it doesn't. Trust me, I'm thankful my parents stopped me from trying to force something to fit about a year ago. In the end, something wouldn't have been quite right. I can see that now, but couldn't see it then.

I'm thankful that part of my puzzle fell apart. Because I know God has a better plan of how that part of the puzzle is going to come together.

He will make it come together, and it will be beautiful. I just need to give Him all the pieces, and let Him be in control of it.

Do you have something in your life that you just want to control and make happen? Why not join me and just hand over all the pieces to the Master of all puzzles?

He really does know how to make the puzzle come together beautifully.

Out to Get Me

Y’all don’t believe the devil is real? Let me tell you something.

The devil is so real and He is out to get you.

This week, I finally started to feel content in one area of my life. As soon as I was feeling content, temptation came and pulled me away from that contentment.

I struggled through for a couple days. I didn’t do well. (Heck, I'm still struggling with it.)

But as I was struggling and doing things I knew God didn’t want me to do, I kept feeling more and more lonely when I thought what I was doing should help me not feel so alone.

See that’s what sin does. It pulls us away and blocks our view of God and who He really is. The devil loves to do that to us. He loves to get in any crack he can and wreak havoc in our lives.

Thankfully, we can always come back into the light, out of the darkness of the lies of the devil, into God’s glorious light, and seek forgiveness and restoration.

Devil, you ain’t got nothing on me. I got Jesus. He defeated you a long time ago, and just wait, cuz your time is coming again. I’ll fight you, with Jesus living in me. And you might win a battle, but you won’t win the war.

Claim that truth for yourself. Use it when temptation comes. RUN from temptation, don’t dance with it. Trust me, dancing with it only leads to trouble.

Sin might look good right now... the devil might be whispering lies to you. But one day, sin will be locked up with the devil.

Don’t be one to get locked up with the devil. Get with Jesus. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins. Tell someone. Seek to follow Him the rest of your life. Read your Bible (and apply it in your life). Fellowship with Christians. Pray. Practice spiritual disciplines. All those things are good, but the most important thing is a relationship with Jesus Himself.

Don't know what to pray? You can follow what I've written below.

Jesus, I'm tired of living in darkness. I don't like feeling lonely. I want to have a relationship with you. Please forgive me for my sins. Help me to seek you and live my life for you. Help me grow to know you more each day. Thank you for your sacrifice and for your forgiveness. Help me in my day to day life. Help me to forgive myself too. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Please tell some other Christian if you've prayed that prayer. Our relationship with God is most important, but we need relationships with others too.

Have no one to tell? Feel free to comment on this post so we can celebrate with you, or send me an e-mail at augustinegidney@gmail.com

Be Blessed y'all.

Plans

I love planning. I like having an idea of what is going to happen. I plan in my day to day life, and I especially try to plan ahead for the future. And I had a plan. When that plan backfired, I re-grouped and adjusted my plan. And you can guess what happened...

Dang, have my plans for my future crashed and crumbled around me. And went up in a big pile of smoke, leaving me feeling a little crispy. (IDK why I just had a cartoon scene just flash through my mind, but okay lol)

The places I thought I would be... the things I thought I would be doing... now I have realized that those things won't be. At least not in the time-table I had set.

See this verse Jeremiah 29:11 started taking over my thinking. "For I know the plans I have for you... plans for good and not for evil... to give you a future and a hope."

I've been trying to live by that verse. But it is NOT easy.

Lately, I've been slipping back into my desire to plan and *ahem* control my life.

HA. HA. (That's what God says.)

He knows just how well this has worked for me before.

Today, after a weekend of some major pouting, He threw a couple verses at me.

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you." - Psalm 37:4-5

As if that wasn't enough...

"The Lord says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.'" -Psalm 32:8

Ok… think I got the point.

• Gotta delight in the Lord
• Gotta commit it all to Him
• Gotta trust Him
• Gotta let Him guide and advise

Okay, those are easy to say, hard to do. But why on earth should I do them?

See, God knows my desires better than I do. He knows how I long to feel appreciated and loved. He knows how I long to someday have a family (ain't ready for kiddos yet LOL, I like my sleep), how I long to have a good job, how I long to do what's right, ETC. He knows it better than I do.

So why the heck is it so hard to trust Him with it?

Probably pride. I want to plan it. I want to do it. I don't want to lean on anyone else to figure it out for me. I don't want to give up control.

>>>>CONTROL<<<<

Ugh. I have to give up control?!? SERIOUSLY!?!?!?

Take it from me... giving up control is hard. It might suck at first and feel like nothing is going right. But God's got a plan.

I've experienced it before. When I give up control and I trust, great things happen.

Have I done it all the time?

Heck no.

Have I done it well?

Hahahhahahah NOPE.

But in the end, if I finally give something up, God will work it all out for the best.

Got something you need to give up control over and trust God with? A situation at school? At work? Some type of relationship? Money? Good news is whatever it is, if you pray and ask God to help you, He will. But you have to be sincere. Don't forget that part. ;)

Here's a little prayer that might help get you started:

God, thank you that you love me and care about all the details of my life. Thank you that you are always there and know things I could never know. Thank you for having everything under control so I don't have to worry about ___________________ anymore. Help me to trust you with it, and let it go. I know You'll work it out better than I could anyways. Thanks Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen

I hope this helped and encouraged someone.

Remember:

• Give up control.
• Give your desires to the Lord.
• Commit your life to Him and all you do in it.
• Trust that He will guide and watch over you and advise you in the way you need to go.

Answers

I like answers.

I like black and white, yes or no answers, especially when it comes to my life.

When I ask God “Why?” I want an explanation.

When I ask Him to give me something, I want it now.

Something I’m learning is that God doesn’t always need to give me the answers.

I don’t always need the answers.

But there is something I do need.

I do need faith that God has my best interest in mind.

I need faith that He knows the whole plan for my life.

I need faith that He’s in control of it all.

And with the help of those around me, that faith is growing.

God Himself is helping me.

Y’all I’m a work in progress. I’m sure you are too. But faith is one of the most important things we need.

Have faith in God. Pray. Be around people who have great faith. Trust the little things to God, then the bigger things come easier.

Read your Bible. Devotions are a great way to gain faith and trust.

Your life will be so much easier when you have a little faith.

It’s a relief knowing you don’t have to figure out your life alone.

It’s a relief knowing you don’t have to have all the answers.

God’s got it.

Have faith.

Trust.

Be Still

Y'all I'm an intern! I just have to celebrate that fact for a second, then I can move on.

I've just started, but I already am learning a lot. God has shown me something that He has been trying to teach me for a long time... It is okay to be still. It is okay, even good, to just sit in quiet, in silence, doing nothing, worrying about nothing.

I have felt such a sense of peace since I have started accepting that.

Accepting that I don't always have to be rushing, always have to be doing something, always have to be looking way off into the future, is a process.

But I'm beginning to learn.

I keep claiming this verse, Jeremiah 29:11. I think I've included it in many of my posts. But in case you don't know, here is what it says... "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord..." The verse goes on to say the plans are for good, not evil, to give a future and a hope.

I'm a person that clings to my plans. I hold on, try to figure it all out, and have a hard time trusting God with things.

God has been nudging me, reminding me how He loves me, how His plans are better than my own, are better than the things I may want right now... He reminds me not to trade in what I want now for what I could have in the future that is so much better than what I would get now.

He is teaching me not to trade in artificial love for real, true love.

He is teaching me not to be overwhelmed, but simply to take things a day at a time, and trust He's got a plan bigger than I could understand.

He is teaching me a lot of things.

I'm excited for what these next four months hold.