I'm sure I owe Someone my life

Everyone was put on earth for a reason, for a purpose. I thought about that tonight after I watched “My Sister’s Keeper.” The main character was given life to save her sister. That really made me think; what if we were all put on earth for a reason like that; a reason so specific? But it dawned on me that we are put on earth for a reason. It might not be as dramatic as the girl in the movie, but there’s a reason for each one of us. Everything about our lives helps us live out our reason for being alive. God equipped us with everything we need to fulfill our purpose here on earth. Every skill, character trait, and spiritual gift was chosen by God specifically for us. He didn’t make any mistakes. You have what you have for a reason, and you’re even at the place you’re at for a reason. You’re in the exact family, house, neighborhood, city, state, and country that God designed especially for you. He had you in mind the whole time. To me, that’s incredible. So if you’re ever feeling down or not good enough remember, God created you for a specific reason and purpose that only YOU can fulfill!

Strong in the Weak Man

I was listening to a song by Leeland the other night and it really struck a cord. The chorus is basically plagiarizing John 3:30, where it says “He must become greater, I must become less.” The chorus also talks about how when we are at our weakest, God is at His strongest. That made me think about my life in the past nine or ten months. I have been at my lowest, at my weakest. To be honest, I’m a pretty weak person. But with God’s help, I got through the events of the past nine months, and I can make it through whatever else life throws my way. God truly was my strength during the past nine months because I know for a fact that I would not be where I am now if it weren’t for His intervening in my life.

I was curious as to what exactly weak meant. I looked it up and this is what I found:

“lacking strength; not able to sustain or exert much”

If applied to my life, those are pretty accurate definitions. Weakness can be overpowering and I’ve definitely experienced that. To be weak is to be drained, whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or a combination of those. And it amazes me how when we are in such a low state, God uses His power and strength to get us through. It wasn’t until last night that I really realized how much strength God exerted in my direction. My life was filled with blow after blow in a very short amount of time. It just seemed like things kept getting out of control at the same time. After Cameron’s accident I was wiped out physically and emotionally. Somehow my faith was still pretty strong; I know now that it was God sustaining me; giving me strength when I was extremely weak. A few weeks later I moved away to college, to a completely different atmosphere surrounded by strangers. A few months later, our youth pastor was let go of for reasons that still upset me. In fact, people kept information from me about this incident because they knew I wouldn’t be able to take it. And while they were probably right about that, it literally made me sick because everyone I was close to back home knew what was going on and I didn’t. And with my terribly pessimistic mind, I was of course thinking the worst. And if that fiasco wasn’t enough, just a few weeks after that, three of my relatives were in a very severe car accident. The week that happened was terrible. I had been sick all week, Cameron had been on my mind a lot, and then I get a phone call telling me about the accident. The day that happened was one of my worst days. I was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually weak. It was the night I decided to come home after one semester of college.

Even though all those events were terribly negative and made me incredibly weak, God was good and He was at work. I can directly quote what I posted a few weeks ago: “God can be glorified through the hurt and sadness, if just for the simple truth that we are still alive and breathing. It’s a testimony to God’s goodness and power that we can still stand and go on with our lives after suffering whatever it may be.”

More times than not from August to December, that was pretty much my testimony. I was just surviving; I was alive and breathing and even though there was a lot of hurt, God was still faithful and good just for the fact that I was still alive and that I could go on with my life, even though it was so difficult at times.

Continuing on God’s strength in our weakness, I was reading my Bible last night and came across Psalm 18. It truly was what I needed to hear last night. I absolutely love times like that; when God speaks to you through something like reading the Bible.

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge…In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice…He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy; from my foes, who were too strong for me…They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support…You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” – Psalm 18:1, 6, 16, 17, 18, 28

Wasted time is something, man, when it's gone you can't get it back

I started a self-induced Facebook fast today. Facebook always takes up more time than I plan and I decided today that I would put an end to that. I don’t know how long this will last, but I’m aiming for at least a week. Facebook is quite the time-waster and quite frankly, what’s the big deal about it? Yes, it is nice to keep up with friends that I haven’t seen in a while, but that’s about it. It doesn’t need to waste fifteen minutes or half an hour. I could do much more productive things during those fifteen or thirty minutes. And that’s exactly what I plan on doing.

Instead of sitting in front of the computer for thirty minutes, I could be cleaning my room, going grocery shopping for my mom, or watering trees and plants for my dad. I could be reading my Bible, exercising, or playing with my dog. There are so many things I could be doing instead of starting at a computer screen.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the value of the things I do. What am I doing that has eternal value? Our lives on earth are merely a speck of what’s to come. And if I’m not doing things that will carry into eternal life, then what the heck am I doing? Because we’re humans, we don’t know what the future holds. Ephesians 5:15-17 puts it into perspective pretty well: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” We are called to be a part of things with eternal value all the time because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. That means reading the Bible today instead of putting it off for tomorrow, or going to youth group or Bible study this week instead of delaying until next week.

Doing things with eternal value isn’t as difficult as it may seem. Going to church, tithing or giving an offering, reading the Bible, going to a Bible study, volunteering or going on a mission trip; all are examples of things that, if done with the right heart and intention, are of eternal value. And occasionally technology can serve a purpose in doing things of eternal value. I’ve had chats with friends over Facebook or Skype about issues of faith and theology. But it’s not of eternal value when I’m looking at a friend’s pictures from a recent vacation or reading someone’s note “25 things about me.” Even though those things are interesting, they don’t serve an eternal purpose.

And not to say that you can’t have fun or enjoy yourself while you’re doing something with an eternal value because you definitely can! I came across an article and the author brought up great points. For example, talking to a friend over Facebook can have eternal worth when that friend asks you about your beliefs. Or while shopping for new clothes, you can do something of eternal value when you donate clothes that don’t fit you to the Salvation Army. Doing things of eternal worth are about serving God and using the gifts that He gave you to their fullest capacity.

I read a few articles while I was writing this and a few of them brought up some thought-provoking quotes. I found this quote while reading about using our money to honor God:

“You and I are stewards. Our wealth is loaned to us by God. We are put in trust with it. We are to use it not to accumulate more and more of what we have enough of already. We are to use it in the service of God and for the benefit of others. If you want to invest for eternity, then invest in people. People last; money does not.”

The other quote was something simple yet so profound. And I think it's a great way to end this post.

“Do something of eternal value everyday.”