God Has Not Left!

So I have decided to take on reading the Bible in a year. I have never read all of the Bible so I thought this would be a good way to do so. I also decided to read it in Chronological order instead of straight through, front to back. Today I started on the book of Job, I have read this one before. As I started into this book I felt God give me this epiphany. It was like there were puzzle pieces I already had,God just showed me how to put them together!

Incase you don't know the story of Job let me some it up for you. Job is this righteous, blamesless man who loves God. One day Satan goes strolling up to God and God is like where have you been? Satan says oh you know roaming the earth doin' what I do. Then God shows him Job and says you're not good enough to have him, he loves me. So verse 9 Satan starts in...

Job1:9-12 - 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

After that the book goes on and tells the story of all that Satan put him through and his response to it all. In the end Job remains faithful to God and gets back even more than he lost!

As I read verse 9 - 11 God showed me how all the pieces of that puzzle fit together. We have been given the Bible, the active and living word of God as the guide to our life. It contains every example we need for every issue we have.

But have you ever felt like ALL of life's issues came down on you one right after the other? Well our example in these times is Job! Most of us will not have to face what Job faced, but we can look at his responses to even the most tragic situations. When you are in the middle of whatever storm and it feels like God has completely forgotten you, remember to remain firm in your faith! Keep on loving God and praising him. Because in the end you will end up getting back much more than you lost!

I can testify to God's faithfulness. I can tell you this as my family faces trials right now. We have a hope that is far greater than any situation or circumstance. Our Father's light can out shine even the darkest of darks! If you are a Christian, stand firm in that! If you aren't, you can be! You can have this hope. This victory! All you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead! Then you will be saved! (Romans 10:9)

Have a great weekend, knowing that there is a plan for you!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

The Light

Have you ever been in total darkness? The kind of dark where you can't even see your hand in front of your face much less anything else.

Well this last week I experienced this type of dark. I had scratched my eye and had to patch it up. While this is not a life threatening event by any means I felt God speak to me through this. My other eye quickly grew tired of trying to see everything and do all of the work on its own. I would do the dishes, but by the end my hurt eye was hurting even more and the other eye was aching as well. For a part of your body so small, it sure is important. That is a whole different sermon in itself!

I remember laying on the couch frustrated and tired. Then I remembered all of the scripture about light.

John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Genesis 1:4 - God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Even in the very beginning when God created light he saw that it was good. Then he seperated it from the darkness. So we know right there first hand that we are to be separate from darkness. 2 Corinthians shows us this in chapter 6 verse 14, Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalm 27:1 - The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
If you are in that place of darkness right now you can get out! 2 Samuel 22:29 says "You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light." Look back to John 8:12 that says when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” You can be free from the darkness! God want to light up your path (Psalm 119:105) and set you on a stand to shine to the world! All you have to do is choose. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved!

There is no "right" prayer you have to pray or use the "right" words, feel it in your heart. Then talk to God!

Maybe you are a Christian, but you have let your light dim. Refresh that right now! God says to fan into flame our salvation (2 Timothy 1:6 - For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.)! It takes work and effort on our part, but we can be a light that shines through any darkness, no matter how dark it gets! Get back to that place with God, that secret place. The place where only the 2 of you go. Get there! Be filled again!

Matthew 5:14-16 - 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! I hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas! Many of you may still be celebrating with family. This Christmas was definitely great on my end! It was my very first year to host a holiday in my home. I just happen to be luck enough that I didn't have to cook EVERYTHING! We also got to have a white Christmas here in Oklahoma! About noon it started sleeting then a couple hours later came the big snow flakes! It was a blast!

But anyway it is that time of year. The time when everyone starts talking about what they want to quit doing in the next year or what they want to start doing! At the end of one year everyone makes resolutions for the next. I don't have an issue with them at all! Although I have realized some faults in them...

Have you ever made a resolutions, then at the end of that year you look back and that resolution is no where to be found?! I have! It puts a damper on things, but there is always hope! A new year, a new start. A clean slate if you will.

2012 has consisted of a lot of changes and challenges for my husband and I. The talk about what we are going to do differently began a couple of weeks ago in my house. So I began to think. What I have come up with is not fool proof by any means, but I do think it may help me to make my goals more obtainable.

Over the last several years I have learned a feew things about goals, they can be big! Big does not mean unobtainable, it simply means big. A life coach that works with our staff always has us write down a vision we have. Then she starts to ask us questions about how we will get there. So many times we set these big goals but we do not set little goals on how to reach out big goal. There is a book by Steven Furtick called Greater that our staff recently read together. This book was all about achieving the greater life by dreaming bigger and starting smaller.

Starting to see it all take a shape?! :)

So an idea hit me. It came to me from a video that was shown to us by our Life Coach. If you have the app called TED then just look up 30 Day Challenge, if you don't then try searching it on youtube. Anyway this guy gave a little 3 or 4 minute spill about 30 Day Challenges and how he is now a novelest and a biker and all of these things because he started doing 30 day challenges. Some of the challenges were to go without something for 30 days and others were to try something new or do something for the 30 days. It was very inspiring!

So my brain decided to put all oof this together for this years resolution. If you have or have not already made one, I cahllenge you to not be afraid of! But set down and figure out what your main goal is for this year if you have one. If not just think of some goals that you have. Then make yourself a 30 Day challenge for each month of 2013!

I hae already printed off a sheet for me and my husband. It is simple.
January:____________________________________________
February:__________________________________________
etc.

Then write down a challenge for Jan. Don't feel rushed to fill out all year, just do a month at a time. That is unless you have a huge goal for the year. Then write down the steps you'll have to take to achieve it. You can make your 30 day Challenges out of those steps. Have fun! Get excited! Be Productive this year!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford