Late Night Drive with God part 1: Finding Joy in the unknown

So, while I was driving home on late Tuesday night, after 8 hours of working for the mouse, I had a lot of time to reflect, and pray and spend time with God. Usually I'd just blast my tunes and drive all the way through. But this trip started different. I always pray before I hit the road, for protection etc. =D But the difference with this trip, was I didn't stop praying.

I prayed for two hours of my drive, and for the rest of the trip I drove in silence for almost the whole trip. So this blog is gonna have two topics. Silence and Joy in the unknown.

First, I find that driving at night is way more preferable than driving during the day. It's more relaxing, less stressful, peaceful. There aren't as many cars, but I realized this is because you can't see everything ahead of you. Not being able to see more than a mile or less ahead of you keeps one's mind at ease. When I realized this, I came to realize that God and faith is the same way. Let me explain. Too often we worry about the future, we look too far ahead, and we get stressed out, depressed, etc. But if we live one day at a time, we'd be much more joyful. =D I think that by looking too far ahead we get weary. Whereas we should more often stop, and just think about the day at hand, or even the task at hand. For the word even says "Do not worry about your life, for each day has enough trouble of it's own." So next time the future distresses you, take a pause and just think about the uncertainty that lies ahead, but find joy in the unknown. Nothing is certain, we can plan things, but nothing is definite. Remember that as well.

Second,

Silence.

Silence is in fact golden. I touched on this in my last post, but we don't value silence enough. And when I say silence, I don't just mean not talking. True silence means, no talking, no texting, no IMing, etc. We often become consumed with being in constant communication with the world, that we don't know what true silence is. Complete silence. Just listening to God speak to you. True communication with the one and only one who is worthy of our full focus and attention. For example, I sat in complete silence, not even praying out loud for a portion of my drive. And at 2 am, I was wide awake, driving in silence, listening to the wind pound against my car. This would normally terrify me, but not this night. All was silent, I could hear the cars driving by, and just the natural sounds, and I was able to think "Lord, your power is mighty, this wind, that would normally scare me, is not tonight, because I know that it is only you. Your power, you showing us your power and might. Your awesome power. That can move mountains." So I did not tremble, but instead felt filled with His presence at 2 am, wind blowing hard against my car. It was only He who can command the wind. Why should I fear in this situation. The Lord is good and awesome. Worthy of all praise, and that's what I felt in this drive. I felt thankful for His presence. I did not feel alone, I had a drive with my Heavenly Father, and it was so good! He is sooo good! I hope you all remember that today. :-) Even if you have no other time to be in complete silence, I recommend utilizing the "no texting" law and turn off your radio, and meditate in silence. Because if you have no other time to meditate, those are the best times, because we all drive. Almost everyday. =D Happy Thanksgiving, May we all count our blessings and give praise to the Father who we are here to serve. =D

Thanksgiving

It has now been thanksgiving day for 52 minutes. And I'm sitting on the end of my sister's bed typing out my Thanksgiving Blog. So here it is...

Before I go into a list of what I am thankful for, i want to say one thing. I hope we all do not forget that thankfulness is not just a "one day of the year" thing. It should be something we think of and are aware of everyday of our lives. So that is the first and most important thing I hope you get by reading this post.

So first...

I am Thankful for being able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I have always known there would come a day when I would have to be away for Thanksgiving. It happened last year, but I always thought it wouldn't be til I have a family. However, I am so thankful that I was blessed enough to not get scheduled on this day, so was able to come home and be with my family.

which leads to my #2.

safe travels. the Lord protected me when i drove home at 11 at night last night to come home, after it had been raining. He protected me, of that I am thankful.

2b.

I prayed for the first two hours of my drive home, (what started as praying for protection, became a two hour conversation with my creator) For this I am thankful, if i had been at home, I would probably have spent it online. But He showed me how good he is. (he provides for us. he provided me a job, shelter, finances..etc) Just like He always does. I drove in silence for almost all of the four hours, and i never thought i'd enjoy the silence. but i realized how very seldomly we observe silence. even when we're not communicating, we're communicating. we Text, IM, facebook, tweet, the list is ever growing. Our generations are addicted to social networking and technology. So observing complete silence is rare, and often frowned upon. but it is a wonderful thing. I hope i can practice it more in the future.

Me and God last night for four hours, thats something that I am so thankful for. And don't want to forget, which leads to my number 3...

The biggest thing i am thankful for, is for calvary. What Jesus did for me that day on the cross, so that I, a sinner, could live. For without calvary, I would be damned to hell. But he died that I could live. I never want to forget that. It is the reason for this season, and every day of our lives. I do not want to take that lightly. I hope you all do not either.

I'm keeping this short, but soon to come. "Late Night Drive with God part 1: Finding Joy in the unknown" and "part 2: Trusting Him when all is well."

Slow to Forget

Tonight is one of those nights where I have felt myself being down on myself. Struggling with self-confidence, worldliness, wanting the things of this world, like a relationship so bad that they consume me. idols always have been, and I'm sure always will be a huge trial for me, but I know being aware of sin is most important in order to have a large view of the cross, one that is always growing, and never shrinking. Tonight, after talking to a good friend, and spending time in the Word, three words came to my mind. "Slow to Forget". Now I know that this isn't what the passage says. James 1:19 says "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." That scripture says to be slow to anger, and I try to remember that everyday, but tonight, I want to leave you all with three words. "Slow to forget".

We need to be slow in forgetting what Christ did for us that day at Calvary. Slow to forget the awesome (the actual definition of awesome, not as in cool) weight of our sin. Slow to forget that by not having a growing awareness of our sin, we are shrinking the meaning of the cross. This has been a huge thought going in my head lately while I try to tackle my love for the things of this world. My realizing how idolatrous my heart has been lately. How people, as idols, can never satisfy, and will always disappoint. That only He who died for me can satisfy. Otherwise, without Him, I would be like the rest of the world, who doesn't know joy, and is always contemplating as to why they are unhappy. So while I struggle through my idolatry, and worldliness and selfishness I hope and pray that I could be "slow to forget" the cross. For by it, and by His blood, I am redeemed and I am not dammed to Hell, and can experience true joy because of the source of True Joy that I have in the Lord. Peace and Love to you all! Til next time.