Why?

Why?

This question has seemed to cover my thoughts lately? Why this? Why that? It is as if God is challenging me to not just take what I have always heard and believed for 'truth' but to ask why, as well as asking 'why' toward the subtle sins in my life.

Why does God call us not to sin?
Why does He have me where I am in life now?
Why am I so scared of doing HIS will and not my own?
Why are things given and then taken away?
Why do we always want what we don't have?
Why does God ask questions that He already knows the answer to?

Sometimes I am just amazed at the amount that I do not know. I may think that I have at least one answer to a question or problem and then God shows me that I really have no clue. This is ultimately a need to give COMPLETE control over to God in all areas. Be willing to say "I don't know" and give it up to Christ. Be willing to allow Him to take the reins. Basically it comes down to Proverbs 3:4-5 "Trust in God with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." Any why question can be answered with this simple verse. It is not of my understanding but His alone! He is the ultimately the 'why' of all!

Mary Kay Blog...

So I am beginning my career as a Mary Kay lady and I thought that one great tool to help this process is a NEW BLOG!!! (Also, I just love creating and messing around with new blogs) So please check it out and if you are interested or have any questions about anything just let me know! Have a great day!!!

new blog: http://makingitpink.blogspot.com/

$1,680 dollars...

I just spent around $1,680. And why you may ask?!? Because...

I AM GOING TO INDIA AND IRELAND!!!

The tickets were bought and it is official now. I leave on June 14th for India, get there on the 15th and then spend 4-5 wonderful weeks traveling that country. Then on July 16th, Nicole, Chris and I will leave India and travel to Shannon, Ireland, where we will meet the Farley family. We will spend just over a week there and travel back to the USA on July 25th. I am so excited! Now all I need are those nasty shots and a Visa. Bring it on!!!

Train to Pakistan

So I just finished reading the book Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh. Until about the last 1/4 of the book, I was not interested at all. This book was assigned for my India class so it was a 'must read.' Basically this book was about the separation of India in 1947 in Sikh India and Muslim India. It discussed this one city that was not divided into Muslim and Sikh like the rest of India but all of the people lived peacefully together, accepting each other no matter their religion. Towards the end of the book, the Muslims in this city had to leave due to the fact that people were most likely going to come kill them if they didn't. But once they left, a group of Sikhs desired to get back at any Muslim for all the killings that had been done to their people, the Sikhs, and decided to kill as many Muslims as possible, whether they were from the peaceful city or not. This is where I started to get really interested. As the book enfolded, many of the characters expressed their personal thoughts on the issue and whether they should or shouldn't do something to try to stop the killings.

As I read one of the character's thoughts, a few of the phrases stuck out to me.

-#1: "The point of sacrifice, he thought, is the purpose...
-#2: "It is not enough only to know within one's self that one is in the right; the satisfaction would be posthumous...
-#3: (Talking about the person sacrificing) "The doer must do only when the receiver is ready to receive."

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When looking at these quotes in a biblical standpoint, they hold so true.

-#1: When we as Christians sacrifice, it should not be to look good or make a name for ourselves. It should be for the purpose of glorifying Christ. To make a sacrifice for HIS name alone. The point of any sacrifice is the purpose of Christ!

-#2: We cannot know the truth ourselves and yet keep it to ourselves. Our mission is to see the nations come to know the Lord. We must act because we are commanded to do so. And although this should not bring self-satisfaction, it should bring God satisfaction and that will be posthumous. Our actions, which ultimately are God's, bring about satisfaction for the Lord Most High when they glorify Him.

-#3: As we go about spreading the good new of God, we must first depend on Christ to open the hearts of those we are witnessing to. Although we can physically act on sharing God's word, the real success happens when the person's heart is ready for the Holy Spirit to work. We must first pray and then act upon ANY circumstance that the Lord provides to us.

There was also this prayer towards the end which is of Sikh origin, but has great power...Our God is so great!

He who made the night and day
The days of the week and seasons.
He who made the breezes blow, the waters run,
The fires and the lower regions.
Made the earth--the temple of law.
He who made creatures of diverse kinds
With a multitude of names,
Made this the law--
By thought and deed be judged forsooth,
For God is True and dispenseth Truth.
There the elect His court adorn
And God Himself their actions honours.

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The Lord stands above all and is and will ever be!

Made My Day...

So as Matt was driving me back to Roth today, he decided that he wanted an iced coffee from McDonald's... (which by the way is a 3/4 full glass of ice, four shots of syrup, four shots of cream, and then filled with cold coffee. I have to use all that McDonald's knowledge somehow.)...But as we pulled up my eyes filled with excitement as I saw this on the menu...

FRAPPUCCINOS have finally made their way to McDonald's and are only $2.49! WOOHOO!!! Now I just need to work their again so I can give the secret recipe to these away as well!

Lesson in Trust

"Listen you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow? What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a short while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." -James 4

So lately there have been many things that have seemed to not be going the way that I 'planned' them to go. Things are changing/taking a new direction and it has been quite hard for me to accept these. I am completely content AS LONG AS things go the way that I have them planned in my head, but if they change... well let's just say I'm not the most pleasant person to be around. But through all of this I have seen my lack of trust in the Lord. This is something that I will be working on and praying for contentment and trust in the LORD'S plan instead of my own. For I can't see tomorrow, but the Lord can and He understands more than I ever could.