Jesus Was Not...

 I think modern Christianity had a lot of misconceptions on who Jesus really was. Between media outbursts, the Middle Eastern Crisis, etc. sometimes it's rasy to loose focus on who Jesus really was. He was a lot of things, but there are a few things he was not...

 Jesus was not a hater...

 Jesus stood for everything that was love, for he was love. He knew when to angry and he knew when to be complacent. Jesus didn't unlove people because of their morality, religion, race, or anything else. He loves everyone just where they are. I think we get confused a lot as the church and try to mold people into what we think they should be or judge people because they don't fit those standards. For He did not condem the world, but came to save it.

 Jesus was not well groomed...

 One of my biggest pet peeves is every single picture of Jesus I have every seen gets Him all wrong. They portray him as this dainty guy who is holding a lamb withhair  looking as though he just exited the salon. That is not my Jesus. Jesus was a carpenter, he was a big dude! The bible even says that his hair was like that of an animal's. He was probably dirty and didn't smell well either! Also: he wasn't white, considering that he was Middle Eastern he was probably dark skinned, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 Jesus was not emotionless...

  Lots of people assume that since Jesus was fully God that he didn't experience human emotions like sadness, anger, or hurt. That is completely wrong, because yes Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. We saw his display of anger when he overturned the tables at the temple, and we saw his sadness in the verse "Jesus wept." But what really hits this topic for me is in the garden right before his crucifixion where he prayed "Abba, if there is any way this cup could pass from me let it..." To me, this shows that it's okay to be scared sometimes, even Jesus was.

He is Still Good

 One of my favorite passages of the Bible is Daniel 3. To me it just has so many different illustrations of God and his mercy, love, and power. It's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. If you haven't read it, it's a good read and I do suggest doing so.

 If not, He is still Good

 Sometimes God allows situations in our lives to happen that we wish he didn't. True, we may not be thrown in a burning fire like these three guys were, but in every situation we are ever in God always shows up and shows out- as long as we let Him. I love verse 18 of this passage, saying that even if God doesn't deliver us in the flesh that He is still good, and it is all for His greater glory, and they will never cease to worship Him. That is an attitude I strive to have: no matter what happens, use everything to bring glory to His name and His purpose, not my own..

The Fourth Man

 In verse 25 one of the guards call out, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” To me this verse is such a beautiful and so literal illustration that God is always with us. And that no matter where we are, it is never too far for Him to reach us. It always go to show that He would never put us through anything that He has not been through Himself. Of course we don't know it was Jesus they saw, but I mean it had to have been something!

The Conversion

The last illustration I want to talk about is the conversion of Nebuchanezzar's faith. Because of the faith in Godof those three men, not only did Nebuchanezzar cry out to Jehovah, he called the whole nation to do the same. God tells us that when we bring glory to His name he will bless that in the multitudes, and that is what He did here.

His Plan> Mine

 "Why did this happen to me?"

 That is quite a loaded question, but it is one we tend to ask a lot, especially when things are going exactly like we wanted them to. Wether this be a departure of a family member, a loss of a job, or your gerbil ran away. 

 Our human neurological system is not built to comprehend every single thing, such as God's plan for our lives. But that's okay, because we know, that whatever it may be, is so much greater than our own. For there may be pain in the night- but joy comes in the morning. I think a lot of times we forget that. Our mindset just sticks to the night, and we don't allow ourselves to see the morning for some dumb petty reason. 

 "What did I do to deserve this?" 

 This question is just plain dumb. But it is one that we are constantly asking. The Bible is clear, it says the wages of sin is death and that all fall short of the glory of God. But yet, we don't think we "deserve" to have our gerbil run away because we are too "good" for that. This question really should be turned around. With us asking "What did I do to deserve His love?" 

 

Prayer

 Isn't it just a cool thing that not only are we allowed to talk to the Creator of the Universe, but he wants us to? To me, that's such a cool concept to wrap my head around. I mean, the Savior, tue Messiah, wants to listen to ME, little Katie Beth down in south Alabama, talk. And it's so easy, we don't have to go through a priest or set up and appointment or anything, we can just talk. 

 A lot of us, because of the ease, take prayer for granted. We treat prayer as if God is a genie, or if we put coins in we will get blessings out. Prayer is so much more that just telling God all of your problems. Yes, He wants us to tell him our problems, but if that's all you pray about, I mean come on... 

 A prayer exercise that I was taught in Sunday school as a child was to always start a prayer with thanking God, so that out heart would be in a grateful mood for the upcoming prayer. Even now, I still try to use this because I realize so much of the time, that when I pray, I am only asking God for things that I want, when I should be asking for His will. Asking for His will is hard, for it may not be something that we think we want, but this is where we have to remind ourselves that His plan is always greater.

Standards

 As females, there is something that society has created this long list of standards in how to be "perfect." You have to wear this, you can't do this, you have to look like this, etc. But why do we fall for this everlasting trap? Why do we care so much about what human beings think of us based on external things? Why do these things matter to us?

 God says in the bible, multiple times, that he doesn't care what we look like, what we wear, where we live, or any of that. He cares about our heart. It seems as so that is the last thing on society's mind. 

 Believe me, there nothing wrong with dressing up, or dressing down, or whatever you prefer, as long as your heart is in His hand.

Attitude

 Those of you who know me personally might already be aware, but for those of you who are not I would like to share with you that I have a chronic, nasty disease called sass. I know right, it's such a shocker, Katie Beth has an attitude problem. Yes, yes it's true, sass, humility, and attitude are three things I constantly battle. 

 We all know that old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." As much as we take that as a grain of salt so often, there is a lot of truce to that. I mean seriously, what do we gain from putting someone else down? Why would we discourage others when we could encourage them? For everyone we converse with is a Child of God, we should treat them like one. 

 People have no idea what effect their words may have on people, myself at the front of the line. Yes, you may be "joking" but there's always a little truth and a little pain behind every "just kidding." On top of that, it literally costs $0 to be kind. So why don we do this more often? Do we most wish to be embarrassed or called weird? Hm, that's funny because when Jesus was taking a beating for you telling that girl her shoes were ugly, do you think he was worried about what other humans thought of him?

Just Something to be Thankful For

 God is so good. He took everything I had ever wanted and everything that I had built myself up to be not once but twice, and he let me look through his eyes through my resistance saying "Look at my plan. Look at all that I have for you, for it is far more superior than yours. All you have to do is trust me as your Sovereign Lord, your Almighty God, your Prince of Peace, and all these plans I have for you will be yours. You don't need to strive to be more attractive to the human eye, or more popular, or any of the worldly things, you just need to be like me, love like me, talk like me, walk like me, for I am all you need. In your time of sorrow, I am here, in your time of joy, I am here cry out to me saying 'Jehovah, Jehovah!'"

Blessings Upon Blessings💖

 I feel like I haven't blogged in FOREVER, for that I am sorry. It's been a quite hectic last few weeks. But anyway, on with the blog.

 You know I was thinking the other day, how cool is it that the Creator of the Universe picked you? Like he picked youout specifically to do something that he didn't pick anyone else out ever in the history of everything to do? And that he took the time to make sure you always have what you need? Like when you sit down and think about it- to me anyway- it's quite perplexing. 

 

Wild Flowers

 "When you like a flower, you pick it, but when you love a flower you water it."

 This is what I think about when I think about God's love for us. He didn't just like us enough to pick us because we were pretty. He watered, fertilized, and invested in us because he loves us. 

 Flowers (generally) have nothing to offer humans but enjoyment. The same as such that we have nothing to offer God. But the problem is we all (generally, including myself) just assume we are a potted plant. We make the presumption that we are to sit, stay in one place, then die. That is where we are wrong. God created us to be wild flowers, he created us to go and do, reach out and prosper, make His name known. I think that's why Christianity is failing. For the most part, we as Christians are sitting in our pots and getting watered and fertilized, but doing nothing about but sitting there. Now is time more than ever for us to become wild flowers. 

 A patch of dandelion started with one flower who dared into the unknown, so what are we waiting for?

5 Things About Loss

 This isn't typically the sort of thing I post on here, but it's my blog and I can post whatever I want to so oh well.

 Loss is a vast concept, it can range from your pet gerbil from when you were five dying or your best friend passing on. This is something I think we all have gone through or will go through at some point in our time here on earth. This is just a general list of things I think everyone needs to hear about this topic. 

1. This is all temporary 

 As much as it may hurt now, it will all go away. One day when our person(s) meet us at the flood gates of heaven we are going to feel so silly about mourning all this time! 

2. They would want you to be happy

 Yes, loss stinks and nothing will ever be quite the same. But in the scheme of everything somehow we have to learn cope and try to create our new happiness, for that's what our loved one would have wanted.

3. You have to deal with it

 You may think that waiting until you are older or waiting until you are at a certain point in life or whatever the case my be might be better than dealing with it now is better. You are wrong. Waiting to deal with it only bottles up years and years of emotions that our human nervous system is not prepared to deal with all at one time. It may hurt now, but trust me, it's so much better.

4. You are not alone

 No matter what you think someone else in this world has lost a father, best friend, mother, sister, child, etc. And guess what? They made it through and so can you. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone and ask for help. Above all of that though, Jesus always has a shoulder to cry on.

5. God has a plan

 I do not believe that God gives people cancer, or diseases, or anything else that might entitle passing on. I believe that is just something he allows to happen, not something he provides. But it is most definitely something he can use. Whenever you are going through a loss just know that God knew exactly what he was doing when he allowed it to happen.

 

"New Year New Me"

 "2016 is going to be my year!" "New Year, New Me!" Do these people actually think that a date on a calander is going to automatically change their life situation?? Like honestly, when you think about it, how much sense does that make to you? 

 Don't take me the wrong way, reinventing yourself can be a great thing, but just because the date on the calander changed doesn't mean you are automatically going to have a better life.

 There is only one thing in this world that can offer you that, and He is not of the World. His name is Jesus, have you heard of him? No matter what kind of rotten mess you have gotten yourself into, He can get you out, all you have to do is ask him. Seriously that's it, ask him to help you and he does.

To me, that's a really cool concept to think about. The Creator of the Universe wants to help me with any problem I may face, no matter what year it is. The only problem is I think I can handle it myself, but that doesn't work for me and it won't work for you either.