Sarah's Heart

   Wow! Was doing my daily Bible reading yesterday when I came across this passage.
   "2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father..." (II Chronicles 34:2-3)
   So at first glance I was like, "Yep, that's good! He sought after the Lord." But each time I went back to it I was more and more amazed at the message there! Take a look, in verse 3 it starts out, "For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father..." which implies that it's following up on something before this. So I went back and took yet another look at verse 2 and saw this. "...And declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left."  Still not getting it? Ok, lets put it into plain terms. He sought after the Lord and therefore stayed on the right path! Got it now? :-) But wait! That's not all! I kept looking and realized that we aren't just talking about any man, we are talking about King Josiah and all of this happened at the ripe old age of 16!!! (In verse 1 it says, "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign..." so in the eighth year he would be 16.) So here were my thoughts...
   Get this settled while you are young, teenagers! People all over the world tell you that your teen years are your "free and easy" years! But they aren't! They are the years that will establish the rest of your life! And I will take this a step farther and say that I have noticed that at 16 years old is really when it gets to be serious. I know young adults, 18, 20, and 21, who are still struggling in what they believe. Still dabbling in sin here and there. Still taking side paths from time to time. Still acting like life is a game and they don't have to get serious...quite yet. How sad!!!! Right here, in II Chronicles, we have our solution! Seek the Lord at a young age! If you aren't saved, reach out to Jesus in salvation...if you are saved, get serious! Settle your salvation, beliefs, and standards...and stick to them! "Play around time" is over! This is such a huge issue among our young that I could just go on and on about this. But, they say not to beat a dead horse so I'm going to move on a bit. 
   As I kept reading on down the chapter I notices some things that happened because Josiah had sought the Lord while he was young. In verses 3-8 he took idols (sin) out of Judah and Jerusalem...if you will seek the Lord you will see the things in your life that need to be taken out...and you will take them out! Because they were taking the idols (sin) out, they came across truth, verse 14, and repented, verse 20...instead of arguing and saying that God didn't care or that it was no big deal! In verse 27-28 we see how God blessed his life and the nation because Josiah was willing to humble himself to the Lord and His will...because his heart was tender... Then in verse 32 we see how others were changed by Josiah seeking the Lord...others changed their standards and beliefs and "stood to it"... And those are just the few that I picked out of chapter 34 and his reign continues into chapter 35! Oh what God can do if we will only seek! But that's something we all know, right? But are we doing it? And also, the main theme of this blog is, are you doing it now? At the "young" age of 16? Last week I was at our Bible Camp and the preacher said over and over all week, "You're not too young!!!" 
   Now I say to you, "You're not too young!" Do this now! Don't waver down the road of life,stopping here and there, until you are 32 and God makes you decide! Or until you get to Heaven and God says, "What did you do in your life?"
   Seek Him now, young people! While you are young!!!!

   With Prayers and Tears,
         Sarah

    Those of you who know me are probably a little confused by now...knowing that my birthday is in December...and this is June...
    On the 1st of this month, 11 years ago, I was born into God's family. :-)
   I was raised in a Christian home, in that we had standards, went to church, helped at church activities, etc etc. I made a profession of faith when I was 5 or 6 years old. I don't remember it really except that I was always told about it and I thought it was a neat story because it happened in the parking lot of Cub Foods. The funny thing was that in all my growing up years, if I was honest with myself, I knew I wasn't really saved. Sermons would scare me ... At the end of Children's Church each week I would say "the prayer" again ... just in case. I asked little questions here and there but never just came out with it ... I just wouldn't admit that I wasn't saved. My pride wouldn't let me admit it. But deep inside I knew I was miserable and it was all I could think about the older I got. 
   When I was 13 years old, our Pastor and Pastor's wife (who we have known since I was 3 years old) were at our house for my brothers birthday. We were all sitting around and talking like we always do when one of us brought up the topic of Soul-Winning. Part way into the conversation I, very cleverly, asked Auntie Linda (our Pastor's wife) exaclty how you go about leading someone to the Lord. See I had just started going on Teen Visitation so ... I was learning, right? ;-) Well, she led me through the whole process and then at the end, looked me in the eye and asked me, "Sarah, do you want to do this right now?". I burst into tears and said yes. So right there, in front of everybody and God, I repented of my sins and surrendered my life to the Lord. 
   I tell this story as my "blog of the month" because even though I have the plan of salvation on my website (New Visitors Page), I wanted to send out my testimony. Of all of the differant topics I have covered and will cover, this is the most important one. Truly, none of the others matter until you get this one settled. Sure you will live a better life if you follow all of the "rules" in the Bible, but not the best life. A life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. 
   Luke 13:3 & 5 both say "...Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." and James 4:4 says "...Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.". Yes, God created us all and loves us all (that's why Jesus died on the Cross) but we are not His but are His enemy, on the opposite side, before we get saved.
   Jesus died for all but we have to take the next step. Recognizing that we are sinners ("As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one..." Romans 3:10), that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves ("For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9), that we need to repent of our sins ("...Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out..." Acts 3:19, "For godly sorrow worketh repentence to salvation..." II Corinthians 7:10), confess Jesus as Lord and accept Him into your life as Lord and Saviour ("That if thou shalt confess with they mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confessions is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10). If you have never done these, please do. There will come a time when it will be too late to call on Him. The Bible says "...Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."!!! If you have any questions about this please feel free to email me. Though what I really encourage you to do, if you are able, is go to your pastor or another leader in your church and discuss this with them. 
   A little side note, this also follows the theme of Father's Day very well. When we get saved, the Lord becomes your Father! And He is a Father like none other!!! Make today your birthday!!!

   With Prayers,
      Sarah

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."    Romans 10:9-10

   Recently my Pastor preached a sermon that hit home. It spoke to my heart and put the task of soul-winning into a new light. He talked about Michal and Hannah and about their states of childlessness. I'm not going to go into as great a detail as he did but I would like to share a little bit of what the Lord showed me that night.
   In reference to Hannah, if you know the story then you know that she was barren (couldn't have any children) and that that was causing her great pain in her life (I Samuel 1). I wrote recently about how much I desire a child of my own womb to hold in my arms. How sometimes the pain from my empty arms feels like more than I can bare. I sometimes feel as if I almost know what Hannah felt like. It is that desire of my heart that made this sermon hit home. As deeply and passionatly I desire a child of my own, I ought to feel the SAME WAY when it comes to bearing "Spiritual" children. (From many differant passages in the Bible we can gather that "Spiritual" children are the ones that we have personally led to Christ through Salvation. "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." (I Corinthians 4:15) "Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith..." ( I Timothy 1:2a) ). Does my Spirit crave "Spritual" children the way my body craves "natural" children? Do I daydream about it? Spend time preparing for it? Seek it? At the same time as my heart is crying out "Where are my children?" so ought my Spirit to be crying out, "Where are my children?"!!! As Rachel cried to Jacob "Give me children, or else I die." so ought I to cry out to God for "...more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:1b). I want, when I get to Heaven, my Spiritual arms to be full of children to present before the Lord! Yes, I still desire to bare children but now I'm trying to learn how to direct that same desire into my Spiritual life and my "job" of leading lost souls to Christ.
     With Prayers and Tears,
          Sarah

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD." (Psalm 113:9)

   "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." 
                                                                                     Luke 1:38
   This is a verse that really jumped out at me this month at one point during my daily Bible reading. It has since become the prayer of my heart. Or atleast I'm striving for it to be. I'm sure that I've read it before, it was just the right time this time. I am the handmaid of the Lord, right? I'm saved by His blood and a child of His. But am I willing to say "be it unto me according to thy word"?  For me it was a sort of personal twist on the prayer that we all struggle with, "Not mine, but Thy will be done."  Can I honestly say, with all of me, as a handmaid of the Lord, do what you want Lord. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. 
   It has also become the prayer of my heart for other girls. For them to come to the place where they can say this and it will show on the outside. Maybe, though, you feel you already feel that way, that you already pray this prayer or something like it. But I have some questioins for you. 
   If you say, "according to thy word", does that mean if He says to change something in your life that you'll do it?   What if he says to change your hair?   What if He says change your clothes?   Change or quit your job?   Don't hang out with that person anymore?   Throw your favorite movies out?   Don't read those books anymore?   Don't listen to that music anymore?
   Some of these might seem trivial but these are all things that the Lord speaks of, addresses in His Word. All things that truly are important to Him whether or not we agree. All things that few people really want to think about and when faced with it, they tell themselves, "I'm fine. The Lord is ok with my dress/hair/music/friends/etc". But is He really?
   This verse brought up alot inside of me but two big points. All of the ways that I'm not submissive to His Word (WHATEVER that might be) and, the ways that so many girls aren't submissive to His Word (WHATEVER that might be), though we all claim to be doing it "His" way, don't we?
   We are having revival this week at our church and I have been challenged so much and in so many ways recently as God is working on my heart, working to make it truly His, showing me places where I haven't chosen His will yet. I find that as I am challenged, my prayers become more fierce for those around me too. For them to totally have His will in their life. This is where my challenge to you comes from. Because as I was, for the hundredth time, meditating on this verse, I realized how much it applies to those around me and girls out there that I don't even know, (some of you), and my heart grew heavy at the way so many are living their lives while claiming to be doing it "according to his word".  
   So I challenge you now. To look up this passage and then in prayer see what the Lord has for your life today. What little part of you heart and life He wants you to give to Him.
   "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." Psalms 119:9
   "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." II Timothy3:16-17
   "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

With Prayers, 
   Sarah

     Well, here I am squeezing in March's blog just before March is over! lol! What a month! I have been out of town 3 times this month! Might not be much for some of you but for those of us who go on a record of 2 trips a year, 3 times in less than a month is alot!!! But I survived and in fact, had a good time. :-)
     But! On to the topic at hand! I've tossed around a lot of ideas (one of the reasons why I've taken so long to get to this) and finally, just moments ago, decided on one. The verse I'm focusing on today is one that hit me earlier this month. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:" (Matthew 15:19). I'm sure that right about now you're thinking "What is she going to talk about?!?!?". I won't hold you in suspense, thought life. The thing about this verse that hit me was the fact that "evil thoughts" preceded all of these other horrible sins that none of us would ever consider ourselves doing. The conclusion that I came to was that it is an evil thought that precedes every sin we do. Whether great or small, a lie or murder. "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7a) . Sadly, the reason why I finally decided on this topic is 1) it's one that the Lord has continually brought to mind for me and 2) I was in the middle of a little tantrum earlier today as I was considering what topic to do my blog on. Yes, I'm still a work in progress too. 
     It is true that thoughts can "pop up" without choice BUT! It is what we do with that thought that changes the outcome. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (II Corinthians 10:5) . Each time the thought "pops up" to tell a lie, be lazy, read that magizine or book, or just plain be grumpy, we need to take that thought to Jesus and choose Him! Life is all about choices. "The Devil made me do it" just doesn't work. A thought or idea can be offered and we can't always stop that but we can make the personal choice as to what we do with that thought or idea.
     I don't know about you but if you are as human as I am you don't like this idea much. I want to be made to do right. It's a lot harder to choose right. And I'm not talking about the big things. I'm just talking about how you react to annoying situations or, like I said earlier, just being grumpy (can you tell that's one of the things I'm working on right now? :-\ ). But regardless of human laziness, the choice is mine and yours. By the way, I sat down for a minute, read my Bible, and chose to not be grumpy. Hopefully, I can keep that up. With His help.
  So I just encourage you to choose the right thing next time an "evil" thought comes to mind. Kind of an odd subject and blog, I know. But one that is close to my heart right now. And something I am sure someone else out there is dealing with right along side me. "We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God..."  (Psalm 48:9)

With Prayers,
  Sarah

     I am 24 years old. This body of mine has never known the life of a child. This heart of mine has never known the love of a man. And sometimes that is hard.
     Growing up all I ever wanted was to marry, have a home of my own, with a husband and as many children as God would give me. Into my teen years I decided that surely I would be engaged by 20, if not married. As you can see, it didn't work out like that. Though I soon realized that age is not the only factor. I don't believe that I was ready at 20. In fact, it's only in the last couple of years that I've truly felt that I was "ready" if the Lord so chose to send him along. Years ago I came across the verse "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." (I Timothy 5:14) and claimed it as my own. See! God wants me to get married!!! But, then as I grew older and, not only did no one come along, but I was tempted to give my heart to other guys, I came across some other verses. Verses like "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." (Isaiah 64:4) , "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Psalms 27:14) , "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." (Psalms 62:5) , "And so, after he had patiently endured (waited), he obtained the promise." (Hebrews 6:15) , and "And Jacob served (waited, right?) seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." (Genesis 29:20). All verse that not only reminded me to wait, but what I am waiting for and who I am waiting on. I am waiting on an excellent God who has a more beautiful plan for me than I could imagine. And I am waiting for someone who is waiting for me. Who, while I am praying for him and loving him, is cultivating his love for me. And I am not willing to give that up. Even though sometimes it gets hard. Even though sometimes it drives me to tears. I am a "normal" girl who wants what any "normal" girl wants. To feel my child grow withing me and then to hold him in my arms. Yes, to even know the love of a man. And sometimes those desires seem to overwhelm me.
     To be honest, this blog has been hard for me to write. To have to delve into the deepest part of my heart and face a desire that I don't always have to face. But I wanted to do it. For you. For each of you who go through "testing" periods like I am now. Maybe you aren't today, but maybe you will next week or next month. To let you know that you are not alone. That, believe it or not, there are other girls out there waiting. And that you have God on your side to walk with you. Now, as you are single, and forever. 
      I am not alone just because I don't have a man beside me, because I have the Lord always with me. And I am learning to focus my love on Him. "...and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." (ME!) (Isaiah 62:5b) "And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD." (Hosea 2:19-20) 
     "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...a time to embrace...A time to love..." (Ecclisiastes 3:1,5b,8a) My time will come. Someday...His day.
         But until that day...go now and share your whole heart with God. Pour it out before Him. Weep a little. Say a little pray for your beloved, as I am sure he has his struggles too. And then choose yet again to wait on Him.
     "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." (Ecclisiastes 11:5) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17)
     So I choose yet again to wait. To weep. To pray for my beloved. To love Him.

With Prayers,
   Sarah

     Did you hear that! It was the starting gun going off! We have started a new year! A new year full of fresh chances to choose Christ in everything we do! I was amazed at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 at the thought of what this year could be! Yes, there are regrets concerning 2008. There are things I wish I hadn't done, things I wish I hadn't said, but the year is over now and it is time to learn from those regrets and try to make 2009 a better year than the last. A year where our mark for Christ is imprinted even deeper into the lives of those around us. A year in which to do new things for Christ. Go even farther than you've ever gone before. Act like maybe Christ truly is the center of your life! Oh the pureness of a new year!
     While there are many ways in which I could challenge you this year, I'm only going to bring up two. 
     The first one is this. I challenge you to share Christ with more people this year than you did last year. After all, our great commision is to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) How many people did you tell about Jesus last year? How many did you lead to the Lord? Add to that number this year! Determine to, each chance you get, share with those you meet the love of God and what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross. Try to be as Paul who could say "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men." (Acts 20:26)  Share Jesus with someone today!
     Secondly, I challenge you to be in the Word daily. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17)  Not only to be in the Word daily, but let this year be the first year that you read your Bible through! Yes, January is nearly done. But! With just a couple of extra chapters a day you will be caught up in no time! Reading your Bible through is truly an amazing experience! I'm on my, I believe, 4th time and I am so excited! And guess what! I've already gotten behind and had to catch up! You don't have to be perfect in it! Just challenge yourself to do it! "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11)  Here is a "Read your Bible through in a year" plan. Make this the year!
     Praise the Lord for new years and new chances! Happy New Year!!!!!

  With Prayers,
    Sarah