Sally's Words

Once upon a time there was a girl name Sally. Sally was a junior in high school and she was a Christian. She struggled every day to stay strong and show people she was a Christ follower. She had an amazing group of friend but had very few classes with the ones who actually went to her school. One day in English, her teacher Ms. Nosey, asked the class to write a one paragraph essay on the most important thing in their lives. Sally wrote on how important God was to her. After giving the class ten minutes to write she told everyone to share what they wrote. Sally began to get really nervous, she began to wonder how she was ever going to get up in front of her class and share what she wrote. Time came for her to go up and she started..."The most important thing in my life is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my God"...class went silent. When she came to the end..."He has the power to save everyone's life and help you with any problem you might have" As she went to sit down everyone began to clap louder then they clapped for anyone else. Wow! Amazing, Sally made it through it all and her class didn't think she was weird.

After class she had one of her classmates come up to her. She asked Sally "Can God really help you with any problems?" Sally said yes and went to lunch with her classmate, Debra. Debra told Sally how she had made some bad choices and didnt know what to do. Sally talked to her for the whole lunch period and after school too. By the end of the day, atheist Debra had agreed to go to church with Sally the next day. Sally thought to herself "Wow miracles do happen."

Wow what a testimony! Just think what just a few words can do to change someone's soul.

Based on a true story. Names changed to keep identities safe.

With love,
Elise

Kingdoms

Being the music lover I am, I listen to my iPod quite often. I was reading one night before I went to bed, and my iPod was playing in the background. A song came on. It was one that I've heard many times before, but I never really listened to the message before. The song was "In the Blink of an Eye, by MercyMe. There were two parts of the song in which I found a really great message. The first went like this:

And though I’m living a good life
Can my life be something great?

What is the a "good" life? We often think of it as one filled with pleasure and luxury. Fast cars, money, a big mansion. In this song, he tells us that there's a difference between a "good life" and a life that is "something great". I think he's saying that a good life is exactly what we think it is: money, pampering, and material possessions. So what does it mean to have a life that is "something great?" The difference is in what you do. If you're living a life that's something great, you are living for God. So I thought "How can I do that?" I'm a very busy person. Between homework, work, sports, and other obligations, I barely even have time to breathe! Isn't everyone like that, at least sometimes? We get so busy trying to do things to "enhance" our lives (a.k.a. making them more comfortable) that we isolate ourselves from God. That leads me to the second passage from the song:

How can I further Your kingdom
When I'm so wrapped up in mine?

When we get so caught up in out kingdom of material possessions such like things, God often, but not always, nor for all people, comes second to that. You may now be asking something like: "How do we further God's kingdom, like the song says?" (and even if you weren't thinking that, I'll tell you anyway :) ). We further His kingdom by spreading His Word, and by following Jesus Christ. Doing things for others is a way of doing that. Volunteering, donating, doing random acts of kindness, they're all ways for God to work through you. But we can also simply make our everyday actions reflect God's kingdom. Just do what's right. That's the easiest way to stay out of a material kingdom, and further the Kingdom of God. Amen.

Peace,
Kyle

( Credits: Lyrics from the song "In the Blink of an Eye" by MercyMe
Lyrics found on www.christianlyricsonline.com )

God's Answers

Last night, I was talking to a dear friend, getting advice. It was a very small, insignificant problem of mine, or at least that’s how it seemed to me. Despite that, she gave me advice. There was one piece of her advice that I remember most clearly. She said: “Pray on it. He doesn’t care how small [your problem] is. If we ask for help, He’ll give it…”
I realized that I don’t really pray on my decisions. I usually take the weight of whatever problem I have on my own shoulders. Very rarely do I pray to the LORD, lifting up my problems. I realized how hypocritical that is. I’m sure you have noticed how often I preach about the LORD always being there, but here I find myself not listening to my own advice. Life would be so much easier, less stressful, if I just lifted my problems to the LORD. He always answers our prayers. The second piece of advice I remember is this: “…Be prepared to not like the answer, though.” As I said, the LORD always hears and answers our prayers. That doesn’t mean his answer is our favorite. I know I’ve written about this many times before, but I just find it one of the most important things we need to know about the ever-mysterious ways of our LORD. We must remember that He has a plan for us, and He has had that plan since before we were born. If you ever find yourself wondering why you are going through a hard time, remember this: it is the LORD’s doing. That is not to say that our God is trying to bring us pain. There’s just times in which one must go through an amount of pain to reach something great. Consider these two examples:

For out first example, let’s think of a sport. We’ll use football, as it is a physically demanding sport. As a former football player, I can testify that practices weren’t always a blast. There were days that were very tough. Why would one put up with that? Well, the answer, in this example, is game day. A player puts themselves through the tough practices to reach the thrill and rush of game day.

For our second example, let’s look to the Bible. Alas, I cannot give a specific verse or chapter, but I know that Jesus said somewhere that, in order to follow him, one must drop everything in order to follow him. That must have been really hard, but, in the words of a Relient K song: “The ends justify the pain it took to get us there.”

Though it may be hard to see this, we must remember that the light of the LORD shines at the end of every dark tunnel. Everything, even the bad things, happens as part of a greater plan. We must trust God by lifting up our problems, letting Him answer them, but remember: we must also be prepared for an answer that we may not like. Just trust that it is for the best, because it most certainly is, for the LORD our God is loving and merciful. Amen.

Keep the Peace,
Kyle

Separation

Spanish is my second language. I'm in Spanish IV in school, and I'm semi-fluent. There's a curse that comes with being fluent. I quite often find myself translating english to spanish in my mind during everyday conversation. I was doing just that the other day while talking to Alyssa on facebook. I mentioned it to her, and she offered to help. She said she would pull up a translator and I would talk in spanish, and she would turn that into english. I happily accepted her offer, so we talked like that for just over half an hour.

Once I spoke all the spanish I could take, we switched back to english. My mind, however, was still in what i called "spanish mode". It was, believe it or not, a tad bit difficult to think and type in english. I began to wonder if that must be the curse that comes with fluency, or if, once one is more fluent than I, they can "turn off" whichever "mode" they're on, kind of like what some artists do. They sometimes have to turn off their "artist's eye", otherwise they will see even the smallest things as beautiful, and marvel at the simplest of objects.

That brought my mind to religion, and I realized I, and many more Christians, have separate "modes" in our lives. We go to church and enter "God mode". For that hour we are true Christians. We focus on God; give him all of our attention. Once we leave that church, though, like an artist leaving her painting, or a linguist changing languages, we go into what one may call "life mode". We all too often separate God from out everyday lives. I e-mailed my Pastor a few weeks ago. I was having trouble with the fact that my relationship with the LORD was melting away. Between work, school, and other obligations, I didn't have time to read my Bible or write a new article (as I'm sure you know). I asked him how I'm really expected to juggle all of that, and add God on top of everything else. His reply was this:

it can be helpful to see and live in a way that school, work, and musical are your witness and your service to God. Not to separate our God life from our everyday life.

Truer words have never been spoken. Amen.

In Christ,
Kyle

He Knows

The other day, I was sitting on my bed and looking out the window. I looked up and saw the stars, and it amazed me. To think that God knows exactly how many stars are in the sky. Then I thought of the verse that says God knows the exact number of hairs on your head. That just amazes me so much, I try to count the hairs on my head and get lost at like 50, and it is not even 1/26 of all my hair! Wow, God knows everything, how many stars are in the sky and how many hairs are on your head. If He knows that, how would He not know how you are feeling, or the answer to a problem you have? Ask Him your questions, He WILL know the answer.

Love,
Elise

Butterflies

Have you ever heard the story of butterflies before? It's really quite amazing. A butterfly starts its life as a crawling slug-like caterpillar. Usually dull-colored and boring, they spend their days simply eating and crawling. Eventually, they go through an amazing, impossible metamorphosis into the beautiful creatures we call butterflies. They go from dull caterpillars to colorful, free butterflies. After being confined to the ground, they are set free into the air, free to travel and go as they please, bringing smiles to little kids.

Butterflies are God's way of showing us that He gives second chances. We all start off as caterpillars. Confined to the dull ways of this Earth. We may do things we are not proud of, things that we regret. Amazingly, God gives us a second chance; He turns us into butterflies. He can open our eyes to His love and glory, showing us the light in the world and the Heavens. Isn't it amazing??

I know some of you reading this now may feel like a caterpillar, but that's OK. We are all there at one point or another, and sometimes more than once. God may not have opened your eyes yet. He has a reason for doing that, just like He has a reason for doing everything else. God always forgives you for what you have done. And He doesn't only give second chances, but third and fourth... seventh and eighth... Just believe with all your heart that Jesus was given to die for your sins. Believe that God is ever-present and ever-loving, and you will recieve his endless mercy.

In the words of PD: Keep the Faith.
Kyle

Prayer Requests

I'm thinking about starting a weekly prayer chain. If anyone would like to put in a request, you can comment here, on facebook, or e-mail us at godswordsaves@gmail.com .

God Bless,
Kyle