If you ask for it to Rain, why do you go outside and not take an Umbrella?

I have not blogged in a long time and I think about doing it every night, but I get to tired and fall asleep!!! I have some many things on my mind though and now I am finally just going to write! So if it sounds bad it's because I am just gonna start typing and let it all just flow =)!
Okay sometimes I come up with some really awkward analogies but I see it like this... When you pray you expect change. If you ask for it to rain, why do you go out and not take an umbrella? Sometimes we get discouraged because we do something and nothing happens, so we give up! It's like in sports, let's say soccer...Every practice you show up first you put all your gear on and sit patiently, practice starts and everyone starts jogging, goofing off, talking about their day, and you run your hardest and never goof around. You push every practice to get better and try to impress the coach. When it comes to game time you are always sitting on the bench, and you are thinking, okay next practice I am going to try harder and run faster and ask the coach what I am doing wrong as the other players just sit around. You strive to do your hardest to get that starting position, as each game goes by you get more and more discouraged because you have worked so hard and you are sitting the bench. Finally it comes to the last week of practice right before the last game and you decide well I can never impress the coach so why try so hard, and you become lazy and don't really do anything at all during practice. The day of the last game you sit down on the bench and your coach just looks at you and shakes his head and your thinking what?? I have tried hard all season and you never played me now you are just looking at me and shaking your head?? So after the game your coach comes up and talks to you and says I have been very impressed with your attitude this season and all your hard work and never complaining until this last week of practice! I was planning on starting you and letting you play for the scout (of a huge university) and acknowledging you with an award of hard work and inspiration infront of the entire soccer league, but how do you succeed if you give up?
It's like when we pray sometimes we pray for something or someone and nothing every happens so we give up, it's like trying to chop down a tree, every time you hit it, it comes a little closer to falling down, but let's say you stop. How many more hits until it fell down? Maybe 100, maybe 1!! If we give up just because nothing is happening, imagine how close you were! My Grandma and Grandpa prayed for me every night in hopes that maybe one day I would be saved! I am so glad that they never gave up, it feels good to know that someone was praying and is praying for you every night! Just because we don't see a change right away doesn't mean it won't happen, God has a perfect plan! One year might seem forever, but it is worth it to see someone get saved in the end or to see something change that you have always been praying for. So again, if you ask for it to rain, why do you go out and not take an umbrella? If you ask for it to rain, take an umbrella with you every time, and maybe at one time it will rain =)!!
Hopefully that all makes since (sense) and that is just something I have been thinking about, anyways have a goodnight!! God Bless!!

Life and Death in the Tongue

Words can be some of the most helpful or harmful weapons we have in our arsenal. Proverbs 13:18 explains, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Either we can bring life or we can bring death with what we choose to let come out of our mouth. We don’t even have to be specifically speaking to somebody for our words to have an impact.

Last quarter, a group of me and my friends all took Philosophy 101. Several of us always seemed to congregate outside of the class and continue on the philosophical discussions. We were having one of our after class discussions, talking about the soul (de alma en español), and this guy just stops and starts listening in on our conversation. I introduced myself, and we just started talking to him. Upon probing, he said he stopped because he heard us talking about souls, and he believes that we all have souls. The world view that he started to describe was a very Buddhist one. I got to come and share my faith with him, telling him that there was upon death we are judged accordingly to our lives. Jesus came and died taking on our sins, so that we can be in right standing before God. Dan Powers handed him a gospel track, as he was leaving.

I have seen this guy around lots of other times now, and even found out that he is actually friends with one of the people I used to hang out with. No salvation came out of that encounter, but God allowed us to plant some seeds in his life. We can’t make the seeds grow, that’s God’s job. It’s only our job to spread the seeds where ever we go. I just find it amazing that we could just as a group of friends talking, open up the door to tell somebody about God. The words use every day have power.

¹⁹A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel. ²⁰With the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied; He will be satisfied with the product of his lips. ²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:19-21

Out of our mouth, comes the overflow of our hearts. What we say and do, so forth what we are. We can also eat the fruit of our own words. I used to, I still catch my self, putting myself down. I would speak so many bad things over my own life. I used to, when I would do something stupid I would tell myself how stupid I was. I actually used to always quote some lyrics about being “brain dead” and other stuff by Eminem. It was not just speaking that over my life, but so much of the time, I would put myself down. I had not idea at the repercussions of my words.

The tongue has the power to give live or death, but we must learn how to tame it. James 3:8 says, “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” This inability to completely tame the tongue is a warning to look at what we are saying. What effect are we having on those who hear? Am I speaking life, or death?

Sticks and Stones might Break my Bones....

And words will definitely hurt me! Whoever came up with that saying, "but words will never hurt me," was wrong! Words definitely will hurt us! It is cool that Zita blogged about our tongues being the sharpest weapons in the world, because that is something I have been reading about, and God has been showing me. Here are some scriptures in Proverbs:

"Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit." Proverbs 15:4 (NLT)
"Only the wise can give good advice; fools cannot do so." Proverbs 15:7 (NLT)
"The Godly think before speaking; the wicked spout evil words." Proverbs 15:28 (NLT)
"Kind words are like honey--sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24 (NLT)

Be careful of what you say, you can't take it back. I heard this story before about this little boy who asked his momma; "Momma why do you say be careful with what you say, you can't take it back?" Then his mom told him, "Son go spread 30 feathers along the road today and then in the morning go pick them up." So the kid did, and in the morning he only found 5. His momma said, "See son you might not find them all, just like your words. Your words get spread around." 5 minutes you have with someone, you are taking those 5 minutes from them, will they remember it being good or bad?! Communication is, speaking, listening, and understanding. Statistics say, our actions represent 35% of what is remembered in a conversation. That's about all, I am really tired right now, which is kind of weird for me, but I am!!! Goodnight!
Much Love,
Heather

The Athletic Side of Me!

"Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified."
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

One time in high school I was running the 300 m hurdles and when I got to the finish line and saw the time, I had beat the school record. I was so excited and so was my coach, until minutes later we found out that I was disqualified for touching the hurdle. I can't even explain how fast that excitement and joy went away and the disappointment I felt. All I could think was I could have done better, trained harder so I would have finished the race as fast as I did, but with out losing the energy that made me push the hurdle down. After telling people about Christ sometimes I feel disappointed that I could have told them so much more, or I didn't tell them enough, then that fear comes to mind (like Paul says) that I might be disqualified. It doesn't feel good or make you feel happy when you get disqualified. So what makes us want to work harder, train more, and have more self-control. It is the love and love brings motivation. I have heard several coaches say, "You have to have a love for the game." Desire without love brings no motivation. It is the same with sharing Jesus with others. The desire is there, but do we love doing what GOD has called us to do, do we have the love for those around us, because out of that love will bring the motivation. How much self-control do we have to do the things that we desire? I remember how happy and how much joy I would feel when I did when a race, when I won something that fades away. I also have felt the joy and happiness of when I turned 180 degrees away from death and turn toward eternal life with Jesus Christ, and the happiness and joy I feel, when I see someone else get saved and also turn towards that eternal life. And that joy and that happiness is so much greater, better, and so much more fulfilling.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.
Psalm 37:4

Goodnight!
Dios te bendiga,
Heather