All around me

Ever feel like there is always someone around the corner? I sure do. Usually, I pretend that God is watching every move, however I don't really have to pretend because He IS THERE! He is all around me. All around my world, he cares about me. He loves to watch me be a light for him and hates to see me sin. As you go through this day remember that God is always watching you. Wouldn't we all live differently if we knew that he was always watching?

Proverbs 15:3 (New International Version)

3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.




Your sister in Christ,
♥♫•Madison

Procrastinators UNITE...tomorrow

Procrastinating gets the best of us. It's a tough thing to conquer, but it definitely needs to be conquered. It. Is. Sin. Procrastination is nothing other than laziness. God calls us to use our time wisely because, it is really His time. The quicker you finish things you have today, like school, the sooner you can get on to other things He has for you. That isn't to say that you should work until you are sick and finish school early (although, if you are homeschooled, it might be a reasonable goal for you to look into). The point is that the work you have today is meant to be done today, so do it. Today.

Ephesians 5:15-16
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Putting aside work to do what you want to do is not only sinful, but unwise and selfish. We are living in evil days. If you procrastinate today you will procrastinate in the work the Lord has for you! Press on! Persevere! Work for the Lord, brothers and sisters. Together we can accomplish great things.
Christians UNITE...today!

Soli Deo Gloria!

What are you known for?

The apostle Paul, writer of 13 books in the New Testament, was a tent maker.
Did you know that?
I didn't until last night. Paul was not known by his profession; he was known for His dedication to the Lord and his wholehearted devotion towards sharing the gospel. And even though his life ended many years ago, what he wrote is still changing the lives of people today. He allowed God to do great things through him, and in turn, was mightily rewarded for his obedience.

I don't want to be known for writing a blog, being homeschooled, or playing the piano. I want to be known as a girl who strives after the things of the Lord and makes a difference in this world. How about you?

Colossians 3:17 (New International Version)
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Love in Christ,
Jessica

Hero

Do you live like a hero? Do you reach out to others?
Your sister in Christ,
♥♫•Madison

Faith

Perhaps four of the most dreaded words for teenagers, "Because I said so". Is that really a reason for you to do something? No, most would say. I would have to agree... It doesn't make me very happy to hear that from my parents; but it is training to follow God. (And to obey authority!) When you get a job your boss most likely isn't going to have an reason for everything you need to do. God doesn't always give us the reasoning behind His plan. Sometimes note even any details! However, we are called to obey out of faith. Blind faith. Abraham is a great example of blind faith:

Hebrews 11:8-10
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (NIV) (Emphasis mine)

Abraham obeyed God... when He had no idea where he was going. He was able to do this because He had his focus on the right thing-the city with foundations (Heaven). God may ask you to do things you don't understand. He may not give you an reason why or, perhaps, it will be "Because I said so". Obey when the Lord gives you something to do, for He "knows the plans He has for us". (Jeremiah 29:11)

Love in Christ,
Becky

Bold Wintess

Acts 1:8 (New International Version)
⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

All the time people tell you that God has a plan for your life. And He does! But what about now? What do we do right now as teenagers striving to live for God in this crazy world?

I've had this question for awhile now. I felt the urge to do something more; but what it was, I didn't know. Yes, I know I need to be searching for God's will so I know what college to go to, and what guy to marry, but that is still a few years off. I just couldn't figure it out.

Then it hit me. I shouldn't be waiting for God's will to come into play in my life later. If I continually think "oh God will use me later" then later will never happen. Right now I need to be living IN God's will. Practicing it in my life every second of the day. Although I may not be doing drastic things that change the world, I can be honoring God with everything I do. He uses these small things in life to prepare for what is coming. I may never be someone who touched millions of lives, but I can still be used by God to do hard things. Those small things are hard things. They are big things. One of those things God calls us to be is witnesses.

The other day my youth pastor said something about one of his friends who thinks that two minutes with a person is a witnessing opportunity. And it is. But do we use that opportunity?

If I honestly answered that question, I would have to say no. How long has it been since the last time I shared Christ with someone? 4 months? Wow... that's a long time. A long time to neglect my duty as a Christian.

Ephesians 4:1 (New International Version)
¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

That verse totally convicts me. Because I know that I am not living my life to the fullest potential that God wants it to be. Living in God's will right now involves being a bold witness for Jesus. We are supposed to be witnesses to "all the ends of the earth." Incidentally, all the ends of the earth, means exactly what it says. We have no excuse to not be witnesses at a party, in the mall, or at the grocery store. God isn't asking you to stand at the street corner yelling "TURN OR BURN!" But He is asking you to be aware of the sick, lost people around you and to be open to opportunities to share His love with them. You are an instrument of the Holy Spirit. God will use you to do great things if you allow Him to.

Sharing in the calling,
Jessica

RISE UP!

You are going to be a world changer. Sure, you can sit around all your life not doing anything, but hey at least you still qualify as "Christian". That's fine with me if it's fine with you, but you have SO MUCH MORE of a destiny. You need to rise up, wake up. Wake up out of your spiritual ritual! You are not called to be normal, you are called to change the world! Get out of your comfort zone. If God had called us to always be comfortable and not suffer he wouldn't have died on that wooden cross for us. He would've just made everything easy, where we wouldn't have to do anything. However, that isn't what he called us to so why dwell on it?

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

If he would've made you and me to be like everybody else how would you stand out? Everyone would think there isn't anything to this so called "Christianity". If your like everybody else your a hypocrite, just living life with no purpose. Preaching one thing, living another. If God had made you to do everything everybody else does people wouldn't look at you and say, "she's different", but instead, "she's one of us". God didn't call you to do drugs, make-out with your boyfriend, cuss, lie, cheat on your SAT, run away, be a drama queen, get angry at your siblings, be defensive, be lazy, be impatient, be vain, respond to a crisis with hate, hold grudges, be mean, be excluding, speak with a tone, be quiet or be the normal typical teenager.

HE CALLED YOU TO STAND OUT!

Be different. Make a difference. Change the world.

Your sister in Christ,
♥♫•Madison

Easily Deceived

I think a prominent factor in our society is deceit. As humans we are very easily deceived. We should always be on our guard; even more so as children of God. 

Ephesians 5:1-8 (New International Version)
¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 ³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.

 ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

I know that is a lot of verses, but I believe that it really gets the point across. We are and will constantly be attacked on every side by worldly things such as sexual immorality, obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking. It is all around us, therefore, it is very difficult to abstain from it. We are slowly being deceived into becoming more like the world, and a lot of the time, the small stuff doesn't phase us. We let it pass under our radar. Oh, the movie is only PG-13; it's just holding hands; it's not really lying, just not telling the exact truth.

I for sure know that I am guilty of doing those things. I allow just a little bit of sin into my life, and then I am deceived into doing things that I never would have thought would happen before.

Romans 7:11 (New International Version)

For sin, seizing the opportunity...deceived me. 

On my own, I can't combat the temptation of sin. It just doesn't happen. I notice in my life that if I haven't really put any effort into talking to God that day, I lack in discernment and am easily deceived. I just want to encourage you girls to be on your guard against deceit. Our world is becoming more and more sinful and excluding God from every aspect of life. Don't allow that to affect you! "Live as children of the light!"

Your Sister in Christ,

Jessica

P.S. if you haven't already, read Madison's post on Media Discernment here! It is a really great post that encourages and helps us be discerning with what we see, watch, and listen to.

There are things you can't see!

Prayer for Peace

Prayer for Peace
by St. Francis Assisi


Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where is hatred, let me so love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The Best

Are you ever afraid to put every aspect of your entire life into God's control? Often we hold back what what we have because we think we can accomplish great things with it. However, in reality, God can do the most with it. It is hard for humans to do that because, well, we're sinful. We have problems trusting God, don't think He has our best in mind, and really, deep down, don't believe He is good. But God is trustworthy. Amazingly so. 

You can't have faith in something if you don't believe it is completely trustworthy. We have been let down innumerable times by humans and somehow our twisted minds think God is going to do the same thing. 

Matthew 6:28-33

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)

 God is faithful to His creation. He clothes the flowers! He will certainly be faithful to us. There is, however, a catch-we have to seek the Lord. You must be diligent and committed to receive God's best in your life. Don't worry, He doesn't expect you to know it all right away, but continue learning. 

Sometimes we also don't believe that God has our best in mind. Non-believers and sometimes Christians alike believe that the Christian life is unhappy. We are supposed to give up our lives and be bored and sad. That isn't the way God planned it! He wants to give us back so much more than we could ever imagine. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13

"...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me when you seek me with all your heart..." 

You can't get God's best on your own. It has to come from Him!

Good is a very flippantly used word today. It's one of those "boring" adjectives. You know, the ones that you have to find a different word for in a paper. What does good really mean? Dictionary.com has 41 definitions for the word good used as an adjective. You can read them all here. The point is that God fits many of those descriptions. He is good! That fact is proven by His Creation being good. Genesis 1:31a says, "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." Scripture also tells us that God is good in Psalm 34:8, 86:5, and 119:68. God works towards good things and uses what others intend for evil for good.  

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God always has our best in mind. The over-arching theme of all these verses is that we must be seeking Him and His will to receive what He has for our lives- the very, very best! Seek God in your life and the rest of it will come into focus. 

Continually seeking, 

Becky    

Portable Sanctuary

My body is a sanctuary. A sanctuary that always comes with me everywhere I go. Sometimes I forget that I am carrying around this portable sanctuary that could be a life-changer. I could affect someone with my sanctuary anywhere. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit and I am precious in the sight of the Lord. I am precious cargo. Me. I was bought at an extreme price, and someone cared enough to pay it. A price that was innumerable; no ordinary person would ever want to pay that exorbitant price for my sanctuary. But the crazy thing is- Jesus did. In 1 Corinthians Paul says twice that "you were bought at a price" It baffles me that someone would want me. That someone would pay that much for me.


Romans 3:23-25a (New International Version)
²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Our life is a reflection of Christ Jesus every single place we go. It is those times where I should be shining the most, that I often fail my Savior. I take my eyes off the prize, and forget what I'm racing for. I forget that my body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit and act like any other person in this sin filled world. Our reflection of Christ shouldn't extend only to the boundaries of our home and school. It should shining all the time. Our bodies will always be temples, precious in God's sight. We all act like we have time "off" from this calling as Christians. But we don't. Treat your body like it is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Because it is.

Your Sister in Christ,
Jessica

49 Years

Yesterday was my grandparent's 49th anniversary. Forty-nine years! To me that is amazing. I challenge you to think of where you will be in 49 years. Are you committed to something strongly enough to stick with it for that long, even if it is tough? According to a study by the Barna Group (www.barna.org) 1/3 of all American adults have been divorced at least once. In our world commitment is nothing. You can change your mind every other minute and no one cares. There is no need to stick with anything. Don't you want to try everything you can? God calls us to have one mind, one passion, one purpose. Don't waiver in your focus. Find what you believe, KNOW it, and STICK with it. There is no changing your mind. Half-heartedness is not going to work here. Commit for life or not at all. Do not go through life wandering and confused. Read your Bible and live for Christ! Have in mind His goals for His kingdom and for your life. It may be difficult, but with His help you can reach the goal! Pursue it!

Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

P.S.- you can find the rest of the Barna results here.

Not Gulity

I fall before the Judgment Seat of the Lamb, trembling in awe. I cannot lift my face from the floor, for the majesty of the Lord is too great to bear. "My daughter, what have you done to deserve to live in eternity with Me?" "Nothing, nothing, Lord! I am a sinner!"

Thoughts of all the sins I had carelessly committed flit through my mind. The list was a mile long. How could I have lived my life so indifferent to how much pain my sin had cost the Lord? I was undeserving. I would never be accepted into heaven. How could I? The sins of my past swirled through my head as I lay sobbing on the ground.

Christ opens the Lamb's book of life, I am amazed that He hasn't already thrown me out of His presence. "Your sins have been forgiven, you have been washed clean by my blood I shed for you on the cross."

I start to rise, dumbfounded by His words.
Forgiven? How? He hands me a white robe, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. "Well done, my good and faithful servant! Peace be with you My daughter, for I will be with you forever and ever."

I walk away amazed. All those sins, forgiven?

My burden, not guilty.

Revelations 3:5 (New International Version)
 ⁵He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Beautiful Ending

"And it scares me to think that I would choose my life over You."

Ever had the thought that you might have to die for Christ? What would you choose? Sometimes I just sit and think about that situation, what would I do. At first I say "Yes" with excitement and am completely sure. However, the more I think about it the more I get skeptical. My conversation with myself goes like this
"Of COURSE I would take a bullet for Christ"
"You think you would, really?"
"No I would, no doubt"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, well...actually...I THINK so"
Honestly, it scares me to think of giving my life for Christ. But I would do it. Will do it if necessary. He gave his life for me.
How will your ending be? Will you go out thinking, "I have finished this race well" or will you have regrets?

Spend each day as if it were you last and truly live for Christ.


Your sister in Christ,
♥♫•Madison

THIS is the world we live in. Can you imagine? Let all these facts sink in. Think about all the people. Everything they are doing. How can you influence them? Even one person you impact can make a difference. Be open to opportunities the Lord will give you to be a witness!

Love in Christ,

Becky

Living in the truth

We live in a world full of deception and lies. If you were to ask someone what was right from wrong, a lot of people couldn't answer you. People have no basis for their life, they do what feels seems best in their eyes. You hear the questions "how far is too far with a guy?" "it homosexuality wrong?" the list is endless. People are living their lives in a little bubble not really understanding what guides their life, and what is wrong and right. The other day on the radio I heard someone talking to a recently graduated college student. He asked him what was the separation between right and wrong. The student didn't really know how to answer, he just said that it was whatever you felt was right. So the man interviewing him asked this question: "if I had a baby sitting here with me right now, and I cut off it's leg, would you consider that wrong?"
The college student replied: "Well it would bother me, but I can't necessarily say that it is wrong."

I was absolutely appalled that someone would say that. I was shocked that people could be so careless about the life of a precious baby, or any other human being for that matter!

With all the corruptness in our world today, it is so difficult to live our lives because we are faced with this temptation to "go with the flow" and live a life of oblivion as a Christian. But I urge your girls to really know the truth. What does God say about have sex before marriage? Gossip? Cussing? When you are confused about something, try to find the answer in the Word. Did you know that 90% of born-again believers NEVER share their faith. Never. Don't be apart of that majority that refuse to acknowledge God and the truth.


Psalm 25:5 (New International Version)
⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 26:3 (New International Version)
³ for your love is ever before me,
and I walk continually in your truth.

Psalm 43:3 (New International Version)
³ Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.


Live in TRUTH! Let it guide your life, although it may not be easy, it is always worth it.

Your Sister in Christ,
Jessica

The Big Picture

Sometimes when we study the Bible we have the tendency to pick out little verses and passages that apply to our situation. There's nothing wrong with that; God's word is meant to help us in our every day lives. However, make sure to look at the big picture while you are reading. The fact of the matter is that although all Scripture is God inspired and very applicable today, it wasn't originally written to us. Think of who the writer was writing to, where they were, and what they would have thought. Then apply it to your life. Try reading a chapter at a time and writing down what the main theme was. Once you finish your reading for the day, sum it up! I hope this helps you read and understand your Bible better, and brings you to a closer relationship with Christ. :)

1 Timothy 3:16-17

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Your sister in Christ,

Becky

Rejecting God

John 3:36 (New International Version)
³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

When you make a decision for Christ, there is rejoicing in heaven! But as believers we are called to be the salt of the earth, to further the kingdom of God. There are so many people in our world who are lost and are going to hell. Because if you have not made a choice for Christ, and accepted Him as your Savior, then you have accepted Satan to rule your life, and when you die you will go to hell.

I think a lot of people are afraid to talk about the punishment for rejecting Jesus, because they don't want to "offend" anyone. But really, they are just afraid to tell the truth. They are afraid of looking like some crazy person who runs around telling everyone to "turn or burn!"

Unfortunately, because of their fearfulness of looking bad, most Christians will not share with unbelievers the consequences of rejecting God. But that is so important. If there is no consequence for our sin, then no one would want to turn to Jesus.

Micah 2:11 (The Message)
If someone showed up with a good smile and glib tongue
and told lies from morning to night—
'I'll preach sermons that will tell you
how you can get anything you want from God:
More money, the best wines...you name it'—
you'd hire him on the spot as your preacher!

Most people just want to hear what feels good to them. They want people to tell them that they can run around doing anything they want. That's it is okay. But it's not! That is why our churches are so corrupted these days. It it because of the refusal to live a life of obedience to the Lord. God wants us to be wholeheartedly obedient to Him. He wants us to surrender our life to Him.

I want to remind you girls to not fall under the pressure of the world to be an easy going lukewarm Christian.

Colossians 4:6 (New International Version)
⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

When you are sharing your faith with someone, be gentle and compassionate, but don't cease to tell them the truth about God and the life that awaits them if they accept or reject Him.

Your Sister in Christ,
Jessica

What would life be like without the Bible?

What would life be like without the Bible?
Without the Bible this would would be even more chaotic than it is now. Without the Bible Christians would only know about God from generations passed down- word of mouth. The ethics of Christians wouldn't be as clear and there would be many gray areas. Without the Bible Christians would be totally relying on faith and absolutely no evidence. There wouldn't be as many Christians, and even if there were we would be teaching them what WE thought was best and not God. No one would know what to believe. We are so very blessed that God cared enough about us to give us the Bible. Through his word we learn so much.
As you read your Bible today, ponder on this question. What would YOU do without a BIBLE?

Jeremiah 23:36



But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD ' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.

Your sister in Christ,
♥♫•Madison

Humility

There is a universal key that "fits the lock" of all relationships. It works for believers and non-believers, boys and girls, friends and enemies, brothers and sisters, democrats and republicans. What is this key? Humility.
Seriously! Humility could save so many relationships. When one is willing to serve and put herself below others, it can solve so many problems. How exactly do you put it into play? Think of the person that you look up to the most. Are you always ready to serve them? To do jobs of theirs that you wouldn't normally do? That's how you should act out of humility. One of the biggest areas that comes to mind is with siblings. That is the hardest place to have humility; especially when you have brothers or sisters younger than you! It is awfully hard to serve those younger than you when you think you should "be in charge". Try looking at your siblings in a different light. Think of them as your favorite people. Act like you admire them... and eventually you will! Besides being able to heal virtually any wound, humility is important to the Lord.

♥God hears the prayers of those who humble themselves before Him.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

♥The Lord guides the humble.
Psalm 25:9
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

♥God gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 3:34
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

♥God lifts up the humble.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Finally, humility brings salvation and greatness in Heaven.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven, Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me..."
Matthew 18:1-5

Humility is very important to the Lord. Study Jesus' life, he was the most humble person to ever walk the face of the earth. Live out humility and I promise you will experience real change in your life!

Your servant in Christ,
Becky :)

Emotional Faith

Does your faith run on emotions?

More often than not, our lives are run solely on how we feel. When we are mad, everything else seems horrible. When we are happy, everything feels great. We rely way too much on our emotions.
Faith should not be based on emotions.
When I think of faith, I think of little children. They rely on their parents for food, water, shelter, love, clothing, the list is endless! Do you think that they are fearful of when their next meal is? No. Do they worry about whether or not they will have new clothes? No. Children have faith that is unshakable. It is a pure, innocent, and sweet faith. Our faith in God should be just like the faith of a little child.

Luke 18:16-17 (New International Version)
6But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."


Hebrews 11:1-2 (The Message)
^1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

Faith is a huge thing. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing. Faith is our foundation. It should be unmovable and unchangeable. The action of faith is what made the Israelites set apart from the surrounding peoples. Does your faith set you apart? Is it continual and strong? Is your faith present at all times?

John 20:24-29 (New International Version)

²⁴Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

²⁹Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Thomas didn't have faith that Jesus has been raised from the dead, although it had been prophesied and told to Him by Jesus Himself! Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. It is complete trust in the Lord all the time. Faith doesn't have highs or lows. Blessed are you when you have true faith.

Isaiah 7:9b (New International Version)

If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.' "

Luke 18:42 (New International Version)

⁴²Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."


Have faith!

Your Sister in Christ,
Jessica