Are you available?

Our God is all-powerful. He can do anything that He wants. And yet, He chooses to use us - unreliable, imperfect people - to carry out His will. He chooses to work in our lives; not because He needs us, but because He loves us.

I was listening to the Ty Show on WDJC tonight and heard Matt Pitt, the founder of The Basement (a huge youth rally in Birmingham). He was talking about how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. I love this quote from him:

"God doesn't need your ability. He needs your availability."

This is so true! Need proof? Check out the New Testament. When Jesus began His ministry, He didn't go to the Temple to find strong religious leaders to be His disciples. Instead, Jesus called on normal, common men that were a little (or in some cases, a lot) rough around the edges. He called Peter, a hot-headed fisherman. He called Matthew, a tax collector. He called James and John while they were in their fishing boat.

When Jesus met these men, He didn't ask them what abilities they had that would help His ministry. He didn't ask them about their strengths and weaknesses. He simply asked them to follow Him. He didn't need any ability that they had. He just needed for them to be available and for them to be willing to walk with Him.

That's all God is asking of us today. He doesn't need a list of your talents. He knows what they are already because He blessed you with them. He doesn't need a list of your weaknesses and excuses. He already knows about them, and He has the power to overcome them. All He wants is for us to follow Him.

When we choose to be available for God, He will take our ordinary lives and make them extraordinary.

Need some encouragement?

In Deuteronomy 31:6, we are told, "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

When we are facing hard times, we can count on God! Whether you need a cheerleader to lift you up or a coach to straighten you out, God offers you the encouragement that you need to get through anything.

Check out the Young Women Active for Christ Bible Study for January at www.wnac.org for some more encouragement this month!

The Little Things

Lately, I have been noticing the little things in life more and more. A kind word from a friend, a note in the mail, or someone complementing my outfit...those kinds of little things can have big effects when it comes to my mood. I can be having an all around crummy day and someone can write a one sentence greeting on my Facebook page or send me a silly joke in a text and POOF! My day is better. All because of a little thing.

Little things can have big impacts. Thankfully, God sends us little things like I mentioned above to remind us that He loves and cares for us and that we have friends that love and care for us, too. But God isn't the only one that uses little things to impact our lives.

Satan is a master at taking something extremely small and using it to throw us into a tailspin. How many times have you gotten angry or upset over a little thing? Unfortunately, for me, it's far too many times.

Just like happy comments can lift my spirit, I have a tendancy to let little snide remarks ruin my day. I let other people's bad attitudes dictate the way I feel and act. I let the little things that shouldn't matter - like the fact that one person isn't happy with something I did - get in the way of me experiencing the joy God wants me to have.

Why do the little things have so much control over me? I think it's because they are so unexpected and unpredictable. You can't plan spilling coffee on your favorite shirt on the way to school. It just happens. You don't wake up in the morning hoping that someone will be mean to you. It just happens. You don't plan on losing your keys or having a bad hair day. Those things just happen. And there isn't a thing you can do about it.

What I struggle to remember is that life is not always about how I feel. When the little things get me down, I have to remember that God still loves me. When I feel unappreciated, I have to remember that God is trying to reach me humility and that He sees the work I am doing and that He is with me through my discouragement. When I don't feel pretty, I have to remember that God created me and that I am beautiful in His eyes because I am His. Life is not about the way I feel, it's about knowing God's truths.

But that can be hard to remember when the little things blow up in your face... I love the chorus from Francesca Battistelli's new song, "The Stuff":

"This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust that You know exactly what You're doing
It may not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use."

Right now, I choose not to let the little things overwhelm me. I choose to focus on the little things that bring me joy instead. And I choose to focus on God instead of on myself - on His purpose for the lost keys and the bad hair days and the little messes of life.

Walking by faith

When I was little, one of my favorite cartoons was Winnie the Pooh. I must have watched my tape of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too thousands of times. In the movie, Rabbit gets angry with Tigger and decides to teach him a lesson.

Rabbit took Tigger deep into the woods, planning to get him lost and leave him to find his way out alone. In the process of trying to get Tigger lost, Rabbit ended up getting himself lost. Once he ditched Tigger, he wandered around in the woods for hours, until it finally got dark.

Alone in the mist, Rabbit started to see the woods as a really scary place. Every ribbit of a frog or snap of a twig made his skin crawl. His heart was beating fast. He was lost, alone and very afraid.

Have you ever felt that way? Too many times, we end up like Rabbit - wandering around in the dark. But that's not how God wants his people to live.

In John 8:12, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The last thing God wants is for us to walk around lost in the darkness. After all, how can we point others toward the Light if was can't see it ourselves?

God knew that this world would try to get us lost and confused. He knew that the darkness would be overwhelming for us. That's why He sent the Light of the world (Jesus) to save us from our sin and ourselves.

So, what happens when we feel lost and alone? Paul told the people at Corinth to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). If anyone knew what it was like to have to walk by faith, it was Paul.

Before he was a champion of the New Testament church, Paul was a big bully named Saul. He traveled around persecuting Christians. He had chosen to walk in the darkness of his sin. But on his way to Damascus (to pick on some more Christians, of course), he saw the Light of the world.

Have you ever walked out of a dark place into bright sunlight? It hurts your eyes, right? Well, after walking around in the dark for so long, when Saul saw the Light of Jesus, it hurt! He was literally blinded by the Light (Acts 9). Saul had to learn really quickly what it meant to walk by faith.

Eventually, Saul's sight was restored and he began to preach the Gospel. Everyone that heard him knew that he had been changed, and they all knew it had to be because of Christ. Nothing else could have taken Saul and turned him into Paul.

Paul didn't promise the people at Corinth that it would be easy to walk by faith. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him. In Acts 9:16, God said that Paul would have to suffer for Christ. We know that the Christian life is not perfect and that it's not always easy, but if we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us.

Wondering what happened to Rabbit? Check out the video below:



You know, when we're wandering around in the mist, God knows where we are. He never gets lost. And He can show us the way home - if we walk by faith and follow Him.

Book of the Month

One of my friends and I are reading Fit for My King by Sheri Rose Shepherd this month. The book is a 30-day Devotion and Diet Plan that teaches Biblical principles about health and fitness. So far, it has been great!

The diet is extreme - no white flour, no sugar, no potatoes, no "fake food", no fast food, no artificial sweetners. It's been hard (we started the book about two weeks ago), but we both can tell a difference in our energy levels and we both feel better.

We bought the book thinking about the diet, but the devotions are awesome and they really make you think about WHY we should take care of our bodies. Sheri Rose Shepherd reminds us that we need to treasure God's temple (our bodies) and that we are all God's Princesses.

If you're up for the challenge, you can find more information about the book at http://www.fitformyking.com/.