Knock, and it will be opened

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."  Matthew 7:7-8

Sometimes we tend to think of God as a vending machine.  If we read our Bible enough, go to church, do all the 'right things' he'll answer our prayers. Maybe you don't really think of it quite that way, but I believe if we're not careful we'll begin to subconsciously start to view God that way. Our prayers start to be long list of needs and wants. Our relationship with God begins to lack something. Or maybe it was never there to begin with. But it should be something much deeper then that. Yes, God does answer prayers, and he gives gifts to us, but that's honestly just the surface of it.
  I love these verses because I think it gives a good picture of the progress you make when you're growing in your faith. It first starts out as just asking and receiving. Often times though we get so content in this stage we stick with it. 'I mean hey! It's like I'm getting free stuff, right? And all I gotta do for it is go to church once a week. Oh, not to mention I have a free ticket to Heaven.' Heh, not to say that that's how new (or less mature...?) Christian think. I don't want to put thoughts in their head. But I think we often see that in people. Especially in the church these days. People may very well believe in Jesus, but they don't take it much beyond that. (Note to Emily, that's what I would consider a 'lukewarm' Christian). Which is where the next step comes in... Seeking. If we seek after God, we will find him. "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." (James 4:8a) One of my favorite verses because it is so true! The more we seek him in prayer, in his word, and in worship, the more we will find Him.
    And finally, knock. And it shell be opened. Not only do we need to seek God, but we must enter into his dwelling. However though....I think even for mature Christians we have a hard time getting from the seeking stage to the living/knocking and entering stage. And we sometimes have a tendency to slip back into the asking stage. But hey, that's why we got God right? He's not just going to let us fall, He wants us to need him to get closer to Him. But we still need to be on the lookout.
Knock and it shall be opened. An invitation for all to live the life that God wants for you. The life with Him. The more you seek God, the deeper your relationship becomes, the more you begin to see Heaven, and the more you experience it.

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)

Good Friday

   Happy almost Easter! Today is Good Friday, but I think we often just breeze past it. We might go to a church service, but that's about it. It's really Easter that we focus on. And Easter is amazing, but there wouldn't be any Easter if it wasn't for Good Friday. Christ died for us. For you. And you can either except that or not. But the fact is, he did. And he suffered more then you can imagine. Not just the physical torture, but the fact that God the Father turned his back on his own Son. I mean, I can't even begin to comprehend that. So, I would highly recommend, take a minute. Or an hour. Read through the crucifixion in any of the Gospels, and really think about it. Realize what it is He has done, and praise him for that. Hope you all have a great weekend :)

  A friend posted this on Facebook, I'm not sure where he got it from, but I thought it was worth re-posting.

God said to the stars, go and move in accordance to these laws until I give thee further command and they continue to move. He said to the planets get thee up and whirl. Form yourselves into this formation and do not break rank until I give thee word, they have maintained that formation for millenniums. He says unto the mountains to get up and they rise up, He says to the valleys be cast down and they bow down, He says to the sea, “thus far shall you come and no further” and they do not overstep their bounds. Yet when He says to people, “love your parents”, we cry, “legalism!” and remain unwilling to bend the knee in submission.

I think it's so very true... in a sad, sad way.

30 day Challenge-day 2

Day 2 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

 Hopie<3 yeah, I've known her pretty much my entire life, and we've always been close. Sadly she no longer lives in CT so I don't see her very often...and I miss her :-(


Stay tuned, by the way...another post coming later today =)
about something...more...worthwhile? haha! I'm not really sure yet, I just had a thought while running and I think it'll make a good post.

30 day Challenge

I figured seeing that this blog is a little dead, I would do something I'm doing on Facebook. It's pretty much each day there is a 'challenge' and you have to put a picture for each challenge.
The first day is.... A picture of yourself and 10 facts about you.

1.Jesus is my life
2. If I want to accomplish all the things on my 'to-do' list of life I'll probably have to live five life spans.
3.I highly enjoy doing things that I have no talent for, such as drawing and singing.
4. I can usually hear people quite fine, it's more a matter as to whether or not my mind is focused. (it is not a hearing aid issue haha! :P)
5. Beauty and the Beast is, and always will be, my favorite Disney princess movie.
6. I think about things deeply a lot more then I let on :P
7. I highly enjoy running and working out, although I'm pretty lame at it haha!
8.Photography would be a big time hobby of mine if I had a nice camera.
9. I hate driving without music
10. If I could be any other person (real or fictional) I would be Anne Shirley.

Knitting pictures are (hopefully) coming soon as I am hoping to finish two projects in the near future. Yay! Also, hopefully soon to come, deep thoughts? Maybe? Possibly... we'll see how well my brain thinks in the next few days.

C.S. Lewis quote, ftw

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

Amen.