"Doubt-Be-Gone" coming soon to an over priced department store near you!

Would I be right in assuming it would be ignorant to say we don't all struggle with doubt every day? It can be little things like doubting you'll get to work on time or if you have enough money in your bank account to pay rent. It could also be life changing and enormous. Where do I go next? Can I really trust him? Where do I fit? Will God provide?

Go with me to Matthew 14 where Jesus walks on water. Peter is crying out for proof of who Christ is. (Total side note- if a being was WALKING ON THE WATER claiming to be Jesus, why, in the name of all that's holy, would you be so bold as to question it?? Peter has problems!) Jesus calls Peter to the water and he begins to walk towards him, until he gets nervous and starts to sink and Jesus says after rescuing him:

"You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

How true is that question for us today? I mean I don't know about you, but God hasn't really called me to walk on any bodies of water lately, but I'm am so guilty of doubting God's plans for me. Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm doubting where I belong and how I fit. I hate the feeling of just blending in and being lost in a sea of nameless faces. But at the same time I hate doubting. I have so many questions and doubts about where my life is and where it should be going, when in reality all I have to do is get down on my knees and ask for guidance. Why do we always get so caught up in our laundry list of doubts to even realize how much easier life could really be if we would just seek?

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if
anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not
doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done
for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you
have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:22-24

I guess all we really need to do is seek and be ready for an answer. Know who you are, know who you serve and know where you're going. All else will simply fall into place

I hope your week got off to an awesome start! I love you all more than you know!

Forever His,

EmilyJo

I'm so unworthy, but still you love me!

In the previous post, I referred to Isaiah 40:26. Let's back track and start in verse 12. The heading of this section, according to The Message, is "The Creator of All You Can See or Imagine". I could write about that heading alone for days, but if you read the chapter it begins asking the questions of who created the moon and the stars. I'm SO captivated by this idea of an enormous God, "who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands..." (vs. 12), would want everything to do with me. It doesn't matter where I've been or what I've done, He still loves me even more than He did yesterday. In the recent months, as most of you may know, I've been having a bit of an identity crisis. Not referring so much as to who I am, but rather where I fit. Where is the EmilyJo shaped hole, and why can't I seem to find it? I find myself being brought to tears out of pure and utter frustration trying to figure it out on my own.

Tonight, in bible study, we were talking about 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 where it talks about if we rely on Christ for comfort then He'll grant us the comfort we need, so we may comfort others. God began to reveal a different side of Him from the one I'd been seeking. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, but I don't think He always has to be this huge, untouchable being up in the sky. Today He showed me that He can be small, sitting right next to me with His arms around me, singing gently into my ear telling me it's going to be ok. I find such beauty in this, that this HUGE God would want to romance me and to dance with me, how captivating! I may not know what's coming up next, or how I'm even getting there, but I know comfort will be in abundance and wisdom will be right next to it. I don't know, maybe I just need rely on Him and embrace everything I'm not, everything He is, and everything His grace covers to make good.

...I wish there was such thing as "Doubt-Be-Gone"! I could spray it all over myself and all of the sudden I'm equipped with enough confidence to make decisions. But "Doubt-Be-Gone" wouldn't be necessary if I just had faith... We'll talk more tomorrow!...

I hope everyone had an awesome and restful weekend! Ready or not, Monday is on its way! I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder, at the mention of Your name

I've really been trying to stop and smell the flowers in the past few days. Not so much stopping on a busy street and smelling some random rose bushes, but noticing the sunset or looking at a spider not as a nasty bug, but rather as a beautiful creature. How did God know that we would need spiders? How did He know to give us big trees to not only give us oxygen but to shade us on hot summer days. I'm so amazed that He knew that we would need clouds to carry rain and that we would need rain to help nourish our grass and trees and flowers. I'm so enthralled by everything He is, everything I'm not and everything His grace covers to make good. I mean think about it, we live on Earth, a very small part of a huge galaxy and made part of all kinds of other galaxies and universes that we haven't even discovered yet. And we are just sitting here spinning in orbit and not falling off or moving at all. We're just sitting. We don't need any type of device to keep us grounded, we are just here. Being on Earth we are at the perfect spot of our solar system. If we were any closer we'd burn up from the sun, and any further away we'd freeze. How did He know that we needed to be right here, sitting, not falling off a very round planet? In his book Crazy Love, Fancis Chan refers to such concepts. I'm so captivated to not even begin to wrap my mind around just how big He is.

"So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?"
Isaiah 40:25-26 (The Message)

Take some time to smell the roses this week. I hope everyone's first week was blessed! I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo

Falling...

Oh who am I that Your merciful eyes should fall on me
A sinner a fool, who doesn't deserve You
And what am I that you’d offer Your life and die for me
What can I do, I’m nothing without You, I’m nothing without You
I’m nothing without You my love, my saving love

So I fall into You, I’m desperate and weak
Crying out from my heart, take all of me

How can it be that the heart of my God would long for me
For all that You do, Jesus I love You, I’ll Always Love You
Jesus I love You with all of my heart

Maker of sun and moon and stars

~Phil Wickham "Fall Into You"


Ever find yourself feeling like your entire world has crashed down upon you and the only thing that's keeping you together is one sheer glimpse of hope that something might just change? Like you're incredibly lost and a huge part of your life is missing even though all your ducks appear to be in a row. I know it sounds cliche and elementary, but who am I to do anything other than fall to my face and pour my life out for Him to help and take over? I think we have a hard time having rough knees. Smooth knees are good and pretty and look great in a nice skirt, but rough knees can't compare. Rough knees means your down on them daily, not willing to get up until your heart is right. I'm done with smooth knees. I want to fall into Him daily. I need to fall into Him daily.

Maybe I don't mean we have to physically get down on our knees, but I do mean staying still and quiet until our hearts are right. That's the only cure. Our circumstances never change who God is. I'm praying for His help and for His guidance in life right now.

I hope your week is going smoothly. We're half way there (OH livin on a prayer! Cheese ball I know but I couldn't resist) I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo

"He said, 'That's what I mean: Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag." Luke 19:26 (The Message)

Have you ever been to 6 flags with a group of friends from school or maybe your youth group? Remember that one ride that you HATED for some reason or anything? Maybe it was too high or too fast or too shaky, so as everyone else ran to be in the front car, you got to hold everyone elses bags. At that moment, everyone in the park knows that you're a wimp that didn't want to ride the Titan. My favorite part, is after everyone else gets off the ride and for the rest of the day all they could talk about was the ride I missed out on.

That's what this verse is talking about. Obviously something deeper, but you get the gist. I often find myself thinking about what I have sacrificed for Christ? I'll have an awesome week and have a lot of fun doing things with my friends, and when Friday comes around I realize I've been entirely too comfortable. What have I done, in His name, that has truly made a difference in my life? Even just a small one?

I have a lot of decisions coming up pretty soon, and I know I have a ton of praying and thinking to do about which way to go. I want to do huge things for Christ, and that will include huge risks. Bring it on!

I hope everyone is having an awesome start to the week! I love you all more than you know!

Forever His,
EmilyJo

I Want to be a Mary!

If you know me at all, you know that one of my all time favorite passages is the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

According to The Message, it says "Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said". I long to be a "Mary". I so often get caught up in the rush of the day that when God speaks to me I simply tell him "O hi! I'll have to talk to you later", like a phone call from someone I didn't really want to talk to. Like last post, I keep feeling so convicted of the fact that God is worth so much more than my excuses. I often use the excuse of serving Him for not spending time with Him. You know what I'm talking about. The going to church three times a week and leading a small group, all because you like the illusion of having it all together, when really your world is shattered because you never sit down and spend as much as five minutes being still and hearing what He has to say. When is the last time I was still. I mean, I am Emily, meaning I'm rarely quiet, but honestly I can't remember a time when I was just silent, for once, without a word to say. I find beauty in the quiet. The times where it can just be me and God and all of the sudden nothing in the world matters anymore, for a split second everything is right and ok.

Today, I challenge you to be still. To "hang on every word He says". God has a HUGE plan for today. I think we can all learn a lot from Mary.

I better get going! First day of work, here I come! I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
Emily Jo

And So it Begins...

Whatever happened to the days where the first day of school was one we looked forward to all summer? Getting the perfect new outfit, the coolest school supplies and praying relentlessly that at least one of our friends was in the same class as us? Now that I'm in my, what is hopefully, last full year of college (I know! It's about time!) I find myself dreading the alarm going off in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I love the 8:00AM Geology class just as much as the next guy, but where did all the excitement go?



This idea of excitement about big things in life can really be compared to our walk with Christ. Just go with me for a minute! How often do we do our quiet times, but only to mark it off our very long to-do list? Or maybe you don't do it but say you did. I shamefully fall into both categories, and more so these days for unexplainable reasons. I have no excuse! The Creator of the ENTIRE universe yearns to spend time with me, and all I do is blow Him off. How low can a girl get?? We are so busy and so caught up in life and the things we don't want to do or the things we have to do, like my 8:00AM Geology class, that God takes the back burner, only to be forgotten until I finally get to bed and say a little prayer and fall asleep. I have got to clean up my act! He is worth so much more than my excuses!!

I'm making a promise to you guys right here and now. It's time for me to get serious about my walk with Christ. I will update every day with what God is teaching me. I challenge you to do the same!

"So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet." -James 4:7-10 (The Message)

For all of you going back to school, good luck on your first day! For those of you with kids going back to school, give them an extra kiss and have some cookies waiting for when they get home (believe me, they'll need it!) It's going to be a great day, Geology and Algebra and all!

PS- Aaron and Kandace, I told you I would update today!

I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,

EmilyJo