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Keep an eye on this page, because every now and then one of our staff or members will get something on their
heart and leave it here for you. We always get chatty around holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone. :)
I Hope you have an awesome day and an amazing meal!
At some point,
I bet someone will start the usual (somewhat cliche) Thanksgiving tradition of going around to say what we're all thankful
for... Most of us will state the obvious, though the obvious is still true and awesome, some of us will dread someone saying
the same thing we would have... Somebody always tries to one up the last person. Sometimes it's hard to keep perspective,
or remember the little things that we're thankful for. If you will, I'd like to tell you my Thanksgiving testimony,
what I'm thankful for this year. God did something pretty cool for me over the past few years, something I haven't
been able to truly appreciate until now... He closed some doors on me, and gave me some fairly brutal challenges. All in all
I'd say I've faced some of the worst storms in my life, since I started my walk.
I think back to Doors that have
been closed, and what was through them... Without those closed doors, I would've been able to secure a steady (though
dead end) job easily a long time ago, I would have gotten an apartment two years ago... In all likelihood, I would have married
by now... Probably be working on a first child. I'd be enjoying my weekends as a simple technician, no need to hear
any greater call on my life... Pretty easy, except for that part about not hearing any greater call on my life. I doubt I
would have been truly happy...
The day I gave my life to God, he started closing doors... and I've fought him every
step of the way. However, because of those closed doors, I've experienced a relationship with him that I wouldn't
trade. God has taught me more than I can tell, and with the help of our church, raised me... He's given me close and reliable
friends, and repaired my confusion in relationships with my oldest and dearest friends. I have been given incredible
opportunities, and been shown such beauty that it's made me to cry for hours, out of pure joy. He's allowed me
to aid in something so amazing that I can only compare it to the birth of a child; He's allowed me to lead a soul to his
Kingdom. Fact is that I wouldn't trade any of the storms he's given me, or any of the kids he lets me work with for
anything. I thank God for the closed doors, for that which he has taken from me, for the walk that he has literally dragged
me on... and I thank Jesus for being my best friend through all of this, I never would have survived this without his voice.
I know that God will continue to take things from my life, and that it will hurt, but keeping it would be like carrying dead
weight.
The obvious verses here are James 1:2-4; Consider your trials pure joy. Through the testing of your faith, you
develop perseverance... Becoming Mature. However I also want to give you Jeremiah 29:11; He knows the plans he has for us.
To walk with Jesus, you have to lose some dead weight, and God's idea of dead weight is rather different from yours.
It is going to hurt, it will not be easy, you will be afraid... But thank God, He knows what He's doing.
In the words
of Need to Breathe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzmOtWGS0Ro
Tell me why I should run for cover
At the sound of the coming thunder
All I hear is the cry of my lover.
Something else awesome? Right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhfUzodLRvk
*Your friendly neighborhood techie.
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