Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

I just wanted to take the time on this beautifully rainy Christmas evening to say merry CHRISTmas!! Not, Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings but Merry CHRISTmas my dear sweet friend!! Because without Christ there is no Christmas. That is what this whole season is about friends. i pray that as you spend time eating and possibly exchanging any remaining gifts that you will also remember the true meaning of Christmas. I'd like to share some scripture with you about the season and following in the spirit of it, starting with one that truly fires me up.

Isaiah 9:6
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

Does that not fire you up to read those names. Our God is not just our father He's also a wonderful counselor!! A MIGHTY GOD! He's not just our heavenly father He's our Everlasting Father, and PTL our Prince of Peace!!!! Such wonderful names to hear, so encouraging to know that he's all that and more!!!! Infinitely more!!!

Matthew 1:23
"The virgin will be with child and will giver birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel" -which means, "God with us."

Wow!! Isn't that awesome?? God with us!! He is an omnipresent God!! That means that He is always present, ALWAYS!!! Even if you can't feel his presence He is ALWAYS there!

Omnipresent - present everywhere at the same time. Example: The omnipresent God.

Praise God He is omnipresent!!!

Of coarse there is no way I can go without putting this verse up on Christmas!:

Luke 2:10-12
"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Can you just imagine...just for a second what those shepherds must have felt? I mean fear aside, that had to be an awesome experience. An angle of the Lord appearing to tell you that Christ the savior has been born!! Just think how they must have felt in that very moment.

Luke 2:14
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

John 14:27
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

Catch that last part there "...Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Can I just tell you that there is no trouble, worry, or fear that our Mighty God can't handle. He is bigger than all of them. Nothing can defeat our Mighty God!!

A very smart lady once told me that when you get in a situation of temptation you should say aloud to the devil to leave you alone (you have to say it aloud because the devil can't read your thoughts) , you have to tell him that he has no power over you for you are a child of God. The way I look at it, is Satan is powerless, for even he has to ask the Lords permission to test us therefore he is still under the power of the Almighty. HE CAN'T CONTROL YOU IF YOU DON'T LET HIM!!!!!!!

1 John 4:9-11
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Can you grab a hold of that today? I believe that I put a piece of scripture about loving each other in a previous post. He so loved US!! Friend I hope our fathers words encourage you the way they encourage me.

Luke 2:11
"Today in the Town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! May the greatest gift of all be welcome in your homes tonight.

2 Thessalonians 3:16
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you."

I would like to leave you with this last bit of scripture not really in the spirit of Christmas but in the spirit of the weather. I hope it blesses you as it does me, and gives you a new outlook on the weather this evening and every evening.

Job 37:1-13
“My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me. Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it rolls from his mouth. It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes in every direction. Then comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty. He does not restrain it when he speaks. God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power. “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power. The wild animals take cover and stay inside their dens. The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold. God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water. He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with his lightning. The clouds churn about at his direction. They do whatever he commands throughout the earth. He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love.

May our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace, our Immanuel, our very best gift, the Lord and Savior bless you and yours exceeding abundantly on this very Merry Christmas!

Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up (Video)

Just an inspiring video to listen to as you read!!! God Bless You!! =D

More Proof of God's Awesomeness!!! :)

Tonight when I sat down on my you version bible app, my plan was to read through Ephesians in The Message translation. God had a different plan, I had no more than read the first verse of Ephesians 1 when all of a sudden my app malfunctioned sent me straight to Galatians 5 and I could not go anywhere, my iPod wouldn't even let me go out of the app, so I decided to read where it started which is where I put it on here. I know that God was trying to tell me something, and he wanted me to get it crystal clear. It couldn't have been more clear if he was sitting next to me looking at me and actually speaking the words.

Galatians 5:7-26 (MSG)
7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn't come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don't toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
11-12 As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
22-23 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.


When I was able to come out of the app, and reboot everything I went back into the app and the verse for the day only summed up what God was saying:

James 4:8-10 (MSG)
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.


God IS real. If there was ever any room for the enemy to make me doubt that, the room is gone. I was not praying for God to speak to me like this. He's never spoken to me so clearly before. I sat down opened the app and he showed up in a mighty way. And I thank him for speaking to me so clearly tonight. He truly is amazing!!! :) I love my God!

May our great and mighty God bless you and yours abundantly today!!!

Love

Could you imagine taking the life of one of your own children, to save trillions of other people? Stay with me for a minute. Is there anyone on earth that you love so much you would be willing to take the life of your own child? Now, I'm 17, but someday when/if (depending on God's plans) I get married, I would like to have kid's, and I can't even begin to imagine doing that. Do you understand that God did that for you? It's a verse that everyone, be it christian or atheist knows.

John 3:16 (ESV)
For God so love the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus was pure. Born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. Yet died on a cross to pay for the sins that we have and will commit. That my friend is true love!!!

Romans 5:8 (ESV)
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He died for US!!!!! I've said it before, and I'll say it again my friend! God has an unfailing, never ending, everlasting love!!!!!!! You will not find that love on earth, ONLY THROUGH GOD!!

Romans 8:37-39 (NLT)
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loves us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below--in deed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NOTHING on earth, no angel, no demon, no fear or worry. NOTHING can separate us from His Almighty love friend!!!! Doesn't that just fire you up!?!? If it doesn't than there is a major problem my friend because it should!

1 John 3:1 (ESV)
See what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Friend you are a child of God. Whether you love him or not He loves you!!! =) Always with an unfailing love!!!!!!! God wants us to love people like he loves people. And no we're not going to be perfect in doing so, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

John 15:9-17 (NLT)
"I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus made a command that you shall love one another as he has loved you. Obey him. I pray just about every night that God will remove all of the anger and bitterness from my heart and replace it with forgiveness and a love like his. I pray the same for anyone who reads this, or comes across this verse.

I found a quote that I think goes great with this post:
"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus." -Max Lucado

God loves you too much to leave you the way he found you my friend!!!!!!! There is a place in my testimony where I said that I thought I was happy, but towards the end I mention that, though things aren't always easy, I have a joy in my heart that can only be experienced through a relationship with God! Through the LOVE of Jesus Christ. He love me too much to leave me without that joy, and he loves you too much to leave you without that joy as well my friend!!

Some of you may know this verse fairly well and some of you may not, but I would like to leave you with a verse that God has placed on my heart.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NLT)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

I pray that you would all think of this verse in your everyday relationships, and apply it to them as well. Know that God loves you no matter what and he has plans for you. Praise God in all situations good and bad. I pray that you will radiate the love of Jesus today and always so that those around you will be (as my pastor would say) splashed with a little bit of Jesus. God loves you my friend!!!!

May our heavenly Father bless you and yours abundantly!!!!!!!

Worry And Then Some

As most of you know yesterday I had my math graduation exam. I was so nervous and worried that I didn't know what to do. I prayed and asked God to be with me as I endured the worst subject known to man for 90+ minutes. God did place his comforting hand upon my heart but today as I anxiously await the results of my exam I though about writing a post on "worry". It ended up that I decided to write more but I did find quite a few verses on this particular subject that I would like to talk about. Some of you may have heard bits of this one before:

Matthew 6:25 -27 (NLT)
That is why I tell you not to worry about every day life -- whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you more valuable to Him then they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

In my last post I made sure to make it clear to you that your heavenly father loves you with an unfailing, never ending love, that you can never lose! =) Great reminder isn't it? :) Well not only will your father never forsake you, HE TAKES CARE OF YOU!!!!!!! The verse above even says: Your heavenly father feeds the birds. And aren't you more valuable to Him then they are? God knows your needs better than you know your needs and if you ask him to he will take care of them. So why worry???

So many of us worry about money, food, clothes, and about what we are going to do tomorrow. Hey can I share something with you today friend? TOMORROW ISN'T PROMISED!!!! God may call you home tonight, God may come back tonight! WE DON'T KNOW!! I'm not saying don't plan, and don't save but you've got to trust God and stop worrying so much about the future, that you're not participating in the present. A friend told me yesterday that the present is a gift, that's why they call it "the present". 

Matthew 6:34 (NLT)
"So don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. Today's trouble are enough for today."

Stop worrying so much about tomorrow. Plan in case it comes and then don't worry about it. If God comes down before then, as Pastor Kevin always says, my last breath on earth will be my first breath in heaven!

A pastor friend once told me that when you worry, that is just you trying to take control. So give God control. He wants you to, and your life will be better in his hands, rather than your own.

I went on Google looking for some Christian quotes in this area of subject. Here are a few that I want to share with you:

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of it's sorrow. It empties today of it's strength." - Corrie Ten Boom

"No one can pray and worry at the same time. You pray to STOP worrying!" -Unknown

"I'll give you some symptoms of a sign that your faith is deteriorating -- whenever you face all of your problems and you trust only your plans to get you out -- it is a sign that your faith is deteriorating." -T.D. Jakes

Let's talk about that last quote for a minute. Have you ever heard the phrase, "We didn't plan for this..." "This wasn't apart of my plan..." or even "My plan is foolproof!" WAKE UP!!!!!!! Just because it is written down somewhere on paper with a pen, or on a white board doesn't mean that it's going to happen, or if it does that it's going to go the way you planned. Just ask my mom! Things change and whether it is the enemy throwing a curve ball your way, God changing some things around for the better of your life, or just plain life, your plans aren't always going to be able to help! When the enemy attacks, you telling him that you have a doctors appointment Saturday or a wedding Thursday isn't going to help you!!! Throwing scriptures in his face WILL!!!!!!!

When I woke up yesterday morning and was so worried about my exam I decided to pray before going down stairs. So, I set down on my bedside and prayed hard. I prayed for the test, for my nerves, and for God to take away all of my worry about it. 

Isaiah 41:10 says:
Don't be afraid for I am with you. Don't be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. 

By the way can I tell you that there is nothing you can say or do to let God down. You can't let Him down because GUESS WHAT FRIEND!?! YOUR NOT HOLDING HIM UP!!!! God holds you up with his victorious right hand!! Isn't that refreshing to read!:)

Friend, God can take your worries away if you'll just trust him and give him control:) Not to say that your never going to have a worry, but they would be a much lighter burden if you let God worry about them instead of trying to worry over everything yourself. 

I want to leave you with what I consider a comforting verse.

Matthew 11:28
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.

For those of you that read my about me on here, you will know that I have said this. God is greater that anything you'll ever have to face in life. Lean on him, HE WILL GIVE YOU REST!!!! God will lift your burdens if you just talk to him my friend!!!!

I pray that if something is laying heavy on your heart today, that you will just give it to God and lean on him for rest. Feel free to email me if you need to talk. God loves you friend!!

May the Almighty bless you and yours abundantly!!!!!!!

First Post

Today I was sitting outside of a friends house, looking up at the clouds in the sky thinking about how amazing God is, (You know having a Psalm 46:10 moment) and I couldn't help but think about ways that I could share the gospel of Jesus Christ with other people. A few weeks ago God laid the idea of doing a blog on my heart. You see God blessed me at a young age with the ability to write but for years I knew nothing of God and the wonderful things He can do. I always wrote things just to write and had never thought about writing for the glory of God. But now that I have been saved, baptized, and have (by His grace) built up an amazing relationship with Him through my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, there is nothing I would love more!!!

HEY GUESS WHAT FRIEND!!!! YOU ARE LOVED BY A FATHER WITH AN UNFAILING, UNDYING, NEVER ENDING LOVE!!!!! Do you know how I know this? Because His word says it, in a number of verses. I mean really pick one. For example:

Psalm 13:5 
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Psalm 6:4 
Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

Psalm 32:10 
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Isn't it heartwarming to read those verses? :) To know that you have a father that loves you and that there is nothing that you can ever do to lose that love. Let me repeat that for some of you who may miss that part, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO LOSE YOUR HEAVENLY FATHERS LOVE!!! You may lose the love of your earthly father or your earthly mother, your friend, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling but God has told you in scripture "Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you". It doesn't matter what your trial what your trouble it doesn't matter what you have done!!! The almighty God loves you!!! 

I know some of you just read that and said to yourself "But Kelcy you don't know what I've done, God could never love me knowing what I've done, I don't deserve his love." But I've got some great news for you friend!! Are you ready!?! I don't deserve his love either, none of us do but he loves us anyway!! We are not perfect we are just forgiven. 

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.

You're right I don't know what you have done, but God does, he knows the depths of your heart, he knows your deepest,  darkest, most personal secrets but when you go to him in prayer and cry out to him asking for his forgiveness guess what??? He forgives and forgets your sin! 

Some of you who know me probably know that last year I was in with some people that I shouldn't have been around. You know that I was dating someone of the same sex and my family was falling apart at the seams. But the Lord God almighty took the situation that I was in, and turned it around, and my first good prayer to God was prayed when my heart wasn't exactly in the right place, but my family and I started going to church, and on April 4, 2012 I gave my life over to Christ and on June 10, 2012 my entire family was baptized together. My faith is growing stronger everyday and I know that there is nothing in this world that is beyond my reach with God on my side. I'm not going to tell you that my life is perfect now it's not, the enemy attacks me every time he gets the chance because he doesn't like my love for God, but when he sends trials my way I stomp the floor, I fight him off with scripture and I remember a verse that can get me through just about anything:

John 16:33
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

Make sure you get that last part my friend because that as my pastor would say will set your wet wood on fire!!! Jesus himself overcame this world and so can you!

I want to leave you with a verse that I hope you will remember 

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

When your down in the deepest, darkest part of the valley and your telling yourself that you can't do anymore, that it's just to much, that you don't have the strength. Pray for strength my friend because if you have God on your side you can do anything!! 

I pray that whoever reads this, will have their hearts filled with an overwhelming joy, and I pray that if your not right with God that you get right with him because friend if you read the bible and watch the news you will know that the end days are here. The time of salvation is now. 

May God bless you and yours abundantly!!!