Seek Him Saturday

Good, bad, happy, sad, overjoyed, mad, depressed, glad, and any and every emotion in between

We've all probably experienced them all. No matter what we are feeling, though, we still are to have one mindset: seek God. This is how positive emotions turn to praise and negative emotions gain purpose. Since God makes "all things work together for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28), we can know He is at work every moment of our lives. 

Seeking isn't a word we use too often. It is more devoted than just looking or thinking. Seeking makes me thing of a desire of the heart, deeper than what we can show on the surface. Truly connecting with God happens when we set out hearts on finding how He is at work in a situation. 

These verses also imply that sometimes, in order for God to work, we have to go to Him first. If we don't mean what we pray or say, God knows. We can fool people, but we can't fool God. Just like we don't like to work with people who aren't going to put in full effort and aren't really sold on their cause, God wants our full dedication. He is more than glad to offer His grace and mercy if we are first willing to accept His ways. 

There's nothing else we need. Seeking Christ is more rewarding than seeking any goal, job, title, grade, scholarship, friendship, team, or anything else we may strive for in life. By seeking Him before all these things, He will help us be right where we need to be with just what we need to have, as well as peace and joy. All we have to do is simply seek Him. 

Valentine's Day Weekend

This has been another long weekend extended by snow!  I am so thankful for all that!

Here, I made my own healthier version of banana pudding!  Instead of pudding, I used a banana cream yogurt (and added some vanilla froyo) and used cereal and graham crackers instead of vanilla wafers.  Add in some mushed banana, and there you have it!

Thursday morning, Dad and I got up before sunrise to face the road conditions to go skiing at Cataloochee.  The roads were a little sketchy in places, and it took a while longer to get there than normal, but it was totally worth it!  I have never seen so much snow there in all 12 years that I've been skiing!  We called it "mini Colorado."  They actually had a foot of powder.  The Meadows on the backside from the top was also open.  If you have never skied in powder, you just do not understand how much burn it puts in your legs.  I am really sore today!  It also flurried snow the whole time we were there.  I had an absolute blast.  It brought back memories of last spring break.

This morning I made my own miniature cinnamon rolls!   They're very easy and can be made however you like.  All it takes is whipping up your own icing, slicing up some bread, spreading on the icing, rolling it up, and sticking it in the oven!  Then you have bite-sized, healthy cinnamon rolls.

See, look how cute.

I am a big fan of Hobby Lobby and all their positive and inspiring decorations.  Mom and I went today to see what all has come out since Christmas, and they're already on the ball for all the spring holidays!

This was a wall decoration with one of my most challenging and favorite passages of scripture, 1 Corinthians 13.  Considering today is Valentine's Day, it went quite well.

Sometimes it is extremely hard to love people.  We may think that doing good things is, well, good, and it is.  However, we are not called to just do "good."  God's Word tells us to "do everything in love."  1 Corinthians 16:14  Without love, our good works are not true.  Sweet and simple, this passage lays out what true love is:  patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, not self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs.  It does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, and love never fails.

I always get a little gift from my mom and dad for small holidays, too, and this is what I got this year:  A daily "calendar" of Peanuts inspiration!  I'm so excited to see something new each day!



 

Another daily thing I've been doing lately is looking at a daily promise from God on 365promises blog.  The author paraphrases a promise from God's Word as if He were speaking directly to you, then puts it with a beautiful picture with the original verse below.  It's a great way to remember how much God loves us.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a magazine called Decision that they send out each month. The big features in the latest edition were stories about the Duck Dynasty opinions on homosexuality as based on the Bible's Words.  I started reading them today, and have seen some very interesting views of this issue.  A quote I really liked was by Ross Rhoads:  "Someone may argue, 'I was born this way.'  All people are born with the tendency to sin, but that does not justify yielding to sinful acts."  Many of the magazine's stories from "Ducking the Issue" are also online.