These Verses Got Me Through The Toughest Times of Life

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Mid-life crisis should not be confined to mid-life, as we all seem to have some kind of crisis at various points in our lives. Whether it seems big or small is no matter, comparison is a killer. If it bothers you, it bothers you, and no one else can impact how something affects you. Hiding your problems for fear of judgment or being viewed as self-centered, weak, or arrogant because your problems aren't "that bad" can lead you to getting in a deeper hole than the one you started with. Trust me; I know. This world can be full of so many burdens, it may seem at times that we are stuck in that hole with no way out in sight, but it is there where faith and strength grow the most. Through the most recent trial in my life, there were some verses that I went back to every day pushing me through and keeping me from losing hope, so I wanted to share them for anyone else who may be in a wreck on the interstate of life (because it goes by so fast, and who uses speed limits anyways?--jk I am a good driver) or to anyone to keep them for a rainy day (as we have a lot of those lately, literally and figuratively..).

Looking back I can confidently say that I see where God was at work and came through every time.

Hebrews is full of faith-strengthening verses for when my soul is struggling.
"We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure...through faith and patience inherit what is promised." Hebrews 6:11

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

"So do not throw away your confidence, for it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

Psalms are some of the most encouraging passages in the Bible, coming from both triumph and trouble, as well as finding joy in the valleys. Sometimes when I don't know what else to do, I just open up to a random Psalm and start there.

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and take heart, and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

"For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

"Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice...restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." Psalm 51:8, 12

"In my anguish, I called to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free." Psalm 118:5

Psalm 25 is a prayer from David, but I used it as a prayer from myself. When at a loss of words ourselves, who better to connect with God than David? 

"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame...Show me Your ways and teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all the day long. Remember, O Lord, Your great mercy and love, remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways...Good and upright is the Lord, therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful. For the sake of Your name, forgive my iniquity, though it is great...Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress...Guard my life and rescue me...my hope is in You." (verses 1-11, 16-21)

Another prayer from David is in Psalm 31.

"In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. Turn Your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me...Free me from the trap that is set before me, for you are my refuge. Into Your hands I commit my spirit...I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for you saw the anguish of my soul...Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak...But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God. My times are in Your hands'...Let Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your unfailing love...How great is Your goodness...Praise be to the Lord for He showed His wonderful love to me...Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord." (verses 1-2, 4-5, 7, 9-10, 14-16, 19, 21, 24)

"But if it's true that You use broken things, then here I am, Lord, I'm all Yours." -Broken Things by Matthew West

There is no shame in human weakness. God wouldn't use us if we were perfect. He uses hard times to make us stronger and bring us out to have a story to tell to help others.

Finally Spring Break!

Shew, after those last snow days, it felt like spring break would never come.  Finally, I got a week of break, though, but it never seems long enough!  We had a track meet on Saturday, but then I finally got to spend some time at home.

One of my favorite verses appeared on my Peanuts daily calendar.

I made another delicious dessert!  This time it was apple cobbler.  I used honey vanilla greek Yoplait frozen yogurt, honey caramel Greek Gods yogurt, an apple pie yogurt, apple cinnamon Newtons, granola, Honey Nut Cheerios, honey, cinnamon, apple butter, and apples of course!

We had quite a variety of weather over spring break.  As it always works out, the weeks before and after were both beautiful and warm.

This was on Tuesday on my way to meet a friend at school to do a speed workout on the track.  It was sunny when I left home, but decided to dump snow again 5 minutes later.  Don't worry; I was practically stopped.  No one on the roads could see where they were going.

For the workout, I wore some bright, very coordinating clothes to help keep me warm!  The wind was awful even when the sun came out every few minutes, but I actually wasn't too cold.

Candy bar coffee creamer:  pretty good! It is just hard to beat the actual chocolate, though.

While Mom and I took a shopping trip to Knoxville, I got a  new dress for this summer at

American Eagle, one of my favorites.

One of my other favorites, Target, always has fancy things for me to try.  This is a pasta sauce made from mainly squash and pumpkins.  It was fantastic!  I used it to make pasta and pizza sauce.

At Walmart, I found a quick way to get garlic flavor in my Italian foods, like pizza.  Just buy it in paste.

Peanut butter is just one of those things....yum. 

 I picked up some Ben & Jerry's greek frozen yogurt that is peanut butter banana and found a cool  Justin's peanut butter cup that is dark chocolate on the outside at Target.  I also picked up a portable pack of that brand's maple almond butter.

Ya know, bananas are cool, too.

Sam's is a great place for bulk, and sometimes you can find original things that you wouldn't expect, too.  This is a big box of Kimberly's Bakeshoppe granola with all kinds of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit.

On Thursday, the weather was much warmer!  I wore shorts and a t shirt to the track for my workout.  I met a friend and another one showed up towards the end, too.  It was a fantastic workout, and it helped that the weather was nice.

Nothing too fancy here, just chocolate Bear Naked granola and cereal with vanilla greek yogurt with dark chocolate bits.

The Saturday at the end of spring break had a track meet scheduled on it, too, this time at

Hardin Valley Academy, a very nice and newer high school in Knoxville.  It was a cold and ugly, rainy, windy day, all my least favorite weathers in one.  My first race, the 1600, was not a very good one for me.  I placed 7th and ran a decent time, but I still was not happy.  Weather didn't help that.  I sat in the car for a while to try and thaw out.  I was shivering on the start line, then still cold when I finished and just miserable.  After a while of sitting in the car, the rain stopped, but the wind blew hard.  I warmed up for my second event, hoping to redeem myself, if only for my own peace of mind.  The temperature outside had dropped about 15 degrees from the start of races, too.  Of course, as we got ready to line up for the 3200, the rain started again.  One of my best friends was such a trooper, and she and her dad stayed to cheer me on!  I told her that she did not have to, and I wouldn't have wanted to do that at all, but they said that they wanted to.  I started out in front, but got passed by a great runner from Beech Senior High School that I had gotten to race and talk to her and her twin at many cross country meets over the years.  I had not had much track experience at this point, but at the last 100 meters of the 7th lap, I decided that I felt good, so I picked it up and passed her about 10 meters or so ahead of me and kept pulling it out in that final lap.  I needed that boost to end my day!  After my cool down, I was still freezing, but it didn't seem so cold now that I was finished and could go inside. 

I had told Mom earlier that if I made it through that day all I wanted was some coffee.  Luckily, a McDonald's down the road made that dream come true.  We also went out to eat after that of course, too.

I follow a blog that I try to look at on my phone every day called 365 Promises.  How perfect that this would come up on a race day.  In the race of life, I know that I can persevere through every trial and struggle because my Savior has a better reward for me when I am finished with life than anything here on earth could ever promise.

After the race, we went to my absolute favorite, Salsarita's!  I always get a large burrito bowl with chicken, guacamole, black and pinto beans, and all the salsas and some veggies.

Foursquare is a handy little app where you can see nearby locations, deals, pictures, and reviews.  At some places, you can get free stuff or coupons when you check in!  This one was for free chips and salsa.  Chili's has one for this appetizer, too, each time you check in.

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.