Relationships

We all have relationships whether they are with friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend or God. We all need relationships to live a happy and healthy lifestyle, we count on friends and God. Relationships and friendships are amazing things, and will be most enjoyable and happy with the right people.
So we see most of our friends everyday or hear from the via text or Facebook, some we may know so well but others we don't. If you think of a pyramid, the foundations need to be strong so whoever means a lot in your life would be down there along with God. The next level up still needs to be willing to take the weight of the next level so that could be your friends who you wouldn't be as close to, boyfriend/girlfriend relationships and God. The top level is all of those things in your life that hit you everyday, every second of your life. Or those long going pains that remain in your memory. It weighs a lot and presses down on everything below it. The level directly below need to try and push the pain and worries off and away but they might not be willing to do that and give up, except for God he will stay strong. On the bottom layer (foundations) they need to be there for all your worries and push up and comfort you, they will never leave you. People will be human and a lot of people will walk into your life and help you for a while but find that it is too much and walk out but God is they only person that you can fully rely on. This is not to say that we can never trust any of our our friends because that is not true, I have so many people that I trust but I will always know that God will never leave me in the dark, alone. He will always be there even when it might not seem like it. This is really hard to explain in words and I find it difficult to explain how much God loves us and cars for us, so much that he will NEVER and I mean never leave us. Quite amazing, right? I know that it feels special and wanted to have someone who cares more than any humanly love could give for me. He deserves all my praise. Sometimes when something bad happens we might not want to pray it as in say it aloud or in your head but we can write in our journals and it is still praying but in a different way.
Boyfriend/girlfriend relationships can be wonderful but also can be a downer. Sometimes we get in with the wrong crowd and end up going out with someone who isn't a very nice person or is but doesn't let you do what you want. Here's an example: A teenage girl goes to all her youth groups events that they organise. She gets into the wrong crowd in school and soon finds herself in a relationship with this guy she doesn't really know and he isn't a Christian and doesn't like her going to youth club. He lets her go a few weeks but then decides that she can't go and will not let her go. He says that she doesn't spend enough time with him, so they hang out. They next week she's getting ready to go and he comes in and tells her that they have to meet up with his friends because she always goes off with hers. She agrees not wanting to get into trouble with him. He gradually pulls her away from everything that her church organises and she loses faith in God. Not good. Really not good. He doesn't seem like a very nice guy, does he? This example is often given by people who are trying to give the same message as I am. Example of a bad relationship. The girl or boy in the couple is standing on a chair. The person who isn't standing on the chair is standing firmly on the floor, if they take the person on the chairs hand and pull them they will fall off the chair, this symbolises getting pulled away from Christ and Christian friends. But if the person on the chair tries the pull the person on the floor onto the chair, they will have a much harder time and they would have a harder time trying to get the person to come along with them to youth club and believe in God. Sometimes we don't think about what sort of a position that would put us in if our boyfriend/girlfriend wasn't a Christian and we set too large a goal, saying 'oh I'll get them to come along to youth club and believe in God..' But sadly it doesn't happen like that, it takes time for people the give their lives to God. So what I'm trying to say is remember that it is way easier to pull someone off the chair than pull someone onto it. Always remember this.
God is always your friend and always will be there no matter what happens. He loves you forever and planned to put you where you are on this big world.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Quiet Time

We all have busy lives, I can state that as a fact! Whether it's work, school or just general day to day jobs and responsibilities. When we go for a long time without taking a break we can stress very easily, and stress can lead to feeling down or angry. So when are people supposed to find time to have some quiet time? Well I suggest making time, I'm sure everyone has at least 10minutes free out of their whole day, so use it! During your quiet time there are so many things you can do. You can reflect on your day if your quiet time is at the end of the day, you can write in your journal to God, you could read a passage of the bible and reflect on it or you can pray. During quiet time, you don't necessarily have to sit in complete silence, you could listen to some christian music, it might inspire you! I also think that sometimes it is good to just sit in silence because we might be listening more carefully for God. I don't find it easy finding time everyday but I do try and write in my journal or read the bible or a chapter of a christian book. I find it so relaxing and am in such a better mood because of it. Even this evening I went down to watch T.V. and after a while I got really tired and just felt like sleeping but I really wanted to write here and pray, so after this I'm going to have my quiet time.
God wants you to talk to him, he really does so do it! My leader in Discipleship group read us a little extract from a daily reading book. It talked about how we spend so much time on Facebook or texting or on other social networking sites but yet some of us can't make time for God. We were thinking about if God had Facebook what would you say to him? What would you write on his wall? Would you post pictures of you and your friends at youth club? I thought it would be amazing.. I don't really know what I'd say, I would be so happy but shocked. Because we all go on Facebook to keep in touch and to find out about other people, don't we? So why don't we do the same with God? It isn't that we can't it's that we don't. Prayer is like texting God, so try it.
God is always with you and texting you and if you ring him you will never be put on hold or not get an answer!

Matthew 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

1 Corinthians 14:15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind

Lost Sheep

Sometimes Christians can be a bit like lost sheep. They don't know where they are going and they follow the crowd. When I start getting distant from God I think about the parable in the bible called 'Lost Sheep' where the man has one hundred sheep, he loses one of them but still has ninety-nine. He goes looking and finds it, he comes home and hosts a celebration. The meaning from this parable is that heaven there is more rejoice over one sinner repenting than 99 righteous people who do not repent. Isn't that amazing? God would come and look for one person out of about 7billion! And that person could be you. It makes me feel very special. I know that when I have a lot of things going on in life I get distracted from God and become distant. When we become distant we're like lost sheep, we follow the in-crowd and don't know where we are going. I find that when I get distant from God I have bad days but don't pray immediately I just live with it but I know that Jesus can help me. I love the feeling of closeness to God, it feels just like family. If you ever feel lost or distant from God pray about and then journal or listen to worship songs or just read a passage from your favourite book in the bible. Calmness will take over and God will bring you back into his arms. He is all the time calling to you when things go wrong and you're down but sometimes we don't hear him. Keep listening. Never give up. He is your father and you're his child.

Jeremiah 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Bumps & Hurdles

I felt a bit run down during the week and just talked with a really close friend. She told me that we will always stumble upon those bumps and fall on the hurdles but God will help us through it all. She said I needed to hand everything over to God, all my worries and frets and he will hang them around his neck and take the worries and pain and bad memories away. So I came home and really thought about what she had said and thought this, life is like running a big race, (but not quite a race because everyone will get to their goal at different times!) when we've ran for a while and our feet drag along a bit, we'll get a bit clumsy and might stumble. Then later on we get tired and after a few stumbles we might fall, pain is involved and slows you down. Some people might drop out and give up but others will keep running. They might fall again and after that some more runners will give up. Some of the people who were still going strong (or some not so strong, but still going) have God in their lives. He encouraged them, he stayed with them, he wasn't going anywhere. So I guess I'm trying to say don't give up when you come to the first hurdle, I know it's difficult but it's worth it. Just pray. So keep running, or walking, it doesn't matter because you're still going! In any of those times when you feel alone or frightened just call on God and ask for help, he will hear you and pick you up, dust you off and patch up your your wound. Have faith.

Matthew 19:26  Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Isaiah 41:10  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand



Click on the video below: 

Faith

I always had this question, and no-one could ever answer it fully. The question was this, how do we (christians) know that our religion and beliefs are right when there are so many other religions who "know" (think)  that they're right?
Confusing, right?
Well, my youth leader answered it for me, and it sounded pretty simple! We need to have faith. What is faith? Faith is believing in something you can't physically see. So we need to believe that our God is God and our beliefs are right!I never had huge doubts about God but I just wanted to know the answer to my question, and I'm so glad that I got the answer! I really believe that no matter how many problems we face we need to have faith in our glorious father. He will grant us peace and help us through everything that hits us in the face.
I know that it can be hard to believe in something you cannot see but we can see him in other ways. When we walk through town or go for a cycle, God is all around us, he made everything. He wanted to make flowers pink, purple or blue, he wanted to make the grass green and it was his idea to make man who then made cars etc. He is in everything we touch or do. We can also see God through the bible. It can be so difficult to read even a chapter or a verse of your bible but he's in there and waiting to be discovered and thought about. He wants his children to believe and know that he is God. Some poeple think and may argue that the bible is a dusty old book with nothing to do with modern life and it is not relative. Do you agree with this? Think about it.. if you're not sure go and look in your bible and hopefully you'll find that it IS relative and  DOES have stuff to do with everything!

Just have faith and be patient,

Jesus is Christ, 'Christ' is in 'Christian', we are Christians. We come from God, our father.

Matthew 17:20  He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

1 Peter 1:21  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

2 Corinthians 5:7  We live by faith, not by sight.

Creator of fun

Today my friend wrote this as her status, 'you may think that God is boring, but my God, created, and is at the centre of fun.' I was amazed at this. It's beautiful and true! She always writes lovely meaningful status' and I love reading them.
I thought about what she wrote for a while and realised just how lovely it is. My God is the creator of fun and some people may think that because God is holy and is sinless he doesn't like the idea of fun. When in fact it's the complete opposite! God loves to see his children having fun! We can have fun when we are with God too, like in youth groups or events, we sing dance and have a great time. God made this earth and everything on it. He made fun, it was his idea.. He wants us to have fun, so don't think he doesn't.

"There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,"
Ecclesiastes 2:24

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