My Makers Daughter

“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” Romans 12:16 The way in which we think controls our outward appearance. Especially for me, if you spend 5 minutes with me you'll understand what my emotion is always clearly presented in my facial expressions. It's both a blessing and a curse, when I need someone to talk to the people around me always know something is bugging me but when it's over something stupid i can't get away with a negative thought with the people around me. Not that I can ever get away with it when it comes to God. No matter what we are thinking our body will follow, that's why it is so important to be of one kind with team mates. To make sure that you all have to same end goal in mind and that you are focusing on God on not ourselves. We are no better than when we were running from the Lord. We can't change the fact that we are all gross s

Matthew 20:26-28 The Lord Jesus could have easy come to this earth and proven to all that He was the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, but no, He stayed humble. He could have come here and demanded to be served. Demanded to be waited on hand and foot, but did He do that? No. Jesus came to serve us. The Lord of all creation came to earth to serve His own creation. Jesus constantly poured Himself out for others. Never once did He complain "Well actually I don't want to do that today. You see I am your Lord and I am the Son of God." He never said that. How much more so should we, His creation, be willing to serve our creator? I would hope that all of our answers would be the same, we would give our lives to the cause. We would give our lives over to Him committing our lives to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even those in Leadership position are called to be servants. Verse 26 tells us how even the great among us must be servants. In a perfect world this would wo

Yes, we were given freedom in Christ. He came to sacrifice His life so that I would be free. He came to carry the weight of my sin, he came to take the punishment of my sin for me. This freedom is given without charge, all we have to do is believe in him, believe in the Lord. Just because you're forgiven and we can ask for forgiveness and repent at anytime, it doesn't give us a free pass to continue living in sin. We can't actually live in that freedom until we are dead men. The Lord gives us that freedom once we understand what it is to be obedient to him. He will not start speaking into our lives until we are dead to the things of our past. We can't use the Lord as as a body wash. He isn't there to cleanse us once we become too dirty to handle it. Unfortunately, I used the Lord that way for countless years. I only came to Him when I absolutely needed Him and I knew that I couldn't do it myself. I came back just before it was too late. I would go back to church

 The Lord calls me to be a dead man. Dead men don't have a voice nor do they do anything in their own will. Dead men have to be told what to do and they also don't have emotion. They don't complain and they don't grumble.they just listen and do, nothing more and nothing less. They have submitted themselves to the way of the Lord. Submit, "to stop trying to fight or resist something: to agree to do or accept something that you have been resisting or opposing. In respect of what the Lord calls us to do I have to submit just like that. I have to willingly and openly submit to others without complaint and without a bad thought in my heart. The Lord looks at my heart, not what I am doing for the face I might be putting on. Because I am people but for the Lord. If a friend asks me to do something and should be acting as if Jesus Himself had asked me to do it. My heart should be filled with the joy of the Lord always and all that I do should reflect that. Even the smalles

 We are all weak human beings but through the Holy Spirit, the Lord blesses us with His strength. The keyword in that sentence is His, His strength. It isn't my strength, it isn't your strength, but it is the Lord's strength. I often find myself forgetting how badly I need the Lord's strength, but I remembered while climbing Agua, that's for sure. I also tend to forget that nothing is actually mine, including strength. I struggle to use that strength and give it to those who are weak. I often use His strength in my life to focus on myself. I take that strength and I run with it. So let's face it, I'm selfish. I use the strength to patch myself up. Forgetting that even in His strength, I am still human. Forgetting that regardless I am still weak in my own strength without the Lord. Forgetting that the Lord has blessed me with His strength to help others, and to build up my neighbor. I am called to bear in the failings of the weak with the strength of the

“Lord why am I here? Why have you called me here and left me? Why have you taken me from home and pulled me here just to cease talking to me?” Things that I have been asking the Lord over and over again for, well the entire time that I have been here? To my surprise I received an answer. He answered me in a way that I wasn't expecting. He came back to me with another question. “Okay, Val, answer this. If you are so upset about leaving him, what is back there for you that is so important? What is back there for you that you are able to find contentment in?” In those simple questions, I found my answer. My answer wasn't what I wanted to hear, my answer was painful. Back home my contentment was found in temporary things, temporary people, and temporary situations. My contentment was worldly. Now, the Lord is calling me to be content here, in Antigua Guatemala, to grow where I am planted. The Lord hasn't failed to keep confirming this to me…He hasn't failed to confirm the m

Being in a state of contentment where I can make it through most of the day without being discontent is far from my comprehension, let alone living in that contentment. Sitting at the Lord’s feet waiting PATIENTLY for my next instruction, if I'm being honest, blows my mind. How much stuff do I own that I don't even need? How many things did I buy just to buy? Endless. There are currently about 20 boxes sitting in my room at my parents house filled with stuff that I had in my old apartment. Things that I didn't need but bought for the sake of buying them. When packing my things to come here to Guatemala, about .5% of that stuff came with me. About .5% of that stuff I actually found useful in my day to day life. It has taken me a long time to realize that contentment isn't found in worldly items nor anything else of the world. It is something that I have to keep giving to the Lord every day. I have to allow myself to shift my focus and find my contentment in His love and

Paul is stating here how He learned to be content. when we learn something, a new skill for example, the knowledge isn't freely given to us. It isn't a one step process where at the end the Lord gives us the knowledge the second we end our prayer with Amen. Learning is constant, we never stop learning. Learning is defined as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience.” The Lord will give us those experiences to teach us, to give us that learning process. He will have us go through trailing times in which we can chose to grow in our faith and the comfort that we find in the truth of His word. If I fast forward to Philippians 4:13 Paul states “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” If I am in the Lords will and if His desires are my desires, He will not fail to give me the strength to fulfill His will or plan for my life. He will give me the strength to go through season in which I will learn not only to be content but to be wise, to love with Godly