Go.

Oh, hello blog! I almost forgot about you. With the craziness of school, Sunday School, choir, work and maintaining relationships I didn't make time to update this blog. But I'm BACK!

I have a lot of different blog posts in mind that I'm going to write about; modest is hottest, letting God take control of your life, loving people, and more but I'll save some for the element of surprise!


Today I'm going to talk about how God can put you in circumstances to grow you in ways you never thought possible.

If you didn't know, I teach a 3rd grade Sunday School class at my church and this past year I directed the Music Makers children's choir. Yeah, it was a lot to handle but I enjoyed every second of it. None of these responsibilities were mine at this time last year! Haha

Flashback to Summer 2010: I was in Walmart on a beach trip and I get a text message from Judy Rogers asking if I will help with children's choir. For me, it was a perfect opportunity; I got to have something to do on Wednesday nights (not being in youth was feeling odd) and I loved to sing. Here was the catch: I wasn't that great with kids. But I prayed and it just felt like God wanted me to help with this choir.

Flash forward to Summer 2012: I had helped with the Music Makers the past two years under Mrs. Teena. I loved it! I loved getting to know the kids, I loved watching them worship, I loved everything about it. Once again I was on vacation (this time at Panera Bread) and I get a long message from Mrs. Judy asking me if I could step into the role of director.

Hold up. Me. A 20 year old. LEADING a children's choir. What?! Of course my human reaction was that I have too much on my plate, I was teaching Sunday School, I had my job at Hallmark, I had SCHOOL! I was in my Junior/Senior year, it wasn't going to be easy. So I tried to find someone else for the job. I wanted to help, but DIRECT?! Well push comes to shove, and I am co-directing the choir with Jessica. I was nervous, but excited.

I had never done this before, I had only been in front of 3 year olds. I wasn't sure if I was ready to fulfill this leadership role. I didn't know if I could talk in front of people. I didn't know if I could teach kids how to sing. I had a lot of worries. But I trusted God, I asked Him to lead me to the songs He wanted us to sing.

Back to Present: I would not change directing the Music Makers for the world. I have grown in my maturity, in my leadership, in my personal walk with Christ. All from helping these kids praise Him. At this time last year, my dad said that I couldn't lead VBS music. I always wanted to, but he mentioned how hard of a job it is.
That being said I'm not leading VBS music, it is in the hands of an amazing couple, but the point it is I could. I would feel capable, and this time last year I wasn't. God has grown me SO much in a year, it's unbelievable.

So, if He's leading you in a direction that scares you, but you feel lead.

 Go.

 It will change you for the better.

Vocabulary..?!

I'm going to take a time out from my righteousness lesson to explain what I did in children's choir last night!

Jesus Son of God- Chris Tomlin 

This is one of my all time favorite songs, and I wanted to sing it with the Music Makers- the problem is that it has some hefty vocabulary.. So we listened to last week and if they didn't understand a word in the song they would raise their hand. We came to a consensus that : Throne, Mock, Bore, Altar, Sacrifice, Overcome, and Cross needed to be explained. 

So I wrote the lyrics out with those words outlined in different colors:

Then we split up into teams: Yellow, Blue, and Purple with a mix of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders on each team with a 3rd grade team leader. They had to find these spread out in the room:

We had a definition and verse on each one that was read by someone on each team! Then we sang the song with hopefully a better understanding of what each word meant. 

Sacrifice

Something given up or lost

"This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

Throne 

A chair occupied by an exalted person. (Then I defined exalted too! Haha) Exalted: raise in rank or character

"The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all." Psalms 103:19

Altar

Place where offerings are made

"Build there an altar to the Lord your God..." Deuteronomy 27:5

Overcome

Succeed in dealing with

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Mock

To treat with ridicule (make fun of)

"Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him..." Luke 23:11

Bore

Past tense of Bear: to carry something

"He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by His wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

Cross

Two beams: one vertical, one horizontal that meet. Used in ancient Rome 

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

On the altar of your praise, I hope there is NO higher name- Jesus Son of God. 

Let your light shine,

Beth

Righteousness pt. 1

Righteousness: acting in accord with divine or moral law.

Whoa. What does that even mean?! Divine and moral law? This all seems confusing, and we are told to be righteous. How can I be something that I don't even truly understand? The more I studied about righteousness the more I found written about it in the Bible. It was completely overwhelming. Originally I was going to do a single blog post about righteousness, but the more I studied it the more I learned and had to share.  

Christ is Righteous 

"The Lord is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does." Psalms 145:17

"The Lord reigns forever; He has established His throne for judgement. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the people with equity." Psalms 9:7-8

"And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for He is a God of justice." Psalms 50:6 

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love and faithfulness go before you." Psalms 89:14

This last verse is key to understanding God. Yes, He is a righteous and just God, but He also has compassion and understanding when you fail.

Righteousness comes through faith
"As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one" Romans 3:10

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law: rather through the law we become conscious of our sin" Romans 3:20

WHAT?! I thought we were supposed to be righteous, how can we be if it is written that no one is?!

"But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is GIVEN through FAITH in Jesus Christ to all who believe.." Romans 3:21-22

Okay, so through faith in Jesus can be righteous.. but wait there's more! :)

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood- to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:25-27 

So, Jesus lets me be righteous by showing HIS righteousness through dying on the cross?!

Exactly. God is just, our sins were paid for through Jesus' blood so that we can have faith in Him. So through that faith that comes from Him, we are allowed to believe in Jesus and be righteous in the eyes of God.

Whoa. This is a lot to take in. All I know is that I'm glad we are able to be righteous through having faith in Jesus, because the Bible talks so much about what it is to be righteous... and THAT'S where part 2 comes in.

Let Your Light Shine!

-Beth 

A New Adventure

What?! Beth is blogging? This is new for me; I don't know if people are even going to read this but I felt like I needed to do this.

Starting January 1st I started prayer journaling and I've felt led by so many different verses that I decided to share my findings here. But I'm going to start today with the theme of this blog!

Let your light shine! What light? Shine where?! This catchphrase for my life comes from Matthew 5: 14-16:

"You are the LIGHT of the world  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead the put it on its stand, and it gives LIGHT to everyone in the house. In the same way, LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." 

This verse is the goal of my life; I come in contact with some many different people that may not know Jesus or even heard His name. I want my life to be different. People should notice a change in you if you have given your life to Jesus. I pray every morning that I will be a light for Jesus; that through me people would be led to Christ. It's a simple but powerful prayer.

I extend this challenge to you as well. May you live your life that people see Jesus through you. This does not mean you won't mess up.  But in these mistakes use them as a learning experience and don't get too down on yourself.

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them" 2 Corinthians 4:17

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,: made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

So LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!