Archive for December, 2007

Well as we finish up this Christmas season I must comment on the holiday as a whole.  We unfortunately were not able to be with relatives this year as we had responsibilities with Church that prevented us from going to OK, and NC is just to far for a couple of days type trip.  So we ended up sharing it with Church family and what a blessing it turned out to be.  We had Christmas dinner with with 2 other families that also did not originate here and only one of the other families has family in the area so all of us were basically in the same boat.  We spent time eating, laughing, hanging out, eating (did I already say that?) and basically just fellowshipping with everyone.  We had several Church services where we were able to worship our Savior’s birth and celebrate Christmas with other church family so all in all it was a great Christmas.  Now we do have more to come as we have not celebrated Christmas with one side of the family at all yet and probably wont unfortunately until sometime in January, but on a whole I must say that for our first Christmas away from relatives and by ourselves so to speak we never would have really known because our Church family fit right in and never missed a beat.  I really don’t know how Christians who are not in a good church home can survive without that fellowship and love that is between two believers.  So this is my plea for all believers who are not currently attending or are not committing the time that they should to their local body of believers.  You need to recognize the importance, value, and the necessity of your fellow believers and the role that they play in your daily walk with Christ.  The growth, support, and accountability that the body can provide is invaluable to a believer, and the time that it is noticed is not when times are good but when the trials of life are hard and get us down.  When fellow believers take the time to step beside us and lift us up when we can not do it ourselves.  And this is so important but it is as important to be committed so that when another believer is going through that trial you can step beside them and lift them up.  And as I have said before remember that trials are a way to grow not only for your own walk but so that you can be an example to others for Christ.  Well I hope that your Christmas was a good as ours and I hope that you have a blessed new years…

God Bless ~ Tyler

This is one of the hardest questions to answer as a believer.   During times of heartache and trials that seem unbearable it is very easy to lose focus and begin to blame God rather than to turn to Him and seek His face for comfort.  I have seen this several times in my life and have always felt somewhat helpless to be honest because no matter what you say as an “outsider” it does not really help.  In this life we as humans are going to go through trials some that are unexplainable and some that seem horrible when we are going through them but once we are past them seem really minor.  And how we cope with these depends on our maturity and our relationship with Christ, now that being said does not mean that it is going to be easy.  I tell you all of this to possible try to provide some help and comfort.

I recently found out that a friend of my family just had a HUGE trauma in their life.  When I was young there was a family that lived across the street from us that we were very close to.   They had 3 children, 2 of which were daughters that treated me like I was their own.  Well I just found out last night that one of the daughters had a child that was a teenager that committed suicide this past March.  I cannot even begin to understand the amount of pain and loss and just unbearable anguish that must cause in one’s life.  I can only assure those that have felt this pain long ago or recently that God is an awesome God that pursues us to comfort and love us.  We are reminded in the Gospel of John when Jesus tells us that God “draws” us meaning He pulls/pursues us to Himself:

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” John 6:44

And I hope that if I am ever faced with this type of pain and trial I will be of a mindset that I will go running to my heavenly father for comfort.  And that I will seek His face for what the purpose and opportunities that could come out of it.  For instance I put my mother through a trial earlier in my years that enabled her to be in a position to witness to other families at her church that were going through the same experience.  A thought that I read recently really put all of this in perspective for me “One of the most important things to remember is that God placed us here for just a small amount of time and that he placed us here to grow us into a Christ-like image.  He is using this time to develop our character.”  If we can remember this then we can face any trial in life with the knowledge that God has not left us; he is simply using circumstances to either get our attention or to sharpen us for some possible opportunity.  In closing this out I just encourage anyone who has faced this and not settled it with God or is currently facing it to seek Him and to possibly consider talking with a mature Christian.  But the most important thing to do is to stay on your knees and just seek Christ and his comfort.

God Bless ~ Tyler

Have you ever felt like the devil is living in your basement? Well I know for a fact that it is impossible for the devil to be living in your basement…

~ Because he is currently residing in mine!~

No seriously we all know that this is not possible but it sure feels that way sometimes. There have been some rough times in our house lately with just getting stressed out and worn down. For myself nothing has come easy lately, I mean wow it even took me an hour to cook minute rice. It has just been a hard time after a hard time with no end in sight it seems. And I am aware from talking with some other of you that it has been a struggle lately as well from health to finance to relationships or some of each or just all of them. So I felt lead to share something that God reminded me of this morning. I am going to start with a definition, this is out of Webster’s Dictionary (feel free to look it up: there are several definitions but I like this one)

Trial: a test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation.

Well sit back and think about that for a second. A trial that you could be going through right now could be a test to see where you are in something that God has been working on in your life. I really like a moment in “Evan Almighty” where the question is posed if you pray for courage does God zap you with courage or give you an opportunity to be courageous. And this is true as God grows us and teaches us things through the Holy Spirit, we are going to be given opportunities to learn more and use what we have learned to navigate our way through the circumstance. Or the other possibility is that the circumstance is a test to see have we learned or can we apply the things that we have learned. So I challenge you as well as myself to always remember that when hard times, or heavy hearts are there to go to the heavenly father and cling to him. As I have mentioned in previous posts He is the way, not only to heaven but the way through hard times and heavy hearts.

John 14:6 (New International Version)

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me

So as I close I want everyone to know that there are people praying for you and that most importantly, He is waiting with open arms to take your burdens.

God Bless ~ Tyler