In a recent blog post I wrote about how on vacation I could rest from my busy schedule. Well I assume I didn’t rest enough. The last day of vacation I started feeling a pain in my mouth. I didn’t really think anything of it until Thursday when it had gotten worse and had not gone away yet. I thought it was wisdom teeth related, so I started researching every dentist in Lynchburg area.

To make matters worse my dad had recently switched companies so I wasn’t completely insured yet either. I had to find a dentist that was reasonable for an uninsured person, could see me almost immediately, and was accepting new patients. The was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I called a few places and a lot of the dentist offices wouldn’t even answer the phone. I finally got on the phone with a dentist office, and they had an extreme attitude about me not having insurance.

On Friday I was finally able to see a dentist. As soon as dentist offices opened I was on the phone trying to find one to go to. Luckily, the third call was the charm! I called Lynchburg Dental Center, and they could see me the following hour and their price for a visit and x-ray was reasonable. I go to the dentist, and she said it was wisdom teeth related. They scheduled an appointment to examine my wisdom teeth, and she prescribed an antibiotic.

During the night after Saturday. I woke up in extreme pain again. I found myself crying for 15 minutes straight, and I was getting to a point where I was literally crying out to God asking him to take away the pain. In a way, I sort of think this was how Jesus felt when he was on the cross. He cries his well-known line of “Why have you forsaken me?” Now I know that this analogy isn’t the best, but it makes sense to me. Have you ever had a time where you questioned why God has given you this trial? Well this was one of those moments for me.

Sunday morning rolls around and I am exhausted. Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of sleep that night. I almost decided to not attend church, which for me is unheard of! I’m one that is at church every time the doors are open. Sunday is usually my favorite day of the week, and you know I am not doing well if I contemplate not going to church. Well I decided to fight through the pain, and go to church. I am so glad I decided to do so!

At my church, I serve with the middle school students, and at the beginning of the morning we have a time when all the middle school volunteers collect and discuss what the morning will consist of. We also do a time of prayer requests. I decided to say something about my mouth, and the next thing I know the whole group is praying for me. This was a cool moment for me, because I never really speak up during this time. I am also not really one to ask for prayers for myself like this.

I serve as a small group leader in the middle school program. That morning we had one of the volunteers tell her story, and it was cool to see the discussion in my small group that came from her story. I would like to say that it’s because they have a wonderful leader, but it’s really because we have a wonderful God. God just let me be a part of this morning with these girls. I want to relate this back to the analogy I used earlier. Jesus had to go through the pain on the cross before we could see all the people come to Christ. It’s the same with us. These hard times that we are going through will be used by God later. We might not like hurting, but God will use our hurting to bring others to Christ.

 

Scripture References:

• “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” ~ Matthew 27:46 ESV
• “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 ESV
• “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” ~James 1:12 ESV
• “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” ~Romans 12:12 ESV

I would Love to hear from you!

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Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post on Father’s Day, but due to unforeseen circumstances I couldn’t post it until now.

In honor of Father’s Day, it’s important to respect this day and honor our fathers. A father has many definitions in society today. There are many examples of what the term father means. According to Merriam-Webster one of the definitions of a father is: “a man who has begotten a child”¹. In the definition of father on Merriam-Webster there are 7 different definitions of father.

There are no perfect fathers in the world, and my dad is no exception to this. There are times that I don’t understand my father or why he would do certain things. But that’s ok, because we don’t have to understand everything. One day when I possibly become a parent I might understand better, but as a 21-year-old some things are still hard for me to comprehend.

I try not to brag on social media regarding appreciation of others very often. This is especially seen on days where everyone is posting a certain thing on social media. For example: you usually won’t see me post something on holidays or the silly national days. The first reason is to not add to the clutter of social media. I also try to appreciate others in a more personal way instead of being flashy.  The main reason I add something on these day is if I believe I have a different take than what the majority is posting. All this to say I don’t share my appreciation of my father publically very often.

Today is going to be an exception to what I just mentioned. I realized that I might have never mentioned my father on my blog before, and that it should be something I change. In my family, I am very fortunate to have my biological father in my life. I know many people don’t have this person in their life. My father is better than a lot of fathers in the world today, and I know how fortunate I am to have that. There are three qualities of my dad that I appreciate: he works hard to provide for our family, he loves my mom, and he tries to be a better father than his father was to him.

My dad does his best to provide for our family. He has a full-time and a part-time job. As a result, he puts in more hours than many fathers do. The reason he works so much is so my family can live comfortably financially. Both of my parents try to provide for all our needs and wants, so they can see us have a better future than they had. Neither of my parents finished college, and so my parents are doing everything they can to see my brother and I succeed and in the future graduate college. My parents also have invested in our passions. There were many dance lessons, art supplies, and blazers (for Forensics) that my parents have bought for me over the years.

Another quality that I appreciate is that he loves my mom. He might not always show it the best way, but at the end of the day I know that my dad loves my mom. You can tell that there is no other woman that my father would rather be with. I hope one day I can find a man that will love me like he loves my mom.

The last thing and in my eyes one of the most important things I appreciate about my father is that he tries to be a better father than his father was to him. He didn’t have the best father growing up. I can tell that my father tries to be better than his father. One way that I have seen this is that I know my father loves and cares about me, and he wants the best for me.

Some of you might relate to these aspects of your father. You might have had the best father growing up, and if that is the case you should appreciate your father. This should be done more days than birthdays and holidays. If you have not had the best father I want you to know that there is another father figure you can have in your life if you choose to accept him! God is our father, and He wants to pursue you! He will never leave you or let you down. The Bible is a good place to look for good fatherly examples, and God is the best example there is in the Bible! Some other good fathers in the Bible are Abraham, Noah, and Joseph (the father of Jesus).

For the readers that are men I want to encourage you to become the father you had or wished you had growing up. If you don’t have a child than invest in a child and be an older brother or father in their life. You can volunteer in many avenues to become a father or brother figure in a younger person’s life. For me I volunteer with middle and high school students at my church.

I close with a quote from the pastor Charles Stanley, “Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He’s sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped”². Regardless of our earthly fathers’ actions we can always seek God to be our father.

 

Scripture References:

• “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” ~ Joshua 24:15 ESV
• “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” ~ Ephesians 4:6 ESV
• “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” ~ Isaiah 64:8 ESV

¹ “Father,” Merriam-Webster, accessed June 18, 2017, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/father.

² “Charles Stanley Quotes,” BrainyQuote, , accessed June 18, 2017, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/charlessta451697.html?src=t_heavenly_father

I would Love to hear from you!

Feel free to Comment below, or email me at:  matthew712girl@gmail.com

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Here are some photos of me and my dad!

Destination: Chincoteague Island

Last week I went on a trip to Chincoteague island with my family. It was an enjoyable trip, and I could get away and clear my thoughts. Recently I have been in a busy season of my life. I am one to constantly be moving and going from one place to another. I’d rather be busy than bored, and I live by this stance. I also try to be productive with my down-time as well. Where I end up not really resting at all. It’s not necessarily a sin to be busy, but it’s not something we should be doing all the time. God intends for us to slow down and rest. This leads into where I saw God on this trip. The first area was the importance of resting, and the other was the blessings of being spontaneous.

God wants us to be able to rest. He wants us to take the time out of our busy schedule to redirect our focus on Him. If we get too busy we can lose the bigger picture of what we should be doing. God calls us to love others and spend time with Him. One way on the trip that I felt restful was when we were watching the sunset and waiting for a NASA rocket to launch, which by the way ended up being canceled. I still had fun looking out at the water waiting for the launch though. The waves have a calming effect for me.

Being spontaneous isn’t necessarily a good thing in the Bible. In a lot of areas God shows planning ahead as a good thing. That in many stories there was a lot of planning before blessings of God showed. I believe though that planning can be abused. We can be extremely focused on doing certain things at certain times that it starts to be a ritual. It can also be easy to lose focus on God when we are focused on what to do when. It was nice on this trip to be on “Island Time”, and not having to be at certain places at certain times.

Usually my family is one that goes into a vacation with a game-plan of what we are doing each day.  This trip we somewhat had a game-plan, but one day we ended up throwing the plan into the wind. We went to Assateague National Park. One cool thing about this park is that there are wild ponies and a lighthouse there. This made my mother very excited. We went in with a mission to find the wild ponies. At one point, we went to the visitor center and was told that on the Maryland side of the park had better sightings of ponies. Next thing I know we’re driving to Maryland! This was not in the original plan at all! When we got to the Maryland side of the island we could see the wild ponies just a few feet away from us! I think in a way God blessed us when we decided to follow when He prompted us to go in a different direction.

In every trip, there are times that we can see God in what we are doing if we look for Him. For me it was as simple as in wild ponies and in the sunset. The key to noticing God in your life is by opening your eyes to Him. We should slow down and rest in Him, and he will reveal new things to you.

 

Scripture References

• “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” ~ Hebrews 4:11 ESV
• “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
• “And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’” ~ Mark 2:27 ESV

I would Love to hear from you!

Feel free to Comment below, or email me at:  matthew712girl@gmail.com

Want to know when a new blog is posted? Email me at: matthew712girl@gmail.com, or if you have a WordPress account, follow!

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Here is another picture from the trip!