Saturday, December 17, 2011

Advent! (Christmas Season)

Hello, everyone, Christmas is nearly here!!  The weeks leading up to Christmas, most importantly the Sundays, we look at the weeks of advent.  A little history of these weeks are that advent is the beginning of the Church year for most churches in the western tradition.  It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24).  The earliest this can be started is November 27th and the latest is December 3rd.  This year we started at the latest, which is so nice because Christmas is on a Sunday, which I think is so wonderful.  I love spending time in church on Christmas, it is so warm and I always feel God right there, in church!
There are four themes (candles) that my church does for the four Sundays and that is: (The middle candle is the Christ candle that we light on Christmas Eve!) 


He came!
He comes!
He is coming
Christmas Sunday!! 
The First theme talks about how Jesus came into this world to be our Saviour.  We can look at John 3:16 which says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".  God loved us, sinners, so much that he sent his only son into the world to die for us, so we can live in heaven with him eternally, when we die.
The Second theme is about how Jesus comes to us now.  He comes now because he loves us and wants to live in our hearts.  The text we look at is Hebrews 9, which says "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from sins committed under the first covenant" (Heb. 9:15).  After Jesus died, he came again to live in our hearts.
The Third theme is about how Jesus is coming again, or his second coming.  This we look at in Revelations 1.  This says "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him...who is, and who was, and who is to come" (Rev. 1:7-8).  All through the book of Revelations, the new kingdom is described and eternity is revealed.
I have enjoyed giving everyone this...and I will post again soon!
P.S. here two songs I heard and enjoy listening to:


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day and...


Hark The Herald Angels Sing, which is my absolute favorite song! 
As tiny Tim said in A Christmas Carol, "God Bless us everyone"!!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Finals!! (Boooo...)

Sorry I did not post anything last week, but I am busy getting ready to take finals!!   Yeah, I am almost done with my first semester of college at Molloy College!  It feels so good to know that God is with me and is going to be by my side when i take these finals!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Scholarship

I am asking everyone who follows my blog or looks at my blog to please click on this link.  Here is the scholarship:

Fastweb Refer a Friend Sweepstakes

Provided by : Fastweb Sweepstakes
Award:
$500
Deadline:
December 31, 2011
The Fastweb Refer a Friend Sweepstakes is open to registered Fastweb members who are legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and who are at least thirteen (13) years of age. You must log into your Fastweb account to obtain your personal referral link. For each person who registers for Fastweb via your personal referral link during the Promotion Period, you will earn one entry into this month's drawing.
Just cop and paste this link in your browser and go!

http://www.fastweb.com/referral/AW613


Thanks alot!!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Happy Belated Thanksgiving !

We have so much to be thankful for (family, food, education,etc.), but the thing we should be most thankful for is God and his love toward us.  There are so many Bible verses that have to do with giving thanks.  I won't go in detail through them, but here is a list:

- Psalm 100
- Psalm 95: 1-6
A Peaceful Christmas Church
- Psalm 107: 1
- Psalm 145: 7
- Psalm 69: 30
- Psalm 136: 1-26
- Psalm 75: 1
- 1 Chronicles 16: 8
- 1 Thessalonians 5: 18
- Philippians 4: 6
- Colossians 2: 6-7
- Colossians 3: 17

I especially thank God for Jeremiah 29:11 and that he has my future already planned out for me.  I started college this fall and I just thank God for helping me make the right choices for my future.  He has "plans to prosper [me] and not to harm [me], plans to give [me] hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11).  I also thank God for Christmas!!  I thank him for sending his son to die for us.  As you see, I have already prepared for Christmas.  If you like it (or don't), please comment and tell me what I could change to make it better.
Just one more thing, I found out what my name means:
Peaceful Spirit of Harmony and Grace
A-angelic
S-sensitive
H-honest
L-loyal
E-elegant
Y-youthful


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

This is a girl who gave full control of her future to God.  She is hosting a free giveaway of a beautiful scarf!! If you want you can sign up too...

http://daughterwithavision.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway.html?showComment=1322100060572#c3530380339944498645

Godly Character

     In order to be a shining light for Jesus one thing you need to do is make sure to develop Godly character and be ready to change the way you live.
There is a Psalm and a few other passages in the Bible that show just what character is Godly and what to do to develop it.
     In Psalm 101 David is professing his godliness and also shows some of the characteristics of ungodly people.  In verse 2, David he says, "I will be careful to lead a blameless heart . . . I will walk in my house with blameless heart"  Blameless means innocent of wrongdoing, or guiltless.  David promised God that he would never do wrong. We should as followers of God strive to, like David, live with a blameless heart before God.  In verses 3-8, David warns us of the characters of the ungodly and what to stay away from.
     In verse 3 and 4, David tells us "the deeds of faithless men I hate . . . men of perverse heart shall be far from me".  Perverse means turned away from or rejecting what is right or good; wicked or corrupt.  David does not what to do anything with men who do what is evil or corrupt in the eyes of God and we as Christians should not do evil or corrupt things in the eyes of God.
     In verse 5, David warns us from people who slander people behind their backs.  In our daily lives in this world we constantly hear people say mean things or rumors of other people behind their backs because it is somehow in human nature to discuss other people when they are not around.  We as Christs followers should, when we hear this happening, walk away or tell the people who are saying mean things to stop.  This may take some courage, but if we ask God to help us we will be able to do it.  Also in that verse David says, "whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure".  We need to watch that our hearts and minds do not  get overly proud and arrogant toward non-believers and those that are different than us.
     In verse 7, David says "No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence".  If we are deceitful or misleading in our words and acts, then the ungodly will never be able to see our light, so we need to watch what we say and how we act to non-believers.  Some one who speaks falsely, usually say false things that hurt others, but unlike people who gossip, they might say them in front of the people they are hurting.  We need to be careful of what we say to others and make sure that we "do not let any unwholesome talk come out of [our] mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29).
     Well, this is along post so I will go a little more quickly with the next part.  A passage that we can look at to help us to build up Godly characteristics is Matthew 5 verses 3-9, which are the beatitudes!  In verse 3, "poor in spirit" is the character of humility.  This means we need to realize we need to depend on God.  In verse 4 mourning is in this sense mourning for those who are lost and caring about them.  In verse 5, we need to gain meekness, and then we will become sons of God and inherit the kingdom of God.  Meekness is  submission and self-control.  God wants us to be faithful and trust him with endurance and patience. In verse 6, we need to be always hungry and thirsty for more of Gods word, because this will keep us alive in Christ.  If we spiritually die, then those who don;t know God will never get to know him, so encourage everyone to read this to dig deeply in Gods word all the time.  In verse 8, we need to be "pure in heart", which means we need to guard our hearts from evil and watch what we think or do because that what gets in our hearts.  In verse 9, we need to be able to stand up and keep the peace between everyone, so people can see our light.  Verses 10 and 11 we need to be persistent for God.  If we are persistent and get persecuted or made fun of, for God we will blessed and we will gain our reward in heaven.  Our great reward will be a rich welcome into heaven!!
(If you want to look at more characteristics that will help us to shine our lights, you can look at 2 Peter 1:5-11)!!        
   

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Back again!!

Hello Everyone!
Sorry I have not posted in a long time, but today I updated it!
I will try from now on to at least post once a week.
I am so excited to get in touch with everyone again.
God has put a new longing to write on this blog again, and I am pleased to be doing this.
I look forward to posting again!
(Enjoy my new look)


This is a song I was listening to and just wanted to share it!

Friday, April 8, 2011

God Will Make A Way !!

I love this song.  I was actually looking on YouTube but then i saw this song.  i haven't listened to it since I was in Pilgrim Camp when i was still a camper.  I am so blessed by this song.  So i want to share it with you.  Here are the lyrics...


 God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength
For each new day
He will make a way
He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today 

This week I almost lost my purity ring, but thankfully I found it.  This morning my verse in the promise box, was Psalm 126:6 and i prayed over that verse and God helped me to find my ring.  Thank you, God!! 

I cant wait until August and September, because I graduate and am going to college!!!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pinebrook Retreat !!

This weekend from 2/18 to 2/20 I went to a retreat in Pennsylvania.  The speaker their talked about commitment.  Commitment to a relationship with God.  He define commitment as binding to a purpose fully.  We heard also about how some people can be fence sitters, people who aren't fully committed.  A critical point in commitment is to burn bridges that lead you to things that would destroy this relationship with God.  In order to have a full commitment we need:

Anticipation- that God will do something in you
No Condemnation- repent and God will do something for you
 -God has something for you that Satan can't take away
Reconciliation - God will bring you closer to himself
Sanctification - God is going to begin to set us apart from this world

The verse during this retreat was 1 Kings 18:21 which says "How much longer will you waiver, hobbling between two opinions?"  We need to be fully committed to God and I thank God that during this retreat that the people their committed their lives to God.  A song we sang during this retreat was "Everything is different" by Sane and Shane and it touched my life and many other lives.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Praise you in this Storm - Casting Crowns

I wa lisening to this song and I thank God for always being here for me.  No matter what trials we aree going through God will always guide us and direct us. This song says:


           I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

[Chorus:]
And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

[Chorus]

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

I think this song says it all.  Even though we are Christians, we face problems much like others, but the difference is that we have someone to lean on.  God is our strength and we can count on him in any situation, no matter if he gives or takes away.  This song is always a blessing, and I want to share it with all you Christians out their that need a little boost in your moral.  You could never have a better friend than one who made, loves and, takes all your pain away.  If you feel down bring it to God he can help.  It may keep on "raining" but God will eventually get you out.  He wants to see if you are strong enough to spread his word.  I know I've been through a time like this.  Once on a Friday, my family was going to visit my aunt and I had just broken my retainer that day at school.  i was scared so I prayed to tell my mom.  She got angry an yelled a little but the worst was over.  I was still crying when i went upstairs to get ready to go and i remember sitting on a rocking chair in my room and i just cried out, "God why, why, help me to be more responsible, why, why..."  I felt God around me and I finished crying and I felt God circling me and telling me everything was going to be fine.  Don't feel alone fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, God is always near to lean on!! Ill post the song so if you want to hear it you can:


Enjoy, and may God Bless you!!!





Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Merry Christmas... and a Happy New Year !!!

Merry belated Christmas!
I thank God for coming to this earth and for giving me the Amazon Kindle !
This was one of my best presents and I already downloaded the Bible on it, so I can read the bible on it!!

Today I was thinking and all of a sudden i forgot to write more on my blog. Sorry i didn't.  This is a place where I can get all my feelings out.
This has been such a good start to a new year!  I made some resolutions, and maybe if you prayed for me, i could keep them.

1. To read my bible not just at night, but throughout the day !
2. To put more joy into practicing my violin, this might be my last year with this wonderful violin teacher
3. To be more patient with my younger brother
4. To not be so shy in school and be able to witness to my fellow piers more easily

These are my most important one's and I would like it if I could keep them.