Jeremiah 29:11

Wow. 24:6 of 2010 was amazing. epic. awesome. more than I could have hoped for. During the conference, God really spoke to me about plans and the future. I spoke one night and had quoted someone (I think it may be Woody Allen, but I can't quite remember) and said "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." Which is true! A few months ago I began to have this desire that I believe was put in my heart from God to be a photojournalist, and I thought 'okay, I can shoot a few friends, maybe start a portfolio, and go send them away and that will be that!' Well, no, my friends. God has much bigger plans for me! Because a day after that, I got a phone call from my mum informing me that we are going on the missions trip to.... drum roll.... AFRICA! AFRICA. Yes. Africa. I cried and rejoiced. It was a beautiful moment for me, it was all coming together, and my heart has ached to beat in Africa ever since I first saw a safari show on the Discovery channel when I was about 7 or 8.

You could say I definitely PTL'd when I found out! It just showed me that God has such better and bigger plans than I could have imagined for myself, and I think this is going to the start of something beautiful.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

I think that scripture pretty much sums it up. You may have some plans for your life, but God has better ones, bigger ones. He knows the desires in your heart, and He is going to show you and provide you with amazing opportunities if you just open your ears and listen to what He has to say. Let Him show you the plans He has for you and let Him lead you. Don't stray; follow God and you will be blessed and you will find amazing things.

That has just been on my heart to share with all of you - and I know a lot of you heard it at the conference.

Love & Prayers,
Torch

Surrounding Yourself with Positive Influences.

Wow! These past few weeks have been pretty eventful! You know how they say in highschool you find out who your real friends are? Well, let me tell you, I sure have! There's so many people that LOVE creating drama, but I mean, who has time for it, really?! between the tests, quizzes, homework, and everything else school throws at you who WANTS drama?

It's just truly unbelievable to me, some people. BUT! I will walk in LOVE, and I'm not here to judge! (that kind of rhymes.. ;) )

I'm here to say, surround yourself with people who share the same beliefs and morals as you, it's really helpful, it keeps YOU on track, not straying to the highschool immaturity all around you. Or any immaturity, really! If you're at work, or grocery shopping, or whatever! For me, I've learned that surrounding yourself with positive influences is the BEST! :) I mean, you may be close with people who aren't Christian and swear, etc. and obviously, don't judge them for it, just, don't take on their bad habits. I know everyone slips, trust me, I've done it too! Just don't make it a routine, you know?

It also helps having close Christian friends, you both help each other and keep each other on track as well as encourage them! I think it helps develop your spiritual maturity, too! Spiritual maturity is a big thing, in my opinion. But it isn't your friends who help you build your spiritual maturity, really, it's GOD!

For a lot of us, we've all been building a great relationship with God and learning to live a Christian life. Here's a scripture that might encourage you:

2 Peter 1:3-9 "Evererything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books."

The thing that sticks out most to me is "don't lose a minute building on what you've been given". It's true! It's like, "don't build your sand castle so far from the water that it takes days to get wet sand for building, but don't build it right on the shore so it gets washed away at high tide." Do you know what I mean? Build a strong Faith and practice living a Christian life, but don't hide it from everyone so they don't get to see it... You know? But also don't "build it on the shore so it gets washed away" which is like, don't build up your Faith weakly so it's taken away quickly. PERSEVERANCE, is the word I think I'm looking for!

Get to know God more and more each day. When I read a scripture one time, and go back to it later I always get something new out of it. I think the phrase You Learn Something New Everyday fits perfectly, because I always am!

I encourage you all to stay faithful to God on your journey.

Love, Torch! :) <3

Keep your eyes on the finer things!

Oh man! God is good, hey?! Yes, He is. Pushaw. Okay, so pretty much, like I've said before, being a Christian in a public school is difficult sometimes but with God I KNOW I can get through it, because He's bigger than ANY problems that we face! Anyways, these past couple of weeks I've really been focusing on trying to live the life God wants me to, sounds easier than it is! But every time I'm confronted with a problem, I think What Would Jesus Do? It honestly helps so much! Just ask yourself that question every time you're in a situation where you don't know what to do. And pray, but that's a given! I know this is sort of different than what I was just talking about but try to stay away from the stupid fads that come and go with the seasons. They're kind of... pointless? People get excited about one thing for about 3 months, and then are over it! Well I'm excited about something everlasting, eternal!

Focus on things that really matter, I'm not trying to tell you that if you love the newest fashions you're going to Hell and aren't a real Christian, but to me there is no point in loving earthly things just so everyone will accept you as one of their own. Now, this is also not to say I NEVER read a fashion magazine to see what's in, and maybe I'll buy the latest sandal or whatever, just don't make them the center of your life. Our citizenship is in HEAVEN. This is all temporary, my friends, so keep your eyes on the eternal prize!

One of my all time favorite Bible scriptures is Philippians 3:14. It says: "I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."

AHH, I love this! It's an image in my mind, the starting line is the day we find out that Christ is all we need, and through Him, anything is possible. And the finish line, oh, I can only IMAGINE. Golden roads, singing angels, pure beauty and bliss. I picture myself running, running to Jesus when I'm in Heaven and just crashing into His arm, the BIGGEST smile on my face. OH, I can NOT wait.

But until that GLORIOUS day, I'm going to try and keep my eyes on the finer things in life, the things that matter, the things that change a life, the things that make a difference.

My soul is getting restless for the place I belong.


Torch <3

A little bit of everything.

Hey everyone :)

(this blog is going to kind of be about everything right now.. :P)

I know, it's been so long since I posted something new and fresh! And I'm sorry! So, let me catch you up on a few things, in the past month (?) or so, a lot has happened. On September 24th, my good friend passed away, which was really hard for me, for everyone, really. But I know that he's up There and I know he's going to be waiting for me There when it's my time. I miss him a lot, of course, he was an awesome kid. He was someone everyone could go to about their problems.

But since then, God has blessed me with such amazing people, the best a person could ask for. Today, I had a spare so I went to the library and met up with my friend. We got into talking about Heaven and death (still kind of hard to talk about) and we were wondering if Hitler was in Heaven, which is quite possible, he could have repented and chosen to live his eternal life for Christ. And, I mean, we are no one to judge on who went to Heaven and who went to hell, but one day I guess we'll find out! Then I got to thinking, later on in the day, that I want to spread the love of God so badly throughout my shcool, my community, my province! Because on that final judgement day, what are we all going to have to say for ourselves? We are going to stand before our Almight Creator and be judged. It can be a scary thought. But I am kind of excited for the day our Savior comes back to take us to Heaven (if I'm not already there when He does).

There's a song that says:
"There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face but until that day, we'll hold onto You always."

And there WILL be a day that these earthly things we grasp onto will mean nothing next to our God and Heaven. These earthly things are nothing compared to what God has waiting for us. We rely on these earthly things, thinking they define us, that they are our identity. Jesus is our identity, Jesus lives through US! Through you, through me.

My friend recently put her status as "I may be a fool, but I'm a fool for Christ and I'll take that any day." which is so true! Call me a fool, I don't care because I am a Jesus freak and proud of it. It's just the point of realizing that our citizenship is in fact held in Heaven, not on earth! So we should not be fixated on earthly things, because this is all temporary, my friends. :)


Later on, we started talking about Martin Luther, because I started to recite his speech :P And it's amazing, isn't it? One man who had a dream for something, something that he so strongly believed in! I have a dream too, a dream that our generation and future generations to come will come to know God on a personal and intimate level. What a day this would be, that would bring joy to people's hearts to see so many reaching out to Christ. What joy it would bring to Christ, to see so many people reaching out to Him.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are the generation! Join the revolution. :)

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


Torch

Realizations

So you say you don't need God anymore,
Well lemme tell you something before you slam that door.

Don't you remember the days,
Where you'd stand there and Praise?

You say you've seen other side,
And by what laws do you now abide?

You do what you want, and what you please,
But don't get you get that that will cease?

It only lasts a little while,
Until on your face there is no smile.

The cheap thrills don't stick around,
Soon enough you'll be the on the ground

Beggin' God for His grace,
When all along He's kept up with you,
Pace to pace.

He never left, and never will,
You just gotta realize that these habits you gotta kill.

Get on that path walking with our Saviour
'Cause He doesn't appreciate your behavior.

He'll welcome you with open arms,
Then you'll be out of all your harms.

Don't you see,
You're living out of reality.

He'll forgive you,
Because He loves you.

You're His precious child,
The life you been living is much too wild.

He loves you the same,
Just gotta shout out His glorious Name.

He misses you, and He wants you back,
So get yourself back on the right track.

Commitment and Sacrifice.

Being a Christian involves a lot of commitment and sacrifice. Accepting Jesus into your heart is one of the biggest commitments you could possibly make, as I've stated before, but with that is sacrifice and greater commitment attached. Not the bad kind of attached, where you have to lug it around with you, but the sort that is always on your mind. Like, every Tuesday my wonderful friends, fellow peers, and a teacher gives up their lunch break so we can all come together in prayer. Now, we all know how crazy highschool is and to be able to give up an hour of socializing or doing homework so we can come together in the presence of God, now that is both sacrifice and commitment. When you're in highschool sometimes you may feel alone but you know you're not alone. Not only do you have God but everyone else is most likely feeling the same way you do.

Christians make sacrifices a lot and there are a lot of different kinds of sacrifice these days. Whether it be your social status, because people don't like your strong passion for Jesus Christ (Witnessing Opps! ;) ). Whether it be some TV time, because you have a little Bible study, or an hour lost of sleep so you can start your day off by being filled with the love of God from reading your Bible, or whether it be giving up a lunch for Prayer Group. But sometimes what we don't see is that these losses are ACTUALLY gains in disguise. By reading your Bible for even an hour extra a day, you get filled with the knowledge coming from the Bible as well as being built up so when you go through your day, it's like you have a shield over you, not letting anyone or anything get you down. Also, by losing out on friends who weren't really your friends you could either tell them about the Love of God, witnessing to them, or find friends who also have that passion for Jesus. But really, the first option I would think is a way better choice.

And honestly, being able to pray at school is great! During lunch you go into this classroom upset or hurt, and you come out of it just feeling good and better about yourself because you've just spent the past hour building yourself up, therefore you can go into your last blocks of the day just feeling great and loving everyone around you, as God does.

Now, Commitment. Like I said, accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour is the number one commitment. But there is also a lot of commitment that follows after it. Like, committing to reading your Bible every morning, or committing to going to Prayer group, just committing to Jesus. He died for US you guys, and the way people openly bash Him in public these days is both disgraceful and disheartening. It's disrespectful and it isn't right. He was so selfless as to bare the sins of the entire human race upon Himself and this is how people treat Him? Commitment is a big thing, even as a Christian it's hard to commit sometimes. I remember this one time, it was during just after summer when for the entire two months almost, I had been sleeping in until 10 or so. But for some reason I was woken up earlier, say... 6am or so. And I believe it was God waking me up and telling me "Kat, read your Bible." And I didn't. I feel bad now, but what's done is done and God has forgiven me.

But as the hour passed and I woke up at my regular school day time, and went on through the day I thought, 'What could I have learned and applied to my day? What could I have read that would have changed the course of my day?' And that's something I'm not going to risk losing anymore. When I feel the urge to read my Bible I will. The Bible is somewhat like a complex and colorful painting. You look at it once and you see something cool, and when you come back to it, every single time you see something new and exciting. Which is like the Bible, some of the scriptures have different meanings for different people but every time you go to a scripture, whether it be the same one or a new one, it's like God's telling you something every time you read it.

So, as a Christian I am encouraging you all as well as myself that everyday I will stay committed to the things I said I would do, whether it have to do with God, or daily things. And make sacrifices! It's okay to make sacrifices for God, I'm sure that's what He wants, to know that He is our top priority, because let me tell you, He's number one on my list.

God sacrificed his One and Only Son so that we might be saved and living our life all for Him. So ask yourself this;

What are you sacrificing for our God and what are you committing to?

Torch.

A Little Late Night Inspiration.

Hey everyone, here's a little rap/poem/tobyMac inspiration that I wrote last night.
Enjoy! :)


Dear God,

I see all these lost faces,
They livin' life at their own paces,

Don't they see You're all they need?

They don't know where to go,
They don't know how to just say no,

God,
They need You now,
before they take their final bow.

They'll see You were there all along
waitin' for them to hear Your song.

So let's get them to see our Saviour,
So they change their behaviour,

God You're so sublime,
but they're just killing time.

They don't hear that beautiful voice,
They think there ain't no other choice,

Than to live like they are,
But they need to know that You're not far.

'Cause God, they're just looking for someone,
And You're that someone

Who can help them get on track,
They'll take it all back

Sayin' "God please for give me,
Because now I see that You're all I need,
I'm hearing Your song,
I'm sorry it took so long."

Then they find the right way,
Livin' for You night and day.

Preaching the Word,
They makin' their voice heard.

Old, Little, Young,
God Your song shall be sung.