not beyond reach...

Sometimes in life things seem so close "we can almost taste it," but there is always that one thing that keeps us from reaching our goal or prize. Even though there are things that might hold us back, there is one thing that is never beyond our reach: God. In fact, God is calling you and me, everyday, begging us to reach Him. The problem is never Him, it's me. He never leaves our side and is always in reach. We have to make the effort to want to reach Him. St. Teresa of Avila said, "Let nothing disturb you, nothing dismay you; All things pass but God never changes..." It's as simple as that, God never changes no matter what is going on in our lives. When God seems distant and out of reach, we have to ask ourselves "who moved?" God would never move away from us. He wants to be so close to us and loves us so much that there is no way we cannot want to be with Him too! It's not easy, and He understands that, but we have to realize that He is always there and is never, ever beyond our reach!

>>"For this commandment which I command you today, is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach." -Deuteronomy 30:11<<

why NOT me...

When we are presented with a tedious, or perhaps burdensome task; or when we are facing something troublesome and overwhelming, we often ask "ugh why me!?" Instead of why me, we should reverse the question to "why not me?" God presents us with things in our lives for a specific reason. We should look at each task and each problem as an opportunity to unravel God's amazing plan. In fact, we should even be very blessed and grateful that He would choose us as part of His divine plan. This is why it should be an unselfish question of 'why not me'. God has some greater good even behind the simple little tasks, like taking out the trash. He wants us to glorify Him in all we do. By giving us these opportunities, He helps us strive for holiness as He reveals His great plans to us. Sometimes we even add more to the question such as "why me?...It could have been anyone else but me" This is true. It COULD have been someone else, but it doesn't matter because God chose YOU! In some cases, it couldn't have been anyone else because only you can fulfill the plan God has outlined specifically for you and no one else. Seize every opportunity God brings to you as a method of finding out His wonders, and thank Him saying, "yes, why not me?"

>>"For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them." -Ephesians 2:10<<

a "traditional" first post...

So I have noticed when most people create a blog they usually start with the infamous first post of "why I made this blog" and "what is the meaning behind the title". At first I wanted to step outside the norm and make my first post very unique; however, I tried and tried, but I just couldn't get around it...so here goes nothing...

I recently fell in love with writing. Before, I never really liked to write simply because, after it was all said and done, there would be a big fat grade on the top, sometimes one that I did not appreciate. Although I am still being graded on certain things that I have to write, I thought that I would come to enjoy it more if I used it for my own pleasure. So I began to journal. No, not journal like a diary of what I did that day, or what I was feeling necessarily. Instead, I just write about different topics that might pop into my cluttered college-kid brain. As I went back and read a little bit of my journal I thought, why not share? So that is the origin behind most of my posts...

Now for the title...It is based off Audrey Assad's song "For love of You"

The song had been stuck in my head for a while. It's perfect because 1. It gave me something to write about and the title for this blog and 2. It gets me thinking--thinking of Jesus! (...and what better thoughts than that?) God loves us so much that He sent His only son to die for us. We constantly hear this, and it is nothing but the truth; however, I think sometimes we are very aware of how much God loves us, but we forget that He is asking for our love in return. Everything we do should be for the love of God. What we watch, what we say, what we wear, what we read, etc. all should be out of love for God. After all, the reason we live and breathe is because of Him! So why wouldn't we want to give it all back out of love for Him? "For love of You, I'm a sky on fire...I come alive!" These next lyrics to the song explain why loving God in such a manner can bring happiness. God wants us to be happy and He wants us to return the love that is constantly pouring out from Him because He loved us first. Love never wants to hide so what better way to proclaim it out than to return it by living our lives out of love for Him!

>>"We have come to know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains in God and God in him...We love because He first loved us." -1 John 4:16; 19<<