Chasing After Him...

There's a song called "Chasing After You" by Tye Tribbett. I first heard it when I was still at my home church in Memphis. We were doing a summer institute for youth, and since I was apart of Youth Leadership at the church, I had to participate. We were putting together a service for some event and that was one of the songs. I had never heard it before, but once I heard it, it STAYED on repeat for a very long time. I'm also a person who likes to know every single note in a song, so I would play it over and over until I knew all the correct notes. The lyrics seem pretty simple, but they have deep meaning. They sing all about seeking God all the time. No matter what, they will never be done chasing after God. That is what they'll be doing for a lifetime. You already know I'll be posting the song at the end of this post. This song always lifts my spirits and makes me want to seek God even harder. We should all want to seek God daily. Every day should be a new journey, a new chance to get even closer to God. I'm working on it and you should too. If we could turn our hearts towards God, and look at Him and all that He has done, is doing, and what He WILL do, we all could feel better. Turn your focus towards God. Try to look at the big picture. When we focus on Him and His greatness, and put all of our energy into praising Him through the good AND the bad, you have no energy left to worry about your problems. True, the problems don't go away. However, they do seem trivial compared to what He's done for you. Think about somethings God has done for you. Start with something general. He woke you up, allowed all of your senses to be functioning properly, AND you still have a house PLUS clothes to choose from. You have a computer or phone to read this on. Do you know how many people just want some shelter? Some people struggle to get new underclothes, and sometimes we get to feeling depressed because we don't live in a big enough house, or have what we consider to be enough clothes. I challenge you today to step OUT of that shallow mindset and allow yourself to feel refreshed. When you shed that complaining spirit, and allow God's peace to embrace you, you can't help but praise Him! I hope you take this seriously, and listen to the song. Truly listen to the lyrics, and make it your personal goal to get closer to God, and forget your problems. It's mighty hard to be upset about issues when you're praising God. Curses and praises shouldn't come out of the same mouth. Be blessed. Peace, Love, and Truth. :)

Give Me A Clean Heart...

I still can't believe it's been almost a month since I've been on here! I have to make up for it by writing two posts today. The other one was about getting ourselves together because God is making major moves. This one is a little more personal. It's about having a pure heart. I've probably written on this subject before, but it's such an important subject, it deserves more than one post. At the church we attend, Born Again Church, every sermon is pretty much always about making your heart better. They focus a lot on the heart. This has helped me greatly. We never understand how the heart is the root of us. Many times we just think that if we have a bad thought, it's cast away from our minds. However, that bad thought is a bad seed planted in our hearts. It grows every time we water it with the thoughts of the past. This bad seed grows into a huge weed that must be snatched up from the root in order to move on. It has to be completely removed. When you leave that weed there, it catches on and grows even more hatred or jealousy in your heart. this can become dangerous, and before you know it, your heart and mind are a mess! You have to stay in the Word and work on yourself. Then you'll notice a happy feeling in your heart. when you wake up in the morning, you won't feel so sluggish. You won't dread getting out of the bed. You'll be excited to wake up in the morning! God can do some amazing things to your heart if you let Him. I know because I did it. Of course we all have down days because no one is perfect. Sometimes we put ourselves before God more often than we should. But we must remember to give God all of the glory. He deserves it all. When we put Him first, He allows a little light to shine on us. And it feels good. Peace, Love, and Truth.

The Time Is Coming...Are YOU Ready?

WOW! I haven't been here in almost a month! What's REALLY going on?! Man..life has been a trip and then some! But through it all, God's been blessing me and teaching me. I made a promise to myself that this would not be something I started but never kept up. I'm going to keep writing! I will not stop, because this is something from God. Graduation is about a month away. It's starting to hit me that life is about to change! I'm soooo excited! Yet a little nervous. However I will say, God always makes a way. He knows that I'm the type of person who gets nervous when it comes to change. He knows that I like to be prepared. SO he allowed me to be accepted into the Scholars Academy at MTSU [college I'm going to in the Fall]. Being accepted there not only means I have at least one group to be apart of on campus, it means I get to participate in a five week institute over the summer. Now, some of you may be like "big whoop Carmen," but that excites me! I get to take two freshman level courses, and stay on campus there. Through this, I can learn my way around campus a little, and be slightly more prepared than others once I start school. And I'll know a little of what to expect on my first day of classes. So like I said, thank You Lord! Okay, that was my praise report. Let's move on..

With everything happening in the world, I really feel like God is calling out to us. Like I said in a previous post, if you don't see something wrong with the world, then something is wrong with YOU! God is sitting here telling us that He's coming back. It's like He's starting to stand up, and get everything in order. Y'all better straighten up. And you know, it's not just weather problems, or natural disasters. Young people are dying everywhere! This has probably been happening forever, but I'm really seeing how God is calling younger people home more and more lately. This means that we ALL need to live our lives according to His word. Is it a struggle as a teenager? Of course it is! All of these "fun" things are around us, and we're at the age where we think we're "grown." We think we know way more than the next adult. But I tell you this: Don't let God take your life while you're trying to be grown. He can come at any given time to any one of us. Be living your life right at all times so that when He gets you, your last act was something worthy. Something that said, "Hey, I live for Christ." When people remember you, they say, "Man, they were always sold out for Christ. I wanna be like them. Let me believe in God too." Just because you're gone, that doesn't mean you have to stop bringing people to Christ. Your life can work wonders! Now this isn't to scare people off who are reading this. I'm not saying that if you're a young person, you're gonna die. No. I just want you to open your eyes and look around. None of us deserve life. It was given and can be taken away just as quick. If you live your life for Christ, death should never be a bad thing. If anything, you should welcome it. Heaven is the most beautiful place. There is none like it. So change your life today young ones. Older people too. For the time is coming and none of know when our time could be. Until next time. Peace, Love and Truth. :)