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. :)

What Is His Purpose?

First off, before I get all deep, have you all bought Kirk Franklin's new album?!??!?!?! Whoooooowee! Awesome! Amazing! I play it all the time. And I just bought it on Tuesday when it came out. This one song called "Give Me" is the BEST! It's been on repeat for a long time now. There is a guy called Mali Music on there and he is going in HARD on that song. I mean really going in! I love it. But alright enough about Kirk [go buy it or purchase from iTunes, TODAY] more about Purpose.

You know what? Purpose is a very tricky subject for me. It's one of those things I'm always thinking about. If I see something, I'm like, "What purpose does that serve?" I'm always asking about purpose. But with my senior year in high school coming to a close in just two short months, I'm thinking about MY purpose the most right now. I'm constantly praying about it. Guys I promise I've changed my plans for college like 8 times this year. I've gone through it all. I don't know what I want to major in, or what I should major in. The weirdest thing is that even as I'm writing this, I'm a little nervous about it, but at the same time I know God has it under control. In His time, He'll clearly reveal to me what He wants me to do. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I think God knows to give me more than one sign. My daddy called me Doubting Thomas once because I don't always take the first sign. But that's just me. I don't try to doubt God, I just like to double check my discernment! [Lol]. But yeah. Are any of you in doubt about your purpose? Do you really know what God wants for your life, or are you too busy mingling with the world? When you mingle with the world, you miss out on what God has for you. You feel yourself becoming confused about what you thought was your purpose [aka YOUR will] and nothing can make it right. You have to walk in God's will. Now let's look at that. What exactly is God's will?? In Romans 12:2 it very CLEARLY states that we are not to conform to the ways of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It goes on to tell us that's how we can TEST and APPROVE what God's will is. Paul even goes so deep as to DESCRIBE it for us. Many times people want to look for a scripture that deals with their situation, and not what the scripture is TEACHING them. They want that one verse they can always quote for encouragement. They never want to dig deep in the Word. The only way we can find ourselves is THROUGH the Word. But anyway, Paul goes on to describe God's will as "good, perfect, and pleasing." Now if you don't feel like what you're doing in life is good, close to perfect, or pleasing God...you're probably not walking in His will. God's will has NO space for flaws. It's us who mess ourselves up. Anyway, my challenge to you today is to pray, sincerely and taking your time. You can't rush when it comes to purpose. Listen for God's instructions, then wait for Him to start you on the path. God will make your paths clear if you just acknowledge Him in all you do. There will be no doubt in your mind when it's time to walk into your purpose. You will recognize it because you will be in tune with God. Work on it and see the changes! Peace, Love, and Truth. :)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. - Proverbs 3:6

Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand. - Proverbs 19:21

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. - Jeremiah 29:11

To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. - Proverbs 4:25

You're Cut Off!

Have you all ever seen the show, "You're Cut Off!"? Well, it's a show about nine young women who are extremely spoiled. They aren't wealthy, but someone they live with is. They think they're gonna be on a show about being rich but really they're not. Their person [whoever provides for them] pops up on a TV screen and tells them they spend too much money so they're cutoff. The women are devastated and some even start crying. So the show goes on for like 8 or 9 weeks, and if they make it to the graduation they get to see their family and they tell them new rules and blah blah blah. It's quite possibly the DUMBEST show I've ever seen, right next to Flavor of Love. But that's not my point! I got to thinking, "What if we cut people off who spend too much of our time instead of our money?" You know, the people we allow to suck all of our energy, take up all of our time, and just leave us completely drained? You know, the random bad seeds the devil plants in our lives in order to distract us from walking into our purpose God has for us? Yeah, THOSE people. What if we just cut them off? How much more space would you have in YOUR life? How free would you feel? Would you be able to take a deep breath? I have. I've been cutting people off left and right, and I realize that I had too many people in my life that were seriously blocking me from God. When you clear all of those people, you realize how much foolishness you really took part in. It just makes you shake your head. You realize that was never you and that you're SO much better than that! Anyway, today I challenge you all to cut some people off. I bet you don't even have to think that hard. You already knew what people you shouldn't have in your life when you first started reading this. It doesn't have to be a rude process. You can just start off not replying to certain texts, not answering phone calls. When they ask you to hang out, get involved in the church or with friends who are bettering themselves. Occupy yourself so that you don't have to lie and say you have something else to do. You really will have other plans. They'll get the message eventually. But if you're more like me, tell them straight up: "I don't like your ways, and unless you're willing to change, we can't be as close as we used to. I'm really trying to go somewhere, get closer to God. And that doesn't seem to be on your agenda. But I'm praying for you!" It's really that simple. So start on it. Don't wait any longer. Stop putting it off. Get over your fears. Don't let your fear of hurting someone's feelings interrupt YOUR life! You need to be happy first. If you spend all your time making others happy, you'll be miserable. People pleasing will wear you out! [BTW, I'm writing a post called, "Hi My Name Is Carmen...and I'm A People Pleaser!" Be on the lookout :)] Work on that this week, and I promise your life will be better. Peace, Love, and Truth. :)

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. - 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

Search Your Heart: Are You Really Grateful? Do You Really Love Him?

Hey guys. It's Monday [remember to push through..God gave us another day!] and spring break is one week away! Woohoo! Even though my friends in Memphis are already on spring break, [which kind of takes away my reason for even trying to go visit] I am getting so many things done on my spring break! God is allowing things I've been worried about to come through on this spring break. God always makes things work out in His time. Like the song, "He may not come when you want Him, but He'll be there right on time. I tell ya, He's an on time God, yes He is!" I love that song. Anyway!! When I really think about it..I'm so blessed I can't even remember everything God has done for me. What an awesome love: to be given peace, love, and even materialistic stuff and not have the burden of remembering it all. God doesn't require us to write down every blessing He has given us. He loves it when we remember and thank Him. He doesn't hold it over our heads what He's done for us. My point? God doesn't rub it in our faces about everything He's done for us. He gives freely and loves freely. So why do we have such an issue giving to others what isn't ours in the first place? Everything belongs to God. God made it. Why do we act selfish? We remind people constantly of the things we have loaned them or given them. Why do we get so hooked on temporary things? Regardless of if you go to heaven or hell, you will not have any of the items we fight over and sometimes ruin relationships for. The love of money is the root of all evil and we must learn to avoid it. You have to love God more than ANYTHING in this world. You have to love the Creator more than the creations. You've got to learn to love God to the point where nothing can shake that love. You know how you meet someone, feel like it's true love and no matter what people say or what comes your way, nothing can change your view? Take that love and multiply it by the biggest number you know. God loves us more than that. [yeah I know, wow!] Nothing can shake God's love for us. Although this post was more about being grateful, it was about loving God too. We have got to get to that point of no return with our love for God. When we get that deep in Him, people have to search God in order to find us! Think on that, it's deep. Anyway, as you all know, I have a gospel song for ANY situation. I can think up a song about pretty much anything. Right now I have three songs in mind: Grateful by Hezekiah Walker, Be Grateful by Walter Hawkins, and More Than Anything by Lamar Campbell. Now if this was just for me I would definitely post the Walter Hawkins song because I love me some Walter Hawkins! Do you hear me?! I LOVE his music! But I feel this song by Lamar Campbell is more appropriate because it talks about loving God more than anything! That's what we need to do. Plus, it's one of my dad's favorites. We used to listen to it often! If I'm not mistaken, this was the song programmed to play next on my uncle's CD player when my dad went to his apartment after he passed about a year ago. So people recognize that to love God is a very big deal. Listen to the song, and this week the challenge is to learn about God's love. Discover how deep it is, how unlimited it is, how AWESOME it is. Read about it and live in it! God's love is everlasting...
-Peace, Love, and Truth. :)


Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5

God Is Trying To Tell You Something! (In My Shug Voice)

People! Listen up! If you don't see something wrong with everything that has been happening lately, something is wrong with YOU! In the world, we have disasters going on. First there was Haiti. There were floods in Tennessee. Now there's Japan AND Hawaii! People are being killed. There were issues over in Egypt. Guys!! If you aren't even slightly saddened by this, there is a problem here. God is truly trying to talk to us. God is saying what He always has to say to get our attention. "Because you refuse to listen, I will get your attention." If you are reading this and don't believe in God, please please PLEASE hear me out! This is serious. It doesn't have to go any further. This world can be so much better if we put our trust in the right ONE. GOD!! Life can get better right now! I was talking to these two girls at school today and they were telling me that now they're starting to believe the world really may end in 2012! Seriously! I'm not about to even get into that, but they also said how they heard another guy saying how everything that was written in Revelation is coming true. Now, sadly I'm only just now reading the book of Revelation, but I'm still thinking about that. For so long we have been saying "the last days are now" and I didn't pay attention at first, but now I believe so. And if these are NOT the last days, can you imagine what will happen next?? It will get worse. People read your Bible! I can't even write enough on this subject. I have so many more posts to put out that are in my mind, but I just wanted to take a moment and say, pray!!! I was on Facebook and made a status saying "God is trying to tell you something." My friend Chenise posted this scripture on my status: Luke 19:40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” She said that was the first thing to come to mind when she heard of all the disaster going on. This is so serious. Please don't let a disaster even worse than this be the thing to bring us to God. Because if we don't give Him the glory, He will use other things to get His proper praise. Pray for Japan. Not just during your nighttime prayer, pray for them frequently..this is serious! It really could be us next. Pray. Peace, Love, and Truth. :)