Jehovah-Shalom

You are not in control. Never have been, never will be. Period, end of statement.

But there is one who will stop at nothing to convince you otherwise. Yeah, that's right, Satan. The devil.

It starts with him lying to you with lies you quickly believe and repeat to yourself constantly. I'm not worth anything. Everyone else is better than me. I'm fat and ugly. I hate this person. Then you realize what you've been doing and ask God to lead you in His truth.

Satan steps up his game by making you doubt things. Yourself, family, friends, God. The list goes on. You do your best to get back to God and start to trust Him again.


Can't have that, Satan thinks. So he gives you things to worry about. {Worry is praying to yourself rather than God.} You become obsessed with worrying about everything. {Worry is focus, but on the wrong things.} You examine your situation and come to the understanding that worry is a kind of fear. So out comes 2 Timothy 1:7. {God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.}

 Boy is Satan mad by now. His task now is to try you patience to its limit. To make you WORRY that God won't keep His promises, to DOUBT that God and His promises even exist, and to LIE to yourself about what is really true.

Satan taunts you: God wants you to be patient and wait for His timing - don't do it! You are the one who's really in control - take matters into your own hands! Everything will be just fine! I promise!!

Lies. Every single word. Which brings you right back to where you started.

Satan's main goal in life is to cause chaos. He can do a pretty good job of it. But you can create chaos in your life as well.

However, there is hope. God has the power to calm hurricanes and quiet tornadoes with a single word. He is totally and completely in control. He wants you to trust Him enough to let Him love you and lead you.

So here's the truth a certain someone doesn't want you to hear: YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. Waiting is possible. God has an amazing plan for you. All He asks of you is to wait, trust Him, cast all of your worries and doubts on Him, and seek His truth. He will give you a peace that passes understanding and His joy is your strength. His will be done because He is in control.

Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord is peace. Satan's chaos doesn't stand a chance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5AcrEHQFV8&feature=related

So Long, Farewell

So the past week and all of this coming one have been about saying goodbye. I've had to say goodbye to being a Zeta pledge in order to become an active member. I've had to begin my goodbyes to my classes from this semester due to finals hanging over my head. But the hardest thing I've had to let go of this week is a person close to my heart and my family's.

Rich Ferrell.

He was an incredible man of God. He was easily one of my dad's best friends. To me though, he was a second father and a great example of what a husband/father/grandfather/friend/man of God should be. The impact he left on my life will not go without remembrance. So this is for one of the best men I have ever known. 12/6/2010

Hello World :)

College can be a lot of fun. For me, the past few weeks have had a light school load and I've been able to form some really great friendships with some of my spare time. Now the fun seems to be disappearing behind the eclipsing shadow of major papers and exams that will kill my grades if I blow them. As part of my "fun", I've recently joined a sorority on campus: Zeta Chi. My ZX sisters have been such an encouragement to me. God has truly blessed me through these precious pearls!
Which leads me to explain why my blog is named as it is. Zeta Chi's colors are royal purple and white. Our "jewel" is the pearl. We put up peacock feathers. The verse that ZX is centered around is Matthew 13:45-46. "The kingdom of heaven is like a jewel merchant, who finds a pearl of great worth, and goes and sells all he has to buy it." The purple we wear to remind us that we aren't "normal" girls - we are princesses: daughters of the King of Kings! The pearls we compare to ourselves. God is the merchant in the passage from Matthew; we are the pearl. He sold all He had - gave His only Son - to buy us and make us His. The peacock feathers, for me at least, remind us of how amazing and creative our God is.
So that's basically my life right now. Kind of crazy, very full, and totally amazing!