Christ is EVERYTHING

Colossians 1:9-14 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kindgom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

I started reading this book yesterday. My Bible has these great intros for all the books of the Bible. The intro for Colossians caught my attention because the subtitle said "What more could we possibly need?" That really got me thinking - what more do I need? Why do I always want more stuff? Why don't I continually long for MORE of Jesus - the author and perfector of life? I have only been through one chapter of this book, but it is a great reminder that Christ IS and MUST BE my everything. John 15:5 says "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." That has become so very true to me. Yes, God has blessed me with many friends and mentors and people to relate to, but they are nothing without my personal relationship with Jesus. If I can't be in a relationship with the one who created me, how can I relate to others and show the love of Jesus to them?

If I have learned anything since starting this blog, it is that I am nothing without Jesus in my life. Yes I will still exsist, but my life has NO meaning. Jesus perfects me, I cannot do this life on my own (even though I try really hard).

I encourage you to read Colossians - to remind yourself that Christ is EVERYTHING and nothing less than that.

Love to all, Dina

Dependency

This week has been so good. Monday night I was blessed in conversation with a very dear friend and someone I would call a mentor, Cindi. I was sharing some of the work the Lord has been doing through me, some things that I felt led to share with her. We then talked about dependency. While talking with Cindi, the Lord totally opened my eyes to how much I was depending on people for my spiritual needs. Yes, I was seeking out the Lord. BUT I was not seeking him first always. For someone such as myself, a pretty friendly person, to learn this was so hard. I realized that I needed to begin detaching myself from some very close friends. This is not for any reason beyond the fact that I must put God first in everything and that I have to trust him with my life.

I hadn't written in my journal for a while because I was just trying to sort things out in my mind. That is usually the time that God gives me, what I like to call, a spiritual butt-kicking. I started my journaling with the following verses:

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "Make it your ambition to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."


That could have been very hard to take, but it wasn't. Through some events of this week, God had totally prepared my heart to hear this. A close friend of mine lost his dad in a freak accident - totally unexpected. It made me realize that we do not know when we will take our last breath. Each day that we live is a blessing, a gift, from God. I could have taken the conversation with Cindi and been angry at God. Instead I learned some amazing things through that lesson and have been very focused on my relationship with God. I ended my quiet time, writing in my journal time, with this prayer: God, I want to be totally dependent on YOU. You are all I want! I love you so much and desire to serve YOU. Thank you!

God works in ways that cannot be explained and I am learning to be okay with that. It isn't always easy, but I get to chose how I respond to lessons. Dependency is only okay when it is being dependent on God for everything. What are you most dependent on? I encourage you to think about it and make changes. Today could be your last day!

In Christ's love, Dina

It's OK to have a bad day

I was hangin with a friend from college tonight - it was a blessing! She has been going through some tough stuff and it was so good to talk to her. The most encouraging part of her bad stuff is that her relationship with Jesus has sky-rocketed! It made me think of James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." I thought of how many bad days I've had (lately, it's been what seems like a lot) and how I reacted to those bad days. I can either consider it "pure joy" or I can be angry at the world. Most of the time I end up yelling at God, sometimes in my journal or sometimes literally yelling, and breaking down in tears. There have been days when I thank God for my bad day and use the angry energy as fuel for prayer or a quiet time or just to be still and listen for the sweet voice of Jesus to comfort me. I wish I could say that I always react this way, but I am human and I don't. I would be a liar to say that I always react the right way.

I recently read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 and it opened my eyes to God so much. I encourage you to read it. I want to share vs. 7-9 with you. "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in [your] weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

I encourage you, the next time you have a bad day, to consider how you will deal with it. You can blow up and be angry at the world OR you can consider it a growing pain that will bring you one step closer to Jesus.

Blessings to you all, Dina

God is talking

I'm not really sure why I felt like posting this. I guess the Lord has just really had it on my heart to share my life and Jesus with people. (Especially in the last 5 days). I have been through the wringer in the last 10 days. It has been amazing because the Lord has totally opened my eyes to the battle that is constantly going on - a battle for souls! I just want to share with everyone and I have no idea how regular this will be. I do know that it will be guided by Jesus and that I want to use the internet, something with so much sin, to share the Gospel of Jesus. So, I leave you with this:

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his [God's] love for thsoe who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." psalm 103:11-12

"I praise you [God] because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." psalm 139:14

God created each of us in HIS image just as we are. If you don't know what I am talking about and want to, just leave me a comment!