There is power in prayer

Most of us underestimate the power of sincere, consistent, prayer. Its such a powerful thing! However we mostly only pray when we are in trouble and use prayer as a last resort when really it should be our first! This past week I haven't been feeling all that well. I keep feeling as like I'm spinning my wheels and going nowhere? I wonder if I will ever stop feeling this pain? But I have been continually praying everyday for everything and anything no matter how big or small. I believe that's how God wants us to pray He wants to know everything we are struggling with. God wants us to come to him with everything, not just the big stuff. So everyday I pray for everything I can think of. Everything from thanking God for another day to serve him to asking him to take away the pain and misery I feel. I pray for my future spouse that where ever she is, whatever she is doing that He is raising her to be a Godly young woman, but most importantly I pray that God will make his plan known to me and allow me to accomplish His will. On Thursday of this past week I got out of my JCC classes and I decided to hang out in Jackson until my college group at my church that evening. I wasn't feeling well and I really didn't want to go to college group, but my friend Annie convinced me to come anyway. So I did and I was glad I did, I had a good time learning about God and being with friends. But on my way home I stopped at a speedway to get gas. I was stressed over this because I really didn't have the money to spend on gas. Then I thought "if I just trust God He will provide!" Right then I prayed and asked God to help me have more faith in him and to trust him in all things. Then I asked him to use me for his will in whatever way he wants to. Not 10 seconds later as I was walking into the speedway a young woman stopped me and told me she had ran out of gas on the entrance ramp and asked me if I could take her to her car? I said yes and we proceeded to drive to her car.On the drive there we made small talk and she asked me what I was doing in Jackson? I told her I had just got out of college group at my church. She asked what church I went to and I said Grace baptist. She said she had been there before and it was a good church. Before I knew it she started pouring our her heart and told me how she has strayed away from God and how she really wanted to feel him again. I was AMAZED! I had just asked God to use me and he did! She said she grew up in church and was a christian but lately found herself not serving the Lord at all. I told this girl my testimony and invited her to college group and she said she would come! We got to her car and I put her gas in for her and she drove away. I was dumbfounded the whole way home. It was one of the biggest God moments of my life! I had asked God to use me and he did when I least expected it. This is proof that when your heart is open to God and his plan he WILL use you for his ultimate purpose!  James 5:16-18

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
 ¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Prayer is powerful and effective so pray earnestly and often!

Doubt and Discouragement

Happy New Year!! Its now 2011 and so begins another new year. This also means that it has been over three months since Leahs accident and that brings new feelings and thoughts. Since Leahs accident I have been bombarded with fake people, lies, and empty promises of people who say they are sorry but really don't mean it. People will walk up to me and say "I know how you feel, Leah was one of my good friends, we will get through this together." I have a news flash for YOU people, just because you sat next to her at lunch and asked her to pass the salt, doesn't entitle you to label yourself as one of her "good friends". So don't try and tell me that you know where I'm coming from, YOU DON'T KNOW!
    I also hear lies, from people I would never expect to hear lies from. Lies of people talking about how much they impacted Leahs life and how good of a relationship they had. When the only time they may have talk to Leah, was when they wanted to borrow something or they needed something from her. I see all the facebook posts and I hear the fake stories of people who claim they new Leah better than anyone else! This makes me want to look those people in the eyes and say "If you only new, if you only new what she actually thought of you. If you only new how much she disliked you and what kinds names she referred to you as. You claim to know her but you have no idea who she really is." I don't say this, even though I want to so badly! But lately I have been wondering what if? What if the Leah I knew wasn't the real Leah? What if everything I knew about her was fake? Did I really know who she was? Is everyone else right and am I wrong? The short seven months I knew her, she told me everything all her secrets, her fears, her desires. Was she pulling the wool over my eyes that whole time? Did I really know her?
       Way back in the beginning of time in the garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat from any tree in the garden, except one. We all know the story, Satan convinced Eve that it was OK to eat from the tree that God forbade her not to eat from. In turn she convinced Adam to also eat from the tree. How was this possible? Why would Eve deliberately eat from a tree that God specifically told her not to eat from? Because of deceit. Satan is also referred to as the deceiver. He can fill us so full of doubt and deceit that it can be hard for us to discern right from wrong. No wonder God tells us in Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that non of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness." Satan can make us feel discouraged and doubtful and make us question ourselves and second guess what we really believe. I have felt so discouraged lately and I have been questioning if the girl I knew was really the girl I knew? I know now that she was and still is. So don't ever forget to give an encouraging word to someone because you never know what it might mean to them.