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Faith in God’s Abilities.

January 29, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! Hope you all are having a great day so far. It’s supposed to be a stormy day here in Texas—I’m just a little excited about that. I may or may not like storms a little too much:) Anyways. I was reading in Daniel again this morning, particularly the chapter where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace for not worshiping the king’s golden idol. When the king told them what was about to happen to them [aka being roasted to death in the fiery furnace] this was their reply…

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 3:16-18

When pressured to deny God, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego chose faithfulness—regardless of the outcome. Notice how the said God was able to save not that he definitely would save them from death by blazing furnace. They knew God was able to save them, yet they didn’t base their faithfulness on whether or not he would in fact save them. They trusted him to rescue them, but were determined to remain faithful even if he didn’t.

God doesn’t have to prove himself by rescuing us from our circumstance in order to merit our faithfulness. If this were the case, why would we need faith? Instead, we need to be faithful regardless of the outcome of our circumstances. After all, our eternal reward in Heaven is much greater than anything we could receive on Earth.

What about you? Are you going through a difficult situation in life? Remember, have faith regardless of what the outcome may be. God has a perfect plan for your life—even if you are having trouble seeing it clearly right now. Just have faith.

Well, I’m off to run some errands, etc. Hope you all have a great day! God Bless:)

Emma.

January 17, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning, and Happy Thursday! Again, this week has flown by, and I am left wondering how in the world it can already be Thursday. Ah, well. Last night I had to work late, so it felt good to sleep in a little bit this morning. Now I am happily cuddled up on the couch with Samson…great way to start the day! I don’t have too much time this morning, so I’ll get right down to my reading from this morning.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

I’m quite certain I’ve shared this verse on my blog before, but today it has some special significance. Not only is it one of my favorite verses, but it was also a favorite verse of someone who died three years ago today. When someone close to you dies, especially someone so young [junior in college] life begins to look a little different through your eyes. You begin to see things through a new lens, or perspective, and its inevitable that you will be changed in some way. I don’t pretend to have been one of her best or closest friends—one who was hurt much deeper than I to be sure—but I am confident that I was changed my the circumstance of her death.

To be brief—life is a gift. Treasure it. Enjoy it. None of us knows the number of our days. Make the most of every moment and every opportunity given to you, and never put off pursuing the dreams God has placed in your heart. Emma was such a loving, caring, compassionate, joyful, bubbly and passionate woman of God. Someone who I truly admired—even if I never had the opportunity to tell her that in person. She lived life with a purpose, and she loved God deeply. If you knew her, you would agree that the world could use more people like her today.

So, live life with purpose and passion, pursuing the dreams God placed in your heart. Life is too short to be doing anything other than what God intended and planned for you. Take hope, courage, and have faith in the Lord. Lean on him always and he will lift you up.

Emma and I at a sailing event.

Thank you Emma for teaching me so much about life. You may not be here with us today, but I know you are in a much better place, looking down on us from above.

Hope you all have a great rest of your day…God Bless:)

Being Courageous.

January 14, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello and Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty low key…actually really low key. We did take an evening excursion to Trader Joes though on Saturday, which was excellent, and made a quick stop at our favorite bubble tea shop which was right down the road [so convenient]. But, other than that, nothing new to report.

In other news, I’ve been reading the book of Esther over the weekend. If you haven’t actually read the whole book, I would encourage you to do so—it’s very good! If you’re not familiar with Esther’s story, let me give you a brief background. Esther was a Jew, who was chosen amongst many other beautiful women to be the new queen in Persia. During her time as queen, an evil advisor convinced the king to issue a decree stating that anyone could kill any Jew at any time beginning on a certain set date in the near future. The king wasn’t fully aware of what this decree entailed, and definitely did not know that his own queen was, in fact, a Jew. When Esther learned about the decree from her cousin Mordecai, she was devastated. Devastated and afraid. But, under her cousins’ instruction, she decided to approach the king [which was illegal and punishable by death] and plead with him for the lives of her people. In the end, the king accepts her, listens to her, and eventually executes the evil advisor who instigated the imminent slaughter in the first place. He then gave the Jews the right to fight back and defend themselves against anyone who would attempt to harm them. In the end the Jews were saved—all because of Esther’s bravery. But just because she was brave, doesn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.”

Esther 4:14

Esther didn’t have any of the usual qualification for becoming a queen in Persia, and the circumstances that brought about her queen-ship were far from ordinary. But, God knew what he was doing. He knew about Haman’s [the evil advisor] plot to kill the Jews before he even spoke of it. He knew that someone who supported the Jews needed to be in authority to save them at that specific time. So, what did he do? He placed Esther in a position of authority, granted her favor with the king, and through her courage saved the Jews from imminent destruction.

She was right where God wanted her to be, exactly when he wanted her to be there. She was faithful to God’s promptings in her life, and her people reaped the benefits of her obedience.

We can learn a valuable lesson from Esther’s life. While we may not be destined to become royalty, or to save an entire nation from destruction, God has a specific plan and purpose for each of our lives. He has things for us to do, and a timeline for us to follow. It’s so important to be doing what he wants us to do when he wants us to do it. And the plans he has for us may require us to be courageous. They may not always be the most comfortable or easy actions for us to take—Esther definitely didn’t have an easy task. But, the end results will always be worth any discomfort we may initially experience.

Well, on that note, I’m off. Enjoy the rest of your day, and God Bless:)

Lukewarm?

January 4, 2013 By: Sarah Leff2 Comments

Hello and Happy Friday! Hope you all are having a great day so far. As usual, this week has again flown by—seriously how is it already January? At least it’s been reasonably cold lately. Not quite like being in Michigan, but it’s better than nothing!

Anyways, I thought I would share with you something I read in Revelations last week that really stuck out to me. It’s regarding the different churches depicted towards the beginning of the book, and Jesus is the one who is speaking…

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:15-16

The church Jesus was talking about here was neither hot nor cold. They weren’t on fire for him, but were stuck somewhere in the commitment stage of their relationship with him. Not fully committed to him, yet not completely unbelieving either. So many Christians today are like this. Tossed back and forth between the rocky waves of culture and the solid truths of Christianity. They can’t quite decide if they’d rather follow Christ or live their lives by the world’s standards. They are lukewarm.

We can’t be lukewarm Christians. We can’t go to church and be committed to Christ one day, only to turn around and live a double-standard life the next. We need to be 100% committed to him. On fire for him. Passionate for him. Always. All the time. No matter where we are or who we are with. Don’t settle on following God with half of your heart—commit to giving him the whole thing.

This is something I have struggled with in the past—giving everything in my life completely to Christ. This year I’m really going to focus on being totally committed to Christ 100% of the time. No matter where he leads me, or what he is calling me to do. I’ve tried figuring out how to do life on my own, and it just never seems to work out the way I planned. This year I’m going to focus on giving everything to him, and being on fire for him always—not just when it is convenient.

We have to change lukewarm into hot within the church. But we can’t do that if we aren’t completely hot ourselves. Commit to being hot—not lukewarm in your walk with Christ. I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed with the outcome.

Well, I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and an excellent weekend to boot! I’m off to work on some editing this afternoon. Wish me luck! God Bless:)

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus.

December 19, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello! Hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday so far. Mine is going well…it’s windy and cloudy outside, so it feels nice to be cuddled up inside with little Samson next to me:)

Precious.

Anyways, I don’t have too much time, so I’ll get right down to what I read this morning from Hebrews.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:1-3

I have always loved this passage of scripture. But, now that I’m older and reading it at a different time in my life, it has a much deeper meaning to me. The Christian life has never been, and will never be, without challenges. We live in a sin-stricken world, and there is nothing we can presently do about that. Choosing to live a Christian lifestyle requires sacrifice. Commitment. It means giving up on your own agenda in the pursuit of God’s plan for your life. The only way to really succeed is to fix our eyes on the only one who has ever lived a perfect Christian life—Jesus. We are going to stumble and mess up sometimes. We’re humans—that’s just what we do. But, what’s important is that we learn how to pick ourselves back up again, and continue to focus our attention on Christ.

Over the past few years of my life I’ve gone through a lot of changes both spiritually and emotionally. While I have continually drawn closer to Christ, I have also had my fair share of challenges and stumbling blocks along the way. But, each challenge I have faced has shaped me into the person I am today. And that person is strong and confident in the person she is in Christ. I know that I have a lot of learning ahead of me, and that there will inevitably be challenges along the way, but I am no longer afraid. I know God has a plan for my life. All I have to do is fix my eyes on Jesus, and run the race set before me.

What about you? Maybe your going through something right now that just seems too difficult to overcome. Don’t be discouraged. God will bring you through whatever it is that you may be facing, and in the end you’ll be stronger because of it.

Hope you all have a great rest of your Wednesday! God Bless:)

Having Faith.

December 18, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello and Happy Tuesday! For some reason it really doesn’t feel like a Tuesday today…guess I’m just really off in my days. Another thing that just doesn’t seem right is that Christmas is exactly one week from today! Maybe it’s the Texas weather, or the fact that my family is going to be out of town and I won’t be going home, but it certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. Guess that means I’m gonna have to watch a few more Christmas movies and bake some more cookies over this coming week to put me more in the mood:) Shucks.

Today I read a familiar verse from Hebrews that I want to share with you this morning…

“Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

I’m sure most of you have heard this verse before—it’s usually a popular one for Sunday school memorization. But, have you ever really thought about what it’s actually saying? If you’re anything like me, you want all the answers up front. You want God to tell you exactly what is going to happen and why, and you don’t want there to be any surprises. But, if God made everything perfectly clear to us, what would be the point of having faith? If we knew all the answers already, why would we need to trust God to reveal them to us? We wouldn’t.

Christianity is completely based in faith. If it weren’t that way, our testimonies wouldn’t be so powerful. There’s something about being required to have faith that really creates a unique and wonderful connection between God and us. If faith were not required, we wouldn’t trust and respect him as much as we do. Faith is being sure of what we hope for a certain of what we do not see. Even though we can’t know for sure what the future holds, we can be confident that God has a purpose and a plan behind each of our lives. And while we can’t actually see God, we can have faith that he is always with us, guiding us where we are supposed to go.

While it may be frustrating some times not to have all the answers, faith really is a gift and a blessing. Without it, our lives would be completely different, and we wouldn’t truly appreciate the journey that eventually leads to our eternal destination in Heaven.

Just some food for thought. Hope you all are having a great day! God Bless:)

Choices.

October 31, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning, and Happy Halloween! I doubt we will get many trick-or-treater’s seeing as we live on the third floor of a gated apartment complex, but oh well—I’ll just have to eat all the candy myself. Ha. Just kidding—kind of. Anyways…

I was reading about the parable of the king and his servants in the book of Luke this morning, and the words of Jesus hit me in a different way. Let me give you a little background information. This is the parable involving a king who, when going away on a trip, decides to leave three of his trusted servants with three different sums of money. To this first he gave ten units, the second received five, and third one. On the kings’ return, the first and second servant both presented him with double what they had been given, and were each rewarded accordingly for their efforts. On the other had, the third servant had not doubled his allotted money. Instead, he had hidden the money away out of fear, and had nothing to show for his efforts when the king returned. Needless to say, the king was a bit upset, and he took the money away from the third servant and gave it to the first, who had originally been given ten. Following the parable, Jesus said this…

“I tell you to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.”

Luke 19:26

I always thought this sounded a little harsh…I mean, come on right? Give the guy some slack! But when I read these words this morning I saw them in a different light. We are like the servants in the story, and God is the king. While we may not be given money with the clear task of multiplying it, we are each given unique gifts and talents to use. With these talents, we are also given a choice. We can use them selfishly for our own personal benefit, not use them at all, or use them as God intended—to help his kingdom grow here on Earth.

Like I said, it’s our choice to with them what we will, but ultimately we should want to choose the third choice. We should want to use our God-given talents to serve him, and further his kingdom here on Earth. I mean, what other purpose can you possibly imagine that would be greater? I can’t think of any.

What are our gifts and talents? Are you using them in a way that glorifies God?

Hope you all are having a great day! God Bless:)

True Humility.

October 30, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Happy Tuesday! It seems weird that the weather is clear and sunny here in Dallas while the East Coast is so stormy! I’ve been watching the news periodically over the past couple days here, and it definitely looks bad out there. Remember to pray for all the families and businesses affected by Sandy!

Anyways, yesterday I was reading about humility…

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11

I find that humility seems to be a common theme throughout the Bible—and definitely an important one. But what does it mean to be truly humble? I think a lot of us have an inaccurate perception as to what this really means. Often, we mistakenly think that to live in humility, we must put ourselves down, or in some way degrade ourselves. We think being ‘humiliated’ is the same thing as being ‘humble’. Well…that’s just not true.

Truly humble people are humble because they compare themselves to Jesus instead of others, and in doing so realize how far away from perfection they really are.

Truly humble people recognize their gifts and talents, and instead of trying to hide them, wish to use them to glorify God and further his kingdom here on earth.

Truly humble people don’t put themselves down in order to achieve humility, but instead focus in on their individual giftings and callings given to them by God. They aren’t greedy or selfish with their gifts and talents, but share them freely with others.

“Humility is not self-degradation; it is realistic assessment and commitment to serve.”

[Footnotes]

For a long time I had the impression that humility involved self-degradation, when really the opposite is true. True humility is something that comes out of a love for Jesus, and a desire to follow his plan for you life—not matter what or where that plan happens to lead you.

Hope you all are having a great day! If you’re near Sandy, stay safe and stay dry! I will be keeping you all in my prayers! God Bless:)

The Danger of Pride.

October 26, 2012 By: Sarah Leff2 Comments

Hello, Hello and Happy Friday! It is a chilly morning here, and I am loving it. I’ve been feeling a little homesick over the past few days, but this weather reminds me of Michigan fall, so it’s helping…a little bit at least. I was going to go ahead and do a list of Friday Favorites for the week, but as I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across a passage I thought I should share.

“Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Luke 9:49-50

So, the disciples ran into a man who was driving out a group of demons from another person in Jesus’ name, and they told him to stop. They were under the impression that only they—the twelve disciples—were able to drive out such demons. They were being prideful, and they didn’t want this ‘nobody’ getting in the way of what they were doing.

But, Jesus told them that they were wrong in telling the man to stop—anyone who was sincere in following him could drive out demons in his name. If they weren’t against him, then they were for him. Simple as that.

You see, the disciples had just come from a situation where nine of them had tried to drive out a single demon from a child, and because of their lack of faith they had failed in doing so. When they saw this ‘nobody’ successfully driving out a group of demons, their pride was hurt. This man was succeeding at the very thing they had only just failed in doing, and they allowed their pride to get in the way of accomplishing God’s work.

We should never be so prideful that we allow something like this to get in the way of doing God’s work. We all have different gifts, strengths, and talents, and God has a purpose for each of us. There is no use in allowing our pride to be hurt if someone succeeds in a place where we were unsuccessful. Instead, we should focus on the good that was accomplished, and encourage our fellow believers in the work they are doing to further God’s kingdom.

Don’t let pride get in the way of what you are doing for God here on earth.

Anyways, hope you all are having a great Friday so far, and have an excellent weekend planned! Stay warm with these cooler temperatures coming our way, and God Bless!

The Desert.

October 23, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello Friends! Hope you all are having an excellent Tuesday so far. I woke up this morning with a swollen eyelid, so it’s been an interesting morning, but the swelling is starting to go down—I think at least! Still kind of looks like I got punched in the eye, but oh well I guess.

I was reading in Luke this morning, and this verse really stuck out to me…

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”

Luke 4:1-2a

What really stuck out to me today was the “led by the Spirit into the desert” part of the verse. For some reason, when I think of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding me I only ever picture myself being led into beautiful, nice and welcoming places. The word ‘desert’ doesn’t generally come to mind. But, that is exactly where the Holy Spirit led Jesus. And he didn’t lead him there to go on a vacation. No. Luke tells us that he led Jesus into the desert to be TEMPTED. He led him there to be tested and tried—not to be comfortable.

In the same way, sometimes the Holy Spirit may lead us into our own ‘desert’ situations, where our purpose in being led there is to be tested and tried. Living the Christian life does not come without its trials, and definitely not without temptations from the devil. Although difficult, we don’t need to be afraid of facing tests and trials.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:2-4

According to James, the testing of our faith develops perseverance, which in turn leads to spiritual maturity. If we never had to face any trials or challenges, then we would never have the opportunity to grow in our faith. God has a plan and a purpose for every trial or test that we face in this life. It may seem difficult at the time, but once its over, you’ll be able to look back on that time in your life and see how much you’ve grown because of it. When times are tough, remember these scriptures, and know that God has a plan and a purpose—far bigger than we could ever imagine!

Hope you all are having a great week so far! God bless:)

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