In the past few months or so, I have befriended a young girl.  She is in junior high and we talk almost every day.  This reminds me of back when I was in junior high and had befriended someone who is about my age now, but more on that later.

We had some small chit chat last night and I was surprised at the amount of faith she had.  The conversation went something like this:

me: who’s your best friend? someone from school? church? home?
her: God of course! He’s at the top of my list.
.
.
.
me: it’s good that God is first!
her: yes, He is awesome, really cool, and really great :)

Honestly, I was caught off guard.  Never did I expect God to be the answer, and honestly, if someone asked me that question, I know for a fact that God would not be my answer.  This just goes to show how much faith someone so young has.  She has a relationship with Him and is proud to let people know.  It was a bit humbling.  Way to go my little friend. :)  I know God is proud of you.

They say that love can heal the broken
They say that hope can make you see
They say that faith can find a Savior
If you would follow and believe
with faith like a child
Like A Child – Jars of Clay

Several comments and conversations with different people have made me realize that being a Christian and living for God is really unfathomable to non-Christians or non-religious people.  And it makes me wonder, is it really that hard to believe that there are people out there who are willing to help people and aid others solely for the purpose of honoring God.  To me, it is completely believeable and it isn’t foreign to me.  To me, it is what we should all be doing.  So why is it that strange to think that people would do that – would help someone else for “free”, for no gain?  What is the purpose of life if it is not to glorify God?

I have not been called to the wisdom of this world..
But to a God who is calling out to me..
And even though the world my think
I’m losing touch with reality
It would be crazy
To choose this world over eternity

Crazy :: MercyMe

It’s simple, right?  Just don’t worry because worrying doesn’t do anything for anyone except cause unnecessary stress.  It’s a simple idea.  Alot of things are very simple to think about, easy to say, easy to understand, but very difficult for me to do.

I’m at the point again where I really need to just let go.  I need to let go, worry-less, and trust more and I know by not doing that it shows how little faith I have.  I need to let go and just let God lead me and take me to where he wants me next and stop trying to control everything.  I need to stop worrying because if something is in God’s plan for me, He’ll get me there.  I just need to put all of my trust and control in Him.  And if all these things are true, which they are, then really it is quite simple.  So, what is my problem?

I need to just let things play out.  Stop worrying about each and every move, stop worrying about what if this happens and this happens.  After all, so far things have always turned out okay.

So I’m constantly learning to give up control and trust more.  Trust.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. -Proverbs 3:5-6

The purpose of sports ministry is to fellowship, hang out, have fun, and outreach.  In all honesty, I actually find it kind of difficult to invite people from other parts of my life to come out and play.  And if I do happen to invite people, I always say something like, hey people from my church all go and play FillInSportHere on Sundays, do you want to come?  I include the church part because I don’t want people to show up and then get all caught off guard when we pray before we start.  However, I feel like by saying that its people from church rather than just my friends, it deters people from coming.  I think people get scared when they hear the word church.  I think that they might feel like we are going to preach to them or try to sucker them into something.  The last thing I’d want anyone to feel is pressured.  So what can I do?  I guess I extended the invite.  It’s up to them if they want to come or not.

I always hear about people feeling God’s presence in their lives and how he’s doing this and that but I never really had anything “good” to say until today. What happened may not really seem like a big deal to other people but it was a big deal to me. I have issues with being in small groups and sharing or praying. I don’t feel comfortable speaking in groups and I’m always too concerned about what people will think about what I say. Really it shouldn’t matter because it should be all about Him. But anyway, in all the past situations that I have been in where there is a possibility that I will have to be in a small group to pray or share something, it has never really made it to my turn. Today, I had a meeting with some people and they were going around praying and I was getting pretty nervous about it because there were so few of us, so surely everyone would take a turn. As it went around the room, I was getting more and more anxious and realized that okay, I just need to take my turn. And just as I’m about to go, I think I even started to say the words, someone else went and closed. It didn’t hit me at the moment. But shortly after, I was amazed. He is truly amazing. When it comes to something like this, where it should be solely on Him and He is still merciful enough to keep me from doing something where I feel so anxious, that is just amazing. It’s not because its just this one time, its nearly every single time.

I think this was a little lesson on trust. I know I have trust issues and I want to be able to trust so bad, but I have this inner battle that I’m struggling with. I’ve been praying that He teaches me to trust Him because I want to. But I need to do it in baby steps. Tonight’s events was totally Him saying, look at what I can do for you, all you need to do is trust and it’ll turn out okay.

Learning to trust…