It's Been Awhile...

So it has been nearly 5 months exactly since I last posted.. Time seems to be flying by for me. I am still working at a local gas station. I applied at our local community college. I will be going in the fall and my field of study is Medical Assistant. God gave me a sharp mind and I am determined to use it.

I just recently turned 20! I can not believe how time has flown.. I am no longer a teenager.. Its a little scary.  Here recently I started noticing wrinkles on other people and I am trying to watch my weight. All this fried food at the place where I work and free fountain drinks.

Well...I went on my first "real" date ever a couple months back. We went on three dates. I didn't really like the guy. But it was free food and movies :) Haha... You could say I have opened my mind up dating. I won't go out with just anybody mind you. I still have certain standards.

Thats about all thats going on in my part of the world :)


Tiffany :)

FREE GIFT :)

"I am giving away a free gift. All you have to do................................."

Caught your attention right? Maybe.. Maybe not. Really doesn't matter to me. I am building a foundation for what I am about to tell you!!! Turn your spirtual ears or I should say spirtual eyes

Last week for the very first time in my 19 1/2 years on earth I accepted God's free gift.  Yes, I have been in church and was serving God to the best of my knowledge and ability. I know a lot of Bible verses and I hardly ever missed church. But I was lacking tremendously. I was walking in the only way I knew how. But God opened my eyes. I was lacking in....

accepting His Grace.

See to some people (like me for instance) you feel like you have to earn God's Grace. "Oh I didn't do anything bad these past couple of days," or "I haven't listened to any bad music in a week," or "Haven't had to many bad thoughts today... I am doing good..." I was basing my salvation on my good works or what I thought was fruit. But really just my stinky fleshly man trying to do good so God wouldn't pour down His wrath on me.

Something clicked though for me this week. As certain points were brought out to me I saw the light. I began to read in Romans it became even clearer to me.

Work=Law
Faith=Grace

I don't know if you have ever noticed but in Romans 5 "Free gift" is mentioned 3 times. I have read this.chapter but never saw it the way I do now. A gift is a gift. You don't have to work to earn it. It is already given to you.. Freely. But the hardest part is accepting this unmerited favor.. This understanding and compassionate love... To a human who is a servant to sin.. To reach down and save us.

I went through a hard battle a few months ago. I thought grace meant I could just go do anything I want and be alright. But that was my flesh. This past week I realized real grace drives us to Jesus. We hunger and reach out for that love. "For God is Love"

I feel like I have been made whole :) Its like a cool breeze on a nice spring day. I hope I made sense. I have been up all night and I layed down to go to sleep and this started forming in my heart. And even as I wrote it God was opening up eyes to all sorts of things. This knowledge is so great. I wish everyone could see it and drink of it. Its the greatest thing..besides charity :)

Jesus has already paid the price.. "I am giving away a free gift all you have to do is ACCEPT"

Blessings,
Tiffany

Wow

So it's been since August since I have posted. A lot has changed in my life since then. I have a new job. Working at a local gas station. Which 98% of the time I love the work.  Jesus has also made some changes in my heart :) Which I am so thankful for! Still single and waiting! Not too worried about it. I am still trying to stay in that place where "All good things come to those who wait." I know I have a lot of growing to do spirtually before going into a relationship. I am so thankful for God's infinite wisdom and that He cares for me :) Well anyways I just thought I would post something. I have kinda been out of the "blogging zone" for a while. Hopefully I will be making a comeback :)

Love and blessings,
Tiffany

Trust Me

"Trust Me, My child," He says. "Trust Me with a fuller abandon than you ever have before. Trust Me, as minute succeeds minute, every day of your life, for as long as you live. And if you become conscious of anything hindering our relationship, do not hurt Me by turning away from Me. Draw all the closer to Me, come, run to Me. Allow Me to hide you, even from yourself. Tell Me your deepest cares, your every trouble. Trust Me to keep My hand upon you. I will never leave you. I will shape you, mold you, and perfect you. Do not fear, O child of My love, do not fear, I love you."

-Amy Carmichael

I was reading this tonight in "Authentic Beauty" by Leslie Ludy. I had to share

Promises & A King Part 1

I have been wanting to write a post for this blog. But I do not want to write a bunch of jumbled up non-sense. So I wait for God to lay something on my heart. Usually the subject deals waiting for that special someone. (Still waiting, but like I read somewhere "The longer the wait, the bigger the blessings")

The other day I was reading "Passion & Purity" by Elisabeth Elliot. She used a passage of scripture I had to look up. Deuteronomy 8:3 "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger (to wait), and fed thee with manna (his uncondtional love), which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God was teaching the children of Israel to fully rely on him. That he knew they hungered for certain things but he had a plan.. A bigger promise. The Promise Land. In the verse before it says "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart, whether thou wouldest obey his commandments or no." I began to think about the times God has during this waiting time has told me not to do something. Out of my own desires and thinking it will be alright.. Just one chance.. Maybe this is it. In the end I am only dissatisfied and hurt. This is my wilderness and God is proving my heart to see if I am going to go through with a humbled heart, seeking his desires, and his will. Not complaining "Lord, I am so lonely. Everybody else has someone.. Why not me? Please please just let this guy be it. I am tired of waiting!!" If I continue with this attitude.. I might be wandering in this wilderness for a very long time. If the children of Israel would have just listened they could have went into the promise land sooner. For it was theirs to possess.

I'll be posting the second part :) Thanks for reading

I Love the Way You Hold Me :)

I think this video explains how I feel about Him <3 My dearest and bestest friend :)

Change Your Attitude

It's about 3:17 am as I am starting this post. Way too early but I felt like I had to share it. Earlier I had one of those moments. One of those moments where all the stored up "impatient single" comes out. Thankfully I had two wise women to help me through it and to realize what I was doing was worth it. Waiting for the One God has for me.

So here just about 10 minutes ago I was writing in my journal. Well writing my prayers (something I learned from my sweet momma). I was telling God how it was so hard to trust Him in this area. Then I looked on a previous entry and my attitude was hardly any different. It was still with the issue of TRUST.

After that moment I am so sure that it was God who whispered in my heart.

"Change your attitude"

I started thanking God and praying for Him to show me how to come through these tests and temptations. To show me what I needed to do to become victorious! To be a good soldier.

Soldier.

I did not have the attitude of a good soldier. Of a soldier who fully trusted in the General to lead into battle and to conquer. Mine was of somebody who saw no victory. Who did not trust. Who was lazy and drunk on the cares of myself. A soldier who was not fully clothed with the armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11-17)

It is so amazing how God corrects us and to open our eyes to our corrupt way. And to cry out to Him to change us. What we as soldiers go through is not to weaken us. But to make us stronger. We can decide to be weak and never fight and never take instruction. Or to "Be STRONG in the LORD and the POWER of HIS might!" (Ephesians 6:10)

I realize I need to change my attitude! Thank you Lord for showing me where I have fallen and to become a strong soldier in You! Change my attitude so I can be victorious. Lord, and my brothers and sisters who are struggling with the same things as me! Open their eyes and strengthen them. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3-4

Blessings and Love,
Tiffany

~Tiffany's iPhone~

Memory of My Momma :)

Wow, so I am officially a terrible blogger! I have not blogged in the longest time! It's not that I haven't thought about it.. Because I have. It's just finding the time and energy to do it.. Anyways I least I found some today :)

I am doing great :) all the praise goes to my Jesus! The Author and Finisher of my Faith! I've been working and doing all the normal things I do! Oh and I turned the big 1-9 last weekend! Last year in my teens! I could have never made it this far without him! I am so wonderfully blessed :)

So, this coming up Sunday is Mother's Day. It will be my first without my momma. But I know she will be spending it in a wonderful place with her mother. And that makes me feel better knowing that she will be :) I wanted to a memory about my momma and me :)

The year 2008
This year started the long battle with head lice.. Now we are very clean people but lice don't care who you are. Anyways I discovered it one night and from there on we could not get rid of it.. We tried everything from dog shampoo to kerosene.. From awful over the counter lice treatment medicine to mayonnaise...NOTHING seemed to work. We vacuumed our beds and floors, sprayed stuff with lice spray. We spent hours looking through each others heads. My little brother and dad had no problem during this time.. They got short hair.. Me and my momma would tell each other let's just shave our heads and get wigs.. Then we would say then lice would get it in them!!! I literally thought I was gonna go crazy at times.. Cause I hated them with a passion!! After nearly a year momma got in the hospital. She was having trouble (little did we know what we were about to face a bigger battle than lice) When we came home and we decided to treat our heads one more time... And we were gonna trust God to take these things away. We just couldn't do it anymore. We had done all we could do. Let's just say we never dealt with it again. God took them away! But you know what it is so God to do that. Cause after that my momma was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. I am thankful for those little lice bugs.. I spent so much time with my momma that year.. And she would tell me at times, when we would be sitting out on the front porch checking each other's heads that God had a reason for all this. I can see it now and I am thankful :)

Happy Mother's to all the mothers out there.. And everybody treasure your mother like a jewel and let her know how much you love and appreciate her!

Blessings and Love,
Tiffany
~Tiffany's iPhone~

Just Praising Jesus :-)

Hey everybody :-) So it has been awhile since I have posted! Been busy busy! I am doing good by Jesus' love and caring hands! I am so thankful for Him. The One who keeps me sane! Just talking to Him makes everthing alright in my world! He is so amazing. You know sometimes I'll look up into the sky or just look around and think... "God has been here for so long and He has got everything in control. He made the world and everything in it." It just makes you feel good to be alive!!

Weary soul who has been fighting so long do not give up! God sees you and what you have need of before you even ask! Just trust Him! The battle is not to make you weak but to make you a strong soldier in Him! DON'T GIVE UP!!!!



Blessings and Love,
Tiffany

God of Comfort

My mother going home to Jesus was bittersweet. To see her in so much pain and for her to get her healing is the sweet part. I am human though. Her passing has left me at times with tormentous grief. Some nights I have cryed so hard. I have seen things happen and be heartbrokened. These past months I ask God "WHY?"

Why does my little brother have to grow up without a mom? Why did she have to go just when I was about to enter adulthood? Why couldn't she have stayed? Why do we have to go through so much pain? Why? Why?

The other day something happened and I was wondering about pain and WHY? God lovingly reminded me

"If we did not have or know pain, how would we know His comfort."

I do not have all the reasons and purposes "Why?" My mother had to leave. But God does. He sees the bigger picture. Whenever I question Him. He reminds me of His Love and Care. That He just did not rip her from our lives to be mean, but to show His Love and Mercy. He is the God of all comfort. I could not have made it without Him. Never, Ever could have I.

Maybe you haven't lost a loved one. Maybe you have broke up with your boyfriend/girlfriend or had a huge dissapointment about life. God is there. Through Rain or Shine. 24/7! Just give Him your pain and loss. He will fill you with joy and completeness. In Isaiah 51:12 it says

"I, even I, am He that comforteth you...."

Isaiah is filled with verses about the Lord comforting His people.

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places:

and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert

like the Garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein,

thanksgiving, and the voice of Melody."

~Isaiah 51:3

Jesus knows how to comfort our hearts. For He knows exactly what we are going through.

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows"

~Isaiah 53:4

I will finish with one last verse out of Psalms 23. This is one of the most well known Psalms. Last year I believe was the first time it really had an impact on me and I thought of this verse as I was writing this post.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

For Thou art with me:

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me"

Blessings and Love,

Tiffany