Promises of God Enables Us

2 Peter 1:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

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Confirming One’s Calling and Election

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

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2 Peter 1:4-11 New International Version (NIV)

4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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             I'm glad the verse of the day was 2 Peter 1:4. It reminded me that God give us great and precious promises. Nothing to harm or hurt us. It also says that those promises will enable us to share His Divine nature and escape the world's sin caused by humans. I wanted to know what the promises were so I looked at the verses before and after this verse. The promises before that verse 4 was having true and personal knowledge of God. We have it because He called us by His Own Glory. 

             The verses after verse 4 talks about the feelings we can have in God. They are promised to us and in a certain order too. As long as we remember to excise them. First is moral excellence. Followed by knowledge/understanding. Yet with that knowledge comes self control. In that self-control comes steadfastness. Next is godliness. After that is brotherly love, which is a Christian love that learns to unselfishly seek the best for others and do things for their benefit. All these things are promised to us and always grow in us as we go towards spiritual maturity. 

            We won't be useless or unproductive if we have all of these in our lives. We should be more certain about our calling from Him. We need to make sure our lives reflect and confirms on faith in Him. If we can do that, we can lead others to Christ. That's another promise. We will certainly enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord. That is the most important promise of all. These verses also gives me a feeling of freedom. Especially right now at this moment in my life. The brotherly love part give me that freedom. It confirms that I am doing the right thing for now in a situation that I am in. 

             I think the situation I am in right now just needs that brotherly love and support. It needs that family from the outside. It needs to know that I am there through it all. The good and the bad. I need to seek what is best for that situation and not just what I need or want. I need to do things for the benefits no matter how hard it is on me. It has been hard the past few weeks but I know deep down God is doing something through all of this mess/blessing and I still believe that some day, if I don't give up all the way, I will see it come together. Right now, though, I just need to let go and let God and not be so hard on myself or the situation because you don't get anywhere when you are that way in anything especially with people. 

            Thank you, Daddy, for showing me this verse today and the verses around it. You knew exactly what I needed. Why can't I believe that for other things in my life as well?

Ashes to Beauty

"....To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes...."-Isaiah 61:3

"The King is Captivated by Your Beauty."-Psalm 45:11

         

          

           The title was the name of a conference I went to a almost 3 weeks ago now. The conference was amazing! That is the wrong word because really there are no words to explain it. I could write about my year to it, which I might but still wouldn't descibe it. I could write about what happened but yet it wouldn't be enough words to describe it. Isaiah 61:3 says a lot but still very little. I did feel like I traded my ashes for a crown of beauty. Laying problems and idols and hang ups down at the foot of the cross in a glass jar. Then watching all of those papers burn is really something very strong. 

           I loved watching the papers burning the night in a pot/bowl thing and all those ashes turning black and going up in the sky. It was a physical action that meant a lot. We were also singing "How Great Thou Art". That song now has a new meaning for me because of that moment. It was like I went to bed that night just free and with all my burdens lifted off of me and I woke up the next morning as a whole new creation. It is hard to explain that feeling like I said before but in that moment you just knew something was taken away from you and changed for good. I know for me I also prayed a lot during the day about the problems I was dealing with. I probably said about 3 prayers or more that day.  If I didn't say them, other people said them for me.
           I will say that the phases, "If you can't stand or when life gets hard, kneel." And "Open mind, open heart," are some good ones for it. At least, that's how I felt. I did have to have an open mind and heart and kneel down before the Lord. I did go up front and have someone pray over me because I gave something up that was really important to me up or I should say let go. I don't ever want to give up but I do need to let go and let God. There is another good phase for it. I need to care enough to let go and let God have control of it and whatever happens, happens but I never what to give up and stop.
              You know, "give up" and "let go", have different meanings and I think that is something I learned at this conference. I learned how to "let go" without totally "giving up". Yet, I am still in the process because it is a process. "Let go" means still caring but not having control or holding on too tight. "Giving up" means not even caring for the thing or person. Means you don't care what they do or about them anymore. That they are in the back view of your life. For me, "letting go" means you still what them as part of your life just not as much or not until they are ready.
               Psalm 45:11 is how the Lord sees me. It is also how the Lord made me and He doesn't make mistakes. The Lord sees me as captivating. He sees me as beautiful. He sees me as His Princess. That is why a crown is put of my head. He sees me has His Daughter and loves me that way too. He doesn't want me to get hurt. He doesn't want me to live in sin. He doesn't want me to regret my life at all. Those things would be all that I do if I didn't turn it over to the Lord. I might make mistakes at times but those mistakes are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ so all God sees is pure white, beautiful me. After, this conference I am whiter then ever, I feel like. That's a strange way to put it but it is true. 

               I can't make this a long entry because I just can't find the words to really explain what I really felt and I can't really tell the public what I gave up because now it is just between me, a few ladies, and God. I will say, though, that my eyes were opened up a lot more and so was my mind to where I could see the little blessings all around me from God. I got a confirmation on the way home that Sunday and I was amazed at it. God knew just what I needed and how I was and knew that I was going home and needed that prayer and strength that He had a friend of mine pray for me about. Yet all this to say, "That God will prepare you for what He knows you need later in life." That is what He was doing to me along. 

That Little Brown Bible-A Poem

That Little Brown Bible


Staying up late searching the 
computer knowing there is a reason
why I'm up this late. Right before I 
go to bed, I see the reason. The reason
is that someone needed someone to talk
to. I stayed up and made plans. Going to 
bed because I have to get up in 7 hours 
and go to breakfast. Something I do 
in a great while if ever. Yet I was needed
there and that was the plan. Or at least 
I hoped it was. Too sleepy to stay up 
and see. 

Got up and went to breakfast that next
morning. I was the 1st on there. Hoping
that the message was got and I wouldn't
be sitting there alone. I got my breakfast
and started to eat it. Next thing I know I 
wasn't alone. After a few minutes, I heard 
a "good morning" and saw a smile in front 
and across from me. Asking if this 
sit was taken. I said, "no." We didn't 
talk much, which now I regret a little 
bit but I noticed something very 
important. 

Not only did I notice the break that was 
across from me. Fried eggs, grits, and 
whatever else was on that plate. I noticed 
something more important. I noticed that 
on top of the text book, there was a little 
brown bible on there. I remember what 
was said and that was, "I didn't know 
if you got my message back or not so 
I brought my Bible just in case. 

You see when I woke up I made sure to 
check and see if I got a message back 
before I had to walk all the way to 
breakfast because it was a long walk 
for that early in the morning and we 
both had class right afterwards. To be
honest, I didn't think about that little 
brown Bible a lot back then and what it 
meant because where we were everyone 
had a Bible at some point or carried one 
around everywhere. But now as I think
back on it, it meant something and I knew 
it. 

That little brown Bible was the hope that 
I needed to get through the years I had 
ahead of me and I'm not just talking 
about the Bible itself. Yet when you see 
it with a person that early in the morning 
and seeing that that person would have 
spent time with God if I didn't show up
should tell you something. Yet sometimes 
we get away from those small moments 
and forget what really matters and that 
we should be taking our Bible everywhere 
with us because we never know who 
will notice it. 

For me and that morning at breakfast, 
it was me that noticed it and then really 
noticed the person that had it. It was a 
surprise for me because where I came 
from it was very seldom if at you that 
you say people carrying a Bible around 
just because. Granted it was a Christian 
college but still. That morning has never 
left my mind in the years past that one. 
What we do can leave a impact on people
so we have to be careful about what we 
say and how we act. 



Written By: Tiffney Wilson 

Written On: September 28th, 2018


Just couldn't get the image out of my mind until I wrote about it. Now, hopefully, it won't come back for awhile. There is a reason for all of this but I can't share it on a public blog. 

Beautifully Rooted

Colossians 2:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

6 So then, just as you received in Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

        Since I didn't have my internet for awhile and had a women's conference this past weekend, my first one forever, if not in awhile, I've been thinking about Grace. While I was praying, last week, something came over me. "To have Grace is one way to be beautifully rooted in Christ." This thought came to me too because I was thinking about people that I needed to show Grace to. I want them to see that I am beautifully rooted in Christ. 

         I want a sign painted for me to hang in my apartment with those words on it. But back to the whole Grace thing. "Beautifully rooted in Grace" would be sweet. You get that as a gift and you give it has a gift. When you are able to give Grace, even to the hardest people, you are truly rooted in it. For women, it makes us look and act more beautifully. Add Grace to the Love talked about in the verse and you are more beautiful and the appearance of God then ever before. That saying can work as a theme and should in every area of life. I was even thinking my wedding shower or Bride's shower. What wait for then when we could be living it out now? You need to be living your life out where people can see you rooted and built up in Him. Even to help you get through all of the processes before marriage. When you are strengthen in faith and thankful in everything, then you are joyful and at peace with God and everything around you. You need to be full of Christ before you can get full of anything else or go onto anything else. 

        I guess you could say that this verse is a verse that I learned the meaning of this past weekend. Being a women and wife of God, you need to CONTINUE to live your life in Him. You can start living your life in Him as soon as you find a husband. You need God first and center of your life and then He will bring that husband to you if it is in His Plans for you. I like the word "continue" because it shows us that we should be doing it all the time. Not just here and there.  That word is a powerful one in this verse. Going back to my phase that I am talking about on here, Beautifully rooted in Grace is just one way to live your life for Him and loving people is another way too. 

        It was also funny because I was thinking about my future baby girl and how neat it would be to decorate her room with that saying and nature/woodland theme. Most importantly, have her grow up with that thought already in her mind. Even have that verse for her from Colossians 2:6-7 as her verse. 

           Disclaimer: None of that is happening soon. Just in my dream land world. :)

          There will be a poem in the next two weeks about this saying. I think it would make a beautiful one so I am going to try to write one.

            I have a challenge for you all and I really want you to do it on Facebook and/or on here. I want you to finish this sentence-"Beautifully Rooted in.............." and I will think about putting it in the poem I am going to write here very soon. It gets you thinking about how you could be rooted in Christ.

Dependent on Technology

           Over the weekend and a couple of days before then my Internet was off and on. It wasn't working well and then yesterday it totally stopped until it was time for bed. A computer guy came and fixed it today for me. I had mixed feelings about letting him fix it.I even thought "let's wait another week since I am busy this week and won't be home this weekend to mess with it".
           The first couple of days I don't know if I was mad at the computer people or myself. I had to call the computer company 4 times until I could get someone to come to my place. My moden was old and that was the problem. Was I mad at myself because I have come so dependent of a machine? I needed a weekend where I couldn't get on at all. God knew it for some reason. I had been trying to cash a check from work for 3 days and couldn't because it was down. I finally get Wi Fi on my phone to where I could cash it in and that was a McDonald's parking lot across from my apartment. Sad I know.
           That's when I realized how dependent I was and how this world is on technology. Saturday I had to go out and do something or I would have gone crazy. I did things around my house but like kids these days, I got as taste of not being able to stay on focus. I started things but didn't finish them. Sad. I went and had lunch with a friend and went shopping with her. I even went to church with my friend too. It felt ok that I did that. I wasn't missing out on anything even though I did. The message at church was on Grace and Freedom in Christ. How ironic, right?
            Sunday was even a more blessed day without it. I got up went to church at 9:00 and was happy and smiling even the pastor noticed and said something about it. Not only that but felt like I could hear God better without all those things to compare with. I colored with a little girl that's deer to my heart in Sunday School. I got to shake hands with people I never did before during the service. After I got home and notice the computer wasn't working, I did some things for work and some house chores. The sermon was about betrayal. After awhile, I was like "ok, God you must want me to pray about something" so I did. I prayed a 4 page prayer, longest I have prayed in awhile. I went back to see if it would work and it didn't so I took a little nap and then cooked dinner.
            I really wasn't looking forwards to the computer guy coming today because I knew that I would be back on it non stop. As soon as the computer guy got it up and running again, I felt back in touch to reality, which is sad. I felt like I could talk to people again, which is sad. We shouldn't need Facebook, messager, YouTube, or anything else like that to keep in touch. We should keep in touch face to face. That is another thing that I learned this past weekend without it. I would rather text too because it is more personally I feel then Facebooking.  When I colored with that little girl, shook hands with people, and looked people in the eyes I felt apart of something. I felt like I had something to talk about with them. I didn't know what was going on so I could asked.
             I also felt like I had more time to pray and talk to God. I feel like I waste most of my time on the Internet when I could be cleaning my house or doing something like that. It is a block these days with having real relationships. We think we know everything about everyone because it is on the Internet when really we don't. It is just the good things going on in their lives and that is good sometimes but it is when we get down to the mess and gitty things that we get the closet to people and really know them. If I did miss anything, it was being able to write here and cashing and checking my bank account. Those are the two things I really missed and oh, yeah watching YouTube when I had nothing else to do but then again that is where I waste some of my time too.
            What I learned through this past few days is this: "I need to take some time off every once in awhile and just enjoy God and people." It is funny too because in the sermon on Sunday, it was also mentioned that Jesus loved people. When you think about it, Jesus took the time to go to the people and really get to know them, not just write them over the computer. :)

Mountains That Needs to Be Moved

        I am reading this book and there is a chapter in there that talks about Faith and it moving the mountains in our lives. The mountains are things, bad things, that keep us from moving towards and with God. They are things that block our Faith in Him and what He is doing in our lives or can do in it. I made a list of my mountains so I could pray for them to be removed every once in awhile. I think it is good to have that list so you can also be aware of them and look back when you are wondering why do I feel this way or what happened. Here is my list that I have started so far:


-Loneliness
-Regret
-Guilt
-Self/Pride
-Stubbornness
-Hopelessness
-Anxiety
-Self-doubt
-Being overwhelmed/busy
-Mistrust
-Fear of failure
-Other people

-Being in debt
         -I know this one seems like a little one but when you live by yourself it is a big one at times. You get so worried because you can't pay it off right away and it just keeps building up to where you never think you will be able to pay it off.

-"Now" moment
        -When I say the "now" moment this is what I mean: I mean when I get so upset because I have to repeat myself a lot of times or I don't stop and think how I am acting towards the children or what I am saying towards them. It might not seem like it is working at that moment but in the long run it does. You just have to wait for it. It is like I need more patience.

-Future
        -This one is a big one for me because I always look towards the future when really I should be looking at the present day and where I am right now and focusing on that. I should believe that God has the future in His Hands and that should be enough.

-Weakness
        -I know for me that weaknesses can keep me from doing a lot of things because I think I don't have the strength to do them or the ability.

-Excuses
        -Using excuses when I think can't do anything even without trying it at all. Excuses could be the easy way out of that hard thing that we need to do but don't want to do. It could help us but at the same time hurt us.

Believing a Lie

        Believing a lie is probably the biggest problem is this world today. As humans, we let things get to us that really shouldn't get to us. We call those things lies. We believe because they are told to us over and over again whether through TV, magazines, or other people. The worst time that a lie or few lies can come to you is when you are all by yourself. That is when the devil gets you at your best and at least to him anyways. I am a person that believes those lies and when you do they can really mess you up as a person. If you believe too many at the same time you can have high anxiety at times. I know my anxiety come from believing lies and trying too hard to not make them or make them happen depending on what the lies was.
        There is a big lie that I am believing and that lie is: "I am the one messing everything up in a relationship. If only I did this or that things would be okay. It is all my fault."  I am sick of thinking that it is my fault. That the big important decisions that I make or don't make are my fault. I know that the devil likes to try to blame us for something that isn't true or that we didn't do ourselves. I feel like he is really getting to me this time and he has been for a few months. I know we all believe a lie without knowing it at times and then we might know that we are believing other lies. A lie that we believe is that we have to believe a lie if we are going to be humans, right? I feel like I believe at least one lie every season of my life and this season is that it's my fault things aren't working out.
         I know it just can't be my fault and only my fault in this and I am not blaming anyone else. I don't want to. That is probably why I am taking it all on myself. That is why I am believing that lie. I am covering up for the other person. We are all humans and we do that from time to time but is that really right? Is it right to cover up for a person so much that it makes our lives misable to live. In a way, it is my fault because I am getting too into it and letting it over take me when really I should give it all to God and go deeper with Him.
         We need God so that we can put Him in the faces of these lies that we believe with our human flesh and of this world. We need God so that He can give us truth to face those lies head on. It is funny for us to think that a lie will go away in a day or few weeks when really it won't. If we let Satan get a hold of them, they can go deeper and deeper. I don't want this lie that I am believing right now to do that because it will tear me about if I am honest with myself. I am trying to be stronger then that. I am trying to learn what I can do to get rid of this lie and become stronger in Christ. I am trying to grow in Him.
            I am thinking the more I grow in Christ the more that I won't believe lies like "it is my fault" or "I am not good enough". I will have Christ on my side and know that no matter what He is always going to love me for me even when I do mess up. He sees the really meaning behind everything even if the person we talking to doesn't. He sees the good and bad intentions. When I look at it through a real way glass way, I know I am trying my best to listen to and follow God. There is so much I want to say but yet I don't know how it will come across. There is so much around me but yet I am focusing on this one thing when I shouldn't be at all. I mean I am even reading this book and thinking about this one situation and seeing how it is all working out in that person's life.
             Yet who I really should be thinking about and focusing on is me and how I can get closer to God during this hard and free time. Guys, I don't know if I speak for you but I know I speak for most of the girls out there when I say those 2 lies that I just mentioned are the most common one in our lives. We tend to compare ourselves to a lot of people when really we don't need to because we are already beautiful and cared for in the One's Eyes that really matter for life. When we believe that TRUTH, we can do so much for God. But that is the problem, Satan wants to keep us back from doing anything for Him.
              So this is how I look at it: "So what if we do feel like we have messed up here on earth or if other people think we did. God knows the truth and if it was right in His Eyes, then we are headed to a place better then here. Am I right?" Don't let Satan tell you that it is your fault because you are trying to be a friend or nice to someone who isn't nice back. You are doing your part and that is all that matters.