GracePerfected

     There was a summer when I really sensed God telling me to pray more. Yes, I knew I should pray often to grow further in my walk with Christ, but this call was different. I felt God was telling me that if I earnestly sought Him, even if it was difficult to crack my Bible open for more than five minutes, He would change me and instill a passion in me for Him. A prophet didn't have to tell me this.  God's voice was so clear  . You might be wondering "how do you know when God is telling you something?", but let me tell you, if God wants you to know something, He'll make it LOUD and CLEAR to you.        In response to this call, I started to pray more and more. I found myself talking to Jesus for hours, just as if I were talking to my best friend. I didn't realize how much I would change in doing this. God changed my attitude, my grades [IMMENSELY], and I started feeling peace in my heart. I give all the glory to Jesus for opening doors that not even I thoug

     I am at a very different time in my life where every choice I make from now on will affect my future differently. I have also been undertaking different responsibilities that never in my life have I had to before. In all of this chaos and worry, I found myself lacking in prayer. Or if I did pray, I would find myself falling asleep during my own personal prayer.                                                           At this I started to feel ashamed before God. I still do sometimes even now. I remembered how much I don't deserve His grace in my life, or even His guidance to help me with all of these responsibilities and life-changing choices. One night I started to cry before God as I remembered the promises of Him on my life, pleading to Him and asking Him to not take those promises away because of what I've done. After I prayed, I opened my Bible randomly and found this verse:                                                                 Psalm 89:33-34: "

           We were hiking near a waterfall as a family and my 5 year old daughter tightly held my hand. As I showed her ways she could rest her one foot on the firm rock before she took her next step, I was reminded of how we can stand on Christ as our solid rock.  I stood there looking at the solid rocks and the water fell on it so heavily. The force of the water was able to throw anything off its surface. But these rushing waters became still streams in the valleys. And I realized if you were standing on muddy ground, this soil beneath your feet would give way easily and carry you with its tide.                       This is a perfect analogy to our Christian lives. The storms, waves and the turmoils of this world can throw away any person. No one is immune to the fiery trials of this world. During these moments of distress, what differentiates a true believer and  his response is that his feet are resting on the ‘Rock of all ages’.  And when he feels his feet is faltering a

     Life is crazy! We go through ups and downs. We get lost in the busyness of school, work, weekends at church, weekends away, and everything else that fills up our everyday lives. In the midst of all the madness we go through in life, we may also have to face some seasons of waiting, some messy situations, or some pauses in our lives when absolutely nothing is happening. During these times there may be moments when we are drowned in the misery of loneliness. And it's usually when we need someone the most that our closest friends or family seem nowhere to be found. This is not the best place in life to be, and yet it's probably a period of time we all go through at some point. How do we go through such difficult times? How do we face moments like this?       I'm not an expert, nor do I have a list of how to deal with loneliness, or how to get through tough times. But something that always helped me was the reminder that even in my loneliest and most chaotic times God

Since I have come back from India, it has been a tough journey for me. To stay with your spouse for two and half months and then to come back alone to a cold reality was very rough for me. It’s been a roller coaster ride since then. We were expecting to be with each other soon, but our journey took some unexpected turns which could have taken him longer to get here. I was very upset and frustrated with everything that was happening. Since we didn't expect this to happen we had already booked the ticket for him to come here. All these things made me more upset and honestly speaking, I tried everything else but talking to God. Finally, at the end of the day like a defeated soldier I came to God’s presence, literally having no words to speak. I was just crying and pouring out my heart in His presence. Then, God inspired me to read about the story of Gideon (Judges 6&7). The moment I started reading the story of Gideon the Spirit of God started ministering to me. The story of Gi

     As I’ve been going through Scripture this week, this phrase has come up over and over again. Be it God asking kings or prophets what they needed from Him, over and over again, God keeps asking this question. But why?       This past month has been such a trying month. Never in my life have I questioned my calling more or dealt with as many personal issues, be it my health, or whatever else. With everything I looked at, I felt like everything around me was falling apart. I questioned that I was where God wanted me to be in my serving Him. I doubted whatever future plans He has set for me. My health took a pretty scary roll downwards, and it began to feel like the relationships I had with the people around me were all falling to shambles. In the midst of these questions, His voice rang out loud and clear, continually asking me,  What do you want?      My God isn’t a god like others who sit quietly and choose not to respond when those who believe in Him cry out. My God is th

Genesis 19: 17  "And as they brought them out, one said "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away" Genesis 19: 26 "But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt."       As I was struggling to figure out what to write on the blog these last couple of days, I unexpectedly came across a certain picture. The picture was of a stone near the Dead Sea, which locals claim is Lot's wife (the tallest stone in the picture below).       The fact that people claim this stone as Lot's wife made me think about the story in Genesis of God destroying Sodom, and how the angels warned Lot that neither he nor his family were to look back or stop anywhere. If you read through the story on your own time, you might also agree with me on the fact that God had A LOT of patience with Lot. I mean, even angelic beings came to him to warn him to flee for HIS L

     Two of my favorite fast-food items are Krispy-Kreme doughnuts and French fries; they are just the tastiest things I can easily get a hold of and they make me want to have more of it every time I get it. However, it’s been a while since I’ve had either of these.      A Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut is made from at least 50 ingredients – mostly artificial food additives that increase your risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, allergies, and digestive disorders. A medium order of French Fries has 365 calories along with 17 grams of fat, 26% of your daily value. Sodium clocks in at 246 mg, or 10% of the upper limit you should eat in a day. If you eat junk food all the time, your body is going to show it sooner or later. If you eat healthy food, you will have better results. Some of us are very careful in eating the right thing. We see more people are beginning to give value for nutrition rather than just taste. We here in America are being bombarded daily with a lot

     Discouragement can result from many reasons, Satan will do anything he can to destroy us and keep our focus on negative things instead of on God. This is a trap of the devil. Discouragement is a weapon against God’s children . When discouragement takes over your life, it brings all kinds of doubts about yourself and tells all lies about yourself, friends and family. Then we start replaying all our mistakes and sins we have done in our lives. So in that case it’s important to kneel down and pray and meditate the word of God.      There is a story about a conference in hell. When Jesus Christ died on the cross all the demons were shaken. "Now that Jesus has died on the cross, all the people in the world are going to get saved and go to heaven. Nobody is going to come to hell. What shall we do?" The theme of the conference was, ‘How to bring people to hell.’ Many demons came up with various suggestions but none of them were practical. One demon said, "I’ll go and te

I sat here today, stressed out as I wrote this blog. I worried about whether it would make any sense, whether the  punctuation  would be correct and whether it sounded like a well written article. What I kept forgetting was to look deep within the words in the article and assess the value that it could bring into the spiritual lives of the readers. I realized that I was forgetting to look at the bigger picture. When I realized this I quickly stopped, hit the backspace button and sought God for guidance in writing this. It was then that it occurred to me that often our walk with the Lord is just like the experience I went through in attempts to write an article.  As Christians we forget the importance of looking at the bigger picture. Often we focus on issues in our relationships with others, our careers, regrets from our past or sometimes even unanswered prayers. We get so caught up in all the worries of the world that we forget the most important piece of our walk with the Lord,

 Impossible :  adjective " not able to be done ".      Ever feel like the chances of your circumstances turning positive equal the word above? IMPOSSIBLE? I know I have. Even now, I still feel that way. For you, the word 'Impossible' could surface when you meet with your school counselor and he/she tells you that you can't get into the universities you desire, even if you have always worked hard. It could also surface when you hear that even the smartest person in your class didn't pass the major exam. Impossible.      One word, with such a powerful meaning. Sometimes, we give this word more power than the words that Jesus say in Luke 18:27 "What is impossible with man is possible with God". Getting even more personal, sometimes we let our mistakes and failures get in the way of us trusting in the grace and mercy of God on us. It is as if God cannot change our situation around for His glory because our mistake are"too bad" for him. 

     Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day-a whole bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken. After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to open the meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken--over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. By then the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, "I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here." Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, "Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I'm going to have

“The people again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…and the people cried out for help to the Lord.” The people of Israel fell into a constant pattern of sin. Over and over again, they broke the covenant that God had made with them; over and over again, they fell to the same sins, the FORGOT the God who delivered them out of Egypt and led them into the Promised Land. They would break the covenant, and then cry out to God when the world around them came crashing down. Then, God being the loving and great God He is would rise up a deliverer for them and save them. Israel in their [pattern] of sin broke the Father’s heart, but when they would cry out to Him, He would render the heavens for them. The Lord is slow to anger and [SO] abounding in love. I read this and my immediate thought was what is wrong with these people? But let’s get real now. I am Israel. I fall into the same exact patterns of sin over and over again. How sad.

Psalm 116: 1-7 (NIV) I love the  Lord ,  for he heard my voice;    he heard my cry  for mercy.   Because he turned his ear  to me,      I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death  entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me;       I was overcome by distress and sorrow.   Then I called on the name  of the  Lord :      “ Lord , save me! ” The  Lord  is gracious and righteous;   our God is full of compassion The  Lord  protects the unwary; when I was brought low,  he saved me. Return to your rest,  my soul,      for the  Lord  has been good  to you .      This is a Psalm that God has continuously been reminding me of for the last two weeks. Before He brought me to it, I was stressed out with many things. Stressed out because I knew my spiritual life needed to get better, stressed about how my grades had to get better, and stressed out about my future.       And that is when God took me to thi

“Go to the foot of the Cross this day, His precious Blood washes sin away. We each need to think more of His Cross, Without our Saviour, we’re total loss.” - Connie Kramer      Imagine having everything you’ve ever wanted in life. You’ve got a great family, a great job you enjoy, wealth and wonderful friends who always encourage you. Now imagine all of those things being stripped away from you. A sense of uneasiness rushes over us when we think of how uncertain our life on earth is. Uncertainty sure is a scary thing. The Bible describes human lives as futile and short in Psalms 89.      In this short life that God has granted us he asks us to stay humble. The Bible defines humility as being lowly or meek in spirit. We are to remind ourselves that we come second. Constantly riding ourselves of our ambitions and our thoughts but rather remembering that we are merely vessels placed on this planet to live for God. Humility requires that we give our glory to God most high and no

We live in a world of conflict. Nations war against nations, violence plagues our cities, and people argue over politics  and race. Even among our friends and family, we often face situations of disagreement and argument. How do we navigate these troubled waters? Let’s remember that God’s kingdom is a kingdom of peace. “In the last days… [God] will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4). We are all looking forward to eternity in God’s peaceful kingdom.  But meanwhile, we live in world of conflict. In this world, we are called to spread the message of peace. Paul compares us to soldiers, whose feet are prepared by wearing the proper shoes.  We are  ready to face the troubling situations of this world because we wear the “gospel of peace”  as our footwear  (Eph. 6:15).  We