Idols

Idols are cruel masters that seek to suck every ounce of energy out of you so that you have none left for your King. Our idols can be merely in our minds; they don't have to be tangible. They can be the guy you are dreaming about, the job you are obsessing over, the grades or tests that bring you to tears in the middle of the night from stress or anything else that you place before God. Take time to search His word and let Him cleanse your heart of all sinfulness, bringing you back to a beautiful love story with Him. 

Jeremiah 19, 20 Psalm 51 James 3;13-18; 4:1-10 Philippians 4:5-8 Matthew 16:24

Standards regarding guys

I'm currently reading "Answering the Guy Questions-the set-apart girl's guide to relating to the opposite sex" by Leslie Ludy. It's very good :) 

I never thought about my standards for the guy I marry quite like this before, it changes a lot

Saving Faith

"This is what you should be saying to yourself: "He will be to me what He says He is, and He will do to me what He has promised to do. I leave myself in the hands of Him who is appointed to save me. I rest upon His promise that He will do everything He has said." This is saving faith, and when you activate this faith in your life, you will have everlasting life. No matter what dangers, difficulties, darkness, depression, infirmities, and sins may come to your life, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you shall never be condemned. (pg 49)" Charles H. Spurgeon All of Grace (2007 by Bridge-Logos)

Faith is defined as a strong belief or trust in someone or something(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith). Which is a deeper trust; trusting that someone will do nothing to harm you even when it seems like they're intention is for harm, or trusting that when you ask them to do something they will? Having gone through cancer and asking someone(God) many times to heal me and not make me go through what I did but still having to go through it, I can say from experience that the former requires much more trust then the latter. Some people believe that it is because I did not have enough faith in God or that I was not walking in the power of Christ and thus was overtaken with cancer, but I don't agree.

Cancer has a funny way of strengthening people or destroying people, it rarely leaves someone untouched. As I was enduring the nausea, pain and many more terrible symptoms I was often approached about the topic of what I believed faith meant. As you can probably tell from the previous paragraphs, I have a different view than a lot of people. My faith in God never reached a point where I didn't think that He could totally heal me of cancer whenever He wanted, instead it grew past this point to where I trusted Him whatever that outcome turned out to be. I trusted that He was still good, faithful, loving and not seeking my demise even if He chose not to heal me here on earth. Also I grew from a place of thinking I wasn't living with the power of Christ if i didn't demand the cancer cells to disappear in Jesus's name to a place where it took more reliance on Christ's strength to get through the day alive. Faith to me is not the latter example in the first paragraph but the former. I chose to trust in the God behind my circumstances more than in the circumstances themselves.

I struggled with depression, major infirmities, darkness and difficulties yet I still believed that Jeremiah 29:11 was true. I believed that despite facing death head on God would use my suffering for something great just like He has done countless other time for others who served Him, the greatest being Jesus. Saving faith, to me, is not about what i can demand of God but rather really trusting Him even when what you ask for is not given. It's about choosing to trust that God truly does want you to have hope, a future, and blessings even when the way is hard and horrifying. David says it well in Psalm 23 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for you are with me." (ESV) Just because I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death doesn't mean it was evil or that God had forsaken me. Shadrach Meshach and Abednego said it best in Daniel 3:16-18

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

It doesn't matter what happens to us, God is still who God claims to be and we do not have the knowledge to even challenge Him on this (see Job 42:1-6).

True peace comes from the saving faith that we have in God without having to get the results that we ask for. It comes when we can say that we trust God even if the result is death or more suffering because God alone is worthy to be praised and trustworthy. I believe that we need to remember the God behind our faith and to fall in love with Him instead of using Him as a means to get what we want.

Prince Charming- God's way

Growing up I remember being told by my brothers, father and brother's friends that I should never hold my breath for a guy like the ones in the romance movies. I took it to heart and I would always remind myself while watching said movies that those kind of men don't exist. Men who care about their wives emotions and don't tell them to stop being "so hormonal". Men who protect their wive's hearts and choose them over anyone else just don't exist in real life. Supposedly.
It was like He was asking why I didn't trust Him to bring the husband from my dreams around when that's what He wants to do. This doesn't mean that "the man" will be perfect but that he will do his best with the grace of God covering his shortcomings because he will have them.

I often dream about the kind of man I want to marry one day but I always end up reminding myself that I can dream but I can't expect it to actually happen. I couldn't expect any man on this earth to contain all of the traits I long for. Traits like fighting for me, leading me even when it is tough, holding me as I cry, being able to make me laugh when I'm sad, not being embarrassed when I bring him lunch at work, to be proud of me, to cherish means. Try his best to build me up and not tear mew down and most importantly to love God with every possible once of His existence. (This is just on side of the relationship and I'm not ignoring the parts that God calls a wife to do, they just aren't part if this blog)

Recently God has been challenging these views of mine by showing me couples where the man actually contains them! Shocking! In the last year or so God has been slowly changing my view on what kind of man I should be looking for and not just dreaming about. Tonight as I was crying out to him in fear of never finding such a man He reminded me of the verse that says

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11(ESV)

 In saying this I just want to tell all the girls to keep dreaming about the men we would like to one day marry. Don't let the guys who don't measure up to your dreams tell you that they are unrealistic and that there are no guys who are like that because I have met ones who are but one thing about the ones who do measure up, they are imperfect but of they love God with all their hearts then they will love you accordingly. Do not settle just because it's taking a long time to find the guy you've been dreaming about.

A warning also must come with this post: do not think that the "perfect" man will solve all your problems and make you feel loved all the time, only God can do that. I warn you not to idolize that man by holding your husband to standards he cannot not attain. A man can only love the way we long for, first and most of all with the love of God sustaining him and second, having a wife who also respects and honours her husband, loving him even when he falls short. No man will ever be perfect but when we let God write our story, including the theme of love, it can hold many blessings.

P.S We need to remember that we are not entitled to such men and we even don't deserve them but I serve  a God who longs to bless His children. God wants our hearts to be His first, fall in love with Him first and let Him choose which man to allow to hold your heart here on earth. Trust Him.