Haiti

Yesterday was the one month anniversary of the terrible disaster that struck Haiti in mid January. The earthquake claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, and left roughly 1,000,000 homeless. Since then, missionaries, churches, humanitarian groups, and more of the like have flooded Haiti to help in disaster relief. What I find disheartening is the message that some of these religious organizations are delivering to these destitute people. I'll touch on that later on in this blog. First, some Haitian history...

Haiti was "governed" by the French for some time. They shipped in African slaves to labor for them. The slaves were forced into Catholicism, but they still believed in the spirits their ancestors raised them to worship. So, combining Catholicism with spirits, the slaves came up with Voodoo. Though the Haitians say their spirits are not evil, they do admit that they ask the spirits to do evil things. In the 1700s, a man in desperate attempt to liberate his fellow slaves sacrificed a boar in the wilderness. Some say he made a pact with the Devil. The slaves fought for their freedom, and soon enough they were indeed free. Many Haitians still practice Voodoo today, but the religion is one of much darkness. That brings me to what the religious people are telling the Haitians...

Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, Evangelical, and many many more people are preaching in the streets of "Haiti's judgment." They're telling the people that God's angry with them for what they've done, and if they refuse to repent, that they'll die. That hurts me.

Thousands of years ago, my Jesus Christ died on a cross for the sins of all of us. God poured out ALL His wrath on Jesus, so that now we serve a God full of love and kindness. In the old testament, God did things like wiping out entire cities or countries. But now, under the new law that's held together completely by His GRACE, He no longer destroys the people who turn from Him. Instead, He cries out, hoping somehow they'll be reached. Because He wants everyone in His family. "Where sin abounds, much more grace abounds." Sure, Haiti is full of darkness and demonic spirits and sin. But Christians should be taking this as an opportunity to help the Haitian people understand that they can find grace and redemption in Christ's arms!

I'm not saying everyone there is preaching this false message. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are sharing God's love with these hurt people. But what's hitting the news stands? Almost every article I read talks about God's wrath being poured out on Haiti, God's judgment has finally come for these Devil worshippers, God's not going to keep such sinful people on His planet, blah blah blah. We're ALL sinners! We ALL fall short of the glory of God!

The verse I'm standing on, the one that has me convinced that this disaster was not a work of God but totally Satan's doing, is this:
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

200,000 deaths sounds like killing to me. 1,000,000 people without a home sounds like destruction to me. The looters stealing from where ever they can sounds like stealing to me. So now's God's time to shine, to show His life that fulfills the deepest voids in the human spirit. Let His glory be shown in all of this.

Daddy's Girl

My Journey Begins....

Chapter one of my journey is coming to close, now that I understand to a certain degree what this journey is going to look like. Luckily for you, I'm not that far in. So I can share how it began and where I'm at now, without taking hours and hours of your time.

Yes, I was wishy washy. In late 2008/early 2009, I decided I wanted to live the "Pure Life". Not just in keeping myself for my future husband, but also in waiting for him. Kelly Copeland did a series on the Pure Life. Basically, its about not dating. At all. Until God brings your husband/wife into your life. Then you court them, and eventually get married. I thought that sounded great! At the time I wasn't dealing with the emotions of "crushing" on a boy. I had a lot of people standing behind me, encouraging me in my journey. But then came the wishy-washiness.

I saw girls around me dating, and they seemed happy and in love and everything was going for them. I wanted so badly to have something like that. So I figured dating wasn't that bad after all. How am I supposed to figure out what I like if I don't shop around, right? Wrong. I was wrong. And I totally admit that now. I talked to my parents, and to be perfectly honest, we all got caught up in the idea of "dating". Recently, I started praying. I've read many times before the story of Jacob and Rachel. Fourteen years he worked to get her! He WAITED. That's always backed me up in my "Pure Life" stance. I read that story again the other day, and told God, "You need to scream this in my face, because I'm slightly confused. I don't know which way to walk." I needed Him to guide me. Around the same time, my Mom was praying similarly. Thank you Jesus for a supportive mom...

Just the other day, God came with an answer. I don't think I can thank Him enough. My parents met some people who believe in the "Pure Life" idea, and they spoke into my parents' lives. Three success stories from their own children, two more on the way ;). That's amazing. Absolutely amazing.

So, I don't have everything figured out yet. My Chapter One is coming to a close, as I make the solid decision that this is what I want. And as the next chapters of my life unfold, I am overjoyed to see what God has in store for me. Sure, I don't have it all together. I have missed the mark. But haven't we all? I'm excited, slightly frightened, exhilarated, and so thankful. God's got something in store for me, and its going to be a beautiful masterpiece when it finishes. Thank you Chapter One for clarifying for me how much I must choose this. As the couple my parents met stated, "Dating is practicing divorce. You're with someone, then you don't like them, so you dump them." I have to admit...I have never seen anything in the Bible about dating... Courtship, possibly. But waiting for the one, then marrying them, because that was God-ordained relationship, I have seen at least once (with Jacob and Rachel in Genesis 29:18-28).

Here I go!
Daddy's Girl

Paralyzed

"She tried to run, but her feet wouldn't respond. She tried to scream, but her throat had closed. She tried to cry, but her emotions had frozen with everything else. She tried to close her eyes, but even her eyelids were affected by this fear induced paralysis."

Fear paralyzes. When I have nightmares, I always try to scream or run in my dreams, but I can never move. Sometimes at night, while I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep, I'll hear a noise outside my window (which turns out to be a branch, nothing serious at all) and all my movement will stop because I'm totally afraid. When people speak on stage, they can occasionally get stage fright and lose everything they were going to say. Fear does that to people, it causes us to throw on the brakes and become unresponsive. Satan sure loves unresponsive, idle Christians.

It says right there in the Bible that God DOESN'T give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. Being a Christian, especially a Christian teen with our whole life in front of us, can be terrifying. With a future brighter than the sun, because of the choices we're making, God can use us in great and mighty ways. Satan can't stand that. So he uses his greatest (and oldest) weapon, fear, to stop us. To cause us to become unmoving.

When you look at the 'armour' God gave us, which we should be putting on every day, I've heard a few pastors say, "When you understand each piece of protection the Bible talks about, you'll notice that they only cover the front, because we are not supposed to run. Running exposes the unprotected flesh, and that's when you'll go down." That's so true. We're MORE THAN CONQUERORS, and we were not made to chicken out. When you've done all, the Bible says to STAND, not run in fear. Last night at a church service I went to, the preacher said, "When fear tells you to to turn and run, go forward instead. When fear says to not go through that door, kick the door down." Whatever fear tells us to do, do the opposite. Because God didn't give us that spirit, so why would we listen to it?

This generation is going to do great and mighty things for God. We're going to kick down more doors and go much further ahead if we don't let fear paralyze us. Courage is a huge part of that. Ronald Reagan put it best when he said,
"A hero may not be braver than anyone else. He's just braver five minutes
longer."
Sure, your knees may be knocking. But stand tall, keep standing, know that God's right there, and press on. I refuse to participate in stagnancy. I refuse to be dormant. I refuse to be paralyzed by fear. Because then I've given Satan the victory. We're the victors in the end, God called the end from the beginning, I know we win, so I'm choosing now to walk out that victory from day to day.


1 John 4:16-18, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."

Isaiah 5:4, "Say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.'"

Fearless because of He who is in me,
Daddy's Girl