Have we become passive?

Have we become passive about Jesus and the gospel?

First off, what does this word mean? Well here is the definition according to dictionary.com .....

Passive:
~ not reacting visibly to something that might be expected to produce manifestations of an emotion or feeling.
~ not participating readily or actively; inactive
~ not involving visible reaction or active participation

I don't know about you but I definitely don't want to be passive about Jesus. I want to love and live for Him wholeheartedly. I want to care and be actively involved in furthering His kingdom.

But to be honest, recently I've felt almost distant from God. I still love Him and want to live for Him... I just kind of feel like I'm not going anywhere. I'm not really growing, not really struggling. Just.... waiting. I don't know about you but the whole "waiting" thing has never been my favorite. But when we find ourselves in situations like trials, waiting, or anything really instead of asking "Why is this happening?" we should ask "What do You want me to learn from this?".
Easier said than done. I've heard people say there is beauty in waiting - and I agree. But when you're actually waiting on the Lord it's harder to see the beauty.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 27:13-14, "I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait for the Lord."

Wait for the Lord. Again, easier said than done. What are we supposed to do when we find ourselves in situations like these? Trust Him in faith and obey Him. It's harder, I know, but keep trying to live for Him. Spend time in His Word and in prayer - seeking Him. And we can't do this on our own... we need to trust in Him, He's the one who enables us.

Psalm 105:4, "Search for the Lord and for His strength; seek His face always."

What's the opposite of passive? Well one of my sisters said overreacting... maybe that's true. But in my mind I picture caring, loving, compassionate, active.
I don't want to be passive. I want to love, care, be active in my walk with Jesus, and have compassion. Maybe God has called me to wait at the moment, maybe He has something to teach me I haven't learned yet. Nevertheless I still need live for Him and obey Him.

I keep using the word "live". The opposite of that word is quite obvious: die. Life and death. When we were apart from Jesus we were dead in our sins, but He gives us life. So we should live our lives for Him and for His glory. After all... isn't this all His anyways?

Let's live for Him, not being passive, but being loving.


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What do you think God is trying to teach you right now?
What season do you find yourself in?
How do you find beauty in waiting?

They Forgot. He remembered.

Several weeks ago I posted about remembering... remembering Who God is and what He has done. I wrote that Israel forgot what God had done (Psalm 78:11). I'm still reading through the Psalms and I see a recurring theme about Israel: they forget Who God is and what He has done. But the other day I noticed something else.

Psalm 106:44-45, "When He heard their cry, He took note of their distress, remembered His covenant with them, and relented according to the riches of His faithful love."

 The Israelite's forgot. But God remembered.

When it comes to the Israelite's there's always a Bible verse that comes to mind.
2 Timothy 2:13. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."
God, even though the Israelite's were unfaithful at times (as are we), He remains faithful.
Something I see repeated a lot in the Psalms is that is says God's faithful love. God will always be faithful, God is love. He has faithful love for us.

Psalm 26:3, "For Your faithful love is before my eyes, and I live by Your truth."

God remembered His covenant, the one He made with Abraham, and time after time He extended mercy to Israel.
God knows everything. He doesn't forget things, He remembers. You see this throughout all of scripture.

Genesis 19:29, "So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He demolished the cities where Lot had lived."

Exodus 2:24, "So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Psalm 98:3, "He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory."

God knew that the Israelite's would forget, and He told them to remember.
Deuteronomy 7:18, "Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt."
He told them to remember what He has done. Because He can still do those things today.

God remembers and keeps His promises. He doesn't forget us. He knows what you're going through right now, He knows everything about you. He doesn't forget us. He remembers.


Psalm 105:8-10, "He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He ordained for a thousand generations— the covenant He made with Abraham, swore to Isaac, and confirmed to Jacob as a decree and to Israel as an everlasting covenant."

Sunshine Blogger - A Tag

I have never really done many tags but when I got tagged by Mallory over at Sweet Tean  for this  so I decided to go for it. 

So here are a couple of rules...

1.) Thank the blogger who tagged you. (Thanks Mallory!)

2.) Answer the questions given. (11 maximum)

3.) Nominate new 11 other bloggers and give them 11 questions. 

4.) List the rules and put the Sunshine Blogger logo in the post. 

And here are the questions and my answers!......

1. Do you have a garden?

Not anymore. My family and I used to have a decent sized one but after we moved we never got one again... though two of my sisters like to plant flowers :).

2. What's your favorite restaurant?

Oh how can I choose? My favorite fast food restaurant would have to be Chick-Fil-A but otherwise maybe Red Robin or Longhorn.

3. What is something you learned within the past month (May)?

Mhm.... Well, something I was reminded of is that we're not always going to have seasons of growth in our faith, sometimes we just have to wait on the Lord.

4. Who is your favorite author?

Again, how can I choose? (I can be pretty indecisive). Well my favorite author if I want to read Christian historical fiction would be  Lynn Austin. Ally Carter is a favorite when it comes to (mostly) YA fiction. 

5. What made you decide to start blogging?

I've always loved to write and I thought that blogging would be  a great opportunity to write and bring honor and glory to God's names.

6. Are you a city girl or a country girl (or both)?

Probably both. I like the outdoors and my family and I used to live more in the country but I also like cities so....

7. When is your birthday?

May 19th... so yeah, I just had a birthday pass.

8. Do you enjoy tubing?

Yep!

9. What’s your favorite board game (or just game in general)?

Again, back to the favorites.... uh..... I like Apples to Apples (that's not a board game though), I also like Ticket to Ride, and Life. And a card game called Nine Hole.

10. What is one of your strong points?

Am I allowed to skip one? Anyways... I guess I'm willing to be a friend to people. It doesn't sound like a big deal and maybe it isn't, but sometimes people just need a friend to be there and I want to be that person.

11. Have you ever moved?

Yes. I've moved twice in my life so far. 

Now on to whom I tag. 

Well, I'm not sure who's been tagged and who hasn't so if you'd like to do this tag then consider yourself tagged!

If you decide to do it here are some questions...

1. What is your favorite holiday?

2. Do you have any pets?

3. Do you like to write? (if so what do you like to write?...)

4. Do you like road trips? (if so what's your favorite part of them?...)

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?

6. Would you rather it always be above seventy degrees or below sixty?

7. What is your favorite part of the day and why? (Morning, afternoon, evening, night)

8.  Who's your favorite song artist?

9. Would you rather be lost in a endless meadow of flowers or endless woods? And why?

10. What do you like to do in your free time?

11. Sunglasses or hats?

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Well that concludes this post! Thanks for stopping by :).

Have you ever done this tag? What are some of your own answers to these questions? 

If you choose to do this tag let me know in the comments!