Mustard Seeds

Psalm 139 1 O LORD, you have   searched me and known me!   2 You   know when I sit down and when I rise up;    you   discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down    and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue,    behold, O LORD,   you know it altogether. 5 You   hem me in, behind and before,    and   lay your hand upon me. 6   Such knowledge is   too wonderful for me;    it is high; I cannot attain it.   7  Where shall I go from your Spirit?    Or where  shall I flee from your presence? 8  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!      If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall  lead me,    and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say,  "Surely the darkness shall cover me,    and the light about me be night," 12  even the darkness is not dark to you;    the night is bright as the day

I know it has been awhile since my last post. I have been very busy with my first semester of college. Now that it is complete, I hope to blog this winter and continue into the Spring semester. Alot has happened since the beginning of September. God has shown me ALOT. And I have struggled with alot. But God is showing me that even now, I need to rely only on HIM. I cannot rely on people because they will fail me every time. I had to learn that the hard way this semester. In this blog I want to talk about Ezekiel. I know that this is not often a book and is spoken of when people talk of what God has shown them. But a few weeks ago as I was reading through Ezekiel, I found something that God was just preparing my heart to hear (read). Even at the time that I was reading it, I was not ready to hear it, but I knew that God wanted me to understand something in those verses, so I went ahead and wrote down the chapter to come back to later. Well, that later happened last night. I was

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." John 3:16-21 I know many of us are very familiar with at least part of this passage. But I believe we often forget the power and truth that it holds. So I thought I would just have it here fo

So a while ago I decided that I wanted to try to make homemade cheese ravioli. So the other day I went out and bought the supplies. Tonight for dinner, I made them. :) Finished product  With garlic bread The ravioli  Garlic Bread  Marinara sauce Pesto-alfredo cream sauce  The yummy looking cheese filling All of the yumminess :) I have found in the week that I really enjoy cooking, and even though it can take me awhile, everything seems to come out well. Or, at least, my parents tell me it's good.

These are some of the pictures from my flight from Moline, IL to Minneapolis, Minn.  I was just sad that I didn't have a window seat on the flight to Washington.  I love how you can see the squares of the farms. :) I also like how you can see the shadows of the clouds below. And I most enjoy how beautiful the fluffy clouds are the God has given us. In God, Emily

So today, for the first time, I am taking a huge step of independence and flying by myself. And I am going to admit, it's a bit nerve racking to take that step. And right now I feel like I want to cry, but I think I will be okay. In just have to believe that God will not leave me in this time that I feel like I so desperately need Someone. "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 In God, Emily

  . This morning I was really convicted when I read my devotional. Like I said before, I have been asking God to speak to me through His Word. So as I opened up my devotional this morning and began reading, I felt conviction about what I was reading. Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 reads, " Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless." (NLT) Although the first part of this passage is powerful, it is the second part that convicted me. Verse 10 says, "So refuse to worry and keep your body healthy." First of all, I worry about everything. Things that I have no reason or cause to worry about, I do. I worry. I know that the bible tells us that we have no reason to worry and that we shouldn't but this is something I

So last night as I was praying, I asked God to speak to me as I read His Word. I started reading, and the second verse I read was Job 38:2.  It says, "Who is this that darkens the counsel by words without knowledge?" And it hit me. How many times do I open my mouth to try to help someone out and give them some advise without even knowing what is going on or what the best thing to do would be? Why do I feel the need to always give my opinion, even if I am unsure of what to do.  My guess is that I do this because I want to be heard. I want to be thought of as wise. I want to build my flesh up, not build Jesus up.  I do this because I am sinful. I mess up. I talk when I shouldn't. I interrupt people. I am loud and overbearing.  God shows us in this verse that we should not speak without knowledge.  So this is definitely something I need to work on a lot in my own life. And I challenge you, that if you struggle with this as well, to think before you speak

We wait for so many things in this life. We wait for birthdays, Christmas, driver's licenses, high school graduation, college graduation, marriage, kids, retirement. As Christians, there is another very important event that we hope and wait for: The return of Christ Jesus our Lord.  One part of Scripture that tells us about His return is Acts 1 (we will focus on verses 1-14). Verse 11 specifically tells us that Jesus will return in the same way He left.  Acts 1:10-11 - "And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'" While we wait, God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us. When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, to lead us and guide us through life here on earth. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit (verse 5

In prayer, we want a lot of things. James 4 tells us that there are two reasons why we don't always get what we want. 1. We do not ask God, therefore we do not receive those things that we want. (verse 2) 2. We ask for the wrong reasons. We ask God for things that we want, but we do not want these things for the right reasons. We want things for our own pleasure, not to bring honor and glory to God. (verse 3) This shows that God keeps His promises that He will hear and answer our prayers. There are many places in Scripture where God tells us that He hears and answers our prayers. 1 John 5:14 - "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." Matthew 7:7,11 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you... 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 thos

"And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward." 2 Kings 19:30 We are called to take root downward. This is making sure that we are grounded in Christ Jesus.  Also, we are called to bear fruit upwards. This is showing the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of righteousness.  The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We are called to practice these every day of our lives. We are to show these to the people around us, to be an example to the people around us that do not know Christ's love and God's grace. Just something to think about. And I have to throw this in for a friend...Jesus is awesome! And so true it is. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

Last Saturday I became a graduate of McMinn County High School.  I was blessed enough to have much of my family attend the ceremony. My grandmother and grandfather, my other grandfather, my uncle, and two of my cousins  were able to attend. We took some picture that afternoon after my party. These are just a few of the pictures that were taken. I haven't gotten all of them yet. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

It's been a little while, but I got the idea to go through chapter 11 of Hebrews and go a bit in depth on each verse and person mentioned in the chapter. And so because I have some free time for summer I thought I would start. I'm not sure how long it will take or how in depth I may go on different days but I'm going to start.  So here we go... Chapter 11 verse 1 says, "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen." (HCSB).  Another translation says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (ESV). The King James Version says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Each of these versions uses different words. The English Standard Version uses a word that I wasn't quite sure of the definition so I decided to look it up. Conviction is a sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance. The Hebrew word yakah  ex

Ezekiel 14:3-8 3  "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put sinful stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I be consulted by them at all?      4  "Therefore, speak to them and tell them: This is what the Lord G OD  says: When anyone from the house of Israel sets up idols in his heart, puts a sinful stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I, the L ORD , will answer him appropriately. [I will answer him] according to his many idols,  5  so that I may take hold of the house of Israel by their hearts, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.      6  "Therefore, say to the house of Israel: This is what the Lord G OD  says: Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces away from all your abominations.  7  For when anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in Israel separates himself from Me, setting up idols in his heart and putting a sinful stumbling block before his face

Two weeks from today I will be graduating  from high school. That is crazy! But at the same time, I am ready for this step. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for me. I just hope I have the patience to wait on HIS timing . In God, Emily

The last couple of weeks I have been reading a book called Made to Crave  by Lysa Terkeurst . It is about craving God, not craving food. It is really good. It has good points and is very true. In the book, Lysa says, "I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness." (page 158) Yesterday morning, I prayed to God that He would help to change how I look at myself. Because of this book, I have been realizing that I need to change how I view myself. My devotion for the day was this: " So be content with who you are and don't put on airs.  1 Peter 5:6 MSG      Janette glanced around the gym, noticing the women around her. Several of them were chatting with friends as they ran on treadmills. They haven't even broken a sweat, Janette thought, and I'm drenched like I got caught in a rainstorm.  A few other ladies came out of an aerobics class, and Janette realized with dismay th