I Could Not Stay

This morning's message was AMAZING. It was definitely something I needed. Pastor Loggans is in Hungary right now, so Pastor Doug preached this morning. Pastor Doug was my Youth Pastor for about a year...and my Bible teacher for a couple years before they left Indiana. I've missed them...and I'm SO happy to be here in Watertown with them. Pastor Doug preached from Jeremiah 20. In chapter 19, Jeremiah is preaching a message, and it is ignored. In chapter 20 verse 9, Jeremiah says, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." Jeremiah is ready to quit because he thinks God lied to him about people hearing is message and believe what he has to say. But in the latter part of verse 9 he realizes that he couldn't NOT talk about God because His word was in his heart. Pastor Doug said that even though Jeremiah went through so many challenges and trials, he still remained faithful to God. He gave us 3 principles we can learn from this. 1) Discouragements will come. We must remember that we, as Christians, will have discouraging things happen to us. Something Pastor Doug said really stuck with me. He said that, "God is in the process of maturing us." God uses the hard, challenging trials to make us more like Him and to mature us in our Christian walk. Also, he asked us a question: "How often are we ready to give up when what God brings into our lives isn't what we wanted or planned on?" And how true that is! When our plans don't seem to line up with what God's plans are, we're ready to give up on following God thinking we know what is best. Our plans and God's plan need to be the same. 2) If you're truly saved, you can't quit. We, as Christians, can't just quit our walk with Christ, if we're truly saved. No matter what God brings along, and no matter if we think it's not what's best...we can't quit. We are His children, and He will guide us where He knows is best for us. 3) God's in control. What a great reminder! He's always with us. We should rejoice in...sing praises to His name! Verse 13 says, "Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers." Praise the Lord He's in control and He's leading us. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I were trying to lead myself! Another saying Pastor Doug said this morning that I really enjoyed was this: "A crisis doesn't make a man, but rather reveals what he's made of." And this is very true. It's such a rebuke to know that I should go to God, and yet I don't go to Him first. This message was definitely one I needed.

This week is going to go SO slow...I can't wait for Friday night!! I'm so excited for the King's Kids retreat. I LOVE going to King's Kids every Wednesday night. They're AMAZING kids...and I can't wait! I'm gonna take my camera (no worries!!) so I can take pics for y'all. Then, Saturday afternoon I'm headed home! How exciting! Home for a whole week. I can't believe it's almost here! I hope I can concentrate on my schoolwork this week. I'm sure I shall. I have 2 major (for me at least!) papers due, a test, and 2 quizzes (maybe 3) so maybe it won't go too slow. I hope! :)

Well friends...it's after 10. The sooner I go to bed, the sooner Monday will start and the week will be that much closer to being over! Have a great Monday...and make sure to be in the Word. God is AWESOME...literally. Stop and think of how awesome He is. Stand in awe of the Almighty, Unchangeable God.