Living Above the Sun Ministries

 Casting Crowns - Set Me Free .mp3 Found at bee mp3 search engine I heard a table full of guys at school talking today. I was listening in, of course. They were talking about how they felt like they went through the motions at church anymore, like how they couldn't get excited about God anymore, and how it didn't have any meaning for them anymore. It broke my heart, one, because I could identify with them, and two, because already at a young age God was becoming uninteresting to them. So being the deep thinker I am, I got to thinking why we go through the motions of church? Does it really get that boring? Are we really that unattached? Then I thought the awesome sermon my pastor preached yesterday, it wasn't anything I had never studied for myself, but it's good to be reminded what a good worship service is like. We were in what I call "the joyful book" Nehemiah 8. Here is what my pastor highlighted based on this chapter....yes you need to go read i...

So it's been a rough past 48 hours. I have this bad life pattern that I fall into time and time again. I got called on it today. I expect so much out of myself. When I don't reach my expectation for myself, I loose it. It's all or nothing in my life standards, there is no room to fail, and when I do I give myself Hell. I tell myself I am stupid, and I shame and guilt myself into thinking that there is no hope to fix it. Then as I am falling I don't sleep so I can think I'm getting even more done, and I don't eat because I don't have time to eat, and am accompanied with anxiety attacks, then before I know it I'll be in this state for a week or more. A lot of it has to do with my younger years growing up, I've always struggled with self esteem issues. Teachers have called me stupid, people have just been cruel to me. I guess the mentality I have is, prove that I am a good person, and not stupid. But I end up hating myself more than anyone ever...

"Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith." -Galatians 6:8-10 Lately I feel like I am reaping blessing. The Lord just continues to blow me away, and it's like I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The past 8 or 9 years of my life have been so hard, so toilsome, just fighting and barely hanging on. I've had victories in my life along the way, I've experienced happiness and good things, but nothing compared to the SHOWERS of blessing God is pouring out right now in my life, and I'm overwhelmed and am moved to tears. The song Hezekiah Walker sings, "Faithful is...

"For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior. And I love you" -Isaiah 43:3 When I got out of church today, I had the craving for an apple pie at McDonald's, and I was hungry! You can get 2 pies for $1.00, that is a good deal!! So that is what I did; I whipped into the drive thru and ordered some pies. As I was sitting in the line waiting to pay, I was thinking about the service and the things I had heard this morning, then I thought about all the things in life that make me not want to be a grown up anymore. I was thinking about how I'm in the hole in my bank account, I have late fees on my library card to where I can't use it...and every good college student must have access to the library, I own my school some money...just overwhelming thoughts. In the past I have freaked out over things such as this. But I know the Lord will provide, because my Father owns it all! He has shown himself faithful in giving me a job, and showing me that ...

“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?" -Isaiah 51:12-13 If you remember back in January I highlighted some key points in the book "Radical" that we possess and are given the fruits of the spirit. Many times when we ask for things in our lives, God gives us His Spirit. I stressed that we should not miss that in life, because so many of us do! We go through a trial and we cry out for God to deliver us and when we are still in the midst of the trial we assume God has not answered our prayer, when really HE HAS! He always, always, ALWAYS answers prayers, it's not always yes, which leads people to say he did not answer. When we cry out to G...

"If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." -Psalm 139:8-10 In the original text of St. Patrick's prayer, "Christ beside me" was "Christ on my right, Christ on my left." Cecil Alexander compressed the two lines in the hymn version in 1889, and sacrificed the explicit reminder that Christ is on both sides. Christ makes every step of the journey at our sides, known or unknown. He who walks beside me sees, and my perspective. When you think of small children, they are comforted when their parents are beside them; especially when they are scared, it's reassuring for them. When Jesus is beside us is provides the right kind of reassurance we need, and that we see in so many biblical stories of encounters with divine messengers: "Do not be afraid....