what is God's will for me?

This morning I am going to share with you some thoughts from the devotional I read earlier...

I felt it was worth sharing because of the simplicity and value of the point that was being made by the author..

A question most Christians really wrestle over is 'what is God's will for me.' I feel like most people I know can never really answer this question. Nobody has a specific answer when you ask them this. I bet if you walked around and asked 5 people what they think God's will for them is, that nobody would have a definite answer.

One of the reasons I believe we don't know is because we are too busy worrying about what it is rather than trusting the Father to help us discover what is is.

The Father help us discover his will and the plan he has for us. It's not up to us.

I believe that even when you change your perspective to that, you become more aware of the work that God is doing in your life, and what his will is for you.

8 Ways to Discover God's Will

1. Communion With God Through Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

2. Circumstances of Life (Romans 8:28)

3. Counsel (1 Timothy 1:5)

4. Conscience (Romans 2:14-15)

5. Common sense (Titus 2:11-12)

6. Compulsion (Philippians 2:13)

7. Contentment (Philippians 4:7)

8. Communication With God Through Prayer (Psalm 119:105)

God is continually deploying his resources on your behalf. He's the one who is using all the ways mentioned above to show you his wonderful will for you life.

Don't be afraid about missing the Father's will or misinterpreting what he's trying to say. He's able to speak to you clearly and will empower you to do whatever he calls you to do.

All we really have to do is pay attention. God is giving us his resources and that is what we have to focus on. There is a lot of power in paying attention to what God is showing us vs. worrying about not knowing what God's will us for you.

When you begin to pay more attention, I promise you will start to figure out what God wants for you in your life.

extraordinary love

A God who tenderly searches for sinners and then joyfully forgives them posses an extraordinary love. This is the kind of love that prompted Jesus to come to earth to search for lost people and save them. This is the kind of extraordinary love that God has for you.

Before we become a believer, God is already after us. God has sought after each and every person when they enter the world.

I forget that sometimes...It feels normal to me that God seeks after us once we become saved, but while we are sinners? That is extraordinary love.

As imperfect humans, we are completely incapable of fully understanding this love that God has for us. It's just that extraordinary.

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells the Parable of the Lost Sheep.

Jesus talks about how a shepherd had one hundred sheep and one of them ran off. The shepherd cared so greatly for the sheep that ran off, he left the nitty-nine in the open country. The shepherd was going to do whatever he could to find the lost sheep and when he would find it, they would celebrate.

Jesus told that parable to teach us that there should be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

God's love for the individual is so great that he seeks each one out and rejoices when he or she is found...

I believe that one of the lessons that we can learn here is that Jesus associated with sinners because he wanted to bring the lost sheep - people considered beyond hope - the gospel of God's kingdom.

God wants us to find the lost sheep and bring them to him...this is one of the hardest things. But Jesus really wants us to associate with sinners because there is more joy when they repent vs. when someone doesn't need to.

I honestly struggle with this a lot. When I am in an environment that I am not necessarily comfortable in, I shut down because I don't want to conform to the ways of the world. But I don't need to do that...

I can be in that environment and be me, and still have fun. I can also still have an impact. I can have an impact by being a little different. When I am like everyone else, and someone is a little different, there is something that usually spikes my curiosity. I don't think that is just a me thing either, it believe it's naturally human curiosity.

We can associate with sinners as long as we don't conform.

It's hard sometimes, but I know that the only people who I care about what they think of me is God and my fiancé. I am going to live a life for Christ no matter what the cost is, and I won't change my ways no matter what. Knowing I will be in heaven someday for all of eternity is way more important to me than fitting in for 2 hours. I care about what Rach thinks because she will be my wife someday! She knows me better than I know myself sometimes. When we are officially married it will be a covenant to God and we will always honor God through this season of engagement and forever through our marriage. I would rather be where we are at right now together, than look back 5 years from now and be like...'what took us so long to get here?'

You never know when Christ is going to return and I don't want to get caught up in making some bad choices and not having a chance to repent before it's too late. Our eternity in heaven is more important than a night of fitting in. Never let a night of fitting in affect eternity.

Yeah, that might sound a little extreme...but you seriously never know. Living a life for Christ is all that matters and the end goal is eternity in heaven.

So what exactly do I want you to get from this?

A couple things...The love that God has for us is extraordinary. Before we were believers, God sought you; and he is still seeking those who are yet lost. The other thing...look for the lost sheep. Associate with sinners, but don't conform to the ways of the world. We will be rewarded for not conforming, I am so sure of it. Lastly, remember that entirety in heaven is the end goal here. Don't let a couple nights of fitting in affect forever.

the great invitation

Did you know that God inviting you to a great feast with him...and he is probably still waiting on you to accept the invitation?

Many people turn down this invitation because the timing is inconvenient.

In the world we live in today, we seem to want the things we can have instantly. We lack patience, because there are so many things that we can do at a touch of a button...

My hope after this post is that you accept the invitation before it's too late. If you don't accept it, there will be a time when God will pull his invitation and offer it to others.

Jesus tells the Parable of the Great Feast

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited. 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' "Sir,' the servant said, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." (Luke 14:15-23)

The man sitting at the table with Jesus envisioned the glory of God's kingdom, but he did not yet understand how to have a share in it. We too can resist or delay responding to God's invitation, and our excuses may sound reasonable - work, duties, family responsibilities, financial needs, or other reasons.

Nevertheless, God's invitation is the most important event in our lives, not matter how inconveniently, it may be timed.

What does the invitation look like some may ask? No, you aren't going to be getting a letter in the mail or a Facebook invite. I believe the invitation is everywhere. The Holy Spirit is constantly at work trying to get our attention.

It's a constant invitation for us to be drawn towards the kingdom of God. The best way to find it, is simply to be aware. When you become aware of the work that God is doing, everything will begin to make more sense.

Are you making excuses to avoid responding to God's call?

Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do, especially when we don't want to do it. My hope for you is to respond to the invitation to the greatest event ever. The kingdom of heaven is an event that you won't want to miss.

a lack of productivity

Being productive is what drives humans to draw more near to their goals on a daily basis. Being productive is good for our minds, bodies, and spirits. Without productivity, I don't know if we would ever be able to accomplish anything that we set out to do.

God won't tolerate our lack of productivity forever.

Jesus actually warns us of this in this parable:

"A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)

In this parable, Jesus pointed out what would happen to the other kind of tree-the kind that took valuable time and space and still produced nothing for the patient gardener..

God gives us his time, blesses us with everything we need, and still so often we produce nothing. No matter how patient God has been to us all of our lives, we still seem too often to not produce anything.

We aren't going to be able to continue to live our lives this way. God won't tolerate it forever. Just like how he told the man who watches over the vineyard to cut the tree down if it bears no fruit.

Have you been enjoying God's special treatment without giving anything in return?

If so, respond to the gardeners patient care, and begin to bear the fruit God has created for you to produce.

Thankfully God is patient with us. I don't want you to think that God is going to bring his wrath on you because you haven't been productive. I just want to create a sense of urgency. I want you to start thinking and doing things in return for Christ before it is too late.

To bear fruit for Christ you don't have to give your left arm. Bearing fruit for Christ is giving him some time out of your day. Praying and being thankful for all our abundant blessings. It's loving people and showing others grace, kindness, gentleness, and respect. It's treating people in such a way that is God horning.

It's like anything in life. The productivity and the discipline we need to have everyday is what will help us accomplish all of our wildest dreams. You can't just be productive one day and expect everything to fall into place, it's going to take a persistent commitment from each and every person.

I encourage you to do those little things, and watch the fruit that you will begin to bear.

sings of hypocrisy

There is nothing worse than be called a hypocrite...

When I really became serious about my faith and made God my number one priority, there were people who would question it. Or use my mistakes as ammunition to bring me down. 

I hated when people would make judgments about me based off of past mistakes. I knew where my heart was, but I was still concerned with the opinions of others. I was hurt because I was giving everything to Christ and nobody seemed to notice. I knew I had changed, and hated when people couldn't see past the old mistakes. Nothing was worse than when I would get insulted for writing a blog...it was like nobody could see the new me. 

I haven't been perfect the whole time I have wrote this either. It's been two years now and almost 600 posts. I bet that every one of those days I have lived since I have started writing I have made a mistake. But, everyone one of those days I knew my heart and so did Christ. 

I was able to get over those mistakes because of God's awesome forgiveness. God sees my heart-not other people. 

I was getting caught up in giving other people the power to look at my heart, when they didn't have the ability to understand it. Why give others the power to do something that they are incapable of? 

There are four signs of hypocrisy that are written about in Luke chapter 12:

1. Hypocrisy is knowing the truth but not obeying it...People can say they follow Jesus but not be obedient to his Word.

2. Hypocrisy is living a self-serving life...People may desire leadership only because they love position and control, not because they want to serve others.

3. Hypocrisy reduces faith to rigid rules...People end up worshipping their own rules and regulations about what they think God wants instead of worshipping God himself. 

4. Hypocrisy is outward conformity without inner reality...People can obey the details but still be disobedient in general behavior. 

I want you carefully look at your life. You are not perfect; therefore, at times an action or behavior might provide the ammunition for someone to label you a hypocrite. However, you must discern your own heart. Consider the signs of hypocrisy noted above and make sure you are not guilty. Then ask God to help you live rightly. 

When you remember that you must discern your heart and not allow others to do it, everything changes. You stop worrying about others, you are more confident, and you are more aware of what God is doing. 

I encourage you to really remember this post. It's so incredibly important to not give other people the power of you. God rules over all. Never forget that. 

 

praising God first

When it comes to a relationship with God, it's really easy to ask good to fulfill our needs before we praise His name...

When we ask God to for things in prayers, our hearts always must be right before we ask. The best way to prepare our hearts is to praise God.

Imagine asking your parents for everything you ever wanted, but never being thankful for them or realizing the work that they put it in to get you those things. Most parents do much for their children in order for them to have the best lives they can give us.

Look at this from God's eyes. He sacrificed his one and only son for each and everyone of you so that we could all be free from sin. That makes me want to praise God before anything that I ever ask from him.

...and we have the nerve to ask God for so many things before we even praise his name....

The Lord actually teaches us to pray...

He said to them, "When you pray, say:
"'Father, hallowed be your name, 
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation. (Luke 11:2-4)

Notice the order of this prayer. First Jesus praised God; then he made his requests. Again...praising God first puts us in the right frame of mind to tell him about our needs. Too often our prayers are more like shopping lists than conversations.

I encourage you all to remember that before anything else we need to praise God above all things.

12/27/19 - She said yes

December 27th, 2019 was the best night of my life. I asked the love of my life to marry me.

This post might be a little cheesy but that's okay. I am going to be extremely cheesy in the post because that is how I am and that is the best way to tell the story of our special night....

I'll start with a little bit about the planning process before I get to the night it happened. 

One of the things that Rach wanted when I proposed to her was a time to celebrate with our friends and families. It was the one thing she kept saying over and over again, so I was going to do whatever I had to do to make that happen. 

Around the beginning of November, I had messaged all of her friends on Instagram asking for their phone numbers and telling them about the plans I was starting to make. Rach had told me who she wanted there even longer ago than that and I made sure that I had all of those names down in my phone. 

About a couple weeks after I already had the group message going, Rach sent me her friends names and phone numbers, which was awesome because I was already two steps ahead of her. That was one my main goals when it came to planning this special night. If you know Rach well, you know that she is extremely resourceful and you cannot keep any sort of secrets or surprises from her. She will do everything in her power to figure out what secret you are trying to keep from her.

November 17th is when I asked her parents for permission to marry her. I was so excited for this, and I believed that it was only right that I had both of them there. If I was a mother, I would want to be there for that moment. I asked them at El Pacifico, a restaurant in Ligonier. That is the same restaurant where Rach and I went out to eat the first time I came to her house. 

The next line of business was finding a photographer. I asked my good friend from Bethel, Allie Schweigert, to take the pictures since she lives close to Chicago...she was in.

The other most important thing about the planning process was making sure that the families were there with us. This was such a fun part of it because everyone was so excited for us.

I had all the friends and families invited but didn't have a location picked out yet. This was the hard part. I didn't want a spot where there would be a ton of people around. I knew that Rach wouldn't like that. We don't like to be the center of attention, so I had to be careful about the spot I picked.

I then messaged a family member who lives in Chicago for some help on the spot. She drove all around Chicago and took videos of three spots that would be perfect for an engagement. My favorite video she sent me was the video of the LondonHouse Hotel rooftop...the video was spectacular. 

There were a couple reasons why I knew this spot was perfect....One of Rach's dreams is to go to London. This wasn't London, but it was the LondonHouse Hotel. The rooftop wasn't to crowded either. Like I mentioned before, we don't really like large crowds. Lastly, the view was spectacular. The skyline, river, buildings, and Christmas decorations were everything that Rach would love.

One of the other important details was finding a restaurant that could accommodate the 25 people who were going to be there for dinner. I came across Lou Moulnati's and made reservations there for Friday, December 27th at 7:30. 

December 16th I believe was the date the I finalized all the plans...

December 27th, 2019 - 

We woke up around 6:15 to get ready and leave. We left for Chicago around 7:15 and were so excited for the day that we had planned. 

We stopped and got two pieces of breakfast pizza and two coffees 10 minutes into the drive. A perfect way to start the day!

The drive went super well and we got to Chicago around 8:50. We parked in the parking garage and went to get breakfast from this place called the Goddess and the Baker. It was such a cute spot and we had a really good coffee and a tasty treat. 

After breakfast, we went to see the bean and then ice skated. It was the first time we had ever ice skated together. Ice skating was something that we had wanted to do since last year at this time but we never got the opportunity to do so. 

I had originally thought about proposing while ice skating, but there were way too many people around  and I don't know if I could have gotten down on one knee while ice skating. I wish you all could've seen Rach ice skate! It was her first time and she did so well and it was one of my favorite memories with her that we have had together. 

Next, we went to the Christmas markets in Wrigleyville. But before we did that, we say this Christmas bar called Rudolph's. We went there and split an appetizer and took a ton of pictures because it was beautiful inside! We were so happy sitting in there because we both love anything that is Christmas related.

The Christmas market was a ton of fun as well. We got some mulled wine, and walked around a little bit. My favorite memory from the Christmas market was buying a large ornament with the skyline of Chicago painted on it. That ornament is something that we will always cherish together. 

When we left the market it was about 3 o'clock. I was starting to get a little nervous. When we turned on the road that the hotel was on, my heart started racing because I could see the rooftop, right where everything was going to happen...our check in was at 4:00 and I told Rach that I wanted to be on the rooftop at 4:25 so that we could see the sunset and have a drink. 

I was starting to get super nervous at this point. I was kinda rushing her...something I never do. I was filled with so much excitement and nervousness that I don't really remember what was going on in my head at that point. I just wanted to get on the rooftop in time. 

I've ran out on the floor for many big basketball games before but nothing compared to the feeling of walking out to the rooftop...

When we got to the top of the rooftop, we looked at the view, and talked for a minute or two...then I wanted to take her up to the spot where I was going to propose. 

We walked up the steps, stood at the corner and I was already feeling extremely emotional. I originally was going to read her a letter that I wrote but there was not a chance that I was going to be able to read it without balling my eyes out. I was starting to cry and I had hardly said any words yet. 

I looked Rach in the eyes, asked her if she figured out what we were doing up there and I told her that I was going to love her like no other for the rest of my life. Then I asked her if she would marry me and she said yes! 

As soon as she said yes, we turned around and my friend Allie and her brother were right there recording and taking pictures of the whole thing. While we were taking pictures our families came up on the rooftop as well. 

I had it planned that they were actually all waiting on the other side of the rooftop...

I'll never forget Rach's face when she saw our families coming out on the rooftop together. 

The feeling I felt was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was amazing how much love I felt for Rach. I really can't put it into words. 

After we took pictures, we sat in the restaurant at the hotel with our families for about an hour and a had and it was such a perfect time to sit there with our families and celebrate our special night together. 

Around 6, we left and went to the chocolate store and while walking to dinner we came across a Friends pop up. This was perfect for Rach and her mom and sister because they are huge Friends fans! 

Seeing the Friends pop up was like the cherry on top. It wasn't planned but fit so perfectly into our night. 

Walking to dinner was freezing. Our walk was only half a mile but it seemed like we walked 2 miles. I was so excited to get to dinner because all of your friends were going to be there and Rach had no idea. When we finally got to the restaurant we walked up the stairs, peeked our heads around the corner and all of our friends were there. It was so special to see all of them and especially for Rach because she hadn't seen some of her friends in months. 

Once we finished dinner we went to another Christmas bar and had a really fun time with our friends, and then when I went to sleep that night, I had never been happier in all my life. 

It was the most perfect, and best night of our lives. 

Also - thanks again to everyone who was a part of our special night. It meant the world to Rach and I that our friends and family were able to be there to celebrate with us. It was a night that we will never forget.  

Fast-forward to the 28th and we got breakfast with my parents that morning in Chicago at the Grand Lux Cafe. Waking up Saturday morning I felt like I had never felt before. I felt like I had grown up so much in a matter of a couple hours. The excitement was so real and it will be for the rest of our engagement season of life.

After breakfast we went shopping with my parents for a little bit and it was super fun. Then we went to the restaurant called Happy Camper. Spending the first day with my new fiancé in Chicago was so surreal. It felt like a dream the entire time.

The Lincoln Park Zoo was the final thing on our list to do during our memorable weekend. We went when it was still light out, we got to see some animals, and the conservatory. As soon as it got dark, we walked around and looked at the amazing zoo lights. It was such a magical night. 

Rach and I want to thank everyone who reached out to us to congratulate us. It means the world to have so many loving and caring people in our lives. 

Here's to forever.