5/25/17

14 Years Ago- My Story of Adoption


14 years ago, I came alive.

After Mom and Dad put me to bed, 5-year-old me opened my eyes and prayed for the eyes of my heart to be opened. I guess I saved important decisions for bedtime thinking. Not much has changed.

I don't remember what led me to this decision. I don't remember many of the thoughts leading up to the night I prayed on my bed in the dark. God called my soul, though, and I answered.


I didn't stop at the ABCs of faith. I don't think that I even went over those steps. I simply recognized that without Jesus, I am dead. Without God's grace, I will struggle and struggle without true life. I wanted to do life with God.

14 years ago, God adopted me into His family. He took away all of my sins (sins like stealing candy every day while Mom slept) and clothed me with his goodness. He claimed me forever as a loved daughter of God. He is still claiming me.

What makes my heart smile even more is what I prayed after I received new life. I prayed that God would come and change every aspect of my little life. I realized that being God's princess meant that I would live differently. I would obey Him with all I am.

I prayed over everything in my 5-year-old life including obedience to my parents, love for my sisters, faithfulness (aka, not complaining) in school and dance, and joy in church. I don't distinctly remember everything, but I remember that the prayer lasted for, what seemed to me then as, eternity.

I treasure these fragments of memories. They remind me that nothing has changed. Every day, God still challenges me (and you) to surrender everything we have to Him, not because of some meaningless rule-book but because WE HAVE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. Won't we want to walk step-in-step with Him?

14 years later, I prayed again. I rejoiced in how far God has brought me. Oh, He has done marvelous things! I surrendered the things in my 19-year-old life to Him. He is trustworthy. He is the Life-Giver. He is worthy.



Step by step, let us surrender to His will and ways, not because of guilt or routine but because of His life that shine in every aspect of our being. Let us, in light of our adoption into God's family, rejoice in how we can live grace in everything.

I guess the theme of this blog started 14 years ago where I prayed for the first time to live out grace in everything. Let us not give up.

Princess Hannah
Hannah
2 Comments

5/18/17

How Sweet it Is to Trust in God


God is trustworthy.  He never fails to deserve our complete and joyful trust. His ways are perfect; there is no flaw in them.

I can't see those truths clearly now, but I see them clearer than before.

As I reflected upon this past school year, I realized that trusting God united all of the lessons I learned



I faced the truth that my future won't necessarily involve marriage/dating, at least not in my preferred timeline. 

I realized that the career I'm set upon isn't set in stone. God could call me elsewhere, and I would be joyful in that. 

I realized that trusting God means not being in control. Like breaking my foot. 

In all of these things, I see God's Spirit in me, leading me toward a greater joy in trusting God. He wants to lead You in this trust as well. Isn't that exciting?

Join with me in this prayer, a prayer inspired by a Bible study I did on trusting God. Say it out loud if you can. Investigate scripture that speaks truth into your worries about the future. Start with Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 16:1-4, Matthew 6:19-34, Romans 15:13, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Philippians 4:4-7, Hebrews 13:8, and 1 John 3:2-3.




Father, 

You are all-knowing. Nothing takes You by surprise or catches You off guard. You have written out the Story of the world, including my small part. You have taken time to plan every day of mine before I took a breath in this world. You plan it perfectly, too. Not like I would.

Oh, how good You are and worthy of trust. 

Oh, how good it is for me to trust You. 

But this is hard. I like to know, to control. I like neat lists and a good five year plan. In the moment, I am prone to worry about every little thing. I worry about my body, friendships, schooling, career, family, and even the weather and how it will change my daily schedule. 

What would it look like, though, if I followed Your ways and didn't worry? What if I walked into the storm confidently obeying You and trusting You to either provide an umbrella or teach me to dance in the rain? What if I took every chance I got to bear Your fruit and have joy in Your Spirit?



Thank You for being You, a good, loving, all-knowing Author of the greatest Story ever. Thank You for never changing. Thank You for Your Spirit who is helping me to walk in trust and live with courage. 

May Your name shine in my life, wherever You lead me, 

Your Princess




What has God been teaching (or challenging) you about trust? 

Princess Hannah
Hannah
8 Comments

5/3/17

Trusting God in Times of Stress: An Infographic


It's that time of year again. Finals. Big projects. Late nights. Empty coffee cups piling up.

Who is our companion during this time?

Stress.

It's simply assumed that we students will be stressed during the end of the school year. We go into this season expecting anxiety and all-nighters. We don't always fight the approaching worries. Instead we tweet about them and complain to our friends.

What if I told you that we didn't need to be stressed? What if this year we didn't give into overwhelming anxiety or nervousness?

What if this year we kicked stress in the butt and completely trusted in God? 

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

Matthew 6:33-34

These are familiar verses to many of us, but what if we lived like they were true and trustworthy? How would we go into this last stretch of the school year if we based our lives off of those verses and God's trustworthiness?

I made a little infographic to help illustrate how we can approach stress differently as children of God.





How will you go into finals? What truths will you cling to? What verses will guide you? Will your response to stress be the same as the world or set apart?

Princess Hannah
Hannah
22 Comments
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