Drawer Two: Promises

There is a story in the Bible about a man named Abraham. He was a man after God's own heart and God promised to make him the father of many nations. There was one problem, his wife, Sarah was barren, meaning she could have no children.

One would think, how will Abraham become the father of many nations if his wife can't even have children?! Sounds ludicrous to me! However, God promised ! Abraham was even confused saying, " You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir". And God said,

"This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir". He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars- if indeed you can count them." Then He said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Abraham believed God and trusted in His promise. When God promises something He means it! Remember that!

God has promised to us ladies that if we are seeking Him first in every aspect of our lives, including our love lives, He will bless us. Having the desire of wanting a husband one day is a praise-worthy desire, but we must WAITTT till God brings HIM to US. Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord". Keyword here ladies, is HE, not us, as in us going to search him out, but HE! Just like Abraham, God has promised us something special and we have to be more than willing to wait and be patient.

Back to the story! Time passes and Sarah, Abraham's wife, reminds him that she can not have children, so she suggest to Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant. He agreed and slept with Hagar. Hagar soon was with child and gave him the name, Ishmael. Sarah began to despise Hagar because of what was done.

However, Ishmael was not the child that God had promised Abraham. God's covenant with Abraham would not be fulfilled through his son Ishmael. God soon opened Sarah's womb and she gave birth to Isaac, whom the promise would manifest through.

As Isaac grew, things between Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael were becoming shaky. Sarah was over this living arrangement and wanted Hagar and Ishmael gone pronto and this broke Abraham's heart because Ishmael was his son as well. However being obedient to God, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away into the wilderness.

You see the promise from God was going to be fulfilled through Isaac and not Ishmael. If Ishmael would have stayed, who knows what drama would have started because of that!

We all have our Ishmaels ladies. What do I mean by this? Ishmaels are those guys we date thinking they are our Isaac. We date them for various reasons (including me) like, to fill voids, to feel accepted, to feel loved/cherished/appreciated,etc but the wholetime we know we should not be with them. We would rather listen to our flesh as opposed to what God wants. Ishmael was born out of the flesh and Isaac was born out of the spirit.

Sometimes our Ishmaels look like they could turn into our Isaac's eventually if we just give it time. Did that work for Abraham? I think not! God said the promise would not be fulfilled through Ishmael, but rather Isaac! So stop dating these randoms; they only add drama to your life. Abraham witnessed this drama within his own household and he suffered the consequences of having to force his own son to leave his house. The same applies to us when we have to break up with the random. It only leaves us with pain. But just like Abraham, we have to be willing to be obedient by cutting off those Ishmaels and trusting that God will bring our Isaac to us in the future.

So why don't we just wait, instead of doing what Abraham did and trying to pull a fast one on God? Why don't we just wait for our Isaac and stop dating these counterfeit Ishmaels? I'd rather wait for my promise from God, instead of creating my own promise. So what I have decided to do is chill, seek God and rest in the promises of Him. Care to join me?

Besos,

Kay Godd <3

The College Student: New Semester = New Me and New Opportunities

As each new semester draws near, we tend to approach it how we approach the New Year. Statements like "New Year, New Me" or "I'm ready to make some changes in this New Near" fill the mouths of hopeful people that this year will be better than the last. We look to create healthier lifestyles for ourselves which includes going to the gym more and cutting back on oily, saturated foods. We long for more opportunities in this New Year.

......Fast forward to March and we are already back to our old habits. What happened to cutting off those relationships that only stunted our growth and held us back? What happened to putting down those cheeseburgers and choosing healthier entrees so that we could live long, meaningful lives? We promised ourselves that we would cut back on spending money frivolously and start investing in our future.


These same tendencies we seem to do and say when the New Year begins, happens for us college students. In the beginning of a new semester, everyone is filled with excitement, vigor, and hope. Declarations fill my Twitter and Facebook timeline including statements like: "I am going to get a 4.0 this semester!" ,"I am going to create relationships with people who have goals", or "I'm going to seize every opportunity and expand my network". BUT just like our New Years resolutions, reality kicks in and March rolls around....and things start getting hard. Midterms are in full swing, projects are due left and right, organizations and extra-curricular activities are consuming your time and by the time you know it, it is May and you are looking back wondering where time went because you barely accomplished what you set out to accomplish in the beginning of the semester. Let's face it, school can be verrrryyy overwhelming and stressful!

However do not fret! There is hope! Let's look at some things we can do to help us maximize our semester and with God's help, see our dreams and goals come to past this semester and the semesters to come! (Not in any order of importance).

1. Humble yourself- What do I mean by this? One might say "I am humble, I am the most humble person I know". Are you? By that statement alone it does not sound like it. Humble yourself, in the sense of humbling yourself to Jesus. Submit and humble yourself to God's authority. Do not think to highly of yourself. 1 Peter 5:6 says, "So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor." God says he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If we humble ourselves, God will lift us up in His perfect timing. So when your waiting for that internship/full time job offer, continue to humble yourself and seek God asking for HIS favor. Seek for HIS elevation, not elevation from man.
2. Become a servant- I always see on my timeline people saying "I just want to be great" and that is a great statement because God has put that innate desire within us to be great. God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and to have DOMINION over the Earth. So that desire in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes a problem when we try to be great in our own strength and without Jesus. God said if you want to be great, Become a servant.  Mark 10:43 states, "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant". In Matthew 23:11 it says, "The greatest among you must be a servant". So you want to be great? Learn to serve. Community service is a great start!
3. Seek first the Kingdom of God- Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." We gotta be seeking God, day and night; seeking God on what classes we should take, seeking Him on what professors we should chose, and what sections. Our eyes have got to be focused on God and God alone, nothing else matters! Once we do this, God will do His part. It's a promise!
   
4. Speak life- Words are very powerful. It says in Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth by SPEAKING it into existence. Since we are made in His image and likeness, our words have power! Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." You want that 4.0? Speak it and believe it! You can't expect to get a 4.0 if you are always saying "I'm dumb or I can't do this". NO! YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU!
5. Pray- Ask God to help you in every area of your life, whether that area be something as small as helping you lose weight. No prayer is every too stupid for Him. He cares and wants to know every last detail of how you are feeling (even though He already knows ;) )
6. Watch your company-You say you want to be around better people and have more positive friends, yet you continue to associate with those who continually speak negatively, have bad attitudes, and pretty much do things that are not advancing their life in any way. How are you guys friends again? You must have something in common. In the book of Amos it poses the question of how can two walk together unless they agree? How can you walk with these people unless you agree with their bad habits?.....In some way, shape, and form you do. Remember the saying, one bad apple spoils the bunch? 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, "Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for "bad company corrupts good character."" It may be time to cut those off who are not adding nothing but baggage and a whole lot of regret to your life. Easier said than done, but not impossible.
   
7. Don't stress!- Be anxious for nothing, but with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving make your request known to God! (Philippians 4:6) Don't stress! I know it's easier said than done, but if you think about it, what does stress really do for you? Doesn't it just make you feel worse about the situation? Instead, why not pray about that exam  and presentation that is coming up and trust that God has your back! Why not rest in the fact that God wants you to have peace in every situation, including academic situations?
   
8. Sow good things- To think that we could trick God! HA! Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap."  So I have good news and bad news for you. If we are sowing good seeds, like helping others and putting others before ourselves and forgiving others, God will do just the same to us. He will return to us what we have planted, our harvest should be plentiful! However, if you sow bad things, do not expect a good harvest.
9. Be happy- For Pete's sake! Be happy! Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder every day. Enjoy this wonderful life. Don't let school consume you, that you forget to take advantage of the little things in life. Decide to participate in extra-curricular activities that you may not have chosen before. Take advantage of the array of programs and clubs while you are on campus. Encourage others as your walking on campus throughout the day. You never know what someone else is going through, so one smile may change their whole day! 
   
10. LIVE - Our worth in life does not amount to how many books we cram down our throats in order to prepare for a test the night before or the project that we have been working on for about three weeks. Our worth is in God and He longs to give us a life of freedom that is not bound by the things of this world. Yes, it's important to get our work done, however when your "work" becomes your idol in a sense, God is not pleased. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Jesus came that we might have life and have it more ABUNDANTLY !  Abundant means: existing or available in large quantities; plentiful. God wants us to enjoy this life, so enjoy it! 

Some of you may be saying to yourself "uhhhhgg, why is she using so much scripture". Well, the Bible is thee book of life. It's a book that shows us how to live the most best possible life ever! The Bible is a way of life; a lifestyle. That being said, in order for you and I to maximize each new year and new semester, we MUST read this book (along with other things, like praying, etc) and meditate on it daily! We say we want all these blessings and to live a life that is pleasing to God, yet never read at least one scripture per day? THATS WEAKKKK!

I did not create this list to exhaust you and make you feel like omg I have to do all these things to please God! MMMM yes and no. These things do honor God, however God does not have a checklist in His hand thinking to himself Sally didn't complete #5, therefore she ain't getting blessed today! That is farrrr from the truth. This list is simply a guide to show you all that God longs to do for your life and how you can access that wonderful life that He has already planned for you! That 4.0 you long for, that healthier body you strive for, and that internship that you crave are all great things and God wants to do that for you, but He can't do that if some things in your life aren't in check.

So what can we do? A good start is to read just one verse a night and by getting to know God, you will start to develop a relationship with Him. By having a relationship with God, you will begin to understand what God wants to do for you in this new semester and the many doors HE will open for you in order for HIS perfect will to be accomplished, not your will.

So let's make a vow to ourselves that this semester will not be business as usual, but that we will seek change and opportunities and that once the semester is over, we will look back in wonder at all of things God did for us.  When the end of the semester approaches, let us hope that we all can  say that this semester's mantra was truly New Semester = New Me and New Opportunities! Care to join me?




Besos,

Kay Godd <3

Drawer One: Taking the Role of the Passenger

Beep Beep Beep Beep goes my alarm. "Its 7:45, nooooo!!", I thought to myself.

My eyes flashed open and my heart beat fast to the rhythm of the vibration of the cellphone alarm.

As I lied in my bed for another couple of minutes with the alarm still buzzing off, I thought to myself, "What did I do yesterday and why do I feel so empty inside ?” After some minutes of contemplation, I groggily turned over to turn off the obnoxious reminder that it was in fact 7:45 in the morning and it was time for me to wake up and prepare for my Winter class yet another day.

I typed my password into my phone and went straight to the Bible Application. Up popped the verse of the day, Mark 8:34,35:

   
"Then calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it." NTL

Yesterday afternoon, my boyfriend and I broke up. If you have ever been in a relationship before and you all are no longer together, you may understand what I am experiencing right now; a whole lot of confusion, mixed with sadness, and a basket full of unanswered questions. Today as I was in class, all I could think about was ,Why God? Why God, in the sense of, why was he not the one for me and why in the world did You tell me end it? Everything in my eyes was great!

Let me tell you a little about my ex-boyfriend. Sounds kind of strange me saying that now, mehh, but lets begin. In my eyes, he was everything. He was smart, kind, respectful and pretty much had it going on. I thought for SURREEEE he was the man of my dreams. However, even in the beginning of our relationship, I felt this almost nagging feeling or a better way to put it, I felt this pit in my stomach and it would not go away , no matter how much I tried. I did my best to get rid of this feeling for a couple of months, but the feeling did not cease. Instead the feeling magnified.

I won’t bore you with the gruesome details, maybe in another post, however long story short I knew that, that feeling I was experiencing was from the Holy Spirit telling me to break off the relationship.

How many of you all have ever bargained with God? What I mean by that is that you are like, Ok God, if you do this ____, then I’ll do this___. Well yeah, I have been playing this little game with God since my ex-boyfriend and I got together. As I prayed, I told God, God, if you don’t want me to be with him, then show me today , or tomorrow, or next week in some way and make it blatant. So God, probably laughing at me because He knew my intentions were not so pure, gave me more signs than I could possibly image. However, I chose to ignore them because I made myself believe they were all coincidental. HOW IGNORANT! I so badly wanted to be with him and I wanted God to agree with me SO BADLY! However, I knew He did not.

In the Message version of Mark 8:34-37, it reads,

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"Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?”

After reading that, I still have the same reaction that I had when I first read it. WOWWW! So you mean to tell me, if I want Jesus in my life and claim to want to follow His will, I have to let Him lead? Lead in every situation? Including my romance life? Romance/Dating, being one of the most important and scariest portions of my life, your telling me that I  need to let You lead and that I am in the passenger’s seat just along for the ride? UGHHHHHHH! That’s how I feel, still. UHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!

I love it when it says in the NTL version , "you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me." This one sentence alone made my stomach sink early this morning at 7:45am. I knew exactly, well at least part of the reason why I had to break up with my boyfriend. I needed to turn away from my selfish ways and ambitions because my eyes were not focused on Jesus! Jesus was telling me, (my personal translation)  “Yooo wake up! I am trying to save you from yourself and your own selfish desires! Give up your life to me and you will gain it all!”

I would be lying to you all if I said I was really happy about the breakup and that I am feeling great. This is farrrrrrr from the truth. I am still hurt and I may be feeling this way for awhile. Am I disappointed? YOU BET!!! However, despite my feelings and selfish ways, I would rather let Jesus lead and guide me in my love life. Why? Well because He has already prepared the way for me and knows exactly what I need and when I need it. TIMING IS EVERYTHING (Girllluhh that’s another blog post in and of itself lol) but really and truly I believe that. I believe that God knew from the start that I WAS NOT suppose to be with him and wanted to save me from all of the heartache that I am experiencing right now, hence Him sending the Holy Spirit to keep pricking and prodding at my heart day after day.

So what does this mean for me and you? This means that we should take a step back and analyze with God what has happened and what you gleaned from this experience. Do I regret being with him? Absolutely not! I learned so much , however was me being with him apart of God’s plan for me? I like to think it was not, but God always works everything for my good, even in my mess (Romans 8:28). That being said, I have taken time to ask God for His forgiveness in disobeying Him, when I knew clearly it was God telling me to not be with him. Cry for a little bit (it's very ok to cry, let it out girl!) but get up in the morning and start a new day with God! This is a glorious life that God has given you so don’t spend to much time sulking (preaching to myself at this very moment lol).

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Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

So pick your head up princess, your tiara is slipping a little. You are a princess of the King and He loves you dearly, so don’t give up on Him. He adores YOU!!!! Trust Him with your life. Trust that He has the perfect man for you, just wait and be patient. And let me reemphasize, WAITTTTT for God to bring HIM to you . In the meantime, I am letting go the reigns of my love life and taking the role of the passenger. Care to join me?

Besos,

Kay Godd <3