Open Our Eyes~

Most summers, I prefer lying lazily by the pool, rewatching old cartoons, or climbing under my covers and just sleeping. However, this summer, a book flew into my hands and I'm loving it. The 400 page novel tells the chilling tale of two women caught in the communist regime in Afghanistan, from 1972-1992, and their continued stories afterwards, when a series of cultural civil wars break out in spite of a the government's desperate efforts.

The book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, has really opened my eyes to the horrors that happen behind the closed doors of other countries.  I think as Americans, living life in the world's greatest country, protected from the worldly dangers other countries are exposed to, we turn a blind eye to the closed doors of those other countries.  At this point, we assume that what happens behind those closed doors MUST be good, because many of us, including myself, HAVE NEVER BEEN EXPOSED to the worldly horrors that are realities to many people around the world.

In Afghanistan, teenage girls are taken as early as 13ish to become wives to men they've never met.  Girls are raised to become mothers, and many don't have the option to become educated.  73% of the Afghan people lack clean water. 95% lack sanitation.

Today, I pray that my eyes would continue to be opened to the worldly horrors that hide behind the closed doors of foreign countries, and I pray that willing Americans would seek to open these doors, and that we would rejoice in thanksgiving for all of the countless ways we've been blessed as Americans.

Matthew 7:7-8 says, 7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." This week, pray with me. Let's ask God to be with the all of the missionaries who are helping foreigners come to know Christ, and who are working to expose and stop the problems ravaging foreign countries.

I'm back!

I know~I'm late! Let's just say I've been busy.  I am proud to say, however, that I have officially embarked on a biblical journey, and should have the bible read front-to-cover in a years time.  So I don't really have a simple encouragement to share with you guys. Just wanted to remind you all that YOU PEOPLE CAN WRITE TOO.  Email me ANYTHING! I'll be trying to get the word out too. Have an awesome day and God bless.

Email List!

There's been a slight communication error, as commenting is rather difficult on this blogging site, but to make viewing the posts easier, and to keep all of you up to date, I am going to create an email list of people to send updates to.  If you want to be on this list, shoot me a confirmation email at ec99robinson@gmail.com ASAP.  Tell your friends people! Also~wanna write? Lemme know. 

Back in Orbit~

Time and time again, I remember getting lessons and corny lectures about how life was a journey of ups and downs, a roller coaster ride. I felt as if I was being condemned to that kind of lifestyle-one where I couldn't be happy all of the time.  (You know-rainbows and butterflies...)  But thinking back, I'm grateful for those wise forewarnings.  Realization hit me recently, and I have come to understand that emotional highs in life, aren't always spiritually beneficial.  I had been so caught up in a bustling summer, enjoying myself, that my spiritual game had fallen under.  After gentle reflection, I now realize that my fault-seemingly small to me, but a heart-breaking fault to God, was dangerous, as it was slowly breaking the seams of my precious relationship with God.  I had gotten so caught up in the world, ever since probably late April, early May, that ever so slowly, God and his word started drifting out of my orbit, floating away, even though he knew I needed him.  I let school, hobbies, and, well, life knock God right out of my world.  But wait? My world?  That was the real problem. Not only was I slowly leaving God in the dust, but sad as it is, I wasn't even in the right position.  I had swapped places with God, stolen his position as Centerfield.  Today, I want to give that position back to the Great "I Am".  God knows it's to much stress, anyway.  We all have those times in our life when we slowly let God drift away from our hearts, and lately, I've been letting him drift.  But this upcoming week, I pray that I would realign in spiritual devotion, and reembark on the journey of discipleship.  I can't let a small hiccup in God's great plans stop me all together!

Journeying with Christ~

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."  I think this verse shows all of us that as long as we are journeying with God, the road ahead of us, although maybe shaky, will be beneficial.  However, every road is different.  Some roads will diverge, and God will expect us to choose which is right, based on our biblical knowledge, and love for Christ.  Others will twist and turn and try to throw us in a frenzy of disbelief and unfaithfulness. However, as this verse clearly portrays, our journey here on Earth will be prosperous, each hurdle NOT meant to harm us, but to help us thrive in a society where the name "Jesus Christ" is slowly melting away as wickedness begins gripping people's hearts.  As we journey with God, we must realize that every thing that happens to us is only benefitting out future, and not just our earthly future, but our eternal future.

Prayer & Missions~POST BY: Madeline MacKinnon

We, as believers, have the highly important role of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a special command.  Christ has given us a job of spreading His word- to not only to one nation, but to ALL the nations. It says clearly in Matthew 28, "Therefore go and make dicsiples of All nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surly I am with you always, to the very end of the age." This is our calling as believers! Though we may not be able to go to every nation, a powerful tool that we can use is PRAYER.  During your quiet times with the Lord, pick a country, city, or a place and pray specifically for it that day. We can reach every nation and move the powerful hand of God through the mighty tool of prayer.  Jesus also says in Matthew chapter 13 in the Parable of the Sower "Still others fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown." So, as we pray for this crooked and depraved generation, we can also pray that seeds sown by believers would fall on good soil. The Lord is worthy of our obedience to Him- so let's faithfully obey His commands- let's be peaceful and prayerful through the journey. Though we are undeserving of it, God is so continually faithful to us, so shouldn't we be faithful to Him? The God who is always deserving of glory, honor and praise? People are desperate- they NEED a Savior- whom we know- and His powerful name is Jesus Christ. 

Kylie's Story~Bound in Prayer

Kylie Pitzer, now a friend of mine after meeting her this past year, has an amazing testimony to share with us. I started praying for Kylie back in February. I didn't even know Kylie on a personal level at the time, but something within me told me that she needed prayer. I had been following her on Instagram, and saw that she labeled herself as bisexual, and that she was being blinded by some of her closest friends.  I decided to give prayer a shot, and pray for her. I only knew Kylie through one class, and her Instagram activity became less and less frequent, so there was no obvious way to see the result of my hopeful prayers.  However, about two or three weeks ago, I began seeing that Kylie was posting bible verses on Instagram. I grew curious. After a very personal conversation in which I explained the beautiful change in Kylie's character and heart, she told me that she found God four months ago, back in February.  The power of prayer was revealed to both her and me! I hope you find Kylie's story as encouraging as I do.

Kylie~My name is Kylie, and I’m here to share the story of how I met God.      

Overall, my life was pretty good. Not many bad things happened to me, but when something bad did happen, it was HORRIBLE. Most people struggle with their parents saying "no" after asking to go to the movies. I, on the other hand, struggled with physical, verbal and mental abuse. Having said this, I lost my mind, and all of this quickly created a snowball-like effect. Within 2 years, I had encountered depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts/actions. I remember screaming at God, telling him to just let me die.

I had always believed in a creator. I always knew someone started this world; but because of my mental inquisitiveness, I questioned everything. I would talk to God, asking him, “Why can’t I just be like everyone else? Why can’t I naturally believe in you, and all of the things you did?” I never did find answers.

It took one year for me to start seeing the light. God didn’t let me die, because He always finishes what He starts. Night after night I talked to God, praying for the strength it would take to build a relationship with him.

I then started middle school, where people decided to delineate who I was. My life spun out of control in a heartbeat.

I was so lost that I even began to think I was bisexual. It was a societal label that just seemed to fit.  It wasn't long before I figured out that that was the moment that I hit rock bottom. It was as if Satan had completely obliterated my mind, controlling every aspect of my life.  After a few weeks of believing I was bisexual, I figured out that it was not at all who I was. This is when I went to my family's traditional Catholic Church, and had a personal conversation with the Pastor. He told me things that I hold dear to my heart, things that I will never forget... To this day, I still go to that church.

"Worthless" was another label I experienced in Middle School, along with "Fat" and "Ugly".  I slowly started to believe it. Yet, I didn’t give up on God. I knew it was the devil, trying to take me again, trying to preserve my mind. I decided that maybe all of these things were true. Maybe I was ugly. Maybe I was fat. But I knew that I was never worthless, for I had Jesus. 1 John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” The Cross makes everyone flawless.

If you can be healed, if you can have all of your sins forgiven, if you can wake up every day with a heart full of righteousness… why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t one want this going on in their life? My advice to you is to get saved. Meet Him now, greet Him later.