This is my life. This is what God taught me. Counseling from God’s Word

When the Life Action team came last week we prayed for revival and we prayed for repentance.  We prayed that God would bring revival to us and that He would show us the sins that we need to repent of.  One of the reasons that Life Action goes around to churches and schools in America is because they need revival.  We need God to rid us of ourselves and break us so that He is all we need and want.  To some people that might sound extreme but maybe that’s what we need, extreme, radical faith and radical obedience to God so that our lives would bring glory to Him alone.  Not for the purpose of legalism but just because He deserves it and that is what He desires of us! David prayed in the Psalms search me and know my heart...wash me and make me white as snow...purify me....let me know if there is any wicked way within in me...lead me in the way everlasting.  If you look in the Bible so many of the followers of Christ had a broken spirit.  David prayed a br...

  There are a lot of lies you can listen to and believe.  I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel like I’m not a good person that God would want to use anybody but me.  Sometimes I feel like I’ve made too many mistakes and God’s going to be like nope I’m using someone else but of course I know He would never do that!  A lot of times I play the comparison game and compare myself to other people and think they are so much better than me or their life is so much better than mine. I don’t know about you but it’s so easy to live your life in fear.  We have so many opportunities to do things that we believe God is telling us to do or that He wants us to do or things that we even want to do but because of fear we hold back and don’t do it! There’s fear of a lot of things, fear of rejection, fear of failure.  There are times when I could do something and I think but I don’t know how or what if I do it wrong or what if they reject me? You can’t let fear rule y...

Hey y’all this is something that has been on my heart lately!  We need to follow the Bible and what it says no matter how we feel! We need to follow God and His Word even when the culture or cultural standards change.  Because God’s Word is based on His Truth and His Truth never changes! We may not always understand why He is asking us to do something but we can trust He knows best!  We need to ask God like David did to search our heart and show us our sin.  One of my mentors used to tell me that I need to pray that God would give me a distaste for my sin.  We need to have a distaste is everything that is not of God! We need to hate our sin.  We need to love God and love others.  We need to see them as God sees them.  We need to be a servent.  We need to be humble.  We need there to be less of us and more of God.  We need to repent and turn back to our first love!  Y’all the only thing that matters in this life is Jesus! Withou...

Y’all I don’t know how much more I can take of everything changing so much. It seems like so many people I’ve known and grown to love are leaving southwestern whether it be by force or by choice.  I’m thankful that God never changes and that He always has us in His hands and that He always has a plan for us.  We may not be able to see it now but He has a plan for us to use us for His Glory! Friends let’s keep our eyes on Christ and pointing others to Christ!  Let us live our life in a way that wherever He calls us to go and whatever He calls us to do we would be willing to follow Him and do whatever it is he asks us to do!

If there's one thing that I have learned since coming back to being a student on campus in the fall it's that everything changes.  You can't keep things in your life from changing anymore than you can keep the seasons from changing.  It's definitely been sad not having Dr. Patterson and Mrs. Patterson at the seminary but I know through everything that has been happening that God still has a plan for Southwestern and the students and staff there.  Some things are so different.  I don't see some of my friends as much or at all even maybe.  Some of the friendships I had before are not the same now as they were before.  I have made new friendships.  God is using me in new ways, ways I could have never imagined and is helping me to get out of my comfort zone.  He is teaching me how to love others and how to care for others more than myself and how to serve others.  Everything that happens in our life, even though we may not always see the purpose ...

I don’t know if you ever feel like you are alone.  I don’t know if you ever just get sad or discouraged.  I don’t know if you ever feel incomplete or lacking satisfaction or peace but I can tell you that I know who you can turn to during those times.  Some people might not be satisfied with this answer or they may think it seems to easy but I can tell you I have felt this way at times also and the only person who can give you complete joy and satisfaction is Christ.  There’s nothing better than spending time in the presence of Christ! Pray to Him and tell Him how you are feeling.  Listen to His Holy Spirit and when you feel His conviction repent and turn from your sin and turn to Christ! He loves you more than anybody else ever will.  When we sin or make mistakes and it seems like people never really forget it Christ completely forgives you and doesn’t remember your sin any more. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressio...

Tonight I was given the opportunity to sing and play Koke’e at the seminary tonight.  It is a song about the beauty of Kauai and the beauty of Waimea. I wanted to sing this song because Hawaii is my heart.  I love the people and the culture there.  I love the beauty that it is.  My performance of it wasn’t perfect but I hope that when you listen to it you will hear and see the beauty that is Hawaii and will grow a love for the Hawaiian people.  Thankful to live life with y’all! Aloha! 💖🌺🤙🏼

Sometimes it can feel like your life is overwhelming, like you are constantly making mistakes.  Sometimes you can feel like you’re not good enough.  Even when you can see God working in your life and changing you from who you were into He wants you to be, and making you more like Himself, it can seem like the devil tries to bring your past back into your face.  He tries to tell you that you haven’t changed and that God can’t use you.  Don’t listen to his lies!  God’s love for your is unchanging and is greater than the lies of the enemy!  He loves you with a love that is incomparable to anything the world has ever known!  Life can be discouraging but don’t give up! God has a purpose and a future for your life! Let’s encourage each other and run the race so that we may win the heavenly prize for which God has promised to us in Christ Jesus! Philippians 3:14-15

Do you remember the song “oh be careful little eyes what you see?”  Do you remember when it says “Oh be careful little lips what you speak?”  I went to the ACBC conference this past week that was taught by Caroline Newheiser.  She was talking about gossip.  It showed me how important it is to realize that the words you speak can be used to edify another person or tear them down.  People tend to want to hear gossip and spread gossip.  When there is something bad going on people tend to want to know what it is.   One thing I learned from Caroline is that when we speak something to somebody we need to consider if the person we are telling needs to hear what we have to say or if they are part of the problem or solution.  If they are not then we shouldn’t be telling them.  One thing she said her husband said is we can always say more but we cannot say less.   We shouldn’t say something about people if they are not there and we definitel...

This past week I went to a biblical counseling conference put on by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).  I went to a session by Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird, who are two sisters from the website  https://www.girldefined.com/  The session they did was called Help and hope for the single woman longing for marriage.   This is something I have thought about a lot.  It is my desire to get married and to have a husband I can serve God with.  I tend to go back and forth between contentment in singleness and strongly desiring to have a husband.  When I went to the session that Kristen and Bethany did it encouraged me and helped me to redirect my focus to where it should be which is on God and becoming a woman that pleases God. One thing that they said during the session was, "Marriage is a good thing.  Desiring to be married for God's Glory is a good thing but when it becomes an idol that is when it becomes a problem."  ...

Prayer is something I sometimes struggle with.  I lose focus when I pray or I don’t know what to pray sometimes or I don’t always feel anything so I get discouraged.  Prayer is not about feelings anyways.  It’s about communicating with the God of the universe.  It’s about obedience.  It’s about confessing your sins to God and being in a right relationship with God! Something God has been reminding me lately is the importance of praying through God’s Word.  The Psalms especially are so good to pray through.  Here is an example. “God you are good and you are Holy.  Help me to understand and discern my sin.  Show me my secret sin that is hidden to me and cleanse me from all that is evil within me.  Keep me from sinning intentionally and let me sin not rule over me but help me to put it to death that I might be blameless before You!  Help the words that I say and the thoughts that I think in my heart to be pleasing to You, O Lord, m...