Thankfulness

This past Thanksgiving I was reminded of the many blessings that God has given me in my life.  I am thankful for God blessing me with best friends from high school, college, and D-focus.
I am thankful for the good and bad times God has brought me through in my life.  I am thankful for D-focus and it's impact in my life.  The last area I will talk about in this blog entry is that I was thankful TCU was able to put the beat down on UT on Thanksgiving night and I was able to hang out with my roommate from college.
The first area I will discuss is that I am thankful that God changed my circumstances from doing this Young Life year-long internship to doing Discipleship Focus that summer.  God changed my plans because he had something bigger for my life.  It was during this time in my life that I grow in maturity and faith in Christ.  God showed me how much I need to depend on him in all circumstances and present things to him.  God also revealed to him that he is sovereign over all things.   I put all these things into practice during the next year when I was going through a hard time in my life after graduating from college when I wanted to do was not working out.
God helped me present and abide in him during this time in my life.  He gave me faith in this time.  He used this faith to give me the strength to be able to surrender more things to him and become mature in him.
God used an important time in my life during my sophomore year of high school when I met Christ at Frontier Ranch.  It was during this time, I met some of my best friends from high school.  These friends have been with me through all my life.
God has also blessed me with some good friends from college through BYX and Young Life.  These include: Jim Douglas, George Cagle, Andrew Sullivan, Will Hopkins, and EJ Governator.  These friends have also helped me grow in my faith and walk with God.
God used some hard times in my life to help me grow in him.  One of these was hard times during my junior year of high school when I had to car wreck that took me down and path of doubt, frustration, and unbelief. During the next year of my life in my senior year of high school he helped me realize how much to depend on him. Other hard times include trying to figure out my life after I graduated from college and the frustrating time waiting on the petition to graduate in my senior year of college. In retrospect, I had to go through these hard times in order to be mature in Jesus Christ.
The last thing I am thankful for is that TCU was able to play and beat UT on Thanksgiving last Thursday.  It was cool to be in the DKR and see the Frogs put the pounding on the Horns.  I am so excited that the Frogs are finally in a big time conference.  In a couple years Gary Patterson will take us to the national championship.
I will end this blog post by reminding all the readers of the many blessings of friends and family.  Remember what God has done in your life today and what he will keep doing until the day of Christ Jesus; Phi 1:6.

God's ability to produce Godliness

God has used different ways and things in my life to produce Godliness in me.  He has used these things and ways to produce maturity in me as a believer.
One main way in which God has produced Godliness in my life is through his guidance.  Proverbs 3:5-6, says that we should "trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."  Trusting in God's ways and not own will produce Godliness in our lives daily.
A time in my where this was evident was after I graduated from college when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.  I thought I wanted to go into Broadcast Journalism but God had other plans.  God closed down that area of my life when the jobs I interviewed for did not work out.
God helped me trust and surrender this situation to him.  He reminded me that his plans are greater than mine when I gave control to God. I presented this situation in an abiding nature of submission to God after what I wanted to do didn't work out.  After I presented the situation, God gave me faith and also a peace of mind during that time in my life.  It was during this time in my life that God really showed me what an abiding, maturing, relationship with him is and I truly became a friend of God.
God used the things I learned before that time in my life at D-focus to prepare me to be able to trust him.  I gained a clear understanding of how to surrender/present things to God with an attitude of supplication.  This study showed me how much God loves us and wants us in a daily desperate dependent relationship with him.  If we are depending on God daily, then he will give us the strength to trust him with all of our life.  We can't do anything our own, all we have in this life comes from Jesus, the Vine.
The last area of my life in which this was evident was during my junior year of high school.  I was going through a hard time in my life at the time when I had just gotten into a car wreck.  I was really doubting the meaning of life, my faith, and why this happened to me.  God used some friends from high school that God put in my life that previous summer to help me trust in him again.  During the beginning of my senior year, I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ.   God used that time in my life of doubt and frustration to help me so that would be able to trust him in the future.
We as Christians cannot produce any Godliness on our own in our lives.  We are the vine, and we are the branches.  Depending on Jesus Christ in all that we do will produce lasting eternal Godliness in us.