Tag: Christian Living

Ten Seconds

Published on by BrandiLeave a comment

I saw a post on Facebook a few days ago that said this:

Imagine this: If you had $86,400 in your account and someone stole $10 from you, would you be upset and throw all of the remaining $86,390 away in hopes of getting back at the person who took your $10? Or move on and live? Right, move on and live. See, we all have 86,400 seconds each day. Don’t let someone’s negative 10 seconds ruin the remaining 86,390. Don’t sweat the small stuff, life is bigger than that.

Ironically, I had been thinking about the same idea all week, but in a different way.

I can be quite critical of myself. If something embarrasses me or I think that I’ve done something wrong at work, for example, I have a tendency to hold onto the moment. Honestly, I am in no way effective in a situation if I’m strung up on something that happened ten minutes or four hours ago.

I do the same thing in social situations. I’m a sensitive person. I feel everything so deeply that when someone says something to me, I grab hold of it and take it as truth. I take things the wrong way or turn a small comment into a huge ordeal in my mind and then shut down. This makes social gatherings a source of anxiety for me a lot of the time. Sometimes I shut down before I get there in anticipation of something happening. And you know what? It’s not working for me anymore.

I have seriously got to learn to let things go. Like the post said, is ten seconds worth sacrificing the rest of my day? No, it’s really not. Whether it’s a mistake I make or a comment from someone else, it is not worth me shutting down. The truth is, they don’t shut me down, I shut myself down. I make a choice.

I’m ready to make a different choice.

The choice to let things go.

The choice to learn from mistakes and move on.

The choice to live in the moment.

Are you going to let ten seconds dictate the rest of your day?

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Notes on Exodus 16

Published on by BrandiLeave a comment

I thought I’d share my notes on Exodus 16 from my Bible Journal.

“Sometimes God delivers us but we are so short-sighted that all we do is grumble like the Israelites in the desert. We don’t see the big picture, how much better it will be for us once we are out of the bondage of sin – or even just a bad circumstance – even if we face obstacles after.

When we complain, we are complaining against God and the life He’s given us – or the situation we’ve put ourselves in due to sin. Either way, complaining doesn’t solve the problem. It just makes us bitter.

Moses told the Israelites not to keep food until morning – not to hoard. They needed to trust God because He was going to provide. We need to trust in God and His ability to provide for us.”

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Photo Credit: Omar Prestwich

The Most Important Choice

Published on by Brandi1 Comment

Our lives are built around the choices we make.  We choose what to wear, who to associate with, where to go to school, what car to drive, who to be in a relationship with, where to live, what to do in our free time.  These choices shape our lives, some for the better, some for the worse.  But in the end there is only one choice that matters, and it’s not anything I listed above.

The beginning of Isaiah chapter 5 sets the scene: God’s Vineyard that should have flourished yet has yielded only bitter fruit – this is in reference to God’s people, not God’s grapes.  Between Isaiah and God we get a picture of what this looks like: the people are hoarding wealth and are overcome with love for material things, they are living life to what they think is the fullest yet ignoring God, they are confusing good with evil, they are drunks, they are corrupt.  I’m sure the list could have went on and on (in chapter 3 they’re compared to Sodom – ouch).

In verse 24, Isaiah says that “their roots will rot, their flowers will wither and fly away like dust, for they refused to accept the law of the Eternal, the Commander of Heavenly armies.”

These people chose to have great estates and to entertain themselves with all the pleasures of life, but in the end none of it mattered because they failed to make the most important choice of all: following God.

Through the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are no longer bound to the law like the Israelites were, but we still have the same choice to make: whether or not to follow God.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He didn’t hang alone, with Him hung every sin you and I would ever commit; He payed our ransom.  And when He rose again, He gave you and I the chance to be created in a new life through Him, to be brought from death to life.

Accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life is the most important choice you will ever make: it’s the difference between life and death.  Life following God won’t always be easy, there will be trials and there will be storms and you will have to make the decision to go against the culture on many issues, but on your side you will have the One who loved you enough to die for you and everything you’ve done to offend Him, the One who conquered the very chains of death itself so that we – mere humans – could spend Eternity with the One who created us and loves us. You will go through life knowing you are never alone, that you are loved, that you were worth the God of the universe sending His Son to die in your place.

He chose you. Will you choose Him?

Photo Credit: Aaron Burden