No Matter The Giant

Peace. Something so many people long for. If you have siblings, you know that peace isn't really easy to come by. And in a world full of people, running around at high speeds, chasing down their dreams, with the violence of today's age, peace seems like a myth. Non-existent, we don't think true peace can be achieved. Except that it can. There's a peace that can be found in God if you calm yourself and give everything over to Him, if you listen. Most people might want an answer right away. I know I would. But you have to be patient. Patience is probably the hardest fruit for me. I'm not very patient, especially with my siblings. I'm sure everyone has had to wait for something. A birthday, vacation, a new video game, toy or movie. And there are times when I want to do something or get something that I have to wait for. And a lot of times we don't like waiting. Cause that's like being told no and we dont like to be told no. By nature we are rebellious, ...

In today's day and age, it is rather sad to see that the word "love" can only be applied to romance. But was what did Jesus mean when He told his Apostles to "Love one another. As I have loved you, so should you also love one another"? That is what I am going to talk about today. The idea of love isn't just about romance, but more like how we treat others. Think about this, do you love your parents? That isn't the dumb idea of love we have nowadays right? You genuinely love your parents, so you care for them when they need it, you may try to do something to make them smile. If you have a younger sibling (or have young children of your own) do you ever watch as they bring their parent something they accomplished? Think of Christmas time, when you give gifts to your family and friends. That is real love. Real love is when we do something for another to make them smile or feel cared for. Now you may be wondering, "Jesus told us to love our enemies....

The month of January is almost gone, and there is just one major question left to be answered. How does one fight this fear? Do we just take a deep breath and plunge into the thing which we fear most? Or do we just let this fear come in and overtake our life, not letting us enjoy the world God created for us? Neither of these are the right answer. We can't let fear control our lives, just like we can't let hardships control us. But there has to be an anecdote to the issue at hand. But what is it? The answer is very simple.   God is ultimately bigger than any fear the world can contain. Because He is almighty, all loving, and sees all things, God can do anything to help us with the fears we have. So, we pray. We ask God to help us overcome our fears, both physical and physiological fears. He alone can help us overcome fears of the dark, of people, of failure, of loosing people, etc. But we have to ask. It may take time, because God's timing may be different than our...

January was a good month huh? While we didn't put out as many fears as we would have liked, I hope that we showed you how to battle them. And that brings us to this month's giant. How do you know that you are showing the fruit of the spirit? I'm sure all of you have heard about these fruits. Not the kind you eat, but the kind that all Christians should display. And I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that have trouble with at least some of them.  As there are only four weeks and 9 fruits, we'll try to tackle two at once each week. Happy February!  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Atychiphobia. This is the fear of failure. I'm sure everyone has been afraid of failing something. Maybe it's a test or an audition or just letting someone down. Failure hurts. It makes us feel bad, as if we don't measure up. As a kid, I was terrified of failing. I didn't like standing out, I thought that I was going to get in trouble if I didn't do things perfectly. It was a major giant in my life, as it may be in some of yours. But I was wrong. Failing isn't always bad. We're allowed to mess up. A lot of things have been discovered by trial and error. We learn far more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. And sure, messing up can be embarrassing. But endurance makes up for that. And someday when you're older, you'll look back and realize that those failures were rather insignificant. They are a part of you. Because there is a reason for every closed door. And you might be where you are now because of them. So don't worry. I ...