Just a good quote!

Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.

3 easy ways to get patience in 5 minutes! Guaranteed!

Ever heard that slogan before? Maybe not with the word "patience" but with something? There are ads all over the place online and in magazines telling you that you can gain what you want in just a few easy steps or a few easy minutes. And half the time they try to convince you that no effort is required in achieving your goals.

But that's the world's system. God works in an entirely different way. He allows us to go through long trials and struggles to teach us patience. We are so used to the quick and easy methods of getting what we want in life, that we hate waiting for the Lord. But there is no easy or quick way to learn patience. It is a very long, sometimes very difficult process that God uses to conform us into His image.

But it is very much worth it. No matter what goes on in our lives, God is using it to build patience in us. Take your trials to the Lord and leave your burdens at the Cross. He wants you to trust Him in this difficult situation, and He will use it to build you up and draw you closer to Him.

Remember that no matter what you're going through, there is no need to fear, when God is on your side. Let Him build your patience.

Make today count!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥

Broken hearts

God sometimes uses the strangest circumstances to break us and mold us into what He wants us to be. This whole past year He has been teaching me over and over how important it is to just trust Him when I don't understand. He has a plan for everything in my life and I don't have to understand just why He does what He does.

Sometimes God has to take the nearest and dearest things closest to our hearts away from us. Sometimes it feels like we are falling apart at the seams and we don't understand why He is taking away the things or people that we love most. Sometimes He has to break our heart so that He will fit inside of it.

We love something else too much. It becomes too close to our hearts and we are not walking with Him like we should. When He takes away the things that are between us and Him, He becomes only closer and more dear to us. He can't fit in our heart if we are full of something else.

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Prayer is one way that we walk with God. Being in a class that focuses on prayer has really been a blessing this semester. I'm learning so much about praying and how close I can stay to my God when I am praying all the time.

To me, walking with God is like a treadmill. When you're on a treadmill, you have to stay at the exact speed it is going at. If you go too fast, you will run into the front of it. If you are going too slow, you will fall off the back.

I think it's the same way with God's will for our lives. We have to be walking perfectly in step with Him or we will run into trouble. We can't get ahead of Him or go faster than He wants His will to unfold and if we drag our feet, we are in just as much trouble with that. We have to walk directly in step with Him.

Walk with your God today. He loves you and is waiting for you to trust Him with those close things in your heart that you can't tell anyone else. He will listen and only He can do anything about them anyways.

Love the Lord with all your heart and make your life count for Jesus!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥