It is my prayer that God will bring to this blog different people who need to hear the simple messages I'm proclaiming. With my life surrendered to God, I know He will use this, me, and even readers, to make an impact on lost souls. I hope these simple devotionals, pictures, and life stories will impact you as well.
Lessons with Pain
“Bailey! Bailey! Are you okay? Sweetie, can you hear me? Bailey!” My dad was in a panic; however, as soon as he saw my eyes open, I could see the sense of relief that filled him.
“What happened?” I questioned; at the moment not having a clue.
“Hey Katie! Do you want to go for a quick ATV ride while they’re still unloading the truck!?” I enthusiastically asked while leaping on the vehicle and clutching the handles. We had just returned from a fun-filled day at the dunes and were ready for one last joy ride before packing up the equipment.
The cool breeze rushed through our free flowing hair, the tall bushes brushed against our bare legs, and the bugs whizzed by our ears. We could hear the sound of traffic from the nearby highway. Riding along the jagged track my brother had made, we jumped mounds of dirt, navigated through the 3 foot tall grasses, and accelerated around the twisting corners. This experience...was the meaning of summer.
“You guys need to come on in!” My dad hollered. They were finished unloading the dirt bike and other ATV’s and were ready for my ATV to be brought in.
We hustled through one more lap and turned around to head in. From the track we made our way to the gravel driveway and with my eyes focused on the destination, I accelerated. The turn was too narrow. My reflexes lashed the ATV away from the car we were nearing but we were travelling too fast.
Time seemed to stand still. My mind was racing and it felt as though in those few seconds, I had enough time to glimpse at eternity. The scene around me froze like a camera capturing a picture. I saw the heads of my dad and my friend’s family slowly turn to witness the site. My mind was captivated by one thing..., “Is this happening? I can’t believe I actually did it!” It was a moment of pride and horror. The road around me blurred as I came into contact with my fate.
“Honey, you flipped your ATV.” My dad calmly stated helping me recollect my thoughts.
I laid there with rocks imbedded in my skin and deep cuts across my forehead and elbows. I glanced over at my friend who was sitting up with tears streaming down her face as she felt the throbbing of her excoriated legs and sprained wrist. I realized that if I had followed my dad’s instructions for us not to ride the ATV and to just put it away like he had asked, we would have never been in this predicament. It was then that I knew God was watching over us that day. It could have been much worse with us both not wearing helmets, but He sent His protection and kept us safe.
Worldly Disturbances
“You said, ‘I will teach you the way that you should go; I will keep my eye on you and guide you along safe paths.’” Psalm 32:8
I had just returned from a Fountainview Academy Master Class in 2010 and decided I wanted to change my life. I no longer wanted to be a standby Christian, who’s there when convenient. I got home and commenced the evaluation of my life; I came to the conclusion that I would have to start in one place, and that one place would be my choice and style of music.
Music had been my way of life for a long time. I would turn to music when I was sad, when I was happy, and when I was doing nothing, such as homework. The selection, however, was the cause of me turning away from the Lord. I would find myself every day, after school, tuning the radio to my favourite rock station, when instead I should have been spending that valuable time with God in prayer and worship. A simple change...or so I thought.
I instigated the addition of Christian and classical music to my iPod. I set them in a separate “playlist”, and I only listened to that playlist whenever I had my iPod. To my surprise...I enjoyed listening to something that wasn’t the usual loud and rocky tune. I began to read my bible more fervently and daily than I ever had. In due course, the Lord showed me that I wasn’t really pledging myself to Him. He brought to the surface that the only reason I had the playlist was because I wasn’t willing to delete the rest of my worldly songs. I had kept them because of my shallow personality that didn’t want my friends to see an iPod full of Godly music. One by one, they were painfully deleted off of my iTunes and my iPod. Those songs that I had worked so hard attain from different sites and computers’ were now never to be reached again; if I were to turn back, it would involve much unnecessary work and time. Gone, all of the temptations and time bottling songs were erased.
Since that day, God has done much in my life. That one alteration set off a chain reaction, and sprung up a new servant for our mighty Saviour. Music may seem like a little thing that He doesn’t care about, but it’s the small things in our lives that can keep us from attaining that perfect and holy relationship with Jesus. Taking a little step in right direction, with the guidance of God, will begin that which should have began long ago. Examine your life and the little things that could be restricting you’re time, and show our Heavenly Father that you’re willing to transform your life for Him.
The Perfect Assassination
“So throw away everything belonging to the darkness of this world and take up the armour of light. Conduct yourselves honestly, as people do in the daytime.” - Romans 13:12, 13
When I was in the childhood stages of my life, I had the tendency to get jealous... and one time in particular stands out in my mind fairly well. My brother and I had just come back from entering a contest at Tim Horton’s and were excited, hoping that we would win. My dad obviously figured the chances were very slim, and told us not to get our hopes up. We, on the other hand, were sure we had won something. Our instincts were correct, and not long after, we had gotten a package in the mail addressed to Jacob Muller. My heart sank as my brother opened the parcel revealing his brand new watch. It had everything! It glowed when you pressed a button, it had a timer, and you could twist this lined thing around the watch (which at the time I didn’t know what it was, but thought it was the coolest thing out there).
Jealousy had taken its toll, and I had a plan conceived in my mind. I waited for my little brother to leave the house and for the parents to be busy doing what parents do. I snuck into my brother’s room and snatched the watch from his bed. After holding it in my hands for a while and playing with all the nifty gadgets it had, I made my way to the bathroom. This was it...the perfect murder. I set the watch on the bathroom floor as I dug my way down to the bottom of the trash can. When the ground was reached, I hastily placed the watch on the bottom, recovered the evidence, and voila! It was history.
My brother looked for it on and off, but never really asked me if I knew what had happened...so I kept quiet. At the time, he never distinguished what had happened to that watch. Perhaps he lost it? Perhaps he left it at someone’s house? Or perhaps his sister and her jealousy assassinated it?
Jealousy is an ugly characteristic. Fortunately for me, I have overcome that dangerous emotion. In the case of Cain and his jealousy of Abel, however, it came to the point of true slaying. The Bible talks much about the emotions and sinful characteristics that we should be aware of; “The actions of our sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, filthy language, and recklessness, just to mention a few. But they don’t end there. They also include idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, strife, hostility, heresies, envy, drunkenness, and sexual perversions.” Galatians 5:19-21. How many categories on that list do we see every day? I am in control of my life, and I have chosen to turn my thoughts on the Lord. I make many mistakes, and fail miserably... in fact, we all make mistakes, but we can turn to our Lord who forgives a sincere and humble heart.