R.E.A.L

A few days ago i was having a good conversation with my roommate and a friend. I had mentioned the River Run, and how excited I was to run in it. My roommate commented on how those things were not for her, and our friend said, "nah i'm not running in it" (even though both of us totally expected him to be running in it). We jumped on him asking "why why?" And he said he's trying not to do things that other expect him to do. if he truly, in his heard doesn't want to do them why should he be living to OTHERS expectations? Dang, guys, that got me thinking....My whole life I fought what I wanted in my heart, and what everyone else expected me to do. Expectations suck...i hate them! Goals, hopes, dreams, yeah, i like pressing on and striving for something, but not when they are outlined by someone else. I really started meditating on the whole expectation thing...and i came to this conclusion, thanks Stovall...WHY FIGHT WHAT'S REAL? I know my heart is real, its the body part that is connected to everything i feel. I know my feelings are real...and that leads to me, Rachael.

To be real, we have to be relational, in order to relate to others (which we all do everyday no matter what) we have to know how to treat EVERYONE whole heartedly. We learn this by how Christ treated everyone with love. Dang, He was chillin with the notorious sinners of the day. Our bodies only want to be forgiving and loving to those who "diserve" it but really, do we diserve anything? Heck no, we were saved by faith alone, not by works! By grace we have been saved through our faith the Bible says. Its not about deserving, its about God, doing it for Him, because he forgave us when we were the NOTORIOUS sinners of the world (before we were saved). We need to turn our vertical relationship with God into a strong horizontal relationship with people. If we can reflect to others how God loves us, can u imagine how pleasant the world would be? Doing how Christ would and not the world? Sounds easy....(Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on thinks above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in GOd. When Christ, who is your life apprears, then you also will appear with him in Glory")

We need to be EXCELLENT, by ignoring the negative and setting our focus on the good! I'm sure ya'll are walking around going, "Man, i wish today sucked a little more" or "Please, i just need someone to bring me down" Not even close! Continue to be excited about your future and what God's plans are for your life! The little blessings that should keep our spirits up. In Jeremiah it said that we are God's special choice! All of us! How much more positive do we need? (Philippians 4:8 says, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admireable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things!")

As, Christians, we must be ACCEPTINGto all. Its the biggest struggle for me. I don't want to accept that what someone did to me should now be forgiven, my heart still hurts, or they don't deserve to be forgiven. But to be REAL, we must, must, must be able to accept others just as Christ accepted us when we were at our worst, lowest point, when the only direction we could look was up.

And finally to be real, we must be LIVEGIVING. The only way WE can be lifegiving is to have life! (1John 5:11-12 "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the son has life, he who does not have the son of god does not have life") Honestly, and I'm being as real as possible, and believe whatever you want...but guys, Jesus is giving us a choice, we have free will to choose him. I'm so blessed to have already come to Him, and know i'm going to heaven, dang, i'm going to heaven. God can use me to bring others to him as well, I'm a tool out of Jesus' tool box....its never felt so good to be used.

so i urge you to be R.E.A.L, true to yourselves, "you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you". He's fighting the good fight for us every second whether its when we are watching TV, wasting time or the more obvious times when we have people surrounding us sucking the life from our very existance, that feeling in your heart aching inside is Him, he's working in you, you just have to choose to accept Him. Soon that aching of pain will turn to Joy and you will get a new perspective on what REAL feels like. dang, don't be ashamed of God's power in you, proclaim his power is in your life! Remember, we are all imperfect, being real isn't being perfect, where we are weak He is strong!