Praise to the God of All Comfort

God never fails to blow my mind.

I woke up on the wrong side of my twin size bed this morning.  Tangled in sheets, hot, drooling, aggravated from last night. Looking forward to my Saturday, I subconsciously made up my mind that staying in bed all day would be ideal.

As I considered what to do with my day now since it would be being spent alone, I decided on lunch alone and dinner alone.  Showering doesn't even sound too appealing (I'm still in bed. and haven't showered. Whoops?).  The more I thought about my circumstances, the more aggravated, frustrating, and mad I got. 

Of course, because I'm a girl named Brenna, I needed to rant.  I ranted to anyone who would listen: Mom, Lindsey, Allison, and Twitter (#mylifeisajoke).  And then God totally grabbed my heart and so put me back in my place.  

Suddenly, I couldn't focus on my bads anymore.  Through His ever-present-though-often-ignored-by-me love, God hit me with my blessings, my goods.  I'm seriously the most blessed person in the world.  I have a mother that adores me and is honest with me when I need to hear it, friends that are content with letting me rant, encouraging friends that make it their goal to comfort me, best friends that care for me and will fight for me.

Why was I ever in a bad mood again?  It's hard to look at the face of God, realizing your blessings, and be mad at the one thing that He is putting you through.  It's especially hard when you know that that one thing is only to help you.  It's to make you less dependent on your relationships and more dependent on the only one that can save, ever.  It's to make you step back from going-going-going and step into His peace and His love.  It's giving you a heartcheck.  

We have to stand firm in the love, blessing, and grace of our Father, even in the midst of trial.  Don't forget that God is good.  When our relationships fail us, God is good.  When we feel so alone, God is good.  When we fall to sin, God is good.  When we idolize things other than God, God is good.  When we forget Him, though He never forgets us, God is good.

I can't stress to you enough how important it is to take the good with the bad.  Don't forget that the Savior of the whole world is yours.  He is chasing after you, desiring you, begging for you to turn to Him.

I often get wrapped up in my circumstances, forgetting my place and my call in the world.  Even through it all, God is good.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7-Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ,so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Prayer Time: God, thank you for loving me when I am so, so, so unlovable.  Thank you for your grace and for showing me mercy.  Thank you for friends and family that step in in the midst of the darkness to shine Your light and to keep me on track.  God, I praise you for what you're doing in my life.  I know that everything I am going through is not because of any accident.  Thank you for the everlasting cross and your everlasting love.  It's in your Son's name that I pray, amen.

Stop dwelling on your circumstances.  God is good.

Feeling Disgusting

Anyone else feel like this week would never, ever, ever end?

Well, it's finally Friday! FINALLY.

I want to talk about something tonight that I've kind of been struggling with in my head lately.  It's been a long, long week and if I can confess and be real for a moment, I haven't been at all like the Christian that I should be.  I don't want to go into the thousands of ways I've sinned because we would be here forever and a day.  But my sin has been very evident and very in-my-face this week.  I'm not sure if it's because I have been so on-the-go that I haven't had time to stop and rest or if it's because God is calling me out on it.  Whichever reason, I can't ignore my sin this week.

Last night, at BCM, we were singing The Anthem by Planetshakers and I began to feel so convicted.  Like how in the world can I come before such a holy and righteous God when the both of us know what I've been doing?  It's weird, but I was disgusted with myself.  It brought tears to my eyes because I felt so ashamed and guilty for even thinking about entering the presence of the Almighty God with all sin.

But I started to think.  And I realized that this is what Jesus came for.  He is the Risen King; He came to wipe my slate clean.  Before I could ever repent, He came to make me clean.  He is righteous and when He went to the cross, He made me righteous.  My sin doesn't define me.  My uncleanliness does repulse God, but the veil has been torn and through my Lord Jesus Christ, I have been made righteous.

I never really understood what that meant.  But because He is holy, I am holy.  I could never do anything to earn the title that I have been given.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our God is so good.  We are forgiven and we are free.  The chains are gone.  Christ is Lord and He has won the victory.  Hallelujah.

Biblical Over the Emotional

So this morning I need to talk about something that Perry laid on my heart yesterday in church.
I never realized before that I was doing this to myself, but I put a whole lot of worthless value on my dating life. I try to justify for the wrong type of guys way too often. As Perry pointed out, it's a dangerous trap when we put the emotional over the biblical.

Many times, we justify for our relationships because we think that we can't let go of how ____ makes us feel. "I would like a man like the men from the Bible, but ____ makes me feel so good."
This is jacked up, twisted, wrong, immoral, and sinful. We have got to, got to, GOT TO stop putting ourselves on the back burner. God would never want us to walk in a way that wasn't glorifying Him. So why do we think that our relationships are any different? What the heck?

I wish I could tag someone in this, hahah. But that wouldn't be the very Christian thing to do. We all have our flaws.

But how did I get to this point? I always look at people in relationships and think "they are so stupid. I would never let a guy run me over like that. I would never give him all that control." But that's exactly what I do.

Ladies, we need to stop valuing how these guys makes us feel and rather seek what is biblical. Adam pursued Eve. Since the beginning of time, efforts have been made by Man when he really wants something. Stop fooling yourself into believing that you can change him or that he'll come through sometime.. if you just wait long enough. God will bring the right man to you in His time. Trust His promise. Genesis 2:18 says "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" This is the first account of God saying that something is not good. God earnestly believes that man and woman are meant to be united.
God isn't out to get us; this isn't a game of who performs the best will receive the best. God wants the best for each and every one of us. His heart isn't malicious and He isn't keeping score of sexual, mental, physical, or emotional rights and wrongs. I'm preaching to myself here.

He simply loves you. He adores you. He created Eve and as He was forming her, He knew that she would cost Him His Son. He knew that she would cause trouble for Him. But He still went forth with her; He still pursued her. So if Eve, the introduction of sin into the world, is worthy of God's pursuit, what makes us think that we aren't?

Ladies, we are precious and adored. He has crowned us in righteousness. Take off your sinful cloak and begin walking in what the Lord has for you. He is much more worthy of our praise than the serpent. He loves beyond measure and He wants the best for us.

Prayer Time: God, I thank you for your love. Thank you for your living word. I thank you for the stories that can teach us, even thousands of years later. Thank you for clothing us in righteous. Thank you for loving us, even when we feel so, so unlovable. I pray for hearts of women around the world today that are feeling forgotten or unloved. I pray that you intercede on that funeral and you pull these women into all that you have for them. I pray that we wait on you, God, because we know you are faithful. I pray that we seek Godly men, rather than comparing our men to God. Help us to follow in your paths and walk in your glorious light. For it's in Your Son's precious name that I pray, amen.