IntoTheCrimsonSky's Revelife

Let There Be Praise!

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:19:06 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I'm totally excited to announce that I just officially launched my new Christian website: Let There Be Praise! It's focused on getting people to think of the blessings that they experience and to glorify God for them. For those who are familiar with my "weekly praise" idea that I was doing awhile back, this site is based on that too.

It's taken me a couple of years to finally get up and running, but I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. The whole design is one that I made custom for it, and I wrote all of the text. With God's help and inspiration, of course!

Please check it out and let me know what you think! I'd also appreciate it if you could spread the word about it if you like it. :)

http://www.lettherebepraise.com

I'm Still Alive!

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:58:18 GMT

Hey Everyone,

This is just a very quick post before I go to bed. I know it's been a long time since I was last active here and I'm sorry for that. It's a long story really, one that I'd rather not get into right now. Just wanted to let you all know I'm still around and doing okay, just very very busy right now.

Which leads me to a exciting announcment. Some of you may remember my 'Weekly Praise' project that I was doing last year. Well, one of the things I'm currently so busy with is a website for it. I'm so very excited. God has been inspiring me over the past year a lot in regards to this. I'd started a site for it on Wordpress back in February, but never completed it. Now I'm well on my way to finishing a completely self-built website. It's going to be so awesome. I can't wait till it's done.

For now, please check out the following links:

http://www.lettherebepraise.com - The official website. It's still coming soon, but the entry page is up with the logo and such.

http://twitter.com/LetThereBPraise - The official twitter account for it.

I'll try and post here on occasion and also will keep you all posted on what's happening with the website. Already have a lot of interest towards it and it's not even done!

I hope you're all blessed and doing well.

Blessings and Love,
Sarah

A Thank You Note

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:34:32 GMT

Dear Lord,

I want to thank You for everything You've done for me, especially recently. I don't know what I would have done without You. So often we only praise and thank You for the good things You do for us -- when we are happy, but that's not what this is about.

I want to thank You for the trails I've suffered through lately. They've helped me to really see what life is about -- You. It was so easy to believe in You and to get to know You, but I never really saw You with as much clarity as I do now. I never realized how awfully incapable I am on my own and how, even when I was trying to rely on You, I often put too much faith in myself. I was blind to what it really means when one lets You take control.

This last December I saw how weak I was. I realized I was not able to continue, and I saw You there beside me. I could see the love on Your face. I could hear You pleading with me, that I would only stop trying to walk and let You carry me. How much You wanted to help me, like You did Your children in Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37). Yet it hurt so bad. The hand that reached out in love and compassion, is the same hand that allowed him to die in the first place. How easy I could have turned You away! How desperately I wanted to know why You would do this, both to him and myself. I knew that Satan was whispering in my ear, telling me not to take Your hand. He wanted me to be mad at You and to believe it was justified.

Oh, how much I wanted to believe him! How easy it would have been. Yet, had I, I would have been crushed under the weight of my grief. All too well I saw the paths before me, and I chose You. I cried out to you, and you listened. You helped me. At the lowest point in my life, You saved me. I gave up all of my efforts and let you lift me up and carry me.

Thank you, my Lord. There are no words or actions I can ever do to make it up to You, or to deserve the love and mercy You show me. Guide me, oh God! Use me for whatever You will. I have made up my mind, that I shall trust You completely. In the things I do not understand, during the trials and pain that I must endure, I trust You. You know what is right and will do no wrong, no matter how it may seem to us, sinful humans.

Please, Lord, guide your people that we may walk with You. No matter how many times we stumble or turn away, keep pleading with us! For Your face, full of love, is the only true rest and joy we shall have. I long to be with You one day, in the Kingdom You have set up for us! I plead that it may be soon, that the pain may pass away. Yet, Your will is perfect. If it means we must wait for longer than we shall live, so be it. Be with us and sustain us as we wait, oh God. Keep us on Your path, and do not forget us. Not because of anything we have done, but because of your mercy and love.

Again, I thank You. I look forward to every trial, every joy, and every moment in this life and the eternal life to come that I may be in Your sight and with You.

Your Grateful and Unworthy Servant, Your Child in Christ,
Sarah

Having Problems - Why I'm Not Posting

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:10:28 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to explain why I haven't been around the past while. Especially with my weekly praise thing. It saddens me each time that I think I've neglected it.

I'm very much struggling through mourning over the loss of my very close friend recently. One of the side effects seems to be that I don't really want to socialize. Talking to people, especially online, is so much effort these days. Sadly, this extended to blogging too. There's a lot I have to deal with, which God is helping me through. It's just taking a lot longer than I'd expected, and seems to have hit me harder than I realized. After 3 other deaths the last 2 years, you'd think I could get past this easier.

Anyway, I don't know when I'll be around as much again. Just sort of going with the flow on this one. He really meant the world to me, and it's still near impossible to imagine him not being in my life anymore.

Hope you all are blessed, nonetheless. I might still be around from time to time, and I will more than likely read comments or messages received -- just might take awhile before I reply.

Thanks for understanding.

Blessings and Love,
Sarah

Weeky Praise

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:13:49 GMT

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted one of these in several weeks. At first it was simply that I didn't find time to get online to post it, and then the terrible tragedy of losing my dear friend. I just didn't have the heart to post here, to be honest. It is still effecting me strongly, but God is wonderfully carrying me through it all. I may post about His help at a later point.

Weekly praise for this week and the last couple:

Praise be to God for His constant presence and guiding hand in this world, that nothing is done beyond His knowledge or will. Whether good or bad, He still has the ultimate say in it all!
I praise you, Lord, for how you helped me through this dark time of loss and pain. That I was never alone, and that you carried me when I needed you. I would not have made it through without your help.
Thank the Lord for His support and love towards all of those that dealt with loosing someone, who were grieving.
I praise God for His glory that shows through His creation in nature. The beauties of the flowers, birds, trees, sky -- all of which give us hope and inspiration, along with a glimpse of the wonderful blessings Heaven will have.
I praise God for His grace and forgiveness, that no matter how bad it gets He accepts us when we repent and believe in Him. That we can have hope for our loved ones who pass away.
I praise God for the love that flows through others, that can comfort us in times of need. All love comes from God.
I thank Him for a new year full of hope and promise, and the inspiration for many to turn it into a positive and productive one!
I thank Him for His creatures of nature, like the little squirrel that trusts us and has chosen the tree by our fence to nest and have her babies in. :) What a blessing it is!

Although some of them were not fully personal this time, they all were in the fact that those things have influenced me in the past few weeks.

For more information about Weekly Praise, read the post here and join the blogring.

God bless!

How Sin Effects Us & How It Effected Adam and Eve

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:31:34 GMT

(I speak from my own experiences with sin here, what I struggle with, and what God is showing me.)

Have you ever thought of what happens when you sin? What effect it has on your relationship with God? Sure, we all know that we can repent from sins and be forgiven -- but what other, possibly lasting, effects does it have on us? Also, how much different is it for us verses the original sin of Adam and Eve?

When someone sins knowingly, they are building a wall between them and God. You know you are hurting Him, you know you are disobeying Him, you know you have done something wrong. So, how can one face their LORD of whom they have disobeyed? Unlike with humans, you can't simply act like it didn't happen. God knows everything, and He knows what you did or thought. There's no hiding it. The closest thing a human can do is to run away -- to avoid God, to not talk to Him, not associate with Him. Yet He's still there, still knows you did it. You just don't have to think about it. This is the worst aspect of sin, it causes you to turn from the only one who can save you. Shame, guilt, fear, not wanting to let go of a certain cherished sin or admit you were wrong for it -- these are all major blocks that build our wall between God and ourselves when we sin.

This, however, must pale in comparison to what Adam and Eve felt when they sinned. We can hide, we can forgot about God and go on about our daily lives, pushing Him further away. They couldn't, though. They lived face-to-face with Him in the garden, and it was impossible for them to avoid Him. Imagine how much greater the fear and shame must have been! To not only know you were caught in the act of something very wrong, but to know you have absolutely no way out of the consequences! How lucky we are that He is forgiving and patient, and that we have many chances to change and repent from our sinful ways. One sin does not throw us out of the "garden" unless we let it.

Does this mean that our sins are less important than those of Adam and Eve's? Less harmful? Not in the least! "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 6:23 NKJV. Paul didn't say that any one sin does not cause death, rather that all do. The only difference between that of Adam and Eve's sin verses ours, is that they were living face-to-face with God at the time they did it. We are born in a world already separated from God, into a world full of sin. Thusly our punishment may hold off until we are judged, because we simply have to blend in with the sinful world of which we live.

This does not mean that we won't see God's blessings less in our lives if we continue to sin, though. As I said before, with each sin we are building up a wall between us and God. It is not Him who builds it, it is us. Every sin we commit requires true repentance and a real desire to change in order to knock down the bricks we have places from it, otherwise it may still be present when we try to commune with God. Whether it is a lack of faith that we will be able to fight temptation next time, some remnants of guilt as we don't fully believe we are forgiven, or some feelings that we still want to commit the sin again in the future -- it still can play an effect on us, even after repenting.

So, next time you find yourself giving into temptation in some way, try and consider what damage it is really doing. Think of how much bigger its effects are on you and your relationship with God, beyond a simple moment's sin that you can later take back. Do we really want to risk putting one too many bricks on that wall, that it causes us to be unable of turning back to Him one day?

What have you noticed sin do to effect your life and relationship with God in the past?

Prayer Request - Another Death

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:10:05 GMT

I just wanted to write a quick post to ask for prayers. I just found out a very dear friend of mine whom I really loved has passed away last night from an accident. He was only 24.

I'm in complete shock and really don't know what to think right now. He was supposed to be coming to stay with us soon.

Please pray for strength and comfort for his friends and family in this really hard time.

Just to Let You Know

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:23:02 GMT

I apologize for not adding a Weekly Praise post last week, or this week yet. Suddenly things got very hectic at home and I have barely been online. I will try to post one tonight or tomorrow.

Ontop of all that's been going on, aparently I'm now sick with a cold. Right before Christmas. *rolls her eyes* Figures.

Anyway, try to post later. I have another subject I want to talk about, too.

Blessings and Love,
Sarah

How Does One Act Like a Christian?

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:58:45 GMT

I recently got into a conversation with someone about this, after being told I wasn't a Christian due to how I acted. This really hit me hard, because (although I know I have a long way to go), I've been really trying hard and have seen a lot of improvements God has made in me over the past while. Apparently, for one, I am too selfish to be a Christian. This comes mainly from the fact I believe strongly in keeping the 7th day Sabbath, which means I won't do work on that day. The problem is that due to this, I don't do chores or go shopping for 24 hours each week. This seems selfish and lazy to this person, because I won't help others out, which, in their mind, is something a Christian should do.

Now, I'm not trying to start a debate about if Christians should keep the Sabbath or not, that's not the point of this post -- so please don't go into it.

Don't get me wrong, I strongly support that we are to "do good" on the Sabbath (or any other day, for that matter). I would eagerly help another out if the situation arises. However, when washing the dishes could just as easily be done after the sun sets Saturday night, I don't consider it in the qualifications of help -- I consider it work, of which is breaking the commandment. I'm not asking the other person to do my chores, merely that they respect the day and allow me to do them at another time.

A conflict in my mind came up as I thought about this, though. We are to put God first, correct? "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt. 6:24 NKJV) We are to serve only God, not anything worldly, whether material or human. If you try to serve both, you will end up with conflicts of which you will have to chose. Hence the above situation: Either I can chose to wash the dishes and serve the person in question, or I can chose to keep the commandment I feel God has impressed me to keep and wait until the sun sets.

This seems straight forward, until another verse came to mind. "But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." (1 Corinth. 8:12-13 NKJV)

Granted, Paul is talking of eating in this case, but I wonder how many other areas it can be applied to. I know we should not sin, regardless of circumstances, but what about other things? As a Christian, if we know that another believer thinks we are not a good Christian because of something we did or said, should we not do that again? Are we not to be examples, a living testimony, of Christ? Most believers that are lost, are due to hypocrisy in the church.

Even though, to me, it is sinning to do the sort of "helping" that this person believes a real Christian would do -- maybe I can better approach the situation? I am clearly not handling it to the best of my ability, to be accused of such a thing. How many other areas in our lives should we maybe reassess how we conduct ourselves, if only so that others would not be made to stumble or be confused about our faith?

Look at the more common sins of gossip or lying. Often both are acceptable in our society, and it can be one easy trap to fall into for even the most devoted Christian. Yet, how much are we hurting our testimony for Christ when we allow ourselves to do these things? Sure, we can kneel at night and ask for forgiveness...but how much more lasting damage have we imposed on others around us?

I remember once, a few years ago, I was having a hard time. I was frustrated with my constant falling into sin, and with God's not being present enough (or so I thought). So I got angry, and said a few things to a friend. I told her I gave up, that God didn't care about me -- that it was pointless anyway, I wasn't gonna make it into heaven. That I was giving up on my faith, it was easier without it.

A couple weeks later, after God called me back (which was both humbling and inspiring), I had a renewed relationship with Him. I was happy, and professing how important He is. It all seemed wonderful. No real damage was done, right?

Wrong. While talking to this friend, I found out she was going through some very severe things. She desperately needed God's help and strength, and I saw that. Much worse than what I had been going through. So, I told her to lean on Him. That He'd help her. She needed to have faith. All that kind of thing. To my surprise, however, the response I got back was basically "Yeah, like you should talk. Look at what you were saying the other week.". I realized then I had no power to help her, to inspire her, because I had given up that when I had so rashly put it all down before. Even though it was in the heat of the moment, the damage went farther than I assumed. I actually hurt my friend's faith.

So, what are your thoughts? How are we to act like Christians, so that others will not be able to claim we are not?

The Weekly Praise Project - Update

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:19:19 GMT

Hey Everyone,

For those of you who are following my weekly praise, I have a bit of an update.

After some positive feedback I got, I decided to make a blog specifically for it. Of course, it won't simply be another blog. It's going to have information about praise and such. Maybe even contests to get your stories "featured". I'm not 100% sure how it'll all work yet, as it's still in the 'brainstorming' phase..but it's exciting! If the blog gets successful enough, it'll be moved to a full website one day. So make sure you participate if you like the idea.

So, here's where I need your help. Tell me what you'd like to see on the "Weekly Praise" blog. What features you think would benefit it, would make it fun, would make people want to join up and keep coming back. I'm even looking for possibilities for a name for it. Weekly Praise is great, but doesn't have enough power to it in my opinion.

Lets brainstorm together, people.

Blessings and Love,
Sarah