Be anxious for nothing

Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." NKJV

I just told this scripture to a friend who made a comment about being anxious, and the irony of the verse just smacked me in the face. Don't understand me? Let's try the message version:

Twilight?

I love to read. You may say "Erin, love is a strong word. Surely you mean like." Well yeah, I do. But growing up the characters in my books were my best friends. They entertained me when I moved to a new place, ensuring that I was never lonely. Even now I can lose myself for hours in a good book, not emerging until the real world insists on stepping back in. So when new books come out, I have a difficult time not reading them. 

I'll be totally transparent: I have read every Harry Potter

Jehova Rapha

The God who heals. Sounds illusive to some of you, doesn't it? You hear the testimonies of those who have prayed for others, but you have never personally seen someone be healed. When everybody gathers around to pray for someone who is sick, you think "I'm sure glad that so-&-so is praying, too. There certainly is nothing coming from me." You've tried before. You've put yourself out there and have seen nothing. And now it's just not worth it.

WAIT!

Can I have a doggy bone?

I'll be completely honest - my sister's dogs are annoying the mess out of me right now. They've been following me around all day like I have some amazing treat hidden in my back pocket that I'm just waiting to give them. I DON'T. But for some reason they don't get that. They don't get that I'm not sitting here just waiting to bless them when they come to me. And quite frankly, it annoys me that it's the only reason that they are following me around. Not to snuggle, which they usually do. No, today they want something. And I'm almost so annoyed I'll give them something to leave me alone.

So all of this ran through my head when I realized that I sometimes approach God like that:

Treasures in heaven

All right, so ... an update since my last blog. I have had mono for a while now, and let me tell you, it stinks. Thankfully my case hasn't been as severe as it could have been, but it still landed me on what I like to refer as "house arrest." I actually couldn't even work the Encounter - something I was REALLY looking forward to.

When I found out that I couldn't work the Encounter at all, I was pretty upset. I was angry and confused as to why God would let me get mono. I really didn't know why He had put me on the Encounter team in the first place, since He knew that I would get this disease. So here are a few things I learned right off the bat: God is good. Yes, He knew I would get sick, but He had a plan even then. And He did let me be on the initial team, which showed me His love. Honestly if I had not been on the team at all I probably would have been very hurt. So even though I couldn't work it, God was still showing me His love. Ok, so that took only about 30 minutes of ranting and raving to God for Him to break through with. Here's what the rest of the weekend was like for me:

I'm no Joseph

Over the past year and a half to two years I have had my fair share of trials. There have been many ups but also many downs. I have been diagnosed with Asthma after having a full-blown asthma attack in a third world country, I have had the flu and a 24-hour bug within weeks of each other, several colds, lost my job twice (in the last 6 months), am currently in a job which has sent me home in tears, and am currently typing this as I have mono. Oh and I'll be surprised if my car lasts me another 5 years. It's a '96 and is missing more parts than it has. And that's not even touching on the relationship issues that I've had (which I won't go into.) Needless to say, I look forward to the bright spots on the horizon and take hope in those times.

This past weekend I had an amazing cheesecake sampling party

I am free!

Ok so sorry to any of you who have already read this on facebook ... =)

Last night at Alpha (our church's youth/young adults gathering) we were singing "I Am Free" and I was thinking about the lyrics and how I should do what I am saying. So here they are: