Easter Blessings!!!

So a little while ago, I posted a status on my Facebook about a pastor by the name of David Platt who said at an evangelism conference I attended stating: "We as Americans make Jesus into a figure and attempt to recreate him into an image that we feel comfortable about while we worship Him" David hit me so so hard because Jesus is who the scriptures say that He is and I am constantly reminded that Easter is way more than just Chocolate Bunnys or Family and Friends or spending time with Girlfriends or Boyfriends if you have one, but that Easter is a celebration of a Risen Lord. Jesus is the only human figure in all of History that died and lived again as a human after 3 days of death.... I want you to just stop and think for a minute? You mean to tell me that I worship a God who lived and died and then lived again? Not only do you worship Him, but you also need to have a personal relationship with Him. That is what He wants from us. That is what is so special about this Easter season and the Easter seasons to come..... I absolutely love this time of the year... it makes me smile and brings me so much peace a Joy to know that I worship a risen Savior.... It is my hope, encouragement, and wish for you that you worship Jesus not just this Sunday when we have our Easter attire on, but that we worship Him with our life all of the days of our lives... Blessings!!!


Michael <>< Rom: 12:2

What a Journey so far....

So I definitely haven't posted anything in forever, so while I'm online and just not really tired at 11:15 pm on a Wed. evening, I thought that I might share what's going on in my life. So God has definitely taken me through some pretty amazing things. I now am in a relationship that I can honestly say that God put together. I would not say at all that this happened just by chance. I truly believe that the Lord brought my girlfriend and I together for a reason. I am so blessed to have her apart of my life and where the Lord is going to take us in this upcoming year :D! I just recently went to Nashville, TN for the NRB conference and for those that don't know what NRB is, it is called the National Religious Broadcaster's conference. I competed in a 36-dv challenge in which you have to write, shoot, edit, and turn in a 5 minute short story christian based film. I completed that last week. I can honestly say that the people who were involved worked extremely hard. My team and I placed First which was just a really cool experience for me. I am just in awe on how God is just so good and He's so faithful to me even though I have not been as faithful and even when I mess up, He lets me know it, but in the way that only He can let me know. My journey to graduation is @ hand. I've got friends, family, and a beautiful girlfriend to help me along the way that the Lord has provided to help me get to this accomplishment. Let's go get that diploma....

Still being transformed....

So a couple of weeks ago, I shared with you some of my feelings regarding about this semester and how the Holy Spirit was really tugging at me when I felt like I was basically ignoring the Holy Spirit and how my soul was almost restless. After being home for a couple of days now, I have had the opportunity to really reflect on who I truly am as a follower of Christ. To be perfectly honest, I was very well into a state of depression. I felt like the world was against me, I had all of these emotions running wild around my mind. My reasoning for that is God is trying to get my attention. I almost had this everyone needs to feel sorry for Michael kind of feelings. Well, I am here to tell you I do not request that you feel sorry for me because it was all just petty stuff that I got over. Now with that being said, I want to go back into the actual title of my post, Still being transformed. I think every Christian or non-christian alike goes through changes, obviously bodily, some mentally, some spiritually, some emotionally. I can honestly say that I was so worried and so caught up on trying to finish this semester strong, which I did by the way by the Grace of God. I wanted to also know how I was going to graduate by next Dec. after moving my major for the FOURTH TIME. I wanted to know who I am supposed to be with for the rest of my life. I wanted to know what my future career is going to look like and all of these future things that every young single guy or girl is going through. It's funny how God can sometimes get your attention. Matthew 6:34 is a passage that I read through a daily email bible passage. It's funny how God reveals things to ya even through an email. "Do not WORRY about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its self, Each day will have enough trouble of its own." Basically, God has been speaking to me and has said, MICHAEL you are SO hard-headed. I am in control man!! Don't worry about who you are going to marry, or what you are going to do down the road in life. Let me take care of that!!! I figured that out this weekend after seing and meeting some of the most incredible people this past weekend and meeting some new friendships that I want to put my time into. If this is you right now, I know where you are and I have gone down this road WITH YOU!. Trust me, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We all just need to be still and let God do the work!! God is still transforming me... let him do the same for you....

Michael

Rom. 12:2

My life has been crazy. How about yours?

Ok so I definitely have not written anything in a very long time, but if people are getting tired of seing just the random blog post from 3 or 4 months ago, I'd figure I would give you guys an update of what is going on in my life. Well, this semester I have to tell you has been probably the most stressful semester for me. 19 credit hours, I am getting way more involved in the mass communications department at my school. I am going to a conference next year in Tennessee to compete in a movie challenge competition to hopefully provide more equipment for our department. Time has flown buy so much since I've been back at school. I can honestly say though that I have gone through the worst spiritual battle ever as well. I have been fighting with so many things and scheduling conflicts and trying to turn in assignments on time and doing the assignments well and not just settling for mediocrity. I know that God has an awesome plan for me but I have gotten to the point where I have gotten way too impatient and I am going insane to know what His plan is for me. I know what you might be thinking as far as a passage of scripture for me which would be Jeremiah 29:11 which is a fantastic verse don't get me wrong, but I have heard it over and over and over. I know God has a plan for me and I need to seek it out and continue to strive for that plan that He has for me. I have been through just like of stress which in turn into a little bit of depression, and I think for the most part I have always had some form of depression, but it's not taking over my life thank God, but I know that in the end, everything is going to work out for what God wants and desires but sometimes I almost feel like, well, am I doing what God is wanting me to do, which in turn, turns into spiritual, emotional, and physical conflict. My mind honestly just flows from one idea to the next, it's almost like my soul has been restless this entire semester of college. I have so many questions and so many things that I have become way too concerned about it instead of just being a college student and just enjoy life one day at a time. I also have been dealing with family issues as well and people who know my family know exactly what's going on so I will leave it at that. Sometimes I just wish God would just wake my family up and realize what they are doing and just be the people that God has called them to be just like God has called all of us to be vessels for Him. Other than that, I have learned a lot this semester about who I am as a person and that life is just crazy, people are crazy, not all, but some haha. Life has definitely put me in a world wind with so much school work this semster and that I still have so many dead lines to meet. Next semester will be the same for me as well because of the credit hours I have to complete and so that I can graduate next December if the Lord willing. Overall, God has been so good and so faithful to me. I just pray that He will continue to sustain me and give me strength to get through this last 3 weeks of school before a nice long winder Holiday. To all who read this: Don't give up. Take one day at a time. Keep striving for perfection and keep fighting for Jesus! Love to all,

Michael Rom: 12:2

SEND ME LORD!!!!

Obviously with the huge caps for this blog title Send Me Lord indicates there is a big huge blog post that I am going to give to you to read right? Well you are correct if you guessed yes. I traveled to an M-Fuge lifeway camp in the upstate in South Carolina and I experienced Life in a mighty and powerful way this past week. People who know me, know that I want to know what my future will hold for me, who I'm gonna marry, what kind of car I'm going to drive, what kind of Job I'm going to have. It is pretty clear to me that this life is totally and completely in vain. This life is only temporary, It is quite amazing to me that God called me this summer to be a minister to a group of students this summer to spread light and love and Joy into their hearts, and I believe God has done that. Most people that know me that I may not appear to be someone to take serious, or oh well Michael is just a push over and he's not gonna do, or what ever, listen even as I type these words onto this internet site. You can go ahead and put your money into the bank onto this statement. I AM NOT THE SAME. My fellow students that will see me this semester is going to see a totally different Michael, people who are going to see me are going to see a Michael that is compassionate, more loving, more caring, more serving, more mature, more serious about his faith, more serious about ministering to others around me. As I prepare for another year at NGU, I am totally and completely fired up because people are going to see me as one they can lean to for prayer, concern, people need Jesus now than they ever have. I have no idea what God is going to do with me after NGU, I have no clue what the future is going to hold, but rest assured that people will see a Rom. 12:2 Michael, people are going to see someone who is definitely more mission minded. I am so sick and tired of people not standing up for Jesus, taking that next step of faith, not being Rom 5. that talks about faith produces perserverence and other things that, that chapter talks about. God I don't care about my life anymore, for it is in your hands. Use me for the nations, so that people might come to know you. Help me to take that next step of faith.... I AM NOT THE SAME.

At the mid-point

Wow, wow, freaking, wow. God has led me through an incredible journey so far. It is quite amazing to see God doing incredible things not only in my life, but also in the life at the church that I'm serving. I have plugged into the lives of these students for about a month and a half now, and I gotta tell ya. I have never seen so much passion and concern about seing my God being served and witnessing to their peers with a group of students as I have with this youth group. God has some wonderful things in store for these youth! We will be traveling to M-Fuge camp this Monday and I hope that God will just flat out crush their hearts and my heart and that he will shape our hearts into a redesigned, refined heart that will do nothing or won't shut up about Jesus. God is going to be glorified this week and I can not wait to see what happens.

I have been praying for alittle over a month about finding a car, IE honda, nissan, toyota. Something reliable. My parents are going to help me as well which is such a blessing! I do know though, that I need to put the Lord first and then He will take care of the rest. God is doing some great things in my life so far. I am souring downhill from where I am at and I can not wait to see what happens.

Do you need to be cleansed?

Today I was mowing the yard and during the times that I'm out side being a good son that I am haha, I always try to help my dad out by grass cutting. He likes to deal with the bush trimming and other things pertaining to the yard, but anyway, The heat index today is about 103 when it feels like I don't know maybe about 100,000,000 degrees!!! During this time I was sweating like taking a shower and that is a lot of sweat. Now here comes the health lesson for today! When you sweat, your body is taking in nutrients that it gets from what you've eaten and gets rid of the waste that it doesn't want or need through sweat which cleanses your body. This is an example of how God deals with us in our lives. When we allow God to kind of beam down on us, he will take the sweat and the waste that we don't need, in order that our body might be cleansed? Do you need to be cleansed today?

Michael
Rom 12:2