Serve

I'm not sure how anyone can look at a homeless person, or poor person and see anything other than a hurting human being. I have been volunteering at the local soup kitchen, and whenever I see a person is done eating, I try to help them out by taking their plate and throwing it in the garbage for them. To me I thought of it as just a little more service, a little more kindness, and one more chance at interaction before they go back into the world. Today, I asked one of the women if I could throw her plate away, and she said sure, so I did just that. No sooner had the plate hit the trash can, than one of the staff members reprimanded me for "pampering" the guests. He told me they could throw their own plate away. I didn't even know what to say. I stuttered a few words and went back to my work. But inside my heart was breaking. Had they become so numb to the needs around them? Could they have forgotten why the soup kitchen was even there? Yes it was to meed their physical needs, but aren't their emotional needs just as important? Isn't showing them a little kindness a part of the job description? I mean Jesus didn't come to be served, but to serve... shouldn't we be doing the same? I don't know, maybe I'm not being fair to him, but I look at each of the people that come in and I know that they each must have a story, and a life, and some sort of family. they aren't just someone taking up a seat, they are living and breathing creations of God. I hope that I will never lose sight of that!

yumminess

I have a new addiction... and it's name is Pinterest. It's a website dedicated to virtual pinboards, and I have gotten all kinds of cool recipes from it. I've only had the opportunity to make one of them, but it was super easy and super delicious!

Smores Croissants

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag of mini marshmallows
1 roll of croissants

First you lay out the dough, and then put the chocolate chips at the top of the croissant (the widest part). Then put the mini marshmallows on top and roll into a croissant and put on a baking tray. Bake at 375 for between 11-13 minutes depending on your oven! Then remove, let them cool for around 2 or 3 minutes and enjoy smore heaven. So delicious... so simple... so magic.

I made them for my life group... and needless to say there were none left at the end of the night!

Lukewarm

I've said it before... but I don't think I can say it enough. I love my church! Yesterday Pastor Paul talked about the parable of the sower. I'm sure you've heard it before... ya know the one where some of the seed falls on hard ground, some rocky ground, some thorny soil, and some good soil. I've heard it a thousand times before, but God word always has something new to offer us! I think the thing that stood out to me the most this time around was the purpose of parables. I mean, why did Jesus have to tell a little story, why couldn't He just say what He meant? My pastor said it this way, Jesus spoke in parables to either drive us closer or further away from God. If it drove us closer, than awesome! We would be pushed out of complacency and forced into action. If it drove us further away from God... well also awesome, because at that point we would have to start searching for God. Sometimes we have to be pushed further away to remind us of how much we really NEED Him. God doesn't need lukewarm, complacent, baby christians. Revelation 3:16 says, "So because you are lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Over the summer, I was lukewarm. I was stuck in my comfort and complacency and I felt far from God. Finally I felt so alone, and so far from God that I realized I had to start taking action... whether I "felt" close to God or not. I got back to Lburg and I got more involved. In my church, in my community... just in general. I started spending more time reading my bible, more time talking to God, and more time with people that would/could keep me accountable. And before I knew it, my fire was back... and the luke warm was gone. Before I could be on fire again, God had to remind me of how terrible things are when I'm not close to Him. He reminded me that when I'm trying to find my joy in other things I'm setting myself up for a fall. Being lukewarm doesn't please God. You won't get a "well done my good and faithful child" just for going to church on Sunday morning and being a pretty good person. God wants, and expects more from us than that. Nothing of significance is done for the kingdom by being comfortable.

Usable... no matter what my flaw

You know that verse in the bible that talks about how God uses our weaknesses to bring him glory? Yeah... well I experienced that last night. Every Friday night some people from my church and I prayer walk the neighborhood our building is in. So far it's been such an incredible experience, and this Friday night was no different. I walked around with two other people and we were walking and chit chatting, talking about a million different things, one of them being how none of us are very good with kids. We like them, but well... they don't like us as much! haha So we're walking and we run into a group of kids playing football in the middle of the street. We played with them, and talked with them, and found out about their life. It was awesome.Then we kept walking and we ran into more kids and we hung out, and played and talked. And once again, it was awesome. We reached these kids, we invested in their lives even a little bit and hopefully we'll be able to continue to grow a relationship with them each week! And the funny part is all of us claimed that we weren't kid people. But the thing is... God uses us in His infinite grace to bring glory to Him. He doesn't just use our strengths, but He uses our weaknesses! Sooo even when we feel like God can't use us, BAM He comes out of left field, using our shortcomings! My lack of a "knack with kids"? Used, along with two others, to reach the kiddies of my neighborhood. Just sayin... my God is pretty dang amazing.

It's only Wednesday??!!

It's been a looooong week... and it's only Wednesday. But you know what, I'm discovering that it's during the not so awesome weeks that I am the closest to God, because I'm talking to Him more than ever. God's goodness and provision in my life is even more evident during the backaches and the heartaches. Tonight, I will sleep soundly, and I will wake up in the morning with God's name on my lips, because He is my strength and my portion forever.

Wise words by Andy Stanley

Are you the person the person your looking for, is looking for? I know, a little confusing, but that is the question Andy Stanley asks in his sermon series entitled "The New Rules for Sex, Love, and Dating". Do you ever think about that? We have this list of qualities we are looking for, but do we ever think about whether or not we have the qualities they are looking for? Are we aiming to meet their "standards"? Click the above link... and be INSPIRED : )

Blessed by blessing others

Tonight I walked through the neighborhood surrounding my church with some dear friends... and prayed. We prayed for the neighborhood, we prayed that God would do a new thing in the neighborhood, and we even got to pray with people. It was an amazing night for it, with a gorgeous breeze and the heat was finally starting to leave the air. People were sitting on their porches and we were ready to reach them with the hope that Jesus offers. I got to pray with this older woman, named Pearl. She has arthritis, and it causes her a lot of pain but her joy just radiated from her. She called all of us "shuga" and gave us all big hugs. And there was another woman named Linda who had lost her husband 3 months ago. She said she had been just spent most of the night in tears, because she just couldn't get over the loss of her husband. She needed deep prayer, so we all laid hands on her and prayed that God would be her love and her joy. It was just such an incredible experience. If I had not been willing to step outside myself and step out of my own little bubble I never would have been able to be so blessed by these people. I don't think I'm the only Christian that gets stuck there. We talk a good game, but when push comes to shove we have "better" things to do on a Friday night then pray for a neighborhood. We are perfectly content with our baby christianity and so we do our thang and we forget those who need Jesus the most. I don't want that to be me. I don't want to be so caught up with myself that I forget others. I want to put others and their needs above my own, and I want God to use me to do big things for His kingdom. I don't want to be so consumed with my own life that I miss the prayer walks and the other doors that God opens. We don't need to go anywhere but our own backyard to reach people for God... so lets do it! Lets change our attitude, and remember that our life is not our own. Go for a walk... build relationships... seek others.... and God WILL work!

quick nugget

I love coffee... specifically iced coffee. If you ask any of my friends... nay any of my acquaitances they will tell you that Sarah Knudsen LOVES coffee. So needless to say when I found this little nugget of iced coffee wisdom I was pretty pumped, so I thought I'd share it with you! : )

The perfect iced coffee : )

Quitter



I just finished reading "Quitter" by Jon Acuff (the author of Stuff Christians Like), and let me just say it was AWESOME! Totally hilarious, totally convicting, and totally practical. There was a whole lot of information so I'm reading it again so I can absorb more of what he said. The main thing that I got out of it was that acheiving your dream... and "closing the gap between your day job and your dream job" takes patience, hard work and dedication. We are the "get it now" generation. We want what we want when we want it. We don't want to have to wait, and we definitely don't want it to take hard work. But our dreams are worth working for... are biggest and best dreams are going to take effort, and time, and lots of wisdom. I know I definitely needed that reminder. The best dreams don't happen in a moment, but take care, time, and love to truly flourish.