...that we need to stop jumping out of the fish bowl.

My friend had a story to tell me in Health class the other day.

She had a goldfish. The goldfish apparently either didn't like her very much or just wanted something more, because what this incredible goldfish did is quite fantastic.

The goldfish decided to jump all the way out of its bowl, where it proceeded to flop around until it...well, let's just say it went to the big aquarium in the sky.

This reminded me of humanity.

We are the goldfish, and God is the bowl of water. We want something more, and so we jump out of the bowl. God giving us free will means that He won't stop us, and we wind up dying outside the bowl if we don't find a way back in.

I know what you're thinking: Fish are stupid. I would never be so dumb as to just ditch God when I'm looking for something more. We were created to be WAY smarter than any old goldfish.

Really?

I'm not calling you stupid- I just have seemed to pick up the signals that we only go back to the fish bowl of God when we're dying and need to be restored, and we just hop out again once we're fine. We only pray when we want some unnessecary piece of temporary junk or when something isn't going okay. Not a lot of people seem to want God very much when it's all fine, even though He's the one who made it all fine in the first place.

Temptation is tricky- Satan likes it that way. Life outside the fish bowl looks enticing from the inside, and it lures you out. And it's pretty hard to get back in once you're out.

The good news? Satan can't dwell in the fish bowl- there's no possibility of wreaking havoc. There's too much love in there for him. But he can and WILL do everything in his power to get you out and keep you that way.

My advice? It's pretty simple: When you're looking out of the glass walls of this immense fish bowl that is God, just remember that the image is distorted- your eyes are playing tricks on you. Life is always better with God. Fish are always better off in the fish bowl.

I only wish I could have told the fish that.

...that we need to be ready.

I have a theory.

My theory: quite simple, really. It's not really mine, because a lot of other people share it. But here it is:

JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON!

I could be wrong. The Bible did say that when the Son of Man returned, it would be like a thief in the night. But the Good Book has also given us a LOT of evidence suggesting that our Father could be coming any time now. That makes me...conflicted.

I know that heaven is going to be a lot better than our temporary home of Earth, but I can't stop thinking about people I've grown close to who won't be saved. And I can think of a great many. It's kind of depressing. But it's their choice, right?

Well, I'm no expert at spreading the Good News, but we need to be helping those people along in any way we can. That doesn't mean we need to be throwing them up against a wall and shoving God down their throats. That will only push them further away from the truth.

I know this girl. She will remain unnamed. I used to go to school with her, and she is probably the most Godly person under 20 that I have ever met. She's kind, smart, funny, and everyting she does just screams, "I'm so incredibly happy and it's all because of God!" This girl was like a light in a pitch black room with no doors or windows. I couldn't believe how strong her faith was when we were surrounded by so many people who didn't believe in God.

That's the kind of people we need to be. The kind that just light up the room when they walk in. The kind that make people say, "What is it about you that you are so happy all the time?" The kind that are sprinklers of the love of Christ. I know that's who I want to be. It's what I pray for every night.

Think of all the people who know you. Now think of all of them who still don't know who Jesus is or how much He loves them. The day is coming soon when they won't have any more time to choose and they will have to spend eternity in...well...not heaven.

We don't know when He's coming back. It could be tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be in 100 years, or even later. But I want to be ready. And I want a lot of others to be ready too.

Don't you?

...that joy comes in many forms.

I have these friends. These friends of mine are a family who listened to a call from God and decided to adopt a baby girl. They recently went overseas to get her. She's home now, and it was decided that she would come with her mom and siblings to church on Wednesday nights. You know, to get acquainted with the people who she would probably grow up around. So I was wandering the halls after youth group, and who should I stumble upon but this family and their new baby.

Let's just say my heart melted immediately.

She's an absolute beauty. She has gorgeous dark skin, a beautiful smile, and the cutest hair on the planet. She was playing catch with her brother, and she would often stop to run back and give her new mom a big smile and even bigger hug.

The absolute joy on her mother's face was like none I have ever seen, and that is the subject of this new blog.

Coming from a girl who's middle name is joy, I can tell you that joy is definitely not the easiest emotion to come across these days. With the ecomony being down, war raging across the Middle East, and prices of basically everything skyrocketing, it's a little hard not to be distracted by the havoc that Satan is wreaking all over the globe. Even optimists are having a hard time putting a positive spin on recent events, and pessimists like me certainly aren't seeing the peace in the midst of these struggles.

Let's take a little verse from James and find out what God's got for us.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." -James 1: 2-4

You heard the Word- pure JOY. Now, I'm not saying that when the going gets really tough, as it probably will here in the near future, to think that God is going to drop Himself out of the sky and personally handle all of your problems for you- that wouldn't help you grow. Believe me, I've wished more than once that God would step out of heaven and come to wave His magic wand and make it all better. But at the end of the day, I really just want to look up and say, "Bring it on."

In church last Sunday, another friend of mine spoke some words that I think are an excellent way of living. He said, "I'm not sure if I want my problems to end, because I have never been as close to God as I am now."

I couldn't agree more. And that's pure joy.

...that fear is best handled by the one who created it.

While in the car today, my sister proceeded to tell about her hatred of clowns. She said that their make-up was stupid, that they weren't funny, and that they were just plain creepy. I've always hated clowns, but even I found this to be incredibly harsh. This got me thinking. I really thought about everything that I'm afraid of (and trust me there's a LOT), and how messed up I get whenever I think about them. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a scaredy-cat, but I am ashamed of the thing I'm about to write.

Believe it or not, I have not surrendered my fears to God.

Well, I'm sure that many people out there are probably going to be surprised to hear that. So many people see my seemingly perfect side, and to be honest, I really don't like having to say to the people I'm close to that I haven't totally surrendered. What's even more sad is that I have no excuse. I can't say that I'm just a stupid teenager who doesn't know what's good for her, because I've been paying attention in church for almost 14 years now. I can't say that I'm new at this, because I grew up in a Christian home and asked Jesus into my heart at the age of seven. And I can't say that I don't have experience living for Him, because I've already been on a mission trip and have been trying to live like He would for the same period of almost 14 years.

So what's wrong with me?

Personally, I think it's just a human nature thing. I'm not trying to defend myself- I just really think that we as humans believe that we need to just put a good face on for the rest of the world and then keep our problems and insecurities to ourselves. We are always worried about how our fellow humans see us, instead of how our Creator sees us. I know I am.

So why can't we give it all?

We are control freaks as well as perfectionists. We have to be able to control our enviornment- people actually kill themselves because they feel like they have lost all of their control over their lives. That's why teens rebel, that's why little kids want to do everything themselves, and that's why adults don't help each other out with half of what they could. We all are looking for that sense of power- we were built for power, in a sense. But that power we were built for is supposed to go to God. He's supposed to be the controller, the one who composes our lives, weaves together the threads that make us who we are. He needs control of our fears, or He can't do His job.

Believe me, I wish that I could hop up on that pedastal with God and be the co-pilot. I wish that I could just handle my fears myself and not need anyone else. But I can't. That's the way it was when this all started, that's how it's going to be right now, and spoiler alert: that's one thing that's never going to change.

Kind of stinks, doesn't it?

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. " -Romans 12: 1-2

In other words,

I say...

to just give it all up, and see what happens. It might not get better, but you'll feel a whole lot better inside.