Victory in Jesus Christ!

We hear that a lot, but how often do we really realize that it's true? We're don't have to fight these battles alone. First of all, we know that we have victory, because Jesus has conquered! Second, God has given us people to help us fight our battles. We're all struggling with things... many of them the same as others. We don't realize that we need to stick together and fight!

Saturday we went to a fantastic youth rally and I heard this example. You're in a battle and you have 10 people to fight. Your enemy has 5 people, so you know that you can beat them easily. You send one man out to fight the enemy. Of course, he gets defeated (5-1, right?). You send another man. He's defeated as well. This continues to happen until your whole army is defeated! Why did this happen? It was 10-5?!?!? Of course it was because you sent out your men alone! If everyone would have fought together, you would have won!

This is what we do as Christians! God has given us family in Christ to help us in our weaknesses! We need to stay together and fight, knowing that we can win only through Jesus Christ.

Don't fight your battles alone.

Please pray

Right now my parents are on their way to Ohio to visit my grandpa. He's been in and out of the hospital for a couple years now. Yesterday he went in and it was pretty serious. He had surgery this afternoon with a 50% chance of coming out alive. I don't know all the medical details, but he did make it out of the surgery.

Dad and Mom took the three little kids and are dropping them off to stay at my other grandparents. In the morning my parents will go the rest of the way to the hospital. Andrea and I are here at home and staying at a family friend's house for the night.

Please pray for my grandpa and the rest of the family with him, traveling safety for my parents, safety for Andrea and I here, and that my family would be able to be a light to our extended family these next few days.

Thanks so much,
Marissa

September already?

Wow, the summer sure flew by fast! I can say I am looking forward to fall, though! So many fun things happening and a new season of life starting! :)

Last Tuesday I took my road test and passed! I'm officially a licensed driver now. :) Praise God for blessing and watching out for us the other day. It was a kind of hectic morning.

I was supposed to be taking my test at 10:00 on Tuesday. At 9:15, my mom and I were finally getting out the door. I wanted to get there early so that I could practice parallel parking for a little while (I hadn't done it much in our van). When we got in the van, we found out we didn't have current registration for it. After looking around for a few minutes, we figured it must be in my dad's car so we though the best decision would be to drive to his work and check. We figured that if wasn't there, we could at least switch cars and I could use his.

At about 9:30 we arrived at his work and fortunately he was able to come out and help us. UNfortunately, he didn't have the van's registration.... or the car's. Now I didn't have any car to drive, and it was too late to go home and ask our neighbor, we'd never make it back on time.

We had tried calling my aunt multiple times about using her car, but she was with a patient and couldn't answer. Finally, 10 minutes before the test, we got a hold of her. She works literally across the street from where the test was going to be and, of course, she HAD current registration for her car. :) We were able to run over there and she let me use her car for the test (what a HUGE blessing!). We actually got to the parking lot about 5 minutes before 10:00 and I was still able to practice parking for a couple minutes. :) The test ended up going fantastic, even though I'd never driven her car before. THANK YOU, AUNT ROSE!!!! :)

God always knows what He's doing, doesn't He?!?! No matter how confused or frustrated we feel about a situation, He's in control. :)


Another thought.....

I read Proverbs 16:9 yesterday which says,
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

As teenagers, we're often confused about the future and what God wants us to do. Often I find myself making my own plans for myself but being afraid that I'm not following God's plans for my life. This verse is so comforting to me because it reminds me of this,
"If God wants you to do something, you'll do it. You're not going to miss an opportunity that He wants you to have."
God's got great plans for my life. He's not going to let me get around them. :) Keep trusting.

Trust is really a hard thing for me sometimes, but God's proved Himself faithful again and again. Sometimes I wonder why I can't remember that.... :)