Facing Your Giants: Control

In Control

If there is one thing I've learned a lot right now in my relationship with God it’s that His timing is perfect.

For the longest of time I felt like I always needed to be in control. I needed to have all my plans organized and when something didn't go according to my plans (even the smallest of things) I became devastated and so easily stressed. Most times I even got angry because I had spent so much time and effort into perfecting all of those plans and in one instant they were ruined! I was so sick and tired of things not happening according to the way i wanted them to. Because I felt that if I had all the control I would be happy because everything would go the way I wanted it to. But because most of my plans failed I became wildly unhappy.

We all think we know what's best for us based on what makes us happy and that is true, but only to an extent. Most often than not, a lot of these things that may make us happy end up leaving us feeling unsatisfied..

Do you know what I mean? Like or example  when you go out and you feel like that Big Mac is going to be so amazing and your mouth like waters a bit at the thought (careful you may be drooling at this point).

Then you eat it and yeah it feels so good while eating it but as soon as you finish that last bite and wait a few minutes it just sits there like a rock in your stomach and you pretty much feel like crap for a few hours and not to mention get really bad gas for a week. 

We all have those times where we feel like we know what’s best for us so we push the idea of God's plans out of the way and take life into our own hands. Most of the time the results we get leave us feeling empty and unsatisfied. There is a big difference between thinking what we know is best for us and actually knowing what is best for us. Now I’m not talking about sins, I’m just talking about how some of us like to be in control of where we are heading. 

In one of my favorite movies The Matrix there is a scene between the two main characters and it goes a little like this:

Morpheus: "Do you believe in fate Neo?"

Neo: "No because I don't like the idea of not having control of my future."

Many of us are like Neo in the same respect where we want to be in control of what happens in our lives. Yet really if we even tried to have that control we would all have some serious anxiety issues every time something fell out of order according to our desires.

That is why God is here. He is here to take that burden of control off our shoulders so that we don't all have major stress levels or anxiety issues. Instead God has control so that we can do his work and not have to worry about what happens next.

"Cast all your anxiety on him, for because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7

God has our best interests in his heart and he has already mapped out an amazing journey for each and every one of us. It's just a matter of letting go of that sense of control and letting God direct you the way you're supposed to go.

I'm just saying this upfront and as bluntly as I can. It isn't going to be easy to go where God calls us to; in fact most times you'll want to run away from most of his plans for you. Jonah did when God was calling him to go and do his work in a very scary place. Instead Jonah hopped on the next ship that was heading in the complete opposite direction. But God will always call you back, just as he did for Jonah. Even if you don't want to do what he is asking of you or go where he is leading you to go, do it anyway! Because I guarantee you will be complete satisfied..

It’s hard to believe at first, when God is calling us, guiding us into a future we may not even think we could handle, but God has great plans for you. You just have to let go and trust him. The biggest part of faith is to Have Faith in what God has planned for you. 

So let go of control for a while and just let God guide you anywhere and everywhere. You'd be pretty amazed at the things you’re capable of once you let God show you.

You may feel overwhelmed even with how perfect things seem when you let God take total control. Everything seems to fall into place at just the right time. Try giving faith in God plans for you a try, and you'll find that everything seems a lot less stressful and a little more heavenly.

Written by : Angelica Anderson\
Photo by : Kaleigh Dyck

Facing Your Giants- "What's The Difference?"

Facing Your Giants: "What's The Difference?"

Growing up I didn't have that many friends. During elementary school my father passed away when I was in grade 2. Once the word got out, I was the "different" kid on the playground. No one wanted to be my friend or play with me or have to be stuck sitting beside me in the classroom. All because of one fatal flaw that set me apart from the rest. What made it such a bad thing for me not having a dad?

Why did people see me so differently? Who else could possibly be going through the same thing?

One man I later found out did, a boy named Jesus.

Now you see Jesus had many followers after some period of time but it wasn't all that easy for the man. At first he wasn't taken seriously for his preaching, he was ignored, neglected and casted away. He helped the poor, invited tax collectors into his home, and helped the sick and disabled all these things went against the standards of society during his time. It only seemed to make him more of an outcast.

Meaning in today's society it would be weird to see someone start crawling around on all fours rather than just walk on 2 feet, it’s weird and just seems out of place right? Well that is what I seemed like to my class mates and what Jesus seemed like when he walked around doing these things in his time.

Morpheous

Soon enough people started to listen to Jesus, witnessing the kind and tender love he had for everyone, the miracles he performed on the sick and dying. Everyone saw how great and good he was. They witnessed how all the things he did were amazing and wonderful actions sent down by God to give us all hope and faith into a better day to come. Soon it was just as normal to help the sick and poor, although Jesus was once mocked for it.

I too felt the sudden change as this happened my own life and people started to accept me and I was able to reach all my goals and find that I had amazing talents that people actually respected me more for. And well eventually society changed and I wasn't the only kid in school without a missing parent, or a divorce, it was no longer a big difference and seems to only be growing in schools.

I got kittens Gimpy and Katniss (yes just like the hunger games) and there were actually 7 to choose from, five normal ones and t two special ones. Katniss had been missing part of her tail, and her brother Gimpy (now named Morpheus) was missing half of one ear and some of its right paw. As soon as I saw them I knew I would pick them no matter how normal and healthy the others seemed to be because I knew that no one else would want to keep them because they were "Different" and after experiencing that  judgement in my life I knew that those would be the kittens i got.

Katniss

Now I have 2 new happy, healthy fur balls who love to cuddle and play with my blankets. Katniss looks like a little puppy the way her tails wiggles when she gets all excited. And Morpheus well he is one little (not so little anymore) cuddle bug and very fluffy.

Someone else may have taken one look at these two kittens and found that they weren't "Normal" enough to be taken to their home. Well maybe next time you should think twice about calling that person a "thief" just because they're black or calling that one girl a slut just because she is young and pregnant .

Who knows, maybe people don't like something in you, because you’re different.

I guess all I’m going to finish off with is this, try finding the differences in one another as a positive thing instead of such a negative thing because I don't know about you but I wouldn't want 7 billion identical "ME’s" running around this world, and it wouldn't get very far in the development of the future.

Learn to accept each other’s differences because odds are even if it may seem like your being pushed out because your "different" out of the 7 billion people on this planet someone else has the Same Difference As You!

Written by: Angelica Anderson

Facing Your Giants- Hard Promises

Facing Your Giants- Hard Promises

Everyone has had their fair share of promises in life. Whether, it’s the promise of keeping your room clean. Or a promise to keep those grades up or maybe even a promise to keep those secrets or favors of a friend. At one point or another we have all made promises some more frequently than others.

So what do they really mean? Well in terms of the dictionary it is something to be vowed to be done or something to be asked and finished. In terms of the bible is a whole other story. (Literally)

So again I’m talking about the very cool and awesome David. This man was a guy who faced many giants such as this one. I find David to be quite the role model because well he messed up just like we do. Yet he also faced the same challenges as we have or will eventually, and sometimes is comforting to know that in your hardships you’re not alone.

So David was a very loyal friend, king, Shepard (in the beginning) and he had a lot of great qualities one of which was keeping promises.

Growing up and even now I’ve always been known as one of those "People Pleasers" and yes if there was something to be done I would be the first to volunteer no matter what the job or how much it would take out of me. I made many promises and over time I started to make way too many. Whether it was cleaning the storage room of the class room, or taking over a school group project, making sure I was helping the green team and their garden planting projects I was always one the first one on the job.

 So this is why this became a challenge, you see growing up I didn't have many good friends in fact I found it kind of challenging to make them. So instead I put myself in clubs, volunteer work, or anything I could get my hands onto and just did that.

Eventually people liked me for my kind heart and compassion towards others but then things became stressful when I could barely find time for myself. I started to eat less, play sports less, and even do a whole lot less of my own homework. Soon I crashed with fatigue and late night tea runs weren't helping any. Then I realized I had over booked my life around helping and making everyone else happy except myself. I loved doing the work but in plain honesty I was miserable. So I gave up a few clubs, learned a new word called "No" that took a lot of extra stress from friends and I was able to steady myself and pace my workload again.

So I’ve kept many promises and soon I couldn't bare it and broke them. Sure people were disappointed, but losing sleep over a group project wasn't exactly healthy either.

David was like me only he kept the biggest promises the ones he knew he could. You see after his best friend died (Johnathan) he had first made the promise to him to take care of any descendant of his and after searching and looking he had found someone. It was Johnathan's son Mephibosheth (yes I know a mouthful) and he welcomed him into his home and a place at his table. Sure to the servant of David this seemed quite foolish since his friend was already dead and Johnathan's son was a cripple so why bother with the kid? What David says next however, is true deep love for the promise he made to his friend.

“David’s friend may have died, but his covenant had not. Though he had many reasons to forget the promise he made he kept on through with it and found a greater connection and meaning behind it.”

-      Max Lucado

Imagine being Mephibosheth an unknown cripple in a fallen society suddenly brought up to live at a kings table to be treated with high respect. You can just imagine how amazed and happy he was with his life and David was happy to have brought the faith and hope into his life. That's your story too! We are not born as a child of a king, only children to be raised by average parents yet imagine this:

“You are not going to believe this but the King of Israel has a place for you at his table and he wants you in his family"

-      Max Lucado

Surely you may not have physically forgone this scenario but think about it, we are all invited to God's table he promises a place in heaven for us once this life is over. He promises forgiveness of sins, and he promises to always walk with us when we can see no light. Yes search and you will find God fulfilling all these promises day in and day out, through every one of us.

So I can't be like god and help billions of people with billions of struggles, jobs, favors and yes promises but I can do my bit in the world to keep a few of them. I may not have the strength to do them all but at least I know somehow if not by my hand God will fulfill those hard promises himself.

Written by: Angelica Anderson

Facing Your Giants: Unspeakable Grief

Unspeakable Grief

Many people have heard the news from a policeman or a teacher that pulls them out of class, or a phone call from a friend, all bringing the same message:

“We regret to inform you..."

When I was 7 I was just another oblivious child to reality, going to school, playing with my friends and toys. These were basically all the things that consumed my mind. Then one chilling February school day something was about to happen that would affect my life forever.

My mom sat me and my sister down in our room on our bed, being a kid this usually meant she found out about the candy we took or glass we had broken but today it was far worse than that.

I remember everything about this day the way the tears fell, the way we sought comfort in each other, the looks of disbelief that my father had died.

It was extremely hard on me, I no longer had someone to swim or play catch with, no one to teach me how to ride a bike like all dads’ are supposed to do. I now only had 2 people in my life to call family and this would only be the beginning.

Being 7 it was hard to deal with my emotions I never really quite understood them. I knew I was angry and upset and nothing seemed to please me. So I had to do what many people do, I faced my grief. Now I was only 7 so bear with me on this.

Growing up things were tough, I didn't have a dad to make the classroom craft for on father's day, I didn’t have the dad to explain what my parent(s) did as jobs. I always felt alone and different until I learned there were many more people like me, in a small story I heard in church.

It was a story about a man named David. Now David was just the typical guy of his era, herded sheep, even fought a giant, and would soon become God's anointed King. Yet David had to face many Giants other than the famous Goliath, he had to face a giant lots of us are familiar with, Grief.

You see David was supposed to me the anointed King soon, but Saul was the current king and he heard about David and had been plotting his death for quite some time now. Yet Saul had a son named Johnathan who soon became great friends with David and he helped David run and hide from Saul. They become best friends that truly loved one another.

One day though in the battle between the Hebrews and the Philistines Saul and Johnathan died. David soon came to find out about this loss but David didn’t flee like I did, he faced his Giant.

I had to become like David and face this giant too. It took me years though, since I had built up walls of anger and resent towards God. But one day everything changed.

I was just finishing this race for swimming 100m backstroke and I had actually come1st overall. I was so happy and proud of myself and I just took a quick look at the bleachers and for a split second I saw my father looking down on me with my first win with a big smile on his face, and I even swore I heard him whisper: "I'm proud of you"

From that day on I made sure I would do my best in every race, because I would now race in memory of my father. My dad was a scuba diving instructor as well as an amazing swimmer himself. So now I swim with him and his strength in my heart.

Yes, David did mourn, grieve and cry but that’s okay, even Jesus had a moment to mourn and it is even written:

“There is... a time to mourn"

      (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4)

We will all face a time of pain and grief. David faced his beloved friends death, challenged it, but he didn't deny it.

Face your grief with truth. God has the last word on death and if you listen, he will tell you the truth about your loved ones.

When you leave your friends, do you bid them farewell? No, you say : " I’ll See You Soon"

Because you mean it.

So when you stare down at the softly turned soil, and new grass at the cemetery you look down and say:

                 ”I’ll See You Soon"

Written by : Angelica Anderson