Today, my little 16 year-old cousin tweeted "things always get worse before they get better". I really can't explain how much that touched my heart. Lately, I've been wondering and asking God why things have been going so bad lately. For a while, I kinda lost focus because I was so concentrated on how bad things look right now, that I couldn't even see the good ahead. I lost hope and really was just struggling from day to day. But when my cousin tweeted that, I really sat back for a minute and had to remind myself God is in control. I'm not gonna understand, because I am not in control nor am I capable of being in control. And with that simple tweet, I was reminded to just keep holding on through the good, the bad, the confusing, the troubling, the depressing, the whatever. 

And to any of you who may have been feeling anything similar, please just hold on. "be not weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9). Remember, God is in control. You may not understand but He does. He sees the past, present, and future and knows exactly what to do. He's been doing this for some millennium now ;)

Lent

::Disclaimer:: This is solely my opinion. None of this is fact nor based on scriptures. Just something to think about. I'm not saying that anybody is wrong, just stating my view on a matter.

So today is Lent. However, this is the first time I have heard of people other than Catholic believers participating in it. Personally, I think that the idea of sacrificing something is great. There's no better way to get closer to something than to deny yourself. So, in essence I do agree with the concept of Lent.
However, I object to the religiousness of Lent. I find it a bit absurd that people will only give up things for a set amount of time on a set date. People FIND  things to give up, like they have to. The purpose of a sacrifice (in my opinion) is to(1) rid yourself and your life of things, people, habits, that are preventing you from being closer with God or to (2) deny yourself of something essential as a symbol of putting the Savior first. To me, Lent is just a religious practice where we do things, just because, not really taking into account the real reason and meaning.
Participating in Lent is fine, but we've gotta take it further than that. Whenever we see something in our lives that's stopping us from going further in Christ, we should eliminate it. Whenever we feel distant from God, we should sacrifice something and deny ourselves as a reminder that He is first and foremost, even before ourselves.
I hope I didn't offend anyone. It's all love guys! Hope you all enjoyed. On another note, do you guys have any suggestions or things you'd like to see on this blog? Please, please, please let me know if so. I missed you guys :)