Defining Joy

I really don’t like when people are lazy in friendships. 

Friendships are supposed to be two way, not one way. 

I’m realizing it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. 

If you want to have good friends, be a good friend. 

That’s all. :)

This woman deserves the most credit outta them all ;) 
Nancy Barlow, is my mom & pretty much doesn’t get thanked enough for everything that she does. 
From the earliest times that I can remember, she has had the biggest servant/giving heart, not just for the family but for EVERYONE she comes in contact with. 
I, to this day, will come home sometimes and see that our dinner for that evening is gone, and will later find out that she gave it to someone in need…naturally ;)
She devotes SO much time to making OTHERS feel loved & happy; she got home from Luxemborg on Tuesday night, and of course I wake up on Wednesday morning, and there she is offering to make me a fruit smoothie before I have to leave for school. I know, sounds like a normal mom, right;)? But the amazing thing is, she does this day in and day out…who knows how, she just does! I was sick yesterday & throughout the night last night I could feel her come into my room, lay hands on me, pray for me, bring me vitamins, water, anything I needed. :)
She is truly the BEST example of a strong woman of God who desires to serve and bless everyone around her. & I want to honor that gifting in her, because those are definitely areas that I want to keep growing in, in my own life :) 
Mom, thank you for who you are, everything you do, & your unwavering love for others. I love you & I’m thankful for you!

Natalie Joy Turner. 
Honestly, if I wrote everything that I love about this girl, it would take a whole book…at LEAST. 
We met a several years back but didn’t get close till about 3 years ago.. It was funny, cause after we started getting close, we realized that we had both been going through friendships issues outside of our relationship and had both prayed that God would bring us a “best friend”; someone that would just be a great close relationship to have…and He brought us each other. :) 
We are twins in so many ways & exact opposites in other ways :) 
She is so laid back & carefree, something that she’s definitely helped me grow in ;) 
She is seriously SO talented, in every way shape and form, I think when God created her, He was like I’m gonna just give her an extra dose of talent. ;) She also is growing into an AMAZING woman of God, I’ve never seen someone be so teachable & humble about the things of God, her desire to please him in each and everything she does is seriously beautiful :) 
She’s my sister, my twin, & my best friend, she’s like the Diana..to my Anne ;) & I’m SO thankful for her. 
I truly know that God placed her in my life to show me what a true friend is, to help me grow, to make me laugh, and to confuse people about who is who, seeing as we have the exact same names ;) 
I’m so blessed by her, and am so thankful that God made her who she is :) 
♥

Since he started it, He might as well get the first post ;) 
I’m SO thankful for my big brother, Andrew. 
He truly lives out what an amazing older brother should be, including the teasing & protectiveness;)
As kids, Andrew and I fought the most, literally..like allll the time…we just continuously butted heads, but as we grew up, and matured…ALOT ;) We grew to become great friends; we’ve been through SO much together, good, hard, bad, etc. etc. etc. But at the end of the day, I can honestly say I wouldn’t ask for anyone else to be my big brother other than him. 
He’s grown into such a strong, handsome, amazing man, on fire for God, and awesome in business.. I’m SO proud of him. 

Back in the day..(okay maybe within the past two years;), I told him that if he marries someone that I’m not already bff’s with, that he’d better marry someone that I’ll get along really well with, and he listened to my instructions, of course ;) and is marrying Kimmy, who I LOVE & get along with SO well. 
All that to say, I’m so thankful for you, Andrew! Love you!

Something I’ve been pondering lately…is words; the words we as people speak. 
Back in the bible days, when different men or women of God spoke something, it happened. When Jesus was on this earth, He only said stuff that he wanted to come to pass, stuff that he wanted to see take place. He never spoke something that didn’t end up happening. We as Christians are supposed to be like little “Christs” going around doing the same works he did, and even greater. BUT, how are we supposed to do that, if we’re constantly speaking words of doubt, words of death, negative words, etc. 

I believe it’s time for people to take the words that they speak, more seriously. Act like you want what you say, to come to pass. That’s how faith works, isn’t it? When you say, I have faith that God is going to heal me, but then the next second complain about how you want to die cause the pain is so great. You’re speaking two contradictory things, it’s obviously not going to work. You can’t operate in faith if you are speaking words of doubt or fear. But if you speak life, it WILL come to pass. 

Same with moods. If you want to feel happy, or joyful…STOP speaking how depressed you are. You may not realize it, but the words you speak, whether in public, or in private, affect YOU. These words affect you, your mood, your attitude, and your outlook on life. Instead, look for just ONE thing thats positive. Think on that, speak THAT, I guarantee you, your outlook and mood will change. I promise. 

Lastly, your words affect others. People can tell how you feel towards them, whether you say it or not. If someone is bugging you, and you decide to not say anything about it, but still hold something in your heart against them, they CAN feel it. Same in a positive way, people can know how your feeling, even if you don’t say anything, they aren’t as dumb as you think. :) 

In Proverbs 18:21 It says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. It’s time for us Christians to watch our words and actions more and more. It’s time to treat our words like the WILL come to pass, cause soon enough, they will start to come to pass. What will you do then?

Lets change the way we speak! :) Be positive:)

I highly encourage you all to read this article. I know this may stir up some controversy, however, if you read the article, you will see all the scriptural backing to this message. So many believers have been blinded & have been fed misconceptions about God’s nature, which in turn have harmed their relationship with God and cause them to question God’s goodness. Read below and you’ll find out what I’m talking about :) Enjoy! 

“The entire Bible is good for you, but you won’t get much out of it unless you know Jesus Christ. To understand the written word, you need to know the Living Word. If you try to read the Bible without an appreciation of Jesus – who He is and what He has done – you may end up taking someone else’s medicine. Some verses will appear to contradict others and you will get confused.

In the first part of this study on God’s gifts, we looked at a sincere lady in the Bible who mistakenly believed that God gives us bad gifts like death and poverty. Today I want to look at a man who had a slightly different problem. He believed that God gives us good gifts only to take them away again. You can probably guess that I’m talking about Job. Job had this one really bad week when his livestock were stolen, his servants were slain, and his kids were killed when a house fell on them. For some reason, Job thought God was behind his loss for he said:

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21)

If there was ever a scripture that has led to some screwy notions about God’s character, it’s this one. Anyone who has suffered loss has probably heard this verse. It’s often quoted at funerals. We even sing songs about it. For some strange reason people seem to find comfort in believing that God is responsible for their loss.

Now don’t get me wrong – I love Job’s attitude. He’s saying that whatever happens in life, he’s going to praise the name of the Lord. He’s no fair-weather believer. But Job still said some dumb things about God. Later on in the story Job would come to regret his choice of words saying “I spoke of things I did not understand” (Job 42:3).

But the question stands: Does God really give and then take away?

Any picture we have of God needs to be informed by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the “radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3). To get a good understanding of God’s character, we need to look to Jesus, not Job. Can you imagine Jesus stealing or killing? Of course not. So how is it that some people think that God was responsible for Job’s loss?

Now you might say to me, “but Paul, it’s in the Bible, it’s right there in black and white – ‘the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away’.” Let me put it to you like this. If you want the very best insight into God’s character, are you better off looking at:

(a)    Jesus, who said “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9), or(b)    Job, who had only heard of God but did not actually know him  (see Job 42:5)?

It seems obvious to me that Jesus is the better choice. Form your views of God by looking at the things Jesus said and did.

As we saw in Part 1, Jesus came to reveal God the Great Giver. Have you been given something good? Then see God as your source. He gave it to you:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (Jas 1:17)

Who’s robbing you?

But what if you have suffered loss, like Job? He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. The temptation may be to blame God for your loss, as if God had a change of heart. But God is not fickle. He does not change like shifting shadows. He is an extraordinary giver who never takes back his gifts.

“God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty – never canceled, never rescinded.” (Rms 11:29, MSG)

So if God is doing the giving, who is doing the taking? Again, Jesus provides the answer:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Joh 10:10)

We ought not to be confused about these two different roles. One is a giver, the other is a taker. If you have been given something good, then give thanks to God. But if you’ve been robbed, don’t blame God. He’s not behind your loss.

Humans are spectacularly slow learners. From the beginning of human history the devil has been trying to steal or ruin everything God gave us and yet there are still some who think that God is the thief! God gave us authority over a planet and the devil took it. God gave us freedom and the devil somehow got us to choose the way of slavery. God gave us eternal life, health and glory, and we lost it all. But thank God for Jesus who took back what the devil stole!

Karma versus grace

If you think that God gives and takes away, then you’ve missed the point of Jesus. Jesus came to reveal a generous Father and to destroy the work of the Thief (1 Jn 3:8). Jesus came that we might have life to the full, not to the half.

If you think that God gives and takes away, then you have more faith in karma than grace. Karma says what goes around comes around. If you’re healthy now, you’ll likely be sick tomorrow. If you’re prospering now, poverty’s waiting just around the next corner. When disappointments and hardships come, you won’t be surprised. You’ll just throw in the towel and say, “I knew it was too good to last.”

The world works according to the principle of give and take, but God just gives. The only thing he’ll take off you – if you let him – is your sin, your shame, your sickness, your worries and your fears. He takes away those things that harm us and only gives us good things that bless us.

Are you a Job or a David?

Both Job and David were robbed. Both were greatly distressed and surrounded by foolish men who gave bad advice. But unlike Job, David did a very Jesusy-thing and took back what was stolen. Why did David fight back when Job quit? We are told that David “encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30:6). In his pain David considered God’s goodness and realized that God was not behind his loss. He understood that it was not God’s will for him to suffer and, so strengthened, he fought back and prevailed.

I wish I could go back in time and get to Job before his friends did. I would say, “Job, God didn’t kill your kids! He didn’t steal your livelihood and make you sick. You’ve been robbed! The devil is having a go at you. Don’t sit there in the ashes and cry about it, get up and fight! Are you a warrior or a weakling? Are you a victor or a victim?”

The church will never see victory if we think God is behind our suffering. If we think God is robbing us we won’t even resist. We’ll let the devil waltz in and plunder our families all the while singing “He gives and takes away.” Funny, but I can’t imagine Jesus or David doing that.

For too long we have been incapacitated by uncertainty which is really just another name for unbelief. Don’t look to Job, look to Jesus! Jesus was never confused about who was giving and who was taking.” -Paul Ellis