What's real?

What's real?  Is tv real? Is the news real?  Are the characters/people real?  Yes and no.

The past few weeks I have been so troubled by these things. When I got back from my trip to Haiti, I could hardly stand looking at the television.  I assumed it was because I hadn't seen one in almost 2 weeks, and just wasn't used to it.  I hardly watched it before I left either, but this was more.  I just kept hearing in my spirit, "it's not real."  I am not saying boycott tv and movies, but I am saying, to think about what you are allowing into your heart, mind and spirit.

My kids thought I was a little crazy when I started saying these things, but I had to tell them, it's not real.  The stuff they make up in the movies and on television is not real.   But we fill ourselves with it, and use the "knowledge" we find on the tv and in a movie and apply it to REAL life.  And we expect it to work!

Nicholas Sparks books, (and I have read lots!) are not real.  The expectations that women have in their heart regarding love aren't real.  A romantic movie isn't real.  Sometimes they are "based off of a true story", which means they took a little thing and dramatized it to make money.  LOL

Maybe this is a rant. Maybe.  But if you're reading this, just ponder it.  What are we letting into ourselves that isn't real?  The eyes ARE the window to the soul, and if you let it in, it's there.  If it's not truth, then it will conflict with the truth in you.  And one will win, the truth or the lie.

My heart is passionate about girls believing in false love.  Oh, the heartache that comes with it.  I remember that heartache. I remember hoping, wishing, even praying.  All in vain.

True love only comes from God, along with the ability to truly love someone.  Real love cost something, and is sacrificial in nature.  Jesus is our example.  Movies are just that...movies.  TV is just that...tv.  Entertainment.  Not real life, but a twisted version of it.

Seek the one that is REAL, and He will put everything else in perspective :)

Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. Psalm 51: 6

<3 Christa

I did it!

I have been back from Haiti for 10 days now, and am finally getting back into the swing of "normal" life, whatever that is :)   God did so much in my heart during my trip. I met beautiful people, tried new things, saw gorgeous places, and conquered fears that held me down for my whole life.

Being stripped from everything comfortable and predictable, having no one to depend on, to take care of things, to fall back on.   It was a truly humbling experience.  I haven't been on my own in years...if ever.  I am still not sure how I did it, going out of the country for the first time, alone, without speaking the language AT ALL of the country that I am traveling to.  Thinking about it now is laughable :)

I think the greatest thing God did in me during my time in Haiti, was healing in the area of "Daddy."  I have always been insecure in this place.  Needing someone to have my back, to cover me, to take care of me.  It never dawned on me that I didn't need a person for this.  That God, Himself, was with me, watching over me, and had never left me.  Being by myself made me truly consider who and what I placed my trust in.  When no one is around, what do I believe?  My relationship with my Jesus is so much stronger, and has gone to another level.

The beautiful children I met have changed my life.  I will no longer look at a child the same.  The eyes are truly the window to the soul, and I have seen so much beauty in those eyes.  They all have a story to tell, and lots to say.  We could stand to learn a lesson or two from them. The kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.

I am proud of myself.  I got close to the edge, and I jumped.  I didn't fall.  I was afraid, I was nervous, but I jumped.  And my Papa was with me every step of the way. :)

<3 Christa