53: God: In the Practical Sense

Title: He's not a mythical creature, he's actually here to help.

I went to church this morning with a mission in mind. I wanted to first thank God for all He's brought me through this week, for the strength He's given me when I felt less than adequate, and for giving me the right mind to follow Him. Then I needed to pray forgiveness, because we all fall short of the glory. Praise Him of course. But then finally, I had some requests. They weren't my usual "Oh God, help me get money so I'll be less stressed" prayers. It was more of the "build me up", "fix me", "help me in my everyday life" kind of prayers.


See the nice thing about church is it's a safe place. A happy place, where there are like-minded people and for those two or three hours a week, I feel like I'm at total peace. But once I step out that door, I know it's back to the battlefield. That's why I'm glad I serve a God that is practical. I prayed for things that would help me make better decisions to act more Christian-like. I prayed to stay in His will. And these are challenging things. But church is not just a show. It's a hospital, a school, a family, all wrapped into one. And that, my friends, is awesome.

52: Perishable Goods

Title: It's about what's neither here, nor there.

I get pretty stressed out trying to fix problems and be proactive in my life. I know that I'm supposed to let God lead, but lately I've realized I do this backwards thing where I get an idea, believe it's the right one without praying on it. Act on this emotion and then come to God, confused when the outcome is crazy obscure.
Well, I've realized two things: This world is perishable, so why stress. And prayer is super easy and free, so take advantage of it.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18)
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Col 3:2)

When I think about all the things I can't fix and all the things I hold dear to my heart I get frustrated. I get so hung up trying to make my life better. But I realize if I put my efforts in my relationship with God, more things would fall in line.

I also realize how fulfilling prayer is. It feeds your soul. One complaint that people have expressed with me when they pray is "I can't hear God".  Well, I think it's because as humans, we are looking for God to be a direct voice, possibly something deep and raspy giving us very specific answers. Or maybe we just want an email? Well, God answers us in all sorts of ways.


I was particularly worried about a situation last night and I began to pace the room, cleaning frantically to ease my mind. There was a song playing on my computer that I'd never heard. (It wasn't religious music, either) I wasn't paying attention to it, at all. But then all of a sudden, my ears honed in on the lyrics "...this will all blow over". I didn't hear any other lyrics after that. As my mind was cycling through its thoughts, I remembered hearing those words and quickly went over to press "like" on the song.

It was the answer to my prayer, through a random media. Has the problem "blown over"? No, not yet. God works in His time. Will it be over in a day, a week, a month, years? I can't tell you. But the only thing to do after God has given you an answer is to accept it, with all faith. And then, set your sights above. "Build your hopes on things eternal", not your problems in this life.

Also, prayer is super easy to do, because you can do it in your head. You become connected to God as you talk about everything. No matter how big or small. And for those that don't know if they truly believe, or are on the fence, pray anyway. Pray exactly what you think. "God, I don't really know what I believe or how I feel about accepting you or knowing you. Help make you appear more real to me. Help me to accept you as a being, even when the world gives me conflicting answers about religion".

God is hear to help, so let him. I know I need His help, everyday! Right now! Amen!

51: There Must Be A Reason, Right?

The Title: We are all a certain way for a reason; created with different talents and having gone through different life events to help people.

There are certain things I don't like about myself that I can't help. Having a mood disorder is one of those things. I get so upset with the fact that I didn't do anything to get this, yet I have it and have to work through it for the rest of my life. I always asked God, "Why did you let me have this? It hinders me, it makes me feel different in a bad way, it makes me really sad about myself". I always saw it as a weakness, and yes, some people do try to hold it against me and use it as ammo to hurt me. But what I've realized is God also equipped me with a certain skill set to cope. And when I'm coping, I can think clear enough to see how I can help others get through this same issue or ones similar to it, because I had to fight this battle.

Sometimes you're going through something and you don't understand, but then you come out of it and realize, God was simply setting up the stage to use you to get the glory for His kingdom. You and someone else can have a completely different life, but end up having a similar mission from God. This is super apparent when it comes to Paul. Paul says,  "they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles." (Gal. 2: 7&8) God had a mission for Paul, God had a mission for Peter. He took their different life experiences and gave them the task of preaching to specific groups. Now, let's apply that to our lives.


So I have a mood disorder. God didn't plague me with a problem. He blessed me with an opportunity to reach out to people with depression or to provide support for people with family members dealing with bipolar disorder or to help others except themselves a little better than they have in the past. It's really all in your thinking. We weren't haphazardly created. God has a reason for every detail of our creation. 

50: Excuses, Excuses

(This is the 50th post of janigan.blogspot.com's "It's Not So Krystal Clear". If you like what you've been reading share with a friend. I'll keep writing, even if I only have an readership of 2 people. Doesn't matter :-)  )

The title: It's about all the excuses people make about why not to follow Jesus.

I found Jesus at a young age, and though I swayed from left to right while trying to get in line with Christ and made PLENTY of mistakes, I still always believed in Him and His power in our lives. When you believe and especially as strongly as I have, you get questioned a lot and people throw a lot of daggers at you. Sometimes you're told that you're flat out wrong and if you believe in something you can't see, you're crazy. Sometimes you'll have hard times in your life and when you do, people will ask "where is your God?" Well, I've seen people with pretty empty lives and I can't imagine that they are as happy on their best day as I am on my worst, because I have God and this is my comparison:

If you don't believe in a higher power you can get trapped in hard times, because you don't know how temporary this earth is.  "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" ( 2 Corinthians 4: 17, 18). Earth is gonna go away, let's face it. It's stated in the Bible a ton and if you follow science, things aren't looking so great. But let's say you don't believe in the apocalypse, you're still gotta die someday. Inevitable. When you're a Christian, you prepare for this, by aligning yourself with God. You know this life isn't the end all, so when you face hard times, you don't have to worry, you know you'll make it through and even if it sucks, who cares, there'll be heaven where things never suck.

The Unsaved (and I don't mean that disrespectfully) have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Jesus carries my burdens. But first I have to hand them over to Him. Knowing this, when I actually do hand it over to Him in good faith, I know He will take care of it. But if you don't know Christ as your savior, you're stuck trying to figure things out.

Religion is too hard, too many rules. Math is too hard too, but if you wanna be a Chiropractor you work through it right? Same thing. All the rules God made are for our own benefit. No sex before marriage- so you don't have an accidental pregnancy with a guy that can run across the country and be hard to track. No drugs- you can die from that stuff. Love your neighbors - the world would be better if everyone loved. Go to church- If you wanna follow God, it's helpful to learn more about Him in a supportive environment. It's only like three hours long, people go to the bar for longer than that. Saying following God is too hard, is like saying " I don't have will power and I don't want any", because trust me, God will give you the power if you ask.

Christians have no fun. If I'm not fun, it's because I'm a boring person, not because I'm a Christian. It's just that your perception of fun changes. Some activities you can't do anymore, but you replace them with positive ones and if your heart's in the right place, you can accept that change.

Some Christians are not good people. This goes both ways. Some Christians aren't good people and some Non-Christians aren't either. You may encounter a Christian who has not grown in a certain area and so they treat you wrong. Don't base your whole judgment of a religion and a God, based on this. You wouldn't reject a house if one out of 280 shingles was outta place on the roof.

Some non-christians fail to see how much they're loved. I've seen people put up with a lot of crap they didn't have to put up with from people, because they didn't know how much they are loved by God. I'm thinking of this from a boyfriend-girlfriend perspective. Sometimes girls have terrible boyfriends and they keep going on with the hurt and disrespect, because they don't know the worth God has put on them or the fact that God has a prince waiting for them if they would wait for him.

I could literally go on with this list for sooooo long, but I feel like people would stop reading. If I was reading, I know I would. I'm a slow reader. But I hope I inspire people to stop bull pooping themselves. Living in sin gives you an emptiness. I remember waking up after doing something crazy and wanting to cry, because I didn't know what the point of my life was. I had no purpose and I was trying to please a body made of flesh that will one day rot. No alcohol, pot, or guy could make me as happy as God has and for that I'm extremely blessed and others can be too. We all can!

49: You Jesus Freak! (and other subsequently related things)

The title: It's about my seemingly ongoing fear of being labeled and my longing for fellowship....

Sometimes I wanna share the Good News of Jesus or just talk about my life from a spiritual standpoint. I find myself battling with the thought of "Am I talking about God too much?". In my mind, if you see something moving, you oughta testify. I'm sure others agree. But I don't have a ton of Christian friends. In some ways I've avoided Christians my own age, because I'd encounter a lot of judgement and being parented over instead of having a comfortable friendship. But I know that's not all people my age, I just didn't encounter the right people.

I don't try to force my friends to be Christians. I don't think that's right. Yes, I share the word with them, but I know that people come to God in many different ways and it's not solely my job to save my friends. Who knows, maybe someone will come along and they'll inspire them more than I could ever do. And if that does happen, I'd be overjoyed. I just try to show them that God is good by living my life right and hopefully they see Him moving on my behalf.

So about this Jesus Freak thing...
People that talk about God a lot are sometimes called Jesus Freaks. Some Christians have taken this and made it into a positive. I can see how it would be a positive, but I still find myself a few steps away from being not afraid to talk about God freely. And it sucks. I get so excited when I meet another Christian. It's like going to Japan, not knowing any Japanese words, tapping a guy on the corner and surprise, he's American.

When I went to look at an apartment today, the landlord was showing me around and we start talking about Halloween and how he doesn't take his kids trick-or-treating. There's a slight hesitation and then he asks me if I'd "accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior". And instantly, everything became super comfortable. I knew we could speak the same language. Don't get me wrong, I don't think all Christians are "good people" automatically. But you can tell a serious Christian from a person just using the title pretty easily, or at least you should be able to.  Similar story to the last, I bought my car from a Christian family. My pastor and pastor's wife from my old church went with me and it was like one giant Christian pow-wow right there in the parking lot.

So what am I ranting about? I guess I want to talk about God and not just on Sundays or in this blog...

48: You Can't Trick a Woman Whose Got God-Goggles...

The title: I got a special eyeglass prescription from God.

If you read my blog or know me, you know I wanna get married when I'm around 27 or 28. If you know anything about life, you know it never goes according to plan. So when I get invitations to go out on a date, sometimes I do. I rarely do, but lately I've felt friendlier, so I said "sure". But one thing I do differently now that I'm closer to God, is pray for His eyes to become my eyes on the date.

I straight up asked God, "If he's not the one, please don't let me waste my time and let it be easy to get rid of him" and on the positive aspect, "If he is the one, let me get to know him and see him clearly as the person he is."

Well, I went on that date and I saw with eyes soooo clear, he was not it. He claimed to be Christian, and probably is, but we weren't equally yoked. For all the Christian singles out there, you know how badly a mix match yoke can go. I'm at a point where my sole focus is God and my secondary one is getting together my career. With chasing God as my main goal, I feel like I can only date someone who's running that same direction, not "considering it a little" or "in questioning". And I don't judge those who are. We all have some issues at some point in our lives regarding religion and God. But it would be unwise for me to link on to someone going through that process.

So, these God-Goggles:

Ladies (and Gents), if you are a Christian in the dating scene, have your list of morals and values ready. You want someone who is not going to even think about asking you to bring yourself down. It's not being uppity, it's being the best you, you can be.

There are certain things I dislike. When I prayed, I think God helped me find out these things about this guy really upfront, by showing me he had traits I could not stand for.

1. You're not having sex with me, so why are you thinking about it?
In a very sexually active world, I have to be upfront with guys and let them know, that if it's sex you want, I'm sorry, I cannot provide. I don't get offended if a guy turns me down for that, either. I'd rather you turn me down and not try to "trick" me into bed. It's far more honorable to be upfront. Some Christians don't have a problem with premarital sex (I mean I didn't before either), but it is not in God's plan for us, so it's not in God's plan for me.

2. Over the top flattery.
I'm not dumb. I have a healthy self-esteem and a loving inner circle. When a guy starts spouting flattery that is over the top, it seems a bit cunning to me. He wants you to think you're the most amazing girl in the world and that ONLY he can see you for that. All those past guys were fools to pass up such a ...yadda yadda yadda. Let's be a real. A compliment is a compliment, but being manipulative is just plain wrong.

3. Too fast, too soon.
From all the Christian relationships and even secular relationships (that were successful) I've read about,  they all had a simple formula. You get to know each other first. How else do you even know if you wanna be around this person? There are lots of good and bad that come up OVER TIME. You can't possibly see a person for who they really are in a matter of a couple weeks or months. The first six months of a relationship are like a honeymoon state. You don't get into the meat of it until around 6 months to a year. So slow it down please. And once again, sometimes guys (only ones with bad intentions) are trying to speed ahead to make the girl feel like they can be comfortable to be around them. Oh, I feel so close to you...it's like we've known each other forever, here, do me. No thanks.

4. Making up chemistry that is not there!
You like who you like. Just because you're attracted to each other, doesn't mean you'll click. Here I am, sitting on a date with a guy that I'm not clicking with at all. He smells like cigarettes, he keeps putting his arm around me, and he likes the dirty jokes waaaay too much (I mean at least don't let the girl know you think the dirty jokes are that awesome). My posture is uninviting. Yet somehow he thinks this is the start of something great? No, he's shoving a square peg into a circle whole.

5. Manipulation using God.
God is great at bringing events, things, and people together when it's His plan and His time. He's also great at bringing together the right people. A guy told me "Maybe God brought me to you". Well...God didn't tell me that. Why would God be telling you that, but not telling me that...or are those your words and assumptions?

Okay, those are my red flags. If I see those, then I know this is not it. This is not worth being around. I'm not gonna sit and watch this fall apart. And then God graciously gives me an exit route.  Sometime, later in my dating experiences, I'll be able to say what some green flags are, but I can only write about what I experience, and I don't know those yet :)

47: Loving Others, One Giant Human Hug

The Title: Did you know it's commanded of us?

I'm on a mission to love others as God loves us. This is challenging. God's love is so pure and unforced. He just loves us. He sees the good in us and strives to help us run out the bad. But how can I see the good in people?

My first realization is to humble myself and realize I'm not perfect. This puts me on the same playing field as the others that I get so irritated with. Next, I must remember it is a commandment.


"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another"  John 13:34

It doesn't get much clearer than that. And I do truly want to love everyone, so I'm making this my next spiritual mission. I'm not sure how to measure my growth in this area, but it's still worth moving towards. 


I had a few incidents where I realized I just can't stand to be around some people. But I have to separate my disliking of their personality, from my love for that person. I don't have much development of this yet, but I will try. Starting with my list of people I can't stand to be around. It's tough times, but I'm gonna do it.