Christians converting to Islam???

I had an interesting YouTube experience tonight. I went from watching cute animals, to watching a centipede kill a snake (too creepy, only got through the first minute), and then to watching videos made my Islamic people about converting Christians to their religion.

Never has my heart felt so broken over this subject... not in a very long time anyways. It is sooo sad. Watching these people twist the ultimate Truth into lies that fit their religion is the saddest thing I have ever seen. It's also ever so slightly offensive. (Okay, veryyy offensive, but it's so laced with sorrow that it hardly even makes me that angry... it just shatters my heart.)

We had a very special man visit our church to speak earlier this year. He had been an Islam extremist and ended up finding Truth in God's Word and converted to Christ. God later used him to reach his wife and, if I remember correctly, his children as well. (Dr. Daniel Shayesteh if you ever care to look him up.) He risked his life to embrace the truth, and it is truly encouraging. He was able to speak at our church and inform us of the truth about Islam-- the things about their religion that they do not want others to know. Their ultimate goal is to convert the whole world, and they are instructed to do whatever it takes to do so, even to lie about it. It is just so very sad. I am determined even more now to read his book "Christ Above All". It compares the major religions in the world to Christianity and instructs on how to conversationally lead these people to Christ. I really hope this will help equip me for going out into this world. I feel a tremendous burden for the lost people in America... knowing that they are all around us with all their false religions that America tolerates under instruction of democracy... (I am not bashing on democracy and freedom of religion at all. Just stating where it has gotten us, with Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world... the placeholder that Christ Himself instructed us to have, but we seem to fail at.)

I am praying so hard about this now. Praying that God will use me to impact this world. I don't want to live a quiet life that doesn't even spread God's love and His salvation... It would be a waste. I want to reach others. I pray that God will embolden me. I pray that God will give me wisdom and knowledge and  help me to understand Him better. I am praying that God will show me how to do what He has called me to.

I am also praying about fasting sometime soon. I've done it before, and I knew it was what God was asking of me. He truly answered my prayers and it was a really spiritually charged time. I just find that when my heart is so heavily burdened, the best thing to do is pray and pray and pray and fast. I'm not saying this to brag at all. I am only saying it because I feel it's something that many Christians tend to overlook. The power of prayer is amazingly strong. Focusing on it even more is hardly a bad thing. I'll probably post more about what I believe about fasting tomorrow, when I can gather all my thoughts and track down my verses about it. To anyone who's reading this, please pray for me that I'll be so in tune with God that I'll know exactly what He wants me to do right now. That He'll guide me as I study and that He'll show me what I can do to further His will this week. Especially pray about this fasting, that He'll tell me if this is what He needs me to do right now and if so, how long? 1 day? 3 days? 30 days? I will be praying!!

Love and prayers,

Natalie

The White African

Tonight, I got back into a show I have loved for ages. It's called POV (Point Of View) and it's aired on PBS. They play documentaries here each week that really inform you on an issue (sometimes it's not a very important issue to me, but oh well). Tonight, they played Mugabe And The White African. It was about the fight between the Zimbawean president Mugabe and the white African farmers. The filmmakers chose to follow Mike Campbell and his family in particular. The things done to them are heart-breaking. Mike Campbell died last year from injuries sustained three years earlier in a kidnapping and torture that was intended to force them out of their land. To find out more details, read here. What is amazing about these people, though, is their continued faithfulness to God throughout their trials. They were put through immense struggles, and yet they continued to trust His plans. Heart breaking, and encouraging, all in one.

Man, that was a hard film to watch. But it also reminded me of the prayers I need to be sending out for people I don't even know. Their immense hardships are overwhelming, and I forget to even recognize that daily. It has also reminded me to pray about what God wants me to do about these things. I wonder if prayer is enough? Some days I really hope and already plan that I'll have a normal home life, married, raising kids (the kids part is a long way off, of course) and all that good, American stuff. But I'm learning to be okay with the idea that God might have bigger plans. God might call me to be in the ministry, and that excites me. Whatever He has in store for me, I'm excited about it. I'm hoping for something big. I'm hoping for something that will make a huge impact for Christ. The burden on my heart for the lost continues to grow, and I almost pray that it's my calling to actually go and do something about it. Maybe. We'll see. There's a long time until that's possible. But I hope that my life will be something worth praying about. Until then, I'll just follow the little steps and guidelines I'm receiving from God every day. He always has something to tell me, I just have to listen for it. : )

Needless to say, I do plan on going on a missions trip at least someday. Maybe I'm not called to be a full-time missionary, but I've heard it said that going at least once on a trip like that is an amazing thing for any Christian. : ) I hope I hope I hope I can go someday!

Anyways.

Do you have a love in your life? Any love. Like... a passion! Helping people, cooking, eating, exercising, loving on people, making beautiful things, music, any hobby? You should. It helps a lot in making your life more meaningful. It becomes... what you do! It's part of who you are. Make a list of the things and people you love that you wouldn't be the same without! I'll do it.. right now!

My loves <3

• Jesus Christ/God. Same diff...literally! Love it!
• My family. My mother, my father (he's a hard one to love sometimes, but I do anyways!), my brothers, my sisters-in-law, and... my sister? Hahha. Fine. I'll love her, too ; )
• My wonderful, amazing, and so very loving best friend and boyfriend, Joey. Gosh that boy is such a blessing! I hate how much I take him for granted. : (
• Friends! I love my friends to bits. They blow up my phone every day with the funniest things and always listen to me when I hate on stuff hahaha.
• Art and music and writing. All these forms of expression, I love them all. I thank God for the gifts He's given me and the talents I have to use for His glory. I hope I do Him justice. ; )
• Running. My goodness, I love to run! It's so freeing, and I love the feeling of all that blood pumping so hard and fast and boy do I get a runner's high. Even if a mile is the hardest thing for me, it's still one of my favorite forms of cardio.
• Worship. And I love being a part of it in my church. Sure, I miss being in the congregation for worship, but... it's great to be able to use my guitar-playing for something so good. Maybe someday I'll get a break and get to sing from a pew. ; ) heehee
• FOOD AND T.V.! I love them both! Food makes me full, and tastes so yummy! It's hard not to let that love get out of control... ha ha ha. I'm a silly willy, I know. And I love television. Man, that thing keeps me entertained. It'll be the death of me. SpongeBob, baby.
• Blogging, the internet, facebook. Okay, so I kind of hate facebook, but I use it all the time, so who cares. I love blogging and the internet, though. I like having an excuse to be narcissistic all the time. And I like being able to find recipes a lot. Cuz I love cooking!
• Texting, babes. You knew it was coming.

And I think that's the end of my list. Because, frankly, I could go on, but it'd get too long!

And I'm loving these fonts I found while I was messing with my profile layout! Heehee. I hope they're readable! This cursive one looks so much like my penmanship.

Also, I really miss my mommy! She's in Dallas for the Mary Kay conference... She's having a blast, of course, but I didn't get to say goodbye to her this morning when she left. : ( Sadfaceee. Oh, well. She'll be home Saturday! Yippee!

Today's devotional was about God's plan. That's what really stuck out to me. It's not about God's plan for my life, but about God's plan, and then I change my life to help fulfill His plans. So it's really about God and not my life. I loved that. It's changing my perspective so much already. I love this devotional course! I can't wait for the meeting on Monday with all the girls. Our discussions are going to be amazing.

I want people to comment! Let me know what you like about my posts, what you don't like, constructive criticism! And if you have anything to add to what I'm saying, for goodness sake, say it! I love feedback, and conversations, and yeah. : ) Love it to bits.

I can't wait for tomorrow and to see what's in store!

~Natalie M.

P.S. - Without Christ, we can do nothing!