Miracle Grounds

Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.” - John 11:14-15 (MSG)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope that this week has been a good one so far and if it hasn't remember that God is still on the throne. I've been reading the book of John and I was just going over the death of Lazarus. I really like how the MSG translation states this particular verse of Jesus addressing the disciples on Lazarus' death. Basiaclly He says Lazarus is dead and for your sake I'm glad that I wasn't there to prevent it. Why was Jesus glad? "You're about to be given new grounds for believing." Sometimes Jesus lets things happen so that our faith in Him will increase. You see Jesus could've gone straight away to Lazarus and healed him. He actually got the news that Lazarus was sick and stayed where he was two more days before going to where Lazaurs was. Why wouldn't Jesus go to Lazarus as soon as He got the news that He was sick? Because He knew that if He waited the miracle would be even sweeter. Jesus could've gone straight to Lazarus and healed Him and all would've been well but instead He waited and by the time He waited Lazarus had already died. As if this was a stumbling block to our King. Sometimes we want an automatic answer, an automatic healing, breakthrough, or whatever it may be. It's not that God can't or won't do it automatically, but sometimes He wants to give us new grounds for believing just like he wanted to give the disciples. And sometimes in order to get new grounds for believing something has to die. I've been in a season of breaking for what seems to be a while now. My flesh is dying and I find myself constantly being humbled by the Lord. This is such a painful process. I never realized how hard and painful it is to die to the flesh until now. But I hear the Lord saying "You're about to be given new grounds for believing." God is doing a work that is going to be so shaking and marvelous that people won't believe it. Just like He did with Lazarus. Jesus didn't leave Lazaurus in the grave, He went to his grave and said "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43) and Lazaurs came out. Imagine the disciples, Lazaurs family, and other people standing by. Imagine their reactions to seeing a man that was once dead come back to life. The new grounds for believing were now planted.  The rejoicing was greater and hearts put their faith in Jesus. Don't you see that this is what Jesus wants to do with us? He wants to give us new ground so that our hearts may embark on an even deeper and sweeter journey with the lover of our souls. I feel like Jesus is speaking to some of you and saying "come on let's go I'm about to give you new grounds for believing, I am about to increase your faith and show you my power." So whatever thing in your life that  you feel has died, that you feel like you've been praying and praying for but hasn't come to pass. Jesus says "Come out!" Don't loose heart, Lazarus family wanted him to be healed of his sickness but Jesus had something better in mind, He wanted to bring Him to life. Jesus has something better in store for you, something greater than you could've imagined. And it is going to break new miracle working ground that will overflow into everything you do. 

-Sofia 

The Process

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! It's been a while since I've last written a post and I miss it so much! I can't believe the summer is almost over. It has gone by so fast! Church yesterday touched me in anew and fresh way. God spoke to my heart and there was a moment in worship where I felt like Jesus was sitting right in front of me saying "Sofia I Love you I am Yours you are Mine." It was so powerful. Something that Jesus has been teaching me recently is to trust the process. Yesterday in church one of my pastors said something that stood out to me. "God does not always act as a microwave God, most of the time He acts as an oven." What does that mean? A lot of the time God is t going to do things instantly. It's not that He can't or that He won't. I've seen many times in my life where God instantly moves on my behalf, but I've also seen many times where He acts as an oven and takes me through a process before giving the competed work. I've found that I be fit from the process much more. I mean think about it what taste better a frozen microwave dish or a nice oven cooked homemade meal? In a world that constantly desires instant gratification it can become hard to trust God in the process. We want it right now. We don't want to wait and wait and wait and go through some things and learn some things before getting what we've been praying for. But what if that makes us more like Jesus and brings us closer to His heart? The process is not always going to be fun. Waiting is not always the easiest thing in the world. I've learned this from experience and I believe that I'm still learning this. I'm learning to trust God in the process. To have faith in Him even when I can not see and even when everything around me says I should otherwise. It's hard! But I know that trusting the process will reap an even greater blessing.  So whatever your process may be at the moment, dealing with difficult co-workers, waiting for a miracle, waiting for direction on what to do next, or just simply waiting to see God move on your behalf, know that you are more than a conqueror through Jesus and that no demon in hell can thwart the and that God has for your life. Jesus wants to give you the best. He's not interested in giving you a cheap quick microwave meal. He wants to give you the best of the best even if that means it has to cook a little longer. I hope you all have a blessed week, praying for each and every person who read this! - Love Sofia. 

Christians, how will you respond?

 My heart is burdened. Last night I fell asleep with the news of my middle eastern brothers and sisters being so brutally persecuted. Men drowned, women raped and then fed to animals, all because of this faith in Jesus. I woke up this morning to find that even more persecution has taken place. Suicide bombing, terrorist attacks. Then I see the hashtag #LoveWins flooding my timeline as if love is not a man named Jesus who hung on a cross bloody, and beaten because of our own sin but yet said "Father forgive them they know not what they do." My heart aches. There is so much brokeness and evil in this world. People are rejoicing over sin and ignoring the lost and hurting. People are getting more riled up over a festival where dogs are killed than they are about young girls who are getting fed to dogs because of their faith. This isn't right. Something is wrong. Unrighteousness makes headlines yet the cruel unjustice of the people who have no voice seems to sit on the shelf as the world passes by. And yet I hear God's voice say "how will you respond?" Christians, how are we going to respond? How are we going to respond to our persecuted brothers and sisters? How are we going to be a voice so loud that the media has to see, that justice has to be done? How are we going to respond with love to those who are lost? How are we going to respond to the supreme courts decision? How are we going to respond to ignorance and brokeness? As greatly as my heart is burdend I know that there is hope. As I ask myself these questions I know that the answer has already been supplied and it is found on a bloody cross. It is found in the nailed scared hands of my savior who says "I love you despite your mess." Jesus we are so in need of you. We must worship and pray like never before Church. We must get serious about these hard things and rely on the strength of Jesus to help us face them. Remember this: The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. - Psalm 29:10 

Even in this darkness, even in this chaos of evil and pain I know that God is good and that He has won the war. Jesus we love you. I really encourage you guys to just sit alone or together with someone and worship and pray. Pray for our nation, pray for our persecuted family, pray that we would see a revival like never before. And worship Jesus. It will move mountains but more importantly it will move our Fathers heart. - Sofia 

When Work Sucks.

Today was not fun. Honestly going to work is never fun but today was just one of those days where work was miserable.  Absolutely miserable. On top of having thousands of tourist from all over the world give me attitudes I was just not feeling today. My heart was heavy and all I wanted to do is cry and be alone. That's not a good combination for someone who is supposed to have a smile on their face while kindly asking guest to take  a picture for a memorable experience. I found myself getting agitated with God. "Why do I work here? What is my purpose? Why does my heart keep feeling so heavy? Where is my joy?" These questions burned in my mind and heart all day, distracting me and breaking me. As I've said its been a tough day but one thing I can't help but realize is that I work at one of the biggest mission fields there is. Everyday I encounter thousands of people from all over the world with all different religions. Everyday I speak with hundreds of Muslim girls with their faces covered, hundreds of Hindu Indians with dots on their heads, Buddhist monks, English people who are cussing out their kids and me, the list goes on and on. My point is not many people get to be in  a safe environment where it is there job to talk to all different kinds of people with all different kinds of beliefs. But I get that opportunity. And I take it for granted. My biggest passion is Jesus and yet somehow when I step into the work place I instantly get drained and feel the total opposite of reflecting the glory of Jesus. The other day I felt led to pray that every single person that I encountered would somehow see the glory of Jesus through me. As hard as I tried there were times where I still had an attitude with visitors, especially the ones that have an attitude with me. I'm beginning to realize that if I continue to do this out of my own strength, this being, to reflect Jesus and host the presence of God everywhere I step that the Muslim girl that comes up to me for a photo feels Him nugging at her heart, I will fail. My strength has to come from Him. My passion has to come from Him. Without passion all of the tourist I encounter everyday are just annoying, rude, smelly, tourist. But with passion every tourist I encounter is a beloved soul that is precious and that Jesus' heart is beating for. I am a human. I don't always feel like being like Jesus, especially when people are getting on my nerves. But I am broken. I'm broken over the fact that I have brothers and sisters fighting for their lives in different countries because they are Christians. And here I am in America where I can scream the name of Jesus and people would just stare, but yet I struggle to reflect Him in the work place. That's not okay. I want to be bold and loving. I want to reflect Jesus and hear His voice when He asks me to speak to a particular guest. I have the world at my fingertips when I'm working and I want Jesus to take over. It's so hard as I'm sure some of you can relate to. But I can't give up. I can give up on my flesh because my flesh constantly fails and is way to weak for a mission like this. But I can't give up on Jesus because He has never given up on me. He is my strength, He is my portion, He is my hope when I'm at the end. Even if it doesn't feel like it, it sure didn't feel that way today, I will trust that He is strong when I am weak. I hope this encourages you all to look at your workplace as a mission field. Even if you hate your job look at it as the harvest field. Like Jesus said "the harvest is great but the workers are few." - Marthew 9:37 Lets be the workers that have a supernatural passion only provided by Jesus to be a missionary every where we go. We're in this together. - Sofia  

Jesus Saves

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He'll never let you be pushed past your limit; He'll always be there to help you come through it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)

It's June! My favorite month in the year for many reasons but the number one reason being that it is my birth month! I'm not going to lie it's been a rough past month. Transitioning back into being home and away from college is hard. This season has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone, stretched me beyond belief, and tested my faith over and over. Learning to doubt my doubts and press into Jesus even when I am uncomfortable and even when I can't feel Him is a process but I'm thankful that I'm going through it and that my faith is being tested so it can come forth as gold.  Jesus makes us different. It's a fact. You can't encounter Jesus and spend time with Him constantly and not be changed by it. People of God stand out, not because of themselves but because they've been touched by the living God. I like to look at Christians as humans in a world of zombies. We used to be just like the zombies, walking around with no life in us, But God. He breathed into our lungs and boom we became alive. But being surrounded by people that are dead can be challenging. In a world where temptation to go back to our once dead lives is constantly slamming us in the faces it can be hard to fight to stay alive. Being a woman of God in a world where everything else screams the opposite is challenging. Everyday I have to fight against the temptation to doubt what God has said about me and my life opposed to what the enemy and spirit of this world has to say. Standing up for holiness is not easy. Having a modest and gentle spirit is not easy. Standing up for the Word of God in a day and age where persecution is rising and going to church is considered old school is not easy. But Jesus makes it so worth it. If it wasn't for the passion of Jesus living in the hearts of believers we wouldn't be able to make it. Life is hard and living under the bondage of sin and fear makes it even harder. Fighting to not get caught up in the things of this world but to get caught up in the things of God is hard. But Jesus gives us life. Jesus breaks our chains of sin and fear. I'm learning more and more that Christianity is not cute. It's dirty, rough, painful, and full of tears. Why? Because it's all about Jesus taking the dirty people of this world, removing their rough, painful, broken parts, and putting them on His shoulders and saying to us "you are free." I used to live with this mindset that my life was perfect, Jesus humbled me quickly and showed me that wasn't true, now I realize that my life is so far from perfect. I experience hard and painful things, I mess up, I turn my eyes from Jesus, but yet He continues to pursue me and perfect me with His perfect love. That's the way this works. We mess up, Jesus fixes it and changes our lives all in the process. I'm thankful that Jesus' heart beats for me and I'm thankful that for some reason He saved me and wants to use me to show others that they to can be saved. But I'm also thankful for the testing of my faith. I'm thankful that life isn't easy and that I'm not always comfortable because if that weren't the case I wouldn't know how to rely on God. The hard times remind me that I am totally  dependent on Christ. The moment I start depending on myself is the moment that everything becomes unbearable. This life was not meant  to do alone. It was meant to be carried by the lover of our souls. I don't have it all figured out, and I don't know what God has in store for me next. But I know this simple truth. Jesus loves me. He loves you. And when we submit our hearts to that love, everything changes. So if you are a follower of Christ and struggling with doubt and temptation know that you are not alone and that God sees it all and is moving on your behalf. We all struggle but Jesus has promised that we will overcome.  Happy June! - Love Sofia. 

So my best friend got this dress for me and I'm obsessed. I love the slits and that it's sleeveless. I also love that it's cotton fabric so it's fitted and doesn't look like a bag on my body. I'm probably going to wear it all the time. It also works as a skirt if your wear a t-shirt over the top! 

The squad.