fasting...in a different way.

what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word fasting? If you're like me it is probably something along the lines of "uh, no Zaxby's for a long amount of time.." lol. We all assume that fasting is something that is done with food, but that is not always how it has to be.

take lent for example. lent is a forty-day time period leading up to Easter when many Christians choose to give up a delicacy or love of theirs in order to focus more clearly on the promise and love shown to us through the time of easter. many give up something like chocolate or soda or sweet tea, but some choose different route and give up something inedible such as their cellphone, their social media, or maybe their car. it is all about what  will bring you to that place where you can turn your focus away from something on this earth you enjoy and give it to the Lord. but fasting is not something that is only done at lent. you can fast whenever you feel led. there is also not a "time limit" on fasting. it does not always have to be forty days like lent. it can be for a week, ten days, one day, a month... however long you feel led.

if fasting the way most people think of, with food, is something that will bring you to a place of surrender to the Lord then by all means! fast with food! but if, like me, you know there are other things that need to be given up to get to that place of surrender where you are fully focused on the Lord and prayer and truly hearing what He has to say. for me, that was a certain person that I am"fasting" from for a week in order to focus less on them and more on the Lord and His plan for us.

this relates back to idol worship. right now, in my deeper bible study with my wonderful youth leader and some amazing peeps from my youth group, we are studying Gods At War by Kyle Idleman (RECOMMENDED!!!) When something in our life comes before the Lord, nothing will work out. People are not meant to be put on pedestals and worshipped...they were not designed for that. i've been through many times where i put people on pedestals above the Lord and all that led to in my life was pain and years of depression and self-harm that i am just recently recovering from. i refuse to allow anyone in my life to become an idol. i refuse to place people above the Lord because doing so only brings pain and hurt. but placing the Lord on that pedestal, His rightful place, results in joy and happiness and comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding...

..which is why I am on this fast. things happen and my selfish desires and the world take over sometimes and place things above God that were never meant to be there. The Lord will be the center of my life. i will fast indefinitely from all that comes between that because a relationship with the loving Creator of the whole gosh darn universe is so much more fulfilling than a video game or a silly boy or chocolate or twitter or working out (lol bc everything is more fulfilling than working out) or texting or ANYTHING!

so guys, i just want to encourage you guys to fast. fast from something that has been hindering you in your relationship with the Lord.. because nothing is worth giving up your relationship with God (trust me. i've learned this the hard way).. and fasting is a way to take another step closer to becoming the true, joyful followers of Christ that everyone's soul truly longs for (if they realize that or not).

"And when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.."- matthew 6:16

"the reason why God has such a huge problem with idolatry is that His love for you is all consuming. He loves you too much to share you.." -Gods at War - Kyle Idleman

community in Christ.

Sunday night at my church's "Crash-a-House" at Josh's, I just was overwhelmed with the love I have for my youth family. I love all of them so much and the sense of community I get from being around them is amazing. These guys are all my best friends.

There is this feeling like none other when I am at church or surrounded by people when we are discussing God or simply doing things in His name. It's just this awesome overwhelming feeling of happiness and fullness and I never want to leave when it happens!

I am also blessed with the people I am given the privilege of doing life with. I have such great parents  who do so much for me and love me even when I mess up and take them for granted. They are freaky weird and totally embarrassing but I wouldn't have it any other way (I may eat my words on that one hahahaha).  I have some awesome friends who encourage me in my faith and make me want to be a better person. They make me laugh when I'm down and they're always around when I need them. I have a great family who never fails to put a smile on my face when we are together. Like, Christmas is so awesome at my house! I have an amazing youth pastor, Ashley, who is my role model and shows to me a great example of a leader and a woman after God's own heart. I am blessed without measure with the people God has placed in my life.

My youth family is so awesome, I just had to say it again. These guys have been there for me through it all. They've been a shoulder to cry on, ears to listen, friends to laugh with, and a rock to support me when I need it. I honestly do not know what I am going to do without them next year. College (or wherever God takes me) will be an awesome journey, but what keeps me strong is knowing that my wonderful youth, church, friends, parents, and family will be here for me still whenever I need them.

This sense of community is so so important, guys. We're not called to be alone in our faith. Yes, our faith is to be a personal relationship with the Creator, but God designed our faith to be lived in harmony and community with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. You can't live this life alone. You need God and you need others.  (Of course you need God more, but that goes without saying haha). These people will be there to listen to you, to support you, to pick you up when you fall, and to be your partners in accountability. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another"-Proverbs 27:17

Have a great day blessed with love and the strength of community!
emily

my prayer on this september night.

God,
Listening to "God of This City" just really humbled me. Lord, I know that You are truly the Lord of all things. You really do control everything. I am so, so tiny and small in comparison to this world and Lord, even smaller when compared to You. God, I am so insignificant that it amazes me that You, the Creator of literally EVERYTHING loves me with this deep passionate love that I can't comprehend or even begin to return...

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE OUR GOD!

You have so many amazing plans for my life, Lord, It amazes me and perplexes me that You have such plans for me God. And not only do You have my plans in mind, Lord, but everyone who has, is, and will walk on this earth..

AND TIME IS IN HIS HANDS, BEGINNING AND THE END!

You are so great, God! Actually, great does not describe You. My human vocabulary is not worthy of a word to describe the way that You are, God.

NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES!

WORTHY OF ALL PRAISE!

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Lord, but I am holding onto some disbelief.. I am so scared that maybe You aren't there.. maybe You aren't there because why do I, an insignificant being, deserve such great love as has been shown and described and revealed to me?

But God, Your love isn't like the love I see on earth...Your love isn't the love that will grow tired of loving. It won't leave when the going gets rough or there is something better to love. Your love isn't a love in vain. Your love isn't fleeting. Your love isn't deceitful. Your love is strong and firm. Your love is unconditional. Your love is everlasting. Your love is true. Your love won't leave me wanting...

I want to give into this love... YOUR love, Lord!
emily

beautiful feet.

So, I was listening to Lecrae’s new album, Anomaly, the other day and I heard his song Dirty Water. (Side note: This album is the stuff. If you haven’t heard it yet, go listen to it right now. It’s so amazing) Well, the song talks about going to all of these foreign countries and doing all of these great things, but coming home and going about normal business and not doing anything to help change the community and people around you. Or maybe that is not what it said at all. It’s rap so it’s a bit hard to understand.. :P Anyways, if that is not what the song is saying, then oops. But from my understanding of it, this is what I began thinking about..

Yes, we are called to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20,

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

      … and yes, we are to make disciples are all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But the Great Commission is not only a call to go to foreign nations and do what the Lord has commanded. I feel like many times, we disregard the places around us. We forget that we can fulfill the Great Commission right in our backyards. America is a nation. To be a missionary, you do not have to travel halfway around the world. To feed the hungry you do not have to go to Africa. To clothe the poor, you do not have to go to Indonesia. Yes, those things are amazing and if you feel called to go do those things in those places by all means GO! Do what the Lord is calling you to do in the place that the Lord is calling you to. But remember, there are lost people in your own city. There are hungry people in the same county as you. There are poor to clothe right down the street from you. We walk past homeless and hungry people on the street every single day. Do they deserve the love and mercy of Christ any less than the people in Africa? No!

Someone can be just as much of a missionary by attending college and sharing and spreading the Gospel and the love of God as they can by joining a mission group, living in Tanzania for year and sharing God’s love that way. I am in no way downing going to foreign countries to be a missionary because that is such an amazing and noble pursuit and if you are doing that right now, thank the Lord for people like you going to all nations. But if you are a university student, a soccer mom, a butcher, a ninth grade literature teacher or a nurse at a retirement home, that is your mission field.Do not feel like you cannot be a missionary because you are in America. Being a missionary is not about where you are, but what you are doing and Who you are doing it for. 

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of who they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” - Romans 10:13-15

I hope you all will have beautiful feet.. 

emily 

overlooked.

There are so many amazing things and songs and verses that we look over. This has been on my heart recently. i think of the song Amazing Grace -  a song everyone knows, right? but does everyone REALLY know that song? people sing it with their mouths, but they don't sing it with their lives and with their hearts. and that's what that song is supposed to be for. there is so much overlooked power in those lyrics. "my chains are gone, I've been set free.." Yes we have been set free. COMPLETELY SET FREE. we are not held back by the pain and suffering and mistakes of our past.. instead we have this view of the future and we have this life and this light that is just so amazing that our old lives seem so irrelevant and awful to us now. that's what those "cliche" and "well known" lyrics are actually saying. and if that much can come from those eight words, think just how much can be discovered through the rest of the lyrics! I challenge everyone who is reading this to look up the lyrics to Amazing Grace right now and decipher the lyrics with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. your world will be turned upside down just like mine was! pray that The Lord would show you His mercy and meaning through simple things like a song or a strong breeze or a smile of a stranger. little things have so much meaning.

have an amazing night, brothers and sisters.

I'm a slacker... I think.

I said I would keep this blog up, but I guess I lied. Oopsie. But I'm going to from now on, so here is goes..

I have identity issues. I don't really know who I am opposed to who everyone wants me to be or who the world tells me that I am. And it is really difficult to sort through all of those lies to find the truth about who I really am. So here is the question of the day - Who are you really, Emily Kathryn Combs? That is a question that I can't really answer right now. I am hoping that when I go away to college and I meet new people and see different perspectives and ways of thinking that I will understand who I am and will be able to sort through all of the lies to find that real person, but for now I am stuck in this fog of not understanding and not knowing. There are so many things that I have told people that I like or don't like or want to do or don't want to do that are actually the complete opposite. Like law - I hate it. Politics? I don't honestly care about them all that much. I do care about human rights though like gun control and abortion and gay marriage. The color pink isn't all that bad, but I do still hate the color purple and sparkles for the most part. I still hate math and I love writing more than anything. I secretly do it all the time and am writing a book right now. (I bet that's something no one knew.) Truthfully, the one thing I know for sure about myself is that I am completely overwhelmed by nature and how beautiful it is. It is the most amazing thing in the entire world to me and when I'm surrounded by it, I feel at ease like I never do. I want the rest of my life to have something to do with nature and I want to be around it forever. That is all that I truly know about myself. It's crazy how you can build yourself up as being this certain person and then suddenly, you realize that that person is as far away from the real you as possible. But I'm going to find that real person some day. Some day soon.

In the city.

In the city, everyone walks so quickly. 

They are all so rushed to get where they are going, paying no attention to anything going on around them. 

They don't notice the sweet-smelling roses that the lady on the street corner is selling. 

They don't notice the little boy feeding pigeons bread. 

They don't notice the old man sitting on the bench all alone. 

Or the peculiar way the trees whistle in the harsh winds. 

Or the sparkle of the morning dew on the pansies next to the food cart. 

They don't see these things. 

And they never will. 

Because they are so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the city and the workplace and the what-are-the-kids-going-to-eat-for-dinner and the oh-darn-I-have-a-date-tonight-with-Steve. 

These things are not bad things to think of per se, but when they get in the way of observing the little things going on around you, they can turn destructive. 

They destroy the humanity inside of you.

They destroy your ability to see minute details. 

And those things are so very important. 

I have been staying in the city of Washington DC for a few days now, and I'm noticing these things profoundly.

Take time to see the beauty and it will make you see everything in a different light. 

One where you see things that people typically consider to be normal, but instead of seeing typical, you see extraordinary beauty. 

In the little things. 

So next time you're in the city:

Slow down and look at the flowers being sold by the lady on the street corner and buy a few roses for your cubicle. 

Give the little boy your leftover bagel from breakfast to feed to his little bird friends.

Instead of taking your extra ten minutes to purchase yourself a grande white chocolate mocha from Starbucks to kick off your day, strike up a conversation with the old man on the park bench. 

Stop and stare at the leaves on the whistling tree. 

Pick one of the pansies next to the food cart, shake off the dew, and put it on your co-worker's filing cabinet to brighten her day. 

Now you will see these things. 

You will always see them.