So I like these things a lot maybe even love some…

the beach, laughing uncontrollably with good friends, weddings, family, FOOD, music, trips to wall mart at 2 in the morning, making people laugh, cherry fanta (or should i say fant-a), inside jokes, gardening, holidays, the Gamecocks, going to church, meeting new people, vinegar on my fries,the snow, the sun, babies, my dog roxy, air conditioning/heat, the mountains, camping, trips with my youth group, jon and kate plus 8, sunsets/rises, SUMMER, flip flops, Hawaiian shaved ice (i think i spelled that right), best friends, being with people, and sleeping.   I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His divine plan for our lives.

its the wheel of the world

So i sit here in the lobby of the mainstays suites on the eve of my sisters wedding and boy how has time flown by. I’m thinking it was just yesterday they got engaged. Im floored at how fast it has come. We had the rehearsal dinner tonight which was loads of fun but, its so crazy. My sister who has been a Benthall her whole life is now going to be Shelley Bryson King. WHAT!?!? Tomorrow at 2:30 our entire families lives will be changed. Jonathan and Shelley will start their own family they will become united as one in one of the most beautiful things we as people get to witness, marriage. Do you ever think about the road that people travel to get to where they are. Up until about a year and a half to two years ago Jonathan and Shelley led two completely different lives and they met each other and fell in love and now they are getting married! Marriage is so beautiful, the way God has lead their lives to be first and foremost devoted to his will so that they end up to where they are today. Tomorrow my dad will walk Shelley Benthall down that isle and she will walk back up it Shelley King. It is a beautiful thing

Matter-ialism

I just have to say it really bothers me when people get so caught up in what they look like or what brand of shoes or clothes they have on. who the heck cares. cause guess what when you die you aren’t taking a dern peice of it with you. Sooo you might just wanna get used to not having it because really who cares? It bothers me when people have to have the latest this or the latest that. there are people in the world living in absolute poverty because you wanna have the most recent whatever. I’m not saying i’m perfect and i definately like to have nice things but i don’t let it take over my life. so whatever it is that your holding onto tangible  or not that is getting in the way…let it go. because not one bit of your materialism really matters.

this is me…

So a friend and I were talking about being real and i was reading her blog and was challenged to be real so here goes me, what is really me..

I am Erin Shay Benthall. I get mad at my brothers and sisters way too easily and say whatever comes to my brain to cut them as deep as I can.  It really has gotten better lately but is still nowhere near where it needs to be. I don’t like school. I’m not talking your typical teenager who doesn’t like school…i’m talking i HATE school with a passion. I am extremely lazy. I would rather do what i wanna do when i want to do it than do what someone else is asking of me. I guess you could call it selfishness. but with the lazy thing, i mean, i have let it effect my school work, my prayer life, and anything i used to have a passion for. I didn’t play Softball this year simply because i wanted to be lazy. my prayer life honestly, sucks. i say i need to work on it but i never do. I don’t like it when people throw pity parties. it annoys me. I’m probably more insinsitive than i should be. I mean really the way i see it if i leave you alone then you leave me alone, and thats how i like it sometimes. I’m probably a lot more talk than I am action…wow i hate admiting that…i like to say i’m gonna do better at something or change something but, really i never do. So i say all this to be REAL because i’m not gonna live a lie. I don’t like to tell people my faults thats always been a big deal for me…i like to think i have it all together and i like others to think that also but God has challenged  me to do this so I am…I’m going to finally be real.

this made me laugh…a lot

An atheist was walking through the woods, thinking to himself,

“How beautiful the animals are!”

“How majestic the trees are!”

“How powerful the rivers are!”

As he walked along the river, he heard rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned and saw an 8-foot grizzly bear charging towards him. He ran along the path as fast as he could, but when he looked over his shoulder, he saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He kept running, but when he looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. Then he tripped and fell on the ground. The bear was right on top of him with his right paw raised to strike him. At that instant, the atheist cried, “God help me!”

Time Stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

A bright light shone upon the man and a voice from the sky said, “You’ve denied my existence for all these years and have taught others that I don’t exist. You’ve even credited creation to a cosmic accident. Why would you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Are you now a believer?”

The atheist looked into the light and said, “Well, I would be hypocrite to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but could you, maybe, make the BEAR a Christian?”

“Very Well,” said the voice.

The light went out.

The sounds of the forest resumed.

The bear lowered his right paw and brought both paws together. He bowed his head, and said: “Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive from Your bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

…i thought this was funny.

I’m thinking that

we should submit ourselves to God. I can’t sit here and say I’ve ever done this every time God asked me to because then, i would be lying. I’ve made it very hard for myself to let myself be at His command but, i have learned this, that when  I do, it turns out so much better than i could have ever planned.

James 4:7-9 says this:

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

this isn’t asking us to submit ourselves, it is telling us. Its so simple to me yet so complex. I want to be selfish and not completely give ALL of me to him. I’ve GOT to SUBMIT myself 100% to God and its absolutely not going to be easy but I have to otherwise i become stagnant and thats never good. and i have to remember, God has my ultimate good in mind, this doesn’t mean the outcome will always be what I want but that when I’m in heaven I won’t have to face my Father and Him ask me why i did not follow His command, He will say well done my good and faithful servant

Watch Yo Mouth

James 3: 1-12

¹Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ²We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

³When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. ¹¹Can both fresh water and salt^[a] water flow from the same spring? ¹²My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

This passage is just so much for me to take in. It is amazing to me to think that the same mouth that i speak mean, hurtful, derogatory, crude and rude things is the same mouth i use to praise my Heavenly Father. It is crazy that something so small can do something so big. A tounge can be used to change the world for good or evil.  It says in James 3:6

⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Our mouth is set on fire by hell itself! i mean…what the heck? It should be completely opposite. I should let nothing but things that uplift others and praise God come out of my mouth . I’ve let myself get  to this place where my tounge has been set on fire by none other than hell itself and i’m ashamed. I’m in awe of the grace God has to forgive me for it, but thats another topic.

It is crazy to think on my whole body something so small is filled with so much evil. It disgusts me how much hurtful things  i can let come from it.  It says ” Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” (james 3:11) It just doesnt work. how can i ever be expected to be taken seriously as a christian when I say hurtful things and then want to turn around and try to talk to somebody about Christ . It just can’t happen. My mouth should be set on fire by the fire of Christ not of hell. I gotta change it.

chosen

so im sitting here thinking…and you know its not my choice to choose who gets to be in the kingdom of heaven…i mean I don’t have the right to decide that…i don’t have the right to decide who I share the gospel with…so why do i act like i do? this is frustrating me…I don’t get to decide that when i don’t like somebody that they don’t need the love of Christ.  THAT IS NOT MY CHOICE…and i’m not here to point out faults or anything believe me i have enough of my own to work on but, guess what its not your choice either…EVERYBODY needs the undeserving love of Christ.  I have to share with everyone not just who i want to.

You Won’t find this

God tells me this all the time. He is saying, Shay you can search and search and try to fill your heart with distractions and other things but in the end, you won’t find this you won’t find what i can give you. In those things you won’t find the unfailing love I have for you. You will never experience the JOY that i can give you. Not temporary happiness, but true joy. You won’t experience peace. But with me you can find those things. He is shouting my name, saying just come to me and you will experience peace, joy, love, rest, eternal life with me forever. I don’t deserve these things. But the unfailing love God has for me makes me able to experience all of these and for that I am on my face in front of God because i will never be able to do anything, ANYTHING worth what God has given me.

I’ve decided….

that i spend way too much time criticizing others and not taking enough time to look at myself. I think its about time i do that. I need to examine myself before i even think about what others are doing wrong. I need to look at myself more.