~Viviana~
Friday, September 14, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
An Evangelistic Letter
Hey! So yesterday I sent my Grandpa an evangelistic letter. I had written it a month ago but just had not sent it out. I felt guilty everyday, having thinking,"I still haven't sent it!" Now I feel great, hoping that it will change his thoughts on everything.
Here's what I wrote to him:
Dear Grandpa, please read what I am about to write very carefully. It is not only life-changing, but life-saving. I write it for the good of you, that you may personally know God. He changes lives, and I’m not just saying it, but I’m seeing it in others.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for us, to save us. Because of our sinful nature, it separated us from God, because of His holiness. We can say however many times that we’re faultless, but we’d be lying to ourselves.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. --Romans 3:23
But God wanted us to live with Him forever, He wanted us to know Him. We were made to know Him. Without knowing Him, we’re empty. We’d have nothing to live for, no purpose in life. We would try to fill that emptiness, but it couldn’t ever be filled. But with God, we have a purpose, a purpose to live for Him with our whole being! It would give us all a joy and happiness none could explain! But Satan doesn’t want people to know God. He wants them to be with him in hell. The way of the world (the way of Satan) leads to separation from God forever. Non-stop pain and hurting forever in hell. But all of us could keep from having that fate! We could live with God eternally, forever--no pain or suffering, no problems. Jesus saves!
Jesus didn’t come to earth to be served, but rather to serve others. The King of kings and Lord of lords serving others! He’s the Son of God, faultless, perfect. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Besides Him, there’s no other way.
Jesus said to him,”I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” --John 14:6
When you accept Jesus into your heart, believing Him to be God’s Son, you are made new, born-again as they say. If you repent of things, you’ll be forgiven! As easy as that!
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. --1 John 1:9
God wants you to turn to Him. He is waiting with open arms. He loves us like no one else can or ever will.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. --John 3:16
Every verse I have written on here are God’s words, His perfect words that are completely true, no lies or anything. Jesus is what allows us to be able to go to heaven when we die. The only way to heaven is by believing Jesus is Lord and Savior, that He died on the cross to save us, that He’s God’s Son. We can’t get into heaven by being a “good person,” because there’s no such thing. We’re all sinners, we’ve all done wrong. But His love is the reason why He died, because He loved us!
In this love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, that God sent His Son, to be the propitiation for our sins. --1 John 3:11
Nothing can ever stop God from loving you. He will no matter what.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Romans 8:38-39
God gives eternal life to those who follow Him. Satan gives death and destruction. God saves, Satan kills. The choice is yours. Who will you choose?
Please consider everything that I have written about. Every single word is true. I feel as if God has spoken to my heart to write these exact words to you.
May everything that I have said change things.
Love,
Viviana
Here's what I wrote to him:
Dear Grandpa, please read what I am about to write very carefully. It is not only life-changing, but life-saving. I write it for the good of you, that you may personally know God. He changes lives, and I’m not just saying it, but I’m seeing it in others.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for us, to save us. Because of our sinful nature, it separated us from God, because of His holiness. We can say however many times that we’re faultless, but we’d be lying to ourselves.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. --Romans 3:23
But God wanted us to live with Him forever, He wanted us to know Him. We were made to know Him. Without knowing Him, we’re empty. We’d have nothing to live for, no purpose in life. We would try to fill that emptiness, but it couldn’t ever be filled. But with God, we have a purpose, a purpose to live for Him with our whole being! It would give us all a joy and happiness none could explain! But Satan doesn’t want people to know God. He wants them to be with him in hell. The way of the world (the way of Satan) leads to separation from God forever. Non-stop pain and hurting forever in hell. But all of us could keep from having that fate! We could live with God eternally, forever--no pain or suffering, no problems. Jesus saves!
Jesus didn’t come to earth to be served, but rather to serve others. The King of kings and Lord of lords serving others! He’s the Son of God, faultless, perfect. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Besides Him, there’s no other way.
Jesus said to him,”I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” --John 14:6
When you accept Jesus into your heart, believing Him to be God’s Son, you are made new, born-again as they say. If you repent of things, you’ll be forgiven! As easy as that!
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. --1 John 1:9
God wants you to turn to Him. He is waiting with open arms. He loves us like no one else can or ever will.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. --John 3:16
Every verse I have written on here are God’s words, His perfect words that are completely true, no lies or anything. Jesus is what allows us to be able to go to heaven when we die. The only way to heaven is by believing Jesus is Lord and Savior, that He died on the cross to save us, that He’s God’s Son. We can’t get into heaven by being a “good person,” because there’s no such thing. We’re all sinners, we’ve all done wrong. But His love is the reason why He died, because He loved us!
In this love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, that God sent His Son, to be the propitiation for our sins. --1 John 3:11
Nothing can ever stop God from loving you. He will no matter what.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Romans 8:38-39
God gives eternal life to those who follow Him. Satan gives death and destruction. God saves, Satan kills. The choice is yours. Who will you choose?
Please consider everything that I have written about. Every single word is true. I feel as if God has spoken to my heart to write these exact words to you.
May everything that I have said change things.
Love,
Viviana
I truly hope that this letter will get to his heart, changing everything inside him. I felt God give me the words to write. They are not my own words.
We don't know when our time is up, when we'll leave this earth. We never understand the importance of spreading the word about Jesus, how He saves. Change that! Be an evangelist! Help change the life of someone! Imagine how many people's lives you can touch just by living out God's word. YOU can make a difference!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Coming Back!
Hello to all! I'm so sorry I haven't written anything for a long time! I just hope I can start writing stuff again. I've been a little busy, but not enough to make that an excuse of why I haven't been writing. So I hope to once again start writing on here! I started school and have been teaching piano lessons, then I'll be an LIT in Awana, so I'm going to be pretty busy during this season, but I think it will be good.
Have you ever had one of those times where you read the Bible and all, but you don't feel close to God? That's what I had experienced recently. I read my Bible, went to church, but I just couldn't feel God. I wanted to so much, yet I couldn't. I realized I wasn't exactly putting God first. I remembered this verse though:
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. --Jeremiah 29:13
I needed to give God my entire heart. Before I realized all this, I kind put other things first, like watching TV and trying to have fun too much. And then this verse spoke to me: Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way. Establish Your word to Your servant, who is devoted to serving You. Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness. --Psalm 119:36-40
I asked God to revive me, to give me a new, fresh start. He gives second chances, third chances, one thousand chances--just ask Him, and He will give you another chance.
There's something about feeling God's presence that is just so reviving. Your heart becomes overjoyed--it's just something that I cannot explain.
Now, maybe you're in a hard time. Maybe you feel like God forgot about you. Believe me, He didn't. Maybe you lost a loved one, or maybe only bad things are happening. You're probably saying,"Why does God let these things happen?" Well, we don't know why. Only God knows. And sometimes He puts us in certain circumstances to bring us closer to Him. Keep up your hope. Keep faith in Him.
God bless,
--Viviana
Have you ever had one of those times where you read the Bible and all, but you don't feel close to God? That's what I had experienced recently. I read my Bible, went to church, but I just couldn't feel God. I wanted to so much, yet I couldn't. I realized I wasn't exactly putting God first. I remembered this verse though:
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. --Jeremiah 29:13
I needed to give God my entire heart. Before I realized all this, I kind put other things first, like watching TV and trying to have fun too much. And then this verse spoke to me: Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way. Establish Your word to Your servant, who is devoted to serving You. Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness. --Psalm 119:36-40
I asked God to revive me, to give me a new, fresh start. He gives second chances, third chances, one thousand chances--just ask Him, and He will give you another chance.
There's something about feeling God's presence that is just so reviving. Your heart becomes overjoyed--it's just something that I cannot explain.
Now, maybe you're in a hard time. Maybe you feel like God forgot about you. Believe me, He didn't. Maybe you lost a loved one, or maybe only bad things are happening. You're probably saying,"Why does God let these things happen?" Well, we don't know why. Only God knows. And sometimes He puts us in certain circumstances to bring us closer to Him. Keep up your hope. Keep faith in Him.
God bless,
--Viviana
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Happy Fathers Day!
Happy Fathers Day to my father and all the fathers out there! God bless them all!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
My Life: A Summary, Not Facts
I know I haven't written much about my life, so that's what this post will be about. I live with both of my parents, my grandma, three sisters, and one brother. I'm the oldest out of the kids. My sister Bella is 10, Natalia is 7, Aaron is 4, and Katia is 2 (I'm sure you can imagine how life is with a 4 and 2-year-old!). And do you want to know something interesting/crazy? Me, Bella, Natalia, and Aaron share a room (Katia still sleeps with Mom and Dad)! It's not always so bad, but of course there are those crazy days where everyone's up late. I did mention some facts about me in a previous post, but let me put them more into a summary:
When I was about seven years old, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I've had my ups and downs as a Christian, but I still try to follow Him with a whole heart. I mess up very much at times, but He is loving and forgiving. I so much enjoy all the arts! I like practicing piano a lot, and I love trying new pieces to challenge me. When I was younger, I did a little photography. I still would do it, but so many people do it; I'd feel like I'd be copying people. Acting is one of my favorite things! At my church, we used to do a play each year for Awana. Unfortunately, we haven't done a play last year or this year. I enjoy writing stories or essays. It wasn't until sixth/seventh grade that I realized writing was fun. Ever since, my writing has developed more and more. I recently discovered that I liked drawing. I normally didn't like drawing (my drawings used to be horrible) but when I decided to draw a character from Avatar: The Last Airbender-- that's when I began to think that drawing was fun! I like filming short movies and other things of the sort. It allows me to combine writing and/or acting or directing (most of the time I just direct). Reading books thrills me, but only when the book is adventurous, funny, or fantasy-based! It's fantastical! I find languages so fascinating and I hope to learn many languages in the future. I love to laugh or hear funny stories (I like telling some of my funny stories as well). Laughing just brings some excitement. I like quoting lines from movies or the funniest times in my life. That's mostly what you need to know about me!
Until my next post!
--Viviana <3
When I was about seven years old, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I've had my ups and downs as a Christian, but I still try to follow Him with a whole heart. I mess up very much at times, but He is loving and forgiving. I so much enjoy all the arts! I like practicing piano a lot, and I love trying new pieces to challenge me. When I was younger, I did a little photography. I still would do it, but so many people do it; I'd feel like I'd be copying people. Acting is one of my favorite things! At my church, we used to do a play each year for Awana. Unfortunately, we haven't done a play last year or this year. I enjoy writing stories or essays. It wasn't until sixth/seventh grade that I realized writing was fun. Ever since, my writing has developed more and more. I recently discovered that I liked drawing. I normally didn't like drawing (my drawings used to be horrible) but when I decided to draw a character from Avatar: The Last Airbender-- that's when I began to think that drawing was fun! I like filming short movies and other things of the sort. It allows me to combine writing and/or acting or directing (most of the time I just direct). Reading books thrills me, but only when the book is adventurous, funny, or fantasy-based! It's fantastical! I find languages so fascinating and I hope to learn many languages in the future. I love to laugh or hear funny stories (I like telling some of my funny stories as well). Laughing just brings some excitement. I like quoting lines from movies or the funniest times in my life. That's mostly what you need to know about me!
Until my next post!
--Viviana <3
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Not talking the talk, but rather walking the walk
You have different types of Christians. Some are truly Christians and others are "Christians." True Christians are the people who really follow God, walking with Him and always trying to learn more about Him. So-called "Christians" are people who just talk and talk about God, but aren't really following their preaching. They'll go on and on about how they think other people should live, but they don't even follow what they're telling that person. Or sometimes, they just say,"Oh, yeah, I believe in God," but they're still living their old life.
My family and I are going through 1 John, and it says a lot about this topic:
If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7)
Wouldn't we be hypocrites if we told someone how they should live, but not live it out ourselves? When people do this kind of thing to me, it gets me a little annoyed. I'm not perfect one bit. I try so hard to follow God, but man, is it hard! Some days I mess up so much, but God is patient and forgiving; He gives me so many chances! And there are those days when maybe we don't want to read the Bible or go to church--God wants to spend time with us! It's such a privilege to know God, to be able to walk with Him, to spend time with Him. Look at what it says in 1 John about God's forgiveness: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). And if we do sin, we should ask for forgiveness (as is says in the verse), but turning from the sin, never coming back to it. Some time ago, I would ask God to forgive me on a certain matter, but I didn't exactly turn from it. I have changed from that (although I still struggle with some aspects of it). It's so crazy to see how I was a year ago, and to see how much I've grown spiritually. I hope to grow even more and gain more wisdom in areas of my life.
Whoever says,"I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. And this is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:4-6) So we should live how Jesus did. Some days might be better than others, and some might be completely horrible. No matter what happens in our life, great or tragedy, we should still praise God through it.
Let us not be the person who talks the talk, but let us be the one who walks the walk.
Until next time!
--Viviana
My family and I are going through 1 John, and it says a lot about this topic:
If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7)
Wouldn't we be hypocrites if we told someone how they should live, but not live it out ourselves? When people do this kind of thing to me, it gets me a little annoyed. I'm not perfect one bit. I try so hard to follow God, but man, is it hard! Some days I mess up so much, but God is patient and forgiving; He gives me so many chances! And there are those days when maybe we don't want to read the Bible or go to church--God wants to spend time with us! It's such a privilege to know God, to be able to walk with Him, to spend time with Him. Look at what it says in 1 John about God's forgiveness: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). And if we do sin, we should ask for forgiveness (as is says in the verse), but turning from the sin, never coming back to it. Some time ago, I would ask God to forgive me on a certain matter, but I didn't exactly turn from it. I have changed from that (although I still struggle with some aspects of it). It's so crazy to see how I was a year ago, and to see how much I've grown spiritually. I hope to grow even more and gain more wisdom in areas of my life.
Whoever says,"I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. And this is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:4-6) So we should live how Jesus did. Some days might be better than others, and some might be completely horrible. No matter what happens in our life, great or tragedy, we should still praise God through it.
Let us not be the person who talks the talk, but let us be the one who walks the walk.
Until next time!
--Viviana
Friday, June 1, 2012
Facts about me!
Here are some facts about me!
Favorite colors: purple, green, pink
Favorite types of music: classical, hard rock, pop
Favorite movies: The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite, Hugo, The Pianist, Passion of the Christ, etc...(I have lots of favorites!)
Favorite shows: The Cosby Show, Merlin, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra
Favorite food: Mexican food(!), pizza, lasagna, Chinese fried rice
If you got to pick an era to live in, what would it be?: I always wanted to live in the Middle Ages (as someone who was wealthy) so that I could wear beautiful dresses, but then I also wanted to live in nineteenth century Germany so I could meet Beethoven. I am very undecided on this!
If you could go visit any other countries/places, what would it be?: Mexico, Ireland, France, or Spain.
If you had the choice to choose to go to a public school, would you go to one?: No, because I like the freedom I have with homeschooling. I like being able to learn what I want. I like being able to do fun school work.
Why do you like to write/blog?: Because I like being able to express what I feel, encourage people, or just give someone a different perspective on an idea.
I'll write another post with facts another time.
Hasta luego!
--Viviana
Favorite colors: purple, green, pink
Favorite types of music: classical, hard rock, pop
Favorite movies: The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite, Hugo, The Pianist, Passion of the Christ, etc...(I have lots of favorites!)
Favorite shows: The Cosby Show, Merlin, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra
Favorite food: Mexican food(!), pizza, lasagna, Chinese fried rice
If you got to pick an era to live in, what would it be?: I always wanted to live in the Middle Ages (as someone who was wealthy) so that I could wear beautiful dresses, but then I also wanted to live in nineteenth century Germany so I could meet Beethoven. I am very undecided on this!
If you could go visit any other countries/places, what would it be?: Mexico, Ireland, France, or Spain.
If you had the choice to choose to go to a public school, would you go to one?: No, because I like the freedom I have with homeschooling. I like being able to learn what I want. I like being able to do fun school work.
Why do you like to write/blog?: Because I like being able to express what I feel, encourage people, or just give someone a different perspective on an idea.
I'll write another post with facts another time.
Hasta luego!
--Viviana
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