Hi, my name is Alyssa Belz (Eric’s daughter). I got handed the task of writing the next blog entry …literally! I thought I would share a little about what my life is like right now and what the Lord is teaching me.
I am 16 years old and I finished my sophomore year of online high school a few weeks ago. Next year I will be doing running start, a program where I take college classes that also high school requirements. Because of my fatigue and the corona virus, I haven’t been doing much this summer so far. But that does not mean I don’t have opportunities to pour out to others, and God’s work is certainly not limited to my health (in fact he uses these times to draw me close to himself). I enjoy crocheting and making things for others. I also enjoy writing my many thoughts down, cooking, staring at the trees and realizing God’s beauty, singing, and spending time with adorable kids I am blessed with knowing.
I am learning and growing every day in my walk with the Lord. Through the cloudiness of my own thoughts and fleshly weakness to understand the great things of the Lord, I find he reveals his peace and purpose in beautiful ways. This peace I receive often comes after confusion and questions, and he shows me once again that he is all I need. I am reading a book called “Stepping Heavenward” by Elizabeth Prentiss. It is a wonderful book about the journal of a girl and her walk with the lord. She goes through many emotions and feelings and questions that I can relate to. Throughout her life she learns about what’s truly important: serving the Lord and doing his will. I would suggest it to other teenage girls who go through questions or trials in their walk with the Lord. Here are a few quotes I like:
“This is the testimony of all the good books, sermons, hymns, and memoirs I read–that God’s ways are infinitely perfect; that we are to love Him for what He is and therefore equally as much when He afflicts as when He prospers us; that there is no real happiness but in doing and suffering His will; and that this life is but a scene of probation through which we pass to the real life above.”
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“Nay then, but let me give to Him not what I value least, but what I prize and delight in most.”
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“There is no wilderness so dreary but that His love can illuminate it, no desolation so desolate but that He can sweeten it. I know what I am saying. It is no delusion. I believe the highest, purest happiness is known only to those who have learned Christ in sickrooms, in poverty, in racking suspense and anxiety, amid hardships, and at the open grave.”
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I also think it is important to not reflect on the negatives of your life and compare them to others who seem to have it “better,” but on the positives and realize just how much you have and God has blessed you with. Your outlook will change and you will find it easier to be joyful in what God has set before you. As Christians, we also have joy in Christ that our names are written in the book of life (Luke 10:20), and we will one day spend eternity rejoicing perfectly before the King of Kings without any selfishness in our hearts! And may we never lose sight of this joy amidst the struggle (doesn’t make the struggle any less real) and dark days of this life.
I am blessed to have godly counsel in my life from my parents, the Spirit, great sermons from our pastor, and loving wisdom from my dear friend Megan, and others who have taken the time to talk with me. My hope is that whatever you are going through right now, God shows you His peace and tender mercy. And through what I have shared of how God is working in me (using my suffering and His Spirit to draw me toward Himself), you can be encouraged.
Thanks for reading! To God be the glory, and thank you for partnering with our family. We are forever blessed to see how God works in His people to spread the furthering of His gospel and glory.
Alyssa Belz