The Gift

"Glory to God in the highest
    and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests"
                                                                    Luke 2:14

This basically sums up Christmas as a whole. If by some chance amongst the presents and lights and wonderful food and Santa Claus Jesus' birth is remembered, atleast usually for me, I think about it and am thankful but then just accept it and continue thinking of all else there is to prepare for the big day. 


Being back in NoVa is a whole different adjustment for me. Now that I have my car again, my road rage has returned along with it (i'm getting better though!). I'm working again, and there are some people in the airport who just kill me sometimes; after a 4:30am wakeup call and then being on my feet for 8 hours it's easy for me to be testy. And being back home there are chores that I'm expected to do and that's another thing I can complain about! I'm very good at complaining...


So to fix my mindset, everytime I've caught myself complaining I go through every single thing in the day I'm thankful for. Yesterday, I had like twenty by the time I got to work at 5:30am. I thanked God that I woke up on time, thanked him that I had a car that worked, that I'd straightened my hair the night before so I had time to run contacts to my boyfriend's house that he'd forgotten at mine, that I had time and food to eat breakfast, that I had running water to brush my teeth, that I had a safe drive, that I got to work on time, that I got my Starbucks before my shift started, and I could go on and on. 


The point of this rambling is that a lot of times when we go through the things we're thankful for, we don't pass the standard "friends, family, God"- which are HUGE, but we've been blessed with SO much more. Northern Virginia holds the top 3 richest counties in the United States, and yet the fact that we are so incredibly privileged to have all that we do doesn't turn into humility in our hearts. Usually it's pride, greed, materialism, and for me and most of us it's all three! I'm sure I speak for most of us when I say I've spent many Christmases upset that I didn't get an iPhone or a new car exactly when I asked for it while I'm sitting in a pile of presents that my friends and family have all been gracious enough to give me.


The last part of the verse in Luke says "to men on whom his favor rests". How amazing is it that God came down to men (to all of us) in the first place. To us who forget daily how amazingly blessed we are not only to live in this extremely privileged society, but to have a Savior who was created by God himself in he most humbling entrance to the world by being born in a manger- surrounded by animals and his parents who were poor and virgins. The King of all the earth being brought to us in the most unfit way to suit the Son of the Creator of the universe. 


But that's not even the best part. The last part says,"...on whom his favor rests." That's so hard for me to wrap my head around. It's so easy to pick out faults in ourselves, or have our faults picked out on others but God who has EVERY reason to condemn us, for He is perfect, only loves us. Wholly, completely, fully unconditionally loves us. No matter what we do, no matter what we say, no matter what we think or how many times we are greedy or how many times we forget about Him. His favor rests on us, of all beings. On us who are so prideful that we forget about all the people on this earth that won't even have presents on this Christmas or, most importantly, know of the TRUE gift that God has given us. I know at least for me that I haven't gone out of my way this Christmas season, of all seasons, to let God through me show someone the truly amazing gift he's given us of love and salvation. 


By being going over all the things I'm thankful for each day, God's glory is revealed to me more and more. Glory to God in the highest. I hope that first, we can be willing today to have God come to change our hearts so we can have a thankful and humble heart that is ready to share, through God's spirit, the amazing gift he's given us in his Son who will save us all from eternal separation from the one who loves us despite anything we could ever do to turn away from him. That is such a wonderful gift.


So today, I'm thankful for many things. I'm thankful that I woke up early so I could get a lot out of my day. I'm thankful that I have a space heater in my room and plenty of blankets so I don't get cold, and for a family that's awake and bustling around downstairs, and that I'm fortunate enough to have a Bible sitting next to me so I can try to understand how to demonstrate God's love and learn of how amazing He really is, thankful to have a laptop that I can be typing on about all this. Most of all, I'm thankful for the incredible gift. That while we were still sinners, God sent his Son for US. Us who are sooo undeserving and selfish and don't even appreciate it most of the time. I hope that we can not only be grateful for all the blessings God has given us but also that our joy would spread so that everyone may know of the most important gift this christmas. 

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid." John 14:27


"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23



"No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:37

For my Ladies

To all my ladies, my wonderful, beautiful chaplain of my sorority shared this with our bible study a couple of months ago and I thought I should share as well! Keep this with you always to remember how much God loves you, no matter the circumstance.


I made her, She is different. She is unique.
With love I formed her in her mother's womb.
I fashioned her with great joy.
I remember, with great pleasure, the day I created her.
(Psalm 139:13-16)
I love her smile, I love her ways.
I love to hear her laugh.
And the silly things she says and does. She bring me great pleasure.
This is how I made her.
(Psalm 139:17, Zephaniah 3:17)
I made her pretty and not beautiful,
Because I knew her heart, and she would be vain
I wanted her to search out her heart, and to learn that it would be
Me in her that would make her beautiful
And that it would be Me in her that would draw friends to her.
(1 Peter 3:3-5)
I made her in such a way, that she would need Me.
I made her a little more lonesome than she would like to be
Only because I need for her to learn and depend on me.
I know her heart, I know if I had not made her like this, 
She would go her own chosen way and forget about Me, her creator.
(Psalm 62:5-8)
I have given her many good and happy things 
Because I love her.
(Psalm 84:11, Romans 8:23, 37-39)
Because I love her,
I have seen her broken heart, and the tears she cried alone.
I have cried with her, and had a broken heart too.
(Psalm 56:8, Psalm 34:18)
Many times she has stumbled and fallen alone
Only because she would not hold my hand.
So many lessons she's learned the hard way.
Because she would not listen to my voice.
(Isaiah 53:6)
So many times I have sat back
And sadly watched her go her merry way alone.
Only to watch her return to my arms, sad and broken.
(Luke 15:7)
And now she is mine again.
I made her, and then I bought her because I love her.
(Romans 5:8)
I have to reshape her and remold her 
to renew her to what I had planned for her to be.
It has not been easy for her or for Me.
(Jeremiah 29:11)
I want her to be conformed to My image.
This is the high goal I have set for her,
Because I love her.
(2 Corinthians 2:14)


The more willing we are to let God take control, the more able He is to mold you into every wonderful, good intention he had for you. Walking with the Lord is always harder, and always more worthwhile. Ladies, we need to be holding His hand and let him lead us away from our own knowledge so we can receive the amazing plans he has for our lives. Hope you all are have a fantastic weekend!

You are for me

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

For some reason, we usually tend to think that if we give things to God completely, he'll lead us to places that aren't in our best interest, like he'll hold out on us. Ever since Adam and Eve we've been believing this. Since Satan made it seem like the fruit of the evil tree was good and that God was keeping it from them. I don't know why it's so hard to trust that God's plans are better than our own. It should be comforting, knowing that we don't have to carry the burden of figuring everything out for ourselves. Yet, there's something in us that longs to know the exact plan of everything that's going to happen.


Sometimes God's only way of getting back our attention and putting us on the right track is taking away what we think is best for us, so we can ask him what actually is. And if anyone asks for wisdom, it will be freely given to him (James 1:5). I can't think of one time in my life that God's taken away something from me and hasn't given me something better. The waiting's the worst part because it's terrifying not knowing exactly what the future holds. But God tells us that those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, not growing tired or faint.


It's not that God doesn't want us to have plans, we're supposed to be thinking of our future. But God should be at the root of that plan, so the two wills line up. He doesn't want us to be worrying about our future-what we'll eat or where we'll stay.God's going to place us exactly where we need to be in order to live a life that's best for us. The most important thing to remember is that God is faithful and He is for us. He won't forsake us, or give us something we can't handle.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ffdbo9Hypo


 I know that you are for me, I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness

Stray Sheep

    A relationship between a shepherd and his sheep is mentioned so many times throughout the bible. We are the sheep and Jesus is our shepherd, of course. Heard that countless times. It was told to me in a cooler way the other day. Sheep naturally are dumb animals- wandering, not understanding, leaving the flock just because they don't understand the protection they will have there. Sometimes, to get the sheep to come back to the flock, the shepherd has to break the legs of the sheep in order for it to comply so it gets back to safety.
 "7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." -John 10

    This way of telling the story of the sheep and shepherd made it much more relevant. We leave the protection of the Lord constantly and aimlessly. We don't know what to do because we don't ask for wisdom and rely on our own knowledge to get us through our struggles. When these struggles lead us astray, God breaks us. By pulling our feet out from under us, God leaves us with no choice but to come back into the safety of his arms. It's not him trying to hurt us when we have trials because he is trying to lead us to life. It's by his mercy that he comes out to find us and bring us back, no matter how hard that is. 
     " ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." -James 1
      It's difficult when going through trials to be thankful for them. My immediate reaction is to be angry or upset. Usually someone will come to me telling me that God has a plan. And that makes me even more mad because I don't want God's plan, I want my plan. But the trials we face are given to us so that we're broken for God's glory. It's to produce character (Romans 5:4) and faith that the Lord has better plans for us than we could come up with on our own (Jeremiah 29:11). We are the stray sheep, and He is our faithful shepherd. 
     


     

Complete

"Here I am, at your feet, in my brokenness complete" -Unashamed, Starfield


     Being in college, I'm constantly surrounded by people- which I LOVE, but it doesn't leave much time to spend alone with God. It's so easy for all of us to get caught up in doing other things. Especially for me- I love being involved and having something to do all the time. Being busy is fine- God wants us to be surrounded by his children, but as soon as our focus comes off him, it's so easy for Satan to step in and distract us with that busy schedule.


     One of the hardest things for me is finding the motivation to spend time in the Word. I admit, I don't wake up in the mornings and have an urge to read and learn more about God. The stories of the Bible telling about God's amazing power fascinate me once I find that motivation, but usually I just don't make it there. I've been praying lately for God to give me a passion for reading and learning from devotionals, or the Bible or anything. I still haven't quite figured out if that's a legit prayer or not..I mean, we should want to be learning how to live the wonderful life God intends for us to. But as humans, we just slip up. Whenever I have prayed for motivation to read the Word, however, my prayers have been answered and I find a passage that I haven't read before or one that applies to me perfectly. So, I'm assuming it is a legit prayer!


      Another humbling lesson I've been learning is that I can't plan out everything that's going to happen in life. I've always been a planner, I want to be a wedding planner as a career, I have my whole future planned out. But, of course, God keeps letting me know in not-so-subtle ways that he has a plan for me too, and they don't always match up. 
Matthew 16:25 tell us that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it". That verse drives me nuts sometimes. I just want for my plans to fall into place, for my life to be saved. Whenever my plans don't match up with God's, I lose them. Usually I'll get angry, be moody for awhile, eventually accept his plan when I have no other choice- and then be overwhelmed every time by how great his grace is. As soon as I lose the life I want to do his will, I find great joy in life in what he initially had in store for me. Broken at first, and then complete.


     So, I've begun getting up in the mornings to go to the gym. I'll run for a bit on the elliptical and listen to worship music. It's the best way I've found to start my day off with the Lord. It gives me a sense of peace to get through my busy days so I can stay on track (and get fit of course). Starting off my morning focused on God sets a pattern of me relying on his plans above my own for the hours following. Letting go of our own desires is one of the hardest things God calls us to do, but it's so important that we do it, and not be consumed in the the patterns of this world. 


When we stay on God's path, it is a gooood good place to be. 
   


Unashamed- Starfield: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vs3vrbVMP0&list=FLhanvSM9aYKVpDM10265vMw&index=2

Through the Storm

    First off- I'd like to dedicate my title to all the people undergoing hurricane Irene right now. It's passing through North Carolina and will soon head up all the way to New York. Streets are flooding, windows shattering and trees falling. When something like this happens, it's so easy for us to wonder what on earth God is doing. Is he just sitting up there chilling watching everyone affected by the disaster scramble around in fear? Maybe that's being too hard on him. I mean, he says he loves us right? So if he is with us, then why is he letting all these bad things happen. He promised good things to all who believe.
    We go through storms in our own lives all the time. Hurricanes that come tearing through, messing up our plans and destroying things we know and love. I had a plan going into college to rush a sorority. And I had my heart set on one. The I got asked back to the house for round two and was beyond excited- It felt right. I even got chills walking into the house. I convinced myself it's where God wanted me- until the next day when I got cut. I was crushed, and confused. I mean, I thought it was where God wanted me and it felt like some kind of joke that God had given in to me and then snatched it away as soon as I loved it.


"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11


   I heard this verse from everyone I complained to about me not getting what I wanted. "God has a plan for this". Obviously, I would rather have heard "God's going to make your plans come true". I didn't know what was best for me though, no matter how much I assumed I did. I ended up falling in love with one of the other sororities, and now I'm rooting for that one even more than I was for my initial first choice. God of course knew that the one he allowed me to be cut from wouldn't have suited me as well as the other. He wanted me to work somewhere else.

   No matter what obstacles are thrown at you in life, there is a reason God is allowing them. Whether it be as small as a college organization or as huge as a hurricane, God is preparing something greater than we can imagine or understand to come from it. Everything God does is with purpose, and as soon as we trust that his plan is better than ours, our eyes can be opened to his goodness and glory.

Before the Morning

This week, I officially left for college. I admit, the goodbyes were soo much harder than I expected they would be. I hated the choices I had to make, but I knew what God was leading me to do. And I decided earlier this summer that I would go into college open-minded, blindly trusting God that he'd light the path for my footsteps as long as I'd follow his direction.


One of the hardest things about following God is that once you decide to do it, our natural response is to expect good things to come. I mean, God promises good things, right? Of course he does, but he doesn't promise that the path of them will be easy, just worth it. My pastor Mike Mentor (restonbible.org) explained it like this in a sermon that stuck to me. Daniel followed God, and he ended up in a lion's den. Paul followed God and he ended up in jail, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego followed God and ended up in a fiery furnace. But they all had happy endings, and all trusted that God would pull them through no matter what.


We have to have the mindset daily that following God will not always be easy, because as soon as we put our full trust in the Lord there Satan is trying to find ways to bring us down. We will be brought down, but not destroyed. If God is for us then no one can stand against. 

Going into this first year of college will be so different. It's my second day here and I've already been tested multiple times, but I choose to follow God now when it's hard. I can stand the pain in the night if joy comes in the morning! Our God is faithful and good<3

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 (my most useful verse going into college so far!)

When Life Gives You Lemons

There's no escaping the hard times life sometimes hands us. It's even harder when you know that the times ahead will be hard. For me right now, it's heading off to college. I have so many thoughts running through my head all the time! I leave in exactly 10 days and I'm not nervous at all, I'm actually really excited. I feel ready. But for some reason, my thoughts and emotions have just been all over the place. It made me wonder what on earth it's like for the people that are nervous?! When my dad suggested it was anxiety, I diagnosed myself- yes, in fact, I probably did have anxiety.


Though I'm not nervous, I'm very aware of what will happen before I start college- the goodbyes. Goodbyes are some of the hardest thing we are called to face. I know the goodbyes are necessary and that all things will work out okay. Yet, I'm still anxious about leaving the people I love and diving headfirst into a city of strangers 8 hours away. Not nervous, just anxious.




"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,"says the LORD, who has compassion on you. -Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)


I found this verse in Isaiah and was immediately drawn to it. In this verse, what the Lord speaks of is moved, changed, turned around. With every goodbye in our life we come to a turn in our path, heading in a new direction. God talks of how with these turns, or "lemons" life throws us, earthly things are moved around. But he follows that statement by saying that His unfailing love will not be shaken. As humans, it's hard for us to blindly believe in something we don't know for sure. According to worldly accounts, how can we know for sure if we will be okay? God answers it for us- those who trust in him will ALWAYS be okay. Therefore, today I'm trusting him with that.

Take my Life, Let it Be

Just to give some background, I've been a Christian for my whole life- raised in a Christian home, surrounded by people that were full of love and lived their lives for Christ. I went through high school however only living it halfway for a lot of the time because I didn't rely fully on God. I felt that my way was always better.

At summer camp last week, our pastor Bob Mcrae talked about the power of the Holy Spirit- and it changed my life. This entire blog is my example of that. The difference from being passive and active, the difference between holding on and letting go, the difference between living halfway and experiencing life to the fullest. That's what all my posts will be letting the world know- the power of the freedom we'll find in Christ.


Until last week, I knew of the Holy Spirit but I didn't understand it on the level I needed to. Once I understood it, everything changed. Bob talked about how we could be transformed by the Holy Spirit- that all we had to do was ask and it could give us everything we lacked. I lack alot of things- but the weaknesses most on my heart were lack of patience, jealousy and lack of courage. That week, I asked for discernment- that I'd be able to recognize the grasps Satan had on me so with God's help I could overcome them. That's when everything changed. I asked for patience, and when a moment came that I would usually get extremely upset over, I turned to God and told him I was trusting him. Bam. Just like that, Satan was knocked down and didn't bother me. And in that circumstance, I was patient.


This first week back, I've been tested a lot..and I mean a lot. However, refusing to believe the lies that Satan is trying to convince me of has made me more mature in one week than I could have been in years. The key to overcoming Satan's hold on you is to let go. Let go of yourself, your sinful nature, your human desires and say, "God, I choose you." Once you allow the Holy Spirit to control you there's a huge difference in your mannerisms, in the way you speak, in who you are all because you decided to take a stand and not be held any longer by sin.


I'll be updating a lot on specifically how the Holy Spirit's been working in my life, there are already lots of ways and stories I could tell of how I've been changed. But basically what I'm trying to say is this- I lived my whole life being saved and still wasn't experiencing what God had in mind- the more I rely on God, the more hope I have for my life because I know with his help, I can conquer anything.

When You Think About the Ocean..

This week, I had the great opportunity to attend a summer camp with my church (restonbible.org). During one of the evening services, one of our band members Jesse Trask shared an awesome example of how we can defeat sin in our lives while giving his testimony.

Jesse told all of us 200 or so kids in the audience, "Don't think of an elephant". Then proceeded to ask us what we had thought of. Of course, we had thought of an elephant. Then he said, "Now, think of an ocean". We thought about an ocean. Jesse explained that "not thinking" of the elephant is like "not thinking" of sin. Even if your intentions are good, and you try so hard NOT to focus on your sin, it still ends up consuming your mind because you're focusing so hard to defeat it.

When we set our hearts and minds towards Christ, our earthly thoughts about sin and trying to overcome it ourselves naturally die down. When we are told to think about an ocean, we forget completely about when we were previously told not to think about the elephant.

 "8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9