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.