Be all there.

        Rain taps against the glass. Lights whoosh by the car. The continual hum of pavement passes beneath the car. My parents converse in the front seats and I sit quietly in the back tapping on my keys. We’re driving 80mph away from the place I love so much – my Floridian home. I’m beginning to learn I have to be okay with moving on, letting go, and making new memories. I need to learn to make new memories in new places with new people. Recently a quote by Jim Eliot grabbed my attention. He stated, 

“Wherever you are, be all there.”

        That’s my goal now, to be wherever I am, and not just in physical presence, but completely there in all aspects. 

Prayers from home.

How marvelous it is to sit here at home. To be quiet. To rest. To breath in the warm sticky Florida air and listen to the crickets, the wind chimes, and the rustling of trees in the wind. God, these past few months have been so busy. So full of fun, but the same time so hard and tiring. I'm thankful that you are continuously with me at college and that you go before me. I'm thankful for your presence at all moments. As I enter into these last few weeks before the semester ends, please guide me. Help me do what is right even when its so hard. Help to be patient, even when I'm being tested. Guide me in your paths of your righteousness and help me to live by faith. Let your will be done in my life, deliver me from all that would cause me to sin, and guide me. Continuously. For you alone are faithful.
I love you Lord.

Lessons From Pooh.

                 "How lucky 

        am I to 

       have something 

                        that makes  

 saying goodbye  

          so hard."

                             -Winnie the Pooh

Upon entering college...

             

...I don't think I understood how hard it would be. College is amazing, don't get me wrong, but it is so hard. There is such an opportunity to get caught up in yourself. Even in a Christian college it is easy to find yourself thinking, what will I do with with my life? Who are my friends? How am I making a good impression? It is easy to become selfish when these become the questions your hearts is reflecting upon daily. God convicted me about this in the past few weeks. It's easy for me to look out for myself and purposely elevate myself when I'm feeling self-conscious. Living for me can be exhausting, probably because it's not the way God designed us to live. So how can we fix this epidemic of selfishness as we live in a society that is all about "putting yourself first?"
            
First it is important to remember that we are not our own. 1 Corinthians 6 discusses the importance of living in this knowledge. I encourage you to read the entire chapter, but verses 19-20 really have impacted me. They state,

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

We are Christ's. Our life should not be about bringing glory to ourselves, it is all about bringing Him glory. As we journey through life it is important to remember that we are continually living in His grace, abiding in His love, and walking in everlasting His forgiveness. Grace is such a beautiful thing - He loves us despite our sins. How humbling. How marvelous. His grace compels our worship of Him.
         
Second, it is also so important to remember to put others first. What? Yes, that's right, put others before yourself and see how it changes you.  A blog post I read recently by Leslie Ludy stated it well. She said,

"Though we typically become more socially refined in our selfishness as we grow into adulthood, often we never grasp what it means to be truly humble.  In Romans 12:3 Paul exhorts us: For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…

In our “put yourself first” culture, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking too highly of ourselves.  Instead of looking for ways to build others up, we are often far more concerned with building ourselves up.  Whether we strive to be the center of attention at social gatherings, gossip and put others down in order to elevate our own reputation, or spend the majority of our time trying to build up our popularity on social media platforms – our society is rife with opportunities to choose self-honor over humility. 

This week, ask God for the grace to tune out the “me, me, me” messages of our culture, and focus on building others up, instead of yourself.  Look for ways to encourage and strengthen those around you.   When we approach others with an attitude of true humility, we reflect the glory of God and reveal the nature of Christ." (To read the whole article click Here.)

Well, That's all for now. Just wanted to share what was on my heart with all you out there. 

God. Is. Faithful.

Yes. I understand its been a while. I can't believe I haven't posted in half a year! I've missed you all, but sometimes you go through different seasons in life and for me, I just went through a season where I didn't want to blog post. Yes, weird I know, but anywho I'm back and so much has happened in my life. For starters I'm at college! Yes, I decided to attend Covenant College and I'm absolutely loving it so far. God has already taught me so much about myself and others and reaching out and stretching myself. 

The most important thing that God's been teaching me since I've been here has been this simple truth - God is Faithful. Yes I know that might seem like something trite or repeated continually in Sunday School, but how true it is. God is faithful in everything. He hears our prayers and walks with us through everything we encounter in life. Before I came to Covenant God reminded me that He was going before me. That even though everything would be different - different friends, a different bedroom, different classes, different food, different life experiences - even in all of the unfamiliar things I would encounter He was and always will be the same - The great I am who is and was and will always be. And He's kept His promise, He has gone before me and prepared my ways. Praise his faithfulness.