The past 4 months have been a learning experience for me. If I could sum up everything I've been going through in one word, it would be "refinement". That is exactly what God is doing in me right now.
In times of difficulty, you really do learn a lot about yourself that you didn't know. Sometimes, God will even reveal something that is in your heart that you didn't know existed. For me, He revealed a sense of pride and self-centeredness that has been brewing in my heart for quite some time and it is only natural that I initially didn't see it because pride does a very good job of concealing itself. I confess that I have been dealing with this prideful, self-centered, and self-glorifying attitude in my heart, trying to snag a little glory for myself without really seeing it. But I am eternally thankful and grateful for God's grace upon me and that He is dealing with it, even if the refining fire wasn't/isn't pleasant.
I am now turning from this sin and focusing on the one Who really deserves all the glory! God is changing me and I offer myself to Him in order to experience this change. Total surrender isn't easy nor did I expect it to be so, but it is oh so worth it in the end! I hope everyone has a wonderfully blessed day today!
October 03, 2012
July 17, 2012
Life Continues
Hey all! It sure has been awhile since my last update! I just like keeping you on your toes, that's all ;)
But seriously, all jokes aside, things are going quite well for me. Just been trying to stay in the Word and in constant prayer! The Lord is good through the bad and the good. He has a strange way of doing things in opposition to my plans, which always turns out better than my plans anyway! Reminds me of Isaiah 55:8, 9.
Lately I have been learning about God making me strong through weakness. Not the easiest lesson, I will admit, but I think it will be a life-changing one nonetheless. My desire is to consistently grow in Him and His truth. I know that all sounded kind of vague, but details aren't needed at the current moment. All you need to know is that God is changing me and helping me to grow in ways that I never thought possible!
Many of you may know that I'm a reader and I like to read lots of theology books, whether they are commentaries on books of the Bible or books about Christian growth, like Francis Chan, John Piper, etc. As I have been growing in the Lord and getting to know Him better as well as learning about Him, I have had a desire to write my own book. Actually I have been in the planning stages of a book since 2009, but only recently have I expanded on it and actually started writing it. I would love to at least complete it. Maybe later on I'll send it in for publishing or something. We'll see where God goes with this!
School is still chugging along ever so slowly, but progress is being made. In fact, after I'm done with this post, I plan on working on my paper. After this paper is complete and submitted, I only have two exams and a workbook to complete and then I'll be done! It won't be for a while, but still!
I still continue to pray for guidance from God about where He plans to lead me. Fortunately He gives us people in our lives to counsel us, and in my case it's my dad. We talked about where I see myself going in life, especially ministry, (and most importantly, where God sees me going) and my dad has been very helpful in this process! I want my life to count for Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the Gospel! After this certificate in Biblical Studies is completed, I need to decide where to go next and I need the guidance of God as much as I can get! Praise Him that He knows what He is doing even when it doesn't make sense to me! To God be the glory!
But seriously, all jokes aside, things are going quite well for me. Just been trying to stay in the Word and in constant prayer! The Lord is good through the bad and the good. He has a strange way of doing things in opposition to my plans, which always turns out better than my plans anyway! Reminds me of Isaiah 55:8, 9.
Lately I have been learning about God making me strong through weakness. Not the easiest lesson, I will admit, but I think it will be a life-changing one nonetheless. My desire is to consistently grow in Him and His truth. I know that all sounded kind of vague, but details aren't needed at the current moment. All you need to know is that God is changing me and helping me to grow in ways that I never thought possible!
Many of you may know that I'm a reader and I like to read lots of theology books, whether they are commentaries on books of the Bible or books about Christian growth, like Francis Chan, John Piper, etc. As I have been growing in the Lord and getting to know Him better as well as learning about Him, I have had a desire to write my own book. Actually I have been in the planning stages of a book since 2009, but only recently have I expanded on it and actually started writing it. I would love to at least complete it. Maybe later on I'll send it in for publishing or something. We'll see where God goes with this!
School is still chugging along ever so slowly, but progress is being made. In fact, after I'm done with this post, I plan on working on my paper. After this paper is complete and submitted, I only have two exams and a workbook to complete and then I'll be done! It won't be for a while, but still!
I still continue to pray for guidance from God about where He plans to lead me. Fortunately He gives us people in our lives to counsel us, and in my case it's my dad. We talked about where I see myself going in life, especially ministry, (and most importantly, where God sees me going) and my dad has been very helpful in this process! I want my life to count for Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the Gospel! After this certificate in Biblical Studies is completed, I need to decide where to go next and I need the guidance of God as much as I can get! Praise Him that He knows what He is doing even when it doesn't make sense to me! To God be the glory!
June 07, 2012
I Could Not Think of an Appropriate Title for This Post, So This will Suffice
I am truly amazed right now that we're halfway through 2012. It just seems to get busier for me as the months roll by. I guess that's okay though because I wouldn't want to be bored the entire time. Work, school, and friends keep me on my toes. The rain we've been having for the past few days has been relaxing, but its been pulling me away from schoolwork because it gets me thinking and praying and then nothing productive gets done (and I'm not saying prayer isn't productive, but you know what I mean). Even still, I trudge along and do the best I can with the time I'm given.
Something has been really getting to me lately. It absolutely annoys and bothers me when Christians follow in the footsteps of the world, whether it's thinking like the world, speaking like the world, or engaging in the sinful activities of the world. They will use profanity, watch the raunchiest movies, tell the most perverted jokes, drink excessively, and even engage in premarital foreplay and/or sex. I have even seen my fair share of Christians get into dating relationships with non-Christians (which 2 Corinthians 6:14 clearly speaks against) and watched their lives slowly go downhill from there. And to think, all the while, these Christians go to church, never read any of the Bible on their own, and believe they are all right with God. In fact, they hate it when another believer confronts them about their sinful living, thinking the believer is judgmental or "too conservative". Does this kind of living fall in line with Scripture? Absolutely not. And it seems like fewer and fewer believers are doing anything about it, in other words, approaching the "Christian" individuals in question about their lifestyles. Something is clearly wrong and it needs to be put right. It is only by basing our beliefs on the source of truth (the Bible) that we can see with clarity what God intends for us. If we're not rooted in the Word, we will be uprooted and planted elsewhere.
On the flipside of the sobering paragraph above, I have an opportunity to possibly go to Haiti for a week sometime in October or November. I would love to be a part of what God is doing in that region, especially in sharing the Gospel with the people there. Be praying for me as I prepare myself mentally and spiritually for this trip. God is good, all the time!
Something has been really getting to me lately. It absolutely annoys and bothers me when Christians follow in the footsteps of the world, whether it's thinking like the world, speaking like the world, or engaging in the sinful activities of the world. They will use profanity, watch the raunchiest movies, tell the most perverted jokes, drink excessively, and even engage in premarital foreplay and/or sex. I have even seen my fair share of Christians get into dating relationships with non-Christians (which 2 Corinthians 6:14 clearly speaks against) and watched their lives slowly go downhill from there. And to think, all the while, these Christians go to church, never read any of the Bible on their own, and believe they are all right with God. In fact, they hate it when another believer confronts them about their sinful living, thinking the believer is judgmental or "too conservative". Does this kind of living fall in line with Scripture? Absolutely not. And it seems like fewer and fewer believers are doing anything about it, in other words, approaching the "Christian" individuals in question about their lifestyles. Something is clearly wrong and it needs to be put right. It is only by basing our beliefs on the source of truth (the Bible) that we can see with clarity what God intends for us. If we're not rooted in the Word, we will be uprooted and planted elsewhere.
On the flipside of the sobering paragraph above, I have an opportunity to possibly go to Haiti for a week sometime in October or November. I would love to be a part of what God is doing in that region, especially in sharing the Gospel with the people there. Be praying for me as I prepare myself mentally and spiritually for this trip. God is good, all the time!
May 20, 2012
Life Goes on as God Works
I think it has been exactly forever and one day since my last update, haha! As usual, I guess you could say I'm "living life". Although, I'm not too fond of that phrase, only because it sounds like a life that is without God and filled with my own ideas, desires, and pleasures. As much as my sinful nature desires that kind of life, that is NOT the life I want to live.
My youngest sister finally graduated high school and it was such a blessing to be at the ceremony. Now my parents have no more kids to watch graduate...but marriage is still around the corner, haha! It's gonna be exciting to see where my sisters and I go from where we are right now. I believe God has much in store, but He is only revealing little by little as we step out in faith.
This past Wednesday, I had a chance to talk with one of the volunteers at work that I have developed a good relationship with. Earlier that morning, I prayed to God that He would provide an opportunity for me to share the Gospel with somebody, or at least to talk to somebody about Him. As I was shelving books, this volunteer came up to me and said, "Do you know what somebody outside asked me? If I was interested in the Bible. But I said 'No, not today'." What better of an opportunity than that? So we started talking about God, Jesus, salvation, and the Gospel! He listened and was intrigued and never said anything bad against me or even God (which he had done to others in the past)! Please pray with me as I pray that this volunteer and I will get to talk some more. God is working!
School is still going pretty well and I just submitted some more assignments this week. This also means that I am that much closer to finishing and that is starting to get the old brain working again. I have been doing lots of praying about where God wants me to serve Him. I desire to be in full-time ministry, but it's "where" and "how" that I can't figure out. I was pumped after talking with the volunteer on Wednesday and it made me want to expand my boundaries (perhaps geographically?). God continues to work on my heart as I delight in Him and trust in His ways and Word. To Him be the glory forever and ever!
"By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." 1 John 2:5b-6
My youngest sister finally graduated high school and it was such a blessing to be at the ceremony. Now my parents have no more kids to watch graduate...but marriage is still around the corner, haha! It's gonna be exciting to see where my sisters and I go from where we are right now. I believe God has much in store, but He is only revealing little by little as we step out in faith.
This past Wednesday, I had a chance to talk with one of the volunteers at work that I have developed a good relationship with. Earlier that morning, I prayed to God that He would provide an opportunity for me to share the Gospel with somebody, or at least to talk to somebody about Him. As I was shelving books, this volunteer came up to me and said, "Do you know what somebody outside asked me? If I was interested in the Bible. But I said 'No, not today'." What better of an opportunity than that? So we started talking about God, Jesus, salvation, and the Gospel! He listened and was intrigued and never said anything bad against me or even God (which he had done to others in the past)! Please pray with me as I pray that this volunteer and I will get to talk some more. God is working!
School is still going pretty well and I just submitted some more assignments this week. This also means that I am that much closer to finishing and that is starting to get the old brain working again. I have been doing lots of praying about where God wants me to serve Him. I desire to be in full-time ministry, but it's "where" and "how" that I can't figure out. I was pumped after talking with the volunteer on Wednesday and it made me want to expand my boundaries (perhaps geographically?). God continues to work on my heart as I delight in Him and trust in His ways and Word. To Him be the glory forever and ever!
"By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." 1 John 2:5b-6
May 03, 2012
Challenges
I am continually amazed by the work God is doing in my heart! The more time I spend with Him, the more His desires become my desires; His view becomes my view; His love becomes my love. The way that I have been maturing is far outside myself; I know that it isn't from me, but Him!
A few days ago, I was up in the morning and praying that God would speak to me and reveal some kind of truth through His Word. I didn't want to have an idea of what I wanted to hear, but instead I wanted to be open to whatever He wanted to say (as we all should pray for). What followed next was very cool and challenging! I had opened to and read three different passages in Scripture. All three passages talked about the exact same thing: being lights in this world. I was very amazed at the "coincidence", which, obviously, I don't believe was a coincidence. Clearly, God was making a point to me and it challenged me to be a light in this dark world. It wasn't something that I read for that particular day and then forget about it as time went on, this is something that I have been meditating on and striving to be and do each day following! In the future, I'm not sure where God is going to place me to minister, but right now, in this present time, He has placed me where I am and I need to minister each day. It was a really convicting and challenging revelation from Him that spoke directly to my heart! I strive to grow in Him each day until He calls me home!
And here is a thought that I have been dwelling on for a while. As Christians, our lives are supposed to conform to God's likeness. As one of my Bible college professors said: we don't do goods works to get saved, we do good works because we are saved. But here's something to think about: we can say all the right things in front of people, we can do all the right things, and we can even post the most "Christian-ized" statuses on Facebook all the time. That's all good and fine, but the question we should ask is this, "Do my words, actions, and thoughts conform to and glorify God in the privacy of my own time?" When nobody is around to see you, do you still live in a godly way? Think in a godly way? When I ask this for myself, I regret to say that I indeed have my own failings at this. It just makes me more thankful for God's saving grace because I sure do need a Savior! And I have one! So I have been challenged in that way as well, conforming to God's likeness in all areas of my life! That includes the thought life as well (Philippians 4:8).
"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14
A few days ago, I was up in the morning and praying that God would speak to me and reveal some kind of truth through His Word. I didn't want to have an idea of what I wanted to hear, but instead I wanted to be open to whatever He wanted to say (as we all should pray for). What followed next was very cool and challenging! I had opened to and read three different passages in Scripture. All three passages talked about the exact same thing: being lights in this world. I was very amazed at the "coincidence", which, obviously, I don't believe was a coincidence. Clearly, God was making a point to me and it challenged me to be a light in this dark world. It wasn't something that I read for that particular day and then forget about it as time went on, this is something that I have been meditating on and striving to be and do each day following! In the future, I'm not sure where God is going to place me to minister, but right now, in this present time, He has placed me where I am and I need to minister each day. It was a really convicting and challenging revelation from Him that spoke directly to my heart! I strive to grow in Him each day until He calls me home!
And here is a thought that I have been dwelling on for a while. As Christians, our lives are supposed to conform to God's likeness. As one of my Bible college professors said: we don't do goods works to get saved, we do good works because we are saved. But here's something to think about: we can say all the right things in front of people, we can do all the right things, and we can even post the most "Christian-ized" statuses on Facebook all the time. That's all good and fine, but the question we should ask is this, "Do my words, actions, and thoughts conform to and glorify God in the privacy of my own time?" When nobody is around to see you, do you still live in a godly way? Think in a godly way? When I ask this for myself, I regret to say that I indeed have my own failings at this. It just makes me more thankful for God's saving grace because I sure do need a Savior! And I have one! So I have been challenged in that way as well, conforming to God's likeness in all areas of my life! That includes the thought life as well (Philippians 4:8).
"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14
April 18, 2012
He is Greatest
God is big. If you're like me, you've probably heard that statement uttered a hundred million times during your childhood. And strangely enough, there are days when I forget that. In today's world, filled with its insane busyness, it can be just way too easy to forget the immensity of God. It shouldn't be, but it just always seems to be the case.
To help you see just how awesome, vast, huge, and out-of-this-world God really is, take a good, hard look at the photo below.
I was on Yahoo! today and saw this image. This was taken by the Hubble space telescope. What you're looking at is called the Tarantula nebula. It's relatively "small" (650 light-years across), but doesn't it just blow you away? This is literally a snapshot of the universe outside of earth (and yes, there is a universe outside of this earth that has nothing to do with you...but everything to do with God).
As humans, we get too caught up in ourselves (my schedule, my free time, what I want to do, the right girl for me, the right guy for me), we tend to forget that there is a Creator so far beyond us, Who somehow loves us sinful humans enough to pay our sin debt for us, and yet we sparingly give Him our attention and time for an hour on Sunday morning, only to begin Monday morning with us.
We worry about the things we need each day, whether we'll get them or not. We question whether God is doing the right thing because everything is going wrong (according to us).
Whatever happened to just trusting Him? Whatever happened to just standing in awe of Who He is, forgetting about us? Whatever happened to realizing that we just don't see the whole picture and He does?
In Psalm 8:3-4, David says some humbling words, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" This is one of the greatest mysteries of God: why does He care? There is nothing about us to love, yet He loves us still. The Bible never says the "why" of God's love and care for us, but do we really need to know? Not really. Personally, I have no complaints whatsoever.
If God is really as big as His word says and we can evidently see it in all creation (including all the galaxies, nebulae, and stars out in space), doesn't that mean that He's got every single, little, tiny detail of our lives under His divine control and is doing the job a billion times better than you ever could in a million years? Absolutely! So why take more on our shoulders than we need? "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
I am learning this every day as well and sometimes my pride can get the best of me. But each day I work on following the simplest, yet hardest-to-follow command that God gives us: "Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10a
Have a blessed and God-glorifying day and week ahead!
"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8, 9
To help you see just how awesome, vast, huge, and out-of-this-world God really is, take a good, hard look at the photo below.
I was on Yahoo! today and saw this image. This was taken by the Hubble space telescope. What you're looking at is called the Tarantula nebula. It's relatively "small" (650 light-years across), but doesn't it just blow you away? This is literally a snapshot of the universe outside of earth (and yes, there is a universe outside of this earth that has nothing to do with you...but everything to do with God).
As humans, we get too caught up in ourselves (my schedule, my free time, what I want to do, the right girl for me, the right guy for me), we tend to forget that there is a Creator so far beyond us, Who somehow loves us sinful humans enough to pay our sin debt for us, and yet we sparingly give Him our attention and time for an hour on Sunday morning, only to begin Monday morning with us.
We worry about the things we need each day, whether we'll get them or not. We question whether God is doing the right thing because everything is going wrong (according to us).
Whatever happened to just trusting Him? Whatever happened to just standing in awe of Who He is, forgetting about us? Whatever happened to realizing that we just don't see the whole picture and He does?
In Psalm 8:3-4, David says some humbling words, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" This is one of the greatest mysteries of God: why does He care? There is nothing about us to love, yet He loves us still. The Bible never says the "why" of God's love and care for us, but do we really need to know? Not really. Personally, I have no complaints whatsoever.
If God is really as big as His word says and we can evidently see it in all creation (including all the galaxies, nebulae, and stars out in space), doesn't that mean that He's got every single, little, tiny detail of our lives under His divine control and is doing the job a billion times better than you ever could in a million years? Absolutely! So why take more on our shoulders than we need? "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
I am learning this every day as well and sometimes my pride can get the best of me. But each day I work on following the simplest, yet hardest-to-follow command that God gives us: "Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10a
Have a blessed and God-glorifying day and week ahead!
"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8, 9
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