Loving You is Easy

"To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world."

God has given me such wonderful friends here! I really can't say enough how much they mean to me and how thankful I am for them!!! It's funny how quickly I've grown to love these people, but when you see each other every day and go through funny, hard, and crazy times together it just brings you close quickly. It has been a blessing to have each and every one of them in my life and I don't know what I'd do without them!

Bow the Knee

Isaiah 26:3

"The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because He trusts in You."

1 Peter 5:7

"Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."

How wonderful that our God is in control and that we can trust Him and know His plan is perfect? He knows our lives and our hearts. He knows what we are struggling through. In fact, He has placed every struggle in our life. And on top of that, He will help us through them all. He is faithful...always!

Numbers 23:19

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; He has said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

Lamentations 3:2-3

"The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Isaiah 41:10

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

The lyrics from the song "Bow the Knee" popped into my head today and I have been thinking about them and so encouraged by them all day. So, I thought I would share them.

There are moments on our journey following the Lord

Where God illumines every step we take.

There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us,

as we try to understand each move He makes.
When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

Bow the knee

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see

Bow the knee

Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity

When you don't understand the purpose of His plan,

In the presence of the King, bow the knee

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall,

The cold and lonely winds won't cease to blow.

And there seems to be no reason for the sufferings we feel;

We are tempted to believe God doesn't know.

When the storms arise, don't forget we live by faith and not by sight

"Bearing With One Another"

Colossians 3:12-14

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility ,meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

We studied these verses this past Sunday in Flame and God has brought them back to my mind and laid them on my heart over and over again this week. Paul just packed SO much into these three little verses! The first thing that stuck out to me was how he calls us "God's chosen ones". What a privilege! We are scum! We don't even deserve to live and not only does God give us that but on top of that he calls us his "chosen ones"! What an honor! But it's not just an honor; it's also a responsibility. When we bear Christ's name we are responsible for our actions and ultimately all that we do reflects back on to His holy and perfect name.

With that said, we are commanded to put on "compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another" and we are to "forgive and above all these put on love". I don't know about you, but to me that's a little bit overwhelming! I struggle to even follow one of those commandments in a day let alone all of them! But that is how we are called to live.

All of these commandments hit me hard, but one that especially stood out to me was where he says, "bearing with one another". Generally when I think of this phrase I think of patience and just kinda "sticking it out" with someone even if they annoy you or you are struggling to have a good attitude towards them. And that may be the case sometimes, but one one of the girls in the group talked about it in a different perspective that I had never thought about and it really got me thinking about it and God has been bringing it up in my life this week. Dictionary.com defines the word "to bear" this way:

bear: 1. to hold up; support 2. to hold or remain firm under 6. to press or push against 7. to hold or carry 9. to suffer; endure; undergo

So really, this is telling us that we are to hold each other up and to support each other. We are to help each other remain firm. We are to help each other press or push against struggles and hard times. We are to help hold or carry others. We are to suffer, endure, or undergo hardships alongside others. What a great privilege and responsibility. God is telling us that we are supposed to be there for each other. When someone is struggling it is our job to pick them up and help them through that situation. God knew we would go through hardships and sufferings here on this earth and he has given us friends and family so that we can come alongside each other and not have to bear these things alone! So who in your life needs someone to "bear with them"? Who have you failed to life up? Stop and take the time to really ask how someone is doing and sincerely mean it and take the time to listen to their answer. And then don't just stop there..."bear with them"!

Are you too comfortable?

"Life is comfortable when you separate yourself from people who are different from you. That epitomizes what my life was like: characterized by comfort. But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through."

--Crazy Love

This has been a constant struggle in my life and something that God continually brings to my attention! It is so easy to just hang out with friends from church or the BCM or Wesley all the time because it's comfortable. It's not comfortable to meet new people who maybe don't like doing the same things I like to do or people who have a different lifestyle than me or people who don't know Jesus or chose not to believe in Him. It's much easier to live out my faith and stand up for what I believe when I know that everyone I'm with believes the same thing. But a candle doesn't stand out in a room that's already lit! In order for my light to shine for Jesus and for me to be an example for Him I need to go where it's darkest! Where people can't see and where they need that light. That dark room is different for everyone. For you it may be another state or country. It may be the place where you work. It may be your family! For me, it's this campus and this wonderful school that God has placed me in. He has given me opportunity after opportunity and person after person to witness to and now it's up to me to decide if I'm going to go to that dark place and take my light with me and let it shine! Think about it!! :)

Rebel!

The other day, Laura and I went to study in the library and Hooper was in there so we decided to sit and study with her. She had brought a little snack of mini oreos and we just couldn't resist when she kindly offered to share. Nevermind that there were signs on EVERY table saying "no food or drink in the library". We just wanted a little snack...so we had one! And of course someone would see us and tell us that we couldn't have that in there! haha. Just felt the need to post about my little moment of rebellion! :)

Just the Way You Are

It's been a busy past few weeks and my blogging has obviously been the first thing to get pushed aside, but I thought I'd give a little update of what's been going on in my life this semester.

Age to Age:

I've jumped right back into Age to Age this semester. For those of you who don't know, it's a mentoring program for impoverished kids in the Russellville area, through The Wesley Foundation. It was a big part of why I chose ATU and mentoring has been one of the best experiences of my life! This is my precious Rayden! I started out with her last year in her first year of "Older Age to Age" (5th-7th grade). She's 6th grade now and goodness has she grown since last semester! She came to Skate Night with make-up on and her hair straightened, looking older than ever!! We have grown so much closer already just in these past few weeks. She's like a little sister to me. Monday after Age to Age I took her to eat with me at the caf along with Taylor and Renee and their girls Tamara and Ashley and I felt like a proud big sister walking in there with her! I loved everything about having her there with me! We are two peas in a pod. Anyone you ask who knows both of us will tell you that you couldn't have picked a better kid or mentor for either of us! This Sunday she is going to go to church with me and I couldn't be more excited!!! Pray that God opens up opportunities!

The Lake:

Lake Dardanelle State Park has become a regular part of my week! This time of year I want to be outside as much as possible!! We have had gorgeous weather these past few weeks and I am loving every bit of it! The park isn't very far from school so I go there by myself for devotionals or studying or with friends for picnics and hanging out. Ususally something eventful happens! lol. We always have a good time though! It's the perfect hang out spot and I'm so glad it's close by!

Brown Town:
Ohhhhh Brown Town! lol. What is "Brown Town" you may ask? It is a lovely boys dorm that smells...interesting to say the least...and is the residing place of quite a few of my best friends here at school! :) Many afternoons, evenings, and weekends have been spent there studying, watching movies, playing Call of Duty (or watching the guys play), Skyping, taking funny pictures, and COLORING!! :) haha. I'm convinced that our walls will be completely covered by the end of the year from all the pictures we've drawn! haha.

I have lots more I could share and I would love to on another day!! But this post is getting kinda long and I've got to go do some Spanish homework (story of my life! lol.) So for now, I will end with a quote from one of my favorite movies--"Up":

"Adventure is out there!!!" :)

God, Grant Me Patience!

Recently, God has been teaching me a lot about patience. I'm most definitely not a patient person by nature. I do think I have gotten a lot more patient than I used to be, but it has taken a looong time to even get this far. When I get something in my head that I want to do or something that I think would be fun or would be good I want it to happen right away! I get so excited about it and make all these plans and I can easily have the next five years of my life planned out in just 10 minutes! haha. My thought process is random, scattered, and super fast! lol. But a lot of times I think about things without really thinking through them. And usually, it doesn't work out so well that way. :) So, in these past few days I've really been thinking about how I need to work on that. God already has my next five years planned out (if He chooses to give me five more years on this earth) and however many years may come after that, as well! So, I don't need to worry about what tomorrow will be like or how long I may have to wait for something. He already knows and His plan is WAY more perfect than mine could ever be! What a great comfort that is!