rediscovered treasure

I did a little spring cleaning this weekend and in the process I discovered this excerpt from my journal. Obviously I didn't write it- there's no question about that, but I'm not sure where it's originally from. All I do know is that God used this so much my sophomore year of college and the words serve as a precious reminder of all that my Savior and Friend has brought me through! So of course I wanted to pass it on to my blog readers... I would recommend printing it out and reading it daily-trust me you'll see why!

"We have to develop godly habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that 'the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body'. And it's adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of 'myself' that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say 'Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this'. Instantly, the Son of God moves to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.

You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if debate with God, you grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). You must keep yourself in proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means that God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is.

Discovering a new way to manifest the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to chose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God's sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to 'supply all your needs' (Philippians 4:19).

Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences but always let the word of God be living and active in you."

...Just a quick shout out to my friend Lynette who took the time to send this to me two years ago- it's amazing how God saw the potential impact on my life because of it and blessed me through it! I hope God uses it in your life as well!

intimidation

So training...not so much.

I've found that when my training plan is to run 5 miles a day it doesn't only keep me from running but it keeps me from doing any sort of physical activity. period. With so many other things that have more pressing needs I can't seem to cut them out to create the time to run. I can't decide how to make running a priority-or honestly even if I should. And part of me might be thinking that on April 23 I will be able to bust out 13 miles with no problems, no training required... probably not my most realistic plan...

So why is this blog worthy you ask? -I'm asking myself this question too- But I think there's a genuine lesson behind all this. Why does such a large task intimidate me to the point of being ineffective and unproductive? Am I afraid of running and showing myself a failure by not finishing? I know that this may not be such a big issue just for running but I think that there are unnerving parallels with my day to day life.

In Joshua 1 God says that He will 'give us everywhere that we place our foot'. I know that there is some kind of success waiting out there for me- and for you - when we truly begin trusting God for our promised land. The kind of life that God is leading us into cannot be entered with feelings of doubt and timidity - this promised land can only be entered when being strong and courageous. I cannot help but wonder what kind of abundant life is waiting for me when I break down these barriers and truly start believing God.

I praise God for the opportunity to relate these promises to my day to day life. It's Friday night and honestly the last time I ran was probably a week ago. But, keeping the title of this blog in mind- I will forget and look forward to next week. And I will give thanks for every step that I can take instead of being upset over the steps (miles) that I have not yet obtained. So enough of being lazy and ineffective I am going to be strong and courageous!

And just a side note if you don't know -I'm running this half marathon for a couple in Louisville who feels like God has called them to be obedient to the great commission by adopting. Please be praying for Ken and Sara as God provides for them financially and as He prepares the children that will be a part of their family.

but I neeeed it

2 Peter 1:3 Affirms to us that God has given us everything for life. I thought about this post as I was driving in my car listening to Lady Antebellum's song 'Need you now'.... It's with these thoughts in my mind that I started to consider my present circumstances and the things that I would consider 'needs'.

I'm amazed at how sometimes I feel like there are things missing in my life that could make me happy. I question that perhaps God has neglected to bring about what I would consider my essentials to be at this moment in my life.

The Walk Wednesday addressed the issue of our doubts. We were encouraged to admit doubts that we had with God. And I think that most of my doubts are based on the core fear that at this point in my life I'm waiting. That I'm not yet fully equipped for what I will need for this life.

It was so freeing to realize that at this current point in my life my heavenly Father has fully equipped me with everything I need for life. Life, the way that I am living now- and not life alone but godliness, to live the life that He wants me to live to please Him. Praise God that He knows my needs better than I do! I can stop waiting until I obtain my degree or even to obtain my life partner because it's not needed for me right now. Praise God for this!

Rejoice in that fact that no matter how inadequate you feel God is ready to fill what you think is lacking with His power! He truly has given us everything we need for life!

I would like to dedicate this post to Lady Antebellum's song 'Need you now' ...you should go listen to it!! (and be thankful that your life is a Christian is more fulfilling than that)

Spring Break in review

Today is the first day back to class after the wonderful week long break break for spring.

This means that my newsfeed on facebook will be making sure that I am well aware of the 50 new albums that 15 of my friends are tagged in -giving me plenty of opportunities to 1. waste my time and 2. to feel inferior to everyone else's vacations.

The problem with this is that it leaves me focusing on what I've 'missed out' on instead of being thankful for how relaxing my break was and what I was able to accomplish.

This might sound like a simple and unimportant issue... and maybe it is, but God is quick to remind me of Ephesians 5:3 which says, 'But among you there must not even be a hint of...greed, for this is improper for God's holy people'.

With this in mind I'm trying to be conscious of what I let my mind think about- especially in regards to this past week. Being able to stay in Knoxville and work without having to go to class really was enough for me. Not having the obligation of going to class freed me to do other things that I really enjoy- primarily what I like to call my 3 R's: rest, run, and read!

Today as I was sitting in class I thought about the song that says 'you can have all this world but give me Jesus'. A girl that I know had just finished talking about her 5 day cruise to Mexico, filled with parties and many hours of sunbathing. But I couldn't help but think how unfulfilled she is spiritually. I would much rather have spent 5 days in the comfortable arms of my Savior learning, resting, and growing in Him than 'living it up' on a cruise to Mexico...or anywhere for that matter.

So for me, the next time I hear about an awesome week or see pictures that I'm tempted (Christy) to look at I'll consciously make the effort to remember how God blessed me, genuinely blessed me, with rest this week- and I'll be thankful- not in comparison, because people will always have better things than me, but because God knew just what I needed- and this week was specifically just for me.

And just to clarify....I don't mean for this to come across as me setting a golden rule for what people should do. This is my spring break in review and what I got out of it. Like I said I wish that I could have gone somewhere -so don't think I'm saying everyone needs to forego vacations for the sake of spiritual disciplines. This was just me blogging about my life and my view of it. So no judgmental thoughts here : )

Eeeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Ever had a tough decision to make?

And just to clarify, when I say tough I don't mean like some of the terrible, life-changing ultimatums that too many people struggle with are faced with all the time. My life has been mercifully void of anything so difficult- which makes complaining simply ungrateful and selfish.

Sometimes I wonder if it's pride that makes choosing between one option for it's counterpart so unattractive. Is it all about me wanting to be the best person at the end of the day? The one who can carefully maneuver through the 'balancing act' that we've made life out to be, avoiding at all costs anything that would really tip the scales. Isn't that an admirable trait?

And while these decisions probably won't alter our lives past the next month, there's a fear that somehow, this is what the enemy has been waiting for- us exposed, and clueless.

I listened to a sermon this morning from Southern entitled 'The Dangers of Becoming a Professional Sermon Listener' . It was a wonderful sermon all together but there was one phrase that Dan Dumas said that has been on repeat in my mind all day- he said that we're 'always looking for the most pointed message to blog about' and continued to say that the ignorant are all too quick to open their mouths while the wise keep there mouths shut'.

So with that sermon, beckoning for change, I don't want to try to preach a sermon with my blog- like my friend Adam says 'Blogging is just a journal that everyone can see'. So here's my 'journal entry' the night (2 am that is- because for some reason I fell asleep at 8 and am now wide awake...thank you blogging for giving me something to do).

I'm not sure what decision I've made and I'm kinda wishing that I could take the 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' approach to my life. Thing is though is that feelings get in the way, and emotional and aspirational ties make stepping out to get a clear perspective difficult.

My assurance comes from God though, because I'm pretty sure that Him allowing me to make one decision doesn't change the fact that 'He determines my steps' (Proverbs 16:9) and that's more assurance than I could ever need!

So great a cloud of witnesses

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Why do you think it makes a difference if we were surrounded by witnesses-and more than witnesses, a whole cloud of them! When I run I tend to think of songs, verses anything that has to do with running, and so today it was Hebrews 12:1-2.

Monday night I foolishly waited to start my 6 mile run to 8:30... which meant I had to run on the treadmill-my least favorite thing! There was no one in the gym and the horrible treadmill was facing a wall- so there I was for 40+ minutes staring directly at a wall with no one to hold me accountable except for the two people that I texted about how miserable I was.... Needless to say I ended up running two miles and walking for about twenty minutes until the gym closed at 9:30.

So today I woke up early so that I could run outside in my favorite park. It's amazing to me how much difference it makes when I'm running in the presence of other people. As I was running along I thought about the training program that I'm using for my half-marathon. The longest run that I'll ever work up to is 10 miles- kinda strange when I'm supposed to be running 13... But that's where Hebrews 12 comes in. There's something about witnesses, people cheering you on, that affects your ability to persevere. I've heard that there's no need to build up to the full 13 because on race day the energy from all the spectators is enough to carry you through the last 3 miles... enough to make you persevere til the end.

So the spiritual application? My high school youth pastor once preached on this passage. He spoke of how in a building where he went to seminary there was a painting on the ceiling that pictured in intricate detail hundreds of people, angelic-like, looking down from above. And just as it was for him, this mental image has often been associated with this verse for me. Just imagine, the great cloud of witnesses looking down from heaven on you as you're laying in bed at night stressed out from another long day and trying to plan out how you're going to make it through the next 24 hours-which is about as far in advanced as you can plan- think on this and then run, with perseverance. Just imagine yourself in between the taped off course of your 13.1 miles, surrounded by 'witnesses' cheering you on, and persevere!

My Disclaimer

So I wanted to preface my blogs with a quick statement before I get started....

I've been holding out on joining the blogging world for a long time-not because I'm anti blog but probably just because of the stereotypes that I associate with bloggers. But if I were to be completely honest, the thought of blogging is kind of exciting to me. I love reading my friends' blogs ...and even though I see and talk to them often I'm always amazed at the extra insight I discover while reading. Their thoughts and perspectives are so encouraging to me!

I have to warn my reader(s) - if it's anyone other than my parents- that I can tend to be a little bit wordy and drawn out- my thoughts aren't exactly concise and that probably won't change when I write them down.

I guess I'm just excited to get my thoughts out there-not because I'm looking for a way to vent or to let people know the 'real' me but just because if in some small way my life can be an encouragement or a learning experience for anyone well then, I want to do it. After all, aren't we as the body of Christ supposed to be 'spurring one another on toward love and good deeds' (Hebrews 10:24)?

So, that being said I guess I can officially post my first blog....who knows what is to follow!