seeking Him

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

...stitched on my heart...

A Beautiful Thing Indeed...

As sin (your understanding) increases, so does the cross (effectiveness of cross).

I was shown this illustration this past summer--I love it! God's grace is never-ending...Jesus' blood is all powerful.

Contentment

contentment |kənˈtentmənt|nouna state of happiness and satisfaction : he found contentment in living a simple life in the country.

This word gets thrown around quite often in our world. People work, get a degree, and dedicate their lives to something in order that they might one day feel content with where they're at. We can easily waste our whole life pursuing this feeling. Over the last few years this word has always been apart of my thinking.

This last summer has had a few themes that I'm slowly beginning to pick up on. The main one is contentment. God has settled my heart, slowed me down if you will, and let me enjoy the view. I can sometimes get pretty worked up about something, it happens often. This summer God has simply been faithful to me. Through all my sin, all my shame, all my worries, everything that's in me....He's remained steadfast. He's remained faithful. He's remained true. I now feel content because I know that God's timing is perfect.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

This verse is spectacular! Solomon is saying that God's timing is beautiful. I mean, how often do we do that--describe God's timing as beautiful??? Not often enough, but it's so true. Our life may not make sense, it may not aline the way we want it to, but who are we to try and fix it?

"Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?"

Ecclesiastes 7:13

God has put several things on, and in my heart. One of them is ministry in Europe. I've come to have a new thought on this desire I have. Instead of always wondering how, or what it'll look like I'm just going to be content with where I am right now. I'm going to make it to Austria. I've decided that. It's something that, I feel, God has put on my heart. Therefore, I'm going..............eventually. But right now, I'm okay. However, I do believe that God would like me to takes steps towards that. So, I'm going to start learning German. I've put it off long enough. My hope is that through everything I do in this life, it'll be glorifying to God--and not me. I'm learning a different language to better understand/communicate a group of people whom I feel called to. It's all for Him. That His gospel might be taken to a dark world.

I'm going into this semester with a good feeling of contentment. My desire is to seek Him above everything else in this world. He'll supply me with everything I need. I'm satisfied in Him.

turning the pages

As I look back at my first year of college, I smile. I had so many "firsts" in these last two semesters. I won't name them for the sake of time, because I should be studying right now. God is bigger than finals though :)

After the summer ended last year, I was definitely ready to start the next chapter of my life. Everything was lining up splendidly, and exactly how I wanted it to. Then something changed, and I realized that my plan wasn't really happening the way I wanted it to. It did hurt, but I see so much clearer now. I know that God's plan for my life is grand, and that it's perfectly fine not knowing what it's going to be. I just have to take it day by day, for I'm not promised tomorrow.

Through everything that happened, one thing remained true. God's love has always caught me. At the end of the day I can always look up and know God is still good, and that's comforting. I can fall back and rest in His love--not worrying about what tomorrow will bring. I've learned to pray differently. I now pray bigger, bolder, and with greater faith. Even my largest desire looks so small to Him, so why not pray big? I've learned to get up every morning, and ask God to simply get me through THIS day. To not worry about my future or even what the next day holds for me.

This life is so short! Take joy in where God has placed you now instead of waiting for where you want to be.

As Virginia approaches, I know that I'm turning to another chapter and leaving behind the old. I'm turning the pages of my life. I'm ready to go serve, love, and be used. I'm quite nervous (to be honest), but I can rest knowing that it'll be God working and not me. I'm going to miss my friends and family so much. This will be the first summer not being around Denton, but change is good. I can't tell you how weird it's going to be not leaving for Austria at the end of July, like I usually do. However, God knows what He's doing, and I'm just as excited to share Jesus and my life with Virginia!

I think the beauty of Christianity is that God chooses to use the lowest of people to shine His light through. Even in the midst of our sin, He still stretches out His loving hand. He would be perfectly just and fair to kill us all now, but He chooses to use us instead. I don't see how someone could NOT want to be a child of our God.