Monday, June 30, 2008
My birthday is tomorrow! Yay!! I get to look forward to working at 7am :) Happy birthday to me haha
Forgiveness
Thursday, June 26, 2008
"Be gentle and ready to forgive; never hold grudges. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." Colossians 3:13
I struggle with forgiveness...sure I can say it with my lips, but my heart says something very different.
Max Lucado says that when we feel "stuck" with someone we have three options: to flee, fight, or forgive. Fleeing never solves anything. Fighting causes more reason to forgive. Forgiveness is what Jesus calls us to do. It's not easy--good thing we can't do it on our strength and have to count on Him :)
I think forgiving others is most difficult when I am focused on myself. It's when I take my focus off myself and place it on Jesus and others, that forgiveness becomes natural.
Mere Christianity
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
C.S. Lewis is brilliant. I've been reading "Mere Christianity" and can't put it down. He articulates so well what I cannot. He writes:
A car is made to run on petrol, and would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other....God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. (pg. 50)
I love that paragraph. It's such a reminder that the worldly things I strive for will never satisfy. The relationship I have with the Lord is the only thing that will ever quench my thirst. I was always told growing up that there is a God shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill. We can try and fill that hole with money, relationships, achievements, but in the end it is only He that will make our heart whole again.
Earlier in my reading I stumbled across another paragraph that stirred conviction in my heart. Lewis claims:
There is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. (pg. 48)
Too often I find myself making decisions on my own, based on my wants and selfish desires. How can I argue against the one who created me? I don't think I would ever blatantly say, "I don't care what you say God, I want it to be my way." But what I don't realize is that I declare that very statement with my actions.
Lord help me to be more like you....
Crazy life
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Hume Lake was phenomenal. Since then, life has been chaotic. When I arrived home to Chandler I was missing my suitcase and starting a new job. I quit the Cornerstone Cafe and was hired at Starbucks. After four hours of working there, it was clear it was not the place for me. I quit Starbucks today (after one day of working there), and am back at the Cafe. Hah.
I miss Andrew a lot.....
yuck
Friday, June 6, 2008
After waiting three hours in a not so urgent, urgent care, we found out Andrew has Mono. He described today as, "the worst day of his life." The doctor said it will only get worse before it gets better. As you can imagine, he is so sad...especially because this means he can't go to Hume. I've never seen him so sad- really, I don't think I have. I'm having a hard time leaving him for a week, but Andrew really wants me to go. I guess what I'm really asking for is prayer. Prayer that he'll feel better, prayer that I won't get sick at camp, prayer that God will do amazing things in the midst of stinky circumstances. Thanks you guys...
My very own blog!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Andrew and I have decided to break up.....our blog! Scared you for a second, huh? I've decided that I want my own blog. So here it is! I'm looking forward to posting more soon :)
