Wholly

I'm reading through the Bible front-to-back with this awesome 90 day reading plan! So right now I've been reading through the Old Testament, and one of the things that I've noticed while reading was that God didn't just care about whether the people we're following his commands and laws that he gave them, but he cared about how they were obeying. The following verses are an example of this:  

"You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake." Deuteronomy 15:10 


"Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt shall see the land...because they have not wholly followed me." Numbers 32:11


"I will give him this land...because he has wholly followed the Lord." Deuteronomy 1:38


"...you shall be careful to obey them with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 26:14


"Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” 1 kings 8:61 


God wants us to wholly follow him with our lives.  


Wholly means: 


1. : to the full or entire extent : completely <a wholly owned subsidiary>

2

: to the exclusion of other things : solely <a book dealingwholly with herbs>  (m-w dictionary)

So that means we are to follow God completely and solely. We are not to follow anything in this world, we are simply to run hard after God and fully follow him!  God doesn't want grudging obedience, he wants our hearts  ("obey them with all your heart and your soul). He wants you to let go of the things in this world and to cling to Him! To trust him completely! God wants all of us! He wants us to surrender to him and to joyfully follow him with our lives, because he is worthy of our obedience and honor! 

Lord take my life and let it be, only always for you! I give you all of me, holding nothing back, all my dreams, hopes and desires are all yours! Help me to wholly follow you with my life! I surrender all to you! 

Father's day....

This past weekend was father's day, a time to honor your dads and show them how much you appreciate them! I know lots of girls don't get to be as lucky as me, their dads aren't around or they aren't a loving father to them, but I am so blessed to have been given such an awesome dad who is a daily reminder of my Heavenly Father's unconditional love, and care for me! Who points me back to Christ and who is an example to me of what a godly man should look like! I pray that one day my children will be blessed with a daddy as amazing as mine! 

to learn that when he says it will be okay soon, it will.

who will make sacrifices so she will not have to sacrifice.
to teach her that her value as a person is more than the way she looks.
who will laugh at her at the right times.
who will always have time to give her hugs and kisses.
who does not mind when she steps on his shoes while dancing.
who will always make sure she has a place to come home to.
who will never think she is too old to need him.
to make the family whole and complete.
who will not punish her for her mistakes, but help her learn from them.
to teach her to believe that she deserves to be treated well.
to teach her to accept the differences in others.
to teach her to weigh the consequences of her actions and make decisions accordingly.
so she will know what it is like to be somebody's favorite.
to tell her truthfully that she is the most beautiful of all.
to protect her from scary nighttime creatures.
to answer the questions that keep her awake at night.
to make the complex simple and the painful bearable.
to protect her from thunder and lightning.
to teach her that family is more important than work.
to be the safe spot she can always turn to.
to show her how it feels to be loved unselfishly.
to be the standard against which she will judge all men.
who will influence her life, even when he isn't with her.
to tell her that all is not hopeless, even when she feels it is.
to join her journey when she is too afraid to walk alone.
to make the tough decisions for her until she is able to make them for herself.
so that she will have at least one hero who will not let her down.
to tuck her in at night.
to help her take risks that will build her confidence.
who will let her know that while she may not be the center of someone else's world,

she is the center of his.
to learn what she should expect from her husband.
to teach her what it means to always be there.
to teach her that a man's strength is not the force of his hand or his voice,

but the kindness of his heart.
to teach her to be honest in all her dealings.
to help her try again whenever she fails.
to remind her of what she may not remember.
so that when no one else is there for her, she can close her eyes and see him.
to think highly of her when no one else will.
to hold her as she cries.
to carry her just because she wants to be carried.
who teaches her she is important by stopping what he is doing to watch her.
to remind her of the comfort of being held near and feeling secure.
to teach her to stand up for herself.
who gives her refuge in a home secured with faith.
to show her that true love is unconditional.
to teach her not to let pride get in the way of discovering new things.
to show her all the boys are not like the one who hurt her.
to stand with her on the day she marries the man she hopes will be just like her father.

He is faithful

This morning in my devotions I came across this lovely verse: 

"God is not man, that he should lie,

    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"

                 -Numbers 23:19  

What sweet encouraging words! Think about what this verse is saying...it doesn't just say that God WILL not lie, it says that God CANNOT lie! If God makes a promise he will be faithful to it, he will always keep his word. God never changes his mind or has second thoughts like humans do, when God says something he really truly means it. 

This is a hard concept to grasp when people throw out words so nonchalantly and make promises that they never in tend to keep. They say words simply to gain what they want, without regard for being honest and other people's feelings they completely disregarding the significance of their words. But God is not a human. We need to realize that he is completely different than us, so he does not have any of these faults, he is completely holy. 

God is faithful! He will do what he says, he will follow through with his promises! & you know something else? God's faithfulness can never change! God is unchanging! This verse declares God's immutability: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." 

-Hebrews 13:8

Which means God will always be faithful to you and he will always keep his promises! The truth of this keeps getting better when you take it a step farther and realize that not only is God faithful, but he has the power to keep every single word that he says because he is all-powerful! He not only has the intentions of keeping his words and doing what he says, but he has the ability to as well!

So why would you not trust God, the creator of the universe who has always been faithful and has kept every single one of this promises? God will not lie or change his mind, when he speaks he will fulfill it. When he declares, he will act.

Encouragement

God never ceases to amaze me with the way that he does simply little things to encourage me!

One of the gifts that God has given me is encouragement, he's just really given me a heart that sees the growth in people and the good in them and so it's been awesome to use verses that God lays on my heart to write people encouragement notes! It's one of my favorite things to do! :)

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement;"  Romans 12:6-7


But even though I love to encourage and lift-up other people especially when I know they are struggling, going through a hard time or when it's completely out of the blue, sometimes i get discouraged by it. Because you see when you give someone an encouragement letter you don't get to see the effect that it has one others or how it lifted their spirits. You don't get to see the results of it.....so sometimes I forget what an impact taking the time to write out a quick note can have.

But yesterday, a parent of one of my friends was talking to me at my party and just thanking me for the note that I wrote their son and just telling me what an impact that had on him and how he was so encouraged by it! Just hearing that comment made my day, because it reminded me of why I love writing notes to people so much! It was the boost I needed to continue seeking to grow and be a good steward of the gift that God has given me.There is nothing better then encouraging other's in their walk with God and helping to remind them of truth! So grateful that God continues to use me in this way!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.  1 Thessalonians 5:11

My crazy life!

So the reason that I haven't posted recently is because last weekend was graduation for me full of
senior breakfast, baccalaureate service, tons of graduation parties, senior class get togethers and then finally
on Monday GRADUATION! Ahh simply crazy! Senior year really flew by, can't believe that's it's over! Really going to miss my class, but I'm excited for the future!

That takes me to the next part of my week, I had summer orientation on Wednesday at my college! I'll admit I was a little nervous, but once I got there it was great! We got to meet tons of awesome people and I had the best group (#1) and got to make friends with some of the awesome people who are going to be my classmates at Capital! I also got to meet my roommate for the first time too! Yay! :)

All this to say life has been moving at a pretty fast pace lately! I'm glad I get to slow down (at least for a little bit) to enjoy a couple weeks of summer before the craziness begins again, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way! I love my life and I am one blessed girl!

Meekness

So at my high school awards ceremony I received the Outstanding Character Award and part of the definition for it is "showing meekness before God" I read that and I was like what in the world does meekness mean? So I figured since my school feels like i'm "meek" I should find out what that means. 


Soo I went to my favorite dictionary  m-w.com and this is the definition that I received: 

 enduring injury with patience and without resentment : mild  deficient in spirit and courage : submissive not violent or strong : moderate 

I'll admit when I first read the word meekness and looked at the definition I wasn't sure what to think, but I didn't feel like being called meek was a compliment, I felt like it was saying that I was weak. 

Then I realized, meekness is a fruit of the spirit so it must be a good thing that God wants us to cultivate. God also says "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. (matthew 5:5)" so obviously it's a good thing and something that I should strive to be.  SO what does it really mean to be meek? What does it look like to live that out in your life? These are the questions that I've been pondering and digging into God's word to try and figure out. I don't have it all together, but here are the thoughts that I have read and come up with:

-Prautes, according to Aristotle, is the middle standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason, and not getting angry at all. Therefore, prautes is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason. . . . [I]t is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character. 

-A meek person has a tender conscious with a godly sorrow for their rebellion against God 

- resistance to evil in defense of God yet they react with patience, kindness and gentleness when others attack him.

-A willingness to bend their will to God's 

-Opposed to pride and arrogance 

- A willingness to put himself in second place and submit himself to achieve what is good for others.

Examples of Meekness in the Bible: 

A. Abraham. 

1. He was God’s chosen to be the father of the Jewish nation. Through him the Messiah would come. But he was also meek.
2. Instead of demanding his own rights, Abraham sought to keep the peace between his herdsmen and Lot’s. 

B. David.

1. He was God’s chosen to replace King Saul, whom God had rejected because of disobedience. He was a mighty warrior and a great leader. But David was also meek.
2. Look at how he mourned the death of Saul, who had sought repeatedly to kill him

 Meekness may appear to men as weak, but in spiritual reality it has great strength. 

Okay this blog post has kind of been all over the place, but that's because I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what it means to be truly meek I still have so much to learn.  But I'll end with this really good quote by A.W. Tozer that was really helpful to me!

"The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."

Senior 2012

I'm Offically finished with high school! Ahh! Soo crazzy!

It's definitely a bittersweet thing, but I know that God has some

awesome things in store for my future and I am so excited

to see what they are! I'm definitely gonna miss my school and

all of my amazing classmates though, you guys have given me so

many amazing memories thanks for helping me to get through 

high school and for all of the laughter, encouragement and fun!

You all are the best and I'm gonna miss you New Life class of 2012! 

High school is now behind me, and a new chapter of my life is 

opening up. It's time to begin writing the pages of this new story. 

Except I'm gonna hand the pen over to God this time, because I want him

to be the author of my life and the one who leads me on this unknown

adventure. Cause he knows whats best for me, and he's the one who

 is going to give me the strength and grace to accomplish the good

 works that he has planned for me!