3 months later....

Soo...no one in the world probably still even looks at this blog, and for a good reason it's been months since i've even posted on here, but that's okay this blog isn't about other people it's really for me.

To document my life and watch the ways that God is working in and through me.
To remember the simple, little details that bring me joy
To see how things change and yet how they are the same all at once
To watch myself grow, mature and become the person God created me to be
To watch my dreams unfold before my eyes
To capture the moments of my life that make me smile, cry and laugh
To remember my family and friends
To freeze moments of my life

So for now here's a little update on my life :)

I have been a college student for 8 weeks now, and it has been a crazy 8 weeks! I LOVE it here, the amount of friends I've made here is ridiculous and it's overwhelming how much they love and care about me. Classes are crazy, but so good at the same time. I learn so much everyday, there are always new things to wrap my mind around and of course boatloads of homework to do every night, and as much as I hate it, it's soo worth it! I love that I get the opportunity to tutor kids and help them to succeed, that Thursdays are tator tot day! best day of the week. How beautiful the campus is in the fall. The peaceful fountains. Walking to classes and being able to say "hi" to half the people I walk by. Having the opportunity to meet new people everyday and spend time with your friends 24/7. Learning to schedule and organize and keep yourself on track. Having fun being apart of dance, LSO, RHA and especially CRU. Yesss these first 8 weeks have seriously flown by! I cannot believe that my first semester of college is almost over, and as much as I complain about the workload, the late nights, little sleep, gross cafeteria food, long lines, annoying professors etc.....I wouldn't trade it for the world. The good far outweighs the bad and tonight I'm just grateful that I get to have such a wonderful oppertunity and experience and that I get to spend the next 4 years of my life with my CapFamily at Capital University.

Desires of your Heart

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

I used to think that this verse meant that if I was a "good girl" and followed God and obeyed his commandments and spent time with him, then he would give me everything that I wanted.
He would give me my hopes and dreams and desires, and allow them to become a reality.
But you know what? I've come to realize that I was wrong. I've realized that it's not about
God making my dreams come true, but instead it is about God changing my heart and
turning my dreams into HIS dreams for my life. & that makes me so excited!
I'm excited for God to take my heart and desires and turn them into his and to make
my heart completely his.....it's not going to happen over night. It's going to be
a lifelong process of learning to seek and follow God and watching him transform
my dreams & heart, but I simply cannot wait, because God's plans are always WAY better
than mine!    :)  

Quick Post

Sometimes life gets busy....and posting gets shoved to the back of the to-do list. So for now here's a quote that I've been loving lately!

""What gives me the most hope every day is God’s grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God."

& we got to spend the past weekend watching our friends 4 little kids!   Me & my Oliver :) Isn't he such a cutie?

God in the Everyday

Recently I've been learning to see God in the everyday moments of my life, because he's there, but too often I miss him! However, the other day God really blessed and provided for me in a small, but meaningful way. I broke my iPod touch  (dropped it on the driveway and the screen cracked). So i obviously needed a new one unless I wanted to be constantly cutting my finger on glass, but with getting ready for college I don't really have the money to buy a new i-pod....so i was looking at used ones online and I found a couple that I liked, they are still a little expensive, but I had enough extra graduation money to make it work. But then I noticed that people were selling iPods with cracked screens as well! I thought hmm....maybe i'll sell my old iPod so that I can get a new iPod. So I put mine up for sale and within 4hours it had SOLD! It was crazy! I got almost enough money from my broken iPod to buy a new one! :) AND on top of that, the same night I was able to buy a new iPod and it was even in the color that I had wanted (the new white iPod touch)! It was so neat to see how God provided for me in such a little way. To see how he cares about the little cares and desires of our hearts and how he seeks to bless us! I want to learn to continue to see God in little moments like these and be grateful and amazed and I watch him provide for and bless me! God is so good and too often I neglect to see how he is working in my life! So grateful for a God who not only cares about the big important things of my life, but also the little insignificant ones like an iPod.

Importance of Christ's Life

“For by the on man’s disobedience the many were made sinners. So by one man’s obedience…many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19

Christ’s perfect life and obedience was important. His obedience included a life in which he obeyed God’s law in all things at all times. Every day was perfect. Our savior lived in perfect alignment with God’s will and law.

Jerry Bridges says it well:

“For the most part Jesus’s life of perfect obedience has

been seen only as a necessary precondition to his death.

The truth is, however, Jesus not only died for us, He also lived for us.

 That is, all that Christ did both in his life and death,

He did in our place as our substitute.”

We as humans have double guilt. We have the inherited guilt from Adam and then on top of that our own guilt and debt to condemn us. Jesus came and took care of the problem of the debt that we owed.

Even the absence of sin is not a ticket to an audience with God. We need more than a removal of guilt we need a savior who can give us the perfection that we can never attain. An absence of sin seems impressive compared to the dirt in our hearts, but God requires much more than a blank slate, he requires righteousness and perfection.

The death of Christ is what removed our debt and returned us to a balance of zero, while Christ’s obedience is what put unimaginable wealth in our bank account; it is because of Christ’s life and perfect obedience that we are granted perfect righteousness before God

Justification by faith alone means that we’re justified by the works of Christ alone.

So yes we should be very grateful for Christ’s death on the cross, but we need to be just as grateful for his obedient life as well! 

Don't replace God's word

"Absalam stole the hearts of the people of Israel."  2 Samuel 15:6

We need to be careful to guard our hearts and make sure that God is the only one who owns our hearts. It is easy to slowly let other people and books become as important to us as God and the Bible. There are so many amazing christian leaders like John Piper, Francis Chan, Singclair Furgeson, CJ Mahaney, John Piper, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll etc... the list goes on. These people are a gift from God, and a means of grace, but as awesome as they are we must be careful never to confuse their teachings, doctrines and books with God and his words. I love John Piper and I listen to his messages often and have read many of his books and as helpful and packed full of truth as they are I know that Piper would never want me to confuse his words with God's. We must not let the words of christian leaders become our truth, God's words is the sole basis of truth. These leaders are meant to be catalysts in helping you to think and teaching you, but ultimately they should be pointing you back to God's word and drawing you into the Bible, NEVER replacing it, because once we hold someone's words with the same weight as God's and see them as just as valuable than it is a slippery slope. Listening to God following his word should be of primary importance, not listening to a theologian or learning about their new revelation.Soon that person maybe be the one who is leading your heart instead of God.  just like what happened to the Israelites when Absalom led them astray.

Weekend Quote

"the role of the beauty of the gospel is: to be the object our affections, the purpose of our identity, the reality of our existence, and the joy of our salvation. It draws us in like a beautiful sunset, puts God’s glory on display, and challenges us to realign everything. In discipleship, we are simply pointing people to its beauty, asking them to find happiness there."
Jason Garwood