Next Chapter.

I feel as if we all have chapters in our lives and I see myself coming to the end of one.  In less than one month I will be heading off to Bible college in the midwest, beginning my life away from home.  I've traveled all over the country and world even, but have never lived anywhere else but here.  


As I transition to a new home, new friends, and even new ways to serve God, I will be opening a new blog, tumblr actually.


Thanks to any who have followed my journey over the past couple years on this blogspot.   I really am in awe of where God has taken me over the past couple years especially- earning my faith completely.  Here are some of the posts that I cover significant memories over the past years.


1. Wonder Full.
2. Exceedingly Abundantly More.
3. 12:32 AM.
4. Hallelujah.
5. For Now We See In A Mirror Dimly...
6. My Prayer.
7. Answered Prayers In His Way, Not Mine.
8. I Said, "Remember This Moment" In The Back Of My Mind.
9. For Such A Time As This.
10. Worship With Every Breath.
11. So What's Your Story?
12. Shiir Jeajai.
13. The Aim Of Our Charge.
14. My Heart Is Full.
15. I Don't Want Riches Or Man's Empty Praise.

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I am tired of striving.

"A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough.  She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough.  In fact, the only thing getting in the way of our being fully captivating and enjoyed is our striving."
~Captivating

A day in the life.

I wish this was everyday.  Still, yesterday was loveliness.


8:14 AM - After hitting the snooze button once, I finally get up.
8:44 AM - Begin eating my luna bar and apple breakfast as I read Nehemiah 2.
9:11 AM - Sing along with Bones by Hillsong as I drive to church.
9:55 AM - Arrive at another local church with 5 other interns from my church and one of our pastors.
10:01 AM - Receive a high-five from someone because I go to this certain Bible school in the Midwest.
10:09 AM - Put 3 sugar packets into my Dunkin Donuts cup-of-Joe.
10:40 AM - Learn about leadership in a presentation and examine Nehemiah chapters 1 through 6.
11:16 AM - Talk about kick-boxing and paddle-boarding with fellow interns on the way back to my church.
11:55 AM - Get a table in my church's restaurant as I wait to meet my dad.
12:06 PM - Chat with my old Bible teacher about my past year and what God taught me on my Africa trip.
12:22 PM - Talk to my dad about the roles we hold in life- son/daughter, friend, employee, intern, etc.- and how hard it is to find the balance.
1:30 PM - Arrive home after making almost every green light.
1:46 PM - Purchase the song "Two Worlds" from the Tarzan soundtrack finally!
2:30 PM - Review what God has done in Golden Acres Outreach over the past year, pray for the next year, and listen to soundtrack and worship music.
3:34 PM - Go to the doctor's to get my blood test so I can get a blood type report so I can go on future mission trips.
5:46 PM - Order Falafal and Chicken Saganaki at a cute local Greek restaurant.
6:52 PM - Find seats with some friends in the corner of a Barnes & Noble and discuss the future of Golden Acres outreach.
7:26 PM - Pray with some other Christians we met in the book store.
7:52 PM - Run to get some of the last seats in the theater for the 8 PM showing of The Amazing Spiderman
9:23 PM - Cringe at something in the movie, I'm sure.
10:40 PM - Attempt to find an open Starbucks to go to but none are open.
11:00 PM - Arrive home and have a long chat with my sister. :)

Really lovely simple things:

The smell of the rain

Driving with the windows down

Laughing so hard you can't breath

Inside jokes

Singing a worship song that relates perfectly to what God is teaching you

Fresh bright tulips

Water rapids rides

Tazo tea with a friend

Painting ceramic pieces

Someone praying for you

Canoeing with my sister

Running on the beach with the sweet sea air

Hammocks

Cute little grandmothers

Sharing food

Seeing someone rededicate his/her life to Christ

Reunions

Birds singing

Mozzarella cheese sticks

Finding perfect sea shells

I don't want riches, or man's empty praise.

What God has revealed most clearly to me lately is eternal perspective.

You see, I just spent a month in a country where nearly every one of my new friends did not know the grace of Jesus Christ.  Even today I do not know if they will find Christ and that eternal hope of heaven.  While away, I held orphans in my arms and prayed over them, that one day they would come into contact with the gospel message and receive salvation.  Suddenly, exhaustion and sickness and hunger and hot temperatures and traveling alone and being afraid- they did not matter.  Eternity is what matters.

This past month I invested a lot of my Bible study into the book of 1 Peter.  The second chapter, verses 9 to 11, really stood out to me.  Verse 11 talks about how the fact that we as believers are to be "sojourners."  We are only traveling through life on this earth.  This should be reflected in the way I live my life, the areas in which I invest my time, and the purpose I choose to pursue.  

What Peter is saying that since we are only traveling through, why invest so much into our temporary time in fading things that are here?  Why look for pleasure here, when the lasting crowns will be in heaven?

In Revelation 2:9, John writes to the church Smyrna, "I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich!)"  Yes these believers were physically suffering and were impoverished, but they were rich in Christ.  They had all they needed in Him and they knew it.  They were "sojourners," "tourists," "nomads..."  

As I seek to be a "sojourner,"  I'm learning to care less about what others think.  I am learning to care less for money and more for giving.  Yes, I am still loving my family, friends, and enjoying what God has blessed me with, but I am focusing less on the temporary.  

Jesus is my inheritance, now and always.  No matter where I am, He's there.  No matter what surrounds me, I am called to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His lead.  No matter what I am afraid of, I need to overcome it to live the way that God can be glorified in me.  

"Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  Hebrews 12:1-2.

In the "hall of faith" (Hebrews 11), God did not give any of the men and women there the full picture, yet they trusted Him and lived differently because of it.  They are now witnesses to my faith as I look to Jesus as an example.  He went through difficult things on this earth "for the joy set before Him."  He was eternally minded.

Jesus is my Savior.  I want the cry of my heart and the results of my actions to show that I know I am a "sojourner" and I have a "joy set before me" no matter what life here on earth brings.  As I go through life, I want my prayer to ever be, Be Thou My Vision.

Time is running away with me.

A year ago they told me that once you graduate high school, life moves forward in super-sonic speed. Well, time has definitely ran away with me since then.  


I have seen so many couples get married over the past year; one of my best friends got engaged last month.  A lot of my younger friends just graduated from high school.  I spent a month in Africa and traveled there and back by myself.  I now am preparing to go away to Chicago in the fall.  My grandpa passed away in this past February and we flew up for his funeral and my grandma moved out of her old house for the past 50 years.  I just went to high school summer camp as a group leader instead of a student.  My sister is now a Senior in high school.  I'm growing up- spiritually, emotionally, socially.  Time is passing yet God has never changed a bit.  He is the beautiful constant amidst the change.

Be thou my vision.

A hymn worth singing.

A cry worth praying.

A mission worth living.

A thought worth remembering all of my days.