It's my last semester at JMU...WHAT. It has definitely been a challenge to come to terms with the fact that my time at this awesome place is coming to an end so rapidly...and I've been learning so much in the process. It's been a ridiculously busy whirlwind...hence my lack of blogging.
Here's what I've been learning:
1. God is always, always, always faithful. He has blown me away this semester with His constant provision, constant love, constant presence. Even when I've run away from Him and turned my back and tried to rely on myself, He was faithful and never gave up on me. That's a love you can't find anywhere else.
2. "One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ." -Oswald Chambers. The everyday things of life are where He has been blowing me away this year. With the new year, I started a Thankful journal and a 1,000 gifts journal, and I've been amazed at how my perspective has been changed. At the end of the day, there's nothing more worshipful than looking back and reflecting on how God moved and worked and was showering me with gifts to be thankful for. It's the little things that put me in such constant awe of how good my God is. (future blog posts to come on this topic! It's just too good.)
3. Change is good. Unexpected things are good. Letting go is good. Going with the flow and trusting in Him is so good.
4. There's nothing I can do to make God love me more, or to make Him love me less. All the accomplishments and successes in the world won't make me more valuable to Him, and all the failures and shortcomings won't make Him turn away from me. He created me just as I am, and living my life to bring Him glory is my sole purpose.
5. There's always more room for more love. My small group has been growing in number week by week, and it's so exciting and daunting and awesome all at once. But I've learned that there's always more space in my heart and in my busy weeks to make time for those incredible girls.
6. My future is in His hands-- I don't need to have it perfectly planned out. I don't need to know where I'm headed next. All I need to do is trust, and He will provide, and provide in abundance.
God is so good, guys. So good.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, December 7, 2012
Beautiful Things
Driving to and from Richmond in this past day, I watched the world fly by outside my windows and thought about God and all His goodness. Yesterday afternoon, driving home while the sun was setting, I saw the best, big tree in the middle of a wide open field, and I wished I could have stopped and just looked at it for a while. I kept driving and just let my mind wander.
Trees in the middle of winter are beautiful. The world looks at them and thinks they look dead and depressing- they've lost their leaves and they're mere skeletons of the fullness they once were. But they're beautiful. They've gone through seasons of fruitfulness and beauty, seasons of warmth and light and growth. And now, they're in a new season. They're in a time of drawing back, of releasing leaves, of enduring the bitter cold and the gray, dreary skies, and of spending energy growing deeper, stronger roots.
Seeing so many of these barren trees silhouetted against the watercolor sky reminded me of my life, and the Gungor song "Beautiful Things."
Go ahead, click the link, play the song, and keep reading.
There are times when I look at myself and my life and just feel dead and depressed. I feel like how those trees look in the winter. I don't feel like my life is producing fruit and showing His beauty and goodness, and I feel like a skeleton of who He has made me to be.
But, we have a Creator who made us beautiful. He made us in His image (that really blows my mind, honestly), and He is beauty we cannot even imagine. If we are like Him in any small way, we are then shaped and molded by Him to be beautiful in our own ways, too.
The year goes by in seasons. Life, too, goes by in seasons. Winter seasons, with gloomy days and bitter cold winds and colorless scenic drives, bring us to spring seasons, with hope springing up from old ground, beautiful things coming out of the dust and the darkness, and renewed life and joy.
You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
There are times just as often that I look at my life and am amazed at all the good things that are happening. I'm in awe of how my God is providing and answering prayers and using me to be a part of something incredible going on in His kingdom. I see fruit coming about in my relationships, I see new things being born and passions being stirred and provoked in my heart. And in those seasons, I know how much I needed to go through the winter to feel the depth and width of the goodness of the spring.
Rest in the comfort that He is making You new in this season, whatever it may be. He is growing you, deepening your roots further into all that He is, preparing you for new life, new joy, new hope, and new beauty.
Trees in the middle of winter are beautiful. The world looks at them and thinks they look dead and depressing- they've lost their leaves and they're mere skeletons of the fullness they once were. But they're beautiful. They've gone through seasons of fruitfulness and beauty, seasons of warmth and light and growth. And now, they're in a new season. They're in a time of drawing back, of releasing leaves, of enduring the bitter cold and the gray, dreary skies, and of spending energy growing deeper, stronger roots.
Seeing so many of these barren trees silhouetted against the watercolor sky reminded me of my life, and the Gungor song "Beautiful Things."
Go ahead, click the link, play the song, and keep reading.
There are times when I look at myself and my life and just feel dead and depressed. I feel like how those trees look in the winter. I don't feel like my life is producing fruit and showing His beauty and goodness, and I feel like a skeleton of who He has made me to be.
But, we have a Creator who made us beautiful. He made us in His image (that really blows my mind, honestly), and He is beauty we cannot even imagine. If we are like Him in any small way, we are then shaped and molded by Him to be beautiful in our own ways, too.
The year goes by in seasons. Life, too, goes by in seasons. Winter seasons, with gloomy days and bitter cold winds and colorless scenic drives, bring us to spring seasons, with hope springing up from old ground, beautiful things coming out of the dust and the darkness, and renewed life and joy.
You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
There are times just as often that I look at my life and am amazed at all the good things that are happening. I'm in awe of how my God is providing and answering prayers and using me to be a part of something incredible going on in His kingdom. I see fruit coming about in my relationships, I see new things being born and passions being stirred and provoked in my heart. And in those seasons, I know how much I needed to go through the winter to feel the depth and width of the goodness of the spring.
Rest in the comfort that He is making You new in this season, whatever it may be. He is growing you, deepening your roots further into all that He is, preparing you for new life, new joy, new hope, and new beauty.
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