...when the world ends, and you'll take Mine.
'Cause when it all ends, I want you to be free- free like [I made you to be]."
Cary Brothers, 'Free Like You Make Me'
It's a love story, isn't it?
A love story, starring God. It's really all about Him anyways. We, mankind, are the undeserving woman, but one He pursues and sacrificed to save. We are the proud, forcibly independent, unfaithful woman that may never love Him back or understand His goodness and reasoning behind it all, that He chooses to love anyways. He blesses us in so many ways and we choose to call it 'coincidence' or 'luck.' We live as though bound, as though our life is our own...when we should live freely, as we were made to live; without fear of death, for what is to come is a clean bill.
He's not asking us to sit around and be boring. This whole world is His, meaning, because we are heirs, that the whole world is ours. If we explore, if we just go and we learn, or we grow, or we touch others lives or they touch ours, tell me what part of that is bad? I was realizing this as I was watching the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty this evening.
1) It's not about us finding out that we have this amazing talent that someone else has that we think is really cool. We find what we are supposed to do. What we excel at. Be you, not someone else.
2) There are people that will help us on our way. They might not be the people we expect, or society expects/approves of, but they are there for a reason.
3) The biggest thing holding you back is yourself. If you keep saying or thinking that you can't do something, you'll never try. Sometimes you gotta let go a little and just ride. You're more than you know.
4) There isn't some one "right way" to do life. Sure, a lot of people have this specific life order and yeah most people follow it but it's truthfully different for everyone. So, you don't want to do anything with your degree. So, you don't have an immediate plan for when you graduate. End of the world? NO. Now keep telling yourself that. And don't give up.
5) God is here for you. HERE. Not waiting at the end to see if you make it down the "right path" or not. He's here every step of the way. And He loves you just like the confused person you are.
He made us to be free. So why do we act and feel so tied up all the time? WE'RE FREE.
Peace & Blessings
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Reasons why...
...I haven't been updating my blog. I made a promise to myself that I was going to post more often, mostly because I'm excited about blogging but also because I want people to know my heart, and even more, God's heart for the world.
As I sat down to post on Saturday, I realized I had way too much to say. Which got my gears turning...leading to a bigger project that I've been spending my time on. But I'm not revealing anything yet! (Mostly, in case I fail, I don't want anyone to know what exactly, or to what extent, I failed at it.)
It's been hard to gather my thoughts. What I'll say though, is that it all started with a song. A song called "Jesus, Jesus" by Noah Gundersen. A song that is raw and real and is this guy Noah simply asking God questions. He's really troubled by a lot of what he's learned from growing up in the church, and the liberal changes in society and what Jesus would have to say about all of it.
They are questions that so many people nowadays are asking.
It really got me thinking. Then I wondered about how people feel about this God that they don't even admit they might believe in...and realized that most people are mad. Most people are really angry at God, for a whole variety of reasons. I want to address this because anger at God is something that everyone, I think, has experienced, whether they are a strong Bible-based Christian, atheist, or Muslim (etc).
We've all been mad at Him.
Why?
Reason #1: We don't understand His character.
Reason #2: We don't understand His plan; we have a very short-sighted perspective.
Reason #3: We think we deserve something from Him.
Reason #4: You don't understand how a "loving" God could allow suffering in the world.
Reason #5: We are upset that He's just "barged" into our lives without our permission.
Reason #6: We can't understand why there would be so many religions claiming to be the right one. (Like, why couldn't He have made it clear?)
Reason #7: (Continuation of #6) We are upset that He says that there is only one way to heaven, and all other ways are futile and lead to hell.
Reason #8: Bad things have happened to some of the best people you know (or you), and you can't understand why.
Reason #9: You've been mistreated by a group of people who claim to love God.
Reason #10: We are mad about all the rules in the Old Testament, like against same sex interactions, or the practices that were "okay" back then, that God seemed to "support," like slavery.
There are, of course, more specific reasons, but I think these cover the majority. But I think the main reason people are mad at God is because we don't really understand Him. We don't understand the history of Him and us; His true, loving intentions/His heart for the world; what giving us "free will" meant for Him and for us; or that He has always been here, created us, gave His son to save us, so really doesn't owe us anything and is not some imposition on our lives. We don't understand that He is like a father and sometimes we have to try things and hurt ourselves to really learn the meaning of something or how to do it right.
But that's just a little snippet of what I've been working on. I'll keep sharing, of course!
Random, but admission time.....I've also realized that if I'm planning on attending seminary (and in general for morality's sake), I should probably stop with all the cussing. I don't know why I keep doing it or when I decided it was okay. Gah. It's hard to stop once you're used to it!
That's all for now. Back to studying! Much love.
Peace & Blessings
As I sat down to post on Saturday, I realized I had way too much to say. Which got my gears turning...leading to a bigger project that I've been spending my time on. But I'm not revealing anything yet! (Mostly, in case I fail, I don't want anyone to know what exactly, or to what extent, I failed at it.)
It's been hard to gather my thoughts. What I'll say though, is that it all started with a song. A song called "Jesus, Jesus" by Noah Gundersen. A song that is raw and real and is this guy Noah simply asking God questions. He's really troubled by a lot of what he's learned from growing up in the church, and the liberal changes in society and what Jesus would have to say about all of it.
They are questions that so many people nowadays are asking.
It really got me thinking. Then I wondered about how people feel about this God that they don't even admit they might believe in...and realized that most people are mad. Most people are really angry at God, for a whole variety of reasons. I want to address this because anger at God is something that everyone, I think, has experienced, whether they are a strong Bible-based Christian, atheist, or Muslim (etc).
We've all been mad at Him.
Why?
Reason #1: We don't understand His character.
Reason #2: We don't understand His plan; we have a very short-sighted perspective.
Reason #3: We think we deserve something from Him.
Reason #4: You don't understand how a "loving" God could allow suffering in the world.
Reason #5: We are upset that He's just "barged" into our lives without our permission.
Reason #6: We can't understand why there would be so many religions claiming to be the right one. (Like, why couldn't He have made it clear?)
Reason #7: (Continuation of #6) We are upset that He says that there is only one way to heaven, and all other ways are futile and lead to hell.
Reason #8: Bad things have happened to some of the best people you know (or you), and you can't understand why.
Reason #9: You've been mistreated by a group of people who claim to love God.
Reason #10: We are mad about all the rules in the Old Testament, like against same sex interactions, or the practices that were "okay" back then, that God seemed to "support," like slavery.
There are, of course, more specific reasons, but I think these cover the majority. But I think the main reason people are mad at God is because we don't really understand Him. We don't understand the history of Him and us; His true, loving intentions/His heart for the world; what giving us "free will" meant for Him and for us; or that He has always been here, created us, gave His son to save us, so really doesn't owe us anything and is not some imposition on our lives. We don't understand that He is like a father and sometimes we have to try things and hurt ourselves to really learn the meaning of something or how to do it right.
But that's just a little snippet of what I've been working on. I'll keep sharing, of course!
Random, but admission time.....I've also realized that if I'm planning on attending seminary (and in general for morality's sake), I should probably stop with all the cussing. I don't know why I keep doing it or when I decided it was okay. Gah. It's hard to stop once you're used to it!
That's all for now. Back to studying! Much love.
Peace & Blessings
Monday, December 2, 2013
Meant to be- Packing Light
This is crazy.
So in my last post I wrote something I hadn't even meant to write- that I felt safe and comfortable here, but in all that there was still something yearning...like this wasn't it. There was something else.
And who would have guessed but that night, Tuesday night, I decided to listen to an audiobook I'd downloaded a week or so before, titled Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt. First off, it was strange that I would have downloaded an ebook off Noise Trade anyways; I usually scroll right past those thinking, there's no way I have time to listen to a whole book so why bother? But the name of this one and the picture caught me- Packing Light and an overflowing suitcase. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about living minimalistically (which my computer is telling me is not a word, it probably should be minimally, but I'm keeping it). What do I really NEED? And when am I wanting something and not needing it? Do I really need 10 pairs of jeans and 20 sweatshirts? (Guilty...) Do I need two guitars? Do I need so many shoes? Do I really need to be eating out as often as I do?
What I'm realizing is that we treat our "wants" like our "needs," and so our true needs never get met. Unconditional love, a feeling of security, a sense of purpose (or that we're part of something bigger than ourselves), help (emotional or otherwise), a true friend to confide in....many of these are ignored or are things we shove to the back of our minds because most of them aren't tangible or we just don't have time for "feelings" or our other seemingly insignificant problems. We're an incredibly needy society that's been tricked into believing we need other things more.
Not to mention that we can't even address the problem because we're either scared to or we don't know where to start.
But I've gotten really off track. What I meant to say was that Allison's book was addressing just this- when do we have too much? Can we live with less? What does it mean to pack light? And what will we learn about ourselves when we're depending on God far more than we are depending on our own means to get us through the next day? What will we learn about God?
Gah, I wish I could listen to the book on repeat until the good messages fully sink in so deep that I can quote them.
The book meant a lot to me, in a lot of the same ways that Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller did a few months ago. It made me feel not so alone in all this, as I'm prone to feeling. That other people have had ideas as crazy as mine, but have actually acted on them and survived. Not only survived, but changed. For the better, that is. That other people are sitting in their comfortable lives as well and are still thinking, is there more? Well, is there?
It got me excited, in the way I get excited every time I hear a new song and decide that it would be a perfect staring-out-the-window-during-a-long-road-trip song. Excited because it was another example of how God really does provide for people that ask Him for that. I've always been worried about finances (been much more aware of it lately) and with the thought of support-raising for a possible summer in Honduras for a Leadership Training (LT) program I've been terrified. But if they can make it around the country on barely anything and have God provide through people, even absolute strangers, then I think He can provide for a two-month internship.
I could write about this book forever. I feel...different. Something inside of me has honestly shifted. I don't know what but I just feel different. In a good way. A healthy way. And it really does make me want to pursue God even more. It's just been hard to keep myself open to Him...my autopilot mode is to be closed off and it's been difficult changing that/adjusting. But He is good and faithful. I am in good hands (and it's not Allstate!).
Peace & Blessings
So in my last post I wrote something I hadn't even meant to write- that I felt safe and comfortable here, but in all that there was still something yearning...like this wasn't it. There was something else.
And who would have guessed but that night, Tuesday night, I decided to listen to an audiobook I'd downloaded a week or so before, titled Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt. First off, it was strange that I would have downloaded an ebook off Noise Trade anyways; I usually scroll right past those thinking, there's no way I have time to listen to a whole book so why bother? But the name of this one and the picture caught me- Packing Light and an overflowing suitcase. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about living minimalistically (which my computer is telling me is not a word, it probably should be minimally, but I'm keeping it). What do I really NEED? And when am I wanting something and not needing it? Do I really need 10 pairs of jeans and 20 sweatshirts? (Guilty...) Do I need two guitars? Do I need so many shoes? Do I really need to be eating out as often as I do?
What I'm realizing is that we treat our "wants" like our "needs," and so our true needs never get met. Unconditional love, a feeling of security, a sense of purpose (or that we're part of something bigger than ourselves), help (emotional or otherwise), a true friend to confide in....many of these are ignored or are things we shove to the back of our minds because most of them aren't tangible or we just don't have time for "feelings" or our other seemingly insignificant problems. We're an incredibly needy society that's been tricked into believing we need other things more.
Not to mention that we can't even address the problem because we're either scared to or we don't know where to start.
But I've gotten really off track. What I meant to say was that Allison's book was addressing just this- when do we have too much? Can we live with less? What does it mean to pack light? And what will we learn about ourselves when we're depending on God far more than we are depending on our own means to get us through the next day? What will we learn about God?
Gah, I wish I could listen to the book on repeat until the good messages fully sink in so deep that I can quote them.
The book meant a lot to me, in a lot of the same ways that Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller did a few months ago. It made me feel not so alone in all this, as I'm prone to feeling. That other people have had ideas as crazy as mine, but have actually acted on them and survived. Not only survived, but changed. For the better, that is. That other people are sitting in their comfortable lives as well and are still thinking, is there more? Well, is there?
It got me excited, in the way I get excited every time I hear a new song and decide that it would be a perfect staring-out-the-window-during-a-long-road-trip song. Excited because it was another example of how God really does provide for people that ask Him for that. I've always been worried about finances (been much more aware of it lately) and with the thought of support-raising for a possible summer in Honduras for a Leadership Training (LT) program I've been terrified. But if they can make it around the country on barely anything and have God provide through people, even absolute strangers, then I think He can provide for a two-month internship.
I could write about this book forever. I feel...different. Something inside of me has honestly shifted. I don't know what but I just feel different. In a good way. A healthy way. And it really does make me want to pursue God even more. It's just been hard to keep myself open to Him...my autopilot mode is to be closed off and it's been difficult changing that/adjusting. But He is good and faithful. I am in good hands (and it's not Allstate!).
Peace & Blessings
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