Adventure

We all seek it. We all want it. We all think, at one time or another, "why does nothing exciting happen in my life?" or better worded "Why don't I ever get to have adventure?" The last couple of weeks, I've realized that all of life is an adventure.

What brought all this up? I have no idea.

How many times have you wanted to know something absolute? Or for something to seem....complete? You want to know something certain....or you just want to know? Me too. A lot. But where would the adventure in life be if you knew what happened next? Think of all the adventure books you've read; theres the beginning, where you find the character. Then theres the whole of the book, where the story unfolds. You can't wait to turn the page and figure out what happens next in this story. Great thing is that you actually have to turn the page and read it to find out what happens. How many times have you just not been able to wait to find out what happens, so you read the last chapter of the book, or even the last page? I know, I have too and it ruins the story. "So wait, when did he die?" was the worst one I ever did, and it was horrible! I didn't even want to read the rest of the book.

How would life really be if we knew the end of our story? There would be no mystery (sound familiar?), no adventure, no learning, and no growing. Do we really want to know what happens?

The Mystery

The mystery of life seems to be something that a lot of people look down on, myself included. I can't stand not knowing the plan, not knowing what comes next, what I'm going to be doing on a certian day, what I'm doing in life, or where my life is going. Funny thing is, I'm learning that the mystery is what makes me learn the most.

Mystery is what keeps us alive. If we knew what happened next, don't you think we would depend way too much on it? I think God put mystery in our lives so we would learn how to trust him with our lives more. Trusting him, 100% is the hardest thing to do in my opinion. But I'm learning that I have to for everything, and that's where the mysterious becomes less mysterious. It seems like, what we expect to happen doesn't happen the way we plan it, but the things we hope for happen when we let the mystery take action and trust God. Amazing things happen that way, and the less we expect them to happen, the more possible they become.

Hope

Silver linings, the sun breaking through on a cloudy day, a simple smile in the most somber settings; these are all signs of hope. The hope for a future, the hope for a sunny day, the hope that all will be well soon. What causes hope? What causes sunshine and birds and smiles and joy and everything else that makes life great sometimes? God's unconditional love for us. Have you ever noticed that just when things are getting too hard to handle, one simple little thing comes along and it seems better?

Of course. We all have. That's what God's love gives us. No matter what we are dealing with, no matter how crappy things get, God is putting it there for our learning, our growing, and ultimately teaching us how to pursue the greater happiness in life; Him and his eternal glory.

When things get really bad, God is there. There is confusion, frustration, anger, hurt, death, betrayal, pain and suffering....but in the end, there is always Life. Even if situations don't turn out how we ultimately want them to (which a lot of the time they don't...we're selfish beings; we want what's on the surface when it's in our grasp, not whats under the surface where we only think we dont want it) God has a purpose for everything, and in the end will only help us, not hurt us. God's love is there.

Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring?

So this last week I've been doing a lot of thinking. Why do we wait for all these things to happen? Why do we set our minds on so many possibilities and not go for real things? Why do we insist on believing in the impossible when it is impossible? We're told in Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and to give you hope." But the choices are ours, right?

We all have choices to make, and with those choices come consequences, we all know that, and I'm sure we've all been there and made bad choices at one time or another. But There are also choices that have huge rewards.

So here's the scenario; There are two choices to be made, one has the potential to be amazing and great, the other will hurt for a while but something better will come along to fix it and it will be better than the last choice. But theres hurt there, which makes it resentful. Now lets say that the one that is good has the potential to hurt quite a few people if it doesn't work out right, but the other choice will only hurt one person: yourself. I'm not sure, but most people dont' like to hurt others, so they might pick the one that only hurts themselves. But what if your feeling led to the one that could actually cause damage? Is it worth the risk? Is it worth the effort, the wait, the trust, the hurt, the pain?

Or is giving up really the right choice?

Life as a Story

So I was reading Epic by John Eldridge last night, in which he compares our lives with a story, an epic tale. In those stories we have plots, climax, conflict, conflict resolution, tragedy, characters, chapters, maybe different volumes; whatever it is, the elements that make up some of the best literature make our lives as well, with God as the author.

This book contrasts completely with another book I was reading a while back called Inkspell. It's actually the sequel to the book Inkheart, in which stories come to life by people who possess the power to read things out of books. Well in Inkspell, they read themselves into the book itself. As the characters find their way around this new world, the author (who he himself is stuck inside of his own creation) begins to try and change things. One of his favorite creations has died, so he decides to create a brand new one which will rule even better than the last. However, this leads to the deaths of hundreds of other great characters. The author then tries to create other things that will fix what damage he has caused, but this ultimately leads to pretty much the downfall of the place (and the original plot). But luckily, thats only a book.

But imagine if we had the power to do that, how horrible our lives would be if we didn't trust the Author of our story? What if we, as humans could choose what came next in our plot? That would be ridiculous. Millions of human beings sitting around with paper and pen and a magical voice, dictating what we want to happen, who we will be around, what person we want to be with for the rest of our lives, and every other minute detail of our lives. Lets step it up even further. What if we could dictate other peoples lives? For me, thats too scary to even think about.

But lucky for the real world, we have God as our master author, the one who created all of us, and writes our story for the benefit of his glory alone. Of course we have choices; we have conflicts that we have to over come, but ultimately we're not the ones with the pen in our hands. We get to choose what chapter we want to pursue. Isn't making choices about life kind of like choosing what book to read next? Think about it...there are books out there that you pick up, start reading, and then put down because it a) doesnt' interest you, or b) had information you really don't think you should pursue. Same with choices. There are tons out there that are good, and the same amount or more that are bad. But rather than choosing what comes next, and how we as humans can be in control of a situation, shouldn't we trust the Author of our story, knowing that he knows the ending and how we play a part in it?

Patience

They say that patience is a virtue; I'm beginning to think it's a lot more than that, maybe a test to see where our true faith is. Maybe God is trying to tell us something. Have you noticed (and this may just be me, I don't know) how what you want the most is what seems like an eternity to finally get to? Like, we just keep saying "Just a little longer, and then..." or "I only have to wait until such-and-such until..." Our hearts strongest desires are what seem to take the longest, which ultimately teaches us patience. I was talking to my dad about it the other day, and his main advice was simply how God has so much more planned for us than we have for ourselves. Isn't that crazy?! We can think that we want something so bad that it hurts, but in reality, God may just be planning something so much bigger and better for us than what we in our wildest dreams could hope for. He knows everything that we want, but that may not really be what we want, and something so much better may come along. And then again, we may have that God-given desire and strive for it, but it's all going to work out because God has planned it out. But the only thing we have to do is to have patience.

Future's Endless Possibilities

Well, I deffinitely got a lot of insight on my last post since I posted it. But now it has me wondering. Ok, so everything is possible, there's just certain aspects, yada yada yada, I get it. But how do you focus on just one? Like everyone else, I do have a dream; I have things I want to do, and I have goals that I want to accomplish. But now my question is: what happens in something steps in that could potentially be better than what I've been planning on and working towards? What if I get into the college I want to, work my butt off, graduate and start a great career, but then something happens that could produce an outcome I've never dreamed of and I want to pursue that? What if, in order to do this thing, I have to leave my career and all the other things I've worked for behind? Was all that money and experience for nothing, and realize that I really shouldn't have done all that in the first place? What if I get an even bigger dream that outweighs the first one, now that I've accomplished the first one? I don't know, lots of questioning going on lately. Have a good thanksgiving guys!

God's Plan is Bigger

We all have a plan. We know what we want to do, or where we want to go, or what we want to happen over the course of our lifetime, or where we want to live. Whatever it is, every one of us has a plan. And sad to say, a lot of the time we spend so much time working towards that plan that we miss what we really should be doing.

Perhaps God has something a lot bigger planned for us than what we see now? Maybe, what we once thought was impossible is really very possible and is what God wants us to be doing all along?

But how do you tell the difference between the impossible and the possible? What is truly attainable to one person may not be to another person, so how do we know what we should strive for and what we shouldn't? How do we know that something we are working so hard at, or somthing that we feel should be or is the right thing, really isn't what we should be working towards in the long run? How do we know what to wait for and what not to wait for?

How do we tell the impossible from the impossible?

And which one is God's ultimate plan, and which one is the one that we're obviously not going to get, but desire more than anything?

One Day at a Time

So I realized this week that life needs to be lived one day at a time. Do you ever have one of those things that you knew was right, but you just didn't quite apply it to your life accordingly? Thats what it was. I know that we have to do that, but just never quite lived by it. That doesn't mean that we can't plan ahead...actually, how can you live life without planning? But in the same life, don't dwell only on the future. Live today out so that way the future can go as planned. Senior year; whats on everyone's mind? Oh ya, college. Does that mean that you need to live for college only and thats all that you need to strive for at the moment?

No.

Focus, yes. Live every waking moment of every day for college only?

No.

It goes with every other aspect of life too. Just enjoy today, because if you screw up today, who knows if theres going to be a tomorrow.... just a thought, but we don't know what tomorrow is, right? (and no I'm not being clichéd, it's truth.)

Something else I learned; this all applies to the past too.

Go figure!!!

"Just Get Over It!"

Is what keeps flashing through my head. As I'm finally starting to seriously think about what God has in store for my future, I can't help but think that I just have to get over the past. I feel like I can't move on without letting go. I feel like I can never let my heart go, without letting go. It's been five years, and I'm almost 18. Isn't it time to grow up, to stop living in the past and learn how to look forward to a bright and wonderful future instead of one clouded by a memory? Matthew 5:4 says '...God blesses those who mourne, for they will be comforted." Does that mean that I have to let it go in order to gain the comfort, or will it just come in time? In a way it just feels wrong to still be sad about this; who am I to wish things were worse for that person (i.e. be here on earth rather than in the presence of God) rather than be glad their not suffering anymore.

Or does this all have to do with contentment and not worrying? Am I just worrying aobut what happens next, or was this my bitter lesson of learning how to be content?

Or, could it just mean that I am not putting my whole faith in God?

And basically, I don't really know where I was going with that, but I just found a verse that deffinitely kind of "lightened the load" so to say.
1 Peter 5:10 "In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have [grieved] a little while, He will restore, support, and strenghten you, and He will plae you on a firm foundation."

Choices

So lately I'm finding myself faced with the challenge of choices. With the stress of college (among other things) I'm having to constantly remind myself to trust in God for everything. The problem is, how do I know that it truely is God, and not my own heart's desires? And is it just in my nature to worry about it? Because personally, worrying just comes naturally which stinks. But last night we were talking aobut it at biblestudy, and my friend Coleen brought an excellent verse to my attention after we were done. So if anyone else is going through this (which I know all those seniors are doing this right now), here is a verse to ponder and find some "peace" in: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD," -Jeremiah 29:11-14 1/2 Hope you all have a good week!

A parting of the ways...

So, basically this one has to do with the one about change (which, if you haven't read it yet, read it and then read this one....) So when we think of change, what is the first thing that we think of? Do we think of people changing, or the things around us changing, or do we immediately think that something drastic is happening? I tend to think of people, either leaving or coming. I've dealt with it a lot, and although all the changes happen, I'm beginning to see that God wouldn't allow it to happen unless a "greater good" was going to come out of it. And reguardless of what changes take place in our environment, God stays constant. James 1:17 says "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." So really, although all the things around us change eventually, God is always going to be the same loving, compassionate God that he has been since the beginning of time.

But what about people that change our lives, and then leave? What are we supposed to do once their gone, just forget about them and move on? If they've made such a huge impact on our lives, and the potential is still there not only to grow and learn from them, but to grow and learn with them, couldn't we almost consider it a misfortune or a bad thing if they leave? We as humans and as followers of Christ have so much potential to learn and grow from each other, that if the trail is broken because people go their separate ways, how can we continue the journey in the same way?

Life's purpose

So, as senior year is starting to fly by and college apps. open in about 14 days, I'm beginning to ask myself, why? Why are we here? I mean, I know we're here for the sole purpose of serving God, and for glorifying Him in all we do. But does that mean that it doesn't really matter what profession we go into? Obviously we're not going to do any of the off the wall stuff to serve God, but does it really matter? And how do we know we're doing the right thing? How do we distinguish God's voice from our own? Essentially, in the end, I think that none of it really matters. In Luke 12:7 it says "And the very hairs on your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole floch of sparrows." (NLT) So, should I take that to mean that it really doesn't matter what we do with our profession, our life, as long as we're following God?

And then that same question just keeps creeping up; How do we distinguish between God's voice and our own heart's desires?

Change....

Change....

Ok, so this week, (actually mainly today) I've been dealing with change...not a new concept to me, but one that still hurts every time. So I decided to look up some stuff, and actually I like what I found. Some change is for the good, and some is for the bad. But all of it is how God wants it. Psalm 103:15-18 says "Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. the wind blows, and we are gone-as though we have never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandment." So people live and die, that's a given. We can't have someone here forever, and when we take them for granted, thats the big problem. But I like the wind analogy that David uses here. "the wind blows and we are gone as though we have never been here" Thats the one thats so hard to accept for me. I hate having someone here and then walk away, but I'm learning that maybe God has a much bigger plan; like maybe although it seems like we're losing them, there is really a bigger plan for both of them. I dont know, I'm just making an observation. But coudl that be true? I mean, change is somethign that everyone has to go through at one point or another, but I'm sure i'm not alone when I say that I'm not alone. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 talks about how there is a season for all things (which I think refers to change) "For everything there is a seson, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest . A time to kill and a time to heal, A time to tear down and a time to build up. a time to cry and a time to laugh, A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A tim to tear and a time to mend A time to quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace." So basically, when I sum up the significance of that passage, I see that when there is a change, whether significant or insignificant, maybe this was written in order to show people that there really is a reason why change takes place. I mean, basically, there is an example of every change that occurs really. So are these changes in life right now good or bad?

So...theres testing the faith, and then there's testing us....

So last week I had the encounter that I had been praying for for like the last three or four months. Totally encouraged, I decided that I was ready to take on another challenge of the same type. Ok, so even though last week totally caught me off guard, this week I thought I was ready. Wow, was I wrong. I thought that after the experience last week I would be ready for what ever came next, but well, thinking that we "know" something and actually knowing it are two completely different things. Lets just say that I blew it big time, and I need a lot more study time before I do that again. I know that I wasn't completely trusting God like last week, and know that next time I really have to commit the time to him.

And then there are those who chose to test the faith...

So last night at Bible study, I had a very interesting experience, and ironically, one I've been praying for for about the last three or four months; the opportunity to actually witness to someone. So I won't go into details, but this guy came in and started questioning things about God and how this whole thing called salvation works. Everybody, and this was amazing, was just throwing back truth after truth about everything we've known from church and personal study. It was amazing, and I just hope that we get the chance to explain somemore.

Today just is.

So have you ever had one of those days where nothing seems to go right, and nothing at ALL turns out the way you want it?

What do you do? Do you give up? Do you just keep reflecting on all the bad and figure that tomorrow will just be the same way?

Of course not! Don't dwell on tomorrow, or the mistakes of today. Tomorrow may never come, and a minute ago is history. But rather than thinking about all the things that went wrong and worrying about them and stressing out about it (sound familier? Oh right, I do that all the time) reflect on your mistakes with an open mind and think about what you can do different. Don't just forget about them or the consequences, fix it! If there is a tomorrow, make sure to make the most of it.

God is Truly amazing!

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where everything that has been bothering you for like a week, a year, or a really long time just kind of falls into place? I've finally had one of those weeks, and it's taught me how to really trust God. I love this. I feel like I'm finally trusting God with everything in me, and it feels like everything is finally getting to a good spot. God is truely amazing!

An Amazing Verse

An amazing verse

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all out roubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer." -2 Corinthians 1:3-6

Ok, so I didn't even realize this verse existed until a really good friend pointed it out to me, and it really cleared things up. Hope it helps! I know it did me.

Grief and Loss

This is somthing that isn't new to me, and I'm sure that it isn't new to anyone else. But I know it is somthing that everyone, young and old, has to deal with at some point in their life. I didn't really know what was going on this summer, but I've figured it out now and I'm having to deal with it. It sucks, big time. I don't know what to do or who to go to, and it's always a lonely journey. But for anyone who is having to deal with this, I have to encourage you; DON'T WAIT! If you've lost somone close to you, or are dealing with any kind of greif, reguardless of what it is, deal with it now. Don't get five years down the road and then deal with it. It's not fun. And please don't make the same mistake I have by simply making yourself busy so you don't have to deal with the emotions. Anyone in his or her right mind should understand that your going through something hard, and if they are criticizing you, they have no right to. Don't just do everything you possibly can so you don't have to deal with the greif and pain, because believe me, it will only get worse with time fi you don't deal with it now.

Faith

So I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I'm come to the conclusion that faith is the hardest task in life to overcome. I've been told all my life to put my whole faith in God and not in worldly things or just one person. Wow, did I mess up big time there. Faith in God overcomes all fears; Faith in god overcomes all obstacles. But what do you do when your faith in people is shaken. Lets just say that faith is basically the same thing as trust; what happens when you've trusted someone for so long, just to be lied to for weeks, months, maybe even years, and then to have them suddenly gone? What if they were basically the one person that you told everything to, that you trusted beyond anyone else? When you've trusted someone for so long, and you feel betrayed....Who do you learn to trust? How do you decide if they are truly what they seem to be, or are just a person that may not mean to betray your trust, but they end up doing the same thing that has happened so many times.