First, one of the most influential portions of my last few months has been a Beth Moore Bible study I did with my mom and a handful of other women at the church. What a blessing that study was! It was wonderful to be able to not only learn from Beth Moore in the study, but also from the other women in the study! Praise the Lord for fellowship! My favorite part of the study was just how it opened my eyes to more of who Jesus is. Man, I love him. What an awesome savior! I could share countless examples of how great He is and of the new things I saw/learned about him in this study, but I will just share one for now. To begin I just need to lay out two things. First, Jesus was both fully God and fully man and as God He was (and is) omniscient. There are several examples throughout the Gospels of him listening in on the thoughts of others and then sharing a lesson with them. Secondly, the Gospels share that Judas' heart was not fully invested in Christ before he chose to betray him. He is more concerned with himself and money. Now consider this: Christ knew Judas wasn't invested and that he would be the betrayer, and yet treated him no differently than the other disciples because when Jesus told the 12 that one of them would betray him they had no idea who it would be. How cool to see Christ's love for even his betrayer!
Something else that has been on my heart lately relates to the song "The First Place". Oh my goodness, it might be one of my very favorite songs right now. What a delightful worship song! The second verse has really touched me lately, it goes: "Victor, over sin and death you triumphed. Firstborn, you've shown us life beyond the grave. Bridegroom, we long for you in expectation. Jesus, your church rejoices to proclaim..." Now while I love Jesus conquering death and showing us life beyond the grave (Hallelujah!) I have been especially touched and convicted by the third sentence about longing for a bridegroom. As Michael and I have been apart this semester I have found myself missing him more and more and eagerly anticipating the day when He will be my bridegroom and we will get to finally be together. I had my first substantial breakdown over this waiting process last week. My breakdown had nothing to do with being discontent with where I am or anything like that (I LOVE LIVING AT HOME) I just simply miss him. A lot. Then I compare those feelings for my longing for Christ as my spiritual and eternal bridegroom, the only one who can make me whole and I am ashamed to lose sight of him at times in my sinfulness. However, I can fully proclaim that I eagerly await his return. I am excited to meet my savior face to face; may my life be a pleasing aroma to him. Oh just dwelling on those words makes me want to throw my arms up in the air, not say a word, and let my loving and thankful tears roll down my face. Hallelujah, what a savior! Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping loving, He is with me to the end!
Mmm God is good! All the time. He never changes and nothing can change Him. His plans will not and cannot be thwarted. He is over all, in all, and through all. I listened to a two minute portion of John Piper's sermon from last week (I think it was from last week) and here is the link to it ( http://dsr.gd/HzOxxq ). I encourage you to take two minutes and listen to it. How encouraging to know that God can go in our lives where no one else can go! Ah, the comfort and peace of being in his loving arms. Seriously, take two minutes and listen to it.
There are several other things I could share, but I will just list one more thing, well person really, who is my dear friend, Lizzie. I met Lizzie my second summer counseling at camp. She was got to know Lori first and then we all began hanging out together. We worked 3 summers together and made several memories both during camp and other occasions when we would get together during the school year. The four of us (Lizzie, Lori, Tina, and I) enjoy getting warm beverages, eating out, shopping, talking, laughing, etc. with one another. She is a delight to know and she is a guest book attendant at my wedding. A few things I love most about Lizzie are her fun sense of humor, her easy smile, her excitement for life, her faith, and her joyful attitude despite circumstances. Lizzie has had a bit of a rough second half of the semester with mono (among other things) and she is such a trooper. I have really been striving to pray for her as she finishes this last stretch of schooling. I am excited for her to finish both so she can be done and so the two of us can get together more easily before I get married.
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| Out to eat on a weekend! |
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| The end of a summer at camp |
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| Caramel Apples at the state fair :) |
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