Monday, December 31, 2012

Looking back

              When looking at back at the end of each year, I am floored by all that God has done in my life that year (and am continual amazement in all that He has done for me in my life)! At the mountain tops and the lowest points of the valley of each and every year, He has been faithful to carry me through it all. And this year has been no different!I look forward to what He has in store for 2013 with great anticipation!!

Spiritual lesson of 2012: I am underservingly covered by His grace (though I already knew this..God pressed this lesson into me through Bible studies, BSF, and the Lightbearers Institute)

Some highlights of my personal life in 2012:
- I finally finished my degree at the University of Arkansas in April of this year...A HUGE HUGE THANK-YOU to all of those who pushed me & encouraged me to make that finish!!
- I went on a mission trip to Haiti in July where we saw 80+ give their lives to Christ!!!!
- started training for a half-marathon (hampered by various things) but am now starting that training again...
- I started enjoying cooking, trying new recipes, & sort of inventing new recipes of my own...
- I learned how to (and still learning) knit!!
- my friends have been beyond awesome to me and being there for me through it all!

Thankful for all God has done in this last year & I hope that as this year comes to a close (literally in 2.5 hours) that you will pause to praise God for all that He has done for you this year and all that He will do for you in 2013!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

struggles & comfort

           I have fought writing this blog entry for the last few days but I know that it is one that God wants me to write.
           I have struggled my whole life with being vulnerable. Mostly because I hate being the center of attention. But yet I know that being vulnerable can help one deal with things & it can help others who dealing with similar things. So here I am writing this entry, praying that God will use it for His glory and along the way that it will help someone who has dealt with similar things as I have.
             As many of you know my dad passed away almost a year and half ago from the complications of many health problems. I have come to realize that I suppressed a lot of my emotions during the holidays last year. Honestly, I think I tried to push my dad's death to the furthest corner of my mind as I could and tried not to think about last year during the holiday season. Well since the one year anniversary of my dad's death in July, my mom & dad's anniversary on Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas I have had a very hard time dealing with his death. When trying to deal with his death and some other things a couple of weeks ago, I spent some time praying and listening to the song Lead Me to the Cross. I prayed that the Lord would lead me to the Jesus & the cross in dealing with my emotions. I had been reading the book of Matthew in my quiet times. Well yesterday I finished reading the book of Matthew. The very last verse of the last chapter, which says "And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age," stuck out to me. Because Jesus came to this earth as a baby, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross He is always with me in the form of the Holy Spirit. This Christmas (and everyday after that) I am thankful for the reminder that God came to the earth as a baby so that He could be Emanuel "God with us." Oh what comfort this is as I deal with my dad's death and other things that I face in life.
         I pray that this has been a comfort for those who have lost loved ones & struggle with their loss at any point in their life. I also pray that this is a reminder for others what Christmas is really about.


P.S. My dad died a believer so praise Jesus my dad no longer suffers & I get to see him again one day in Heaven!!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Heartbroken

 Tonight my heart is broken and at a lost for words for what happened in Connecticut today. I  pray for those directly and indirectly effected by the horrific tragedy that they would be held in the arms of Jesus as they try to understand, just as I try to, what has happened. I'm sure there are a lot of opinions on things should be handled or what needs to be done to prevent this from happening. I am staying away from that. I do encourage you to 1) pray for all involved 2) continue to pray for & share the Gospel with lost people in your life (it can & will have a lasting impact on tragedies like this) 3) make sure to let loved ones & friends know how much you love,cherish, & appreciate them
  I will leave with the words to the chorus of the song "Our God":
 "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
  Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!"


Needed to write this post because my thoughts were too long to tweet or to post on facebook