Oceans

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior"

This post specifically goes out to all the 20-something year-olds/college kids out there. I mean anyone can read this, but I feel like this age group will better understand where I am coming from. I have been hearing the words "purpose" and "plan" a bit more than usual for the past month. You know, everyone around you is asking: "What are your plans after college?""What careers are you looking at?""Where would you like to go?" "Are you dating anyone?" (okay that last one was just my personal experience). Then, as Christians we are always brought back to the thought: What is God's purpose for my life? So we try to have a plan. We choose our path only to have that door slammed right in our faces, leaving us outside lost and confused about where to go from here (that was me this week, by the way).
It is kind of scary and I have not been sure how to feel about it, until tonight.
Tonight at a campus ministry, New Life, I prayed a prayer. More specifically, I prayed the lyrics to the song "Oceans" by Hillsong (listed above). It struck a chord in me. Actually no, it was stronger than that. The words hit me like a tidal wave and flooded my heart, mind, and body that brought me truth and fear. Yes, fear. Fear because I knew as I prayed these words for my life, God would answer. I could feel him almost chuckling saying "Are you sure you want to do this?", because I know if I ask my father to "lead me where my trust is without borders..deeper than my feet could ever wander" he will do it; and that is scary for me. However, I only had that choking fear for a brief moment before it was overcome with peace. The song continues to say:

"My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine"

So after praying for God to take my future and make it his, I chose peace over fear, thanks to God's truth in these lyrics. What do I have to fear? I am God's. He loves me. He protects me. He is in control and knows what is best for me. This is God who knit me together and knows every hair on my head. Pretty sure that means he knows me better than I know myself. So why should I be afraid to give him my life? My plans? My future? Isn't that why I am here anyways, as a servant to God and proclaimer of the Gospel? If I am God's, then my life belongs to him as well, and there is freedom in that. Not fear. He is a God of freedom and love, so therefore I will trust him with my life.

Whew. Crazy stuff right? I mean I am not saying it will be easy, life with God is not typically easy, but this grasp of faith and trust is the first step in the right direction.

I had the privilege of seeing Donald Miller speak a couple weeks ago. His words also brought truth to this issue of "the plan" for your life. Here are some pretty sweet points I took from what he had to say:

-Our primary desire is to find meaning, but meaning is not a place we arrive at, it is something we experience.

-Jesus offers meaning, not comfort and glory.

-Find that thing that lights you up and gives you joy, and go do that with Jesus.

-Everything beautiful comes with a fight.

I especially love the last two points. Want to know what to do with your life? What gives you joy and lights you up? Go do that and go glorify Jesus through it. And the best part is Jesus wants to do it with you. What a sweet father. Also, everything beautiful comes with a fight. Think about it, what are the most meaningful things you have seen/done? Were you fearful or nervous about it beforehand? That's what I find to be true for me, all of the biggest, most meaningful experiences in my life started with fear and doubt. But I overcame it, and I'm sure glad I did. That's all you have to do too. Do not let fear control your life because it will prevent you from doing what God has called you to do. 

When I look back on my short life thus far, God has taken me to some incredible places and let me experience beautiful times. I want him to do the same for the rest of my life.

So I may not know what my plans are after graduation next year, where I will work, or even where I will live, but I do know this: I will do what I love, and I will do it wholeheartedly glorifying Jesus. I want to jump full-force into God's plan for my life joyfully and without fear, no matter how deep the waters are, because I trust he will embrace me in his presence as we embark on our adventures together.
So my friends, what's your plan?

Thankful Thursday

Today was one of those days when the Lord opened my eyes more than usual to the small, beautiful things in my ordinary day that turn out to be more than “things.” So I thought I would share some of them with you. I know you didn’t ask for them, but hopefully this will encourage you to give thanks for the things you take for granted everyday. So I guess…you’re welcome.

Today I am thankful for:

mornings that start off right. aka: with the word and a hot drink.

our cozy little (momentarily clean) kitchen. 

wool socks that are too big. 

breakfast in bed.

sweet gifts from roomz. and rainbow sprinkles.

my roomz and the way she lights up when she takes pictures.

the rare but always sweet times to play this guy.

Here’s to days when thankfulness turns everything into enough.

Epiphany in a Subway Station

Hopefully you can see from the title of my blog that I have the desire to just go. I love road trips more than most things in the world and since I have been blessed with friends who share this spirit of adventure as well, we tend to do some crazy trips together.

Like that time we drove to New York City last week.

It was incredible. I am not usually one for the city life, but it was quite a memorable trip. We crammed in as much sights as we could in the two days of exploration we had. It’s safe to say we were all left in awe of the big city with the impressive skyscrapers, crowds of people, and constant rush of everything around us. We learned quickly to walk fast because everyone had somewhere to be, and they were determined to get there as soon as possible, even of it meant shoving you aside.

Surprisingly, one of my favorite experiences was taking the subway everywhere. I was enthralled with the variety of people and different characters of New York all in one small space. One time in particular was especially sweet for me and my friends.

It was late in Brooklyn. My friends and I were full of fried pizza and our legs ached from walking around the city for the second day in a row. Needless to say, we were ready to put on our sweatpants and crash on the couch. As we made our way through the station, multiple people ran frantically past us to catch the subway before it pulled away. Our group decided that despite our tired spirits, we did not need to rush. The subway left as we walked up so we began to check the time for the next arrival. All of a sudden, we realized music was playing through the halls of this stop, which is normal for stations, but this music was different. One man sat next to us playing the harmonica, tambourine, banjo, and kick drum with vocals (I know, impressive right??) while his partner stood across the tracks playing the fiddle. We had seen a lot of subway performances so far but this one captivated us. It was obvious these guys had so much joy, they loved playing music and they were incredibly gifted with it as well. It may sound strange how happy seeing this performance made us, but I guess maybe you just had to be there. We got on the next subway ten minutes later still in awe of the crazy talents we just witnessed.

We immediately became thankful that we did not rush to catch the first subway, because if we did, we would not have heard the performance. While it is good to be driven and go places with a purpose, sometimes we use that as an excuse to constantly be rushing on to our next event planned or something to cross off our to-do lists. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if people went through the day strolling rather than running? It’s not only in New York City where people hurry through their days, but even here in little Boone town as well. I also wonder, what other things have I missed because I was distracted and self-seeking to just accomplish the next thing planned in my day? So why do I continue to busy myself anyways and believe I have to accomplish things to be successful in my day?  It’s like that cheesy saying, you know…where it says something about enjoying the journey not just your destination…or something inspiring like that. Maybe I should look that up…

I think that’s why I love road trips so much, because it was not only the destination of New York that was fun, but the drive there and back as well (if you asked me this around hour 9 of the drive back, I probably would not have said that…but looking back now I would.)

So the lesson from this long novel would be: life is not made up of “things” but experiences. So walk a little slower, take it all in, and enjoy the journey. Take trips. Oh, and take the time to learn several instruments, because you will earn automatic cool points from me. Also (side note) it takes a brave soul to drive in New York City- so shout out to our brave soul Graham Turner.

Have a sweet Wednesday my friends.

Seeing God

Isn’t it crazy how easy it is to miss God? Now I don’t mean miss him like you miss your favorite old t-shirt or like I miss my chaco tan line; but actually missing the glimpses he gives you of himself everyday. The God of the universe is completely crazy about you, and he shows you that through ways you may not even realize. He shows up through tiny whispers of hope the loud world shuts away from you so easily. Since I had this realization, I look for him. And I see the gifts of love he leaves for me around every corner.

This past week I went to the beach. I saw him in the smell of the salty air. I saw him in the gentle afternoon breeze that waved the palm trees. I saw him in the beautiful pastel colors on old homes around every corner. I saw him in the carefully hung moss in the old trees. In the sound of waves crashing outside my window. In the warmth my body soaked up from the sunshine it had missed all winter. In the comfort of shade from numerous overhanging trees. In each unique seashell placed before me on my walk along the beach. I could go on and on, but really, I wrote them down.

God is here and eagerly waits for you to find him in what seems like ordinary moments. It’s become fun for me, finding God. It makes my walks to class so much sweeter and full of reminders of God’s love for me. I try not to take everything for granted. I look at things like my old mug and see it in a completely different light. Instead of just a mug, I see God graciously giving me something that has continuously given me joy through my hot drinks on cold days. Isn’t he just the nicest? He continually amazes me.

Challenge: Find your love gifts today. Find joy in the way God shows up in your day more than you realize. Remember this truth my friends, just like I will strive to as well.

The First Step

[whimsy]

Well. Honestly this is interesting for me, starting a blog I mean. I am not even sure what the premise of this site is. It’s not like what I have to say is really life-changing or I have some incredible insight to help you in your life adventures, because the truth is, I am still figuring out life myself.

However, God has been tugging at my heart and used this past year as a huge stage of growth in my life. Growth in my faith, growth in relationships, growth in dreams, and growth in knowledge of what kind of person I want to be. Which brings me back to this blog. I enjoy writing and documenting moments and lessons in my life, no matter how vital or simple they may seem. So rather than scribbling them in my journal, why not push myself to try something new and just put it all out here in the cyber world? It is kind of scary, but what I have learned recently is fear comes with the most meaningful/beautiful things in life.
(post to come about that lesson soon)

Hey, I can only hope you could learn something from me, or I would love it even if you just enjoy reading my posts. Or maybe you just click on the link to humor me, I don’t really care. This is actually more for me rather than for you. No offense.

Anyways, now that you are thoroughly confused, hang with me here. This could be fun. I’m excited for this new challenge of joining the blog world. Just trying to be whimsy and make moves in my life, and this is the first step.