.running.

Life has become pretty hectic lately. But I don’t think I would want it any other way. Yesterday I had a great conversation with my Econ professor and he helped me to see that I am on the right track for what God has called me to do in my life for his ultimate glory. Despite all the papers piling up and tests right around the corner, God stopped me for one second and reassured me that I am following Him. Oh what a humbling experience! This semester is turning out to be one of the best semesters yet. I have a whole new outlook this semester that only comes from my realization of God’s abundant and overflowing love for me and how I want to share that with others. So I will keep on running–even sprinting at times–to get through my coursework, to get through the mundane schedules, and to come out with a feeling of accomplishment on the other side. No more strolling through the lazy days of winter break; it’s time to start running.

.twenty.

 

So today is my birthday. Part of me wants to scream “Please not another one!” and then the other part of me actually likes the fact that it’s kind of like my own special day. I wish I had some wise words of wisdom to impart, however I still feel like a child. I have made a list of twenty things I wish to accomplish, that I am looking forward to, or hope will happen during this year of being twenty. It’s nothing phenomenal, just my personal wishes. So enjoy 🙂

1. I am definitely looking forward to going to Greece in March!
2. I  hope to have a great semester this year.
3. I am looking forward to our packed semester of Impact Team trips!
4. I can’t wait to find out who I will meet this year.
5. I hope to grow more mature in my faith this year.
6. I can’t wait to spend the summer at Camp Greystone!
7. I hope that I will be able to go to more new places this year.
8. I hope to take tons more pictures than I have in years past so I will actually enjoy looking back on this year.
9. I wish to learn how to fully lean on God and wholeheartedly trust Him in every circumstance.
10. I hope I don’t start forgetting things.
11. I want to read more this year.
12. I hope to impact at least one person this year.
13. I will find a way to exercise more during this time.
14. I will strive to not take life so seriously.
15. I will work on making everyone feel included.
16. I hope to be joyful when life throws me a surprise curve ball.
17. I will realize how limited our time on earth is and run with that motivation.
18. I will not go shopping as much 🙂
19. I will strive to understand how people perceive and feel things in different ways than I do.
20. I will seek God’s will above my own and allow Him to take full command of my life.

 

.my utmost.

Last January I started reading My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I must admit that I sometimes forgot I owned it and ignored it for months at a time. Some of the words and phrases honestly confuse me. Then there are other times when the wording couldn’t be more clear. Here is a sampling of some of the months I am trying to catch up on:

• If you agree with God’s purpose He will bring not only your conscious life, but all the deeper regions of your life which you cannot get at, into harmony.
• We must never choose the scene of our own martyrdom.
• It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up.
• Most of us can do things if we are always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship to Him.
• We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him.
• Learn to thank God for making known His demands.
• No human being knows human beings as God does.
• The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the Gospel that the message of the Gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power.
• I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot atone for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot make right what is wrong, pure what is impure, holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God.
• The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already.
• God will give you the blessings you ask if you will no go any further without them; but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself.
• If God has given you a silence, praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes.
• The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on.
• If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with Him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear.
• Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings.
• The missionary message is not patriotic, it is irrespective of nations and of individuals, it is for the whole world.
• Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work.
• What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.
• The men and women Our Lord sends out on His enterprises are the ordinary human stuff, plus dominating devotion to Himself wrought by the Holy Ghost.
• It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.

.make war.

We have been called to choose a side. We are either children of God or we are enemies of God. There is no middle ground, no straddling the fence, no standing in the valley.

 

I have always loved listening to the NewSpring services online and I think their new series Make War is phenomenal! Perry Noble talks about how God has called us to choose sides. Pulling from 1 Samuel 17:1-3 he delves into how there is always two sides: either for God or against God. He explains how if we are on God’s side he saves us from

• the power of sin
• a meaningless life
• the wrath of God
• religion

We must declare who we are fighting for, whether it is God or ourselves. So pick up your weapon and make war.

.makeover.

New Year’s resolutions have never really been my thing. I know that whatever I resolve to do would eventually be discarded as just another good idea for improving my life probably around the second week of February. Goals, on the other hand, are more what I achieve for. However, it has taken me until now to realize that they can be one and the same. God’s timing is always perfect!

 

This year, and for the rest of my life, my resolution is that God will make me over.

 

This makeover is not physical but rather spiritual.

 

I desire for my life to reflect on a daily basis the love of God in my life. I desire for everything in my life to bring glory to His name so that all may know Him. I desire for Christ to be the essence of my life, the absolute center.

 

And for this to become a reality in my life I require an extreme makeover.

 

Unfortunately it has taken me about two decades now to realize this simple truth: I cannot do this thing called life on my own and I am a selfish person! I have utterly failed at being the servant that God has called me to be. I wish that I could go back and erase certain parts of my life and have a do over…but then God reminds me that I needed those moments to be at this point right now.

 

This makeover will take much longer than twenty-four hours, a week, a month, or even a year. But I know that in the end it will be worth it. There will still be times that I fail, but I pray that God will see me through those times and bring me to the moments of triumph.

 

May my life be made over so that God’s love is the defining subject of my existence. May I seek to put my desires last and learn to passionately lead others to the heart of God.

 

“If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the pagans do that.” {Matthew 5:47}

 

I honestly don’t know how most of the people I know perceive me, but I pray that my life will be transformed and that they will begin to perceive me as one who is seeking after the heart of God. I wholeheartedly want to be someone whose life is consumed with the One who gave his life for me.

 

So God, here is the pen to my life’s story. I am finally going to give you full control having full confidence that I am allowing the Perfect Author to mend this broken life and construct a wonderful masterpiece. I will trust in you that you will perfect every single detail according to your purpose for my life.

 

I am ready for my makeover.