A Mental Alteration

Four months of college can really keep a girl busy. It’s crazy to think how far I’ve gotten, grown, and expanded my worldview over the past few months. They say your first year of college is going to be your transition year. Well, they were so right.  The beginning of the semester was grand and it still is too. The loss of a dear friend to his battle of cancer shook me a little. That going on and being away from home it was so hard to relate to people around me.  Don’t get me wrong. My new friends and mentors helped me and comforted me in the time of grieving, but it was definitely a time where God needed to intervene. The stress of homework, grades, work, and being the best Christians I could be really hit all at once during the last few weeks. You see I have the tendency to overthink and worry about the future and where I will be in the next 2 or 3 years.  It’s a constant reminder every single day that God is bigger then anything and everything I worry about. We have an inadequate understanding of who God really is. We have the problem of reducing God to the size of our biggest problem.  That’s. Not. Okay.

You see . . . I have this dream. My heart will always be in serving. It’s one of my favorite things. You can take this girl out of a foreign country, but never take the love of traveling and loving on God’s people out of her. Lately, I’ve been so down about not returning to one of my favorite countries anytime soon. It’s literally been all that I have been thinking about. I have to remind myself that there is a need here in the U.S and that I need to open my eyes up around me. It’s so hard sometimes, I know. You see 3^rd world countries are being broadcasted all over as something everyone needs to do to be a great Christian. This in itself is not completely true.  God has called each of us to do something great for Him. What I have realized in the last 4 months is that I don’t have to go out of the country (even though I desperately want to and love Mexico and Guatemala)  to make an impact on someone’s life. You see that’s the best part. It’s doing something far bigger then yourself for someone you don’t entirely know and knowing that they can’t repay you. You can serve in your backyard. You just need to go looking for a place to serve. You’ll see J

Constant Reminder

God is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the I AM. He is the God who makes things possible. Since being away at college, about 9 hours from home, i’ve learned budget the little income i have and really find myself and not only me, but God. I’ve learned to depend on Him each day. I don’t mean just praying to him i mean doing devotions and refilling my cup every day, hour, and minute. about a month into school my mom called me and informed me that a dear, dear friend and mentor of mine wouldn’t make it till Thanksgiving. This completely altered my brain. I was in the school mindset and then had to shift to prepare myself for a sudden death. I don’t handle death well, at all. For the next week my roommate, home friends, and family encouraged me while i was angry with God. I’m at the point now where i know it’s going to be okay. You see Brian is an incredible man of God and loves his family and friends down to his core. God doesn’t want to take him away from us he just wants to be with Him now. I imagine it in a way that if i had a child amazing as Brian i would want them to be in heaven with me too. All of what God has given you is a blessing. Never take advantage of it. The people he puts in your life have a reason to be there. They help you love, learn, and grow. God has authority and privilege to take them away from you. Don’t be angry with Him. He blessed you with them in the first place. Everyday i need to keep my focus on God. Treasure everyone in your life and always see the glass half full.

Transition Phase

Here it is friends and strangers, a post. My friends have been getting on my butt about not updating my blog.  Truth is I feel bad about not updating it since my last one. I’ve simply been trying to find the right thing to write about. I don’t really want to write about my top #5 makeups to use or 10 things to do to get a guy to notice you HA! That’s just not me. What I will write about though is what’s going on in my life right now. Now, hold your horses I’m not going to talk about what I do every hour of everyday and my deepest feelings. This is definitely not a diary post. Of course I’ll tell you about spiritual warfare and my latest read because everyone goes through this and maybe you can relate to this. Others and I call it the…. wait for it…“Transition phase.”

            I am a college freshman starting my next phase of life. Before the schedule gets crazy with work, class, and sports I read a book called “In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson. This book is honestly challenging for me but there are some key phrases that I just stopped reading and went Wow!  College is about becoming successful and find out who you are and well here are some things I got out of this book that I just must share. 

• Success: Do the best you can with what you have where you are, which means success is making the most of every opportunity.
• God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time.
• Lion chasers know God is bigger and more powerful than any problem they face in this world.
• Our biggest problems can be traced back to an inadequate understanding of who God is. Our problems seem really BIG because our God seem really SMALL.
• John 4:18 “there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”
•  Faith is EMBRACING uncertainty.

Mark just has an amazing way with words does he not? I’m still in the process of reading this book but I just love it. It is constantly reminding me that my plans for the future and God’s plans are two different things. Although we share some things in common I ultimately have to trust God when things don’t according to what I want. I can be a little selfish in the plans that I mapped out for myself. Everyone does that though. I think sometimes think God even puts us in tough situations that can crush our so called “dreams” to humble us and bring us back to our faith roots and trusting in Him. So, as I begin my embark to college life I cant help but squeal with excitement. The uncertainty that college brings about where your going to be in the next few years and what your going to do is in my opinion ‘normal’.  Having faith and trusting God is what he so desperately wants. Following God’s plan and not your own brings unexpected things and events. GRAB those because the best things in life come unexpected.