Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday Favorites

10. Dark chocolate brownies with peanut butter chips. (Thanks for the tip/ingredients, Marie! They were a hit!)

9. The fact that the weather has been significantly cooler here the past few days. The other morning it was 75 degrees outside! IN AUGUST!!!

8. Headstand contests with my roommates. As of right now, I'm the reigning champ. Please, no autographs...

7. My girls in Kids' Village. I'm so grateful I've been able to be a small part of what's happening in KV. I could write blog post after blog post about how wonderful it has been to teach those girls while serving alongside some of the most humble, Gospel-fixated people I've ever met.

6. Getting to go to GroupConnect in a few weeks so I can join a multi-gen homegroup! I've already started praying for discernment and decisiveness... So. Many. Options. So. Little. Time.

5. Pregnant women. They're everywhere, and I like it.

4. Finding that perfect backpack that had alluded me for so long.

3. Getting to spend some sweet time with a freshman girl here on campus. I loved getting to hear her heart for Christ and His Bride.

2. Impromptu story time with my roommates. We've had some *ahem* interesting stories thus far.

1. A Mighty Fortress- Christy Nockels

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Fall 2010: Let's Do This

I realize everyone probably quit caring about my classes a few semesters ago, but to be honest, your lack of caring hasn't phased me :) so I'm gonna post them anyway! You know, cause I'm all about pleasing people.

Fall 2010
  • Practicum in Personal Evangelism
  • Christianity in the Pluralistic World
  • Research Methods
  • Elementary Spanish
  • Marriage and Family

I'm pretty excited about Christianity in the Pluralistic World, Practicum in Personal Evangelism and Marriage and Family. But since we're being honest, I think any religion class would have been a welcomed change after the train wreck that was my spring schedule (let's just say there was weeping and gnashing of teeth).

P.S. Not gonna lie, the best part of this schedule is that I don't have class on Monday or Friday :) If only I didn't have to work! Don't worry though, I'm determined to squeeze some 4-day weekends out of this deal.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Straining Toward the Goal

I feel like a reoccurring theme I've seen in my life these past few weeks has been that of "pressing forward". In dry seasons, in joy, in sadness and in providence, the Lord has been continually teaching me the importance of pressing forward, in to Him. In Philippians 3, Paul touches on this topic after talking about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Philippians 3:12-16

I love what Paul says in verse 12, "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own". So good. I think one of the most important things I'm learning in all of this is that my efforts must be grace-driven, or they're inevitably fruitless. We don't press in to Christ for our own gratification or purposes, but rather, we press in to Him for His glory and purposes (and as a result we are gratified). When we continually press in to Christ for all that He is, as opposed to all that we are/aren't, we find true contentment and joy in Him alone. It takes a certain amount of discipline on our part, but it is only through the grace of God that we are able to know and experience the surpassing worth of Christ.

And finally, I'll leave you with this: Sara Groves has a song called "Painting Pictures of Egypt" that I thought fit pretty perfectly (actually, my friend Maridith was the one that suggested I look up the lyrics when I was talking to her about all this, but whatevs). Groves' lyrics echo Paul's sentiments in verse 13 when he says that he is "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead".

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know


Oh and P.S. The wedding was great and I have the cutest niece ever...