Seeing God in all things

It's been another crazy week, people.

We went back to school after spring break, and it seemed like a whole BUNCH of homework assignments jumped on us all at once.  After being home for a week, going back to the routine of being gone for most of the day, every day, has been tiring.

And other things have added to the weight of this week...
remembering one of Joshua's high school classmates who died in a car accident last week
the news of a friend of my parents' who was in a car accident with her daughters and who suffered massive head injuries (please be praying)
...other things.

Sometimes you wonder how much more frustrations, sorrows, and suffering one world can take.

But then I look for God in everything.
God, who has blessed us so much this week through family, friends and strangers
God, who has given us rest, good health, a home, a car, plenty of food, clothes, etc....
God, who welcomed Joshua's friend home to heaven
God, who protected the little girls in the car accident and is now surrounding their mama with His presence
God, who blesses us in ways we often don't expect
God, who is in control of all things

Many of my friends are getting ready to graduate.  Soon it'll be our turn.  Thinking about the end of college gets me wondering sometimes-- will Joshua be able to find a teaching job right away?  Where will we have to move?  How will we make new friends?  What will it be like, being in a totally unfamiliar place?

But then I remember...
God has great plans for us.
God has our future in his hands.
God loves us more than we can imagine (he sent his SON for us!)-- and has blessed us in the past.

So we can trust that he will continue to bless us in the future.

And for that, I am SO thankful.


Linking today with Loved and Lovely, The Fontenot Four, black tag diaries, There's Just One Mommy

Planning for ministry. This is exciting.

My friends, I want to share something with you.  Something about which I'm starting to get really excited.

First, a little background--Joshua and I will be here in our little college town for a while.  We've spread out our college classes in order to stay sane, so it's taking us longer than typical to finish.  What this means is we can stay comfy; we're not leaving anytime soon.

I experienced the blessing of having several older girls who reached out to me my freshman and sophomore years, who were there when I needed advice or just to talk, and were spiritual mentors to me.  I want to be able to do that for other girls--to be a blessing as I have been blessed.

So I decided that this fall I'm going to seek to start a small ministry to college girls here in our home.

Image credit: Ambro via freedigitalphotos.net

I've been thinking and praying about this for some time now, and I feel a peace about it, although the idea fills me with--not worry, not anxiety, but a positive kind of stress.  It'll be a big job, and a big responsibility, and a pretty big commitment.  Joshua's willing that I open our home one night a week to whatever girls want to come.  I don't have a clear idea yet of what this will look like, exactly--I don't want it to be too structured, but I do want to have regular components of fellowship, a simple Bible study, and prayer.  I want our home to be a place where young women feel welcome and comfortable, and most importantly, where the Holy Spirit is very obviously present.  My primary goal for this is to let young women know that they are beautiful, treasured daughters of the King of kings--that Jesus loves them more than anything they could imagine.

I'll let you know as my plans for this fill out.  I'm starting now to pray that God leads me to seek out the girls he wants to be a part of this, and that above all, His will will be accomplished.  In the meantime, could you be praying for me?  Praying that the Gospel will be proclaimed?  That the young women who need this kind of fellowship will be led to it?  That I will honor God in everything?

And practically speaking, could you be helping me think of a name for this group?  I'm thinking something like "Faith Fellowship Sisters,"  But better.

I am so very excited about this, dear readers!  I can't wait to see what God is going to do with me.

Embracing This Present Season of Life

I have this habit of looking forward toward the future, and keeping the past firmly in my sights as well.  This leaves too little time for focusing on the present.

Image credit: Stock photo via Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net

In keeping with my theme of {FOCUS} for this year, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to really embrace the present--the present day, and the present time in life.  Right now my season of life includes the vocations of wife, homemaker, and college student, among others.  One vocation I do not have right now is motherhood.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being a mama.  The excitement of preparing for the birth of a child, wondering if it will be a boy or girl, whose features our child will have, what their personality will be like.  The changes in our life that a child will bring--new jobs and responsibilities, a new person to love and care for.  Seeing this living miracle that God made, in my body, a personification of his love for us in a tiny baby.  Sure, there are things to be less excited about... the discomfort and pain of pregnancy and childbirth, learning how to nurture our marriage with the added challenge of having a baby.

But right now, none of these things is in our near future.  We still have a couple years left before we're both done with school, and therefore, we'll need to wait to become parents.

As much as I'm looking forward to the future, it won't do to focus only on that right now.  God has me in this place, in this season of life, for very good reason.  He has a purpose for my life right now.  He has work for me to do right where I am.  Therefore, instead of spending all my time planning for and thinking about having a baby sometime in the future, I'm going to look for ways to serve God right here, right now.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to embrace each season of life as it comes?

-I embrace the roles God has given me.  Right now, those are wife, homemaker, and college student.  The roles of wife and homemaker will be mine for the rest of my life.  Now is the time to work on those, gaining wisdom and experience, and nurturing my marriage as much as I can, so that it can stand strong through the changes and challenges that will inevitably come.  After all, even after our future children grow up and leave home, I'll still be a wife--that's my first calling, and the most important.

-I look for ways to serve.  I don't have to wait till my husband is officially a teacher and "in the ministry."  We can start doing ministry right now!  I have hopes and plans that I'm looking to implement this fall...I'll let you know when those plans are more concrete.  At home, I can serve my husband, by taking care of our home and striving to be the best helper to him that I can.  I can open my home to others, and share the love of Jesus by practicing hospitality.  What gifts have I been given?  I can share those and thus serve the Lord.

-I leave the future in God's hands.  It does no good to worry about the future.  I have very little control over the days to come--but God does.  He already knows what will happen in my future, because he is eternal--not bound by time.
God made a promise to his people Israel that applies to his people today, too:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares the Lord... (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)

Jesus taught this to his disciples in Matthew (6:31-34):

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  (Emphasis added)

Finally, we can be certain that nothing in the past, present or future will ever change the way God loves us, and he will let nothing separate us from him.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39, emphasis added)

What does this mean for us?  It means we can embrace our life, wherever we are in it, without fear and with joy, because God has our future in his hands.  He has a plan for us.  And his love for us is unchanging, and will stay the same forever, no matter what the future holds.

Linking with: A Proverbs 31 Wife, What Joy is Mine, The Alabaster Jar, Raising Arrows, The Better Mom, the Modest Mom

living in Advent

Some days I forget it's Advent.

Not just the days leading up till Christmas...but we're living in Advent all the time, people!  We're waiting, preparing (that's what "Advent" means), for the second coming of Jesus Christ, whose first coming to earth we'll celebrate in just twelve days.

We're waiting for the Son of God to come back--God, who became human, one of us--in order to live, die, and rise again--for us.

This Son of God, who loves us so very much, is coming back for us.

Even as we anticipate the joy of Christmas, we see so much sadness in the world.  War, hunger, poverty, homelessness, disease, crime, anger, hate... all the signs that sin saturates this planet.  It might be easy to forget about some of those things for a while, when we're in our warm homes, brightened by colored Christmas lights, eating lots of special food and treats, spending our over-abundance of money on gifts (many of which aren't really necessary), and wishing each other the peace and joy of the season.

Don't get me wrong, those are all good things and I enjoy them so much!  But we like to forget all those bad things that are happening, that don't affect our lives.  But those things are part of our world, too.  They're caused by our own sinfulness.  But Christ came to this sinful world anyway...isn't that amazing?

It's important to remember that these things won't last.  All those horrible, sad, depressing things?  They're temporary.  Our houses, our possessions, our jobs, our wealth (or lack thereof) aren't permanent.

The peace and joy that our Savior brings, though--that will last.

Soon the reign of sin in the world will end.  It may not be in our lifetime, but it will not last forever.

I'm fairly certain it won't end on December 21st.  God is returning, but not when we expect Him to.  We can't foretell when that Day will come--not even the Son knows that, but only the Father.

But it is coming!  The Savior who has come into the world, will come back--to take me, and all believers, to live in paradise with him, for eternity.

It'll be like a never-ending Christmas celebration: surrounded by our loved ones, in the light of His presence, praising God and basking in His love.  Forever.

Are you ready?

Why I'm Voting for Romney/Ryan (and why I'm not)

My husband and I just finished watching the vice-presidential political debate.  We watched the presidential one a couple weeks ago.  Watching these debates, and all the other political discussion and ads on TV lately, has reminded me of something: I am NOT voting for either candidate because I agree with them on everything.  Neither of the candidates has a plan with which I completely agree.

That's not a bad thing.  It's also to be expected.  As my dad says, "You're not voting for a person so much as you are for a platform."  The Republican party is one I can stand with on MOST things.  And I feel that after four years of disappointment in what President Obama has done, it's time for the other party to have a go, again, at running the country.

Paul Ryan proved why I like his platform in the debate this evening.  The moderator asked the VP candidates, "You are both Catholic--something that hasn't happened in a presidential race in a long time.  Based on your religion, what are your opinions on abortion?"

The Catholic church's stance on abortion is that it is wrong (because they believe that life begins at conception), with, as Ryan said, the exceptions of rape, incest, and threat to the mother's life.  That is also the stance of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and although I don't agree with it entirely, I can accept it.  Ryan pointed this out, and stated firmly once again his belief that life begins at conception.  He did not back down on this at all.

When posed with the same question, Biden also noted the Catholic church's stance, but that he believed every woman should have the opportunity to choose whether or not she wants to have an abortion.  It's not the government's right, he said, to deny women that opportunity--that right--to do what they want with their own bodies.

(Yes, I am paraphrasing what the men said.)

What I appreciated about Ryan was that he did not back down from saying that abortion is wrong, period.  He didn't contradict what his faith believes about the life of unborn children.  And he did say that yes, in a case of clear right and wrong, it IS the government's right to dictate what people can and can't do.  It's wrong to kill an adult person in cold blood except in cases of self-defense.  The government dictates that and has laws that uphold that.  Abortion should be no different.

So I am voting for Romney and Ryan because they uphold what I believe is right.  I think their plans regarding foreign policy, the war(s) on terrorism, nuclear weapons, and taxes in the US will do a lot of good and are the wisest decisions that the government can make right now.  I have confidence in their character, as much as I can considering they're politicians, and more importantly, I have confidence that God is in control, period, no matter who is in the White House.

That, finally, is what it all comes down to for me.  God is in charge.  Not the President of the United States, technically the most powerful person in the world.  Not the people of the United States who vote that President into office.  Not terrorists who murder those people of the United States.

God is in control.  I have full confidence in that.  No matter what happens politically, in relation to other countries, or to the economy, the fact that God's in charge will not ever change.  I know he will always take care of me.  I know that nothing that happens in the world can affect my eternal salvation.  And I know that God will always give me opportunities to stand up for my faith in him.

God himself does not need defending.  What we can do, and should do, as Christians is to speak up for what is right and denounce what is wrong.  We need to make clear what is of God and his Word and what is not.  That's what matters eternally--not the person who will be in the White House for the next four years.

Rely on God, my friends...not politicians.


P.S.  I'm glad to be writing again.  I've missed it, and I hope to write a little more often starting now.  Thanks to those of you who are still sticking with me!  You are a blessing.

The Days Ordained for Me

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." -Psalm 139:13-16

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."


That truth is absolutely mind-boggling.  I was born twenty-one years ago today, but long before that, God knew me, and he already knew what each day of my future life would bring.

He knew me before he "knit me together in my mother's womb."  God has known me intimately since he created me at conception...since before that.

And he knows every day of my life that is to come in the future.

When I look back on my life up until this point, I can see God's hand at work in every detail.

He brought my parents together in a pretty awesome way--without that, I wouldn't have been born.
He led us to the places he wanted us to live, to meet the people he wanted us to meet, in order to shape our lives so that we could become who he wanted us to become.
God has given me so many incredible opportunities through which he has blessed me, enabled me to be a blessing, and taught me about who he is and about who I am as his child.
He made it possible for me to end up here, at this little college, to meet the man who is now my husband, and many other people who have been a blessing in my life.

In these and in countless other ways, I can see that God had my life planned out in advance.

And I can know and trust, therefore, that he also has the rest of my life planned out--he has known it since before the beginning of time.

My times are in his hands.
My life is in his control.

I need not fear the future--God knows it.
I need not worry about my life--God will take care of it.

The God who has loved me since the world was born, this awesome God, knows my future and will be with me through every moment of it.

Just as he has always been.

And the same holds true for you.