Summertime and Piggies.

I have always liked summer, despite the heat. I enjoy sunny days and ice cream, swimming pools and sno-cones, sleeping in and staying up late (which are two habits I tend to follow no matter what the season may be, but they certainly fit best during the Summer season.)

So out of the Christian University environment and back in the comfort of my own home and bed (which has a REAL mattress and not whatever that thing HPU has me sleeping on is), needless to say, it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Oops. Maybe I should give myself some leeway since I happened to assume that this would happen and I'm not neccessarily sure anyone really reads this, but then again, this isn't for the people reading it, this is for myself and for God. Writing of His and my relationship is a great way of exposing it to better understand it; understanding leads to maturity.

So, what did God teach me this summer? A lot, and it has only been about a month and a half, so that would be a long blog post that I'm not necessarily capable of writing at this point. Easier question: What has God taught me today?

A fool may know just as much as a wise man, but a wise man puts his knowledge in to action while a fool does not.
There are many things I know. I know how to tie my shoes, I know that 2+2=4, I know the difference between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. I know that I should be in God's word everyday. I know that I should talk to God every day. I know that I should be a good steward of my money, and I know that I should tithe.
Remember how the third little piggy was wise and he built his house out of brick? He spent more time on it than those foolish piggy brothers of his did. He probably dug a hole and poured some cement in it and created a strong foundation so that when trouble came, he wouldn't be in danger because he was on solid ground, (just as our faith in God should be.) On other hand, piglets Tweedledee and Tweedledum knew that sticks and straw weren't the most reliable of materials, but they were sure easier and more "time efficient". They had watched HGTV. They knew that you need a sturdy foundation and proper materials to build something reliable and trustworthy.

But knowing truth doesn't make you wise. Actually being in God's word and building upon your relationship with him is what brings about maturity in your faith and in other areas of your life as well. Just because I know that I should do something is not enough, it does not separate me from anyone who God as deemed a "fool". But the wise man knows all about solid foundations. He knows everything that a fool knows... He just doesn't wait until the Big Bad Wolf comes in order to put what he knows in to action.

Faith and Deeds.

The book of James is one of my favorites. Ever since I was little and listening to Adventures in Odyssey on tape late at night on my little battery powered tape player, and I heard an episode which concentrated on James 1:2-4. They said that verse about 3 or 4 times within the episode and I loved it so much that I rewound the tape and listened to the verse over and over again until I memorized it.
I've read James a lot. It's like... my comfort book/my go-to, so, if it's possible, there's a chance that I read it too much.
Even though it's short, there is SO much packed in to it.
So here's part of the second chapter. :)


James 2: 14-26


   What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
  But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
   Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
  You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
  In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I Wonder.

How hard will I cry out of joy when I get to Heaven and God looks at me and says, "I love you."

Be Still.

Last night after Stand (the Sunday Night College Ministry at First Baptist Church of Brownwood), Austin (First Baptist's Youth Minister) brought up a really good point that he said had been coming up a lot in his own life over the past week: people in general will not rest. We stress ourselves out and in these times of stress, afternoon naps and movies are merely used as tools of distraction away from our stress. These do not actually relieve stress or fix it, they simply hinder it for the time. People more often need to be told to just... be still.
This is on my mind because I happen to be mid-stress mode right now. Summer is technically 17 days away, there are 4 days of finals and every project that has been assigned in any of my classes seems to be due either this week or next. I have a test tomorrow and a book report on the most boring book I have ever picked up due Wednesday, and it all has to be finished today since I have work tomorrow. This still would not propose such a time constraint if it were not for the fact that tonight and tomorrow afternoon there are Chapel services that I have to attend in order to finish up my Chapel credit for the semester. My mind feels like it is going a hundred miles a minute, but no matter how much I seem to beg myself to just STOP and take a minute to refocus, I get consumed by worry: worry that I won't make a good grade on this test tomorrow, worry that I'll be up late tonight working on my biology book report which will make me tired at work tomorrow which will in turn make work ten times longer which will then make work ten times more dull....... my muscles tense up just thinking about it.

But then there's Psalm 46.
¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.
 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”
 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Reading that slowly is so calming. Reading the Bible and being in God's Word doesn't take our "to-do's" away. It doesn't necessarily make tests simpler and homework easier. What it does do though, is so much more valuable and important: it reminds us of who God is, and that no matter what, He is our refuge in good times and in times of trouble. He can be counted on no matter what, and there is nothing more valuable than a relationship with Him.
The end of school is near. The end of my freshman year of college is imminent.  Although everything seems to be colliding together and stressed within a two-week time constraint, God is always here: strong and unchanging. Reliable and powerful, full of understanding and love.

His love is strong, His love is great, His love is good.
Knowing that is more important than anything I could ever memorize for a test.

Makes Me Think - FMS #13462

Makes Me Think - FMS #13462

Patience.

God made me a thinker.  God made me a planner. God also gave me a lot of excitement and anticipation. This is good: it keeps me bubbly and joyful, but it also means that by my own power, I allow myself to get caught up in my thoughts and my plans. When things (surprisingly enough?) don't go as I (of course) envisioned that they would, I get even more caught up in them: tripping over my own feelings as though they're a rug that's not laying flat. All I can then concentrate on is the bump in the rug and the problem it's caused me. I'll be frustrated that MY plan didn't go how I wanted and expected them to.
I think this is true for everyone to some extent, but it has definitely ALWAYS been an issue for me. Sure, I "know" that God wants me to just let Him take control, but sometimes, I think that I just say my plans are like... "in God's name" or something, and I think that if I pray for something REALLY hard, then I'll get it. I expect it to work like a secret formula, so that what I anticipate is going to happen, does.
But God isn't a secret formula, there isn't a hocus-pocus type of spell in prayer which will make us succeed in everything we do. Praying doesn't necessarily give us what we ask for, and using prayer as a selfish tool only makes us lose sight of the true value and importance of it.
It's true that God does call us to come to Him with our everything, (He also instructed us to come to him with our needs in thanksgiving. I think that's a really awesome reminder of the perspective we're supposed to have on this world.) but there are a lot of things which we, or I, feel entitled to merely because it is the "social norm", or because I want it.
No one has the PERFECT relationship with God; we will ALWAYS have our struggles against Him. I don't want to always be stubborn when it comes to relinquishing what I imagine to be my own control over situations to Him, but this could possibly be something I do have to be wary of for the rest of my life. Still, no matter how much I may fight and struggle against Him, He will always prevail. God is bigger than any box I could ever try and put Him in.
A thought that has been coming up often lately, is that whenever God says "no" to something I ask for, it's because He's saying "No, I have something even better than that."
SO: if I happen to be in your prayers, please pray that I be given more patience.
In the end... God ALWAYS has something better.

God is Love.