So, today I had the honor of giving the invocation at the Founders' Day convocation. The Lord was definitely with me and this was one of the first times I've ever spoken publicly and my voice not shaken. Praise the Lord! Because I wasn't allowed to talk about Jesus or God, I chose to talk about blessings. That way, I know I'm still talking about the blessings from Jesus and still gets my point across without upsetting any of the faculty. As I went on about my day, I continued to notice blessing after blessing.
-the beauty of Lee Chapel
-an interesting politics class
-homework that I thought was due wasn't
-great work study environment
-sweet small group time
-awesome individual time with 11 of the RAs
-legit talks with friends
-the love between girls on my hall
I could go on and on, but the point is. I'm blessed. Immensely.
"The blessing of the Lord makes one rich." Proverbs 10:22
Clearly, I am so rich! Thank you, Jesus!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
In My Element
That's where I've been and why I haven't posted for the past week. I literally have been going 24/7 with all of the facets of rush week that I can't believe that I've only been back here for a week. It feels like I've been back for an eternity. Why was I in my element? Because I was dealing with crisis after crisis this week from girls that didn't get into sororities they wanted to rho gams that were unsure about their girls. I have felt so needed this past week, and I love that. I feel closer to the girls on my hall this year than I ever have as an RA for 3 years, and I feel so blessed with where the Lord has put me. It's the getting back to homework that I haven't done because of rush week that is not so fun...
So, back on track, Isaiah 10
Summary: God's judgment on Assyria
My take: Reading this immediately made me think about last summer. Caring for the forgotten, invisible, and hated. That's what this is calling us to do. He says woe to those who don't. Before last summer, I knew academically the knowledge that we should love the widow, the poor, etc., but I had never made that heart knowledge because of all of the politics we hear about homeless people being lazy and dishonest. and so on. But, the Lord doesn't say love the poor if they are hardworking and honest. He says just love the poor, meaning no matter what. It's hard a lot of the things the Lord calls us to do. It's not comfortable or fun many times, but it doesn't matter. If he calls us to do it, we must abide. Therefore, I am going to choose to love the poor, love the forgotten, and love the hated. Here on campus that looks very different than in inner-city Houston, but it's all the same, loving people.
Lord, let me love people well here on campus for the last 4 months I'm here no matter if it makes me uncomfortable or anything else. Thanks for loving me even when I'm not very lovable.
So, back on track, Isaiah 10
Summary: God's judgment on Assyria
My take: Reading this immediately made me think about last summer. Caring for the forgotten, invisible, and hated. That's what this is calling us to do. He says woe to those who don't. Before last summer, I knew academically the knowledge that we should love the widow, the poor, etc., but I had never made that heart knowledge because of all of the politics we hear about homeless people being lazy and dishonest. and so on. But, the Lord doesn't say love the poor if they are hardworking and honest. He says just love the poor, meaning no matter what. It's hard a lot of the things the Lord calls us to do. It's not comfortable or fun many times, but it doesn't matter. If he calls us to do it, we must abide. Therefore, I am going to choose to love the poor, love the forgotten, and love the hated. Here on campus that looks very different than in inner-city Houston, but it's all the same, loving people.
Lord, let me love people well here on campus for the last 4 months I'm here no matter if it makes me uncomfortable or anything else. Thanks for loving me even when I'm not very lovable.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Home Sweet College
Even as of this morning, I was still a little weary about coming back here. It's always such a mix of emotions, but the Lord calmed that as soon as I walked into DHall tonight. Before I even sat down, I knew I was at home, my college home. As I went to sat down, I sat down next to probably many of the people that I will not only be best friends this year, but for the rest of my life. Eating and chatting and laughing made me realize why I love this place so much, not because of it's physical location, but because of the beautiful, wonderful people the Lord has brought into my life here. I call it home sweet college :)
And, even though I'm tired tonight, I am determined to keep up my resolutions, so here's Isaiah 9
Summary: Foreshadowing of Christ's birth and the Punishment of Samaria
My take: The only time I've heard the phrases that are in verse 6 are from the New Testament, so I think it's so cool that they are here, too to again prove the validity of the Bible. It says, "And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." I love that he's powerful. I love that he comforts me. I love that he's my daddy. I love that he brings peace. I love that he's all. Who knew that Isaiah held these powerful words about a King that is born in the New Testament?
Lord, thanks for being wonderful and mighty and father and so many other things to you. I pray you remind me of that daily and that you reveal these things to this campus. Thank you for guiding me to a college where I am able to love and be loved well.
And, even though I'm tired tonight, I am determined to keep up my resolutions, so here's Isaiah 9
Summary: Foreshadowing of Christ's birth and the Punishment of Samaria
My take: The only time I've heard the phrases that are in verse 6 are from the New Testament, so I think it's so cool that they are here, too to again prove the validity of the Bible. It says, "And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." I love that he's powerful. I love that he comforts me. I love that he's my daddy. I love that he brings peace. I love that he's all. Who knew that Isaiah held these powerful words about a King that is born in the New Testament?
Lord, thanks for being wonderful and mighty and father and so many other things to you. I pray you remind me of that daily and that you reveal these things to this campus. Thank you for guiding me to a college where I am able to love and be loved well.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Ready
8 and a half hours before my flight takes off from Houston (that is if this terrible weather disappears) I am feeling ready to take on Lexington and school. Today was just what I needed. From getting a bright pink manicure with mom and black light mini golf with the fam to a lazy afternoon nap and packing with Omar, it was perfect. It was great closure to a great break. As my flight leaves takes tomorrow, I can know that I left feeling good about my time at home having the best balance of family, friend, and alone time.
Also, I'm excited because today marks my 7th straight day of doing all my New Year's Resolutions! They say it takes 21 days to make a habit, so that means I'm 1/3 of the way there! It definitely is becoming easier and easier especially with my quiet times and only drinking 2 cokes a day.
With that, Isaiah 8
Summary: Prophecy that Assyria will invade the land and then what it truly means to fear God
My take: First, I was so excited reading this first part because I've known the useless fact that Mahershalalhashbaz is the longest name in the Bible for years, but I've never actually read about him! Here he is in Isaiah 8! Then, there is a lot I really like about the second part of the passage.
I love verse 13b , "Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." I have to say I'm a pretty fearful person. I fear my future. I fear going and talking to people I don't know. I fear not being good enough. But, this is so cool that the Lord is basically saying, "Don't fear all that other stuff. I'll take care of it. Fear me." In so many of our "feel good" churches today, they tiptoe around fearing God and just talk about his love, but I think the fear of God is important to understanding His love. He is all powerful, all knowing, all powerful, and that is pretty scary because He can do whatever he wants to you, but that's also the reason He can love you like noone else can. No human in our own power can love people perfectly because we don't have the power, but God does! How beautiful is that?
Then, there's verse 17, which I have a love-hate relationship with. It says, "And I will wait on the Lord...And I will hope in Him." As i said in an earlier post, I tend not to be a very patient person. Thus, I don't like waiting at all especially when it comes to my future. I want to have every second of my life planned out 5 years in advance. I'm a planner by nature, so it kills me not knowing right now even where I'll be next year. I know, though, that the second part of this verse is what keeps me sane. Because I know my Lord has plans to prosper me, while I wait, I wait expectantly. I wait with great anticipation of just what awesome plans the Lord has for me, knowing that even though I can't picture it right now, the Lord's plans for me are so much better than my own! I have a hope and that's why I can wait.. maybe not patiently, but we're working on that one.
Lord, keep me safe as I fly back tomorrow. Bless this next week. Give the campus a calm and peace that only comes from you.
Also, I'm excited because today marks my 7th straight day of doing all my New Year's Resolutions! They say it takes 21 days to make a habit, so that means I'm 1/3 of the way there! It definitely is becoming easier and easier especially with my quiet times and only drinking 2 cokes a day.
With that, Isaiah 8
Summary: Prophecy that Assyria will invade the land and then what it truly means to fear God
My take: First, I was so excited reading this first part because I've known the useless fact that Mahershalalhashbaz is the longest name in the Bible for years, but I've never actually read about him! Here he is in Isaiah 8! Then, there is a lot I really like about the second part of the passage.
I love verse 13b , "Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." I have to say I'm a pretty fearful person. I fear my future. I fear going and talking to people I don't know. I fear not being good enough. But, this is so cool that the Lord is basically saying, "Don't fear all that other stuff. I'll take care of it. Fear me." In so many of our "feel good" churches today, they tiptoe around fearing God and just talk about his love, but I think the fear of God is important to understanding His love. He is all powerful, all knowing, all powerful, and that is pretty scary because He can do whatever he wants to you, but that's also the reason He can love you like noone else can. No human in our own power can love people perfectly because we don't have the power, but God does! How beautiful is that?
Then, there's verse 17, which I have a love-hate relationship with. It says, "And I will wait on the Lord...And I will hope in Him." As i said in an earlier post, I tend not to be a very patient person. Thus, I don't like waiting at all especially when it comes to my future. I want to have every second of my life planned out 5 years in advance. I'm a planner by nature, so it kills me not knowing right now even where I'll be next year. I know, though, that the second part of this verse is what keeps me sane. Because I know my Lord has plans to prosper me, while I wait, I wait expectantly. I wait with great anticipation of just what awesome plans the Lord has for me, knowing that even though I can't picture it right now, the Lord's plans for me are so much better than my own! I have a hope and that's why I can wait.. maybe not patiently, but we're working on that one.
Lord, keep me safe as I fly back tomorrow. Bless this next week. Give the campus a calm and peace that only comes from you.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Feeling Inbetween
It's always hard in these last few days at home before I go back to school. I don't really know how to feel. On one hand, I'm sad to leave the lazy lifestyle of watching lots of TV and being taken care of by my parents, but on the other hand, I am really excited to go back and see everyone at school and feel useful again. I just feel really inbetween right now since I go back Sunday to the craziness that is rush week. I'm just trying to soak up everything that is home in these last 30 hours here. Tomorrow will be really good for that since it's my big brother's birthday and we're going to play black light mini golf and having a family lunch at Friday's. I guess I'm glad I feel like this, though, because it means I love both of my "homes" a lot.
And, now my study of Isaiah 7:
Summary- Isaiah is sent to King Ahaz and then a prophecy of Christ's birth
My take: This passage really confirms how real the Lord is. There was a prophecy all the way back in Isaiah and then it actually comes true in the New Testament! Pretty sweet! I also love in verse 12 that Ahaz says, "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!" In our society so many times people "test" the Lord by asking the Lord for something and saying they'll come back to Him if he does a certain thing. This is so silly because our God is so much bigger than that! He is the teacher and we are the students! The students don't test the teacher. That's not how it works. The Lord is real no matter if he shows you a sign or not, bottom line.
Lord, I pray that I always am reminded of how real you are. Let it never become dull that you are alive and you are God!
And, now my study of Isaiah 7:
Summary- Isaiah is sent to King Ahaz and then a prophecy of Christ's birth
My take: This passage really confirms how real the Lord is. There was a prophecy all the way back in Isaiah and then it actually comes true in the New Testament! Pretty sweet! I also love in verse 12 that Ahaz says, "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!" In our society so many times people "test" the Lord by asking the Lord for something and saying they'll come back to Him if he does a certain thing. This is so silly because our God is so much bigger than that! He is the teacher and we are the students! The students don't test the teacher. That's not how it works. The Lord is real no matter if he shows you a sign or not, bottom line.
Lord, I pray that I always am reminded of how real you are. Let it never become dull that you are alive and you are God!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
O happy day!
Wow! The Lord is so good to me. After all that insecurities talk two days ago, the Lord has answered my prayers about that in HUGE ways already. While two days ago, I was feeling lonely and almost friendless at home, today I got to have such fun,sweet community with literally all my favorite people at home. It started off with lunch with mom, then second lunch where I didn't actually eat with Liz and Kristina catching up on Liz's newfound married life, then dinner with my cousin, Elyssa who I hadn't seen in over a year (can I just say it's so wonderful to have family that even though you don't see very often, you can start up just where you left off?), a hilarious time of dessert at Chili's with Brittany and Jilian, and finished off with late night basketball with my favorite boys Austin, Omar, Steven, and Tyler. What a wonderful day where I felt so loved and had an absolute blast every second! God is good. And the best part is as soon as I got home I felt like reading Isaiah!!
Isaiah 6:
Summary- Isaiah's vision in the temple, the Lord's declaration of the blindness that is to come for the Jewish nation, and the destruction which will follow
My take- I love the imagery in the first part. It just describes so majestically the Lord sitting on His throne. It really brings out that God is King and ruler of the earth. As cliche as it may be, I absolutely love verse 8, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me!" I love that despite all the wickedness that is going on, somebody has to step up to help overcome it. The best part is Isaiah's response, not only in its words, but also how quickly he responds with no doubt. I want to respond to the Lord like that. I want this year to be the year that I stop saying, I'll go if you send me to the places I want to go, but I'll go where you want me to go. I'll go to Washington if that's where He has or even to Japan. I want to be where the Lord wants me.
Lord, thanks for being so good to me even when I'm not good to you. Thanks for being so generous and merciful on me!
Isaiah 6:
Summary- Isaiah's vision in the temple, the Lord's declaration of the blindness that is to come for the Jewish nation, and the destruction which will follow
My take- I love the imagery in the first part. It just describes so majestically the Lord sitting on His throne. It really brings out that God is King and ruler of the earth. As cliche as it may be, I absolutely love verse 8, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me!" I love that despite all the wickedness that is going on, somebody has to step up to help overcome it. The best part is Isaiah's response, not only in its words, but also how quickly he responds with no doubt. I want to respond to the Lord like that. I want this year to be the year that I stop saying, I'll go if you send me to the places I want to go, but I'll go where you want me to go. I'll go to Washington if that's where He has or even to Japan. I want to be where the Lord wants me.
Lord, thanks for being so good to me even when I'm not good to you. Thanks for being so generous and merciful on me!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Woman of Prayer
So, I wish I were one. I also wish I was patient, understanding, non-judgmental, and many other things. These are all traits that i'm constantly striving to become, although not easy. One of my biggest goals beyond these, though, is to be a woman of prayer. I want prayer to so consume my life that I can't help, but talk to everyone about what I'm praying about and how God has answered prayer. That's one of the reasons I really want to be diligent with prayer journal again is to start me on the journey to becoming a woman of prayer and eventually, a woman of the Lord. Right now, I'd definitely still consider myself a girl of the Lord. I have SO much growing to do. I know I always will, but in my head, I have this magic formula as to what a woman of the Lord is that I want to achieve. There are just certain women that I see, and am just like, "Wow! That is a woman after the Lord's own heart!" I want to be that SOOOOO badly!
Speaking of answered prayer, the Lord definitely answered my prayers about my insecurities yesterday. One of the biggest reasons my insecurities crept in was because I had texted a few people without response from them. (Silly reason to become insecure I know, but I couldnt' help it.) Come to find out today that all of the text messages I sent/are sending are not going through plus one of my best friends tried to call me and my phone never showed the call! Thus, my little insecurities were actually just a phone malfunction. Thanks, Lord for answering my prayers!
And now, Isaiah 5:
Summary: I'll be real, I'm still a little confused about what's going on. From what I understand, the first part is about a vineyard that is supposed to grow well, but ends up growing wild grapes instead. I think this is symbolism for the house of Israel, but I'll check up on it and find out by tomorrow. The second part is about the danger in excess of anything whether it be wine or possessions or any other thing.
My take: From the vineyard, the Lord has the power to do whatever He pleases and our actions will have consequences on judgment day. From the second part, I really like this because it somewhat speaks to my questions about how much is too much. It's basically saying things in themselves are not evil, but things when they are completely unneeded and cause pride are not good. Probably my favorite verse is verse 20,
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
What this has to do with the excess issue is that we deceive ourselves into thinking that if a little is okay, then a lot is okay as well. These days, we're hearing so many mixed messages on what is "good" and what is "light" that we need to make sure our definition of good or light comes straight from the Lord and His word and not our own conceptions.
Well, that's all I've got today. I'll try to research Isaiah 6 a little better to see if my take is along the right lines or not.
Lord, thanks for a joyful day today.
P.S. Update on the New Year's Resolutions: Today I ran 3 miles, played tennis, had only 1 coke, and have no completed my chapter in the Bible and blog!
Speaking of answered prayer, the Lord definitely answered my prayers about my insecurities yesterday. One of the biggest reasons my insecurities crept in was because I had texted a few people without response from them. (Silly reason to become insecure I know, but I couldnt' help it.) Come to find out today that all of the text messages I sent/are sending are not going through plus one of my best friends tried to call me and my phone never showed the call! Thus, my little insecurities were actually just a phone malfunction. Thanks, Lord for answering my prayers!
And now, Isaiah 5:
Summary: I'll be real, I'm still a little confused about what's going on. From what I understand, the first part is about a vineyard that is supposed to grow well, but ends up growing wild grapes instead. I think this is symbolism for the house of Israel, but I'll check up on it and find out by tomorrow. The second part is about the danger in excess of anything whether it be wine or possessions or any other thing.
My take: From the vineyard, the Lord has the power to do whatever He pleases and our actions will have consequences on judgment day. From the second part, I really like this because it somewhat speaks to my questions about how much is too much. It's basically saying things in themselves are not evil, but things when they are completely unneeded and cause pride are not good. Probably my favorite verse is verse 20,
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
What this has to do with the excess issue is that we deceive ourselves into thinking that if a little is okay, then a lot is okay as well. These days, we're hearing so many mixed messages on what is "good" and what is "light" that we need to make sure our definition of good or light comes straight from the Lord and His word and not our own conceptions.
Well, that's all I've got today. I'll try to research Isaiah 6 a little better to see if my take is along the right lines or not.
Lord, thanks for a joyful day today.
P.S. Update on the New Year's Resolutions: Today I ran 3 miles, played tennis, had only 1 coke, and have no completed my chapter in the Bible and blog!
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