Laundry

Soooo.. it finally got down after only 4 1/2 short weeks. I think I may have set a record. My mound was getting sooo huge. Last week, I even ran out of underwear, but instead of doing laundry, I just went and bought more. Yeah, I'm really pathetic. But, you might be, too if doing laundry consisted of lugging it down 3 flights of stairs and then outside. Ironically, I chose the day when it was all snowy and really cold outside. Haha.. Anyways, I had a great day. I continually see the Lord in my everyday life and I love it.

Sooo much goodness in Isaiah 25.. It's just become my favorite chapter in Isaiah so far

Summary- How we will praise God with everything we are and how He will remove all suffering from life in the end

My take-

v.1 "O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You. I will praise Your name. For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." I love that last line. I read it to mean his promises are faithfulness and truth. He promises us so much, and fulfills it every time. Love that.

v.4 "For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress. A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat." Remind me of my CSM summer. The Lord is the strength of the rich and the poor. He can be there for those that feel like they have nothing else, whether that be they have no food or whether they have no love.

v.8"He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all the faces."
Probably my favorite verse from this chapter. I would want this to be read at my funeral. Death here on this earth does not determine death for eternity. Amen to that. I love the imagery of the Lord swallowing up death forever. It's especially relevant after all these proclamations against so many countries. The Lord will not only swallow up death forever, but He will have no crying or sadness in heaven either. Soooo good.

v.9 "And it will be said in that day: Behold this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him;We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
This verse is so good. It definitely assures me that waiting on God is so worth it! Even right now, I feel like I'm waiting on the Lord to show me where and what I'll be doing next year. I'm playing a big waiting game, but the Lord is still in it. He has my perfect plan. I will wait for Him because He is worth it.
v.11b" And He will bring down their pride." Self-explanatory. While I feel like the Lord has been working on my pride lately, I still have a LONG way to go. It's gonna suck, but also be so good when ultimately the Lord brings my pride to none. It means that I'll fully be rejoicing Him and be in awe of His majesty.

His timing

The Lord answered a long time prayer today. He brought some younger girls to BSU! That, in itself, was a step of boldness. I asked new people to come, and they even liked it! Also, I was motivated and was finished with my homework by about 3 today! And of course, what Tuesday would be complete without a little Zumba session! We did a whole 45 minute one tonight, too and I still loved it.. especially when some pledges came in to work on their lipsync dance.. haha.. we may have turned them into zumba lovers, too! I love how the Lord answers prayer with the perfect timing. We want our timing to be God's timing so many times when really God's is best. We just don't know that at the time.

Isaiah 24
Summary: Everyone in the end will vanish and all will be viewed the same
My take: This life is so short. Live for the Lord because He is for eternity. After this weekend, this makes me feel even more bold about sharing my faith. Who cares if you have to have a really awkward conversation or lose a friend because you share the Gospel? It's the difference between life or death for eternity. This time on earth is sooo short compared to eternity. Sometimes I try to put my brain around that idea and then my brain just starts to hurt. Point is, that's a long time and the human brain shouldn't be able to comprehend it because it's a God sized thing and we are not God.

Lord, thanks for answering my prayers in your perfect timing. Let me have a patient spirit.

I know who I am

"I know who I am. I know who I am. I know who I am. I am Yours. I am Yours."
This song was on repeat in my head all day today after learning it this weekend. I feel like it's my anthem of this year. I feel the most content I think I've ever felt in the Lord. I know who I am and I am His. This weekend I was goofy and crazy and confident at the same time. It was so freeing. I have finally realized that who I am is awesome because God made me this way, so just be me no matter what. It sounds simple, but hard to actually achieve. It's such a great place to be with the Lord because no matter what the circumstance, I can still be joyful and know that I am His.
Isaiah 23-
Summary: Proclamation against Syria and Tyre and how they are gonna fall
My take- v. 11 says, "He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms." Again, we see the Lord's crazy, awesome power. I think it's definitely a trend here in Isaiah. How crazy is it that the Lord can just shake kingdoms if he wants to? Hey, God. I have a few people I'd like you to shake. Wanna come help me out there? Haha.. I wish.

Lord, thanks for letting my identity be solely in you and not what I do. Thanks for my unexpected interview today and the way you are providing in my life.

Here I am, send me.

This weekend had the awesome opportunity to go the IV's winter conference on evangelism out at Rockbridge. It was exactly what I needed. I needed to reconnect with God and remember how to hear Him again. I needed to be challenged. I needed time to be goofy and dance and have fun on a ropes course. It was just so wonderful. I'll talk more about the retreat tomorrow, but I'll leave you with a few big things I got from the speaker this weekend, who was absolutely incredible.
1.) We can and should be constantly expanding our capacity to be filled by God.
2.) There was never a person made that was not made to worship God.
3.) Asking friends, "What is stopping you from following Jesus?"
4.) If you really care about your friends, you will tell them about Jesus.
5.) Fear clenches the joy of the Holy Spirit.


Isaiah 22
Summary: Proclamation against Jerusalem and the judgment that will fall on Shebna
My take: After this weekend, I love that the last 4 words of this chapter are "The Lord has spoken." Sure, there's power in the proclamation against Jerusalem and the judgment of Shebna, but the real power is in that the Lord has spoken. When the Lord speaks, it's more powerful than anything else. This weekend when the Lord laid different things on my heart, I was overwhelmed with his power.

Lord, thanks for the Holy Spirit. Let me continue to expand my capacity to be filled by you. Let me listen to you.

In Control

The more I talk with Kevin, our GCF minister, about different struggles in my life, the more I am starting to realize that there is one root. I like to be in control of everything. I'm worried about my future because I don't like not being in control of where I'm going next. I don't like passing down my leadership positions because I don't like giving someone else control. I don't like not being perfect because then that means that I'm not fully in control of myself. It's a hard battle to fight. Today, for the first time I realized not just with head knowledge, but with heart knowledge, that I can't go on clutching on to things so tightly. I will never be able to hold on forever. I will never be able to control everything I want to control. But, thankfully, that's why I serve a God who is in control, whether I want Him to be sometimes or not. As hard as it is for me to pray for the Lord to take away my pride, it's even harder for me to pray that the Lord will take away my control. But, that's what needs to happen.
Lord, take away my "supposed" control. Control everything in my life because you know best! Change my heart, so that I want you to be in control.

Isaiah 21
Summary- Babylon is going to fall soon. This chapter talks about what that will look like.
My take- v. 9b "and all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground." This chapter paints such a good picture of what I imagine the end times to be like. All of the false gods will be torn to the ground. All the mosques and statues of Budah will fall to the ground at the glory of God. There will no longer be any doubt of who God is. The question is, "Do you know Him?" I am so blessed to say that I do know Him and am pumped at that day because I will get to spend eternity in heaven with my Jesus.

Patient

Another thing I wish I were. I am definitely working on it. I am making a conscious effort to be patient with people. I'm just so time motivated that it makes it sooo hard. I just have to keep my reminding myself that people and relationships are more important than time. It sounds like that's easy, but not for me. I am very task driven. Thus, sometimes having to talk to someone for an extra five minutes can start to really frustrate me. It's stupid. I know. But, that's why I have Jesus to rely on. I can't be patient on my own. 2 summers ago as a camp counselor, me and my girls talked about 3 steps to Christianity. #1, accepting Christ into your life. #2, choosing to serve the Lord even when you don't want to aka transforming your actions or outward appearance and #3 transforming the inside, so that you want to serve people instead of feeling like you have to. You can't skip #1 to get to 2 or 3. It's so true. Many times, you aren't going to want to do something, but you still need to choose to do it anyways. Eventually, the closer you get to the Lord, the more natural it will become and you'll want to do those things because you're serving Him.

Isaiah 20
Summary: Sign against Egypt and Ethiopia
My take: Well, this chapter's a bit tough to try to apply it to my life being only 6 verses about what's going to happen to Egypt and Ethiopia, but I do like how it is pointed out how faithful Isaiah has been.
v. 3 "Then the Lord said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign..." Man, I want to be that much of a servant, too. If Isaiah can walk naked and barefoot for three years, I can be patient with my friends. I can love someone I don't feel like loving. I can do it because I am a servant of Christ. It's definitely really humbling to see just how faithful Isaiah was. My pride gets to me a lot and I think that I am this great Christian until you see someone like this and I feel like such dirt comparatively. It just shows we always have growing to do in the Lord. We never arrive. So hard, but so good.

Lord, let me be your servant. Let me serve like Isaiah.

Isaiah 19

Homework just got done and it's 2:30 AM.. such is college life.. so short post tonight since I'm presenting a problem in Abstract Algebra at 9:05.
Isaiah 19:
Summary:Proclamation against Egypt
My take: Throughout these proclamations, the Lord's power is just so very evident. He is powerful and just, yet you still get the sense that He is doing what is right for them. The Lord in the end shows such grace. I need to constantly be reminded how much I need grace. So many times I just feel right in my frustration and pity, and don't see it as sinful. I think I want so badly not to be sinful that I try to look over sins such as these. I've said before that I hate that I'm not perfect. I was actually talking about this in discipleship a few weeks ago and my GCF minister said something so profound that I'll never forget. Being perfect is not not sinning. If it was, we could stay in bed all day and see no one and be perfect. There are days when we can come pretty close in our heads to "not sinning." However, being perfect means loving perfectly. Man, do I have a long way to go in that. There is no confusion there that I'm not perfect.

Lord, thanks for being perfect so I don't have to be. Continue to shower me with your grace and remind me of it.