The heart

     I have been praying lately for God to give me a heart like His.  I had no idea what I was asking for honestly.  It has been hard to discern what He wants from me, where He wants my heart to be, but I have been stagnant in my search.  I have not have an active participle faith.  He wants us in the Word.  The Word that is fresh on the page.  It is cool to think about.  God's timing is not based on minutes or days or years or centuries.  God just.... is. To Him, His Word is just as fresh as if I were hanging out with Paul right now while he was writing his letter to the Philippians to encourage them to imitate Christ's humility.
     I can't even comprehend this, not completely anyway.  But it does give a completely different view of The Word.  Let's be in the Word because it is NEW!!! It is FRESH! Read to eat!! Let's learn to love like Him.

Reoccurring Themes...

     In high school I took a few AP classes (only the literary ones, my brain doesn't handle math or science well...).  We would all read a book of historical or artistic significance to literature, most of the time it would be books that were considered "classics".  Yet, without fail, almost every book was ridiculous and no one in their right mind could relate to it let alone understand it.  Anyway, sorry about the small rant, the whole class would discuss the book and, of course, the popular topic was "Reoccurring Themes" in the book.  I haven't thought about those long discussions in a while until lately, when I have come across some reoccurring themes in my own life.  Specifically reoccurring themes God is bringing to my attention.

     I am always asking God to reveal things to me that are a hinderance to my relationship with Him.  Although I am asking Him to "reveal" things, a few obvious things are already in my mind that I had been trying to work on.  I have been asking for this for a while, and it is so cool how hinderances change and the ways I have been trying to push them aside.  The closer I get to Him the more I see things that have been eating me up for a long time, that 6 months ago I would have never recognized as a hinderance.

     For example, lately I have been seeing my "acts of service" as a hinderance.  Sounds weird? Let me explain.  God wants us to have a servants heart, a heart completely enticed in wanting to serve HIM and no other.  So, even when I am pouring a coffee for someone with a smile on my face and words of encouragement, if it isn't for Him, He wants nothing to do with it.  Also, it has become something of a show sometimes.  I, subconsciously, am sweet and humble with the motivation that someone will notice it and think "Oh, she is such a sweet nice girl..." 

.........uh, oh....................

     Scary to think about, but its arrogance. Ouch, right?  This is hard to admit, but it is true.  God wants me to serve HIM.  He wants me to be loving to HIM.  Our society is so concentrated on self-fulfillment, and we will never be completely satisfied in ourselves.  We still crave, we still want, we are still selfish.  God is so good, He understands us, and still loves us! Crazy love...

     So, thank you Ms. Ressler and Mr. Auvdel.  Even though I saw discussing reoccurring themes in goofy books as pointless, it did teach me to be aware of it in my life! I am using what I learned in high school in real life! :) 

   

     Lord, please give me a heart for You. Teach me more everyday, so that I can love You more and therefore love on others more, because You love them just as much as You love me...

My latest installment...

TOMS.

So... I may be joining the movement a little late but better late than never, right?
For those of you not in-the-know, TOMS is a company that makes simple shoes for anyone to buy, they are comfortable and cute, but here is the catch... For every pair of TOMS shoes bought another pair is given to a child in need of shoes!!! Seriously one of the coolest thing I have heard of.  Although I heard about it years and years ago I never got myself to buy a pair. I would see them at a dept. store or in a little outlet in the mall, but it just felt weird to buy them at the mall.  It didn't seem to have the same effect, I don't know why I felt this way, don't ask.  So, last week I went to the official TOMS website and bought a pair for myself and a pair for my Mommy's birthday! ( She has been itching to get a pair as well...) They came today! I was so excited, I have been wearing them around the house all day! I know I will never know who gets the other pair of shoes, but somehow I feel a connection to whoever will receive them.  I hope that they understand it is a gift from God, not some random girl in Delaware, OH.
Anyway...
Here is the link to the TOMS website, if anything just look at it, the mission is cool.

http://www.toms.com/

Our Remedy...

     Okay, I am a huge David Crowder fan.  His songs are so easy to listen to and the lyrics always speak truth.
     My latest song obsession is "Remedy" by the David Crowder Band... I am posting a link so you can listen to it, so you can understand what I mean...

    I was running the other day, it wasn't going so well, I was hurting so bad physically, mentally I couldn't quite get myself going to finish three miles.  Sometimes I get so hard on myself, I beat myself up if I am unable to finish something, especially when it comes to my mentality.  I kept thinking, what did I do wrong today that is making me so tired and sore now?  I should have drank more water, I should have not had three cups of coffee, I didn't have enough protein, maybe running this late was a bad idea,  should have gotten up at five to run, I'm getting "old" my metabolism is getting too low....AHHHH!! Then this song came on ( I listen to my Ipod while I run ) and I had to stop.  Listening to it, I realized I don't only have this thought process while running, I do it all the time.
    Looking for reasons why something is not going the way I plan.  Trying to find the next thing that will DEFINITELY make me happy forever and ever amen.  If I read this book, it will give me a new outlook on life, THEN I will have peace.  I should run a marathon,  THEN I will feel like an accomplished person.  I should be the most encouraging person to others, THEN they will encourage me the same way and it will satisfy me FOR SURE!  I won't bore you... the list goes on and on.

     Can anyone relate? We feel as though if we just do this other thing, try this new diet,  add in another activity, then we will feel a little more healing in our lives, that will satisfy us always.  But it never works! There is always just one more thing...
     Hence, David Crowder speaks truth.  Jesus is THE REMEDY.  Just listen to the song... You will understand :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3UWiJCZAz8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL8ECDA1BA80F79074

PS
Fun fact of the day...
David Crowder lives in Dr. Pepper's house in Texas!

Isaiah 30:15

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it."

     I decided this will be my memory verse for now, for many reasons. First of all, I am currently finishing the bible study "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore (wonderful teacher) and this verse was the main focus of the lesson today.  Second of all, it describes exactly what is necessary for our salvation in Him.

   What I love about God's Word, His Truth, is that He does not ever say one thing and mean another.  He GIVES us the answers to all of our questions.  Nothing is left for interpretation.  The fact is, if we repent to Him our rebellious ways, turn back to Him so we will never do it again, and "light down" to His word and meditate on it, we have our salvation!  When we shut our mouths, when we listen to His Word, when we TRUST what He says, when we believe it is true, we find our strength!

     Then, the last line in the verse, "but you would have none of it." How dumb it sounds! But, so true. God gives us all of these outs, He reaches down to us in our rebellion and TELLS US THE ANSWER... and we want nothing to do with it, sometimes. Why?  Because I can fix it on... my... own... right?  Absolutely crazy, sometimes it is simply the most silly thing to think about.  God desires for us to know Him, so much, He doesn't send us on scavenger hunts, or give us little hints. He desires us so much that He tells us directly what we need.  How cool...

So glad my God still loves me even when I sometimes may be in broken version of myself!  Being the person He did NOT intend for me to be... a rebellious Child of His.

Okay, I am going to type the verse down again, just for my own memorization...

"The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it."

Isaiah 30:15

Have a relaxing rainy day everyone!  

Journaling

Okay, so I have had the same journal for about two years now. It is adorable and I love writing in it but I am not even half way through completely filling it! I am the WORST when it comes to keeping up with things like this.... Hence, why I hardly post anything on here!! But! I am determined that, starting this week, I will be faithful to all things "journalistic".

On the same subject...
Something I love doing is going back and reading what I wrote on the same day a year ago or two years ago, may I share with you what I wrote a year ago today?

A year ago today Olivia Jane Hurley wrote in her prayer journal:
"I want to say 'no' to things that tie me down and 'yes' to Your (Christ's) Freedom. I am FREE IN CHRIST!!!! Set me free Lord...."

My Pretty RED journal 

So silly but I AMEN-ed myself! It's so true! We are truly free in Christ.  He is our authenticity! This little journal entry gave me so much fulfillment today, I hope it encourages you as much as it did me! Funny how He sends encouragement TO us THROUGH us sometimes...

The Pioneer Woman

Can anyone else please tell me if they love "The Pioneer Woman" as much as I do??
I mean seriously, she is so cool! I love her show, I love her blog, I love HER! She inspires me to live out in the middle of who-knows-where and live on a ranch with a handsome cowboy husband and many many children and make delicious food and take beautiful pictures and just be awesome! How fun! I've decided I am destined to be a "Pioneer Woman" myself, I just don't know where I'll be pioneering yet...