Tuesday, January 25, 2011

"God has no use for the prayer of the people that won't listen to Him" Prov 28:9 (Message)

Lord, give me a 20 ft by 20 ft hole.....

It may sound strange, but it's always my prayer: God let me fall into a 20 foot by 20 foot hole regarding this situation, something so deep I can't get out of without discovering Your Will. I don't remember how this prayer began, but it was definitely needed in every situation I seemed to find myself in. It seems that when I pray for something intently, I take everything that happens as evidence as for or against what I'm praying for and then have to doubt whether those pieces of 'evidence' are actually from God or just my own desire to find an answer. I have prayed this prayer about so many situations, and find its easier to recognize God's will this way! So, God, this is my prayer now. I know you have amazing plans for this semester and this summer, but I pray that you will let me fall into them. That you lead me to where You want me to be, and that no amount of doubting can get me out of it. Lead me with Your hands to wherever it is I need to be and into whatever decisions you have for me! God, I'm Yours. Let me surrender to Your will!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"A Journey Of A Thousand Miles..."

Begins with a single step...And here's mine.
There's so much to do, and so much to say- I almost don't know where to begin.

God is truly doing amazing things and teaching me everyday how to follow Him.

So, lets start with the plan...my plan that is. As a college student, I am very disorganized. Between running from work, school, and church, and trying to maintain somewhat of a social life, I have very little time to keep my life in pristine order. However, there is one thing I usually have under control, and that's my schedule. Every semester is the same- I get my school schedule, I coordinate my various work schedule's around it, and then I put it in a web program and print it- color coded! It's what keeps my life in order. My piece of chaos among my storm. This semester was the same- a 16 hour school schedule and 27 hour work week, color coded by times into each of the 7 days of the week. I have to say, I was pretty proud of this one. Each day was divided into 1 hour blocks and formatted in one of various bright colors labeled with times and locations of each prior engagement. I had it all planned out... or so I thought.I guess that's where I messed up. In thinking that I could plan and organize my life the way I thought things should be.

 And then, out of nowhere the rain came down and my color coded life suddenly turned a sad,  dreary color of gray. Well, I guess that's me being a bit melodramatic...but it did change from the way I had so brightly planned for it to look. 3 days before school started, I got an email saying that all my classes had been dropped due to a misunderstanding with financial aid (which, unfortunately ended up being my fault...). So where did that leave me? Scrambling the day before school started with no classes, and no clue what was going to happen this semester.

I could have freaked, and I did...a little. But, fortunately God gave me the peace and the understanding I needed to figure out why He would have wanted it this way. You see- I had planned on going to Cambodia this summer with TeachOverseas, but with all the work and class time I needed, I would have probably put it on the back burner and not gone-like I've done 2 previous years. But, that is not God's plan. And now, its not my plan either. So after a bit of stress and some tears, I'm going to count this semester as JOY and use it to focus on my summer trip. I know God is going to use this semester as a learning experience, I would love to have prayers and support as I travel through this preparation time and my experience in Cambodia.

So, "A Journey of A Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step", right? Well, here I go...taking my first uneasy steps into the unknown....hoping to one day know what if feels like to run for God, and not just toddle....