"Spring Season"

It's spring. And new life refreshed by rain is in the fragrance of the air we breathe. The spice of growing saplings, the faint scent of wild life, and the musty aroma of moistened earth create an aesthetic that is completed by visions of verdant green grass, a bubbling creek, chasing squirrels, romping calves, and birds flying overhead in newfound freedom.

Spring is beautiful for the redemptive story it tells. Everything that was dead or dormant has come to life again.

But without winter, would we even see spring? Or would it pass by us taken completely for granted? 

Without the years of wilderness, would we even find our promised land? It's a process of sanctification, these seasons of life. We should never forsake his lessons, his truth, and his joys today. 

Abundant life is now. Each season has its own blessing. Whether you're a child wanting to grow up, a teenager figuring yourself out, a single person wishing to be married, a married person fighting with their spouse, parents of young kids just getting through the days, parents of young adults stuck in teenage years, older adults wondering what to do now that their kids are grown...

...wherever you are there is truth and beauty, lessons in faith and hope for tomorrow...

But until we learn, with willing spirits, what God is teaching us in this season, I don't believe we'll move on. So, I don't know about you but I've had an extra long wilderness. And God has taught me so many invaluable things that I am not even the same person. 

I can feel it coming. Spring is in the air. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss it. 

So, I'll listen and learn, love and lean on Him, living in this season until he says it's time for new life to bud. 

His process of sanctification began the day I believed and will never stop until the day I am in His presence. So I will celebrate this season and all it has to offer, knowing that when spring finally arrives, I'll be ready for all its promises to come true.

Learning Trust Through Trials

As Christmas is approaching, I find myself in a point in life of new trust. I am praying for new trust everyday - in God's purpose for me in my relationship with him, in my health, in my career, in my future relationships, with my finances, and with my family. I have perhaps never been in a place in my life where so much is unknown. Come next May, a whole new life opens up to me. I am still waking up everyday with a headache. Some days they turn in to full migraines. I've been on so many medicines now I can't hardly remember all of them. Yet, I'm managing to make it through Law School somehow - just taking one day at a time. It's not the way I invisioned it, but maybe that's a good thing. I believe God has a plan for my life and that this health issue must play into it somehow. Yet, I can't help but feel as if these chronic headaches have taken away so much of my life. I am not always able to make social events. I am not able to be at my best with schoolwork except on my best days. I look back on how easy it used to be for me in High School and College and know if my headaches were just gone, I would be that person again. Still, I know that God is teaching me through this - to trust Him. It is a hard lesson to learn, but I'm learning it - and rejoicing in Him anyway. As Christians, we must rejoice. "Joy is not a luxury or a mere accessory in the Christian life. It is a sign that we are really living in God's wonderful love, and that love satisfies us."~ Andrew Murray

Christmas is right around the corner. I will rejoice and trust in my Savior. Jesus Christ has blessed my life to know just who You are.



"The basic premise of biblical trust is that the God and Father of Jesus Christ wants us to live, to grow, to unfold, and to experience fullness of life. Trust is an attitude acquired gradually through many crises and trials. Through the agonizing trial with his son Isaac, Abraham learned that God wants us to live and not to die, to grow and not to wither. He discovered that the God who called him to hope against hope is reliable. Perhaps this is the essence of trust: to be convinced of the reliability of God. Trust is purified in the crucible of trial. From the depths of a purified heart, trust clings to the belief that whatever happens in our lives is designed to form Christ within us."

~ Brennan Manning

A Sleepy Post (yawn)

I'm pretty sleepy, so this will be short. I've decided that it is very easy to let worry creep in until it starts to overwhelm you, so that action and personality even begin to bend to that worry. Sometimes, this worry can become so entrenched that it can, in a very real sense, take over your life. I think people who brood are classic examples. I've never considered myself a brooder, but I think as life goes on, it is easy to start letting worries pile up if one is not very, very careful to put them in God's hands as they come along. He will carry our burdens. He does not want us to worry. This is one of the most blessed, beautiful parts of being a Christian. There is this miraculous way that God takes our cares upon Himself and takes those burdens off our shoulders. Jesus says, "come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We are told that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We are to cast all our cares upon Him, and He will, give us rest. It is that easy. Yet, is it? In one aspect (a very real aspect), it is. When we do regularly make it a practice not to worry and to immediately give our burdens and worries to Christ, the peace of God "which is beyond understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians). I know this peace well. Yet, still life creeps in. Worry creeps in. I begin to hold on to fears, hurts, insecurities, problems, physical pain, and concern over others until it begins to feel as if I can't hold any more. Something I've learned about life, and although this may not be too profound, is that everyday brings another obstacle, another challenge, or another issue to resolve. Sometimes, they are small things that are very achievable with little effort. Other times, they are so significant that our lives may be changed. Sometimes you hear a phrase like "everyday, it is just one more thing." Well, as dismal as that statement sounds, it is very true.

Today, I found out that a very close cousin of mine has a cancerous node in her thyroid. It would be easy for me to begin to worry and stress over her and let it begin to burden me. Just thinking about it made me think of how much I have to worry over in my life right now - law school, eventually needing a job after law school ;), how God is going to use me in relationships, whether God is preparing a husband for me, making sure that I am being shaped into the woman God would have me be, how or when my health issues will finally resolve, other family members or friends that have health or other problems, and the everyday worries of making calls, studying, and taking care of my apartment and car. In a mini-epiphany, I began to realize that all of these parts of my life that are so easy to worry about have begun to weigh on me so that really bad news, such as I received today, can very easily become the straw that breaks the camel's back, you know?

My new resolve is to not allow worry to affect me this way. I will claim those scriptures on my life and give my burdens, cares, and worries to my Lord, who is fully apt to take care of them. I know His peace will be a great replacement. ;)

Crazy Story

It was like being in a movie...

I went home for a week or so after Spring finals ended. I was out with my parents one day and as we were rounding the corner of the Wall of China going through Bastrop (which is a whole other story), we were going to get one of those new grilled chicken snack wraps from McDonalds on our way home. So, we are about to turn into McDonalds when we notice there is an SUV turned on its side by the wall/overpass with a shattered windshield. There was a crowd of people staring at the SUV but no police or ambulance. So, we wonder if we should stop somewhere and try to help. As we are pulling around looking for a place to pull over, we see the guy inside the SUV push through some of the glass on the windshield. Well, a guy that was standing by started helping him pull the glass apart. He literally crawled through his shattered windshield to the outside. There was nothing wrong with him, but I bet his poor SUV was totaled. Anyway, I've never seen anything like that before. It was like being in a movie, seeing that guy crawl through the windshield of his car.