reflecting on 2011

friends,
I've been thinking a lot about how much I've changed in the last year. I changed jobs, Andy changed jobs, we lived apart, we almost moved... it's been quite a roller-coaster. But my relationship with God has been a firm foundation - something I might not have said a few years ago. Each change that I've endured this year has brought me into more of an understanding of God's providence and of His love for me. Yet my flesh is still weak, and I often am disappointed and embarrassed by my sinful thoughts and actions.

Maybe you've had amazing year, maybe you haven't. Maybe your relationship with God is solid, maybe it isn't. But if you're reading this blog post, chances are you desire to grow and mature in your faith.

So, friends, take some time to answer these questions and reflect on this past year. I'll come back in a day or two and share my answers. Feel free to answer in your mind or in your journal, or you can comment on this post (either with your name or anonymously).
-L

1. What event(s) have happened this year that made you feel far from God?

2. What event(s) have happened this year that brought you closer to God?

3. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being far from God and 5 being near to God, where would you say you are now? Why do you think that is?

4. What did you learn from church/devotions this year that you either didn't know before or didn't "get" before?

5. Is spending time with God a daily priority of yours?

6. What do you think you're doing right when it comes to growing? What do you think you're doing wrong?

7. Have you taken anything away from church/devotions and actually applied it to your life? What was it?

8. What changes do you need to make to grow more spiritually?

9. What are your goals for growth in 2012?

10. In one word, describe what you want your relationship with God to look like.

choosing to love this Christmas

friends,
Sometimes the hardest thing about the holidays is also the happiest - and that is being around our loved ones. I thought this quote from Elisabeth Elliot perfectly paraphrased the type of love that we should embrace.

“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience - it looks for a way of being constructive. Love is not possessive. Love is not anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. Love is not touchy. Love does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas tomorrow. Don't forget to take time to praise God for His many blessings, particularly the blessing of Jesus Christ.

love,
L

a trip around the corner

friends,
you may have stumbled across my other blog, The Blog Around The Corner. Instead of writing a new post today, I'm going to let my other blog do all the work! My latest post is on a shameful experience from last week - read it here.

Click here for more posts on God, and here for more posts on scripture (some of them are tagged for both).

and I'll leave you with this thought -

from here

a commitment to prayer

friends,

did you know that you are prayed for? Heather and I pray for you individually throughout the week, but we also pray over each of your specific requests when we meet to chat about Bible study. I've shared before that I use my drive to work to pray for Andy and for our future children. Well, 5 p.m. every day is the time I pray for YOU!

prayer is so powerful.

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?  Corrie Ten Boom

Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to Him?....Prayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God. If the Son of God is formed in us by regeneration, He will press forward in front of our common sense and change our attitude to the things about which we pray.  Oswald Chambers

The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint.  William Wilberforce

have you been praying for one another?

love you girls,
L

Casey's testimony

friends,

for those of you who missed it, here is Casey's testimony. Casey, we love your heart for the Lord!

     Growing up in the church doesn’t solidify having a relationship with the Lord, I’m a living example. I grew up in a very traditional Methodist church going to Sunday school every week and attending vacation bible school for the majority of my childhood. I didn’t get the point; I thought it was what you were supposed to do. When I was 12 I went to my first Christian “camp” for a week with my youth group. I was the youngest one in the group and felt completely out of the loop. All week I heard the speakers talk about this God we supposedly live for and I was completely confused. I had never heard the gospel painted the way they presented it that week. I actually understood it. God worked in my heart all week, each day revealing more about my sinful state and even more about His sacrificial love and grace. The last night of camp, they had what Christians call an “altar call” or an “invitation”. I didn’t want to go in fear of being made fun of by the rest of my youth group. But while sitting in my seat, debating on standing up or not, I literally felt someone push on my shoulder. That’s all it took. I stood up, walked to the front and prayed. I asked God to forgive me of the horrible person I was and to accept me as His child. That was the beginning of the very long journey God had in store for me to win over my heart completely.
     High school came before I knew it and there I was surrounded by sports, friends, boyfriends and grades. My need for God left rather quickly. The need to impress and gain my parents approval had always been a desire of mine, and once I got to high school, there were so many areas that I had to maintain that approval. I got involved in softball at a young age and quickly found a love for it. Softball was an area of my life that I tried incredibly hard to win approval. I put everything I had into it; I practiced outside of practice, had private pitching lessons, and always looked for ways to improve my game. It became my life. The life of softball began around 7-8th grade and then once I got into high school, life escalated that much more. I found grades as a way to win approval as well as other sports (basketball and volleyball). At this point, I wasn’t just trying to impress my parents, but everyone else as well (friends, teachers, family). My talent in softball had produced in me a pridefulness that carried into other sports and into my social life as well. I started hanging out with the “popular crowd” my freshman year and was exposed to parties, drinking, and unhealthy relationships.
     I loved it all. I loved the attention, I loved the praise and I loved the fun. This was me freshman and sophomore year. I was on top of the world. I had a great name for myself, I was an A student, I was dating the “stud” of the class and my parents loved my accomplishments. Then God decided it was time to start breaking me down and take me off my throne. That “stud” breaking up with me was the start of it all. I fell hard and I took it out on everyone. I was miserable and my friends were tired of hearing me complain. Junior year I decided to just focus on softball and try to mend friendships. That seemed to work for a while, until I met a guy…an awesome guy. He wasn’t the popular one, he wasn’t the “hottest” but there was something that he had that I loved…God. I started going to church with him and seeing what it looked like to “live” like a Christian. This I believe is when God really started hacking away at my throne. This relationship taught me so much. I started reading and studying my bible, I started praying and I was surrounded by other Christians who I loved.
     Granted, this was a slow process, and this relationship was in no way “biblical”. But this guy helped me get my foot in the door and for God to seriously do some work in my heart. Over the next year, I realized that softball couldn’t satisfy me the way I was thinking it would. So I made one of the hardest decisions of my life and quit. 6 different colleges were waiting on my response to accept their scholarship and I said no to each one. After graduation, I looked at my life. Softball wasn’t in my life, my parents were not pleased with me, and I was going to a university where I knew no one but my current boyfriend. Knowing JMU’s reputation, I knew I could quickly fall back into the drinking and partying scene I had in high school…but for some reason, I didn’t want to. I had no desire. So the summer before coming to college, I told God that I was living for Him. I wanted Him to be all I needed. I wanted to understand and experience complete satisfaction that only He could give me.
     The first week at JMU I got plugged into a ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ and never looked back. I immediately felt welcomed and loved and had already made friends. In the first month I had also found a church that captured me as well. God had lead me to the places He knew I needed most. Freshman year was wonderful. I grew so much in the Lord and began having quality quiet times with Him. I thought that I had finally made it. I thought I was where (and who) the Lord wanted me to be. Not quite.
Spring semester of my freshman year, the Lord decided to take away that 2 ½ year relationship I had been in. He saw that I was still dependent on someone/something more than I was Him. At this point in my life, I could’ve either turned and ran from God or I could’ve drawn closer to Him than I never have before. Only because of Him, I chose the latter option.
     Life since then has had its ups and downs. I’ve faced numerous trials and difficulties, but thankfully I’ve had the Lord with me in it all. I have learned so much about God’s sovereignty and grace in the last 2 years that I ever thought possible. He has turned this broken piece of pottery into a beautiful piece of artwork. Losing, sacrificing, being disappointed, suffering…it’s all worth it knowing that Jesus Christ came and died for me to experience this abundant life. Jesus was forsaken so I could be forgiven. This sacrificial love that I will never fully understand saved me, and to Him, I owe my life.