Hodge-Podge Post..

Like the title this post is going to be a hodge-podge of random things.....Just cause it's what's in my mind tonight! :)

So this wkd was the ultimate. Today (Monday) was the first wkd ALL SEMESTER that I haven't had a test on Monday to study for! So I took full advantage of it and lovvvved it!

Friday Vic, Courtney and I laid out with some other pledge sisters and a friend of mine from nursing school! The weather was amazing, just enough to start getting a tan! Yay! We all hung out at Vic's apt and then went out Friday night. Ahh so much fun! I literally haven't been out in so long, that it was a blast! Much needed! And then Saturday we thought it was going to rain so Vic and I planned a craft and movie day! Pretty much my dream day! And after much hard work these are the 2 things I made!!

So this is terrible lighting and doens't do it justice. But its just branches from Hobby Lobby and then I made paper flowers and attached! So simple and fun! 

And ta-da! A spring time wreath! I thought it was so fun and bright! I just loved it! Now this took a little more time (actually a lot) but it was so worth it! Its just a wreath frame with cloth covering and cloth flowers!

And then Sunday I spent watching like legit 5 movies and catching up on all my reading! Like I said....could this have been a dream wkd?? Most definitely! It was much needed and so great!



So last wk at Crusades Jeff spoke about being satisfied with God, even when He doesn't feel satisfying. Jeff does a great talk on this topic, and I always love it! I feel like each time it has new and better meaning to me. Anyways with the talk came an article from a man named Larry Crabb.  (Here it is: http://chrismiller.cedarville.org/content/crabb.pdf ) It's a must read, I'm serious! Anyways there were two main paragraphs in this article that really stuck out to me. And then along with those 2 things, tonight at community group there was a question in our study and the answer really hit me in the face. And I'm not even sure if the 2 correlate together or if its going to make any sense for me to combine them... but maybe, cause somehow they fused as one in my mind!

In walking with Christ there are times were it feels just plain bad. When giving in to "what everyone else is doing" would (you think) make you much more satisfied. But its faith,..faith that reminds you and brings you back home to knowing that even though Christ may not seem satisfying right now...what He is currently doing in your life that you may not be able to see, will surely be much, much more than satisfying one day in heaven with God.

"He was not helped by the erroneous but popular teaching that there is a way to feel so alive in God that sin loses its appeal, and that pursuing the experience of aliveness is the legitimate center of the spiritual adventure. That teaching is deadly, all the more so because it is so near the truth. Knowing God is life. But living to feel alive is not the same as living to know and glorify God. When the bottom line is reached, the issue is not finding an experience of overwhelming joy in knowing Jesus. That will happen later. It may happen now. If it does, praise God. When the bottom line is reached, the issue is faith; what do you most deeply believe? How then shall you live? Heaven is coming up. Only that fact makes sense of the choice to perservere when blessings are withheld, when emptiness is seemingly unending, when anguish of soul eclipses even the prospect of joy."

Desire...oh that word. You know all those things you want, and think you just must have. Everyone can identify with that feeling, guys and girls. But what about storing your treasures up in heaven (Matthew 6:18-20), what about sacrificially loving God while here on Earth, so that your worth and belongings are with the one and only one that is your true lover and husband. We are his bride and he ensures us that through our faith in Him we will never be let down by his grace, love and eternal gifts.

"If the real battle is to keep from making an idol of desire, if the real battle is to let our choices be ruled by a desire for God that sometimes leaves us empty and lonely, then, though we can rightly celebrate whatever blessings come our way and enjoy the pleasure they bring, we must never deposit that pleasure in the bank and write checks on that account. We must rather hope in Christ when life makes no sense, when sin does a better job of relieving emptiness than righteous living. We must write checks on the account of faith. Our hope must be fixed on Jesus, and the hope his presence brings, not on satisfied desire in this life."

So thus far, what have we been worried about? US. Yep me, I, number 1, what I want and what I need to feel satisfied.  So tonight in community group we read John 17:1-26 and discussed some things. One question we asked was, " What is then the reason God created us?" After much discussion we came to the realization that pretty much made us go...oh. God created us and sent Jesus to be an example and pay the ransom for each of my filthy, heavy sins, so that... We could bring glory to God! I am here for God's glory, not for my own desires or selfish wants and wishes in life. It magnifies my sin to know that I was created to bring GLORY to God, and that everyday I sin, robbing God of his due glory! (The sole reason I am even here!) Get's you, huh?

Anyways... thats my hodge-podge of random thoughts. Hope they made some kind of sense ha! All in all I am thankful every second that I have a savior who grants me new grace everyday :)

-Amanda