BIG CHANGES in small ways

So I apologize to any who have missed me writing. I've been keeping myself busy and going to sleep earlier due to lack of energy... it's really killing my good writing time... but here's a new one!


Remember in my last post about how i wasn't basically, for lack of a better Carrie Underwood song, letting Jesus take the wheel? Well i finally let go... and it's been awesome. So much has seemed to change with very little actually changing.

Which brings me to my topic for the evening. BIG CHANGES in small ways.

A lot of times we want life to move in tidal waves but most of the time it seems that God works in waves so small you couldn't surf. There's a beach reference to all my Wrightsville Beach people... miss ya 910.

The problem is this world, in my opinion is "normal" to most people. And God works like that most of the time because if we all saw BIG HUGE THINGS then there wouldn't be a question of whether or not he exists. This life in many ways is about the trust we have in Him and the fact that he did exist and He did die on a cross and He did rise from the dead.

ALL OFF THOSE ARE HUGE THINGS!!! but still in our world today we don't see a risen Lord, we hear about him. We don't get to see the Red Sea just split in two, which would be awesome and probably bring more and more people to the belief that God does exist. Instead we get little things in life but in reality they are just as BIG as the most miraculous thing you can think of. If you come from the stance to we are all helpless without Christ, continually doing all things for basically nothing, if we do them without a Godly purpose, then to have something happen, say a job interview, or a marrage, or any number of "blessings" in the world... they are MIRACULOUS!!! We don't deserve nor do we have the power to make these good things happen. We have to rely on the power of Christ for the miracles in our life.

Now people ask, well He's not here, how do i trust something that isn't going to materialize and say OK... here's how this works. Well the problem is we like to think in the physical or possibly even in the material. But the fact is that God, Christ, and even the Holy Spirit, though it dwells within all true believers, God doesn't exist materially. He exists in a state that we don't necessarily understand. AND even if he did exist materially, say in the form of the Human Jesus Christ, we end up putting him on a cross. So well, material didn't work either.

The fact is no matter how we "experience" God we are required to trust that:
1) He is Lord of our lives, sovereign in all things, *and in Him all things hold together -Colossi ans 1:17
2) That we are to trust him with all our heart -Proverbs 3:5
3) That all things work together for those who are called according to His purpose -Rom 8:28

So in a nutshell....trust is the main component to a personal relationship with Christ. Turn over all things to Him because they are His to begin with, and with his power things can be amazing.
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MUSIC SUGGESTION:
Cartel- Cycles

Life as is...

Ever think to yourself... what's the meaning of what i'm going through? How is this a good thing.. How is this going to better me?

I've been asking these questions more and more lately because, well... life's getting harder everyday. I keep getting these thoughts of... "you aren't good enough" or "nobody needs you". I lately have had a hard time finding peace with my unemployment. I've had a really hard time thinking about the near future and thinking about just how hard things might get as we near the end of the year.

But something even struck me today that's a recurring thing that has seemed to come together just as i type right this very instance....

We learn more in times of trouble and times of hardships. Think about that... what big LIFE LESSONS have you learned when you are too busy with all your things in life (see previous blog) or when you have all the money you need and have no worries in the world? We rarely stop to worry about things enough to learn from our situations and when things are going so well that we don't have to stop and worry about things we rarely look to the lord for our provision. We tend to start to become reliant on ourselves and we try to, mostly unconciously, leave the Lord out of our lives. Maybe that's my big revelations right there. I'm still trying to "DO" this on my own. I'm still relying on myself to work things out. Well... there it is.... my big epiphany for the evening.

If stuff is going your way... quick, learn to be thankful for it and don't let that change your view or way you rely on the lord because certianly enough you will experience some hardships for the Lord to bring you back to him.

If you are going through hardships.. look to the Lord for comfort and for guidance and i know what most people say is... well the Lord isn't going to talk to me so what do i wait for. Prayer is as much about listening as it is about talking. Listen to the way the Lord moves your ideas, your heart, and see what happens. It can be amazing.

SUGGESTED MUSIC:
Lonely Wheel - Official Video

Unexpected awesomeness

So today... i got to go see my first college football game live. Ian, my roommate, and I were sitting around the house bummed because his appointment to see his house that he bought got canceled. So we didn't really have anything planned and then out of the blue a lady he goes to church with called him up and asked if we wanted tickets to the wake forest v. nc state football game. Of course for free who could say no. So he took off to Kernersville and picked up the tickets and our day was set.

It made me start to think about all the little things in life that the Lord gives us that we aren't expecting. It's a blessing to have things like that happen and they are seemingly happening more and more often. It might be that my eye to see them has become opened and I am able to see blessings as the come more freely. Whatever the case it was such a great thing to be able to spend sometime with Ian, who i rarely get to just hang out with. Our schedules are very opposite and when he's home I'm not so to get to just relax and go to a ball game was a lot of fun. NC State had a great day but all in all Wake Forest pulled it out to win by 6. It was a lot of fun!

I guess my brain is somewhat limited tonight with lack of a huge thought provoking question but one thing i challenge all who read this to think about...

What are some things that you haven't done anything to deserve and haven't been expecting that have shown up in your life and have you thanked the Lord for providing that?

Personally the beginning of my answer to that would be, no i haven't thanked him because i'm too busy being caught up in what i want to happen most times to see what's being given to me in the moment.

Anywho... heading to bed soon so i can wake early for church!

uneventful....yet glorious

You ever have one of those days where you just think, man it'd be nice if something would happen. Pretty much anything... I had one of those days today. I pretty much sat around, i shoulda gone to the gym... but i didn't. I really just wasn't excited about a whole lot... cept for the fact that i made rice for the first time! :D i know that sounds ridiculous but i thought i was going to ruin it and yet it came out great... thanx again mom for the rice :D

Any who... we had a Kirk softball game tonight. For anybody that doesn't know the Kirk is my church home now. Our softball game was kinda the highlight of my day. Heidi offered to drive and we picked up Leslie and we went to the game. But something struck me today. Heidi asked me a question that i hadn't thought about until right then, and so simply we ask it and give an off the top of our head response that why even bother asking. She just asked me how my day was and i actually stopped for a min and thought about it. I usually answer this questions with OK, or pretty good, or not bad... when in all reality that doesn't usually describe my day at all. We tend to use it more as an ice breaker when we see somebody then actually caring what the answer is going to be. But this was different, whether she meant to or not it seemed like Heidi cared to know my answer. This was a nice change but i had to actually think for a second about how to describe my day. This brings me back to my topic for this blog... UNEVENTFUL.

It was! It was a total waste of a day except for the softball game. I caught up on some of my television shows that i record on DVR, which by far is the best thing that ever happened to cable television, and then just played video games and got a chance to talk to my mom today. All in all it was a pretty regular day. My first thought was... why couldn't my day have been more exciting? Why wasn't i motivated to make something happen? Why didn't i DO anything? Laziness is the obvious answer but in retrospect there are a lot of days we are DOING DOING DOING and would like our days to be a little more laid back. I think back now and say wow... i got a day, which being currently unemployed seems to happen more often then not, that i didn't have to do anything particular and could just veg out and not necessarily go go go go all the time.

In reading Marli Garcia's blog today i kinda realized something! kinda a yea... that's true moments. We GO all the time. We rarely take time in our world today to stop and "smell the roses". My house i guarantee you doesn't smell like roses but in the deep meaning of the phrase i was actually given a day where my day wasn't booked solid and i didn't HAVE to do anything.

On the other hand, i feel like i wasted today doing nothing. :(

This seems to create an elaborate paradox that just seems to prove the fact that I in particular, but most likely all human beings, just don't tend to be content.

When I'm going all the time... i wish i wasn't! When i take a day to just do nothing... i wish i was doing something! How does that work... i get what i want when i don't want it and then feel disappointed. Oh well.. deep thinking at it's finest. A human flaw only explained by the fall of man in which nothing is perfect and we are not made content because of the epic eating of the fruit. I'm with Craig, I think I'm going to hit Adam when i get to heaven...lol

Something new to think about.... a lot of the ladies on the softball team tend to read this craziness that seems to come out of my head late at night... yes you Lynn. :D

If you gals ever have a weird/deep/thought provoking question for me to ponder through and want to challenge my thoughts and blog about it... just comment on one and I'll see what i can do. kinda a challenge for me in a way. If not... I'll just keep posting what's on my mind... see if it empties out sooner or later ;)
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POST IVE THINGS TO NOTE:
- Thankfulness for the church family i have and the wonderful blessing the past year has been with them.
- Thank you for blood family and though being three hours away still being able to keep in touch and have those I'm your mom so i get to tell you these things talks... Love you MOO!

Music Suggestion:
*****HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS BECAUSE IT'S SOMETHING MOST AREN'T EXPECTING I'M SURE*****
Josh Turner - Everything is Fine