Season of change

The past week or so has been pretty amazing.

On Monday I was given the opportunity to speak at my weekly meeting for Phi Lamb. The Lord laid it on my heart a few weeks ago, and to be honest I was pretty nervous. However, it turned out to be one of the most awesome experiences. I spoke on Hannah who is mentioned in 1 Samuel. I'm not sure why I chose Hannah, but it couldn't have been a better decision. The Lord has really been teaching me about prayer over the past few months. Hannah's story revolves around prayer, giving her desires to the Lord, and trusting Him with it.

Hannah prayed to the Lord and gave all of her worries and burdens to Him. After she was finished praying she left the tabernacle content, because she knew her prayer was in the Lord's hands now. This hit me hard. Sure, I pray on a daily basis but how often do I actually give it all to the Lord? I definitely struggle with holding onto things and not fully giving them to the Lord. It's so dumb though, because in a way that's like me saying that I don't trust God to take them from me and fulfill them. I know the Lord's plan for my life is so much better than anything I could imagine. So, why on earth would I not just lay everything at the Lord's feet?

Psalms 55:22 says "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you....." That says it all really doesn't it? He Lord wants to take our burdens from us and make them His own. Even when I'm naive enough to think that I have everything under the control the Lord will always remind me that I don't. Why would I even try to do it on my own? I've proven to myself over and over again that I cannot do it on my own. Hannah had this down. She knew that she had to take her plea for a son to the Lord. She knew that He was the only one who could fulfill her desires. She even realized that He may not give her exactly what she wanted, but He would do what was best for her.

How amazing is it that we serve a God that wants to lighten our load and take on our burdens, worries, stresses, and troubles? The fact that He wants to take that from us never ceases to amaze me. I know the times I have laid it at the Lord's feet and not looked back He has always blessed me in some way. Sure, God doesn't always give us what we ask for, but so what? I know that He has it all under control, and that's enough for me. God's goodness will always be a mystery to me, but I'm so thankful and blessed by it.

My encouragement for you is just to lay it all on God. He wants to take it from us, and make it his. If that's not one of the most encouraging things then I'm not sure what is.

Snowmageddon

I know my last post also revolved around snow, but I had to dedicate this one to it as well. The weather has been insane here in Fayetteville for the past week. I didn't have classes from Tuesday-Thursday last week. It also looks like another snow storm will be rolling into Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night. This weather is crazy!

Of course during these days off from school I have done relatively zero homework. Probably not the smartest move, but oh well. One cool thing I've been able to do though is spend a lot of much needed quality time with the Lord.

I've struggled for a while with diving into the Word on a daily basis. I know God is pushing me out of my comfort zone this semester and I know if I don't spend time with him daily then I won't be a very effective servant. So, I've really been challenging myself to wake up a little earlier every day and start my morning off with some quality Jesus time. For the past week or so I've been going through 1 John. I love that I started off with this book of the Bible. Most of the stuff I'm reading I already knew, but I don't think I ever truly took it to heart.

In 1 John chapter 1 verses 5-7 it talks about living in the light. So often I've heard that if you claim to be a follower of Christ but you're still living in sin and not repenting then you're not walking in the light at all. In a book that I'm slowly getting through by Francis Chan called "Crazy Love" he talks about lukewarm Christianity. I think the bulk of Christians fall into this category. Sure we know that Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again, but we aren't really soaking it up. I want to be a servant for the Lord who lives out my faith in every area of my life. I don't want to ever live in darkness. Sure I'll still mess up and sin on a daily basis, but recognizing my mistakes and asking for forgiveness makes all the difference. I don't want to be a lukewarm Christian, I desire to be a Christian who is passionately following Christ with everything I have.

We only have one life to live. We were placed on this earth to love the Lord and to share His name with others. I want to fulfill my purpose while I'm here. I know it's not the easiest path to take, but so what? I would never want a life for myself that's easy or that I didn't have to work hard for. I want my life to glorify God in every way possible.

That was probably deep for a Tuesday morning, but I just thought I'd share what has been on my heart for the past few days.

-Kelsey

:)