Faithful

Faithful

How good You are that I may seek You.

You answer. You answer.

Your voice gentler than the wind,

Yet raging like the sea.

You answer. You answer.

Your eyes are fire, yet You are tender.

You whisper. You whisper.

You comfort me when I am broken,

Yet still my heart wanders.

You whisper. You whisper.

You love broken clay like me, like me.

You are faithful. You are faithful.

I stumble and I fall away,

Yet even then You save me.

You are faithful. You are faithful.

4-14-13

Two years ago: I am so blessed.

One year ago: I like these songs.

#blessed

Credit for this photo goes to Coca-Cola

I am a college student, and in one of my communications classes last semester, we spent a day discussing Coca-Cola's revolutionary advertising strategies.  Coca-Cola was the first to equate happiness with a drink... at least, with a nonalcoholic beverage.  Their "Open Happiness" campaign was hugely successful. 

Our society is desperate to find true happiness, and when we can't, we seek to have the appearance of being happy.  If everyone else looks happy, then we should do whatever it takes to look even happier.  If happiness is buying a bottle of Coke, then so be it.

We tend to fall into bragging by pretending to share our blessings.  I have sure done this.  How many times have you captured a picture of a yummy cup of coffee or a laughing group of your friends and posted it online with a hashtag like #blessed?  How many times have you taken to Facebook or Twitter to announce how fantastic your day is going?  It feels great to use social media as a tool of showing everyone around you that you're happy.  You're successful.  You have friends.  Your life is just as good as anyone else's, if not better.

It's easy to forget the difference between temporary happiness and joy.  The Lord sustains and provides.  He gives all joy, and no material thing, no relationship, no accomplishment can ever be enough without Him.

I'm not saying it's wrong to share about your good day on social networking sites.  It's great to be happy.  It's great to share your happiness with others.  It's great to praise the Lord with a joyful and sincere heart. But it's not great to boast, and it's not great to seek joy from anything other than the Lord, whether it's through a bottle of Coca-Cola or the number of likes on a Facebook status.  

Joy comes from the Lord.  Psalm 63:5 says, "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips."  He gives every good thing. 

Christ is joy.  Nothing else of this earth really matters.

Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

Psalm 73:25-26

Two years ago: Apology
One year ago: Ways you can win my heart.

How to Find Community in the Summer

The first summer after I started college is marked in my memory as a summer of trial.  In part, this is because my family was having a difficult time.  My grandma found out she had breast cancer, my little sister was struggling, and my household seemed entirely attacked by the enemy.  Another big struggle for me last summer was loneliness.

While I'm at college, I am a member of a few Bible studies, Christian organizations, and outreach.  My church is a place where I feel at home.  Community surrounds me.  This is where I was at the end of my second semester of college... and then I came home.

I suddenly felt stranded from the college-aged community that had blessed me so much.  I don't connect well with my home church.  There was no young adult Bible study or college ministry available.  Many of my friends didn't stay in town for the summer or they had drifted away from their faith since high school.  In a town you might call the buckle of the Bible belt, I struggled to find any form of community.  And it was hard.

You may be concerned about the same for this summer.  Whether or not you're returning from college, these next three months can be a time of spiritual drought or of sweet, refreshing time spent with Jesus.

Today I will share some tips that have helped me in finding Christian community during the summer.

1.)  Create community.  If you go to seek out a small group or Bible study within your church that fits your needs and you cannot find any, do not resign yourself to being stranded without community.  You are not stuck.  Perhaps the Lord has placed an opportunity to lead and serve in your lap.

If you cannot find community, spend time asking the Lord to provide it.  And be prepared to be the one He asks to take leadership.

2.)  Branch out.  If you are seeking out community in the form of a Bible study or small group, but it isn't something your home church offers, don't be afraid to seek out community from other churches for the summer.  You can continue to attend your home church regularly, but join another church's Bible study.

This is no form of betrayal.  Whether or not we use different buildings, we are the Body of Christ.  We have one Head in Jesus Christ.  Community must not only be found within the walls of your church and among the faces of your congregation.  If your church is not meeting a need and is unable to do so, allow another part of the Body of Christ to fill you in that way. 

3.)  Find community within your family.  You may have parents, siblings, or even grandparents who are devoted to the Lord and actively pursuing Christ.  If so, consider starting a time of worship within your household.  God created families as units of love and community.  Do not be afraid to seek this out from yours.

If you do not live in a Christian home, this may not be able to apply to you, but continue to lift your family up to the Lord.  He is so faithful.

4.)  Don't go into the summer expecting sameness.  If you are still in school, summers will obviously be different from the school year.  Your schedule and routine will change.  Your source of community will probably change.  And as wonderful or as difficult as your summer may have been last year, it will not be the same this time around.  Your emotions will be different.  Your experiences will vary.  Your family life will work in a slightly different way.  You will have grown further in your relationship with the Lord.

Do not rely on high or low expectations to define your summer before it even begins.  It's going to be different than it ever has been before.  Be prepared to spend three months in newness and growth in Christ.  In a summer of wilderness or a summer of refreshment, the Lord desires to fill you with good things.

5.)  Use this time to rest in the presence of the Lord.  With each tip listed above, you may be thinking, "This won't work.  I am completely alone this summer."  No matter how stranded you are from a community of believers, do not feel overwhelmed or alone.  You have not been forsaken.

This time may be a gift from a Father who desires to spend more one-on-one time with you.  Perhaps community and involvement have become more important to you than your personal relationship with Christ.  Community is sweet, but quiet time spent kneeling at the foot of His throne is even sweeter.

If you are approaching a summer of loneliness and lack of community, do not fear.  Use this time for resting in the presence of your Abba.  He longs to commune with you.  He is eager to spend this summer shaping your gaze until it rests fully on Him and His perfect, unfaltering love for you.

As long as you are in His presence, you are not alone.

Lamentations 3:22-26
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

One year ago: I can't frat snap.

5 Things: Chacos and Favor!

Five things on my mind today are:

1.)  I got my first pair of Chacos!  I love them.  Everyone said it would take a while to get used to the toe-strap, but so far, the shoes have been super comfortable!  What do you think?

2.)  I'm back to interning at Christian Relief Fund for the summer.  Working there has been such a huge blessing in my life the last year and a half, and I am so thrilled to be back serving orphans through this organization.  I've been blessed beyond measure. 

3.)  My little dog, Jack.  Being home for the summer gives us time together, which means I get to take all sorts of pictures of this photogenic dog.

Since I've photographed Jack since he was only six weeks old, I truly believe that he understands to an extent what it means when I want him to pose.  When I pull out the camera, he pauses for a moment and then goes on with his business (and boy, is he a busy little thing).

We've had to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs that lead to my bedroom or he'll leave surprises.  Well, this devastates him, so this is Jack's pitiful reaction to being locked out of my area of the house.

4.) I've been exercising every day and trying to eat healthier.  Last semester, I was overwhelmed, stressed out, and dealing with a lot of anxiety, so I let my health go down quite a bit.  I want to make that up this summer.  I've given up most of my soda-drinking.  I've been exercising for at least thirty minutes every day.  I've also been trying to cook a little more.  If you know me at all, you'll know how clumsy I am in the kitchen.

However, I'm taking steps!  A couple of days ago, I made some salmon.  I'm pretty proud of this meal.  And yes, those are two of my dogs begging for a bite of my salmon.

In two weeks, I have lost four pounds.  Since I wasn't even trying to lose weight, I am pretty pumped about those results. 

5.)  The Lord's faithfulness in providing for my trip to Kenya, Africa this summer.  I'll talk a little bit more about that soon, but He is providing daily in ways I never could have thought to ask.  I have received a camera to take on the trip.  Also, so many of my sweet friends donated their textbooks to sell towards my and my grandma's fundraising.  Through the textbook drive alone, we were able to raise more than $240.  Favor!

What are five things on your mind? 

Grace

Let me write you a story about a woman named Grace. 

Grace is a widow in her sixties.  She is beautiful, in her own way.  Her brown eyes and the lines on her face tell a story, and this gives her an elegance that can only be admired.  She has lived a life of tears and joys.  She has much wisdom to share.

Grace is smart.  She knows how to work a field and coax crops into growing with hardly any rain.  She knows how to turn only a little into a meal for an entire family.  She can haggle prices in a vegetable market like no one you'll ever meet.  She can sew a hem and quiet rowdy hens and rock a child to sleep.  She is trilingual and loves her rich cultural heritage.  Oh, Grace has stories that can make you laugh and cry at the same time. 

She was born into a time of financial difficulty, with parents who struggled to keep food on the table.  This is why Grace was unable to finish school, not because she was unintelligent or lazy.  She isn't sure how old she was when Grace dropped out to help her father work their land and to help her mother raise her younger brothers and sisters the best she could. 

Eventually Grace married a farmer, just like her dad.  She loved and respected her husband, and he cherished her.  They had three children: two girls and a boy.  They were the apples of Grace's eye.  When they had children of their own, Grace could only thank the Lord for bringing her so much joy.  Twelve beautiful grandchildren, all with big smiles and eager minds and little hands ready to help out around the house whenever they came to visit.

Grace grieved when her husband passed away.  His body was older than his mind.  As a widow, Grace struggled with her own finances.  She tried to keep the crops alive on her own, but she faced her own physical ailments that made hard labor difficult.  A bad back and achy knee had plagued her for several years now.  Grace did her best, but each day was a challenge.

Sometimes life doesn't go the way you want it to.  One-by-one, Grace's adult children died from a terrible disease, leaving their children in their grandmother's care.  While Grace adored each of her grandchildren, her world crashed into a reality of fear and desperation.  She could barely provide for herself, let alone for twelve growing grandchildren that filled her tiny house beyond belief.  How could they all fit by the time they were in their teens, if they made it that far?

But Grace works on.  She keeps a smile on her face, because she'd rather work in joy than in sorrow.  Her desire is for each of her grandchildren to finish school, because this is what Grace wishes she could have had.  And at the end of each long day, after managing to find something for her large family to eat or sending her babies to bed with empty tummies and tear-streaked faces, Grace retires for a few hours.

Slowly and painfully, bad back and all, she gets on her knees and prays to her Heavenly Father to come and provide a way for her grandchildren to make it through the week,  She pleads with the Lord to provide food for the next day, to have compassion on her family.  Grace is getting older.  Her body is beginning to fail her now, just as it did her late husband's, but she refuses to give up hope.  Without her, her grandbabies will be alone.  Grace believes her God is a God who saves.  She repeats this to the children every morning and every night.  And she waits.

Grace's story may sound similar to the story of your own grandmother or even great-grandmother, although most likely filled with more tragedy and loss.  If you were to ask your great-grandma what she remembered about her childhood, she would probably share stories of working hard each day to keep food on the table, of living in constant worry that the crops would fail and leave the family hungry.

The story I shared about Grace is like the stories of millions of women in Africa today.  They aren't just nameless statistics.  They are people.  They are grandmas.  They are hard-working women who know what it means to sacrifice, to love, to lose everything in the world that is dear to them and keep on surviving.  These women are strong.  The Lord has not forgotten them.

God desires to use those of us who have been blessed with prosperity to love those who are needy.  His heart is filled with compassion and mercy and love.

The truth is that many adults in Africa are dying from AIDS, leaving their children as orphans.  And in countries like Kenya, the elderly are left to provide for their young grandkids with no means of income.

How can you change any of this?  Consider sponsoring a child and helping to support an impoverished family.  You can be one to lift the burden from the shoulders of the elderly.  You can provide a family with hope in Jesus.

Isaiah 46:4

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am He, I am He who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Two years ago: Making Memories