God is Sovereign!!

So.. God has been teaching me so much lately. I just love reading His Word and getting His direction for life. Its been refreshing. He's been showing me a lot about the power of prayer as well.... One example would be I prayed for a friend about something that God placed as a burden on my heart. I didn't even know if there was a problem or not, I just knew I had to pray. I also sent her a note with some things I'd been learning and thought I needed to share with her. Only a week later, she called me. She had read what I had sent her and it was exactly what she had needed at the moment. The very thing I had prayed about for her, was exactly what she had been going through even though I didnt know for sure or not. God answered my prayer in such an amazing way... I'm so excited about how much I've been learning and also about what God has left for me to learn :-)

YAY ALEXA!!! :-)

so during my high school senior basketball season a a little girl from one of the girls on our teams church was diagnosed with cancer. We as a team decided we wanted to help her out and encourage her some. We got her a build-a-bear (basketball one :-) ). and got a picture of our team taken and all signed it. Two of the other senors on the team and I went over to visit her with the gifts. She was sucha bundle of joy! She never stopped smiling despite what she was going through. It was hard seeing this little girl with no hair and tubes in her nose. And yet, despite all of that as I said.. she was so full of joy! She was like any other four year old girl, having fun. She showed us her princess room and played hot potato with us. It was an incredible experience. Well, Alexa went through radiation and surgeries, and as of this past week, SHE IS CANCER FREE!!! I was so excited to hear that's shes doing so well!!! :-) God sure does answer prayer!

so do we truly realize what a great blessing it is to be here at a Bible school??? I dont think we do often times. Today in chapel, we were singing about the depth of God's mercy. "Depth of mercy, can there be, mercy still reserved for me?" God shows each and every one of us mercy. I was just blown away standing there and bieng like, wow... God has completely blesed me to be able to be in an environment like the one here at BBC. We are around professors who know their stuff and want to see us learn and grow as well. We ar around other students who encourage, share, and grow us. I just completely got caught up in the moent and am reminded of how thankful I am to come to school here at BBC. It's the best place to prepare for ministry, and I am eternally greatful that God gave me the privilege of attending this school. That's what it is... a privilege.

Psalm 17:15
"As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness."

WOW, this verse is amazing. When we are righteous, we will "see Your face." But i think even bigger than that is the second portion...not until I awake in His likeness will I be satisfied... As Christians, we should not feel as though we've gotten where we need to be in our spiritual walk. Until heaven, we will achieve perfection which is the likeness of Christ. So every day, we should be striving to become more like Christ. We will not have satisfaction b/c we will never be at the place we should be while we are here on earth. It's funny, I was just thinking of a question that was asked of me once... Who do you think is the Christian more content with where they are at in his walk? The one who is complacent? or the one who is not comfortable with where they're at and striving to know God more? The complacent Christian is far more content with their walk with God. This is why they are not striving to go any further. The Christian who is daily reading, and pursuing the righteousness of God is not content with where He is with God and therefore is trying to learn more and more to become more like Christ. So, today I challenge myself, and hopefully you through that, not to be satisfied until you reach the likeness of Christ.

Waiting for that right one to come around can sometimes prove to be a challenge. I mean, we all want to find someone that loves us for who we are and is going to be that perfect compliment in our lives. We hear all the time, wait, be patient, God's timing. And its true, but it doesn't just end there. You can't just sit back and wait without doing anything. I'm not saying go out and look for your significant other. I'm saying make yourself ready for when God brings him/her around. Don't be so eager for a relationship that you lose out on what God's best for you is. Never settle. Set your standards high, God is great and can do great things... so let God do what he can and set your standards high for an incredible person to come into your life. On the other side, you also don't want to be so set on waiting that you miss out on God's one for your life. Sometimes we can get so focused on "just wait, theyll come, it's not time yet." You've been telling yourself this for so long that when the time does come, you miss out. I think the key, however, to waiting is preparing yourself for that other person. Know what you want to find in a significant other and then make sure that you're matching up to your own standards. Why would someone with high standards go for someone without them? So, if you want to get someone who is on track, growing, and a great person, then you need to be all of those things yourself. God has a plan for my life. I've been waiting, and I'll continue to wait... but I'll tell you, while I'm waiting, I'm going to try to learn how to be the best woman I can be for God.... because when I am walking with God I will be able to walk the right way and then maybe the right one will come around... just an incredible quote that i absolutely love.. "A woman should be so close to God, that a man has to pursue Him to find her."

Rebecca St. James,Wait For Me:
Darling, did you know that I dream about you Waiting for the look in your eyes When we meet for the first time And darling, did you know that I pray about you Praying that you will hold on And keep your loving eyes only for me CHORUS:'Cause I am waiting for, praying for you darling Wait for me too Wait for me as I wait for you' Cause I am waiting for, praying for you darling Wait for me too Wait for me as I wait for you Darling wait Darling did you know I dream about life together Knowing it will be forever I'll be yours and you'll be mine And darling when I say " Til death do us part" I mean it with all of my heart Now and always faithful to you Now I know you may have made mistakes But there's forgiveness, and a second chance So wait for me, darling wait for me Wait for me Darling wait for me

Legalism??

Legalistic?.... I wouldn't say that trying to live a life that is righteous for God is being legalistic. I wouldn't say that trying to keep your standards high as to make sure that you have no question of whether its sin or not is legalistic... i would say forcing your beliefs on the people around you is... but where do you personally draw the line?... its sad that on a Bible college campus you see pics of people you konw chugging down cans of beer, your hear about the pipes that have been bought or passed around, you see immodest clothing, and many other things... it's sad. I don't believe that drinking is a sin... but what's the point of drinking?? What's the motives behind the drink? Not just your motives, but the motives of those who made the beer?... It's not just how you interpret the lyrics, but how the artist meant for them to be interpreted, ya know... but it sucks even more when someone tells another believer, hey I think what you're doing might be wrong, and that person just brushes it of with the 'ole "you're being legalistic" phrase. I understand that we as New Testament believers are under the Law of Liberty...but does that mean we have the liberty to do whatever we want?... You smoke the weed, I'll go have sex... I mean come on! whats the difference?! It doesn't matter about just saving yourself for marriage. It's a matter of being pure in the sight of God. My outlook on the whole issue is this... I wan't to be as close to blameless as I possibly can be. I want to live a holy life for my Lord. I dont want to live on the fence, seeing how close I can get. That's not the point of the Christian's life! The point of the Christian's life is to be Christ to those around them! Legalism... you show me someone you consider to be legalistic, and I'll show you someone who whole-heartedly desires to live a godly life. I'm not saying that legalism is right, I'm just wondering if we're really trying to live lives wholly devoted to God? (I want to clarify that overall this school is great, but i have made a few observations that I addressed here).