Countdown: 3!

Today is just a life update, nothing profound! :)

Three full days until I leave for home! I am just so excited to see all of my family!!! This break has a little extra special tidbit to it: Josh is coming home with me. I am just so excited to be able to show him where I grew up and became who I am. (It's actually probably a little pathetic how excited I am!)

God is doing cool stuff around here. Our women's retreat seems to be one of many ways God is bringing up and dealing with issues on our campus. It has been incredibly to see the people who are rising up and pushing things even further. We're organizing several "Girl Talks" for the semester. Girl Talk has been done before and it is a panel discussion on a lot of issues that face women on campus: sexuality and related issues,family issues, and coping issues. I could tell you a lot more, but long story short: God is getting His people to admit their struggles and be real and honest with each other! Our hope is that He will transform Covenant into a place where sin and pain can be freely discussed and we all can be supported and held accountable in our fight against it! PLEASE pray for this movement. Pray that God would help us make wise decisions and that He would bring a lot of healing as well as help us deal with the sin involved.

Whew, passion explosion! I get excited about that. God has also been teaching me a lot in my relationship with Josh- a lot about my sin and shortcomings. It has also been a huge encouragement.

I have (not unusually) also been a little under-the-weather, but it's all looking up. Speaking of looking up, I'm still working on memorizing Colossians 3. Check it out :)

Non-entitlement

This is just going to be a short blurb of thought, one which I am sure many of you have heard me talk about of late. It's totally worth re-sharing though!

I have been reading through a short 30-day devotional on Philippians by the president of MTW (while his name is Dutch, I'm still scared to spell it.) The first devotional in there speaks about Paul's introduction of himself in the beginning of his letter as simply a "servant (slave) of Christ Jesus." After some other insights, Mr. K asks a question, "How does Paul's sense of non-entitlement to his own life affect his joy?" BAM! It hit April. Non-entitlement to my own life. Why do I still not get that? I have this persistent sense that I am entitled to a relatively smooth and comfortable existence. No. Life is NOT about me. "Since then you have been raised with Christ," says Paul, "Set your minds on things above." (Col. 3:1)

Father, teach me that my life is not my own, that it was bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20) Take away my sense of a right to American-style happiness and comfort. Make me see only Jesus, and give me the joy that that brings.

Asking Hard Questions

One of the prominent themes that the Lord seems to be pushing lately is this: asking hard questions. Recently, I began asking my boyfriend some questions that did not have easy answers or were not particularly fun to talk about. I had not really thought about it, but he thanked me for asking him and asked me to "keep asking hard questions." I've been thinking about that a lot. As Christians, shouldn't we be constantly asking hard questions? Of ourselves... and of our friends.

By hard questions, I mean questions that get at our hearts- that expose our failures and incorrect ways of thinking. Hard questions that lead to better communication within ourselves and between each other. Questions that we know may very likely have answers we will not like.

Pursuing holiness by asking hard questions, and then dealing with the answers- that's the new theme.

Hmmm. Just a thought.