Worshiping by Protecting My Down-time?

On Thursday night, we had our RA meeting at Dean Gibbs' house, and it was inspirationally challenging to listen to her speak on the issue of spiritual growth and development. One principle she addressed was that of down-time, and the need to incorporate it into our daily lives. As a constantly on-the-go girl, it's been hard for me to even fathom that it could possibly be acceptable not to have every single moment of my day planned. However, Dean Gibbs raised the point that it is absolutely crucial to protect our down-time on a day-to-day basis (this being different than setting aside a drowsy 15 minutes before bed for devotions). By down-time, I mean anything from a nap to extended prayer time...whatever God happens to lay on your heart that He wants for you.

It's hard for me at first to accept that it is good to say no to people's requests sometimes, but I really felt challenged by this, that it is okay, and God wants me to sometimes. And honestly, it makes sense too, that He would rather have me be able to give 100% to the tasks He has laid out for me rather than an exhausted 50% because I have my heart set on meeting every person's expectations. Does this mean I will become lazy? Not at all! But what this does mean, is that I'm going to try to keep my commitments to a level that is humanly possible and allow "sabbath" time to allow God to keep me spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy. I'm excited to see how He uses this new commitment for His honor and glory!

A Dream Come True

This isn't anything that happened recently, but it is totally something that God deserves a lot of public credit for, so I wanted to share. If you know me, you already know that I was born an only child. What many people don't know though, is that I spent my entire life wishing and praying for an older brother. Obviously, this is a little bit of a physical impossibility, but I figured it was worth asking anyway. Wouldn't you know that all along, God had it in His perfect plan to answer my prayers?

When I came to Cedarville as a freshman, He had two of the greatest guys I've ever met right here waiting for me. Almost as soon as we met, they adopted me as their little sister, and I finally had the big brothers I had always dreamed of! Now that they've both graduated and started their actual lives, we still are able to keep in touch, and honestly those phone calls are always one of the biggest highlights of my week. I adore these guys, and praise God for bringing them into my life. Thanks God, for answering our prayers before we even think to pray them!

Trusting in THE Sovereign Shepherd

One thing that I have been struggling with lately on a more superficial level is frustration with trying to plan our wedding long distance. See, I'm the sort of girl who likes to grab a project like this by the horns and carry it all the way through to completion. Because of that, it can be almost agonizing sitting here in Ohio, feeling like there are things that I need to be doing and not being able to because I'm long distance. But if I think about it in a more general, yet deeper level, this is something I struggle with quite a bit in many aspects of my life. I'm the type of girl who wants to plan every last detail of everything, and it makes me restless if things are left up in the air.

God is so faithful to teach us as we actively seek Him, though. This week for our small group Bible study, we were studying the unique attributes of God, with two of our foci being His sovereignty and His provision. As I was reading through Psalm 23, He really impacted me with the truth that He already knows every little detail of my entire life. His plan is perfect, will only benefit me and not harm me, and absolutely nothing that will ever come up has not first passed through His loving discernment as to its appropriateness for my spiritual growth. What a freeing knowledge it is that rather than worrying about details that I cannot yet impact, I am liberated to spend each moment of the present loving and honoring Him with all my heart! How wonderful to know that we do indeed follow a good and sovereign shepherd.

And the Countdown Begins...

This has been a positively wonderful weekend with Jesse, and while undoubtedly it always hurts to say goodbye, I realized that we only have to do this six more times until we're together forever! After four years of long-distance, we'll never have to say goodbye again! I can't even begin to put into words how excited I am for that!

It's always a little tricky getting through the day that he leaves, but I'm taking that pain to God and praying that He'll create something beautiful out of it. Somehow, it is incredibly comforting to know that we serve a God who understands every last hurt we ever feel, and is more than able to empathize with us. However, at the same time...God is the embodiment of joy in its purest form. Yes, it hurts to say goodbye, but at the same time, how much joy can be gathered from the knowledge that in Christ we are already promised to never have to say goodbye for eternity. In Christ, we find our complete fulfillment, and there's no need to live with a gaping hole in our hearts while we're apart. To me, that is absolutely wonderful, and it makes these long-distances so much more bearable. Praise be to God for all He has done and continues to do to draw us closer to Himself!