Wow, God has completely changed my life and I am celebrating: Yes Celebrating! I was bitter at first, not because the lessons were hard...and that they were and still are...but because I hated that I had to give up something so hard...not even that, but that I actually had to struggle with something that could be so easy...dependance on the God of the universe, the creator of everything beautiful and perfect.  I hate that I let Satan distort something so beautiful into something so selfish. I am completely convinced that ANYTHING, any motive, any thought, any deed, anything apart from God is evil. So, with that, every good and perfect gift is from above, and thankfully so. May I never be dependant on anything of this world. May I be able to realize what comes from my Father and when the deceiver has twisted something in order to confuse me. I love Jesus a lot...

"The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to hurt and offend. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God." -Oswald Chambers

"[Jesus] says that I must let everyone else come and go, and that I must be guided soley by my relationship to Him." -Oswald Chambers

Currently Reading My Utmost For His Highest see related

God is bringing me on such a huge journey right now...and I'm just going to be honest: it's hard. My life seems like a swirling pit of dispair sometimes, but I KNOW what it feels like now to completely surrender everything that has ever hindered me...and in that moment I felt like God was like: well, now that you are not holding onto anything, here is what I wanted to teach you for so long!!! So He bombarded...hum not a good word...more like helped me to embrace all that He has tried to make me see, but through the holding on to my problems, failures, weaknesses, I couldn't before...so, all He has taught me? Wow...I'll try to condense it as much as possible...they come more as questions, but take it or leave it: Why can't relationships(ALL relationships) be easy? Why do we have to make them so hard? Why do we always have to make things so hard? (This one started out as why does GOD have to make things so hard...then Amber reminded me that He doesn't...we do. Thanks Am.) So if we make things so hard, why can't we take God's easy way? Why does accepting His love have to be so difficult? Why can't we just give up the things we gave up the night before all the time? Why does it have to be hard each time? But in relaity, it does get easier....and I know that...but then why does it still have to be hard?

Now, away from the questions for a while and back to the statements God has shown me..

He has shown me that Christ's fin ished work on the cross is both beautiful and offensive. By Him dying on the cross for us He is saying that we ARE an unholy people, but He MADE us for holiness and by Him dying on the cross of all of our unholiness He is LONGING to make us holy through that finished work. As Christians we try to condence the gospel by watering it down...not making it as offensive...so that others will believe: but that's not the gospel. It is meant to be offensive...the gospel inclues the fact that we are all sinners, dirty rotten sinners, and the truth is that we will sin every single day -- BUT the hope comes from believing that we have a POWERFUL, LOVING, SAVIOR who saves us from the judgement of our sins so that we can live AS ONE with the Father and be covered by His holiness....Oswald Chambers said it like this:

   "The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind--holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity -- He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest.

There are really so many more...but I have a ridiculous amount of homework...and homework never ceases to be a distraction to me. sigh.

Knowing I'm a sinner and rejoicing in the power of my Savior, Trish

Current Music Kick: The Fray

So, school has started and I am being blessed by all of those around me! I get to see my Milligan friends again, and hopefully I'll get to hang out with my Doe River Gorge friends more than I usually do. God has taught me how to be submissive to Him alone, how to be a leader, how to find my confidence in Him as well as the affirmation of others. He has taught me to press on no matter how hard this life is. And He has taught me to find His beauty in everything around me! I love Him so much...and I hope the God of this universe will romance you and that you will be completely open to His romance. He is awesome. That's all.

Well, all I can say is that I am humbled by the Lord every day I am alive. I am humbled by the subtle lessons He teaches me that make the biggest influences of my life. My life is to love Him and to love others the way He loves them. May I not be influenced by media/society to love others the way they do: selfishly, measuring up others by popularity, mental strength, and physical beauty and abilities. May I always look to the things unseen to determine someone's heart and NOT the things I can see--and may I love them no matter what is revealed. May I always remember that I am not here to judge,  but to love. May I never give into tempation and may the Lord's prayer be a prayer that I pray constantly. May I never forget the cross and all the POWER that is in it and that I have access to that power through Jesus Christ. May I always listen to the Lord no matter how hard the command is and may I always remember that He loves me and knows what is best for me. May my heart be changed so I can follow Christ fully without any regret. May I forget what is behind and strive toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Chrsit Jesus. May I take this semester and give it my ALL to glorify the one who made me and everything I see and experience. That's my heart, thanks for listening...

Living for the One who set me free from the law of sin and death,

Trish