To Say Thank You

New Years Resolutions: promises that we make to ourselves, knowing that they probably won't last long. I created a new blog that I am going to keep, updating each day with something I am thankful for. I'm going to make some other resolutions too, but this is my first and possibly most important!
Here is the link:
http://tosaythankyou-liz.blogspot.com/

A long semester...

I know, I know. I haven't written here in months. I've been meaning to... it's been hard.

This has been a surprisingly difficult semester in a ton of completely unexpected ways. Being home has given me the chance to begin to process everything that has happened and begin to heal from it. I have also finally been able to think about some theological issues I've been questioning and will soon get the chance to actually dialogue with someone about them. I have been so homesick this semester, and am glad to be home so that I can relax and face what needs to be faced instead of continuing to push it aside because I have no time or energy to deal with it.

Now I have that time and energy, and will be able to head back to Gordon refreshed because hopefully by January 16 I will have had enough time to put myself back together. This is my chance to let God take me apart, break me down, test me and then put me back together in a place I am safe and whole. Have your way Lord, have your way. You're the Potter, I'm the clay.

How He Loves!

"He is jealous for me. He loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His love and mercy."

I love this visual. I can also now appreciate the metaphor a little bit more in depth after experiencing, well, a tropical storm. It was supposed to be a hurricane, but Irene had weakened by the time she hit us. Something that I noticed during the storm though, something I hadn't ever realized while singing this song before; the high winds tear branches, leaves, needles and anything else that is remotely dead off of a tree. It tears some living things too, but it is really quite refining. There are these dead or mostly dead branches that are just hanging on to the tree sucking up water and energy from the tree, but not giving anything back. These are forcibly torn off. Like gold in a fire, the wind cleans the trees.

Sometimes, we aren't focused on God. We focus on things of this world, things that take and take but give nothing back. God gets jealous for us and sends a hurricane of his love and mercy to tear off our burdens and distractions, to refocus us on Him. It isn't usually comfortable (some of those trees were bent almost sideways) but as long as you have deep roots, you will not be toppled.

Let it rain on me, Lord. Let it rain.

A Promise

I'm scared. I don't know what the future will hold and it sucks. I'm very much the type of person who needs to have things planned out, schedules written down and a step-by-step process with important things like my life. Not knowing what my life will consist of once I graduate college (heck, not knowing what will happen tomorrow) scares me. I don't like it. It makes me uncomfortable. I know that God has a plan for me, but what if I screw it up? That can happen. I can choose a plan other than God's plan to prosper me and give me hope. I have free will. What if I somehow screw it all up?

Then today I was reminded of a story. There was this really great, awesome man of God. God actually straight up told this guy how awesomely great his life was going to be and how everyone was going to remember him. And you know what he did? He went and slept with a woman who wasn't his wife and had her husband killed. King David, a man after God's own heart, a man who could see prosperity, who had everything he needed, took more than was his to take. But here is the cool part; God forgave him and still worked his plan through David. David messed up. He turned from God's promises, but God didn't turn from David.

God has given me a promise too. He has promised to give me a future, a promise to prosper me and not to harm me. A promise for hope. I might stray, although I pray that I stay on course. Either way, God's promise is good. God is good. And I need never fear.

Weakness

At camp this last summer I won the scavenger hunt! I also managed to scratch myself up pretty badly. It also just so happened that it was the first day of camp, so the rest of camp I had to be careful not to reopen the cuts, which were pretty bad. Even with my care and caution, I still opened them a few times and bled through the bandages many times. I realized pretty quickly that I'm not invincible like I seemed to think I was. In fact, I can't really do anything on my own; I can't heal my cuts, I can't stop myself from aging, heck, I can't even make my hair grow faster! I am not in control. Yet I somehow think that I am. Somehow, I have this delusion that I can do anything. The Bible asks, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? " The answer, of course, is none of us. None of us can do it alone. None of us are as in control as we like to think.  My scars from the week at camp remind me of that every day.

Ohh herrroww

Hi! I kept meaning to update this, but alas, life got in the way. UPDATES! I finished my freshman year at Gordon College (whooohooo!!), I am back in Kansas for now working at the pool and taking an online May Term. I will be in Chicago in 2 weeks and couldn't be more excited. My roommate and a few other friends got back from La Vida the other day, which makes me miss my trip an awful lot. My little camera broke, but I'm back here with my mom's nice camera, which is  plus. And mom got home from her missions trip in China last week! Always a really good thing :)

So I don't have much to write today, but I promise, I'm getting back on the blog!

Easter Sunday

It is a story we all know well. It makes for a good movie, and has been made into more than one. Taken, Man on Fire, Seven Pounds, and Finding Nemo are all based on this concept. Many, many more movies are as well, but these are just a few. Stories of a father or father figure doing all that he can to rescue someone he loves. Two of these movies the rescuer must die in order to save the life. In none of them, however, does the savior come back to life.

That is where the greatest story of all differs.

Our Savior searched for us, went through Hell to rescue us, found us and then died for us. But it didn't end there as many stories do. As soon as the rescue takes place, the loved one is freed, the movie ends. For us as humans, we keep getting back into trouble. We lose our way, wander off, get kidnapped by our sin. Instead of continuously rescuing us, Jesus paid the ultimate price and died for us. And then He rose back to life.

He is Risen!