Verses & Tips, Week 8

For the first time this week, I forgot whether this was the eighth or ninth week of memorization!  :)  My theme for the coming week is humility.  And the verses I'm memorizing:

• Sunday: Luke 14:11--"For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
• Monday: Psalm 25:9--"The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way."
• Tuesday: Philippians 2:8--"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
• Wednesday: Romans 12:16--"Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion."
• Thursday: Psalm 149:4--"For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation."
• Friday: James 4:10--"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."
• Saturday: Proverbs 11:2--"When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom."

Those are some beautiful promises and ideas to stick in my mind!  I'm looking forward to this week's verses!

If you'd like to join me in memorizing, please just leave a comment!  You're welcome to join at any time and don't have to "play catch-up" if you don't want to!

7 Tips to Surviving College

...some of which I'm still working on...but I thought, being an all-knowing second-semester freshman, I would share some of my great knowledge.  Ha ha.  :)

1)  Do not under any circumstances reduce your quiet-time with God!  It will be tempting, especially when you have a dozen homework assignments and half a dozen papers to do.  But that time will make the rest of your time more productive.  I guarantee. If you must do something different with your quiet time, increase it!

2) Take care of yourself.  Eat healthy food at regular times, SLEEP at least seven hours a night, drink lots of water, and exercise every day.  Healthy living is one major thing that hardly any college students ever do, and if you can manage it you'll be far and away more productive.

3) Prioritize.  God comes first.  Then family and friends.  Then work (if you have work).  Then school.  Then social life.  Okay, that's my personal list.  But realize that having friends and being involved in the ministry God leads you to (whatever that is) are not necessarily the same as having a social life.  If you can manage being social on top of everything else, good for you!  But that's not what you're going to college for (I hope).

4) Use your time well.  This is one area I struggle in . . . I get distracted so easily and while it isn't over bad things, it's usually at very inopportune times.  If you work with a schedule, make a schedule; if you don't (like me), make a to-do list and focus on getting rid of all those things before you relax with the latest Olympic equestrian qualifications or videos of the 2008 Beijing Olympics eventing teams...okay, I digress.  :)  Use your time!  Find niches here and there to fit in reading, planning, maybe even some easy homework.

5) Be a student.  Okay, maybe you're not going to Harvard or Yale.  Or again, maybe you are.  Either way, you're a student now.  That means...you study.  You don't have to be a total nerd, but do your homework, read, turn things in on time, listen in class, take notes if that helps, and your grades will thank you.

6) Don't panic.  Ever.  Maybe you forgot that you had a twelve-page paper due tomorrow.  Do what you can, don't pull an all-nighter, go to sleep, wake up early, work some more, turn it in.  Something's better than nothing.  If you forgot it altogether, see if the teacher accepts late work; if not, let it go.  And take it as a lesson learned.

7) Break things up.  Relax sometimes and find something you like to do and do it.

Prayer

I have been asking God to "let me see."  Let me see how He sees--people, events, what goes on in this world.  To have His heart. 

And He has.  And then I find myself looking at Him and saying, "okay, what do I do now?!" 

Pray.

My friend has a cyst about to rupture; they need to do almost-emergency surgery.
Pray.

My boss's daughter falls at school and breaks multiple bones, right after a major leg surgery.
Pray.

My grandmother breaks her pelvis in two places and can't take care of my grandfather any more and what are we going to do?
Pray.

It gets to sounding almost corny, but the truth is that prayer is power and I am asking Him now for the courage to pray with people and not just for them.  And to continue opening my eyes.  Because it is really a life-changing experience and I'm so so grateful He is showing me this!

Verses & Tips, Week 7

Happy weekend again!  I admit I've been struggling a bit with memorization lately but God is good and I have managed to spend at least some time with each verse every day.  This week my theme is on love--rather appropriate, don't you think?  Here are the verses:

• Sunday: 1 John 12:25--"He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
• Monday: Ephesians 5:28--"So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself."
• Tuesday: 1 John 4:7--"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
• Wednesday: Proverbs 19:8--"He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will find good."
• Thursday: John 16:27--"For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God."
• Friday: Psalm 146:8--"The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous."
• Saturday: Ecclesiastes 5:10--"He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase.  This also is vanity."

So here we have everything from what we should love as Christians, to what God loves, to what we love naturally!  A big spectrum.  Looks like interesting verses to think about!


If you'd like to join me in memorizing, just leave a comment!  You're more than welcome and you don' have to "play catch-up" if you don't want to!

Let Me See

So at the moment I guess I'm kind of struggling, though it should be expected.  :)  Whenever God calls you somewhere--even if it's "just" to stay put--the devil's going to get busy, in my experience.

I really want this next year to be a "missional year" no matter where I'm at or what I'm doing.  I'm hoping God will open the way for me to go on a mission trip over this coming spring break, but I don't know . . . all the slots may be full by now, for all I know.  But one way or another, I want to be living for Him this rest-of-the-school-year and this summer and next school year too.

So I am praying right now, Lord, let me see. 

Let me see like You see.  Let me love people like You do.  Give me Your heart.  Draw me closer and closer to You and show me how to bring others with me.

Let me see.

Another Direction

So after a lot of thinking and a lot of praying and after talking with friends and family, I have decided to unofficially put student missions next year "on hold."  Things simply aren't working out--and usually because of factors I can't control: I'm not male, I'm not old enough yet, I haven't finished my degree, I'm not highly musical.  These things I can't change, and I don't want to push through them if God's asking me to stay here.  So I have prayed and told Him that if He wants me going somewhere next year, He will have to make it very clear; otherwise, I will stay here and begin looking for where I can live missionally here.

It's not so much a "why not?" as an "okay, so what next?" sort of thought.  I would have loved to go back to Peru, but when that fell through, some of my enthusiasm waned a bit.  So I'm not heartbroken.  Plus I am certain that God has plans for me here: maybe He wants me working at this summer day camp I just found, cashiering at the Village Market (our little local grocery store), riding and showing horses over at Bayview (my beloved new stable), training the new dog we hope to get next weekend, helping Mom take care of our garden and put up all the fruit and veggies we hope to get this year, expanding our weekly Bible study . . . who knows?  But honestly, I'm looking forward to where He leads this coming year!

Verses & Tips, Week 6

I must say that this memory project isn't the easiest thing I've ever done!  But the rewards when I actually am thinking on a verse most of the day are really great.  I wish I'd had more time to write about my favorite verses for the last couple weeks, but alas, no time 'twas granted.

The verses I'm memorizing this week have the theme of things that please God.  Of course, there are lots of things that please God, so this is just a smattering of verses!  But I think it'll be interesting memorizing.  Here goes!

• Sunday: Proverbs 16:7--"When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."
• Monday: Mark 1:11--"Then a voice came from heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"
• Tuesday: Isaiah 55:11--"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
• Wednesday: Psalm 40:13--"Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!"
• Thursday: 1 Samuel 12:22--"For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people."
• Friday: John 8:29--"And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."
• Saturday: 1 Corinthians 12:18--"But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased." 

Looks like some great memorizing this next week! :)  I'll be posting another tip ASAP when I get time! 

If you'd like to join me in memorizing, just leave me a comment--you'll be very welcome to join in!  You can join at any time and don't have to "play catch-up" if you don't want to!