Fall, Movies, Excitement, and Other Random Happenings

Hi everyone!

Well, it's been way too long since I posted, so here's the collection of thoughts, projects, and happenings in my life lately. :)

• I'm back in school! I'm doing online coursework for the year before I transfer to university on-campus next fall. I finished a Christian worldview course about a week ago and REALLY enjoyed the class. It stretched my mind in lots of different ways, which you all know I love. :D Right now, I've just started taking Old Testament History!
• I work full-time now!! At least almost full-time. I nanny/babysit for two different families and I absolutely love it! I can't even think of a better place that I'd want to work right now. 
• I CUT MY HAIR OFF. Well, I actually paid someone else to do it, but ya know. :) It's kind of a longish pixie now.
• I recently got the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan and have just started reading it. So far, it's really convicting and theological and just all-around awesome. I also recently read C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory and I really loved that, too. Have any of you read anything interesting lately?? Comment below! :)
• Fall is finally here, and Winter is in sight!! Fun fact: Winter is my favorite season, hands down.
• I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. God's grace isn't clean, it gets dirty. Grace has to cover every sin, not just the "little" ones. When we understand God's grace, we become free from fear of perfection, because we are no longer required to be perfect. We are free to just be ourselves and chase after God with all of our hearts!
• I changed the blog background! (Again!) I went with blue this time, and I really like the new fonts I found. :)
• My brain is about to die. I've watched a lot of movies lately and have been thinking a lot about the worldview in each of them, (big surprise!) so hopefully I can still put together a set of coherent thoughts when I need to. (Which, looking back on that sentence, probably won't be happening anytime soon...) Recently I've watched The Maze Runner, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Citizen Kane, The Patriot, (edited) and The Magnificent Seven.
• We have a new page coming soon to the blog!!! L. had a really cool page idea for us to add, and we're excited for you to see it! Stay tuned...
• My friends are awesome. Jus' sayin. :)
• I color-coded the apps on my phone. It's kind of relaxing to just scroll through and see all of the colors. :)
• I'm running out of relevant information to put in these bullet points...
• Our cars have all been dying!!! And our house has lost power three times in the last week. It's freaking me out. 
• I keep waiting for something really exciting to happen, but I don't know why. Maybe I've just had too much routine lately. (But if there's too much excitement, I completely shut down and can't function until I have routine again...)
• Last Saturday, I got 7 pies smashed in my face. L. and E. were responsible for two of said pies. I'm totally getting them back for that, but I haven't quite decided how yet. :D
• I went to a concert over the weekend that was absolutely amazing!! I got to see Colton Dixon, Francesca Battistelli, Jeremy Camp, and Hillsong United, along with others, but those four were my favorite!! (I also got to start sponsoring a little girl in Thailand with an international program!!! I'm super excited about that!)
• Here's a verse that I fell in love with the other day! At Bible study a few days ago, the teacher had us do something called lectio divina with verses we were assigned. (Look it up on google; it'll tell you what that means...) The verse I got was 1 Corinthians 1:17 - "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of of Christ be emptied of its power." The phrase that stood out to me was "words of human wisdom" because words are so meaningful to me. I was  thinking that maybe the way we preach the gospel is with a language of love and grace, rather than words. The cross kind of transcends the very limited power of words, which I find fascinating. My mind's been on this thought a lot for the past few days.
• There are pushpins in my bulletin board in the shape of a heart. Just in case you wanted to know. :D

There ya go! Enjoy trying to decipher my life! (Hint: Oh, wait. There aren't any hints. I can't even decipher my life!) I guess you could say it's kinda... simplex right now! (Hahahaha! I see what you did there!!) Oh, man, I'm laughing at my own puns. This is really bad. I'd better go and save whatever dignity I've got left. Bye!

-M.

i am nothing

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 
(John 3:16 ESV)

 

I am not sure what to say at this point. Does all this really need my explanation? 

Well, here are a few thoughts from my own head: Lets start with the most basic thing about me. My existence: God made me. So without God I would not exist. I would be nothing in the most literal sense possible. A few other things about me...: I am made in God's image. I am like a picture of God so I don't even have one original quality that is not from God. Then I messed even that up by sinning, so at this point I was separated from God. I was a marred image of someone I couldn't  even see clearly, because He is Holy, Holy, Holy; perfectly set apart, and incompatible with my sin. So, there I was, nothing worth while anyway. But God didn't make people in His image for nothing. He would restore that image and be worshiped by His people. So He sent His son Jesus to bridge the gap; to take my shame and give me His holiness. Because of His love he changed me from 'nothing' into 'His beloved daughter.'

This isn't just my story. It is your story too, but this is where you get to make a choice: How will yours end? You can accept what Jesus did for you, taking His holiness in place of your shame, and appreciating the love of the giver of all life, or you can reject it and remain nothing but a marred image separated from the only person who can give you true value. 

There is one more thing you should know though: God made our souls to exist forever, but because God is holy and we are sinful if you refuse to accept the gift of holiness from Jesus you can't spend eternity with God. Any human who dies without accepting the gift of holiness and eternal life from Jesus Christ spends eternity in Hell.

If you already trust in Jesus then please take this opportunity to thank Him for what He has done for you! I hope this post helped you to remember how awesome it is and how vital He is to you!!!!!!!!! For more on humility check out this sermon

If you haven't accepted The gift of the righteousness of Jesus you still can! If you trust Jesus to save you He will!

If you have just trusted Jesus to save you Praise God! I promise it will change your life for the better! Please share with us! We would love to hear about what God is doing in your life and help you in any way! Oh and if you don't have a Bible you should get one. It is a lot of things but one is a guide to being a Christian! You can also read or listen to the Bible online which I Love to do.

If you have questions comment away. We will do our best to answer.

If you disagree with me please comment! I want to hear what you think!

God loves all of you! And that means more then you or I know!

-L

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

(Romans 3:27-28 ESV)