Looking back on this past two weeks I can confidently tell you that it was an emotional roller coaster. Not in the sense that one moment I was crying tears of sorrow, and the next tears of joy but instead the contentment all the way to the weariness. One might ask how you could have two different feelings, both that lack strong emotion, and come away from it being drained. Honestly, I can't tell you why this happened to me, but I can tell you that God is good all of the time.
These last two weeks I have spent on the softball field starting my journey as a Corban Warrior. Our first trip to California was exciting, exhilarating, and elating. Without a care in the world I was able to focus on the effort that I was putting out. All the while this was happening my homework was starting to slightly back up. After we returned there was three day break to wash our laundry, catch up on homework, and be a college student. The second stretch of our trip was to Columbus, Georgia. This was also an interesting adventure because every time I thought of boarding that plane to fly to the other side of the country I got an overwhelming sense of anxiety that would flood over me. The thought of not being able to be in the classroom, not being on the familiar campus, and not being around the continual support of my hall mates frightened me. I spent a lot of time in prayer asking God to provide the time, resources, and ability for me to get my homework done and still focus on my athletics. Like I mentioned earlier, God is good all of the time, and I only had three assignments and one exam during my week long trip. I guess the reason that I am telling you this is not to complain how awful my situation can be at times, because its not, it is to show you that even through the little things God is good. Pure and simple it, God will provide even for our smallest of needs. Confession, even when things seem extremely difficult and unobtainable, there is always an upside to our situation and we will only find it when we look up to Jesus.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Adjusting to Insanity
I was asked by one of my readers to discuss the adjustments that need to be made in the transition from high school to college and how to make those adjustments. This quote by R.D. Laing is how I would sum up the adjustment to college, "Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world." Although it is not very encouraging, this is literally it! Adjusting to college life is insanity but it is the only rational way to adjust to the world of college.
Now, there are many different aspects that need adjusting when you leave the comfort of your parent's home and move into a dorm room with some stranger. I would have to say that leaving your parents, siblings, family, friends, and pets is the most dramatic change that you can make in your life. Confession, I don't know what to say to aid you along in the process of leaving your parents. Everyone is different. For me personally, I was itching to get out on my own and start my own life. I think that this really helped with being home sick because I knew that I was actually pursuing the one thing that I had wanted for so long, freedom.
"How do I adjust to living with someone else?" Haha! This is a good question that you ask! If I were to label the phases of adjustment, I would have to say that this is the most awkward out of all of them. Depending on what type of school that you go to, the Student Life office usually does a decent job of matching you up with someone that has a similar interest as you. I was honestly blessed to be placed with my roommate Maddy because we share the same petpeeves, we have the same viewpoints on religion and faith, as well as both of us being on the softball team. I would have to say that the first key to adjusting to living with another person is the be courteous. Remember when your parents told you to kill people with kindness, adapt this phrase into your relationship. Christ said to do unto others what you would want done unto you.
DORM FOOD! I will try my best to stay focused on the concept of adjusting rather than bashing how awful the food can be at times.... (oops?!) Ok, so your brain will not have any problems adjusting to the fact that there are endless options of food to eat from salad bars to pizza to burger stations. Your body on the other hand will not thank you for the amount of time, or lack there of, that it will take to digest the food. If I would suggest one thing to adjusting to the food I would say make sure that the majority of your plate is full of veggies and proteins that you get from plants. I have noticed that the meats and carbs are cooked with some sort of oil that leaves you feeling full for a very short period of time. So, focus on hearty salads and veggies and remember, an occasional slice of pizza is ok.
Adjusting to friends was another interesting aspect of college life. Take advantage of your freshman orientation week. Ditch your parents for an hour, grab your roommate, and go explore! Find all of the buildings where you will have classes, pinpoint the closest coffee shop to each classroom, and introduce yourself to other freshman along the way. Something that I realized a few weeks into classes was that every freshman was on the same page. Trying to find ways of coping and adjusting to this new chapter in life made everyone in the same awkward stage of trying to find friends. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, be awkward together, and most importantly, be yourself.
So, hopefully this gives you some good insight on how to adjust to college life and I will be praying for all of my senior friends who will be starting a new life here in a few months! Take a deep breath, everything will be ok, and embrace your awkwardness!
Confessions,
Chaleigh
P.S. If you have any questions or topic proposals for my blog I would love to hear them! Just leave a comment and I will get back to you! :)
Now, there are many different aspects that need adjusting when you leave the comfort of your parent's home and move into a dorm room with some stranger. I would have to say that leaving your parents, siblings, family, friends, and pets is the most dramatic change that you can make in your life. Confession, I don't know what to say to aid you along in the process of leaving your parents. Everyone is different. For me personally, I was itching to get out on my own and start my own life. I think that this really helped with being home sick because I knew that I was actually pursuing the one thing that I had wanted for so long, freedom.
"How do I adjust to living with someone else?" Haha! This is a good question that you ask! If I were to label the phases of adjustment, I would have to say that this is the most awkward out of all of them. Depending on what type of school that you go to, the Student Life office usually does a decent job of matching you up with someone that has a similar interest as you. I was honestly blessed to be placed with my roommate Maddy because we share the same petpeeves, we have the same viewpoints on religion and faith, as well as both of us being on the softball team. I would have to say that the first key to adjusting to living with another person is the be courteous. Remember when your parents told you to kill people with kindness, adapt this phrase into your relationship. Christ said to do unto others what you would want done unto you.
DORM FOOD! I will try my best to stay focused on the concept of adjusting rather than bashing how awful the food can be at times.... (oops?!) Ok, so your brain will not have any problems adjusting to the fact that there are endless options of food to eat from salad bars to pizza to burger stations. Your body on the other hand will not thank you for the amount of time, or lack there of, that it will take to digest the food. If I would suggest one thing to adjusting to the food I would say make sure that the majority of your plate is full of veggies and proteins that you get from plants. I have noticed that the meats and carbs are cooked with some sort of oil that leaves you feeling full for a very short period of time. So, focus on hearty salads and veggies and remember, an occasional slice of pizza is ok.
Adjusting to friends was another interesting aspect of college life. Take advantage of your freshman orientation week. Ditch your parents for an hour, grab your roommate, and go explore! Find all of the buildings where you will have classes, pinpoint the closest coffee shop to each classroom, and introduce yourself to other freshman along the way. Something that I realized a few weeks into classes was that every freshman was on the same page. Trying to find ways of coping and adjusting to this new chapter in life made everyone in the same awkward stage of trying to find friends. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, be awkward together, and most importantly, be yourself.
So, hopefully this gives you some good insight on how to adjust to college life and I will be praying for all of my senior friends who will be starting a new life here in a few months! Take a deep breath, everything will be ok, and embrace your awkwardness!
Confessions,
Chaleigh
P.S. If you have any questions or topic proposals for my blog I would love to hear them! Just leave a comment and I will get back to you! :)
Sunday, January 25, 2015
1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (Message)
"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "JUMP," and it jumps, but I don't love, I AM NOTHING. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sings of others, doesn't reveal when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trust God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, out incomplete will be canceled."
The goal that I have for you, and for me, is to learn how to love like men and women of God. Over the past few weeks I've really been searching for love in all the wrong places, continually coming up empty. Every time that I thought my heart was getting close to love, I fell deeper than I was before and instead of getting up and walking away from that trap, I continued to happily jump right back into the middle of it, but why? The root of the problem was that I was not being love. One cannot be loved unless they be love. I had been working on trying to be those things on my own accord for so long that I had lost sight on the One who gave me the ability to love. Jesus Christ has given every single one of us the ability to love, and be loved, as long as He is our first love. This is where 1 Corinthians 13 comes into play. My heart passionately loves this verse, especially in the Message version, because it lists out step by step what the characteristics of love are. Love doesn't give up, it doesn't covet, it doesn't force itself on others. If you think about it these three characteristics are some of the ways that the Lord loves us. So why is it so hard for us to love Christ's people that way, not just in a relationship but in friendships as well? Sin swept into our lives and corrupted the way that we think of love. Love looks out for the best interest of others, and not of selfish desires. Confession, what has been difficult lately is seeing my friend fall in love. Even though she hasn't admitted it yet, I know that she loves this amazing man of God and it is difficult to not envy what she has. Love does not envy and covet what others have and this is the cold hard truth that the Lord has begun to reveal in my life.
So, I'm going to say this in faith that the Lord is going to bless and be blessed by this; I challenge you to analyze your life full of relationships. Take time to study ever little detail. Conclude with this, are you loving the way the Bible teaches us how to love? If your answer is no I challenge you further, memorize, in your favorite version, 1 Corinthians 13. We are called to hide God's Words in our heart that we might not sin against Him. By hiding this treasured verse in our hearts we aren not just learning how to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are also learning how to love our God and how our God loves us.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Friends are like Daisies
Confession, I might be sitting in a coffee shop with a Starbucks sitting next to my Mac computer while sitting at a high-bar table. Stereotypical white girl status right now. Another confession, I obviously haven't blogged in a while and hadn't made any plans to until my mother asked me "how my blog was coming along?" I admittedly gave myself a huge break of time over Christmas mostly to reflect on the past semester and how, and what, God was speaking to me during that time. There are a multitude of little bits of information that He brought to my mind while I spend huge, lonely blocks of time thinking. So, with that being said, I am having a difficult time picking one topic to discuss right now as I sit watching the people buzz though the campus coffee shop.
I think I will spend today discussing friendship and how important all my connections have become while living at 'the bottom of the hill' for the past four months. Proverbs 17:9-17 says "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool. An evil man is bent only on rebellion a merciless official will be sent against him. Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly. If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house. Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent- the Lord detests them both. Of what use is money in the hands of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom? A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." I know this is a pretty long verse, but I think it speaks truth to what a friend really is. "He who covers over an offense promotes love" this is so significant in most of the relationships that we will encounter. It also is an example of how God loves us! He covered all of our offenses with His blood so that we might live again. It is the least we can do to wake up in the morning, choose Jesus, and then cover the offenses that our friends might have against us.
The Lord has brought three very close friends into my life through living in the dorms, and one very special teammate. When I refer to my friends while in discussion with my mom I will always tell her that each one of them serves a different purpose in my life. One is willing to tell me the things that I don't want to hear, but need to. Another is my listening ear, she is kind and slow to speak. The third friend I can have two hour long conversations with. We start out laughing, cry somewhere in the middle, then laugh at the fact that we were crying in the first place. My awesome and lovable teammate, who I see as a whole, pure, and amazing woman of God, has taught me that it is ok to be vulnerable and confide in someone not matter the age. She has also taught me how to take selfies, and is extremely good at making me feel awkward and uncomfortable! :) In verse 17 it says "a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." There have been a few situations where I needed someone to love me, and there were times where I needed a sister to help me through my adverse situations. Every single time I could count on these girls to be there for me, to pray for me, and to help me through my circumstances.
Without these four core friendships and the multiple other friends that I have made it all develops a huge blossoming daisy. Every petal is connected back to the center of the flower and without one petal the flower is not complete. The Lord brings so much joy through friendship and I think it is just the peak of the iceberg in God revealing His Majesty to us.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
I think I will spend today discussing friendship and how important all my connections have become while living at 'the bottom of the hill' for the past four months. Proverbs 17:9-17 says "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool. An evil man is bent only on rebellion a merciless official will be sent against him. Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly. If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house. Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent- the Lord detests them both. Of what use is money in the hands of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom? A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." I know this is a pretty long verse, but I think it speaks truth to what a friend really is. "He who covers over an offense promotes love" this is so significant in most of the relationships that we will encounter. It also is an example of how God loves us! He covered all of our offenses with His blood so that we might live again. It is the least we can do to wake up in the morning, choose Jesus, and then cover the offenses that our friends might have against us.
The Lord has brought three very close friends into my life through living in the dorms, and one very special teammate. When I refer to my friends while in discussion with my mom I will always tell her that each one of them serves a different purpose in my life. One is willing to tell me the things that I don't want to hear, but need to. Another is my listening ear, she is kind and slow to speak. The third friend I can have two hour long conversations with. We start out laughing, cry somewhere in the middle, then laugh at the fact that we were crying in the first place. My awesome and lovable teammate, who I see as a whole, pure, and amazing woman of God, has taught me that it is ok to be vulnerable and confide in someone not matter the age. She has also taught me how to take selfies, and is extremely good at making me feel awkward and uncomfortable! :) In verse 17 it says "a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." There have been a few situations where I needed someone to love me, and there were times where I needed a sister to help me through my adverse situations. Every single time I could count on these girls to be there for me, to pray for me, and to help me through my circumstances.
Without these four core friendships and the multiple other friends that I have made it all develops a huge blossoming daisy. Every petal is connected back to the center of the flower and without one petal the flower is not complete. The Lord brings so much joy through friendship and I think it is just the peak of the iceberg in God revealing His Majesty to us.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Pure
This post has taken me quite a few days to write 1) because it is long, but 2) because I want to have a heart of surrender to Christ while writing it. I want Christ to be glorified in ever word that I type on this page, and have all the glory return to Him. This is a huge topic that Christ has laid on my heart the past few years and I know that He is going to use it to impact someone who is reading it. So, here it goes...
Purity. The topic that everyone loves to hate. Something that baffles me is that in the public schools we would much rather talk about who is doing what with the other guy, but we are too weak to stand up and talk about staying pure. From a very young age I was taught about purity, and how God designed us to stay pure until marriage. At first I found this topic 'awkward', 'weird', and 'uncomfortable' to talk about but over the years, as I have matured in my faith and developed strong relationships with my girl friends, I found purity and marriage the most talked about thing during our casual conversations.
A couple months ago I was thinking and praying how God wants me to use my story of purity to spread the Gospel. He laid this on my heart; it is common to hear about physical purity and mental purity, the don't-do list, and the don't-think-about list, but I feel that there is four different aspects of purity. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual purity are key areas that need to be addressed. I will briefly touch on each aspect because I could go on for ages about each one.
Physical purity isn't too difficult to figure out. In 1 Corinthians 6:18 it says "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body." God is pretty clear on His expectations for us, as His children, to abstain from sexual immorality. I have had the opportunity to talk with a number of couples that had stayed pure all the way up to their wedding day. Never once have I heard that they wished they had done it differently and followed the standard that the world has set for relationships. Satan is weird. He tries to make sex seem like the 'normal' thing to do when you are dating someone, or even 'getting to know someone', but he makes sex seem so shameful at the same time. This only leads to a life of misery and guilt. God has not called us to that, instead He calls us to a life of purity. I'm not saying that if you have had sex outside of marriage that you should be damned to hell, what I'm saying that is if you have a choice, make a decision that is going to please Him. You won't regret it. If you are that person that is feeling guilt due to sexual immorality, I highly encourage you to talk to someone about it. Find a trusted adult or leader in your church and talk to them. Hiding your shame and guilt will not make it go away, it will actually cause the opposite to happen. Keeping all of that built up inside of you can literally destroy you from the inside-out and keep you in bondage for many years. TALK!
Moving on to mental purity. In Matthew 5:27-30 it says "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your member that that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." I know this verse is addressing men specifically, but I think women have just as hard of a time with this. I will admit, I have looked at guys before and thought of things that I should not be thinking about, due to our human nature of sin, it will happen. This is no justification though. If one of our eyes causes us to sin, we would be better off to not have it than keep it and continue to sin. Basically, if there is something in our lives that is causing us to commit sin with the way we think, then we need to get rid of it immediately. What I take from this verse is that sometimes its a mind problem. We have been drilled by the secular culture of images and thoughts that are not appropriate according to what the Bible teaches us and it is our job to purge those things from our lives.
Mental purity and emotional purity kind of go hand-in-hand. For women especially we have a tendency to connect our thoughts with our emotions. *GUILTY!* When we start thinking about what that guy said to us, and oh!, the way he looked at me when he said it, we start stitching our heart to theirs. In Proverbs 4:21-23 it says "Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Guard your heart... There are many times when I wish I would have guarded my heart a little bit more. This looks different for everyone, whether you don't watch that PG-13 movie because of the sexual element in it, or don't get too connected to that boy who is being nice to you, these types of things can start tying our hearts to something that is empty on the other end. Usually what ends up happening after we break a heart tie with something, we are left with these little stitch holes that aren't pretty. The only way that we can mend the heart ties is through the power and the blood of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, spiritual purity. This is honestly a beautiful Psalm, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is a little snippet of it. Psalms 51:7-10 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." As Christians we are called by Christ to live a life according to His will and purpose and in order to fulfill those things we must be right with Him. We have to keep our relationship with Jesus pure and constant. Like I said earlier, we are human and it is our sinful nature to not do those things, but with the power of the Holy Spirit that resides inside of us when we accept Christ, anything is possible. Sometimes life can just get hazed with random things and we can lose sight and focus of where we are going in our lives. This is when we can call out to God and ask Him to create in us a clean heart, and restore purity into our lives.
Confession, I'm not perfect in any of these areas, and I'm not placing that expectation on anyone. What I am expecting is that when we do realize the mistakes we are making/have made we turn 180* from it an RUN toward the arms of our Savior. There is powerful, powerful, healing when we get picked up and hugged by our Heavenly Father and there is a purity that can begin to be restored. I pray that this post has touched your heart in some way and that the Holy Spirit can begin to move in your heart and in your life. I can't wait for the day when we can all stand in our white gown in front of our groom and say that through the blood of Jesus I am pure.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Purity. The topic that everyone loves to hate. Something that baffles me is that in the public schools we would much rather talk about who is doing what with the other guy, but we are too weak to stand up and talk about staying pure. From a very young age I was taught about purity, and how God designed us to stay pure until marriage. At first I found this topic 'awkward', 'weird', and 'uncomfortable' to talk about but over the years, as I have matured in my faith and developed strong relationships with my girl friends, I found purity and marriage the most talked about thing during our casual conversations.
A couple months ago I was thinking and praying how God wants me to use my story of purity to spread the Gospel. He laid this on my heart; it is common to hear about physical purity and mental purity, the don't-do list, and the don't-think-about list, but I feel that there is four different aspects of purity. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual purity are key areas that need to be addressed. I will briefly touch on each aspect because I could go on for ages about each one.
Physical purity isn't too difficult to figure out. In 1 Corinthians 6:18 it says "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body." God is pretty clear on His expectations for us, as His children, to abstain from sexual immorality. I have had the opportunity to talk with a number of couples that had stayed pure all the way up to their wedding day. Never once have I heard that they wished they had done it differently and followed the standard that the world has set for relationships. Satan is weird. He tries to make sex seem like the 'normal' thing to do when you are dating someone, or even 'getting to know someone', but he makes sex seem so shameful at the same time. This only leads to a life of misery and guilt. God has not called us to that, instead He calls us to a life of purity. I'm not saying that if you have had sex outside of marriage that you should be damned to hell, what I'm saying that is if you have a choice, make a decision that is going to please Him. You won't regret it. If you are that person that is feeling guilt due to sexual immorality, I highly encourage you to talk to someone about it. Find a trusted adult or leader in your church and talk to them. Hiding your shame and guilt will not make it go away, it will actually cause the opposite to happen. Keeping all of that built up inside of you can literally destroy you from the inside-out and keep you in bondage for many years. TALK!
Moving on to mental purity. In Matthew 5:27-30 it says "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your member that that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." I know this verse is addressing men specifically, but I think women have just as hard of a time with this. I will admit, I have looked at guys before and thought of things that I should not be thinking about, due to our human nature of sin, it will happen. This is no justification though. If one of our eyes causes us to sin, we would be better off to not have it than keep it and continue to sin. Basically, if there is something in our lives that is causing us to commit sin with the way we think, then we need to get rid of it immediately. What I take from this verse is that sometimes its a mind problem. We have been drilled by the secular culture of images and thoughts that are not appropriate according to what the Bible teaches us and it is our job to purge those things from our lives.
Mental purity and emotional purity kind of go hand-in-hand. For women especially we have a tendency to connect our thoughts with our emotions. *GUILTY!* When we start thinking about what that guy said to us, and oh!, the way he looked at me when he said it, we start stitching our heart to theirs. In Proverbs 4:21-23 it says "Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Guard your heart... There are many times when I wish I would have guarded my heart a little bit more. This looks different for everyone, whether you don't watch that PG-13 movie because of the sexual element in it, or don't get too connected to that boy who is being nice to you, these types of things can start tying our hearts to something that is empty on the other end. Usually what ends up happening after we break a heart tie with something, we are left with these little stitch holes that aren't pretty. The only way that we can mend the heart ties is through the power and the blood of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, spiritual purity. This is honestly a beautiful Psalm, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is a little snippet of it. Psalms 51:7-10 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." As Christians we are called by Christ to live a life according to His will and purpose and in order to fulfill those things we must be right with Him. We have to keep our relationship with Jesus pure and constant. Like I said earlier, we are human and it is our sinful nature to not do those things, but with the power of the Holy Spirit that resides inside of us when we accept Christ, anything is possible. Sometimes life can just get hazed with random things and we can lose sight and focus of where we are going in our lives. This is when we can call out to God and ask Him to create in us a clean heart, and restore purity into our lives.
Confession, I'm not perfect in any of these areas, and I'm not placing that expectation on anyone. What I am expecting is that when we do realize the mistakes we are making/have made we turn 180* from it an RUN toward the arms of our Savior. There is powerful, powerful, healing when we get picked up and hugged by our Heavenly Father and there is a purity that can begin to be restored. I pray that this post has touched your heart in some way and that the Holy Spirit can begin to move in your heart and in your life. I can't wait for the day when we can all stand in our white gown in front of our groom and say that through the blood of Jesus I am pure.
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Monday, December 8, 2014
Peace in Our Pea-Sized Brain
I know, I know. It's been a while since I posted last, but what can I say; I'm a college student! During finals week you find out a lot about yourself and your friends. How late can I really stay up without dying? How much coffee can I consume without my body rejecting itself? How long can I wait to study for that 8am Macro exam? Ok, so the last one was not something I participated in, but I'm sure there is someone out there that can identify.
What has really helped me get through this past week, dead week, and my first two finals is God's word. I remembered learning a verse that talked about peace that surpasses all understanding and I wanted to know how I was to get that peace. In Philippians 4:4-9 it says "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-- practice these, and the God of peace will be with you." When we tell God what is on our heart and mind He exchanges our burdens and anxieties with His peace which is light and without burdens. How great is our God? When I'm stressing out, and working myself up to the point where I am sick, I can tell God and confine in Him and he will exchange that with peace... When I'm tired and grumpy because I stayed up too late studying my terms for History, and I share those thoughts and burdens with God, He exchanges that with peace... When I want to cry my eyes out because I'm a girl and I can, and I let God know what's going on, He exchanges that with peace...
Let me tell you, when I hung out with some of my friends last night, which I was getting very anxious over, I let God know about my anxieties and insecurities, and He brought peace to me that I never knew I had. There was so much peace within my body that I almost thought there was something wrong with me! Like I was a different person!
I hope this can be a testimony to you that when you are going through a difficult and stressful time, let go and let God. He will bring you a peace that is surpasses our little pea-sized brains!
Confessions,
Chaleigh
What has really helped me get through this past week, dead week, and my first two finals is God's word. I remembered learning a verse that talked about peace that surpasses all understanding and I wanted to know how I was to get that peace. In Philippians 4:4-9 it says "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-- practice these, and the God of peace will be with you." When we tell God what is on our heart and mind He exchanges our burdens and anxieties with His peace which is light and without burdens. How great is our God? When I'm stressing out, and working myself up to the point where I am sick, I can tell God and confine in Him and he will exchange that with peace... When I'm tired and grumpy because I stayed up too late studying my terms for History, and I share those thoughts and burdens with God, He exchanges that with peace... When I want to cry my eyes out because I'm a girl and I can, and I let God know what's going on, He exchanges that with peace...
Let me tell you, when I hung out with some of my friends last night, which I was getting very anxious over, I let God know about my anxieties and insecurities, and He brought peace to me that I never knew I had. There was so much peace within my body that I almost thought there was something wrong with me! Like I was a different person!
I hope this can be a testimony to you that when you are going through a difficult and stressful time, let go and let God. He will bring you a peace that is surpasses our little pea-sized brains!
Confessions,
Chaleigh
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Oh to Have the Faith of a Child
Ahh... If I could sum up my last Sunday at home, I could only do it with a deep sigh. I cannot find words to explain what I was feeling, what I was thinking, or what was said. What I do remember though was during my home church service on Sunday morning, we had somewhat of an alter call. Our pastor said "I feel like there are some people who are dealing with hurt. Emotional and spiritual, specifically, but maybe even some physical. So I'm going to have some prayer teams come forward and if you want to be prayed for then come on up." The worship band continued to play for several minutes and a number of people went forward to be prayed over. Well, out of the corner of my eye I catch this little girl tugging at her mom's jacket wanting to go get prayed for. Let me give you some background on this girl. She is about 9 years-old, but has the body structure of about a 7 year-old. She is so fragile looking to the point that I don't want to go near here in fear of accidentally bumping into her. This girl has a heart condition that makes her this way. Because of her heart condition, she has to wear a cast around her entire torso so no serious damage is done.
So, she was tugging at her mom's sweater to go forward to be prayed for her physical condition... Can we just take a moment and let that sink in?! Why is it that a child, so immature in comparison to so many people in my church, has so much faith in God?! It baffles me that she just stepped out, was bold, and knew that her God has the power to heal. Uh, to have childlike faith! In Matthew 18 the disciples were talking with Jesus and asked Him who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven and He responded with Matthew 18:2-5 "He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."" This honestly tears me apart inside. At times, I feel so dumb because why can't I have faith like that? Faith to follow my parents around without a question in my mind, faith to hear God's words that are spoken to me and not doubt where they are coming from, faith to step out and lay my life, heck my pride, on the line for the King?
Confessions,
Chaleigh
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