Preparing for "God Moments"

So many youth group retreats and other various event are coming up this weekend that I know of, and it made me want to share a few thoughts with everyone! Whether you are a student going on the retreat, or you find yourself going to your 10th conference this weekend, being refreshed is what everyone wants out of such weekend getaways with God. When preparing for a big event with God at the center (ie retreats, conferences, etc.), it can be easy to get caught up in all that you plan for and expect to happen. However, I want to challenge all you retreat-goers to take a few moments every day leading up to your big event to "test the waters" and dip your toes in.

I was thinking about it, and preparing for an amazing time with God at a big event takes some effort. It is like when you go to a hotel with an indoor, unheated pool. No matter what age you are, you have to get used to the temperature of the water.  The majority of people don't just jump in; they work their way into the water slowly and surely. They start with their toes, then take another step, and then another....And eventually, they are completely immersed in the water. They are then able to go to the deep end or jump of the diving board with ease and enjoyment--no unpleasant shock of cold water whatsoever! Instead, they get full enjoyment of all that the pool has to offer, and nothing is hold them back from pure refreshment and fun.

All because you took some time to grow accustomed to the setting of the pool, or the metaphorical retreat, you were able to take in all it had to offer. God has so much He wants to give you, but sometimes you have to prepare for it. So start testing the waters now with high expectations for all God wants to do in your life. Spend time in His word; pray for yourself and for those you know of attending the event as well. Start encouragement towards others now rather than half way through the retreat. Start having God moments now so the big ones only solidify what you already started beforehand. Let the newness factor be something that happens in your room before it begins many miles away in a building you've never been to before. It is when you begin a pattern of consistency and a build up of heart preparation and understanding of God's word that you can take in more and more of God, His grace, His blessings, and His wisdom.

So, dear reader, if you find yourself going on some big event in the near future, perhaps try preparing for it so you can take in even more of God's love than you ever thought you could.


Psalm 23:5-6

⁵ You prepare a table before me    in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil;    my cup overflows.⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me    all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lord    forever.

What do YOU want to hear about?

Well. It's been a while. I have been inspired recently for my book, but I have had little time to sit down and write. I have been thinking about so many things that I want to write about here, as well. The topics stream from secular music to John the Baptist to finances to keeping the Sabbath holy to sex trafficking and so many other! I want to sit down and write but time is not allowing it. However, if there is ANY topic you would like to hear about, I would love to do some studying on the topic and blog about it ASAP! Feel free to Tweet me @runner_4_jc or message me on Facebook!

#LateNightRevelations

I was just thinking how these next couple of days do not hold significance for me, and how I just want to make it to Wednesday morning. But then I realized that is only true if I think it to be. Monday and Tuesday do matter. They matter to a lot of people. Like the girl in the ICU after a terrible accident. Or the man who is going in for a big job interview tomorrow. And they need to be days of significance to each of us, too. They might be significant because we are called to pray for those people. Or perhaps we will have the chance to love on those people. Or maybe our day is significant simply because we are alive, and we are God's significant creation. If He woke us up this morning, we were meant to live in this day. Don't let it slip away. Don't miss the reason God created you for the specific today you find yourself in.  #LateNightRevelations

It's a Third Person Kind of Day...

Chloe sat on her fairly comfy, extra large twin mattress in her dorm room. It was a chilly Wednesday night, and she knew the clock's staring 10:00 eyes were just the dawn of the evening. Much was yet to be accomplished. Much was dreaded. Chloe took a moment to reflect on the events of her day. She divded them into a list of "good's" and "bad's."

I woke up...Plus....At 9.....Plus....And I got to enjoy my first class of the day. Plus. But then I was told my paper wasn't good enough. Not plus. My psychology test is one day closer, and I'm one day's worth my exhausted for the week. Not plus and not plus. Hmmm....

As Chloe continued her thought process about the day's events, she realized she was only putting herself in a downward spiral, discouraging any further potential productivity for her evening. If she wanted to get to studyinng for that psychology test on Friday, she had better stop moping.

Sadly, her emotions of anger from her last thought about the day got to her more. It was the fuel she needed for her fire of thought.

Well, I guess it got better after that. I calmed myself down and turned in another paper. So that's taken care of. And then there was chapel. Dr. Rutland is such a great speaker...But then I went to work. I was dreading it, but that wasn't so bad either. Plus, plus, plus, and plus again.

Chloe was lost in thought when her favorite song started chiming from her computer. The interruption caused her to reach for her psychology book, just to feel better about not doing anything just yet.

Hmmm....After work, I had psychology. I normally enjoy that, but, with this horrid test....Yikes. Maybe I shouldn't have texted my boyfriend that 4-page text of venting from when I was angry about that first paper this morning....But it already happened. Maybe it was a good thing to release my anger. I was angry at myself really. I just need to be smarter.

Chloe then began to feel inadequate and fell deeper into the prison of her thoughts. She melted into her covers, shoulders slumped. She was sure she wouldn't survive college.

...What if I can't pay for college? Then this is even more not worth it. OK, Chloe, don't think about that....It's so hard not to....Well....My day. What else happened? Oh yeah, I tutored that girl in biology. I can see why she doesn't like that class. For being a lab, it sure is boring. And then I was free after that for a while. I did do psychology then....At least a little. After that....Oh! Equestrian! I can't believe next week is our last week for that class! I'm going to miss the stables over Christmas. I guess I had another tutoring session after that. A girl needed her paper proofread. She is someone who is going places. I mean...She probably knew better than me on a lot of that stuff. Gosh...I'm so stupid. I don't know why I thought I could be a good tutor......Well, I better get to psychology. I'm already not going to do very well because I can't do a whole lot right anymore anyway....

Chloe sighed, picked up her book, and got to studying. It had been a hard week and grades were not all lined up the way she wanted them. As she started reading, a tear streaked down her face.








I know this sounds pretty harsh, but this is also the writer in me coming out. And yes, me throwing a bit of a pity party of the "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" that I obviously had. However, I had great encouragement in the midst of today, and the Holy Spirit has really prompted me to start thinking differently about myself. Not starting tomorrow. But starting now. Sometimes, I wonder if God uses my miserable days (well, what seems "miserable" to me at the time, but really isn't) and the thoughts that are triggered by such days about inadequacy, fear, and whatever else. I think He likes to use it, though it really is my own pity-partying. The thing is, I think it's almost like Hosea in the Bible. God told him to marry a prostitue. And he did. And then his own wife ran away back to her life of prositution. And he went searching for her. I feel like he was being obedient to God for sure, btu also, maybe in his efforts to be a good husband, he really did fall in love with her. Anyway, I can't help but wonder, just as God used that experience not only to tell Hosea something, but to have Hosea tell other people....What if that's what today's types of days are like for me? What if, in the midst of my negative feelings about myself and pity partying, if I chose to relay the message to you that we can't give into those lies, no matter what experience seems to prove otherwise. When circumstances are put in perspective, they really are kind of silly....Or at least, in most cases, our reactions.

I had to put my thinking in check more than once today. It is a constant battle for me to be confident in my own skin...Being who I am called to be. Don't feel like a failure if you have to put yourself in check more than once a day. At least you put yourself in check when you need to! You have to start somewhere in order to climb at all.

Basically, I wanted to relay the message that pity parties aren't worth it. For one, your thoughts about yourself in those moments are not true. Secondly, you just look stupid in the moment. You will look back at that moment and the person you were in that moment and question "that was me?" You were "that guy" that everyone says not to be for about 10 minutes. It's not worth the time or the energy. It's not worth it to have that party at all.

So, though there is no specific verse to go with this very practical blog entry, I leave you with this window into a Wednesday in the life of me. I do not like Wednesdays this semester. They are long, and hard, and in the middle of the week when I am searching for a breath of fresh air and an adequate amount of sleep. However, just as Dory sings in Finding Nemo, "just keep swimming." :)

Much love, and may you find your value in Christ alone, regardless of how you feel or what you're dealing with, even in the little moments. :) Remember to ask yourself "what's worth it" and just keep swimming!

Chloe

Only God Knows

Have you ever heard someone answer a question with "only God knows?" I know I have plenty of times, and it is usually annoying when the answer is not obvious. If you are anything like me, you are driven crazy by the unknown. You want to be as organized as possible and are constantly in planning mode. You have a planner and write down everything. Well...Sometimes you can be disorganized, but that usually results in immediate termination of the disorganization if you can help it.

These are all little bits and pieces of my "ISFJ" personality. I have been especially intrigued by personalities as of late, and I am learning that these parts of my life are parts of my life not by any level of social learning in my growing up, but instead in who I am and who God created me to be. I say all this to say that I am intricately created by God so much so, that He knows me better than I know myself. He knows exactly why I love to plan even more than I myself do. And it is a good thing, but sometimes the fall of man causes problems in the planning aspect of my life. However, that's an entire other subject for another day.

Basically, what I am getting at is that God knows us better than we know ourselves. And this could be narrowed down to God knows better.

He knows. We don't.

I learned this a little more in the past 24 hours as my college, Oral Roberts University, held a special fall event as they do every year, known as Fall Revival. We have a series of services over the span of two days in which we have no classes and time to rest, or "be revived." The services involve intense and intimate worship and incredible messages full of God's power, Word, and annointing. The first service, I honestly can't tell you more than two words about. It was great, and I know the guest speaker spoke with wisdom and integrity and care, but that was not the sermon in which God tugged on my heart.

It was the two sermons that followed where I was caught off guard completely. God was reminding me that He was not finished with me yet. He reminded me of past hurts and regrets that I had yet to fully deal with because I had yet to invite Him into the situation. They were situations I had completely moved on from, but only out of my own will aside from God's healing power. Due to my personality or being such an organized planner, I feel rather self-sufficient sometimes. Basically, my pride got in the way of my heart being fully healed. I had been hurt by the same church numerous times in ways that to this day seem so unfair to me. It went beyond me and hurt my friends and family as well, which was of a heavier matter to me than just rubbing dirt in a wound. Out of the blue, our college president started talking about matters of students who had been hurt by a church in the past. And when I raised my hand, it was as if God just took it from me and said "it is finished." It was a small, subtle, but incredible moment. God likes to work that way in my life quite often, and I rather enjoy it when He shows up in such ways that I didn't even know I needed Him. It is a humbling reminder that I am in constant need of Him--that HE is my sufficiency. I can't even take care of myself!

Secondly, the service this morning hit on some topics that, once again, I desperately needed to hear without realizing beforehand just how desperate I was to hear them. The biggest announucement of the message was "God has big plans for your life." Especially for someone growing up in a private Christian school, this is a phrase I have heard too often for it to mean anything to me anymore. However, after the refreshing of the Holy Spirit I received upon God's healing my heart, it was like those words were spoken with force for the very first time in my life. I can't make little plans. I'm too much for something small because God lives in me. I am meant for so much more! It goes back to the whole premise of the book I am attempting to write: You ARE valuable! You are called and capable because God made you so!

I just could not hold in the work of God to myself. My prayer is that you do not focus on what has happened, but instead what God can do in the midst of it. He cares for you. You can cast your anxieties on Him and He will make everything work together for the good of those who love Him. Why? Because HE created YOU. With PURPOSE. He probably even created you with some pride! So, since God cares for you, what do you have to worry about? Go live a joyful, big life like God wants you to!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

And Sometimes....

And sometimes, prayer is the only thing there is to do. And yet, it is always the best thing to do; even when other options stand so conveniently.

Crazy-Busy Life!

Sometimes, the quiet places are where things make the most sense. Other times, God makes it painfully clear in the middle of our ongoing, crazy-busy lives. Either way, God's will prevails, and His clarity is sure. We just don’t always see it. Why? Because we are too enveloped in quietness or, dare I say, confusion (the crazy-busy lifestyle). I cannot help but wonder in the midst of my decision making if I could make wiser decisions had a more solemn moment to spend with my Heavenly Father. Were I to quiet my soul, would I hear His voice?

The answer seems so simple.

And yet life just keeps pushing and pulling me on, not giving me much of a chance.

This sounds like a lot of the world, does it not?

Well, there is a really cool fact about this.

Life does not have the reigns if you do.  

You don’t have to let life push and pull you through. First of all, you should let God lead you. Second of all, you can do that by allowing yourself 1) Time for Him, 2) Time to think, and 3) Time to yourself.

Easier said than done, right?

Well, actually, it is pretty easy. There’s just no fancy way to say choose, as my high school Bible teacher would say. You have to make time—and trust me, you have time. We each have over 160 hours a week. Assuming with all of our complaints about how little sleep we each get per night, we will say about 48 hours of that time is for sleep. 3 hours a day for meals is more than sufficient, taking out total of 48 used hours up to a whopping grand total of 69 used hours. You are just shy of 100 hours left. If you work or attend school, we will assume another 40 hours or so of your time is taken away, landing you at about 50 hours still within your week. Church and work? You probably have about 25 hours left. If you work out 5 times a week, then you’re down to 20 hours a week. The 40 hours for school does keep in mind the time spent outside of class on homework. However, after eating, sleeping, learning, working, church-attending, and working out, you still have plenty of time in your day to socialize, relax….And spend time with your Creator. Spend time getting to know Him, allowing Him to speak to you…To bring clarity to your blurry picture, to add perspective to the fine-tuned moments.

20 hours envelopes almost an entire day’s worth of time (without even sleeping!). You have time. You just have to decide where it goes. It boils down to priorities. I can honestly say I am overwhelmed with a crazy busy lifestyle that is still unsure of what it will be crazy-busy with. Will I work 17 hours a week or will I help lead an outreach? Will I do both on top of being a part of dorm floor leadership and being an honor society club secretary?? Am I out of my mind? All this on top of 17 credit hours? What should I do and what shouldn’t I do? I have way too many options—some already (happily) set in stone!  This is where the peace of God and the quiet moments spent in His presence come into play. We need that. We need Him. And He needs us to listen so we can do what He created us for…To be free. To enjoy life doing what He knows will suit us (and others) best. So why don’t we give Him more time? It seems so… Simple!

It may be hard at first, but I can guarantee it will pay off in the long run. So hang in there and have time with God. You will save yourself some heartache if you allow His presence, His wisdom, His peace, to envelope who you are.

It has brought me a great deal of peace in the midst of my crazy-busy life full of school, work, searching for more work, making decisions on what I can and cannot handle this year…God is good. And He wants you to know His goodness in every situation you face.

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

-Galatians 6:9 (NLT)