walking alone

I thought I was finished with blogging and thought I had grown past this stage in my life. As most of you or whomever reads this knows I blogged monthly about what was going on at the time in my life for all of last year may-may. In june and july I landed a job working at an elderly home serving their food or doing whatever needed to be done.  I experienced the quality of life that the elderly can experience. I saw it all those who couldn't move or hear or even speak, and i witnessed first hand the need that people have to interact with other people. A simple smile and act of kindness toward them made them smile and genuinely brought them comfort and joy even just for that glimpse of a moment. I worked with the lowest of society those that had rough circumstances and had made poor life choices and had to work for they had no formal education or family to rely upon.

The main thing that working allowed me to learn was that people are there but for a season. Eventually I needed to come to learn the ultimate lesson from God... only HE is always with me.

I am back at college writing for my school paper and learning daily that the Lord is my strength and my comfort He is my provider and guide through every situation.

Yesterday this truth became apparent as my roomate and I were left to wander the streets for over 3hrs walking home from raquetball practice. We were totally lost and in the bad part of town when the Lord walked with us and directed us to find an old civil war map landmark, benefit of being in the south. we read the map and were able to get close to school before nightfall. The only way we made it out of there was with the Lord walking with us.

I have great respect for Jesus and all of the apostles that walked all over europe proclaiming the good news and Gods working. Walking for 3hrs straight allowed me to experience just a glimpse of the physical commitment that the apostles devoted themselves to and allowed me to bask in the glory of Gods creation. The mountainous terrain at times was a disadvantage when walking up hill both ways literally. But in the end I recognized the values of the hills and Gods creation is truly something that I have taken for granted.

Walking with the Lord is a lesson all should experience at some point in their life.

Tonight I was awoken to the need to fully stop trying to understand what was going on in my life. Many trials and just plain confusing things have been happening to me and my friends and I had been at the point of lying awake just thinking about how can I be a better friend and Christian. I know I dont show the Love of Christ as often as I should, sadly I know and recognize that I need to implicate my faith and really act on my faith. If i say I have faith but do not act upon it then what use am I in furthering the kingdom? Tonight the passage of Job was preached upon and I realized that is my life why am i questioning why things happen. why do i think that i even deserve the explanations of why situations are arise all at once in my life.

Walking with the King was my High schools motto the year I graduated. All things in life are circular i am finding out. I had a terrible Jr year of high school, I was depressed and at times suicidal. I was constantly doubting everything I knew and always was feeling alone. I stopped associating with people and just went day to day not making any effort to enjoy the days. I realized that I wanted to come to the place I am at now because I needed to snap out of what I was feeling and this college was easy to be accepted into. When i visited, I walked around for about an hour and really felt drawn to this place.

As you know from previous posts I have had my fair share of doubt about being here but ultimately the Love of Christ and the power of HIS WORD has reassured everything. Tonight was just another one of those nights where God spoke and said let go and truly trust me. I know I can't have it all together all the time and I need God for everything. I need to act upon how i feel about my savior. I walk with God and He walks with me literally. Tonight I gazed upon His creation and prayed for everything I had been trying to control myself. "Lord empty me of me so i can be filled with you" "never once did I ever walk alone"

Philippians 4: 6-7  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

AMEN

World domination

Here's something I continue to find truly amazing. You the readers live all around the world and actually read what I write. I'm just a college kid in America who enjoys writing about important issues and practical advice. Mexico, Indonesia, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Russia, amazing places I can only dream to visit. I think its great that even though I have never traveled to any of those places we still have something in common and can relate because we all feel. Some of us feel more than others and experience situations that cause us to feel sorrow and hurtful emotions and other times we feel joy peace comfort happy emotions. A midst the struggles and blessings that each day contains we can feel like there has to be someone out there that knows and has experienced what we have gone through. Through the power of prayer and belief in salvation from sin we are united in faith in Christ Jesus and know we will never walk alone. 

Learned this year

Tonight the question was posed what have I learned this year. Great thing to think about.
learned...
1. How to express myself without swearing, I used to curse like a sailor and think nothing about it
2. How to find the joy in a situation and turn around my outlook
3. Nothing school related
4. What good friends I have
5. There are more important things in life than drama
6. Experiences are blessings good or bad, you experience them for a reason that only God knows
7. People will always fail you but its how\who you turn to to make things better

MILATARY

Recently I have been watching too many military themed movies. Red Tails, Black Hawk Down, Act of Valor, are just a few. All of these movies make me recognize the fact that America might be called the "land of the free and the home of the brave" but at the expense that people pay. The brave that call America home, are the ones that seldom return to enjoy the freedom. Military personal are being killed and sacrificing themselves everyday in the battlefields for US. Are we living as free people should be living? If anyone who served came back and saw the way that we are living would they still be proud to say they fight for us? Would you want to give your life to protect a bunch of gangsters, drug addicts, club rats, slackers, unemployed people, broken  sinners? 
Jesus did. He died for US and protected us from death and sin consequences. 

Reading

The other day I was thinking about writing but never got the chance to sit down and put letters to thoughts. Today is a beautiful day and thoughts are escaping me, I can't seem to remember what I was going to write about. 
Have you ever thought about why the last book we reach to read is often the books that will benefit us the most by reading them? Textbooks, Bible, other encouraging books. I recently finished yet another novel and said I have nothing left to read but then I remembered I have a Bible. 66 books. All at my disposal whenever I want something to read I have the privileged of living in a country that allows me to be able to carry a Bible and read it freely. The Bible contains many stories that cover the vast spectrum of any type of story that you would ever want to read. Why is it that the Bible is most often the book we only open when we are experiencing struggles and don't ever just read for the pleasure of the stories. The Bible has the best author that ever existed and is the best selling book in the world. The power in the book has been recognized by those that oppose the Faith and because they realize the power, that is why certain country's ban the Bible. 
Just something to think about...

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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest Matthew 11:28
Tonight I wrote. Pen, paper, thoughts flowed in illegible cursive. The forgotten penmanship.
I'm sorry I haven't been faithful writing on here but life has been busy.

Choices

It has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by the choices they make. What the wear, what they eat, what type of car they drive but the most important deciding factor has to be who they associate with. Their is an old saying that says something along the lines of "birds of a feather flock together". Animals have a distinct instinct when they know someone has gone missing, and often will never leave one of their own alone in the world. Friendships are like animal packs, never leave a man behind. If one of your friends is struggling or hurting in anyway you should be the friend they need that hits them with the hard questions and is there to help them through the tough situation like animals do. Recently I have readdressed the idea of getting out of here because of the issues I have previously written about. If you have never gone to a Christian college or are still at that deciding point of what to do after you graduate, I am going to advise you with the best advice. DO NOT pick the University on solely how easy it is to get accepted. Challenge yourself and really look into where YOU want to go because You will be the person actually attending classes there and spending part of your life in that environment. My experience at this University has been quite the roller-coaster experience. I still to this day have to trust God in every choice I make. For the past week and a half I have been stubborn and honestly thought I could decide for myself where and what I am doing with my life. It is MY life, and MY lie that I was believing about the grass being greener at home on the other side at a state school. I honestly thought that I could control lifes twists and turns and I could be adult and get what I want my way. Fortunatly God taught me the best lesson I really needed to learn I AM HERE FOR A PURPOSE, and only He knows what that purpose is and how I am going to play into that scheme.