I know you're probably all wondering where in the world I went... Well its a long story.....
Ok so its not a long story. Its called a week-long module that took up all my free time and then mid-terms!!
What's new? Glad you asked!! I'll fill you in ☺.
1. I love all my friends! The Lord has changed my heart in the way that I see each one, and eliminated the friction between some of them. I am praising Him greatly, because I hate drama and stress between friends.
2. I got a new job! I walked on campus this semester not knowing how long I would last, because I didn't have a job and didn't have enough to pay the whole semester of school bill. But I got a call the day I arrived that informed me I did! I was so blessed and thankful to have one at all. It was working in the on-campus coffee shop, which was weird for me, since I had no experience at all in food service. But I was thankful and did the best I could with the job the Lord had given me.
And then I found out that I was moving! I was moving to the office, to the very job that I had originally applied for! I love it and I am just so blessed and thankful for everything!!
3. God has renewed my call to the mission field! This week is Missions Conference here, and it has been the best thing I have experienced in a long time. I loved the Virtuous Woman conference/module, and grew a ton in a week. I love each service at North Valley, and every chapel is such a blessing and time for spiritual learning. This campus is a gift from God, and it is a privilege to be here! But over all, Missions Conference is my favorite part. I have known I was called to be a missionary for several years, but I convinced myself that God could not use me, and I was also distracted by things in my life. In short, I wasn't listening to God's call, and I have gotten that all squared away with Him now. And let me tell you, its the best and only way!! I'm so glad I did!
God is soooo good, and I haven't even started explaining all the ways He has showered His favor and grace upon my life. I love Him so much and owe Him my all in everything I do!
May you seek to serve the Lord with everything you have. He is in control of your life, and you owe everything to Him! ☺ Give Him your all, and He will multiply it to reach so many.
Make today count! That's why God has given it to you!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Diesekting some verses
Ok, your first question is probably "why in the world did you spell dissect so oddly?" Well, I'll tell you. I couldn't remember how to spell it, and so I just totally demolished it beyond recognition. ☺
Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get down to the real reason I decided to blog today. Ok, so not the real reason, because the real reason is that I felt guilty because I haven't posted anything for a while. So, how about we talk about the almost real reason that I am blogging on this lovely night. (And it is lovely. Everyone says its cold, but that's because this is California, and they don't know what really nice weather is even all about!)
I thought I would share with everyone some misc thoughts from my devotions and the chapel message today. Both were really a blessing, and they kind of tied together. Isn't is amazing how God works in such amazing ways to speak to our hearts? What an absolutely amazing and incredible God we serve. ☺
I decided to start reading 1 Corinthians today, after I was finished with the Proverb of the day (which, btw, was also a blessing, I just chose not to talk about that now.)
So, after skimming the first few verses, they seemed to be just leading into the rest of the chapter. Knowing that it is mainly an introduction, I decided it would be ok if I just skipped over that, and I wouldn't really miss anything after all.... right?
WRONG! Every word of God is pure and perfect and needful. So I got convicted about that and decided to start over at the beginning. Nice way to start devos eh? With conviction! ☺
So on to verse 1 I went. It reads: "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,..." I read it. And then I read it again. And I thought... "what in the world am I supposed to get out of that?"
And then it proceeded to hit me!! Paul was called to be an apostle, and God called him "through the will of God." Forgive me, I'm not really a Bible scholar, just a student. And to me, that means that God called him while he was doing the will of his Father. In other words, God cannot call anyone that is not already in HIs will. If I'm looking for the call and the touch of God in my life, I have to already be doing His revealed will, and what I know that He has for me today. But I wondered, am I? There we go under conviction again... I know that too often (and if it only happened once, wouldn't that be too often?) I'm just doing my own thing and then confused why God isn't using me. *face palm* It really isn't that difficult to understand, if I could just get it.......
Ok, so moving on, I came across verses 5-9. Here it says that we are enriched by Him in all utterance and knowledge. Every moment that we spend with the Lord increases the richness of our walk with Him. We desire to walk with Him is in direct proportion to how much time we already spend with Him. And it isn't just in what we say and do, it has to reach all the way down into our heart.
When people see how much we love the Lord, and how close our walk with Him is, the testimony that they've heard about us will be verified by how we live our lives.
When we are in the will of God, and walking with Him consistently and faithfully, His Holy Spirit will confirm that in our hearts. And He will confirm it until the end of our life, so that we will be blameless before Him.
God is the standard of faithfulness that we must all strive to reach. And He's the one that called us to be in fellowship with Him in the first place.
How I hope that my walk with God will draw others to me. I don't want my attractiveness to come from my personality or anything about me, but from the Lord's spirit shining through me.
I hope that if you actually took the time to wade all the way through this book, that somewhere along the way you have received a blessing from it. I truly hope so, since that is in reality, the only reason I have this blog!
Make today count! You aren't guaranteed tomorrow, and until you can be faithful in today, God won't give you anything more!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥
Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get down to the real reason I decided to blog today. Ok, so not the real reason, because the real reason is that I felt guilty because I haven't posted anything for a while. So, how about we talk about the almost real reason that I am blogging on this lovely night. (And it is lovely. Everyone says its cold, but that's because this is California, and they don't know what really nice weather is even all about!)
I thought I would share with everyone some misc thoughts from my devotions and the chapel message today. Both were really a blessing, and they kind of tied together. Isn't is amazing how God works in such amazing ways to speak to our hearts? What an absolutely amazing and incredible God we serve. ☺
I decided to start reading 1 Corinthians today, after I was finished with the Proverb of the day (which, btw, was also a blessing, I just chose not to talk about that now.)
So, after skimming the first few verses, they seemed to be just leading into the rest of the chapter. Knowing that it is mainly an introduction, I decided it would be ok if I just skipped over that, and I wouldn't really miss anything after all.... right?
WRONG! Every word of God is pure and perfect and needful. So I got convicted about that and decided to start over at the beginning. Nice way to start devos eh? With conviction! ☺
So on to verse 1 I went. It reads: "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,..." I read it. And then I read it again. And I thought... "what in the world am I supposed to get out of that?"
And then it proceeded to hit me!! Paul was called to be an apostle, and God called him "through the will of God." Forgive me, I'm not really a Bible scholar, just a student. And to me, that means that God called him while he was doing the will of his Father. In other words, God cannot call anyone that is not already in HIs will. If I'm looking for the call and the touch of God in my life, I have to already be doing His revealed will, and what I know that He has for me today. But I wondered, am I? There we go under conviction again... I know that too often (and if it only happened once, wouldn't that be too often?) I'm just doing my own thing and then confused why God isn't using me. *face palm* It really isn't that difficult to understand, if I could just get it.......
Ok, so moving on, I came across verses 5-9. Here it says that we are enriched by Him in all utterance and knowledge. Every moment that we spend with the Lord increases the richness of our walk with Him. We desire to walk with Him is in direct proportion to how much time we already spend with Him. And it isn't just in what we say and do, it has to reach all the way down into our heart.
When people see how much we love the Lord, and how close our walk with Him is, the testimony that they've heard about us will be verified by how we live our lives.
When we are in the will of God, and walking with Him consistently and faithfully, His Holy Spirit will confirm that in our hearts. And He will confirm it until the end of our life, so that we will be blameless before Him.
God is the standard of faithfulness that we must all strive to reach. And He's the one that called us to be in fellowship with Him in the first place.
How I hope that my walk with God will draw others to me. I don't want my attractiveness to come from my personality or anything about me, but from the Lord's spirit shining through me.
I hope that if you actually took the time to wade all the way through this book, that somewhere along the way you have received a blessing from it. I truly hope so, since that is in reality, the only reason I have this blog!
Make today count! You aren't guaranteed tomorrow, and until you can be faithful in today, God won't give you anything more!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥
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