God has a plan

I wanted to share a little bit of my heart with you today. God has been teaching me a lot these days about trusting Him and leaning on Him for strength every day.

Everyone has difficult things that they go through. God gives all of us different challenges that He uses to grow us emotionally, spiritually, and personally. He prepares these trials perfectly for us and guides us through them. If we trust Him and run to Him when our hearts are overwhelmed, He will carry us through them.

What an incredible thought! He prepares a really hard circumstance for us to go through, and then when we are struggling, He carries us through it! "Truly he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." He has felt our pain and knows exactly what we need, when we need it.

Even knowing all that, sometimes life is just hard..... We don't understand what good could possibly come from this situation but He knows. Perhaps someday He will share it with and maybe not. I think we get the idea sometimes that if we just wait long enough, we'll understand, but ya know what? That's not always true. Somethings we will never understand and only God will ever know the reason why.

"There's always a light at the end of the tunnel....." That's what people say. But is that always true? I really don't know.

This one thing I do know though. God has a plan. He has a reason and He will get the glory in your tribulation and trials if you turn to Him with your shattered dreams and throw your broken heart at His feet. He is waiting to take your burden from you and carry it Himself.

So if He is waiting for us to cast our cares upon Him, why do we so often insist on carrying them ourselves? Why do we assume that we can do a better job and act like nothing is wrong?

Psalm 62:8 gives a beautiful invitation to those who are hurting:

"Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us."

Pour your heart out to God and lay your burdens at His feet. Because God always has a plan.

Make today count!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥

*cringe*

*peeks around the corner to see if anyone is watching her*

*gulps*

*steps out from the long-time shadows*

Voila! I am back! Lol, I'm sure you are wondering where in the world I went. And I'm not going to give you the same old excuse that every college student keeps under their hat about being insanely busy. Sure, its true, but who really wants to here that AGAIN!?!?! So yah, let's just say I have a life and this hasn't been a huge part of it lately.

So what to actually tell you.... There really isn't a whole lot of news that is well..... newsy! I'm not in a relationship, and NO I don't want to be, and NO there is not anyone that I'm interested in. So there, now that we've got everyone's biggest question answered we can move on to more important things.

Like........... umm.......... yah............ well...................

Wow. My life is so busy and yet its boring? Certainly not. God is working in amazing ways on this campus, and this is certainly (and more certainly than ever) where God wants me. Its so amazing every day in chapel because I've never been so convicted by every single message that I hear. In the past, not every message I heard would move me, and in my heart I kind of made fun of those who went forward or applied every message to their life. But I know now how wrong I was to think that way. Every time the Lord speaks through any of the godly men who speak here, it is exactly what He knows I need to work on, and it is something He has specially prepared for me to hear.

Isn't it amazing how God can speak to everyone at the same time, and yet it is exactly what each one needs to hear? Isn't He an Amazing God we serve?

And He is soooooooooooooooooo good to me and in reality, to everyone and in everything. He is in control of every part of our lives, and it is our mistakes or unhappiness with His plan that cause problems in our lives. One thing that He has really been convicting my heart about lately is the fact that I need to be thankful in all things.

Thanksgiving was not too long ago, and I had a really nice time with my family. It was fun and a huge blessing just to spend time and gain wisdom from my uncle and aunt. But it taught me something more. God places things in our lives that we see as bad things, or as trials, as something going wrong. However, He has prepared each one specially for us, and knows that that trial will bring us to Himself. When we come to the end of ourselves, we find Him waiting with open arms and willing to help us whenever we ask.

And He is always there. He never forsakes us.... Isn't that incredible? We can know that no matter what we are going through, and no matter what He has brought in our lives, we are being better prepared for Heaven someday, and to serve Him here on this earth now.

God is so good, and a close walk with Him is truly the sweetest thing on earth. A Christian's heart should and will suffer when he loses fellowship with His Savior. Our God is everything we need, and oh, how much we forget that, and how often we try to do things our way.

So yes, my life has been busy, but through it all, my God is there, and He is taking me through whatever He has for me. I am content to walk with Him, and truly, more than content, because for me it is a privilege to serve the King who loves me and gave His Son for me.

I hope that through the busyness of the Christmas season, you still walk in step with your Lord. He takes the time to love you and guide your life, but any relationship will die if it is only one-sided.

Give God the glory and thanks for everything in your life, even what may seem like bad things. And always, live life on purpose. It isn't an accident that we are here. :)

Make today count!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥

A little rain

We had a little rain today...


Hah!!! Let me try that again.


We had a terrential downpour today.


Hmmmmm..... still not cutting it. One more time....


We had the worst flooding ever in all the years we lived here today.


There!! That is pretty close to the truth :) 


Yup!! It was absolutely POURING for about an hour, and our driveway is underwater. I seriously took some pictures you'd think were in a river. And technically, they are. My younger siblings are going swimming in our front yard. I'm not even kidding!! They literally put on swimsuits and are slip and sliding and diving and splashing all over the place.


Of course, the storm was amazing. I stood out and watched almost the whole thing. Of course, got totally drenched. ;) I've completely soaked two outfits today. Hopefully I can stay dry this time... 


Here's a few pictures, just to give you a little bit of an idea. And remember, this is our front yard..... (forgive the dumb timestamps. I had to use my parent's camera and it does that...They were all taken today.)

Make today count!

Always,

~ Amanda ♥

Awesome power!!!

So far, I've done a blog post every day. And I'd really like to continue that tradition. But I sat down at the computer today, and couldn't think of what to post. No poems came to mind, and nothing amazing or terribly clever to write about either.....


And then it started to storm. I don't mean that it started to lightly rain, and the clouds made pretty forms in the sky as they gently let their moisture fall. Oh no. It started to storm.... and that means it was hard! Big time winds and rain pelting the windows. It'll be one massive mud puddle outside tomorrow, I'm sure. 


But I love storms. For one thing, I always sleep well when it storms ;). However, the real reason I love them so much is that are such an awesome picture of God's power! The fury of a storm lashing out at the world it's hitting, and the rain beating into the ground......
But especially the lightning that slashes across the sky, or completely lights it up. It is so incredible! What a powerful God to put on such a beautiful display for us! And then there's the rolling thunder that sends a thrill though your body. Ever stopped to really feel the thunder? I'm telling you, its better than any rollercoaster!


So as I enjoy the storm tonight, even with all the damage it causes, I will be thinking of my powerful and amazing God, and this mighty creation He has given me.
I hope that you can see the Lord's power in your life, through the storms in nature, and through whatever storm He's brought to your soul now. Rest in peace with Him knowing that He controls even the storms.


Make today count!
Always,
~ Amanda ♥