Why me? Why here? Why now?

Have you ever wondered why God put you in a certain place at a certain time? Have you ever stopped and just asked God "why me?" "Why here?""why now?" I know that thought goes through my mind a lot, especially when everything seems to be falling apart. Sometimes, it's hard to remember that God put you here for a reason, He put certain people in your life for a reason, He brought you here, and he'll bring you past anything that comes up while you are here.
For me, I find myself wanting to know God's plan, all the time. When things are falling down, when I'm confused as to why someone is in my life, or on the contrary, someone has left my life. I find myself pleading to God, almost yelling to him "WHY ME?" What did I do to deserve this? Wouldn't it be great just to know God's reasons for his timing?

On the other hand, sometimes we are sitting there hitting ourselves with the "if I had only been there... if I had just waited... if I had just gone earlier.... if this, if that..." We tear ourselves apart with the 'ifs, ands, and buts' of everything. We made the decisions we have made and we have to live with the consequences, being good or bad.  Eventually you just have to sit back and realize that every decision you made got you to this point in your life, and you cannot do anything to change them now.

Now, if you're thinking I'm going to give all the secrets to knowing God's plans, think again. Sorry, even I am not cool enough to know that! But, I am here to tell you to have patience, pray for God's guidance, and trust that He has it all figured out. He has written your entire life already, He knows what you are going to decide and He will work good out of everything.
So, we may have to go through some hard times. Trials, tribulations; they are all a part of life. What can we do about it? Trust God, and keep pushing through. I challenge you to push to find the joy in life, to MAKE the joy in life, because, as they say, You Only Live Once (except for that whole eternal life in Christ thing), so make the most of it, and do not dwell on the things you have no control over. God knows what He is doing and he loves us. That, right there, should give you the joy you search for.

"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20

Living A Triple Life

It's funny, you know, how life changes, how people change. While I was home for Christmas break, I noticed a few things around my hometown that were a little different than they were last time I was there. To be honest, it was a little disconcerting. I'm not a big fan of change, but I have thrown myself into a whirlwind of it with college and all. As the years here go on, I am spending less time at home and more time away at school. Ergo, when I get home it seems that more and more things have changed; the town, the people, my family, my friends. I'm not going to lie, sometimes if feels like I am living a double life. It's a strange feeling, really. I have my life up at school, I have my life at home, you could even say, to an extent, that I have a life online. The way technology works these days, people talk to each other online all of the time, with little to no physical interaction with one another. It seems that the two worlds never collide. It's very easy to be whoever you want behind a computer screen, where no one can see your facial expression, or hear your tone of voice. The online world can start to seem so unreal, like it is only a dream. That dream may seem perfect while you are in it, but if you step back and look at it from the outside world, you see that it was only a figment of your imagination.

 One of my close friends went through a situation like this. She had met this guy online, on a Facebook singles page. His name was Patrick They began by playing a few games of scrabble with one another and chatting over that. After about a year of this, she gave him her number. The two began to talk every day, from "good morning" to "good night",and everything in between. hey even started to Skype, so they knew that neither one was pretending to be someone completely different than who they said. It seemed okay for the time being. She explained the situation to me and I was a bit iffy at first, but I had met him on Skype as well and he seemed like a decent guy. They Skyped at least 3 times a week, for hours on end. It really seemed like they had a connection, from what I could see and from what she told me. I think she fell in love with him, and I think in time he fell in love with her, too. But in time, my friend realized exactly what I mentioned before, that third world, that online world is almost a creation of your own mind. It seems great, yes, but the probability of the two of them ever meeting seemed unlikely, and the likeliness kept receding as time went on. She started to see it, but he did not. He was convinced that she was the one for her. No, he was not a stalker, or obsessed; though the thought crossed my mind a few times. He was a young man in love, but with what? That's the question. They talked every single day, morning to night, Skyped and talked on the phone for hours on end, but the two had never had any sort of physical interaction. Granted, physical appearance is not everything. That is something she stuck to for the longest time, but as time showed her that this was not how she wanted love, she started to pull back. A few weeks later, she met someone here at school that she took an interest in, and he in her. The possibility of this new relationship tore her in half for a while. After all, she thought she was in love, she had just never met him. But then this other guy came along who just seemed amazing, and he is. To be honest, and she will never tell me this, but I think she may have a place in her heart for Patrick for a while. It will pass, though, and new love will help fill that space.

Maybe she and Patrick are meant to be, maybe she and this other guy are meant to be. Truth is, nobody knows, and that is the beauty and the curse of it. We don't know who we are going to end up with, or which way our life is going to go. We do know that we should trust God completely with this ad all other matters, especially those of the heart. He knows what He is doing. I guess the point of all this was to say that sometimes it feels like I am living a triple life; I've got my hometown friends and family, my school friends, and then those that I only communicate with online. It can seem like a triple life because sometimes the three do not even touch. You can get so engulfed in one that when it is time to come out and travel to the next one, it will leave you in a daze. But, whether you feel like you have 3 different lives, or 30 different lives, you know what they all have in common? God created them all,  individually and specifically for you. Embrace them, do not fear them. God is going to guide you through with each and every one of them. Trust him, and find every joy in life that He has to offer.

What a beautiful foot you have!

I'm back, everyone! You can't get rid of me that easily, the posts are just a little further apart. So, this past weekend I went to Concordia University Chicago for a conference for my school. It was called Beautiful Feet, and it was amazing. The entire experience was so eye opening for me. The conference was all about missionary work and the theme was "washed by the word". We reflected on how we are washed by the word through our baptism. Our feet are "beautiful" in that we were washed in baptism and are saved through our faith. We use our beautiful feet to go out and proclaim the law and the gospel to others who do not know Christ. We proclaim the gospel by doing good to others. This is not to say that we are saved by good works, let me clarify. But, it is to say that we are put on this earth to tell of the good news and what Jesus has done, and show the grace and mercy that has been given to us to other people.

We also got to participate in different excursions in the Chicago area. The group I was in got to volunteer at Feed my Starving Children, which is an organization that puts together meals for starving children across the globe. We filled bags with certain amounts of vitamins, vegetables, soy, and rice and put them into boxes. Our group was sending our products to Uganda. With all of the people we had, we packaged enough food to feed 107 children for an entire year! It was so amazing to see those numbers and feel like I was a part of something so big. After we did all of the packaging they showed us a video of the kids over there thanking us all for what we did and saying they were praying for us and they hope we continue to do it. It was heart warming and made me just about cry! It was such an amazing feeling to be a part of that and to help change the lives of children from all the way over here.

All in all it was a great weekend and I made some great friends from all over that I know are going to be great friends for life. And I will be seeing them all again for the Walk for Life in Washington D.C in January!

God bless!

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22

Surprise!

My dad turned 60 last Wednesday. I know, crazy, he certainly does not look it. So, this past weekend I tried to surprise him, but due to some unforeseen circumstances and my father's curiosity, he figured it out by Saturday morning when I came to the house. Nonetheless, I sufficiently surprised my mom and my one sister who did not know I was coming, which made up for it. They had absolutely no clue it was even possible for me to come home, so there were plenty of tears going around.
And the surprises did not stop there!
 The 5 of us kids had contacted basically everyone that my dad has ever known and asked them to write some kind of story or memory they had with my dad. Man, did we get some great responses. That man has touched so many lives in so many ways. He has been and still is a strong christian man. So, Saturday night, the 5 of us took my parents out for dinner and then went home to present the gift in a treasure chest.

 3 hours, about 100 tissues, and 7 tear-stained faces later, he got through them all. Not only has my dad been a blessing to our lives, but he has touched basically every life he has come in contact with and been a blessing to each and every one. I am proud to call him my dad. I hope some day I can touch lives like that. I love you, dad.

"Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him." Psalm 41:1

Day Thirty- one: The truth will set you free

 "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[a] to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:31-36

What a great verse. It was the text for the Reformation service we had last night. Such a great sermon followed it, as well. We are all sinners, condemned sinners. We deserve nothing good. But that is the great thing about God's mercy, He gives us what we do not deserve, salvation. Jesus Christ has set us free from our chains of sin. The truth of his sacrifice and his death sets us free from our bondage. He takes our place. Isn't that great news? And you thought Halloween was all about creepy scary ghouls and ghosts! Think again, it's so much more. So I hope that this is a good end to your night, and your October! Happy Reformation day, and Happy Halloween!
God Bless!