The Simplicity of God's Will

God's Will. It often seems like some mystical concept-- like something that lingers in the sky somewhere, waiting for us to finally reach it. Vague and unattainable. 
Silly, but legitimately something I have felt before.

'How am I supposed to know God's will?' I ask on a daily basis.
'What if I make the wrong decision and I end up not in God's will?' is another common question.

Well, folks, a couple of nights ago, I stumbled upon a fairly familiar passage of the Bible which opened my eyes just a bit to the concept of "God's will."

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing,  ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Pretty simple and to the point, yet not something I have ever noticed before when reading these verses. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for THIS is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Yes, God is sovereign and knows where each of our lives personally will go. He knows what decisions we will make. He knows what choices will change the path of our lives forever. He knows, and He is involved in our life. He has a will for us to individually live in and glorify Him through.
As far as God's will for our Christian life as a whole, it is simple.

God wills us to:
- Rejoice always
- Pray without ceasing
- Give thanks in all circumstances

That is His will for our life.
In my circumstances, I am to find joy, because He has redeemed me.
I am to come to Him with every situation, on my knees and willing to trust Him.
I am to be thankful for every circumstance.
That is His will.

The details of our lives as believers- what job to have, who to marry, where to live- are woven together with these three concepts of rejoicing, praying and giving thanks.
In my life, as I seek God's direction in my decisions,
I must live my life with joy, realizing who God is and how much He loves me. That doesn't mean I will never be sad, disappointed, angry or hurt. It does, however, mean that I must choose to look beyond the negative and into the eyes of my Jesus. I can't miss the point.
I must live my life in prayer, knowing that any decision I do make must be first be done while trusting the Lord with all my heart and leaning not on my own understanding. I must in acknowledge Him in all my ways, and He will direct my paths (Prov. 3:5-6). Constant prayer means constant reliance on God. Reliance on God means surrender.
I must live my live in thanksgiving, understanding that every good and perfect thing comes from the LORD (James 1:17). To be thankful is to live in the will of the LORD. So often we take Him for granted, but He has given us a life incomparable to the life we lived before. Or rather didn't live. We were dead, but thanks to Jesus, we now live! God's will is for us to be thankful to Him for this life, and in our thankfulness, He will reveal the rest. He is faithful.

Things I Learned Today

1. The highway is not as scary of a place as it seems.
   Beyond the high speeds and the obnoxious tolls, the highway has a soft spot to it. A soft spot that involves cruising to tunes, feeling like a winner and enjoying the scenery (which is always quite wonderful in New England). Despite my former assumptions, not all drivers are out to get me, 70 mph is really not that terrifying and I will not end up in Canada. Five years later, I have conquered an irrational fear! Laugh if you want, but we both know that you have an equally irrational fear. It's ok, we'll get through it together.
   
   
2. I'm not quite as directionally dysfunctional as previously believed.
   I didn't get lost today on the way to my internship... and I drove for almost an hour all alone! For those of you who know me, this is a big deal. I mean, I am still lower on the "I know how to get places" meter, but I learned today that I can read signs. When the GPS fell off the windshield and I was forced to just find my way via road signs, I made it. Well, I am positive that it was God giving me wisdom so I wouldn't, in fact, end up in Canada, but with God's help I CAN FIGURE IT OUT! I may be able to survive the transportation world after all.
   
   
3. I am learning things in school!
   Yay! The thousands of dollars that I have been spending (and my parent's have been spending) on an education haven't been a waste! For my internship, I will have to use the same audio program that I used during my practicum. Today, I realized how much I remembered. I wasn't as completely and utterly lost as I thought I would be! Hizzah for being able to keep up! Hip hip, hooray! I wonder how many other things I know and remember that I do not even realize? Thank you to the many professors who pour into us as students-- you are much appreciated. To be quite honest, I would be as clueless as it gets if it were not for the professor folks.
   
   
4. The LORD is faithful.
   Wait what? I didn't know that already? Well, I did... My faith just always seems to kind of burn down to a warm glow sometimes instead of the preferred blazing flame. That truth stinks, but it is the truth none-the-less. Despite my unbelief, God is GOOD, kind, merciful, and loving. He gives when I don't deserve, blesses when I don't believe and provides when I don't see it coming. I still have yet to find a job, but I trust that I will end up exactly where God wants me. Exactly where. I also know that, until He provides a job, I am, right now, exactly where He wants me to be. Exactly there. I am so thankful I have a God who I can trust, and I am thankful for the opportunities He has given me to serve Him, glorify Him and SHINE Him.
   
   
5. I'm in the right major.
   YES. Another indication that I have not wasted my (and my parent's) money. Even if I don't do exactly what it is I'm studying to do (that is, writing and journalism), it's helping me to get into different types of avenues and explore the gifts God has given me. I love what I'm learning, and it's been useful to so many unexpected aspects of my life.
   
   
6. I'm thankful for my school.
   I realized today that I complain an unnecessary amount about my school. So I don't agree with every little thing they do. So what? I am SO blessed to be there. The opportunities have been great. The lessons have been great. The education has been great. The professors have been great. The people I have been able to get to know are great. From my experiences and education at that school, I have learned and come to understand even MORE about how GREAT my God is. Also, I promise that I learned more words in journalism school than the word "great," but I also learned to only use big words when necessary, and "great" is the most fittingly simple word. I love that God has changed me through my time at school, and I love that He has been glorified through my experiences there.
   
   
7. My parent's are incredible.
   So supportive. So encouraging. So loving. I mean, my mom packed me a lunch on my first day today just to relieve my nerves and save me time-- if that's not love, I don't know what is. They are always showing me the love of God, and I couldn't be more overwhelmed by it. People have asked me, "Well, you grew up being taught about Jesus. How do you know you weren't just believing a lie your whole childhood?" I can tell you right now that my parent's HAVE LIVED the truth. They were my early glimpses of God's love. They were my brief explanations to hope and truth. For that, I am unbelievably grateful. They're not perfect, but they were perfect for me: they were the parents God provided me with. He knew I would be born to them, and He knew that I would need them to be the parents I had. My mind is sort of boggled now, so I'm going to move on to another point.
   
   
8. God is my strength.
   Again, something I already knew, but something I literally need to be reminded of EVERY day. Every action, every decision, every word-- everything-- can only be done by God's strength in me. Anything I do in my own attempts with result in a FAIL. Believe me, I've had many FAIL moments, and they're not fun. But I've also had many victorious moments when I gave up control to my Savior. The only reason I made it on the highway, did not get lost, followed what was going on today, understood the instructions, made it through the day in one piece and made it back home safely was that Jesus got me through. That's how. There's really no other method of success but to give up control to Jesus. So refreshing.

So, I'm going to go and end there. One, because I'm out of points, and two, because 8 is my favorite number. Funny how that works out.
Thankful to the LORD for another day that He was give the glory!

Baby Kyle, minus the full beard.

As of February 28th, I am an aunt (not pronounced like the insect).

Basically, I cannot contain my excitement and generally tell everyone I see. I don't know half of them (well.... I do now. Even the lady who works at the dining hall... We're friends now, and she asks to see pictures of the little tyke).

My sister, Grace, texted me every now and then on Wednesday, updating me on her current "situation." (I will avoid details for your own sake). As the afternoon approached, so did baby's arrival. Grace texted me with a "Pray for me. Kurt's taking me to the hospital." 
Of course, I was restless from that point on.
School work? Yeah whatever.

Around 9:30 p.m., text updates from my mom begin to filter in.
"Grace is doing breathing exercises."
"Grace is now walking a little bit in the hallway with Kurt upon the doctor's instructions."
"...We have to go to the waiting room now." (which was the cue that the time was approaching)

It was around this time that I started to get really sad that I couldn't be there with my sister. Her life is changing forever, and I'm here at school. Eating peanut butter and writing articles about the housing industry. I guess that's life sometimes.

The night went on, and my focus was officially wounded. It hasn't fully recovered since then.

I attempted to get to bed around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning (to no avail). Prayers for my sister and the baby were all that were going through my mind... and for Kurt too. I mean, I can't imagine how traumatizing this must be for a husband... I don't really want to know right now.
Due to my restlessness, I decided I would scroll through my non-phone iPhone (I'll explain this to you sometime) and see if the social media world could distract me.
What happened next will probably go down in the history books of our family.
Here is the exact Facebook message from my cousin Simon (who is also away at college):
Simon: "GRACE HAD THE BABY!?!?!"
Me: "She's in labor right now!!"
Simon: "DETAILS."
Me: *details*
Simon: "I wonder if she's going crazy right now...."
Simon: "Get on skype! Let's share our excitement!"
Me: "hahah no I should be sleeping."
Simon: "SKYPE ME.
HOW OFTEN CAN WE SKYPE WHILE GRACE IS IN LABOR?
YOLO."

Yes. He said "YOLO."

So I gave in. And I'm so thankful I did.
Now Simon and I can tell little Kyle that though we could not see him in his first few hours of life, we did in fact have a 2 a.m. Skype conversation about his entrance into the world.
I also have the quotes saved to prove our subtle involvement in this situation....

Simon: "What's his name going to be?"
Me: "Kyle Alden ....."
Simon: "Kyle Alden ..... ? That's the whitest name I've ever heard."
Disclaimer: Simon is half German.

Me: BABYY! BABBBBBYYY!!!
Simon: "You're not even having the baby. Grace is, and you're crazier than she is."

Me: *typing really quickly to document all of Simon's hilarious quotes*
Simon: “All I can hear is you typing. It’s like you're giving birth through the keyboard.”

Me: *whispering into the webcam* “THE BABY IS COMING”

Simon: “Well now I’m going to have nightmares."

Simon: "What do you think the baby’s favorite food will be? Something white people like.. like cabbage or carrots or something gross."

Simon: “He’s born on my mom’s birthday!!! …. They should name him Stephanie. It's only fair.”

Me: "I'm glad we're Skyping during this so we can commiserate together about not being there."
Simon: “Well yeah.. how often does Grace give birth? What.. like maybe.. one more time?”

Simon: "It's going to be a gigantic baby... did you see how big Grace was?! He's going to come out like 30 years old and be like... *deep voice* 'Hey, mom.'"

Me: "Yeah... like 'Hey, mom. I have a beard.'"

Simon: "Instead of being one of those babies with a full head of hair, it's going to be one with a full beard."

Simon and me randomly in unison: "THE BABIES ARE COMING! THE BABIES ARE COMING!"
Disclaimer: this was unplanned
*Explanation: our own rendition of "the British are coming!" ... in case you couldn't figure that out 

Simon: *deep in thought* ".....What if baby Kyle grows up to be the next Michael Buble?"

....Such were the 2 a.m. conversations of Simon and I on the day of my nephew's birth.
Sleep finally happened.
Baby Kyle was born at 5:01 a.m.

A picture my dad sent me of the little one. His first day of life.

Happy emerging into the world, Kyle! I am glad that you don't actually have a full beard.

You have been born into an extremely strange (but incredibly awesome) family!
YOU ARE SO LOVED. You don't even know.
So, little nephew, I will meet you in exactly one week. Be prepared for an unlimited amount of love and affection. You also probably will get blogged about a lot. Sorry in advance.

Love, 

Your Auntie =)

To Honor My Parents

So, after years of being totally clueless, I have come to the conclusion that my parents are probably the wisest, most incredible people I have ever known.

Seriously though, these people are AWESOME.
They're not perfect by any means, but they are amazing human beings.

My dad is so learned in the Bible, and everything he says or does is backed up by Scripture. He knows what he believes and why he believes it, but he never pushes his beliefs on others. He is open about his faith, but he never talks down to people who have different views. Whenever I have a question about the Bible, people, myself, life, anything- he usually has an answer. His positive and loving nature is so incredibly encouraging when I am down on myself, and his frustration at my negativity pushes me to see things with a better perspective.
His generosity and hospitality to all is incredible, and I admire him for his selfless love for others. He is such a diligent worker and always makes sacrifices in order to provide for his family. He is so under-appreciated but deserves SO MUCH more gratitude.
He puts up with my female, emotional ways, and is so gentle and loving despite my irrationality. His tender heart towards his family is indescribable, and his sacrificial love is a portrait of Jesus Christ. My heart literally fills with joy every single time I talk to him or spend time with him. Or even talk about him.
He is a fantastic dad who shows love, makes me feel special, encourages me to be who I am and pushes me to be the best I can be. Basically, he is an example of what I want in a husband someday, and I am thankful to God that He provided me with a godly father.

My mom just loves the Bible. Since before I can remember, God's Word has gotten her through every day. She has always had us read with her daily, whether a passage in the Bible or a short devotional. Though I never really appreciated this as a kid (especially when it disrupted my playing time), I am SO thankful that my mom taught me to love and appreciate the Bible. My mom is one of the most kind-hearted, selfless people I have ever met. She is gentle, has a servant's heart and always puts others needs before her own (whether they deserve it or not). She is hilarious (without even knowing it) and lets me be silly with her (and talk in weird accents).
She sacrifices so much of her time for God and for her family, and she pushes us to do the same. Even though we don't show her nearly enough appreciation EVER, she is a woman of extreme worth. Her heart alone is made of gold, and the rest of her is priceless. She loves being home and with her family, and she makes it known how much she loves her children and husband.
When I am in the lowest of pits, I love talking to my mother. She lets me be sad, holds me and just tells me truths from the Bible to bring things into perspective. She understands my strange female tendencies, and she encourages me always. I hope to someday be half the wife and mother she is.

In general, my parents are not shown enough appreciation AT ALL.
So, this post, Baba & Mama, is for you.
I want you to know how much you are loved and appreciated. I am SO THANKFUL for you, and there are few people in this world who bless me like you two bless me.

So thank you <3. I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU!

21 and the Best Birthday Yet

So this may in fact have been the best birthday ever. That may be a really generous statement, but as far as my memory recalls, today trumps the rest.

After a slightly trying week, God blessed me with the most lovely, uplifting day, and on my birthday, mind you. What I kind God I serve =).

Last night I stayed up until midnight and rang in the 21st birthday with a reading of the January 16 (birthday) "Jesus Calling," devotional, along with the Proverb of the day (Proverbs 16) which was incredible, as usual. I then went to bed, hoping to sleep in, but ended up being wide awake at 6:30 a.m. which I considered a wake up call from Jesus. So, finally by 7 a.m. I decided to start my 21st birthday off the right way in prayer to my Savior. So I had a good time talking to Jesus =). Best person to start my birthday off with! I then read Ephesians 4 which is absolutely INCREDIBLE. And I need to reread it over and over. And so do you.

So, after my time with Jesus, I was able to talk to my beautiful parents and siblings, which was awesome as usual. They wished me a Happy Birthday and said sweet things, and they made me even more thankful for them than I already am.

I then got to enjoy a delicious blueberry pancake and fruit breakfast with my SLD, Loren, thanks to the mini rot's yummy food! Off we went to convocation where I got to sit with all of my lovely Dorm 2 ladies and see some friends from the brother dorm. Oh, I need not leave out that Towns graced us with his presence in convocation as well, which is always very interesting. It's almost like Jimmy Stewart was there for my birthday!

So after convo, enjoyed a lovely Developmental Psychology class with another birthday girl, Grace-Anna, and it was fantastic. After class, had lunch with one of my very close friends and former roommates, Carla, and she gave me the most elegant cameo broach. She knows me so well! Then on to my interesting "Announcing" class which involves us talking like television and radio professionals and is very humorous.

Once classes were over, I met up with two of my very good friends Heather and Andrew, and so our adventures began for the day. Off we went, to random places by random modes of transportation. Actually, just to North campus on a wet bus (it's been raining all week). Andrew shared a disgusting and disturbing story about an awkward couple he observed, but I will spare you from despair and not share the story. I literally gagged, so that was memorable.Wet buses are disgusting, by the way.
So, to North we went to retrieve packages (yay birthday gifts from my Mama!) and things and to enjoy some intense games of Ping Pong (which Heather cheated at numerous times. Just kidding. Kind of). After our tournaments, Heather and Andrew rushed me to dinner, which at the time I had no idea why. Little did I know, these sneaky folks had invited a few of my good friends to go to dinner to celebrate my birthday. So we went, and they distracted me with toys until everyone arrived.

The beverage of choice on my 21st birthday? Water with lemon, and proud of it.

After dinner with these lovely folks, I came back to the new hotel-dorm which has newly been occupied by my lovely residents. Boxes everywhere, wet randomness, chaos. You name it. So much entertainment! A few crazy occurrences on the hall... sicknesses, broken doors, missing drapes, moving shenanigans. Just all around adventure. 
 My hallmates then began singing "Happy Birthday" to me as I walked down the hall, gave me flowers, a card, a picture of the hall folks and a delicious turtle cake. Such sweet, kind-hearted people on my hall =). Thank you to my sweet roommate for working so hard to make today special, even though we didn't get to see each other very much!

The last hour of my birthday was spent with my lovely Developmental Psych friend (who shares my birthday), Grace-Anna. The turtle cake could not be eaten alone, so we had a little birthday party together in the lobby of our hotel-dorm, ate cake and drank Diet Coke.

What a day.
So incredibly thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life who show me so much love always.

Also, indescribably thankful to my Jesus for blessing me with such people and such a day to remember =).

Thanks everyone for your love and care for me! I didn't expect any of it, nor did I deserve it.
I'm blessed by you all <3.

#ThankfulFor - October 2012

Some people call twitter a "micro-blog." I would have to agree. After a long month of complaining all of September (it just happens to be my least favorite month of the year), I decided it was time to stop complaining and time to start thanking God for everything He does daily in my life.

SO, I decided twitter was a great place to thank God daily AND encourage others!

Daily "#ThankfulFor" Tweets - October Edition =)

October 1st, 2012
-"I've decided that I'm going to try (I can't promise I won't miss a day) to tweet something I'm thankful for every single day. #ThankfulFor"
-"First of my #ThankfulFor daily tweets: I'm thankful for the big, bright orange loofah that Heather gave me. #sosoftandcomfy"
-"#ThankfulFor the ability to learn and grow."
 October 2nd, 2012

-#ThankfulFor hilarious embarrassing moments.. they stink at the time, but man do they make for great stories. #LOLmoments

October 3rd, 2012

-#ThankfulFor parents who let me talk to them about anything and everything, even when I'm being unreasonable. #blessed

October 4th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor Thursdays. Thursdays are always so chill and wonderful, and they're right before Fridays. Thank you, Jesus, for Thursdays.
(apparently I was so thankful for the weekend that I didn't tweet about it...)
October 8th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor the fact that my phone is now found. *insert 'prodigal son' analogy*
October 9th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor friends who love me just the way I am, but love me enough to tell me when it's time to change. 
October 10th, 2012

-#ThankfulFor a God I can trust. #itwillbeok

October 12th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor restful weekends.
October 13th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor the 90s and the hilarity of it all

October 14th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor long car rides :)
October 15th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor spinach. Random, I know, but it's so delicious and will make me like Popeye. #pumping iron

October 16th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor the internship God just provided for next semester. Seriously JUST what I need!

October 17th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor this new phone! Sad my little green one is dead, though. You lived a good life, little buddy.

October 19th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor an awesome leadership team and amazing friends!

October 22nd, 2012
-#ThankfulFor the fact that God is in control. It's hard to give up control, but when we do, it's so incredibly freeing.

October 23rd, 2012
-#ThankfulFor parents who support me always. And who encourage me in my Arabic.. even though they laugh at my bad grammar ;].
October 24th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor the ladies on Dorm 2 and the way they bond together in tough times! You women are SOLID!
October 29th, 2012
I know why today was blah now! I have been forgetting to do my #ThankfulFor tweets! #ThankfulFor days off from class :).
October 30th, 2012
-#ThankfulFor chapstick. For real though..

So, as you can see, some days (weekends.. weeks.. ya know), I totally failed. Hopefully, this will show me how many days I forget to thank God and remind me to ALWAYS thank Him. This whole project of mine has so far showed me how MUCH I have to be thankful for.. and all of the little happy things that bring joy to my life (whether serious or a bit humorous). It's so convicting to realize how blessed I am and how little I thank God for such blessings.

So.. thank You, Jesus!

I've really enjoyed beginning this "project." It's helped me quite a bit and definitely has opened my eyes to God's blessings in my life.
I think I'm going to make this a monthly blog tradition. =) What do you all think?