One Year.

It's weird thinking that this time next year I'll be wearing a purple robe and have a diploma in hand. These last 3 years have literally flown by. I still feel like I should be carrying around my "mappy" (JMU lingo for a map freshman get at the beginning of the year) and making "freshman" mistakes. Instead I'm looking at grad schools during my free time and I just bought a GRE book. 

So what does this mean? It means I need to take every single opportunity I have left here at JMU to make an impact for the Lord. I have one year left. One year to invest, one year to serve the students, one year to see God work.

One year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. 21,900 hours.

I don't want to walk across the stage at graduation knowing I could've made myself more available for God to use me. I want to walk across the stage and here my Father tell me, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

12 Reasons I Love Christmas

12. Christmas cards

11. Tacky sweaters

10. Twinkle lights

9. Caroling

8. Peppermint-flavored everything

7. Decorating

6. Christmas music

5. Time with family

4. The joy of giving gifts

3. Baking

2. Crafting

1. Christ.

Symbolism at its finest.

 Many times I find myself thinking that I've done too many things for God to forgive me. I know that this isn't true, but lies come regardless. My past is a hard topic. I made many mistakes, I denied God on many occassions, and I lived a life of idolatry and selfishness. God has in fact healed me in remarkable ways from the mistakes I made, but those lies like to slip in every chance they get.

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.    -Luke 7:11-17

Reading this passage, something that I had never noticed before came to my attention...the boy's casket was open. Symbolism at its finest right here. The boy was being carried out of the city gates to be buried. Jesus stops them and tells the boy to get up. He does. Jesus' first miracle. That's not even the cool part. 

Our "coffin" will never be closed to God. There is never anything too bad that we can do to make them shut it. There is nothing God will not heal us or save us from. We worship the God of an open tomb.

How sweet is this. It's just such a great reminder of the blood of Jesus and the incredible bleaching power it has on us. It gets rid of EVERY stain, regardless of color, size, and substance. It's gone.

Clean. White. Pure.

Study Break.

Just listened to this sermon as a study break --> She's Somebody's Baby Girl 

Jesus knows just what I need to hear when I need it.

{In all my mistakes, I still matter to Him.}

Distracted.

This is the reason for my lack of posts. I can't put it down and I already have another book of his to read after.

"The personal desolation Christ is experiencing on the cross is what you and I should be experiencing -- but instead, Jesus is bearing it, and bearing it all alone. Why alone? He's alone so that we might never be alone. He cries out to God, 'Why have You forsaken Me?' so that you and I will never have to make a similar cry. He was cut off from His Father so that we can boldly say, 'Nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.' He's forsaken so that we might be forgiven."

How powerful is that?

A few posts ago, I shared how I was struggling to find excitement and joy for the Lord. This book has reminded me every day of the gospel that I live for. It puts my heart in a place where I long to praise Jesus on a daily basis. This is one of the best books I've ever read...I highly recommending you giving it a try.

Here is just one of many amazing opinions of C.J. Mahaney's heart for the Lord and how he so beautifully puts it into words for us as readers to embrace: Book Review