Devotions

Do you have those friends that you could literally not talk to for a year, and then you run into them and talk for hours like nothing happened? These are the good kinds of relationships-- those that produce fruitful, edifying conversation and are sustained by God's grace and not our own efforts. (How could they be a result of our doing? We haven't talked to that person in a year!) I have a few friends like that. They're the good ones-- the ones I can go to for anything, and the one's whose connection is effortless. So effortless, in fact, that I forget about them sometimes because I don't have to constantly work to maintain their affections. I know they'll be there, and I'll always be there for them, and that's that. But I feel bad sometimes. I feel like I don't give these people enough credit. I don't tell them I love them enough, and sometimes when I do tell them "HEY I LOVE YOU!" out of the blue, it seems random and disingenuous...

Sometimes life gets so hard I just need to vent about it to the worldwide web. I need to process things because I can't make sense of it all. Today is not one of those days. In fact, today is fabulous. I love it very much. And instead of trying to organize my scattered, broken thoughts about a hurting world, I will try to process the goodness of the Lord, even though I won't really be able to experience its fullness until I'm in His courts. I've been exploring the concept of waiting for the "right" kind of person before getting too emotionally involved in a relationship. (And, by "exploring," I simply mean trying... failing... learning... repeat. It's quite the process.) Anyway, I've had my ups and downs, but overall God is teaching me that there are  really great, wholesome, honest, God-fearing men out there that love people how Jesus does. They open doors for you, and not out of obligation or societal standards but because it's a wa...

Recently a friend of mine asked if I could pray for peace for her. That was all she said, so I'm not sure what specifically she needed peace for, but it got me thinking about peace and surrender.  Because if we go to Scripture, it's pretty clear about God's peace, given freely: «The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.» Psalm 29:11 NIV Jesus himself said: «Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.» John 14:27 NIV He's basically like "stop being afraid and just let me give you peace, please! I want to!" And yet-- it's hard for us, for some reason. It's difficult for us to rest in His peace-- hard enough that we ask for people to pray for us to be able to accept it. Why is that? Why can't we just be like, "Okay, Jesus! I believe you. You offer Your perfect peace and I will take You up on that fabulous offer....

So, I'm a single college student and it's summertime. This may seem like an average statement but when you break it down, it becomes much clearer the confusion I face at this time in my life: 1. I'm single. (translation: I don't have a husband, a boyfriend, a lover, or a fling, or anything of that nature) 2. I am a college student. (translation: I'm surrounded by a hookup culture that is fueled by a reverent belief in "living in the moment" and "only living once" and basically intentionally screwing up because it's what everyone does at this age) 3. It's summertime. (translation: I'm bored sometimes, I miss my friends, and everyone and their sister is getting married and posting cute relationship pictures on social media 24/7) Put them all together and  BOOM-- I've been struggling lately with singledom. Everyone seems to have their own opinions on this "stage" in life, and they've been quite adamant about ...

I was having a conversation with some people today about love and hope and faith. (You know, typical lunch topics.) It was surprisingly morbid, our little chat, especially when it had to do with love and hope and faith. This, however, was probably due to the fact that my fellow conversationalists didn't think much about love, they rarely sincerely hoped for things, and their faith was nearly missing altogether. This fascinated me, because I am such a hopeful optimist. My faith is so very, very important to me. It defines who I am... and Who I put my hope in is integral to my being. So to hear such statements... such claims... claims such as "love will always be interrupted by distrust" and "it's silly to hope in something divine..." they broke my heart a little bit. And the worst part is, I'm in a foreign country with almost-strangers in whom I cannot confide. I feel like I'm on an island, almost. No one really understands the hope that I have, an...

I am writing this post from Cartagena, Colombia. I'm sitting outside, listening to the sounds of the children practicing soccer, (they're only like 5 years old, and now I understand why Latin-American countries are so good at soccer...) and life is very good. I have a belly full of pizza and a heart full of new experiences. I have a family that loves me and a new handful of close Colombian friends. I volunteer here in the city teaching English to the less-fortunate by day and go out dancing with my international friends at night. I'm not quite sure how life could get better. I attribute these various blessings to a Sovereign God that loves and blesses me, but it's times like these when I think to myself, "who needs Jesus?" Because if you think about it, I can travel to Colombia as a Buddhist. I can eat pizza as an atheist. I can certainly "go out" at night, enjoying the highly festivities as a young adult who doesn't believe in anyone or anyt...

Hi Friends, This weekend has been a really epiphany-esque weekend, and I need to blog about it to get it all out. (Translation: this is going to be a rant that probably goes nowhere.) Going to the graduation ceremony of the grade that graduated after me was weird. For a variety of reasons, and I won't get into all of them, but let's just say I felt SO out of place. I wasn't a current student anymore, and I wasn't old enough to feel like an alumni that was coming back after a really long time... I was just kind of stuck. I saw people and faces that brought back horrible memories, and I saw other faces that affirmed me of the fact that regardless of all the mistakes I had made, people still loved me. (Or pretended to love me while they passed me in the hallway, anyway.) The world is cool and so are animals but the only thing that counts is people . They're it. They're all that matter. How you choose to interact with someone not only defines who you are to th...