Advent: Peace

Prince of Peace... "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7 NIV). The baby that lays sleeping in a manger, the man who flips tables in the synagogue, the Savior who hangs bloodied and beaten on the cross, this is the LORD …

Advent: Hope

Advent, the time of expectant waiting and hopeful preparation for both the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and his Second Coming in the future. I've always done Advent with my family, but I don't think I've ever really internalized the message or meditated on the meaning before. As I begin that process this …

L O V E

He is tender with you and me. The love of God is so sweet, so lovely, so unimaginably complete. As I rest in the promises of His revealed character and covenant commitments, I am reminded again and again not only of the quantity of His love but the quality as well. Who could ever dream …

Read This When God Seems too “Needy”

God has given commands, and it can be difficult to see all that God asks of faithful believers and all that He requires for spiritual growth and maturation and still choose to have a relationship with Him. Part of the curse was that our lives would require us to work (which in the beginning was …

Direction Not Destination

For the past week I've been attending camp at Cedarville University for nursing. A little strange since I, you know, don't want to be a nurse. The point of the week was mainly to look again at the college and experience what living there would be like (also I was still considering doing something medical …

Iron

Alright well school is officially OUT! Exciting times ahead this summer, right now I'm in the car beginning a 10 hour drive to Ohio to visit my brother and go to a camp at Cedarville University to check it out. I'm also refreshing the CollegeBoard website at least hourly because I'm desperate to see my …

Boldness has no Drawbacks

As I sat down to take my first SAT yesterday, there was this section on the form that we had to copy down and sign. It mostly talked about following the test guidelines but the first sentence caught my attention. It started with something like this: "I am taking a step towards my future in …

The Good Race

It's getting close to the end of school, summer break, all that good stuff, and it's hard to stay focused and motivated. Not just with school either, with everything! Work, chores,  SATs, this blog, there's something about summer that slows everything down and makes it hard to accomplish much of anything. These things may seem …

Yes, Complaining is a Sin

“Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp.” Number 11:1 Complaining is so offensive to God. The Israelites …

It’s Tough to be a Relationship-Focused Hermit

I like to be alone. It's when I'm by myself that I feel the most relaxed and at ease. Not to say that I can't be sociable, because I'm pretty sure that I can be, it's just that people can be a lot of work sometimes. And not to say that I always want to …