It is so easy to forget.
I spent an entire summer learning about myself and God, growing in my faith, and pounding truth into my head, but I know that it would be so easy to just forget all that. In fact, I've seen it happen already. I have to remind myself daily of the truth of the gospel, God's word, and who I really am.
Reminder #1: God's word is life.
Something I've struggled with is consistently spending time in the bible. I have no idea why this is such a hard thing to stay committed to. God's word is our bread of life. If I remind myself of that, then I should be using it like it's food--using it to sustain me. Sometimes I really just need to give myself a kick in the butt.
Reminder #2: I am not who I was.
Jesus didn't die in vein. He died to save us all, and no sin--no matter how big or small I think it is--can change that. The truth is, by convincing myself that I'm not good enough because of what I've done, am doing, or will do, I am basically slapping Jesus in the face and saying what he did on the cross was nothing to me. I have been made new by the blood of Christ, and everyday I need the gospel to remind me of that.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17
Reminder #3: I ultimately answer to the Father.
I have always been one to care what others think of me. So far this school year, I've gained a lot of new perspective on it. This verse helped me a lot:
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? -Psalm 118:6
I just really love this verse. I feel like the psalmist is almost scoffing at the thought of the power of man, and it's so true. Man can do nothing, and has nothing in comparison to God. I will live my life to please him, not man, because He is all that matters.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Friday, August 17, 2012
Experiencing Grace
The last week of our "Set Free" theme on project was Experiencing Grace. Yet again, the Lord blew me away with truth I never expected to hear.
The week before, I had just learned that I can't depend on my feelings when it comes to God's forgiveness. Experiencing grace week was just perfect, because it was like the Lord was saying, "You've learned that basic truth, now lets learn more so I can show you how much you've been missing out on."
It's not a surprise to God that we are sinful. He knew we would be, and he created us anyway. Why? So we could experience his immeasurable grace.
By nature, we are children of wrath. We deserve wrath for our inborn sin. Ephesians 2:5 talks about how we were dead in our transgressions. This is our character. This is what we're born with.
God's character is one of abounding grace, kindness, love, power, and many more adjectives than can even be counted. He is perfect and sinless and beautiful. So why in the world would he want to have anything to do with such imperfect and sinful people?
That's another part of God's character: he loves us. He created us and wants to be with us. Our sin separates us from him. There's this huge gulf that nothing we could ever do could bridge, because we're imperfect and we will always sin.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
These verses from Ephesians 2 explain why we get to be with God. God is rich in mercy and loves us so much that he sent his son to die, to take our place, to take the wrath we deserve. Jesus lived a perfect life that did not deserve wrath, but took all of the wrath we could ever rack up, past, present, and future, so that we could have a chance to live in the perfection of God. He bridged that gap between us. By God's grace we are able to live forever with him in heaven. How freakin cool is that?
This is something that I shared with people who do not know God every week. But to hear it for myself was for some silly reason different. Sometimes I forget that I need the Gospel every day too. It's not just for people who don't know God. Since God loves me so much, all of my sins are forgiven. Not just some, or the ones I think are smaller than others, but ALL of them. And by God's grace I am made new and redeemed. My favorite verse this summer was 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
If I've accepted Christ as my savior, and recognized what he's done for me, I am a new creation. I can't be held down by any sin I've ever done or will do. God has seated me with Christ, and nothing can change that.
Honestly, there is no sweeter truth.
The week before, I had just learned that I can't depend on my feelings when it comes to God's forgiveness. Experiencing grace week was just perfect, because it was like the Lord was saying, "You've learned that basic truth, now lets learn more so I can show you how much you've been missing out on."
It's not a surprise to God that we are sinful. He knew we would be, and he created us anyway. Why? So we could experience his immeasurable grace.
By nature, we are children of wrath. We deserve wrath for our inborn sin. Ephesians 2:5 talks about how we were dead in our transgressions. This is our character. This is what we're born with.
God's character is one of abounding grace, kindness, love, power, and many more adjectives than can even be counted. He is perfect and sinless and beautiful. So why in the world would he want to have anything to do with such imperfect and sinful people?
That's another part of God's character: he loves us. He created us and wants to be with us. Our sin separates us from him. There's this huge gulf that nothing we could ever do could bridge, because we're imperfect and we will always sin.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
These verses from Ephesians 2 explain why we get to be with God. God is rich in mercy and loves us so much that he sent his son to die, to take our place, to take the wrath we deserve. Jesus lived a perfect life that did not deserve wrath, but took all of the wrath we could ever rack up, past, present, and future, so that we could have a chance to live in the perfection of God. He bridged that gap between us. By God's grace we are able to live forever with him in heaven. How freakin cool is that?
This is something that I shared with people who do not know God every week. But to hear it for myself was for some silly reason different. Sometimes I forget that I need the Gospel every day too. It's not just for people who don't know God. Since God loves me so much, all of my sins are forgiven. Not just some, or the ones I think are smaller than others, but ALL of them. And by God's grace I am made new and redeemed. My favorite verse this summer was 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
If I've accepted Christ as my savior, and recognized what he's done for me, I am a new creation. I can't be held down by any sin I've ever done or will do. God has seated me with Christ, and nothing can change that.
Honestly, there is no sweeter truth.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Embracing Brokenness
The second week of our "Set Free" theme for summer project was about we as Christians embracing our brokenness. It most definitely the hardest week emotionally of project for me.
Through the first 6 weeks of project, the Lord started revealing all of these areas of my life that I had sort of glossed over because I felt like I had fixed them. It was weird, because coming into project I had all these ideas of what God would do in my life and what changes would be made. Turns out He had different plans for me. All of those glossed over areas came right back up, and it was like the Lord was saying, "It's time to stop ignoring everything Sam. We're gonna deal with this stuff now, it's time."
To be honest, I was so scared of that, though. I was fine with just trying to move forward and forget things. I knew that if this was what the Lord wanted then it would be worth it, though. So as we went through the week, I started embracing the broken areas of my life.
It was so hard. We had women's conference that week (which was so awesome) where we learned about Ruth and Rahab. They were two women who were very broken, but they were still loved and used by God right where they were. That was such a cool thing to learn, especially because I had felt for so long like until I fixed everything in my life God wouldn't love me as much or want to use me.
I also had always felt like I was unworthy of the Lord's forgiveness for things in my past and present, and refused to forgive myself of so many things. Perfectly enough, in bible study that week, we talked about forgiveness. I was so frustrated. We did an activity that was a perfect portrayal of forgiveness, but I still felt nothing. That's when I realized (through the power of the Word) that refusing to forgive myself for things is like saying that what Jesus did on the cross was nothing. Who am I to say that? That's not what I believe, but it's how I was acting. I can't depend on my feelings. Even if I don't feel forgiven for something right away, that doesn't change the fact that I am forgiven for my past, present, and future.
Honestly, I was a wreck that entire week. My emotions were up and down. I'm so thankful that the Lord put my sweet friends Hannah and Grace in my life and on that project to come alongside me, sit with me and comfort me in my frustration, and always point me towards the Lord. God definitely used them in my life to keep me going.
To end off an incredibly emotional week, the Lord blew me away by putting what I had learned into action. Just like He used Ruth and Rahab in their brokenness, He used me. When my roommate Trisha and I were out sharing the gospel, we got the amazing privilege of leading a girl named Crystal to Christ! It was the first time I had ever done that, and it was so awesome. I was so excited, and it was so sweet of the Lord to use me in that way, proving to me that even through my brokenness, I can be used.
Through the first 6 weeks of project, the Lord started revealing all of these areas of my life that I had sort of glossed over because I felt like I had fixed them. It was weird, because coming into project I had all these ideas of what God would do in my life and what changes would be made. Turns out He had different plans for me. All of those glossed over areas came right back up, and it was like the Lord was saying, "It's time to stop ignoring everything Sam. We're gonna deal with this stuff now, it's time."
To be honest, I was so scared of that, though. I was fine with just trying to move forward and forget things. I knew that if this was what the Lord wanted then it would be worth it, though. So as we went through the week, I started embracing the broken areas of my life.
It was so hard. We had women's conference that week (which was so awesome) where we learned about Ruth and Rahab. They were two women who were very broken, but they were still loved and used by God right where they were. That was such a cool thing to learn, especially because I had felt for so long like until I fixed everything in my life God wouldn't love me as much or want to use me.
I also had always felt like I was unworthy of the Lord's forgiveness for things in my past and present, and refused to forgive myself of so many things. Perfectly enough, in bible study that week, we talked about forgiveness. I was so frustrated. We did an activity that was a perfect portrayal of forgiveness, but I still felt nothing. That's when I realized (through the power of the Word) that refusing to forgive myself for things is like saying that what Jesus did on the cross was nothing. Who am I to say that? That's not what I believe, but it's how I was acting. I can't depend on my feelings. Even if I don't feel forgiven for something right away, that doesn't change the fact that I am forgiven for my past, present, and future.
Honestly, I was a wreck that entire week. My emotions were up and down. I'm so thankful that the Lord put my sweet friends Hannah and Grace in my life and on that project to come alongside me, sit with me and comfort me in my frustration, and always point me towards the Lord. God definitely used them in my life to keep me going.
To end off an incredibly emotional week, the Lord blew me away by putting what I had learned into action. Just like He used Ruth and Rahab in their brokenness, He used me. When my roommate Trisha and I were out sharing the gospel, we got the amazing privilege of leading a girl named Crystal to Christ! It was the first time I had ever done that, and it was so awesome. I was so excited, and it was so sweet of the Lord to use me in that way, proving to me that even through my brokenness, I can be used.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
God's Holiness
Wow. What an insane summer it was. The Lord stretched me and grew me in so many ways that I wasn't even expecting.
I'm not even sure where to start...I guess I can start with when staff left our summer project halfway through. What a scary time that was. At that point, having been in VA Beach for five weeks, I was still asking the Lord why I was there. I was so ready to go home. I missed my friends and family and honestly didn't understand why the Lord was putting me through so much homesickness. One of my best friends on project Grace told me that it was just a slump, and a lot of people went through that about halfway through. She told me that the second half of project will be so much better. She was completely right, and I am so thankful for her and Hannah sticking with me (even though I was being a complete baby).
The second half of project opened my eyes to so many things. Our theme for the second half was "Set Free" which was such a blessing. It was based off of Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
This theme was so perfect for everyone. I know that it impacted my life in a huge way. The three components of this theme were God's Holiness, Embracing Brokenness, and Experiencing Grace.
God's Holiness was a week that definitely showed me aspects of God's character that I never really thought about. We learned about how God is so holy that even his angels can't behold his light. I saw that God's thoughts are so, so different from mine. When I am thinking that things aren't going well, or getting down on myself about something, God is still sovereign, and he knows exactly what's going to happen. He sees me in a completely different way than I see myself. Even though there are things about myself that I want to change, God still loves me as much now as he will when I do make those changes. He could never love me more or less. What a hard truth for me to hear. The Lord totally rocked my world with that one. Through this he also showed me that I've been relying on my own strength for so long, which is completely exhausting. Knowing that God is so huge made me want to take advantage of his strength way more.
I'm so glad that week could change my perspective on God. It was definitely good to take God out of the box I had put him in and realize he deserves so much more space than that.
I am definitely going to continue processing through all of the things I learned this summer, so there will be more posts to come!
I'm not even sure where to start...I guess I can start with when staff left our summer project halfway through. What a scary time that was. At that point, having been in VA Beach for five weeks, I was still asking the Lord why I was there. I was so ready to go home. I missed my friends and family and honestly didn't understand why the Lord was putting me through so much homesickness. One of my best friends on project Grace told me that it was just a slump, and a lot of people went through that about halfway through. She told me that the second half of project will be so much better. She was completely right, and I am so thankful for her and Hannah sticking with me (even though I was being a complete baby).
The second half of project opened my eyes to so many things. Our theme for the second half was "Set Free" which was such a blessing. It was based off of Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
This theme was so perfect for everyone. I know that it impacted my life in a huge way. The three components of this theme were God's Holiness, Embracing Brokenness, and Experiencing Grace.
God's Holiness was a week that definitely showed me aspects of God's character that I never really thought about. We learned about how God is so holy that even his angels can't behold his light. I saw that God's thoughts are so, so different from mine. When I am thinking that things aren't going well, or getting down on myself about something, God is still sovereign, and he knows exactly what's going to happen. He sees me in a completely different way than I see myself. Even though there are things about myself that I want to change, God still loves me as much now as he will when I do make those changes. He could never love me more or less. What a hard truth for me to hear. The Lord totally rocked my world with that one. Through this he also showed me that I've been relying on my own strength for so long, which is completely exhausting. Knowing that God is so huge made me want to take advantage of his strength way more.
I'm so glad that week could change my perspective on God. It was definitely good to take God out of the box I had put him in and realize he deserves so much more space than that.
I am definitely going to continue processing through all of the things I learned this summer, so there will be more posts to come!
Monday, June 11, 2012
VBSP2012: Experience, Embrace, Engage.
My first week in Virginia Beach has certainly been an interesting one. What an emotional roller coaster! Praise the Lord for safe travels with all my Purdue friends (and Amelia, an IU student), as we drove through the night last Friday.
The past couple weeks, as project grew closer, I honestly tried not to think too much about it. I was most certainly scared, and didn't know at all what to expect. When we arrived, a few of us went ahead and applied for a job, and then we had some free time until we had anything to do. We're living at the lovely Cerca Del Mar, which is a motel just a few blocks from the beach. I use the term "lovely" loosely. It's not that lovely. But as my four roommates and I continue to make it our home, it's growing on me.
The first couple days here were absolutely terrifying to me. I don't know if I've ever felt so nervous in my life. I was constantly in prayer, asking God to reveal to me why I'm here and to take the nervousness and fear away. God for sure had a lot to show me in those first couple of days. I learned very quickly that this fear I was feeling, though not uncommon, was something that I had let hold me back in other areas of my life. I know that it is for sure something that I'm going to have to work through this summer, and lean on the Lord constantly for.
The first couple days were a whirlwind of meeting new people (which has been awesome) and going through orientation. The Lord amazingly provided me with a job the day after I got here! I work at Sunsations (a beach souvenir shop) as a cashier. It's been a blessing, for sure, and it's been cool to see how He's already creating opportunities for ministry. I started work on Friday, and I'm going to be working 8 hour shifts four days a week with a 6 hour shift on Saturdays. Such a blessing.
Coming here has been so good for my relationship with Christ. I definitely had grown away from him in the last couple weeks when I was at home. I was sort of just sitting on my faith, waiting for something to happen. Getting here and making time for God has been so good, and I desperately missed Him and need Him. It's been cool to just sit down and write out some prayers, which have led me to see things in my life that have been bothering me that I didn't even know about. I also think that I have a lot of unresolved problems in my life that I am going to have to take a likely painful but healthy look at this summer.
While we're here, we're also going to be sharing the gospel to people around Virginia Beach. We've gone out twice, and it has been so cool to see the Lord moving through us. We've had around 15 people come to the Lord already! I am so psyched to continue to share, and I really hope that I get the privilege to lead someone to Christ this summer.
Now, I'm feeling very blessed to be here. The nerves have mostly gone away, and I'm ready to make changes. This will probably be an extremely challenging summer for me, but I'm excited. It's hard being away from my family, Nick, and my friends. I miss you all so very much! But I hope that you will continue to pray for me, and I am so thankful for all of you for supporting me in this project.
Love you all!
The past couple weeks, as project grew closer, I honestly tried not to think too much about it. I was most certainly scared, and didn't know at all what to expect. When we arrived, a few of us went ahead and applied for a job, and then we had some free time until we had anything to do. We're living at the lovely Cerca Del Mar, which is a motel just a few blocks from the beach. I use the term "lovely" loosely. It's not that lovely. But as my four roommates and I continue to make it our home, it's growing on me.
The first couple days here were absolutely terrifying to me. I don't know if I've ever felt so nervous in my life. I was constantly in prayer, asking God to reveal to me why I'm here and to take the nervousness and fear away. God for sure had a lot to show me in those first couple of days. I learned very quickly that this fear I was feeling, though not uncommon, was something that I had let hold me back in other areas of my life. I know that it is for sure something that I'm going to have to work through this summer, and lean on the Lord constantly for.
The first couple days were a whirlwind of meeting new people (which has been awesome) and going through orientation. The Lord amazingly provided me with a job the day after I got here! I work at Sunsations (a beach souvenir shop) as a cashier. It's been a blessing, for sure, and it's been cool to see how He's already creating opportunities for ministry. I started work on Friday, and I'm going to be working 8 hour shifts four days a week with a 6 hour shift on Saturdays. Such a blessing.
Coming here has been so good for my relationship with Christ. I definitely had grown away from him in the last couple weeks when I was at home. I was sort of just sitting on my faith, waiting for something to happen. Getting here and making time for God has been so good, and I desperately missed Him and need Him. It's been cool to just sit down and write out some prayers, which have led me to see things in my life that have been bothering me that I didn't even know about. I also think that I have a lot of unresolved problems in my life that I am going to have to take a likely painful but healthy look at this summer.
While we're here, we're also going to be sharing the gospel to people around Virginia Beach. We've gone out twice, and it has been so cool to see the Lord moving through us. We've had around 15 people come to the Lord already! I am so psyched to continue to share, and I really hope that I get the privilege to lead someone to Christ this summer.
Now, I'm feeling very blessed to be here. The nerves have mostly gone away, and I'm ready to make changes. This will probably be an extremely challenging summer for me, but I'm excited. It's hard being away from my family, Nick, and my friends. I miss you all so very much! But I hope that you will continue to pray for me, and I am so thankful for all of you for supporting me in this project.
Love you all!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thanks, friends.
I have been so happy lately.
I was talking with two of my best friends today at Greyhouse, and I was just amazed at how blessed I have been these past couple of months.
I guess the main thing God is working through for me lately is relationships. I've never been so happy to just be with people around me before. I honestly believe that that starts with my relationship with Christ. Since the beginning of the semester, the Lord has really been working on my heart and changing me continually.
It's so crazy how He is changing my perception of myself. I always thought that I was a more introverted and shy person, but He is showing me that my personality has just been waiting to come out all this time. Now I feel extroverted, and like this is the real me that I've been waiting to find.
Life is hard. I won't deny that. But I guess the difference is that when I'm finding my peace in Christ, all the hard stuff doesn't seem so hard. It feels like I can be joyful, even though it IS hard.
Anyway, I just want to thank you all. I know that last year I was kinda a dull friend. Thanks for accepting me and getting to know me all over again. I thank the Lord for you all everyday :)
I was talking with two of my best friends today at Greyhouse, and I was just amazed at how blessed I have been these past couple of months.
I guess the main thing God is working through for me lately is relationships. I've never been so happy to just be with people around me before. I honestly believe that that starts with my relationship with Christ. Since the beginning of the semester, the Lord has really been working on my heart and changing me continually.
It's so crazy how He is changing my perception of myself. I always thought that I was a more introverted and shy person, but He is showing me that my personality has just been waiting to come out all this time. Now I feel extroverted, and like this is the real me that I've been waiting to find.
Life is hard. I won't deny that. But I guess the difference is that when I'm finding my peace in Christ, all the hard stuff doesn't seem so hard. It feels like I can be joyful, even though it IS hard.
Anyway, I just want to thank you all. I know that last year I was kinda a dull friend. Thanks for accepting me and getting to know me all over again. I thank the Lord for you all everyday :)
Monday, October 17, 2011
Draw Near to the Throne
It's been a while. Life has been crazy, but good.
I've been super involved with Cru lately, which has been such a blessing in my life. We're doing a campaign called I Am Second. (iamsecond.com, check it out.) It has been a stretch, and has really asked us all to step out in our faith. It's really cool to see God move through that, though.
In this crazy busy semester, I'm finding myself re-evaluating a lot of things in my life. Mainly, I'm asking myself, "who am I?" It's a hard question to have to ask yourself at the age of 20. It feels like that is something that I should know. But, up until recently I've placed my identity in SO many things other than Christ. So how could I know who I am?
Campus House on Sunday helped me to know that while I'm trying to put my identity in Christ, the "meantime" doesn't have to mean "wasted time." Some things we talked about were quite in line with my life.
In the midst of hurt and confusion, we can take solace in the power of Christ.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
-Hebrews 4:16
So that's what I'm doing. It's hard sometimes, but it's way better than trying to do life on my own.
I've been super involved with Cru lately, which has been such a blessing in my life. We're doing a campaign called I Am Second. (iamsecond.com, check it out.) It has been a stretch, and has really asked us all to step out in our faith. It's really cool to see God move through that, though.
In this crazy busy semester, I'm finding myself re-evaluating a lot of things in my life. Mainly, I'm asking myself, "who am I?" It's a hard question to have to ask yourself at the age of 20. It feels like that is something that I should know. But, up until recently I've placed my identity in SO many things other than Christ. So how could I know who I am?
Campus House on Sunday helped me to know that while I'm trying to put my identity in Christ, the "meantime" doesn't have to mean "wasted time." Some things we talked about were quite in line with my life.
- Humble yourself: by saying "I'll never change" you're saying that you don't believe in the power of God. I've been trying to humble myself and let God change me.
- Don't try to create your own reality: something I've been doing for a long time, and it's time to give it up.
- Know that God is doing something in the midst of what you're going through: definitely something I need reminded of often.
- Be alert. Satan will try to pull you into self-sufficiency: He has. I am trying to be aware of that, and realize daily that God is offering me His help. I just have to take it.
- The stuff we're going through is real: God can be here for my problems and other people's problems that may seem bigger than mine. God is WAY bigger than we can even imagine. And I question if He can be here for my problems or if He thinks they're significant? Why?
In the midst of hurt and confusion, we can take solace in the power of Christ.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
-Hebrews 4:16
So that's what I'm doing. It's hard sometimes, but it's way better than trying to do life on my own.
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