Strength

Finally updating my blog...mostly for my dad. So here you go Big Pumpkin.

"I have heard it said that every weakness in a capable person is generally a strength abused." - Ravi Zacharias in "Jesus Among Other Gods"

I am a junior in college with about a month and a half left before I can officially say that I am a senior with about a year left of school. I can't explain the weirdness of that statement. You just have to live it to understand, but I can really see how God has been guiding me through life, noticed most fully starting in high school, then the transition to college, and now in college. I am seeing that transition from college to...something else...a lot more clearly now as the semesters pass by and I am having to think more and more about how life will change and grow when I move into a new season. I look back on the past three years excited because I have grown so much. Not just the normal "grown up" kind of idea, but in every part of me. Spiritually, maturity, knowledge, wisdom, discipline, life skills, relationally, job skills, and even physically (seriously, my roommate and I measured the other day how tall we were and I am 5 ft 5 inches...I grew an inch since like sophomore yr of high school...either that or we measured wrong...). I think God is teaching me so much and I don't even realize it until I look back. However, especially right now I feel Him working on some of my biggest weaknesses.

I have always been a talker. I am fluent in speech and generally comfortable speaking in front of people, but I am also an external processor, meaning basically that I think out loud. I can be long winded and repeat myself frequently. Even just these past couple months I have felt this push to teach classes through Chi Alpha and do other things that involve me speaking and He has also put people and scripture in my life that first showed me my weaknesses and then encouraged me and even now continue to guide me in working on those areas.

Discipline is an issue for me, but through a cool event I have made some lifestyle changes to be healthier. Last semester I was meeting with my mentor Jaime and another friend to talk and she said before we started that she had a sort of random word from the Lord for me. She said I was supposed to work out today, that I should actually not take that time to talk, but rather go to the gym. Random, yes, but I decided to be faithful to what God has spoken to her and go to the gym. Well, at the gym that day was an acquaintance of mine through Chi Alpha, Abby, and we got to talking...started working out every friday...now we have made the decision together to work out three times a week and have been doing it ALL semester. That is pretty huge for me. It is the perfect accountability situation and we push each other, keep each other healthy. Not only that, but we are good friends now! :)

Along with discipline is my quiet time in the mornings. First, when I was at a conference last may I went to a class and the teacher gave us a schedule of scripture to read the bible in a year, which was something I have wanted to do for a long time to get a good overview of the entire bible. This has kept me fairly on track and accountable to actually being in the Word every day. Then, at Thanksgiving my bro-in-law's Grandpa (Bipaw!) who is my adopted Bipaw too and a retired minister sat down with me and talked to me about how he spends his time in the morning with God and it really helped me a lot. It is awesome to have mentors and Christian leaders in your life!

It is hard to explain because it is going on inside of me and not always visible, but in general I feel I am being sharpened. The bible talks about that somewhere. I am excited because I can feel the purposefulness in this sharpening, but at the same time I don't entirely know what it is preparing me for. I don't know what is next, so don't bother asking me. :) But I am excited for it regardless. I know God is going to use my strengths and weaknesses for His Glory and I know that my true STRENGTH comes from the Lord!