One Day.

So my Bible Study group is going through this amazing book called Chase the Goose. Summed up, it's basically reclaiming the spiritual adventure, and breaking out of cages that we sometimes get trapped in. These include cages of responsibility, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure, and fear. The study has been incredible, convicting, and full of wisdom so far.



This week's topic is the cage of routine. As I was reading through the first couple pages this morning, and thinking about all the routine I get caught up in sometimes, this one paragraph just smacked me in the face with a reality check. It is referring to taking things one day at a time in a relationship with Christ.



"One Day."

"These words epitomize what a relationship with Christ is all about. When you are in a relationship with Jesus, all bets are off. You never know what you're going to do, where you're going to go, or who you're going to meet. You never know when or where or how God is going to invade the reality of your life and turn it upside down in a single moment. He can show up any place, any time, and turn your life into a Wild Goose chase. That fills me with holy anticipation. It changes the way I live my life because I can't wait to see what God is going to do next."



What an amazing reality that all the useless time we spend worrying about what is going to happen a year, 5 years, 10 years down the road...it doesn't have to even enter our minds. The world constantly screams to us that we need to have it all figured out. That we need to know exactly what we're going to do, where we're going to go after college, who we're going to fall in love with, etc etc etc.



I will be the first to admit that I am the worst about worrying about the future. It's a horrible habit that I certainly need to be prayerful about breaking. Focusing on one day at a time is hard. I find it almost impossible to not think about how the decisions I am making now, the steps of blind faith that I am taking right now, are going to effect my life years down the road. I'm always scared that if I take one step of blind faith in the wrong direction, I'm going to ruin everything about my future. But in reality, that's not the case.

A couple weeks ago, someone told me something that had a really huge impact on the way I think about things.

"It's not always about having a clear answer or a definite sign. Sometimes you just have to take a step of faith knowing that if it's not the step God intended for you to take, He will pick you back up, turn you around, and still have His amazing plan waiting for you."



Even though this is such a simple truth, I guess I had never really thought about it that way before. As long as we are earnestly seeking God in the steps we take, it's not always about knowing exactly which direction we're supposed to go in. It's about taking a step of faith somewhere at least, and knowing that even in our uncertainty, His plan for us is still so GOOD.

I feel like there is so much freedom in knowing that. It comforts me to know that even when I am so uncertain of the next step to take in my life, God is always looking out for me, and will be glorified in my life as long as I am seeking His will.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do this. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him."
Psalm 37: 4-5;7

We've got lots of catching up to do!

Whoever decided to spell February with an "R" after the "B" must have been slightly confused.

Now that that's out in the open----
:)

Spring semester is FLYING by. I can't believe we've already been back in classes for almost a whole month! My classes are going great (well...aside from Chemistry, but it's Chemistry. What do you expect from a girl who doesn't even slightly understand osmosis?)

Here are some completely random highlights of the semester so far. No particular order, no particular significance. Just an update =)

1. My time management is slowly getting better. I still haven't mastered the art of staying off Facebook for extended periods of time when there is homework to be done, but I am beginning to prioritize a little better!

2. Okay, so this huge snowstorm last weekend.

• I woke up last Saturday morning to a beautiful blanket of white snow outside my window. My first thoughts? "SLEDDING!" My best friends from about a mile down the road at Hunters Ridge called and asked me to come play in the snow. Awesome day ahead for sure. I proceed to ask if someone can come pick me up, seeing as how my car is buried in a foot of snow, and the closest thing I have to being able to knock it all off is a swiffer mop. Nope. No one can come pick me up because the roads are so bad. Okay so on to plan B. I will WALK there. It's not that far right? It takes me about 20 minutes to get all of the layers of clothes on so I won't freeze to death. I pack my backpack with some water, my Zune, and my wallet. I'm so ready to go. I step outside my front door, only to realize that not one single road has been scraped yet, and there is still slightly above a foot of snow on every piece of the ground in sight. My next thoughts? "Psh. Child's play. I'm treking through it." I start down the road in a foot of snow, wind in my face, and snow still falling. That was my first mistake. I get nearly a half mile down the road after about 20 minutes, look at all the distance I still have to go, and turn around. That was my second mistake. I called my friends to tell them that I would not be able to come the rest of the way because I felt like someone was sucking air out of my lungs with a giant vaccuum cleaner. And we all know that's no pleasant feeling at all. They proceed to take every action possible to get me there. As it turns out, lovely Rachel Haas and her boyfriend were already in town driving and could come to pick me up. They finally get to where I am and pull over to pick me up. They take me to Hunter's Ridge where all of my friends are waiting. I walk in, collapse on the floor, and begin to tell the story of my trecherous journey. (well..half journey) After eruptions of laughter, and witty comments from John, Stephen looks at me and says, "I could have picked you up! No one asked me!"

I love my friends so much =) hahaha

• This snow/ice also presented obstacles for those included in the clumsy population. Yes, this would include me. As I walked out of a building on campus on Tuesday morning, I decided I needed to hurry to get to my car, as I couldn't wait to get home and eat my daily Pepperoni Pizza lunchable. The next thing I knew, my feet slipped out from under me and every book I was holding flew into the snow. I proceeded to get up, grin really big, look at the girl next to me who was trying to hold in laughter, and say "It happens."

3. I spilled acid on my hand in Chemistry lab last week. Usually when this happens, I feel like most professors just make sure you're okay and let it be. Nope! My lovely Chemistry professor was convinced it was necessary for me to stand in front of my whole class and tell everyone why it was absolutely necessary to practice lab safety.

4. I have literally been craving pumpkin pancakes from Ihop for about 3 weeks now. I must get them soon. =)

5. You're never going to believe it. I've been waking up on time every single morning! If you know me, you know this is extremely rare.

6. I have been challenged a lot lately with far less than ideal circumstances here and there in my life. But as I sat and talked to the Lord this morning, I thanked Him for those circumstances. I can see myself growing more and more each day, and relentlessly running after Christ. It is definitely my human nature to get mad when my plans don't work out. But this quote has held me together lately:

"Sometimes our plans have to fail in order for God's plans to succeed. Divine detours and delays are often the paths God uses to get us to where He wants us to be."

How true =)

7. I have been seeking God's will for my summer plans with all my heart lately. I know it may seem a little early to start thinking about it, but I can't get it off my mind! =) Last summer was life changing at DFocus, and I hope that this summer holds amazing things in store as well. I am scared of just staying in Radford all summer. I'm scared of not having a huge Christian community around me. I'm scared of not having a plan, you know? If God is calling me to stay here for the summer, it is going to be a challenge. One that I will welcome if it be His will, but nevertheless, a challenge.

8. I have had this random weird reoccuring dream about dinosaurs chasing me through the jungle lately. If anyone has any insight as to what that's all about, I would certainly love to hear your take on it, because I've got nothin'. =)

9. Chegg.com. If you haven't heard of it, or tried it out before, it is so worth it. I know it seems silly to get excited about a website for textbooks. BUT. I saved almost 250 dollars by renting my books from Chegg! I also sold some of my books from last year to them, and got twice as much money as I would have by selling them back to the university bookstore. It's worth checking out!

10. I was watching a Nooma video from Rob Bell last night, and wrote down this quote from it. It opened up my eyes a little to the horrible habit I have of going to other people to talk about my difficult situations before going to God. Just an interesting little thought :)

"Maybe the healing and guidance we need desperately isn't going to come from one more meeting or therapy session or sermon or self help book, but from simply listening for the voice of God. Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?"

Hopefully this update was sufficient. =)

Until next time---

Lauren