I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In his presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Humbly at His feet I bow,

Worldly pleasures all forsaken,

Take me Jesus, take me now.

This is what God is speaking to my heart this morning. This needs to be my daily attitude. I need to constantly open my hands and let go of the things that I hold on to so tightly. Perhaps one of the most difficult things for me is to let someone else take control of anything in my life; however, I think the creator of the universe can handle it. I'm out like those worldly pleasures...all forsaken.

Service, please!

One more thing...my boyfriend and I want to spend some of our free Saturday mornings serving people. We have decided that God has blessed us with so much and that we want to give back, together. We also feel like that is a good way to keep our hearts in the right place, striving to learn more about the heart of God. So, if you have any ideas of places that we can serve, or people who need service, PLEASE comment! Thank ya kindly!

Where is the Love?

Immodesty isn't just about causing our Christian brothers to stumble; it's about our craving for the emotional rush we receive when we know we're being noticed.
I struggle with this. I was checking out Christianity Today online because lately, I've been struggling with a need for attention. I haven't been taking that need to my FATHER. After reading an interview with author Shannon Elthridge (author of Every Young Woman's Battle; which I want to read REALLY badly), I realized that God is the only way to satisfy my soul's longing for love. No earthly relationship can fulfill that need. As long as I am looking to others around me to satisfy that need, I'm going to be greatly disappointed--and I'm going to hurt them in the process. Expecting an earthly relationship to satisfy a need for the love of God is like asking a Penguin to run 65mph and catch an antelope. No man was created to fulfill that longing. This is just another way that God is calling me to pursue Him. I realize that my boyfriend, my parents, nor my friends can supply the attention that I need. With that, I'm out...I'm going to go get a little lovin' from my Savior.

Bring on the Rain

Last night I watched Facing the Giants for the first time. I'll admit, at the beginning of the movie I was a little distracted by all of the poor reviews I had heard. I was expecting to be bored and most definitely unmoved. However--despite the predictability--I was really impacted by the message of the movie. It's something I've heard a million times, but to see it applied to a life was pretty awesome: Nothing is impossible with Christ. Besides the awesome message of the movie, there was a story that was shared that I cannot get off of my mind. It goes a little something like this:
There were two farmers and both of them hadn't experienced rain in three years. All that time, they prayed. Yet, one of the farmers prepared his fields for the rain. Who do you think God blessed with the rain? The man who merely prayed, or the main who had the faith to prepare for it?
Now I just have to figure out what my fields are and how to prepare them.

Have I got it?

I made her pretty and not beautiful,

Because I knew her heart,

And knew she would be vain...

I wanted her to search our her heart,

And to learn that it would be

Me in her

That would make her beautiful...

And it would be Me in her

That would draw friends to her.

A friend of mine gave me a poem with several stanza's like this based on verses throughout scripture that speak to the heart of a woman. This one comes from 1 Peter 3:3-5a "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful."

Honestly, I've been struggling with my self-image a lot. I've been an athlete all of my life up until a year ago. My body was strong and thin. Now, I've got jiggly places I didn't know could jiggle (I give you permission to laugh there). So, while I have an awesome man in my life who is constantly reassuring me, there is a void; a void that is drawing me back to God for my reassurance. I have not been asking my Savior the question, "Am I lovely?" If I had, I would know that in his sight, I am captivating. I am his daughter whom he takes delight in. I've been listening to the voices of the world around me when I should be listening to my God who loves me. For any other women who struggle with this, I understand. Check out these lyrics by Barlowgirl.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Have I got it?

'Cause Mirror you've always told me who I am

I'm finding it's not easy to be perfect

So sorry you won't define me

Sorry you don't own me

Who are you to tell me

That I'm less than what I should be?

Who are you? Who are you?

I don't need to listen

To the list of things I should do

I won't try, I won't try

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection

I'm looking into the eyes of He who made me

And to Him I have beauty beyond compare

I know He defines me

You don't define me, you don't define me

With that, I'm out like the world's standards...who needs them anyway?

The Life and Death of an Expectation

So, I'm a blog slacker. BUT, this is all about to change! I am HOME for the summer and I pledge to take more time to muse on things and share with the world here in my newly titled blog, Treasures in Jars of Clay. Since I've been gone for far too long, heres' a quick update on me. Last week I went to Texas for a week to meet the rest of the boyfriend's family...it was fun, stressful, and an overall learning experience--one that I may never forget, for various reasons. This summer I will be working at the YMCA in Easley as a summer camp counselor with 8 & 9 year olds (YAY for songs, games, and spirit sticks--oh my). I've been car-less for the past few days and it's driving me nuts, but luckily I get Old Red back in a few hours. I think that's about it for now.
All the house keeping is finished, on to the musing.
Two days ago I had a devotion that is quickly changing the rest of my life. I've always had expectations and most of the time my expectations are met...but when they aren't, hell hath no fury like Hurricane Megan. My devotion was titled, "The Life and Death of an Expectation" It set the scene by explaining an expectation like an empty blob. As the expectations are met, and the blob is filled, it's not given a second thought--as if it is expected to be filled. We take our fulfillment for granted. The devotion went on to explain that when expectations are not met, "all we see left is the part left unfinished" and "we" begin to feel disappointment. Rather than getting motivated by this disappointment, "we get mad at ourselves, at God, and at people who were part of the plan in our expectations..." OUCH. This hit me pretty hard. Each day I have expectations and I get frustrated when things don't go the way I had planned. I was totally oblivious to the fact that my expectations affect my attitude daily. Reading further, these questions really got me:
Are you grateful for each fulfillment...truly grateful?
Do you place a lot of your hopes for the next event in what has already happened?
Do you still know that God is working His own plan out and that he doesn't need your help?
These are things that I know...but it doesn't hurt to be reminded every once in a while to be truly grateful as God fulfills his will for our lives. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."--Proverbs 19:21 With that, I'm out like my frustration--God's in control!