2014

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This is my verse for 2014. I also plan on studying Philippians throughout the year. But my focus is on learning to serve and be humble in all I do. Have you chosen a word or verse to focus on this year?

I was stuck in a rut...

Have you ever felt stuck? There are lots of ways that you can feel stuck.

• In a relationship, with a friend or family member, or a significant other.
• In a job or career, or on unemployment, or in college.
• In a rut... Doing the same mundane thing over and over.
• In your finances. Can't get ahead or pay off those debts. 
• In your faith-life. In your prayer-life. In your fellowship. 
• In all of the above.

I was attending a community college and I was growing more and more frustrated with the education that I was receiving. Each class began teaching the opposite of what I believed. Anthropology, world history, physics, even art history. I have a Biblical worldview. I believe that God created the world, everything around it, and on it. Every class that I found myself in taught the opposite. There was an itching or maybe it was an aching inside me every time I started a new class and I read "big bang" or "evolution" or "evolved". I don't know how, I don't know why, but I do know that God made it all. I have faith and each of these classes exhausted me from day one because I was always on the defense. Well, I finally made it through 33 units and decided to transfer. After feeling stuck for over a year. Every class would make me question why I was going to school and why was I wasting my time learning all this that I didn't believe, why was I praying that I'd pass these classes that didn't align with my beliefs? Why am I stuck? I took this last term off because I wanted to study Russian (which didn't really happen) but instead I realized that God was pointing me in a different direction. God was reaching out his hand to pull me out of rut that I was stuck in. God rescued me from being stuck in the same battle being fought over and over again. He led me to a different university, a different course of study, refreshing faculty and, best of all, courses that align with my beliefs. He even took care of the costs and all the small details. I know where God wants me and I know that He only showed me after I asked Him to! 

Are you stuck? Wherever it might be... Ask God to help you out? No matter how trivial or extreme you may think it is. God loves you and doesn't want you to be stuck. I recommend reading Hebrews 11 and Jeremiah 29.

God had planned something better for us 

so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 

Hebrews 11:40

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, 

I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then 

you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, 

"and will bring you back from captivity. 

I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "

and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." 

Jeremiah 29:7-14

I will be attending Liberty University Online starting in August. Say a quick prayer for me, would ya? This is going to be a challenge but I know it will be worth it. God led me to it, He'll get me through it.

Writing the Word

I was inspired by Sam over at Sam's Noggin to start writing the Word.
Why write the Word? Here is a video to help explain that part.
How do I do it? In the picture, you'll see my ESV Bible and my Frixion pen, along with my Luke Journible. I take some time each day and write it out. I use Frixion pens because they are erasable, like, seriously erasable. This may sound simple but have you seen how many words are in the Word?? It is time consuming, this is not a weekend project. More like a marathon than a sprint, much like our Christian journey.
Why use a Journible? Here is another video for you to watch. Close by, I keep a notebook to use for personal prayer and as a study journal, as well as a separate, small journal for prayer requests. But my Journibles will be a keepsake of the handwritten Word.
You can learn more and purchase Journibles at Heritage Books. This is not an affiliate link. I am sharing because I really love this idea. This is the verse that inspired Journibles, from The Message.

Deuteronomy 17:18

The Message (MSG)

^18-20 This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests. That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them. He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons.

Go get inspired by Sam, like I did.