i promise.

I promise that I will blog soon after my physics test.

too religious.

Lately I've felt really convicted that I have been "too religious".

Let me start off by saying, my schedule is ridiculous. In between my 16 hours of classes, I have to set aside time for meals, homework, working out, meeting with Ashley (my co-leader), University Relations team meetings, getting discipled by Jenique, discipling a girl in my Bible Study, Crusade, the Bible study I'm in, the Bible study I lead, tutoring for Organic Chemistry II, and office hours for physics, because I need all the help I can get in that class. Oh yeah, and friends slash social life?

With all of that, there is little free time. And the free time I do get, there are awesome opportunities to go to things like Raleigh Worship on Tuesdays, prayer and communion in the Brickyard on Tuesday nights, and prayer meetings on Monday afternoons. I love all of these things, and I think they are great ministries that the Lord is boldly using around our campus. We have seen people just stop by and ask what we're doing in the brickyard, we've seen students be blessed by how God is using our prayers. God is working through us and a revival is beginning at State, and it is nothing less than incredible.

But here is the problem. I am the type of person that cannot say "no" to things. When people ask me to head up a project or help them out in starting an organization on campus, my immediate thought-process is, "they are going to think I'm not dedicated about this, so I have to help them out". A lot of times I find myself getting into things without even praying about them first. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that leading a Bible Study or servant team was something I didn't pray about (because I did), but other little things throughout the week that come up I tend to commit myself to before really sitting down and looking at if it's possible to work it in with my schedule.

That's why, on Tuesday night, I skipped prayer and communion.

I realized that I need to really look at my schedule and prioritize my time. I had spent all this time doing "things" for God, but had forgotten to be still before the Lord. On Tuesday night, that is what I did, and it was so great. It is so easy for me to get caught up in the busyness of life, forget to take the Sabbath, and constantly make "to-do lists" with "things" I need to check off once I'm done. I need to take time to smell the roses. As cliche as it sounds, I was forgetting to do that. But more importantly, and more dangerously, I was forgetting to take time and sit in wonder of my amazing Savior.

I know that God is not going to put more on my plate than I can handle. But that doesn't mean that every opportunity I get to do something else in Crusade or other ministries is one that I should take.

Prayer Box

This concept may sound cheesy, especially to boys.

Thanks to Kelly and Zoey, I recently made a prayer box. Aka: a shoebox decorated with cute paint colors. When anyone gives me prayer requests, I write it out on a little sticky note with the date, fold it up, and put it in the box. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I get up real early and just spend time before the Lord lifting up these prayer requests to Him. Some of them seem minute, but some of them are huge (my friend's salvation). I know it's going to take time, however long the Lord has planned, but I truly believe that if I am before the Lord and my heart is burdened for their salvation, He will instill in my friend a desire to yearn for God. I've already seen one prayer request answered - praise the Lord! After a prayer request is answered, I put a big check mark on the sticky note with the date it was answered, and then set it aside to look at and constantly be reminded of God's faithfulness and provision.

The cool thing about this is that I get so excited to pray now. It's not the fact that the box is real cute, even though it is, but the fact that I can visibly see that the Lord does work and the power of prayer is incredible. I'm so excited to see the Lord answer some of the "far-fetched" requests and to better understand trusting in His timing and His answers.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 - pray without ceasing.

summer project 2010.

I'm so excited for this summer.

God has really been laying on my heart this last week how much I need to start praying about where He wants me this summer. I know that He put a desire in my heart to go on summer project for a reason. I just have no idea where. There are probably about 75 locations to choose from, but today as I was browsing through it I was able to narrow it down a little (to about 5ish). I definitely am more passionate about being in a mountain area rather than the beach. There are two in Colorado that look amazing, one in the Smoky Mountains, and another one working at Yellowstone National Park. The thing is, I can see God using me at all of these places, so trying to figure out where He wants me is so tough. I just need to keep wrestling in prayer about it so that I can be confident that my desires line up with His.

I'm so excited. Trying to be content in school right now is a struggle, because I'm looking forward so much to this summer and how the Lord can use me wherever He places me.

Application process starts November 3rd. Only a little over a month to go. Dang dizzle.

my new sleeping pattern. its before midnight and im pooped.

so, i am trying this new habit. tell me if it is a good idea.

go to bed by 11 pm.

wake up by 645 am.

i get enough sleep, and i get to spend the peaceful mornings with the Lord.

pros: great quiet time, not wasting the day away, can easily start liking coffee (p.s. if you didn't know, i don't like coffee. but lately i have had a bookstack mocha and vanilla latte and am slowly falling in like with them)

cons: can't hang out late with friends, feel so exhausted by 11:30pm

pros outweigh cons in this case. correct?

thought so.

friends.

My friend's threw me a "suprise" birthday party.

God has blessed me so much by giving me such great friends that have a heart for the Lord above anything else.

P.S. I feel like sometimes I blog when I'm:

a. trying to avoid studying

b. in deep thought slash reflection

c. trying not to be stressed out

d. really tired

I'm all of the above right now.

This blog entry is so boring. But basically the point is, I love my friends.

go vertical.

In bible study last week, we talked a little about horizontal vs. vertical relationships.  Horizontal relationships - meaning your relationships on earth.  Vertical relationships - meaning your relationship with God.  As humans, our sinful nature draws us to think that our horizontal relationships are the only thing that matters.  We forget that it was God who granted us those relationships, and if we trust in Him and focus our relationship in a vertical direction, then everything horizontally will fall into place.  It kind of goes along with only depending on the Lord, and no one else.

P.s.: something crazy.  We talked about horizontal/vertical relationships on Monday in Bible study.  Then on Wednesday, Ashley and I led a Bible study where we talked about fulfillment in Christ alone (based on John 7).  Throughout the whole week I had been struggling about focusing my life on Christ - and it is crazy to think that the Lord has shown me to turn to Him and depend on Him so many times this week through those two Bible studies.  I'm realizing that a lot of the things that we're going over in the Bible study I'm leading with Ashley are basic, but they apply just as much to me as they do to someone who has never heard the gospel before.

So, go vertical.

Peace.  And Blessings.