A quick update: So it's been a long time since I've posted on here! Life has been crazy with school work and working more hours at the preschool! Now there is only 31 more days to go to till the end of my college career! I am very excited to be finally finished with school and move on to the next stage of my life! It's about time :) That's all the time I have for now...more to come soon! (I promise :) )

Studying through Colossians 3:1-17

Our college class went on a retreat over the weekend up to Wintergreen, and it was absolutely a blast studying God's Word and being involved with other believers and hanging out and worshiping with them and just getting to know them more. The music/songs that we sang were amazing. How Deep The Father's Love For Us and In Christ Alone were probably my absolute favorite! I love the message that those songs present!

The messages were awesome and convicting. We studied Colossians 3:1-17 which talked about our union with Christ. In this passage we are reminded to seek the things that are above and to set our mind on the things that are above. We should be interested in making the value of heaven our guide to our thinking and actions and not basing them off of ourselves. We need to remember that earth is not our home, but heaven will be our home one day. Also, our battle with sin continues to exist, and we must put to death those sins and remove them from us. We should not get comfortable with our sin, it should despise us and want us to rid our lives of it. To identify and get rid of the sin we should read the Scripture, honestly think about it and let our conscious be involved, examine our motives/desires, and have accountability to keep us on the right path. Our ultimate goal in life should be making our lives more like Jesus Christ and following after Him. He is our identity and should be the emphasis of our life. We should not be wrapped up in the things that please us, but rather it should be wrapped up in our position that we have in Christ.

This past weekend really spoke to me and reminded me of this position we have in Christ and should be striving for that goal daily in our lives and to seek after the things of God and not of this world. Through everything, I was also convicted that I do not pray as much as I should and am excited to get back into a prayer life with the Lord and be more diligent in praying specifically and purposefully.

If there is any specific prayer request that you would like me to pray for, please let me know. I would love to add you to my list to pray for :)

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have dies, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:1-17

95 Days...

" Life can be like a roller coaster...

And just when you think you've had enough, 

and your ready to get off the ride and take the calm, easy merry-go round...

You change your mind, throw your hands in the air

and ride the roller coaster all over again.

That's exhilaration....that's living a bit on the edge...that being ALIVE." 

~Stacey Charter~

Life has been interesting and is definitely a roller coaster at times. School is going and as you can tell by the title of this post there are only 95 days left and I'm thoroughly excited to move onto the next stage in my life that does not involve school. Work is amazing....i love my 3 year olds and they definitely brighten up my day by loving on me. :)

Hopefully fall will be coming soon and will be able to see the leaves change and I'm so ready for the cooler weather where cardigans can be worn more and more "fallish" clothes! Also, will be very glad when all these allergies go away and I stop sneezing so much!

....

Well classes have officially started off and are going well so far, lots of reading and such but at least I get to read children's books for my Children's Literature class. First we are reading Anne of Green Gables. I have seen the movie, but haven't read the book so it's good so far. Also am back to work working with my 3 year olds and having fun with them, they are keeping me busy but I love them. :)
I would like to share something I read recently from The Knowledge of Holy by A.W. Tozer on the "The Holiness of God." There was one part that really stuck out to me "Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy." This reminds me so much of the holiness of God and how he is perfect in every way. The last part really made me think...I never thought of when you think of an attribute of God that every part of that attribute is holy as well. God is truly amazing!

Life...

I know it's been a while since I have typed anything on here...hopefully I will keep up with this better, at least I am going to try :) lol

This summer has been filled with fun, friends, memories, sports, ice cream, and children. I'm sad to see this summer come to a close but it's one more step to December where I will be finally finished with college!  I am very excited to be done and move on to the next stage in my life. I am only taking 12 credits to finish up everything but will be glad to see it come to a close. I always do a countdown to the end of the semester so I might as well start it early...**drum roll** there is only 120 days till the end of my college career! 

I don't know how many people read this but I hope to keep this updated with my life and such and post verses that have encouraged me along the way through my last semester of college and just random things that I think of that I think are worth sharing.

I have been reading through the Psalms this summer, and if you haven't recently read the Psalms I highly recommend it. I have been encouraged through reading the passages about reminding me how great our God is and how amazing He is.

Friends

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

Friends. First of all I want to say that I love all my friends and am very thankful that you are in my life and have affected me the way you have.  I appreciate each and every one of you and for being there for me when I need to talk things through and just believing in me.  This Bible verse encourages me that friends are here for a purpose and that purpose is to build each other up.  We are to encourage one another to grow and learn more about God and to be a strong encourager to them.  

Here is a quote that I had found.  I'm not sure who said it but I think it is a great summary of what a friend is. 

 "A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."

 

Verse of the Day thoughts

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

God is there for me in any situation that I go through, whether it be good, bad, tough, or easy.  God knows what I'm going through and all I need to do is to ask God to help me and He promises that he will help me through whatever I need help through.  I have to remind myself many times that God is there for me no matter what life throws at me and will be there to help me.   I also need to remember that God will give me an answer but it will be in His timing, not mine.  This is hard to wait so patiently for an answer, but God know what He is doing and what is according to His will for my life, and I need to trust Him for that. 

New Blog

I have always kinda wanted to start a blog so I figured "hey, why not today."  lol :)  So I have decided to start this blog to writing down my thoughts on different subjects and just random thoughts in general.  I also hope to quote Scripture and what it means to me as I read through my Bible.  I hope as people read my blog they find it interesting to read and somewhat inspirational.