..Affliction..

Why?

The first question many people ask when they hear this word or stories of people in other countries being persecuted. It’s not fun. or enjoyable. There will be people who think we’re weird. crazy. naive. are those things so bad though? NO! Why? Because it means that we are being “ambassadors for Christ'” desiring to be like him on this earth, knowing this is not our home!

YES – we will face afflictions and persecution – not always physically, but in any and everyway subtle and obvious that distracts us from being like Christ.

WHY do we have to face it? Because everything in this world is contrary to our God, Creator, Lover, Father, and Savior and his Name and Glory are at stake! It has NOTHING to do with us, and everything to do with Him!

HOPE – He does not leave us alone to face these things on our own! 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all
comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Longing for more of Him,

Heidi

.. Worry ..

I was reading this sermon this morning, by John MacArthur. It brought up several good points on worry that I could not keep to myself!

First of all, consider this:

“…the Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. and they had a little feature in there that was telling about fog, and what was the composite element of fog. And this I thought was fascinating, a dense fog that covers a seven city block area one hundred feet deep, and by that they mean a very dense, thick fog seven blocks and a hundred feet deep, is composed of less than one glass of water, divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is really there at all, but it can cripple an entire city. And I think that's a pretty good illustration of worry, put it all together and you don't have much more than a glass of water, but you can sure mess up a whole lot of people.”

How often do we let worry in our lives OVERTAKE everything?! Just like less than a glass of water can cripple a city… hmmm….

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And besides that, 4 times in this passage, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ commands us not to worry:

"Therefore, I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; neither yet for your body, what ye shall put on….Therefore, be not anxious saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be, therefore, not anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will be anxious for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." – Matthew 6:25-34.

I know, I know… easier said than done, but that’s not an excuse to not try, right? Don’t go around looking like this:

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Instead, trust and hope in Christ to provide EVERYTHING!

. A Comparison .

Found this in my drafts yesterday… not sure if it was complete at the time, but it’s still good food for thought now…

Mercy~

• Dictionary.com - compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner
• Heidi – Not getting the consequences we deserve.

Grace ~

• Dictionary.com -
  1.elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
  2.a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
  3.favor or good will.
• Heidi – Receiving God’s favor that we don’t deserve.

Many times I get these two things confused. The chapter I was reading this morning was on Mercy, so it caused me to once again ponder the difference and eternal implications of these two things… won’t you ponder with me?

Love,

H

.Life Lately.

I know the last couple of posts have been on the heavy side of things. So, I think it’s time for a simple life update. Here are some things that happened/I discovered this week [In no particular order, just as they come to me]:

1. I’m a SENIOR in college. Because I’ve been taking classes on-line the timing gets a little fuzzy in my head, but it’s official by credits!
2. Mike and I were not liking the idea of not seeing each other until May… so WE BOUGHT A FLIGHT! I get to see him next weekend! {This was only after much prayer, checking bank accounts, and finding a GREAT deal on flights!}
3. As of Sunday I’ll be half-way through another set of classes {I take 2 classes every 8 weeks}. Time seems to be FLYING by!
4. 133 Days until the wedding… WHOA! I go back and forth, but today I wouldn’t mind if the countdown would slow down just a little!
5. I got my wisdom teeth out last Thursday and the recovery seems to be going well! No dry sockets, infections, or bruising. Still just a little swelling and regular doses of pain meds. I would not have been so optimistic last weekend, I cried several times, but now I’m glad I did it all as once and NEVER have to do it again!
6. Finally, and most importantly, the Lord is moving in new ways in both Mike and I. It’s SO refreshing and encouraging to go through this as a couple and not alone. Our God is TRUELY faithful, wise, and SOVREIGN in every way. I’m excited to see what He has in store!

To End- a few engagement pics. I realized I never put these on here. I never grow tired of seeing these! It was a fun. lovely. exciting. day!

All credit goes to Ria, with Ri Photography. She did a GREAT job!

Love,

Heidi

..Surrender..

This is something it seems like I used to think alot about, especially when I first moved home, has come up in my life again.

Do you ever wish that you could take the “Chalk-board” of your life and wipe it ALL clean? To start completely over. To SURRENDER everything to Christ.

I’m not sure if I would do anything differently, really. But I look at my life - the way I think, the things I believe – and I see areas that need lots of work. My mind, actions and speech are swayed so easily by the world I live in and what society dictates is the “Norm”. I wish I could have a right view of Christ, Prayer, the Holy Spirit – all the things of God that don’t always make “sense” - not tainted by the comfort of my home, abundant food, and the society I’ve been trained by my whole life.

I just want to surrender it ALL…

and only get back His thoughts, ways, and life.

~Heidi~

Significance.

Mike was asking about my day earlier and my reply was simply “Good.” Nothing else. Which started a longer conversation in which my wonderful fiancé said something that stood out to me that I wanted to share. I’m sure I’ll butcher what he [actually] said, but here’s what I walked away with…

“ There are significant things that happen daily in your life, but because it’s your life you’re not aware of them. If we fail to see the significance in our lives, then we will fail to feel significant and forget we are called to make an impact with everything that we do.”

Life at work today felt just like every other day. Life at work tomorrow, will [hopefully] feel a little.bit.different.

Side Note: Part of me wants to make blogging apart of my everyday life. It’s necessary {for me at least} to process life daily {in some way or another}. We’ll see how that goes!

Love,

Heidi

Learning to LOVE Simplicity

My thoughts often wonder to the simplicity of my life these days…

*The Lord

*Mike

*Work

*Family

*School

Many times I wish there were more things like, sitting in coffee shops for hours counseling my girls or journaling or talking to mentors, but there simply isn’t. Which is simply beautiful in it own way and I want to start FULLY treasuring this season for what is it, because I know someday, I’ll wish I could have it back!

Simply,

Heidi