In this you rejoice...

1 Peter 1:3-9:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I don't really have much time to expound on this (School will end May 14), but I wanted to share with you a passage that really means a lot to me, and I've been meditating on. Read and let the Lord use it to speak to you as well.

Godliness with contentment

I Timothy 6:6 "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment"

If you are godly without being content, you are missing out on what the Lord has for you right now because you are too focused on your plans, your life, and what you want. Being godly and content leads to great gain where the Lord blesses you for trusting in Him and you will find joy because you can see what the Lord is doing for you. When you're not content, all you can see is how _blank_ is not working out how you thought it was going to and you can't even see what the Lord is doing because you are so blinded by what you want and think you need.
I was talking to my friend Aimee today on the phone, and I was completely blown away by her joy. She says she wakes up every morning so thankful for her awesome life because the Lord has been so good to her. She is amazed every minute of how the Lord is ordaining things in her life to His perfect timing, and how, time and after time, His plan always proves to be the best. He will always be faithful to bring about good in every circumstance. He promises to do that.

As my friend Sean Mayo says: "Godliness with contentment. If you are not now because of circumstances, what makes you think you will be? Life happens to be hard... He happens to be all powerful and all loving."

one year

Today is our one year anniversary! In faith, Mitch asked me if I would begin a courtship with him on April 2, 2008.. and here we are! Still together and happy and, Lord willing, we will stay this way. I am so grateful for my relationship with Mitch, it's hard to communicate it in words, but I'm gonna try.
I'm not saying it's been perfect and fairy tale-ish (although sometimes it feels that way) but it has been rewarding and a huge huge blessing. Yes, we've had arguments and disagreements, and yes, we sometimes get irritated with each other, but God is faithful to redeem those times to show us something about Him and to show us where we can strengthen our relationship. Through the conflicts we've learned how to primarily, honor God and how to work things out and better communicate. There have been some tough decisions, but Mitch has led me through those times, and I've had to support him and not voice my opinion on where I disagree. Yes, I can make suggestions, but once said, I don't need to keep stating them to prove my point. God has been showing me how to follow and support Mitch, and He's provided grace for both of us through this learning process.

Mitch is sensitive to my needs but doesn't allow me to sin by being subjective. He gently takes care of me while turning my emotions to the objective by pointing me to God. Mitch shows me that he cares for me through his words and his actions, which proves that what he is saying is true. I know that Mitch would sacrifice all things and do anything for me. I'm so grateful for him! He writes me letters, brings me flowers (sometimes they are homemade), and he even bought gatorade for me when I was sick. He plans meaningful dates where we have fun and get to spend time together. He thinks of the little things that mean the most to me and makes those things a priority. I see him reading his Bible and I know that he is seeking the Lord's will for our relationship. He has spent a great deal of time getting to know my family and forming a relationship with my dad. And there are many, many, many, many other things I could say, but I think you get the idea ;)


I am so thankful to the Lord that He has granted us a wonderful year of courting and I pray He will continue to bless our relationship in whatever comes.

evangelism

We've been discussing evangelism at caregroup recently, and just started going through "The Gospel and Personal Evanglism" by Mark Dever. This Sunday at cov life Jim Donohue gave a great message called "Jesus Stopped." Listen to it here. It was a really good message.

I am so busy with school right now that I don't have time to write more, but I recommend listening to the message if you can.