Oh How He Loves Us

"Oh God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands." (Psalm 63:1-4, ESV)

Have you ever been running on a really hot dry day and not carried your water with you? Your throat and mouth become so dry and your strength begins to drain as dehydration sets in; all you can think about is getting to water before you pass out. 

I rediscovered this underlined passage in my Bible last night, and it really hit me in the face.  It's just so beautiful to me, and a powerful wake up call. 

Think about it, this passage is basically telling us as Christians we need to seek God as if we are thirsting to death.  He is our water; He is our strength.  We need to constantly be striving for God.  We must continuously work to become closer and closer to Him.

In this passage, David writes that God's love is greater than life.  How completely and breathtakingly beautiful is that?  God's love is greater than the mountains; than the sunset on the beach; it's greater than this whole earth. It's greater than life.  I don't know about you, but that just makes me smile.  

God's love is greater than life, and we have His love.  He loves us!

God's love is kinda like that glass of ice cold water you finally get to on the hot day after running.  It pierces your dry throat and revives the strength you didn't have before.  When you are weak and straining to remain standing, God's love saves.

What really hit me in the face about this passage was that I really haven't been working hard to become closer to God.  I kinda put God on the back burner last semester, and it showed.  I was miserable.  (Now, not to say you can't go through hard times as a Christian and while seeking God. But Philippians 4:11-13, Paul tells that in whatever situation we face, no matter despondency or prosper, we can get through it with God.  We can find contentment in God; He is our strength.)

So yeah, I'm not perfect. Totes obvi. I constantly forget to put God first in every situation.  But I'm working on it.  I'm just so grateful for his unconditional love.

I hope that this passage makes you as happy as it made me.  :) 

A Whole New World

Day #2 of the blog challenge!! Victoria and I decided to blog every other day (so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) because it takes a lot of motivation to blog everyday and requires certain blondes to not fall asleep while they should be blogging. Yeah, I know. But I was so tired!

Visit Victoria's blog to see her entry on the prompt.

Today's topic is......... *drum role*...........

Do Something New and Blog About It

Yesterday I did something new! And exciting! I rode with some friends and went to a city outside of Atlanta where one of my friends volunteered and did some mission work over the summer.  

I was informed that this city is one of the most dangerous cities in Georgia.  But it filled with what seemed to be some of the most interesting and amazing people living lives that I'm sure would be filled with fascinating stories.  This city is the home of numerous refugees, making it filled with many cultures and many different languages. 

This experience was completely new for me.  I had never been to this city.  I also had never been around so many people from so many different countries and cultures at once before!  Being in this city was almost like being in a different country, and it was amazing!

While my friends and I were there we rode around while my friend who stayed there this past summer was our tour guide. We drove through many different apartment complexes, some 100% refugee occupied and others only partly occupied with refugee people. We then ate at this restaurant that had food from this country that I don't remember the name of and I tried some chicken something. Note: even if you order non-spicy, it's still spicy. But super good :)

After that we went to a farmers market filled with foods from all around the world, and the workers there were from many different countries.  I had been there before, but it was still fun and exciting.

From the farmers market we went to what was the best part of the day: one of the apartment complexes that my friend worked in this past summer.  We visited one of the families she taught English to, and we all got to meet the children that she knew.  They were so precious! I honestly wished I could have stayed there for much longer.

From this new experience I learned that there is a whole mission field right here in Georgia.  I mean, I already knew this, but I had never experienced it to this extreme.  I got to see a whole different world in my own state! And I got to meet some amazing and adorable and spectacular people.

Soooo I really encourage you to do something new. Explore your home town.  Meet knew people.  Seriously, there is a whole new world just around the corner! (Or down the interstate.  However you wanna look at it.) 

Of course if you aren't up to something massively drastic, try a new cooking recipe, go work at your local soup kitchen, clean your room, random dance...

Anyway, my point is, do something that you wouldn't normally do. (But don't do anything stupid or dangerous. Use your brains people :P) It's nice to get out of your regular routine every once in a while and see and experience something new... :)