in him is the fullness of all things

God's ways are so marvelous and mysterious...try as we might, we just cannot figure him out. I know that I go through (embarrassingly many) seasons where I feel like I've figured him out and then God totally shatters whatever limitations that I placed on him. I love it when he does that.  So often I find myself believing the lie that God can only speak to me when I have been "really spiritual", whatever that even means. Well I was not feeling super spiritual when I returned from Chicago. I was so wrapped up in seeing my friends and family that I allowed it to pull my attention away from the Father. I found myself in this really weird place where, even though I was surrounded by earthly fellowship with his body, I was not fellowshipping with him directly. Does that make sense? Each day that passed without me praying or spending time in the word really took it's toll on me. I was asking God to zap me with some spiritual motivation and was frustrated when that w...

So I'm sitting here, trying to study infectious diseases, and my mind keeps on drifting to marriage. Successful marriages. Failed marriages. Marriage between Jesus and his bride. Marriage between me and ______(insert hunky, loving, man of God) If anyone knows me, they know that I don't try to make it any secret that I am excited to be married to the man that God has planned for me. The idea of picking one person to do life with as long as I walk this earth is so exciting. But it's also scary. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have the (small)  fear of having a failed marriage. I mean, just looking at the statistics and the prevalence of divorce, it's hard not to be a little scared...no one goes into marriage (hopefully) expecting  to get divorced...and yet more than 50% of marriages end that way.  I wonder if it is because people have unrealistic ideas of what marriage is going to be like, or the purpose for which God intended it. I think that apart ...

love love love love love.

First of all, I thought that this was adorable: HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK? Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck. - Rick, age 10 Valentine's Day used to be my favorite holiday, not because of how romantic it was or because I had a special someone to share it with. No, Valentine's Day was my favorite holiday because in elementary school it was a day that meant I could enjoy copious amounts of candy, courtesy of my classmates.(You might wonder, what about Halloween? Well that was a holiday that we did not celebrate in our family and therefore I never got to reap the "benefits" of trick-or-treating.)You remember, everyone in the class bought those bulk cheesy one-line Valentine's cards for the entire class and attached some kind of sweet heart-shaped chocolate or something. My 2nd grade Valentine's day was particularly memorable because I had 40(yes, 40) kids in my class so that meant 40 different Valentine's! Anyways,...

So you may or may not have already noticed this but I seem to have ADD when it comes to the layout for my page seeing as it changes about once a week...but who says things have to stay the same, right? Anyways, tonight I was feeling nostalgic and was going through some of my favorite songs from when I was younger. And I came across this song that spoke so strongly to me and I was so refreshed to find that even now, the Lord is still reminding me of the special one that he has in store for me. Someday By: Larue I don't know if you're near or far away But I know that I'm thinking of you today I don't know if I even know your name But I know that I'm praying for you just the same Someday we'll fall in love You'll be mine and I will be yours Our hearts will be one And our love will ever endure Then I'll need you, and I'll want you And I'll find you someday Then I'll love you, then I'll hold you And I'll be with you always Our love will be...

Hello Everyone:) Do you ever have one of those days where you just want to sit next to a window with the view of campus on a sunny day and just reflect on all that the Lord has done for you? Well that should be everyday but alas, today is one of the only sunny days that we will have for a while so here I sit, soaking it in. Today was an early day for me: getting up at 6 am, leaving the house at 7 am, getting to morning devo at 7:15 and being thouroughly blessed through worship, getting in the Word, finally followed by a sweet time of prayer with dear friends. Now if that isn't a way to start out a morning, then I dont know what is! The Lord has been whispering so many nuggets of wisdom and truth into my heart today. The most pressing being that I need to have my joy rooted in Christ alone. Not only in His blessings, for there will come dry seasons when His blessings don't look the way I think that they should, and I need to be joyful even those times. When my joy is solely root...

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" -1 Corinthians 2:9 Such a good word, right? For the past few months, I have been suffering from a little thing that I like to call "wedding fever". Symptoms include reading wedding magazines, searching for the perfect wedding gown, browsing engagement rings, spending too much time on TheKnot.com, and daydreaming about Mr. Right. YIKES. Well I think that just being in college and seeing more and more people begin to get engaged or married has made me wonder if God has forgotten about me. In my heart I know that He hasn't but isn't it sad how often we allow ourselves to become so envious of certain things that God is doing in other peoples lives that we forget what He's doing in ours? God has really been showing me that I need to enjoy my singleness. This is such a sweet time where it's just me and God and my affection and devotion isn't being sp...