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...

One foot in and one foot back But it don't pay to live like that So I cut the cords and I jumped the track For never to return -The Avett Brothers This summer will be a pivotal one because I think it will officially mark the end of an old season and the beginning of a new one. Even though I have been living in Chicago for the last 7 months, I realized that I haven't really been here. I missed Oregon so intensely that it was hard for me to be fully invested here when all I really wanted to do was go back home. I think that I needed this transitionary period to adjust to moving to a completely different place where I literally knew no one. But the winds of change are blowing and I feel like my Captain is steering me in a new direction which is both exciting and scary. If anyone would have asked me even a month ago what my plans where after graduating from pharmacy school I would have told them that as soon as I swung my tassel from one side to the other, I wo...

So this morning I was listening to a teaching on identity and was totally wrecked by this passage in Revelation 2:17 that reads:   “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives  it. ” Here are some of the truths that the Lord ministered to my heart as I read this passage. 1) The Lord gives us a new name , a secret name.   This signifies intimacy. You only have special names for those with whom you are very close to and care deeply for. The fact that God will give  me a new name etched in stone,  that is unique and different than the name that he gives to his other kids speaks volumes of the uniqueness of my relationship with him. 2) The white stone signifies justification .  Apparently in the days that John wrote this passage, stones wer...