Complacency

I love running!  I used to hate it.

I started playing soccer young, by the time I was a freshman in high school I was on a select team, spending countless hours a week practicing my skills.  I was determined to become good enough to make a college team. As I played more and more, I was getting better. I wasn't the best, but my determination made me a force to be reckoned with.  Then my sophomore year happened; I rolled my ankle in a small hole and ripped several ligaments. And that was the end.

Why am I telling you this? Well, to provide a little background on why I love running. My recovery took 5 years before I could even run again.  5 years of pain, physical therapy, chiropractors, countless doctors, and complete frustration.  It took a year on the elliptical machine and then 6 months of run/walking.  Finally, September 26th, 2010 I ran a half marathon! 13.1 miles.


Unfortunately, lately I've been very complacent in my running.  Always putting it off "until tomorrow."  It's hard work.  The first month and a half are killer!! No fun. Running is kinda like my walk with God.  Well a lot like it.

My faith is complacent. I go strong for months and months! I conquer something difficult that has taken me months to years to deal with.  Then I slowly quit trying.  It's not that I don't want to be passionate...I just kinda forget.  I get complacent. I assume I'm doing well, why should I fight so hard to find intimacy with God?  Why run when I can walk?

Paul warns us of this complacency in his letter to the Corinthians:

^{1 Corinthians 13 :5 5} Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. (NLT)

Jesus, Himself, reveals that complacency is an attitude He cannot stand!

Revelation 3:15-16 ¹⁵ “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!" v. 19 "I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference."(NLT)

So now that I've examined myself and see this complacent faith-this faith Christ cannot stand within me-what do I do?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ²⁴ Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! ²⁵ All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ²⁷ I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. (NLT)

Run hard.  It's not easy. Trust me, I'm struggling right now.  But I want to run to win! God is so full of grace, and it is His grace that lets me get back up.  Search God's heart and know Him.  Desire Him.  Pray and fight for a passionate faith.

2 Corinthians 1: 21-22  "²¹ It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, ²²and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us." (NLT)

New Blog!

Hey hey!!

So if you're interested.... you should check this blog! It's about Australia and stuff. :)

Stolen

So normally I write my own words and thoughts...but I read this from my good friend Laura Nagel's Facebook page.  And decided it was worth reposting.

To be honest...
...this is something I'm struggling with.  It's hard to be fully satisfied in God. But it's so worth it. Every relationship is given substance when God is the center. Relationships are not whole unless it is God keeping you together.

 “Everyone longs to give themselves to someone, to have a deep soul relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly and exclusively!

But God to the Christian says, No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled, and content with me alone. Not until you give yourself totally and unreservedly to me and experience an intensely personal and unique relationship with me alone. I love you, My child, and until you discover that only in Me can your complete satisfaction be found, you will not be capable of the perfect human love that I have planned for you. You will never be totally happily united with another until you are united with me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusive of any desires or longings.

I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow me to give you the most thrilling plan existing - one you cannot begin to imagine. I want you to have the best. Please allow me to bring this to you. You just keep watching me, expecting the greatest things. Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am. Keep listening and learning the things I tell you. Just wait, that’s all! Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry. Don’t look around at the love others have gotten or the things I have given them. Don’t even look at the things you think you want. Just keep looking off and away, up to me, or you will miss what I want to show you!

And then, when you are ready, I will surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any you would dream of! You see, until you are ready, and until the one I have for you is ready (and I am working even at this moment to have both of you ready at the same time), until you are both satisfied exclusively with me and the life I have prepared for you, you wont be able to experience the pure beautiful love that exemplifies your relationship with me - this is Perfect Love!

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love. I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with me. I want you to be able to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection and pure love that I offer you in myself. (It is possible!) Know that I love you utterly. I am God, believe me, trust me, wait on me…and be satisfied!”

Time to trust.

Perfection

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Perfection

It's something we all strive for.  Especially us women.  We want perfect bodies, perfect personalities, perfect amount of sexiness and innocence.  We hack at our bodies controlling strictly what we eat, how much we exercise, what products we use in our hair, perfecting our makeup, fixing our wardrobe.  Countless hours are spent in front of our mirrors critiquing, criticizing, tearing apart, and hating what we see.

Guys do the same thing.  Our culture is obsessed with "beauty".  A very specific beauty.  One only the young can attain.  One only those who sacrifice painfully can achieve (did you know there is now a size 00?).  A beauty superficial and broken.  And we all know it...yet we still try to reach it regardless!

Media sells us these "perfect women" who aren't even perfect!! It makes me angry.  Furious.  Women are told that we should be unsatisfied with ourselves until we can reach something that is unattainable.  That we won't be accepted until perfection is reached.  How can we expect depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem to be conquered if our society won't allow it?

How do we counter culture?

By picking something (Someone) who's above the power of culture.  Jesus.  Allowing ourselves to look through His eyes will enable us to love ourselves.  Refusing a broken society with broken views, and embracing the only True Perfection.
Song of Solomons 4:9 "⁷ You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way."

**Inspiration for this blog came from my Visual Rhetoric class at Western.  We watched this video (note there are some pretty graphic images). I encourage you to check it out!! Then after, punch society in the face.** 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47qkz0IT7IM 

4 Months

4 months since I've written anything on this blog.  Even longer since I've written something worth reading.

But guess what!! Getting ready to start a new blog. About my (hopeful) trip to Australia and everything I learn there. So exciting!! But this quarter in school is owning me...and alas, my blogging has suffered. If you still happen to follow me and you're reading this, kudos to you.  I would have stopped by now. Whoops.

Be on the lookout for a blog (re)starting in April 2011! Thanks for always being awesome!

Failure...

So I had a 30 day challenge....and while I completed the 30 days worth of devos, I stopped posting them up here.  .....I apologize!!! I have a billion excuses (and a lot are pretty valid) but it's whatever.

Moral of the story.

I need to stick to blogging once a week and not every day! Because that way I don't get 'blogger burn out'.

Love you all! Sorry I've been so absent! Got some good blogs forming in my head, so be on the lookout!

Thirteen & Fourteen

Sorry Sorry Sorry!!!! The past four days have been crazy!  Waking up early, babysitting, doing church stuff, going to work, hanging with the fam. So my bad for not posting. But here they are!!

Hope your devos are going fantastic!

Day 13

Isaiah 57:1-2 1 Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time.  But no one seems to care or wonder why.  No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from evil to come. 2 For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die. (NLT)

While this passage doesn't explain everything, it does shed some light on perhaps why people who are good and love God pass away before "their time".  Or at least the time we think they should pass.  This passage personally gives me peace.

Day 14

Isaiah 58:11 "The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.  You will be a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.  
Isaiah 58:14 Then the Lord will be your delight I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.  I, the Lord, have spoken!" (NLT)

The Lord is everything I need.  Not only does He guide me and provide me with the strength I need to pursue His plan, he also is everything I need to be satisfied.  He not only leads, but fulfills everything I need.  He is my joy! He is my desire.