Friends

One of the best things in life, aside from God and family, is friends. Not fair-weather friends, I mean real, will always be there for you friends. They are such a blessing, I have no idea what I would do without them. They are people I can laugh with (or at on occasion), vent to, cry with, anything, and they can have the same in return. I don't have many close friends, but those I do have I am truly grateful for, I love them all so much.

Lord, thank You for these amazing people in my life, I am undeserving of them. I am completely undeserving of Your blessings, yet You give them abundantly.

Verses

The past couple of weeks have been a stretch for me. I won't go into detail, but I will say God has been really stretching me. I was thinking about all of this today when I remembered something. Every time I enter a period like this in my life there are certain Bible verses that seem to pop up, but one in particular.

I remember a couple of years ago when I was living in Fresno, a stretching time as well. Tragedy struck a family I was very close to, whom I consider my family. I remember receiving the phone call about it and I remember the emotions I felt, sadness, anger, bitterness, depression. My mom was visiting at the time and had brought the little Bible study booklet she was going through. That day's topic was very much relevant to the situation at hand, and the Bible verse was the one that had popped up during other crises before. It was this:

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls-
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will Joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer's feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.

Through a conversation I was having with a friend just a couple of days ago I was reminded of this verse, it is my life verse and yet I have not given it much thought over the past couple of weeks. Also, our conversation made me remember a couple of others that have been helpful.

Jeremiah 33:3
"Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know."

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

It has been a very trying and stretching couple of weeks, but a great growing period. I am very grateful for these times, even if not at the time, because they really do make me stop and reevaluate what I am doing and show me what to do to become closer to God.

Giving it up to God

It has been amazing watching God work this summer, both in the lives of campers and staff, as well as in my own life. I have been presented with two amazing opportunities and must make a choice, one, two, or neither. As a result, I have been stressed out for the better part of a week. Then this morning I sat down to do my Bible study. I have been going through Isaiah and intended to continue that today. I opened my Bible and started turning the pages in chunks to reach my desired spot. On the second turn of pages the Bible opened to Proverbs. There was a piece of paper in it, a piece I put in Lord knows when, so I looked at it. All the paper said was "Proverbs 3:5-6" so what did I do? I read Proverbs 3:5-6. It was amazing, just what I needed to read. I felt like God was telling me "this is what you need to be doing, Margaret. You need to give up everything to Me, not just some. You've only been meeting Me half way, now give it all up." Well, I didn't end up reading Isaiah this morning, but I am no longer stressing about the major decisions in my life. They are God's now and He will show me where to go.

God's Work

It is amazing how God works. A couple of months ago it seemed like everything was going wrong, I didn't know what to do, I had lost control of my life and everything in it. I prayed and I finally gave everything up to God. I told Him that he has my life and He is in control. Soon after that things got better. I now feel like I have so much to live for, and what's best is, I feel like God is really leading me. I feel like He has shown me something and just said "this is what I have for you, Margaret. This is why you're here, this is where I want you". It was the most amazing experience of my life and I am totally stoked about it, and kinda scared.

Summer

It's pretty interesting, I think, how people get so excited about summer, yet stressed at the same time. I am absolutely thrilled about summer starting, getting to meet the new staff members and being in only one part of camp instead of all of it. At the same time, I'm stressed out. I have no idea who is going to be working under me, how we'll get along, and what is going to happen through the summer, plus all the work needing to be done to get ready for summer. If I had to choose a season I preferred, it wouldn't be summer, instead it would be either spring or fall. But if I had to choose a season of camp I prefer, it would be summer. As hectic as it can get, and with all the pranks and such campers like to play, I love it. Why? Because each and every week hundreds of people come to Christ. All right, yes, people come to Christ throughout the entire year, but there's something in seeing so many stand at once. I love Hume because it makes a difference. No matter where you work here, whether in Program, SS, Food Service, Admin, or any others, you still have a part in what happens each and every week when the speakers who come up challenge those kids. This is what makes my job worthwhile.

Seasons of Life

Seasons come and go, flowers blooming, trees fading. But what of our seasons, the seasons of our lives? As the seasons of the year go by we take appropriate measures to face them, the heat of summer, the cold of winter, or the rains of fall and spring. So how do we prepare for our own seasons? New chapters are being written in our lives often, whether it's moving to a new town or starting a new job, or meeting new people, or saying goodbye to a loved one, sometimes forever. How do we deal with the seasons of our lives? I find it easiest to sit and pray, to leave it to God. He knows what's coming, He is never surprised. Ask God for His guidance and help and you can face every season of your life, though it may not be easy, but you will always have Him by your side, guiding you through.

Just a thought.

Trusting God

Yesterday I would have given anything to just be able to crawl into a hole and die. I had received some bad news and was very depressed over it. I was praying last night and was reminded of my life verse, Habakkuk 3:17-19 (which I'll not put here as it is so long), and I was reminded that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, I can call on the Lord and He will be there for me. I'm still not particularly thrilled about everything that happened yesterday, but I feel so much better knowing that God will help me through it, I just need to trust in Him.