Hey guys! I just wanted to update anyone interested in my spiritual growth after Leadership Project. I faced a hard start to school and keeping up with reading through Philippians after the summer since we didn't finish the book while in Myrtle. I have finally finished studying Philippians and I really enjoyed reading through it deeply and breaking it down. It was the first time that I really broke down an entire book of the Bible word for word. I've been reading through 1 Corinthians without using the OIA study method that we learned this summer. But I recently came across a verse 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving us for an eternal glory. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal." It was a really great verse and I have it posted in the shower so I can be reminded of it daily.
This past weekend I went on a trip to Table Rock to go "Glamping" with Campus Outreach (the same ministry that I did Leadership Project with) and it was really great to see a lot of the girls I spent my entire summer with. A lot of them I had seen once or twice because they were all very supportive in coming to my soccer games but it was really great to have Christ-centered conversations and live in tents and go hiking. I truly loved it, even through the almost tears of cold pain at 3am. One thing that really hit me was that sometimes God has to prune us and take away things we love out of our lives. This can be people or tangible objects or activities. Isaiah 43:2-3 just explains that Christ is right there with us through that pain of losing those things and in the end it is all for our good. It was just awesome to have that affirmation that we're not alone through anything but God knows how hard it is for us to lose the things we love the most.
I am still growing in my relationship and he is pushing me right along to be closer with him. I try to spend as much time as I can in his word or journal daily if I can. Today I came across Romans 8:26 which says: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Truth. I can tell you that half the time I don't even know what to pray for. Sometimes I just sit there in silence and feel the pain and hope that God feels it too. Which comes back to Isaiah 43:2-3 because he does feel that pain. And so I mumble at my words or lose thought and sometimes I pray for the wrong things. It's prayer yes, but is it holy? Not always. So I am very thankful that I came across all of these verses and I can feel God speaking to me. Lately I really haven't known exactly what to pray for because I don't know what to ask for or what God thinks is best. I just thank God now for opening my eyes to these things and I also thank him for all of the encouragement from my supporters from this summer along with those that experienced every step right there with me at LP.
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