Investing.

I have been learning about investing in others lives lately. It can be so easy and even tempting to just focus on yourself and your life and justify that in so many ways. But we are called to live life together and sometimes that means getting down into the muddy, dirty, sticky, dark, painful, complicated lives of others and loving them where they are. We can't wait for our lives to look pretty or others lives to look pretty to live life with them. Christ reached down into the hole we had dug for ourselves and loved us right there and then loved us more by lifting us out. We need to be doing that. We can't throw all of the attention on ourselves and we can't ignore the needs of others. We rejoice together. We suffer together. We live life together.

Christian Siblings.

I am so thankful for my Christian brothers and sisters. They are a constant support and encouragement to me. I had a job interview today and I received text messages and phone calls all day offering prayers and love. I honestly do not know how people that are not Christians and do not have this support make it. It is amazing to have people to live life together with, people who believe the same things as you and know you and go through every stage of your life together with you. So, thank you guys out of the deepest part of my heart for the prayers, support, and encouragement!

Moments With You.

I spent the evening at the pool, being eaten alive with mosquitoes and listening to the pool water splash. Just me and God. Just talking and hanging out together. These moments are my favorites because I feel so close to Him. I talk and listen. He talks and listens. He is a much better listener than I am and much wiser in what He says. I leave feeling the kind of contentment and satisfaction in Him I think Paul talks about. There is nothing like it.

Watching Prayers Get Answered.

So many are getting answered lately. 1. I might be starting school in the Spring doing Liberty Online! 2. I have a job interview Monday for the job I wanted most. 3. I am getting a chance to really live life with my brother and his wife and learn more about them. 4. Ia m getting a chance to pour into Korean Pre-teen girls through teaching Sunday school. 5. I am absorbing the Bible like crazy and learning a TON. Just a little update.

The Surpassing Knowledge of Knowing Christ my Savior.

I have much to be thankful for such as friends, family, being provided for, but nothing compares to having Christ as my Savior. I have passed from death to life! I am saved! I have purpose! God is good and His love endures forever!

Word.

I was reading the book of John today on the way home and it was like reading it for the very first time. My problems are big, but my God, He is so much bigger.

Thankful.

Today was just about the best Thanksgiving even though it is not Thanksgiving yet. I spent the weekend at my parents with my brother and Jackie. It wasn't planned, but it turned out to be a very simple, very peaceful day with the family.

Mornings of Childlike Worship.

Playing my guitar by the pool is becoming one of my favorite ways to worship. It is just me clumsily strumming my beat up guitar and squeaking out words to my God. Hopefully there is enough space between here and there that my voice sounds a little better by the time it gets there.

Friendship.

Today was just so good. I thought I was going to be so lonely here and I have been at times. But God, who is so infinitely good, has provided the most amazing friends for me here as well. Yujin is my best new friend. She lives in the same apartment complex as I do and so I always have a Christian sister near. We went to Savannah today with her husband to see the Veteran's Day parade, which was Yujin's first parade. It was cold, but in the frosty, rosy cheeks, crisp kind of cool that only fall as and even though our fingers got numb and we kept dropping our phones it was a wonderful, wonderful day.

Being Tested Through Fire.

I heard a quote today by a friend of a friend. She said "Fire isn't torture because you're not trash." And I was like "Wow." We tend to fear being tested in the flames because it is like we think God is going to let us burn up. Do we really trust Him so little? He doesn't put us through the fire to torture us, He puts us through it to purify us. She is right. We won't burn up in the furnace of His love because we aren't garbage. We are precious metals that need refinement. Don't hate the furnace and don't fight it. Let it purify you.