Leave Me There

During my time in college, I studied biology, focusing in botany. Although I do not currently do anything in that field, I still love it. (My favorite class was taxonomy, so don't go hiking with me if you don't want to hear a bunch of Latin names roll out of my mouth that sound like spells from Harry Potter.) Plants have a subtly beautiful way of revealing God's glory. Each little leaf goes through a complex process in order to grow. That whole process, every chloroplast, every strand of DNA that is duplicated is overseen and sustained by God. That in itself has blown my mind. Imagine also, that there are millions and millions of species of plants on the planet. Most of which are probably only known to the Lord, and exist only for the sole purpose of glorifying Him. In all my studies of botany, both technical and practical, there were some things that the Lord used to show me about what it means to be a Christian. 1. Pruning HURTS. Real bad. Pruning is often a necessi...

I'm not quite sure how to begin this blog post without simply saying the world needs Jesus. This tragedy that has struck France grieves the whole world. I eagerly look forward to the day that Christ comes back and wipes away every tear, and makes all things new. But this terrible time of suffering should not surprise us. Ever since sin entered the world, there has been suffering. And although I know that doesn't ease the hurt of the victims, we must acknowledge that the world will indeed be falling apart until the beginning of eternity. It seems harsh to say, but at least for myself, it is encouraging to know that all the suffering in the world is momentary in light of eternity. I pray that this is what any Christian holds on to, whether involved in the bombing or not. Last time I checked, there were 129 dead, 352 injured, and 99 at critical status. That's a steep number. Most of what I've heard regarding the situation is one of sympathy and fellowship. But it k...

Dear Self, For starters, you definetly aren't the person you thought you were going to be. You aren't wealthy and super intelligent; ordering around the people who pick on you now. But you're gentler. That hard exterior is going to have to go, and it will. The masks you paint on to keep people from hurting you? Sorry. People will still be sinful, and you'll still get hurt, so go ahead and get used to showing the tender side underneath. And guess what? People actually like it. You'll turn into a big crybaby in a couple years, but people like knowing that you care passionately about others. There's no joy in hurting alone, or having a frozen heart (by the way, Disney is still awesome). God will provide. He won't let you down. Yes you're still going to feel lonely. In fact, the hurt and heartbreak that plagues you now will be a drop in the bucket compared to things coming. But know that you survive high school and college.  You're 23 now, and the 20...

For the typical Christian woman, we've listened to every speech about modesty. And we're kind of sick of hearing about it. Mostly because the typical speech about modesty includes the following reasons; you're worth more than that, you can cause men to stumble and lust. Now, these are both  correct reasons. They are all wonderful, true reasons. None of them get at the root of the issue, though. No one is telling young women (or women in general) why it is Biblical. When we instruct women to be modest for outward appearances, all we're doing is giving them a rule that they feel like they can never live up to. We don't want to follow the messages of today's society saying that we need to dress and look like this cookie-cutter idea of a woman in order to be physically desirable. On the other hand, simply reminding women to "cover-up" doesn't help either. Either way it becomes objectification because modesty is more than just appearance, it'...

Some of you may be surprised that a female is speaking on this subject. But given the number of people in my life, both male and female that struggle with this sin, I feel the need to speak on it a bit (although as mentioned on my first post, I openly acknowledge that I am not wise, and probably do not have much insight to bring). This entry exists because people need to talk about it. There's an underlying fear or hesitation to talk about it. At this point, shutting your mouth will not help anyone. I know this is a sensitive subject, but here's the deal. There is a huge problem with porn, especially in the United States, amongst females as well as males. And it has to stop.  It has a huge affect on a person's spiritual life (if you are indeed a Christian), but we'll dive into that in a minute. It literally changes your brain; it is a drug. Your heart feels the affect, too. It can and will severely damage your relationships. On non-individual scale, it increases the dem...

Beginning a blog is a pretty big step for me. What rattles around in my head is usually off limits; it's only to be a dialogue between God and I. Being vulnerable is extremely difficult and definitely not enjoyable. It scares the fire out of me. However, lately there's been so many complex thoughts they just had to pour out somewhere. I am not expecting anyone to read this, it's pretty much therapy. So if you did take a gander to this little corner of the internet, thank you. My title comes from a book called "The Valley of Vision" (read it if you get the chance, my favorite is entitled "Sleep") and is called "Man A Nothing". I laughed when I originally read the title, thinking it was "Manna Nothing". Nope. To respect copyright, I won't post the whole thing. The last smidgy-bit reads like this: "Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart; Show me that none of these things     can heal a wou...