free to choose

Wow, it's Thursday night. This week I have been completely distracted by papers, interviews, work and being a little under the weather, and it has really made me think about our freedom of choice. We have the freedom to make our own decisions, and often we make them out of selfish wants and desires rather than for the "right" reasons. When we choose to be distracted by the real world and caught up in worldly things, we are both ignoring God and basicallly pushing Him away. The less time we spend with God, the more we distance ourselves from Him and fail to grow in our relationship and in our faith. Also, when we focus on ourselves and the world, we are telling God that we can be self-sufficient, which is impossible! God is the only one who can satisfy us, and we have to depend on Him because if we depend on ourselves, it will just create confusion and ultimately, disaster. Psalm 37:4 says to delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Some people might interpret this verse literally, and therefore believe that the Lord will give you whatever you want if you ask Him for it. Ask and you shall receive. . . But, I interpret it differently, and the Lord has a deeper meaning to those words. If we choose to follow the Lord, to submit to Him, to find complete satisfaction in Him, then He will give us our heart's desires-- but our desires will actually be His that He instills in us. If we are following the Lord and trusting in Him, we are making a good choice, and He will change our desires to fit His. He will not always give us what we want, because then He wouldn't be a sovereign, powerful God. He sometimes makes us suffer, but He blesses us everyday, so we should look for it and praise Him for it! You have the freedom to choose a relationship with Him, and when you do or if you have, He is always waiting for you with a listening ear and a loving heart. It is so important to come to the Lord when you need help making a decision, because He has the plan for your life. You cannot make it yourself because your world will start falling apart. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of a man plans His way, but the Lord establishes his steps." So, I encourage you to come to the Lord before you make choices because even though you have the freedom to decide yourself, you also have the freedom to come to Him, and He wants you to do that. Choose to pray; choose to listen; choose to obey.

free to breathe

This weekend was one of the best in a long time. Friday night consisted of babysitting the three sweetest, cutest girls in the world, Yogurt Mountain, a movie night and a sleepover in our room. Saturday was more movie watching, dinner downtown with friends, Mad Gab and Catchphrase and another movie. Oh and 15 minute weather updates from Liz or from weather.com's radar maps. It's ok-- despite the sirens, there were no tornados, and the five of us did not end up having to all try and fit in our 5 by 5 bathroom in order to stay safe. That would have been a memorable experience. Today was the best of all. I started off the day going to Brook Hills with the group and listening to another one of David Platt's amazing sermons. Today's sermon was on Psalm 10, and David spoke a lot about having the right motives for adoption and foster parenting, and about how we are a wicked and weak people. One of the things he said that impacted me the most was that we must recognize that we are not rescuers, but that we are the rescued. Christ is the rescuer! Thinking about this makes me think of the self-sufficiency as well as the pride that often fills our hearts. I am definitely guilty of sometimes believing that I can be my own rescuer and the rescuer for others, while in fact no one can be that but Christ, and that is why we need Him! Why else would we? He is our Rescuer, our Savior! We all  need to be rescued, and He's the only One who can do it. Jesus wants us to come to Him to be rescued! I went to the Needtobreathe concert with some friends tonight, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Some of the lyrics really get to me, and one of the songs they sang connects to David Platt's sermon and needing to be rescued. Here are the lyrics to Lay 'Em Down:
Come down to the river
Come and let yourself in
Make good on a promise
To never hurt again
If you're lost and lonely
You're broken down
Bring all of your troubles, come lay 'em down
All you sinners
And the weak at heart
All you helpless
On the boulevards
Wherever you are now
Whatever evil you've found
Bring all of your troubles
And come lay 'em down
We're all tied to the same old failings
Finding shelter in things we know
We're all dirty like corrupted small towns
We'll bring our troubles
We'll bring our troubles, come lay 'em down
All you rich men
And the high above
All those with and without love
All you burdened, broken down
Bring all of your troubles, come lay 'em down

This is one of my favorite Needtobreathe songs, and I think it's encouraging us to lay our troubles down at the feet of Jesus and to allow Him to rescue us! When I heard it tonight, I thought back to David Platt's sermon from this morning and it made me really excited to be able to connect the two. I hope you are encouraged by it-- it's a great song. Remember that every breath we take is a gift from God, and don't take your freedom to breathe for granted. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6