It all started with my last blog. Go ahead, scroll down, take a second to remember. I quoted a very meaningful verse from Romans. Well just after I wrote that blog, we studied the book of Romans in my bible class. And wow, I got a whole new look at that verse. Well, not a WHOLE new meaning.. just a deeper meaning I suppose. The verse says: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so but we also rejoice in our sufferings, for we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. So I always took it to basically mean that we have hope in our Lord.. we're gonna go through some tough times.. but in the end He's never gonna let us down. Well hearing Mike Cope talk about it gave me some more insight. When Paul was writing this, He was writing to a church he'd never even met before. He was writing to them because they were going through so many hardships-- people were being imprisoned and tortured for their faith.. something I cant even comprehend. He followed up with talking about Romans 8:18- I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.I guess I'd always skimmed over this verse (I know, I'm awful.. I've definitely realized how INCREDIBLE that passage is) But the church in Rome was going through such awful things, things we can't even imagine, and Paul was writing this as encouragement.. the sufferings they were going through were so much greater than my pretty stinky day I had earlier. Were do I get off comparing a bad day to the suffering and persecution Paul was writing about?
Oh but that was just the start. I'm telling ya, I really think God has been putting all of these things in my path lately to teach me a lesson. A lesson on selfishness. The reason I compared my sufferings to that in Romans was because I've got such a big head that of course I just saw it from my perspective. But the story continues.
Invisible Children came to ACU. Wow, can I just say that that is SUCH an amazing program and one I definitely want to hear more about. Invisible Children started with a group of students who raised money and went to Uganda to help with the trafficking wars going on there. Oh my goodness.. what a moving night! They showed a video of the people in Uganda. They have so little, and I just felt so guilty watching it. I was sitting there in my buckle jeans and vera bradley bag and sonic cup in hand.. and they were being forced to live in villages of thousands of tiny huts.. it brought tears to my eyes. I'm so privileged and I take it all for granted. And I just wanna walk up to God and ask him: How come I was born into such a great family and country when children like Lillian were born into that? I do not understand it. But that sad thing is, this isn't the first time I've questioned this.. I've been to Honduras for the two previous summers.. and each time I leave feeling the same way. I feel so blessed by what I have, but I realize that those material possessions are meaningless. But it never sticks. And I dont know why.
But maybe it's because all of our material possessions are just as bad? Hear me out.. People like the one's I've witnessed in Honduras are SO truly happy with so little. I've seen children FULL of joy from playing with just old pieces of wood. And yet, we have SO much.. iphones, macbooks, and designer clothes.. but we're still so unhappy. I definitely think there's a lesson to be learned there..
And continuing on that note.. I'm in environmental science and lately we've been talking about material stuff and how it effects the world around us. We had to take an ecological/carbon footprint quiz online.. now let me defend myself a little bit.. I was sure exactly what I was doing (there were a lot of big words involved..) Well according to my quiz, if everyone on earth lived my lifestyle.. we would need 9.18 earths. Woah. Too bad we only have ONE! Now I'm not writing this to say drop everything and go hug a tree... But I am saying that I will definitely be doing a little bit of soul searching on this topic.. and maybe we all should.
One last thing (Remember, I warned you this was gonna be long..) But I cant take credit for this.. All of the credit goes to Becca Clay. She wrote a note the other day about how our silly little THINGS get in the way of so much- especially our relationship with God. Go read it. Seriously.. heres the link for it. GO READ IT. Woah. That girl is good. I can definitely say I'm guilty of this. I dont know about you, but I have been really distracted in my relationship with God lately. I dont know that technology is the sole reason for that.. but I know it's a huge part of it. So i'll definitely be taking becca's advice and just unplug for a while.
Another thing I'm really struggling with lately? spending money. Gosh I just bought a vera bradley bag online because it was "on sale." And I spend almost $200 on my roomate's birthday gift. And that's just this week. But that's coming to an end. No more careless spending. Not when these things are only temporary.. Matthew 6:19-21.
I definitely think I'll be looking at my life a little bit differently. Hope you do, too.
