God never fails to show his love to us. It doesn't matter what we do, if we're seeking him or not; he constantly shows himself to us and asks to be a part of our lives.
Brace yourself, because this post is going to be quite long, but hopefully it will make quite an impact as well.
I've been struggling lately to praise God for all things in my everyday life. It's something you have to try to do. You have to make an effort and discipline yourself to dwell on him ceaselessly. I knew that I had been kind of failing at that lately, so I was trying harder and harder, but I kept being distracted by silly things.
On top of being distracted, I kept complaining. I didn't like the position I was in. I knew that complaining doesn't do good; it's probably one of the worst things I could do, but I continued to do so.
So, after way too long, I was finally able to go visit my wonderful friends at Oral Roberts University. It had been TOO long!
The roadwork and construction caused a delay in my travels, and I was already stressing to just get there already! But, like I said, God never fails to meet us and show his love to us. So, this car gets in front of me, and guess what the license plate says? Blessed. It really hit me like, "Wow, God, I can complain all that I want, but you really have blessed me." He's given me so much. Great friends, somewhere to get an education, his love, a fantastic family, and so on. Sometimes it's easier to think on the stress in your life though, and my mind continued to drift towards the things that weren't going the way I wanted them to in my life.
I kept driving and about thirty minutes later, guess what happened? Yup. Another license plate. The plate of the car in front of me said 'joy'. Wow. You got me again God. He reminded me that I cannot gain joy from thinking on things that disappoint me, but only from listening and obeying him.
I finally arrived at the wonderful world of ORU and met my lovely friend Cheyenne. She's pretty much my crazy other half. We had a weekend of Pinterest crafting planned, so of course we had to visit a few stores.
Also, when I first arrived, they always check cars at a gate for permits and those without a permit are not allowed into the lot. I did not have a permit, however I was never stopped from going into the lot near her dorm. I got 'princess parking'. It was literally the closest spot to Cheyenne's dorm. The rest of the lot was practically full. Anyways...
First off we went to a thrift store. I didn't find anything, but she found two glass jars, two picture frames, and a cute vest. The lady on the register asked her if the jars were $.99, because most of their glass was. She said no, that it wasn't, but she still wanted it. The jars alone were going to be more than $10 total, plus a $9 vest, and the frames equaling around $30. Her total came out to about $7. What?? The cashier rang up her items for super cheap and told us to have a good day.
Then we went to Hobby Lobby, where she bought spray paint and one of those wonderful, square, cinnamon suckers for me. Cause she's nice like that. :D The total should have been around $6, but came out cheaper. Again.
Then we picked up our friend Jacob and went to Sonic. Cheyenne ordered a slushee, and when she asked the carhop if her card went through he said no, and that he would run it inside. Then he told her, never mind, just to enjoy the drink. What!
It was amazing to see how God blessed Cheyenne in such random ways, even just on our first day together. God gave us great favor! He loves to bless his children!
So then the next day came along, and she had to work. I had quite a few hours to spend with some other friends. I got to talk with Jay-Cee, a wonderful friend and great man of God. We talked about how things were going, and he felt that God wanted us to go pray together. He said he could feel the weight on me, and that God wanted to lift that from me. So we went outside and prayed, and the weight was gone.
One of the things that was so different for me as I changed schools was the change in community atmosphere. I felt like ORU was so on fire and each of the people had some way to invest in one another. Spiritual discussion was constant. My new school didn't seem to have that at all... I missed it. I felt deprived. God gave me a new perspective through Jay-Cee though. I'm supposed to bring that atmosphere to SNU! Why should I groan and complain about issues when I can do something about it?
I also learned that I needed to connect with some good Christian people my age. I had so many people pouring into me at ORU, and now I felt empty. I realized that I can't keep giving if I'm empty myself! It drains you!
Then my friend Brad came to hang out with me. We talked some, and he decided that we should make a positive list. Pros of where I'm at right now. We made a list and it just confirmed my new desire to bring a new fire to the people around me. It was so encouraging and uplifting to have wonderful friends like these!
I got to spend more time with Cheyenne and Samuel, another amazing friend, at a coffee shop. My weekend was fantastic.
I came away with so many new outlooks. It was so exciting to see how God wants to bless each of us daily! He wants to be such a large part of our lives! And if you're going through a hard time, find truth in this: God doesn't want you to live an easy peesy life. There is no growth if you're comfortable where you're at! Take life's challenges with him at your side and you are guaranteed to be victorious. He reminds us to take heart, because he has already overcome the world.
Thanks for staying with me throughout this super long post! I was just so excited to tell you all about what God has shared with me. Keep your chin up and make the most out of any situation that life throws at you. Chances are God is using it to make you stronger and make his name known.
:) Laura.
