December 1st!

Many years ago, a friend gave me a calendar of God's promises. Basically, the author of the calendar bases each promise from God off of certain scriptures. I wanted to share Day 1 (for December 1st) with you. I thought it was very fitting for where I'm at in my life.

"May you grasp how wide and long and high and deep My love for you is; a love that surpasses knowledge...you cannot ask or imagine the things I am planning for you!"

Your Heavenly Father

(based on Ephesians 3:16-21

Father, I praise you because you have

a plan for me! Your plans are so far above

my own that I can't even imagine them!

Thank you for reminding me today that you love me!

In Jesus' Name, Amen

Another year older

"I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." Psalm 13:6

Well, I have been 22 now for almost 4 whole days! I like the sound of being 22, but I don't feel any older or any different for that matter. I think the older I get the more I realize how much I have to learn, so each birthday is a humbling experience. For this birthday, I requested that we keep it simple so I stayed in my pjs all day watching movies and resting from the busy week of school. I did request that my sister make me a homemade coconut cake that we found in a Food Network magazine. The article claimed that Bobby Flay had won a throwdown with this particular recipe so she jumped at the chance to make it. Poor, girl, it took her all day to make it! But it was worth it. It was delicious!! I almost cried while I ate it, knowing that she had worked so hard on it. God has truly blessed me with a family who loves me and I am so thankful for them!

Birthdays are definitely a time for reflection on the past year and a time to make goals for the next one. As I enter this new year of my life, my most important goal is to fall more in love with my Heavenly Prince, Jesus Christ! I want to live my life in total abandonment to Him. I don't want to look at my other friends' lives and compare theirs to my own. I want to walk the path God has put me on and hopefully touch a few lives along the way. I pray that when birthday # 23 rolls around I will be closer to the person God wants me to be.

Jesus, thank you for bringing me through

year 21. Help me to follow your will in year 22,

living in total abandonment to you!

I give you my future. Let my dreams reflect

the ones you have for me.

Guide me to do your will.

In your name, Amen

Feelings

Have you ever done anything just because you felt like it? Have you ever asked yourself or have been asked, "how do you feel about that?" I have. Often I allow myself to be led by my emotions. If I don't feel like studying, I don't. If I feel like drinking a large Dr. Pepper, I do. If I feel like playing with my dogs, I will stop what I'm doing to play with them. Sometimes I even think God uses my emotions to lead me do certain things, like talk to others.

However, I'm realizing that living by my feelings and emotions is wrong.

This thought came up as I read Leslie Ludy's devotional for this week called "The Secret of Contentment." Which I wholeheartedly recommend you read. http://www.setapartgirl.com/Devotional/Entries/2010/11/5_the_secret_of_contentment.html

In Leslie's devotional she quoted Elizabeth Elliot:

“The difficulty is to keep a tight reign on our emotions. They may remain, but it is not they who are to rule the action. They have no authority. A life lived in God is not lived on the plane of the feelings, but of the will. In Scripture the heart is the will – the man himself, the spring of all action, the ruling power bestowed on him by his Creator, capable of choosing and acting.” (Elizabeth Elliot, Quest for Love, page 35)

Powerful words, huh? Letting my feelings lead me often leads to selfish decisions and as a girl who wants to live in total abandonment to God, selfishness is not what I am pursuing. So today I surrender my emotions to Jesus!

"All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

My heart pounds, my strength fails me;

even the light has gone from my eyes.

I wait for you, O Lord;

you will answer, O Lord my God."

Psalm 38:9-10,15

Lord Jesus, I surrender my emotions to you. Show me how

to tell the difference between being led by my feelings

and being led by your Spirit.