I'm a youth leader at my church, and right now for our devotions, we're reading in Habakkuk. I actually just read this book because my Sunday school class was studying it; I think it's pretty awesome when God keeps bringing certain passages of his Word to my attention...it's always got to be for a reason, right?
Well, this time going through the book, a couple things have stood out to me (don't you love how God always shows us new things no matter how many times we read a certain book of the Bible??). First, the other night, I read Habakkuk's second complaint to God about how there was so much evil going on in Israel. After he had told God his complaints and asked him, "Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?" (1:17) Habakkuk then says, "I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint." (2:1)
This really stood out to me, because so often I will ask God questions...or tell Him things that are on my heart, but then I'm "done praying" or whatever. I never really take time to WAIT for an answer. To be quiet...stop talking...just listen. That's what I need to be doing more often. Now, I don't expect God to answer in audible words that I can hear with my physical ears, as he did when responding to Habakkuk. However, I know that if I stop and listen, he will bring things to my mind that I know come from him. Or he will show me something in his Word that answers my question. Or he'll even use the words of a friend or even a person I don't know writing on their blog. I think sometimes these types of answers don't come immediately, but even the next day or next week or the next month! But that makes me think another thing... I need to be waiting and listening at all times -- not just for a few minutes while I'm praying. I can't just sit with my hands folded in my lap, listening for three minutes, and then put my listening ears away and go about the rest of my life. When the Bible says to "pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17), I think that includes listening without ceasing. If you think about it, God already knows what's going on in our heads...if we have a question for him, we don't really have to ask him directly in order for him to know what we're thinking. But we do, because God wants us to ask him and talk to him. It doesn't go the other way, though...if we're doing all the talking, and not listening, we're not going to know what God has to say. We need to be constantly in our watchtower, standing at our guardpost, listening for what the Lord has to say to us.
The other thing that I particularly latched onto is where God speaks to his people of their practice of worshiping idols...idols that they themselves had created. He says to them, "What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation - a god that can't even talk!" (2:18)
This caught my attention because the statement "how foolish to trust in your own creation" so easily applies to our own "creations" that are beyond physical creations. This applies to our accomplishments...our good grades, our position at work, our popularity among our friends, even the level of respect we've managed to earn from those we look up to. I so often find myself putting my trust in these things -- especially the last one. It's so easy for me to put my security in whether or not the people I admire in my life (parents, pastors, teachers, mentors) approve of me. But how foolish it is to put my trust in my own creation...my creation of a particular image that will win the approval of others. Why is this foolish? Because if I created it...then how easy it would be for me to destroy it. One mistake, and I could easily lose this approval. And then my security would be broken down. If I simply put all of my trust in my Father -- the one who created even those people I admire, the One who is stable, and does not change like the shifting shadows -- then my trust will be truly secure.
Now to actually apply these things...that's the hard part.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
New Blog Title
Hello! Who am I, you may ask? Well, my name is Beth...that girl who used to post on her blog almost every other day... Yes, I do feel guilty about my blogging failure, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that now, huh?
Well, I decided that if I am to ever get back to blogging regularly, it is time to change my blog a little bit. I mean, "Catcrazee" was a great blog name when I was in 7th grade, but, well, I think it's time to move on. So, I decided to rename the blog "Of My Musings..." I know...it's certainly not the most creative name I could have come up with; but I feel it's pretty accurate. A vast array of musings pass through my head from day to day, and of those, I would only choose to share a few. I know that even those which I do write about probably aren't worth reading, but hey, I've got to get them out of my head sometimes...
Anyway, I guess I could use this post to update anyone who actually reads my blog on how my life has changed since I last posted! Well...I was still in high school when I wrote my last blog post. Now, I'm halfway through my sophomore year of college! And I guess I'm technically at my third college... Well, I only took a couple of classes at our community college my senior year of high school, so that probably doesn't count...haha. Last year, I was a student at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. That was quite the experience! I learned a lot about myself, I think. I learned that I get to be pretty cynical when smothered with rules that I don't agree with. That was frustrating for me, because I knew full well what I was getting myself into when I went to PCC: wearing skirts all the time, no contemporary music, King James Version Bible only, no mixed-group outings, etc. I was expecting to be able to put up with it and be positive about it! But that's not how that year went for me; I became increasingly cynical toward all of the rules that PCC enforced, and it put me in basically a chronic bad mood. Another unfortunate thing I learned about myself is that I am really and truly not a people person. Being around people other than family all the time was a new experience for me, and I don't think I handled it all that well. I always tried to eat breakfast alone, and I got angry if people came to my table and said something like, "Hi! Can I sit with you so you won't be alone?!" It kind of ruined my day. How lame is that?! I never knew I was like that... But the funny thing is, the thing I miss most about living on campus, are my roommates! I don't know...I'm just a confused child.
So, to make a long story short, I decided that Pensacola was not the place for me. While I miss my friends there, I really do LOVE where I am now! I came back home, and I am now a student at Liberty University. I just finished my first semester at LU, and I can't wait for the next semester to begin! Honestly...I was absolutely depressed when I had to go back to PCC, so I'm pretty sure this completely opposite feeling is a pretty good indicator that LU is a better fit for me. ;)
Oh! I almost forgot! My major was Graphic Design my first year of college. I absolutely loved my art classes at PCC. But I've wanted to go into missions for years, now, and over the summer I realized that I really want to work with people, rather than sitting behind a computer all day. :) Speaking of summer, I worked at Grace Bible Camp as a senior counselor for the first time! If you've read my blog in the past, you'll know that being a junior counselor at GBC was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so thankful I'm now able to be there all summer as an SC...it was such a blessing to me, and I learned so very much from the kids, my fellow counselors, the speakers, and especially our new camp director, Pastor Scott. Most importantly, though, seven girls in my cabin accepted Christ as their Savior, plus many many more kids over the course of the whole summer. It was incredible, and I can't wait until next summer. :)
Well, that's the last year and a half of my life in a nutshell! ;) It was definitely one of the most eventful times of my life... I kind of wish I had blogged throughout that time. Well, there's no time like the present to begin again, right? Hopefully I'll keep up with it this time! ;)
Thanks for reading! :)
~Beth~
Well, I decided that if I am to ever get back to blogging regularly, it is time to change my blog a little bit. I mean, "Catcrazee" was a great blog name when I was in 7th grade, but, well, I think it's time to move on. So, I decided to rename the blog "Of My Musings..." I know...it's certainly not the most creative name I could have come up with; but I feel it's pretty accurate. A vast array of musings pass through my head from day to day, and of those, I would only choose to share a few. I know that even those which I do write about probably aren't worth reading, but hey, I've got to get them out of my head sometimes...
Anyway, I guess I could use this post to update anyone who actually reads my blog on how my life has changed since I last posted! Well...I was still in high school when I wrote my last blog post. Now, I'm halfway through my sophomore year of college! And I guess I'm technically at my third college... Well, I only took a couple of classes at our community college my senior year of high school, so that probably doesn't count...haha. Last year, I was a student at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. That was quite the experience! I learned a lot about myself, I think. I learned that I get to be pretty cynical when smothered with rules that I don't agree with. That was frustrating for me, because I knew full well what I was getting myself into when I went to PCC: wearing skirts all the time, no contemporary music, King James Version Bible only, no mixed-group outings, etc. I was expecting to be able to put up with it and be positive about it! But that's not how that year went for me; I became increasingly cynical toward all of the rules that PCC enforced, and it put me in basically a chronic bad mood. Another unfortunate thing I learned about myself is that I am really and truly not a people person. Being around people other than family all the time was a new experience for me, and I don't think I handled it all that well. I always tried to eat breakfast alone, and I got angry if people came to my table and said something like, "Hi! Can I sit with you so you won't be alone?!" It kind of ruined my day. How lame is that?! I never knew I was like that... But the funny thing is, the thing I miss most about living on campus, are my roommates! I don't know...I'm just a confused child.
So, to make a long story short, I decided that Pensacola was not the place for me. While I miss my friends there, I really do LOVE where I am now! I came back home, and I am now a student at Liberty University. I just finished my first semester at LU, and I can't wait for the next semester to begin! Honestly...I was absolutely depressed when I had to go back to PCC, so I'm pretty sure this completely opposite feeling is a pretty good indicator that LU is a better fit for me. ;)
Oh! I almost forgot! My major was Graphic Design my first year of college. I absolutely loved my art classes at PCC. But I've wanted to go into missions for years, now, and over the summer I realized that I really want to work with people, rather than sitting behind a computer all day. :) Speaking of summer, I worked at Grace Bible Camp as a senior counselor for the first time! If you've read my blog in the past, you'll know that being a junior counselor at GBC was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so thankful I'm now able to be there all summer as an SC...it was such a blessing to me, and I learned so very much from the kids, my fellow counselors, the speakers, and especially our new camp director, Pastor Scott. Most importantly, though, seven girls in my cabin accepted Christ as their Savior, plus many many more kids over the course of the whole summer. It was incredible, and I can't wait until next summer. :)
Well, that's the last year and a half of my life in a nutshell! ;) It was definitely one of the most eventful times of my life... I kind of wish I had blogged throughout that time. Well, there's no time like the present to begin again, right? Hopefully I'll keep up with it this time! ;)
Thanks for reading! :)
~Beth~
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