New Season

A month a go I finally graduated from college. Yes, it is true! I have stepped into adulthood and am officially a college grad.  It was surreal walking across that stage. I told my family they needed to absolutely cheer for me louder than anyone else would be cheered for. I couldn't really tell if they were loudest, but as I shook the chancellor's hand he said, "Wow, you've got quite a fan club!"Yes I do Mr. Jimmy Cheek, and what a fan club they are.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful extended family that has supported me throughout my life, for wonderful parents who helped me finish four and a half years of college debt free, and a sister and brother who also chose to attend UT so that we could all be together.

We celebrated the afternoon at Calhoun's on the river, my absolute favorite place to eat in Knoxville, with some of my extended family and a few great friends.  It was wonderful. Unfortunately that night it started to snow so I had to pack up my apartment in a matter of about 2 hours and leave the next morning. It was a little crazy.

The last month of my life, fortunately, has been absolutely not crazy.
I've done a whole lot of staying up late, sleeping in, and laying in my bed for hours in the morning because I simply had nothing to get up for.
I could not tell you how many movies I have streamed from Netflix.
I have been going to the gym more consistently then any other time in my life, thanks to my dad who has been getting me out the door almost every day.
I've completed nine out of twenty-five weeks of my marathon training.
I spent some quality time with my sister, my brother, my mom, and my dad.
I experienced the most traumatic babysitting experience of my life.
I went to my first Alumni football game.

Another big deal this month was that God provided me with a full time job!!
I had interviews the week after I graduated and was offered a job with Enterprise the day before Christmas Eve.  I start this week!
It has been such a blessing to have this time in between finishing college and starting a job. It has also been a blessing that I have known that I have a job and haven't had to look!
I have to wear a suit. Every single day. I've also done a lot of shopping this month. :)

I am more than excited about this new adventure that God has me on. It is going to be . . . actually, I have no idea what it is going to be like. For the first time I feel as if I have no bearing on what I am about to experience. And I'm really excited!!


As I've been making big decisions about jobs this month I have been clinging to these verses:
Psalm 21:2 & 6
You have granted him the desire of his heart--you have not withheld the request of his lips.
Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

I've had to realize that God promises to grant me the desires of my heart. And I can be confident that he will do this because they are desires that he puts in my heart. I'm praying that if my desires are not of the Lord that he would remove them from my heart.  He also promises to give us eternal blessings. I know that these definitely mean blessings in heaven with him, but I am also thankful for the ways he is blessing me here on earth.

My favorite part of that is that he is making me glad with the joy of his presence. I have totally seen Him do this recently. And it is nothing I am doing! Jesus is filling my heart with His presence, and allowing me to be glad and satisfied in Him. There is nothing like it!

Thanks for still reading my crazy blog even when I'm not consistent with it! I hope to be more consistent in my new "adult" life and share all of my "adult adventures".

if I can run a mile (part 2)

So yesterday, talking about training got me thinking.
I know that if I want to succeed at running a marathon I need to do the same thing over and over again.
Run.


But looking at my life, and specifically dealing with sin struggles, I want to knock them down the first time. Just once, and then I expect myself to be an expert. That is not realistic.  I have to deal with that sin more than once. More than twice. Probably more than three times.
Thats like saying if I can run a mile I could run 26.

Something a lot of women in my life have shared, and that I think a lot of us deal with, is that we expect ourselves to either struggle with a sin forever, or deal with something once and then it never creeps up again.  Neither alternative is practical.

You do not have to struggle with this same sin forever. It does not rule you. It does not define you. You are able to be free from it. But not on your own strength.  
You are not expected to conquer a sin once and then never struggle with it again.  It takes time to train your heart, no matter what the sin may be.  


Instead of bombarding with a bunch of unconnected verses I'm going to share one of my favorite passages. It is 2 Samuel 21:15-22.  It is full of a lot of hard-to-say names and places, and there are none of those "quotable" verses, if you will.  However, I find it a beautiful picture of the way God deals with our sin struggles.

It takes place during David's reign as King of Israel. It talks about four different battles Israel had with the Philistines.  Just for some quick background, the Philistines were that age old enemy Israel could never seem to defeat (like the girls that you play in of every sport of intramurals and you never seem to be able to beat them).  They are the same Philistines that so many years before produced a giant named Goliath (1 Samuel 17). David had been to battle with the Philistines many times. The Lord had given him victory many times, yet here he was again, about to face another battle.

The passage starts out each battle saying "In the couse of time, there was another battle with the Philistines" "Once again, there was a battle with the Philistines" "In another battle . . ." "In still another battle . . .".

How many times in my life have I felt like that? "And once again I am struggling with this sin." " Well, I failed again dealing with that sin today."  "In other news, I'm struggling with the same thing again."

It gets discouraging.
Real quick.

A girl who was in my Bible study once said to me "I just feel like God is sick of hearing me ask for victory from this. I feel like he is looking at me and saying "really, this again." I feel like eventually he'll just get sick of me asking for freedom from it."

My heart struggles with that. That is for sure.

But thankfully, that is a lie!! 


Read that passage in 2 Samuel and you will find that David struggled with the same enemy over and over and over again. And God gave him victory every time.  
Right after that passage about the battles is David's song of praise.

"He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;

He rescued me because he delighted in me."

(2 Samuel 22:18-20)

He rescued me because he delighted in me.

Not because I quit struggling with sin, not because I did everything right, not because I totally messed up, not because I asked in the right way . . . because he delighted in me.

Do not allow the enemy a foothold by believing a lie.  

He wants to rescue you. He does not tire of saving you. 

God eventually gave David freedom from the Philistines.  But not on David's time. On God's.  It was not on David's strength either. Those enemies were too strong for him, but not for his God.  

And God did not stop giving David victory just because he was facing the same enemy again.  

He wants to do the same in our lives . . . because he delights in us!!