Socializer

Lately I've noticed that my two jobs and full time school load are not the most conducive when it comes to socializing. That is a an interesting situation because one of my biggest struggles is feeling left out. Granted, I do recognize the need for community. God built us to be a body, not an ant farm. But even outside of that I feel down on myself more than I should often times. I'm so busy that it is to a point where people don't invite me to events because they think I won't show up anyways. So now I barely get invited to things, and the things I get invited to are during work or school hours where as the things that I don't get invited to I am free...

God has been rocking in my life that He is sufficient, but He did also build us for community. Where is the line between the need to socialize and the unhealthy desire to?

Lord, help me.

Escape

I was recently talking with a good friend of mine about life and I told her about how I'd love to return to Hume because that's where I have heard God the clearest. She asked me why I don't hear God as much here. I said that I'm distracted here and that my stay at Hume had very little TV, video games, music, and so on. We have had a previous conversation about video games before and during the course of that conversation she referred to video games as my "escape" and my retreat. I said that because I view them as a way for my brain to shut off and relax. But she used the term "escape" and that specifically stuck out to me.

Recently God has been growing me in the area of emotional health through men such as Andy Rodgers. I am passive aggressive in that I often times do not address what is going on in my head and rather I dwell on it. Often times it also becomes a much bigger deal than it should ever be. I would escape from what happens until it explodes.

Through conversations with Andy I have been addressing things as they happen more often than not, but I'm still growing. However when she used "escape" it made me wonder am I really dealing with it? Or did I just change how I escape from life?

I now believe that video games are a serious idol and hinderance in my life. We'll see what happens.

Being Busy

It's strange how being busy has made time fly by so fast. It's already the end of week 3 of school and I have my first set of midterms/tests next week. oh joy. lol But I bring this up because it is so easy to miss the time you have because we're so focused on the next thing or deadline. I know I've definitely been like that and it's hard to be otherwise.

But each second is a gift straight from God (I almost said the Maker, but I fear Dragon Age has ruined that name for me for a while lol) and we should be joyous in that!

That's my 2 cents for the day

Tiers

It's funny how when we perceived that we have sinned we make it a big
deal when in reality we sin every day multiple times each day, so why
is it surprising? It's also interesting that we perceive certain sins
as more of a "defeat" than others. We had a tier type system. Those
could be getting drunk, lust (and in lust there is even the perception
of various different levels of sin), anger, etc.

In the book of James it says that if you have committed one sin,
you've broken the whole law. In Romans it says that all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God yet we try to justify it. "I'm not
killing people, I'm just getting a little intoxicated on the weekend,
so what?"

I bring this up because there are certain sins in my life that every
time I commit it bothers me more than others. That in and of itself
bothers me. That borders on legalism, pray with me that we don't go
down that road!

God and God alone can forgive sins and because of Jesus' blood our
sins are washed away and we are made holy and righteous before God.
God give us more and more of Your grace and mercy!

Grace

Grace is a funny thing, and no I'm not talking about a person. lol I'm talking about the concept of grace. The definition I heard once was that it is giving something that someone doesn't deserve. It is showing compassion and forgiveness when, according to the world, it is totally justifiable to not and instead to seek revenge. Lately God has been growing me in the area of showing grace, because it has been something that I have not. I've been holding others to the standards that I "hold myself to" even though they are unrealistic for me. It has lead to more than one conversation in which I have had to ask for grace and forgiveness. It came to having a fun conversation with Andy Rodgers. His grace for me has been directly from God lol. Needless to say, God has been growing me.

That being said, I'm not perfect in the slightest. I am a wicked sinner just like everyone else.

But being on the receiving end of grace so much lately I cannot stress enough how important showing grace is. Always remember that we show grace not because it's the moral or right thing to do (though both may be good reasons) but we show grace because God showed it on us first.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

-Romans 5:1-2

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"

-Romans 5:8

Howdy Doodily

Hey guys, so I'll be trying to update this blog more often then go on facebook because I want to share what God is up to in my life, but I don't want to be on facebook that often because I see it as something that sucks all my time away. lol

First off, God has definitely been on the move at Rocky Peak and other places. I've witnessed the church go from being very protective of their money because of the economy to giving freely and abundantly to provide above and beyond just running our facility so that we can feed the poor and provide cleaning drinking water! Prayers have been answered for sure!

It's also crazy seeing how God is using Mike, Andy, Bobby, and others. I've never really witnessed a growth like this (not a growth from "cool" videos, and fun outreaches, but a growth from desiring to grow deeper with God). God has for sure been growing all of us through this.

God has also been growing me and at first it's been difficult, but definitely so worth it. :P

More details on the next one, because I know how rough it is to read a longer blog post (trust me I have A.D.D. lol)

God bless

Flying home

In about an hour we will be boarding our flight and heading home. It's weird how fast the trip went. We will be home at 12:30pm on Wednesday, but we leave here 9:30am on Wednesday. It's kinda cool.

Anyways, I miss all you guys and I'll see you soon.

:P

Much love and thanks for the prayers.

Mikie

James 1:22