Hannah Montana is a Liar.

No matter how hard you may believe it to be true...you cannot have the 'best' of both worlds.

Matthew 6:24 says, ""No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Many times I feel like we want to be followers of Christ, but only when it is beneficial to the image of our lives we think we deserve. We want to stand firm knowing our identity is in Christ and yet we place our identity in our work or family or success. We want things to look a way we picture in our minds, and then we tell God we want Him to do what is best for us. We cannot have both.

Do you want Christ to increase and you to truly decrease? (John 3:30) Or do you want to keep playing a game? Where have you grounded your feet? in this world? or in the hope of Christ?

We have to go from tourists to pilgrims in our faith.

Feet....beautiful?

Birthdays can be a more intriguing time for me, because on top of not liking being singled out in a group, I normally get some great time to process the year with God and reflect on how He's moved in my life over the past year. The reality of welcome week and our kick-off Bonfire being today (praise God for some 90+ students that came!) I didn't have as much time as I normally take to process. But as I was cleaning up, I felt God speaking to me.
One of the gifts I received was from a friend desiring to go get pedicures together. I found myself thinking of the same gift I gave to my secret sister before with Romans 10:15 attatched which says,

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

I couldn't help but chuckle observing my own feet as I literally scrubbed off blackness from the day! Beautiful...ha! With my bruise from tripping over nothing and my peeling skin...I didn't see my feet as beautiful tonight!

...at first.
My feet are beautiful to God because He made them! That may sound so elementary, yet it's true. God made my feet and I just walk and try to follow Him. I don't workout my feet like I do my arms or legs...I don't tone them, or put effort into bulking them up. I just use them...and that's when God sees them as beautiful...when I'm moving towards Him and I have to stop and brush some dirt off along the way. Feet are beautiful when you are using them to step closer to God.

Thank you Lord for giving me grace to scrub off the blackness that distracts from my path. Thank you for providing us with a way to walk with you. Thank you for year 24 and the people you have given along the way. Thank you for loving me despite my sin. Selah.

Super Size US!

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my shield my portion be,
As long as life endures.

These lyrics have been floating around in my mind from Amazing Grace ever since our first NavNite last night. I love that God is our portion.

There are numerous verses reminding us of this fact, and yet God chooses to supply each of us with a portion of Himself that satisfies! We always want the larger portion of food in America for the best price. A 5 dollar foot-long from Subway can last for two meals and thereby trumps going to get a $12 custom club sandwich from a different shop. More food for the buck. But God want to give us a great and generous sized portion...and for free!

Well, the portion is not necessarily free...it comes at a price Christ paid and a surrendering of yourself. To want a greater portion of God in your life is not something you hear the mainstream of people saying. It means less of your own wants and desires and more of God's. Eventually you figure out your desires start to line up more with God's as time goes on and your relationship grows, but the portion will remain and satisfy.

The Lord has promised good to me...His Word my hope secures...*walks off humming*