Instagram Favorites pt.1 (April & May 2013)

Here are some of my favorite instagrams all in one place!

Posted by { youngcreature } on May 5th, 2013.

Instagram posts weekend projects and this weekend was silhouettes. I thought this entry by youngcreature was awesome! I enjoy low down shots and the beautiful sky behind their silhouettes is lovely!

Posted by { shonlowe } on May 3rd, 2013.

Favorite part has to be the subject, canoeing. Man do I love it. Also diggin the backpack, they are clearly prepared for some good times. And bringing a blanket on the canoe looks so cozy. I am gonna miss being at River Ranch this summer and canoeing for miles with only the best of people around me. Intern canoe trip? I think yes!

Posted by { denisebovee } on May 2nd, 2013.

Cutest thing ever! That's just adorable that her dog is cuddling with a teddybear. And look at the dogs sweet wrinkly face. Am I right? Sheesh. Too much.

Posted by { chaseblood } on May 1st, 2013.

Here's another cool shot I found in chaseblood's feed. I love the blurred out trees and how it's shot from down low. It might be pavement, but it looks like water almost. It makes me think of a certain area on Lake Quivira where my grandparents live. We would drive their boat into a thin windy river-like stretch of water with a picnic basket full of fresh fruit, and whatever else we wanted for breakfast. Then we would tie the boat to a tree and eat breakfast by the tall trees listening to the birds chirping and the water hitting against the boat. I can't wait for them to be living in their home again and for their boat to be fixed! I'm ready for another breakfast on the lake!

Posted by { melissagreenmachine } on May 1st, 2013.

I really enjoy these simply clothing shots. Also a big fan of denim shirts. I don't know what makes this picture spectacular, but I really love it.

Posted by { chaseblood } on April 29th, 2013.

I just case across this dude the other day. He has a great feed! I can't get over the orange in this sky, over the mountains, and on the water. Oh to have been there! Expect more favorites from this guy.

Posted by { shonlowe } on April 30th, 2013.

Man, so many great pictures from April 30th! There have been lots of awesome instagrams lately, and I'm a little behind in posting them. This one is one of the best though! The fog, the pine trees, the stump, the yellow beanie, great shot. I'm a fan.

Posted by { brenna_marriie } on April 30th, 2013.

This photo makes me think of how small I am in the grand scheme of things just like this person is so small in comparison to the cliffside. It is humbling and God magnifying. I think this picture is really powerful. For me personally, it evokes a lot of thoughts. So many thoughts that I gave it it's own blog post which can be found here.

Posted by { dansmoe } on April 30th, 2013.

This reminds me of going to the sand dunes in Colorado. So many good memories there! Plus, it's a great shot. Diggin the blue sky, the flying sand, and the hip desert vibes.

Posted by { djaeoutlaw } on April 27th, 2013.

I love the deep forest vibe. I'd definitely adventure there.

Posted by { lindleymarie } on April 23rd, 2013.

I'm a big fan of kid pictures. My mom is the nursery director at our church, so I get to work with kids of all ages often! I love it so much. I think kids are the bees knees, and so photogenic! I wish I was as comfortable in my own skin as kids are. What a fun and simple period of life. Enjoy it youngins! Non-youngins, embrace your inner child. Anticipate more instagrams of these little ones.

Revelation Ramblings

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders of their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." -Revelation 9:20-21

In the previous two chapters of revelation, there are seven angels that are blowing trumpets which are causing plagues on eath such as fire from the sky and locusts that will torture people for five months without letting them die. Then before this passage an angel comes to kill. At the end of the plagues, one third of mankind is gone. Then I read the verses at the top. They still didn't repent! I couldn't believe it. If earth was being destroyed, I'd been stung repeatedly by huge locusts for five months, my friends were now dead, I think I'd be quick to repent and beg for mercy!

But this passage shows how lost we are. Apart from Christ revealing himself to us, we really don't see him. We still choose sin that leads to self destruction rather than give our life to Christ who will only give us good things. It's amazing to see just how lost, blind, and depraved we are.

In this depressing passage about lost souls, there is hope. The hope is that if you truly desire Christ, then that is clearly not of your own doing! God has started a work in you and he promises to complete it. By truly desiring Christ, I don't mean that you read your Bible everyday, love sharing the gospel, or go to church every Sunday. Those are great things, and we should do them as a result of our love for Christ and desire to know him better and share that with others. But truly desiring Christ means that you want Christ or even if you want to want Christ. That is something unique to a regenerate heart. The people described in these verses do not want to want Christ. They have no desire to know him. They might have a desire to go to church because it makes them feel better about themselves, but you must desire truth because it is truth, not because of personal gain. We will sin and there are days, even weeks, where my life doesn't represent Christ well. And because of the work God is doing in my heart, I desire to repent and change to be more like Christ. Assurance of salvation is in the genuine desire for Christ, not in how clean our lives are. If I were to take this idea as an excuse to continue in sin because I have assurance of salvation, then I wouldn't truly be desiring Christ.

This is something I learned from my mentor, Laura, when I was overwhelmed with the sin in my life and began questioning whether I was really saved. It took a while for me to accept what she was saying. But it was so comforting and freeing to hear her say that the fact I even care about the sin in my life is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in me. I still struggle with this idea from time to time when my sin seems too big, but I always come back to this lesson I learned from Laura years ago. This passage stood out to me because it clearly displays the difference between regenerate and unregenerate hearts, which reinforced my beliefs on this subject.

Big God Little Mo

I'm gonna get a little philosophical today. In my philosophy class, we are currently discussing arguments for and against the existence of God. We started with pro-God arguments such as the Kalam Cosmological Argument, the Watchmaker Argument, and the Fine Tuning Argument. Today we started learning the arguments against God. We started with the Problem of Evil. Here it is.

Hume's Argument from Evil

1) Either God is not able to prevent evil or he is not willing to prevent it.
2) If he is not able, then he is not omnipotent (all-powerful).
3) If he is not willing, then he is not all good.
4) Therefore, either God is not omnipotent or he is not all good.
5) If God is either not omnipotent or not all good, then God does not exist.
6) Therefore, God does not exist.

Chapter two of Tim Keller's book, The Reason for God talks about suffering. Here is a quote from that chapter.  "Tucked away within the assertion that the world is full of pointless evil is a hidden premise, namely, that if evil appears pointless to me, then it must be pointless."

This is huge! If God is who he says he is, couldn't he do something that appears to be evil from our perspective, but in reality leads to something glorious and good. It makes me think of parenting and how my parents didn't let me eat icecream for breakfast. As a seven year old, my parents may have seemed powerful, but certainly not all good. All good to me may have been parents who let their kids do whatever they please. But now I see that spoiling kids is not what is best for them and I look back and am thankful for the way my parents raised me. This analogy is maybe too simple though. I realize that much greater evils happen in this world that aren't as easy to explain away. I still believe God is big enough to have reasons that I can't comprehend.

Then I started thinking about how small and insignificant I am to even question God's goodness. Thinking about how small I am reminded me of how stinkin huge God is. He holds this complex world in his hand and is not the slightest bit worried about the evil in it. He has it under control. If God is who he says he is, then he has a purpose for everything. In the end, he will be glorified. And for some crazy reason beyond my understanding, I get to intimately know this God.

This reminded  me of a passage from Romans 8.

20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, why did you make me like this? 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some poverty for special purpose and some for common use?

I encourage you to check out this passage in context. It was too long for me to put here. But here's a link to Romans 8:14-29

Who am I to question God's justice and goodness? And who am I to dwell in his justice and goodness? Who am I to be loved by you?

I walked back from class with a new joy. Rather than dwelling on my insignificance and unworthiness, I will walk with joy knowing I am saved by God's grace alone. It's humbling that I can't comprehend what good can come from seemingly pointless evil. but God can orchestrate it all. God is all powerful and all good, even when we don't see it. And he loves us even when we question him. Mind blowing.

Like Jonah like Mo

I haven't been posting much lately. I've had a lot going on personally. Lots of self-evaluation. I won't go into details here. I think that I will come out of this valley with a deeper knowledge of God. I'm hoping that I will be a better do-er of his Word, and not only a hear-er.

I feel like Jonah. He refused to obey God and ran the opposite way. Then God in his graciousness didn't let him die in the ocean. He sent a fish to swallow him, so that Jonah would see God again. God didn't let Jonah stay in his sin, he gave him another opportunity to share the gospel with Ninevah. Jonah repented and recognized Gods sovereignty. He shared the gospel, then fell back into his angry, self-centered thinking. The Lord gave him a plant fr shade, then took it away. He was helping Jonah get out of his comfort zone. He did this first by getting him to go Ninevah, then again when he took away the shady plant. To Jonah these things looked like his personal sufferings. But in reality, God was teaching him to line up his will with Gods, be obedient to God, and to recognize his sovereignty. He was showing Jonah a better way. A way more satisfying, that would bring love and joy, rather than anger and discontent.

I have been amazed at how The Lord has been blessing me through this time of doubt and conviction. I have been like Jonah, preferring my sin over true satisfaction in Christ. But God is still drawing me to Him because he knows that is what's best for me even when I don't want it. One of my undeserved blessings is my Life Group girls. They encourage me so much and I learn so much through our discussions. On top of that, fellowship with them is wonderful! I feel so lucky to know them! 

Here's us at 6:30 this morning doing yoga at the Rec. I love trying new things with these ladies. 

Shout Outs

Today I was dwelling on some of the awesome people in my life and wanted to talk about them here.

The most recent would be this group of girls right here. (Plus some who aren't in this picture.) These are my Bible study girls who has been pouring sweet things into my soul for the last month. I was praying for friendships, and I'm in awe of God's grace to answer my prayer and put these girls in my life at such a perfect time. It's been great to pursue The Lord with these ladies. Looking forward to more fun adventures in the future.

The biggest blessing in my life currently would have to be my sweet room mate Sarah. I was terrified to leave home and attend a huge state school. Room mates can make the transition either more or less difficult. Sarah has been a huge support to me. She points me to Christ in everything and inspires me to work hard in school. I'm very grateful that she invested in me this year. I'm looking forward to another year with her and our new room mate Kaitlyn!

I got a phone call from my Aunt Liz last week. I was reminded of how wise she is. I wish I talked with her more regularly. I love weekend visits with her in the summer. She has imparted so much wisdom to me. I hope to be half as good a counselor as she is one day.

Laura Hough is my mentor from Olathe who's moving here to Manhattan (whoop whoop!). She has helped me through my biggest doubts, my relationships, my mess ups, and more. I have gained so much wisdom from my time with Laura. I'm so lucky to have her pouring into life. I look forward to more Route 44 Dr. Peppers with cream and book discussions!

Speaking of influential people, my parents are the bomb.com. They are so supportive, so wise, and so loving toward me. I love their servant hearts. My mom volunteers for everything, which comes back to haunt her sometimes, but she is such a joyful and generous giver. Her talents have not been wasted! I know, I take advantage of them all the time! And my dad is such a gentleman. He still brings the car around for us, takes the dog out when it's freezing, and does the dishes! I just think he's the greatest! His kindness blows my mind.

Thanks so much for pouring into my life! I listed the ones who came to mind this morning, but I know there are so many more. I'm so grateful for you.

Discipline Diaries (days 4 and 5)

Yay for sunny Saturdays!

Roommate is gone for the weekend, so I slept in, took a walk through Konza Prairie Trail, watched Psych re-runs, and ate pizza for both my meals. I'm living it up for sure.

I would love to write something profound, inspiring, or at the least entertaining here. But I'm all out. I'd like to pretend that I achieve all the goals I set, that I have awesome time with God everyday, and that I live an exciting life 24/7. It's tempting to do that through social media. I don't have to post my low points, I can post all the good stuff and hope that people think I'm cooler because of it. Sadly, it takes some humility for me to even admit that. I was tempted to not post today since I have nothing super positive to share. But I dont want to hide my failures and pretend that I'm always pursuing Christ as I should be. So here's my discipline update.

My goal of discipline has lost its luster. I still think its important and a great goal. And I've kept to some of my specific goals even. But I'm not as passionate for it as I was because in the moment, my desires seem necessary. I tell myself that I could easily drink water over soda today, but I'm just choosing not to. I justify it as a mere choice, rather than a lack of discipline. In reality it's not a big deal. It's not a sin to drink soda, hit the snooze button, or procrastinate. I just don't want the habit of regularly giving into myself. I want to be a self-controlled person. I think that a mindset that can't be disciplined might be sinful.

I see the most sin in my life in this area when I think about how entitled I feel to something as unnecessary as a vanilla latte after a "long" day. It hurts when I think about my attitude and the life I live and compare it to the type of lives other people are living. After the fact, I feel so selfish that I even think the way I do. I see it as a reflection of my self-serving heart. But I'm called to serve others and see them as MORE important than myself. I see my selfishness, then I see my apathy about my selfishness and I'm disappointed. It seems to be an ongoing cycle of guilt and self- gratification.

Still working through it. I need more Holy Spirit. It's crazy how incapable we are when we rely on ourselves.

Discipline Diaries (day 3)

Not such a great day for discipline. It was a lazy, roll out of a bed, eat Nutella and watch Netflix kind of day. I stuck relatively close to my homework plan and didn't purchase anything today. But I'm slacking in the other two areas.

Not my most exciting or encouraging post, but this was my day 3 of discipline.

His mercies are new every morning! Hope day 4 is better.