The Lord Gives & Takes Away

Six of my college friends have relocated out of state in the past two weeks.   Two more are moving by the end of July.   With this change,  my entire social circle is going to disappear.  I should feel panicked, I should feel depressed, but instead I am feeling peace.   This is the amazing peace that can only come from Christ.

            My church started a Single’s group for people in their 30’s.  I have been led by the LORD to get more involved into this group and to help it grow.   I invited everyone to my house to play board games and pizza.  I was surprised that six people showed up.   We had an amazing time playing games, eating pizza and fellowshipping with each other.

A week prior to this I had several college friends in my apartment for the last time.

GOD’s timing is perfect!

            I could view my transitional summer with sorrow as I say good-bye to each of my friends and watch them drive away to new adventures.  Instead I am choosing to trust GOD to provide new friendships and experiences for me.  I am not sure what the LORD is up to in my life but I have a peace that this next season will be a very good one for me.

~Sunny :D

Mentorship?

My church started a Single’s group for people in their 30’s a few months ago.  If you have been reading my blog, you will know I was hesitant to go to that group.  It has been my experience that those kind of groups put way too much pressure on me to date and I did not want that kind of pressure in my life right now.   The Single’s pastor and a few mentors all encouraged me to join so I could make friends.

            I began to attend and was discouraged that more ladies were not joining this group.   We have plenty of guys attending, however most weeks we only had 2-3 girls.   One week I was the only girl who attended.   I was becoming disheartened.   I had three options 1) Stop going. 2) Complain to the Single’s pastor.  Or 3) Reach out to the other girls who have not been attending.

            I prayed about it and I felt like the LORD wanted me to reach out to the ladies.   I have made calls and invited the ladies to join us to events and bible studies.  I figured if these are the new friends that the LORD wants me to make, I should try to meet up with each of them individually for coffee or dinner.  You have to be a friend to get a friend.   I am trying to make connections and I am finding these other girls are just as hungry as I am to feel like they belong to something.

            I have met up with several girls and I have found myself in the role of being a mentor?  Let’s get one thing clear, I am not qualified to mentor anyone over the age of 12 so I am not sure what GOD is up to right now.  These girls are confessing broken marriages, abusive childhoods, eating disorders, abandonment issues and all kinds of other things.  

These are women I just met….

            I find myself saying encouraging words, offering advice, and sending them cheerful text messages.  “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.” ~Isaiah 50:4.  “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” ~Colossians 4:6.   “an anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” ~Proverbs 12:25. 

My spiritual focus this summer was to improve my prayer life and I have been spending a lot of time praying for and about these women.    “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD. And the peace of GOD which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:6.

            I don’t know the first thing about being a counselor or a mentor and I am humbled that the LORD has placed me in this role.  I only can hope that I glorify him as I continue to reach out to these girls.

~Sunny :D

Answered Prayers

I am refining my prayer life and learning to depend more on GOD.    I prayed about it and here are my prayer goals:

Improve my prayer life and make time to pray for at least 30 minutes a day

  Pray out loud around others.

 Find a “prayer warrior” and begin to pray with them often.

GOD is so awesome!  I had two answered prayers happen at one time!    My church started a Single’s group for people in their 30’s and I have begun to attend it regularly.   One of the ladies and I have seemed to “hit it off” so we met up for dinner.  I am SO glad we did.   We both had a very blessed time together.   When the food arrived to our table, she asked me to pray out loud.  I had to face my fear and ask GOD to bless our food in front of another person.

And I lived to tell about it.

            While fellowshipping with this girl from my group I found out that her favorite way to relate to GOD is through prayer.    I was honest with her and told her that I struggle with prayer but I am working hard to improve it this summer.    We had a great discussion about how she prays and what kind of things she prays for  and what worked for her.  She gave me some great ideas on how to improve my prayer life.

I am so thankful to the LORD for providing this women for me to connect with and I am looking forward to becoming better friends with her. 

~Sunny :D

Pray for your Enemies

      ^{Several posts I make in the next few months will be about prayer since it is my goal to improve my prayer life this summer.   I was praying yesterday and I asked GOD to show me what I should pray for.  He spoke and I didn't like the answer.   He told me to pray for my boss.   Now, if you are someone who reads my blog often you will understand that my boss is not my favorite person so when GOD asked me to do to this, I was hesitant at first.   Then I was reading Matthew and read:}

^{"YOu have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."}

^{~Matthew 5:43-44}

     My boss is not my enemy, but she is very difficult to work with.  Then this request from GOD got me thinking about my job.  Things have been difficult this past year and I searched for a way out of that school so I could "get a fresh start".    I just finished my 13th year of Teaching, it should not have been as difficult as it was.. But then I started to realize that I was not relying on GOD as much as I should have.   When I was a new teacher I sought after GOD for EVERYTHING and now I only seem to seek him out on the "big stuff". 

     Maybe GOD is keeping me in this situation so I can grow in him.  I need to learn to lean on his throne daily.   Pray for my boss, pray for my co-workers, pray for my students.       I need to start to see these people as GOD sees them~  I need to pray. 

~Sunny :D

   

   

He Won't Commit

     I am not currently dating, but this is a common concern for young Christian ladies so I felt this was worth posting.   Ladies, what do you do when a guy is not willing to commit?  I found this video by Focus on the Family where Gary Thomas basically said:  End it and move on!  Staying in a bad relationship is the same as putting money into a bad investment.

       The best line of this video is at the end: "Do you want to be married to someone who thinks: I don't want to spend another year without waking up with you everyday.  Sharing not just occasional evenings but every moment together and I certainly don't want to to be that something can happen that you might not be my wife.  I can't wait to be together.  That should be what you want? Isn't that the kind of guy you want to be married to.  If that is not what you have, go find someone who is."

     This got me thinking about more than just relationships where the guy won't commit, but what about those guy friends who string you along for years and leave you in limbo?   Can this video be applied to those situations?  YES!   I want to find the guy who does not play games.  I want to find the guy who is honest and steps up.  I want to date a guy who is willing to lay it all out there because he is afraid of losing me.  And ladies..We should all want that.

~Sunny :D

Texting in Social Situations

    I had a friend who went on a date with a guy a few days ago.   He was sweet, educated, and loved GOD.   She spent days talking about this guy and she was very excited about this date.   When the big day arrived, she spent hours getting ready for the date because she wanted everything to be perfect.

         He arrived on time.   He was dressed in nice clothes and took her to Olive Garden for dinner.  Once  they arrived to the restaurant, his behavior took a very ugly turn.   This guy had this awful habit of texting other people during the date.    The first few times my friend tried to ignore it.  It continued to happen.   He was talking to her, but seemed more engaged in his technology.   What does a single girl do in a situation like this?  She wanted to speak up and explain to him that his behavior was rude but she did not want to come off as jerk so she kept silent and ate her pasta dish in solitude.   There is a Robin Williams quote that says: "The only thing worse than being alone is being with someone who makes you feel alone.".   My friend felt alone in this situation.  If you were wondering, there will not be a second date.

      This got me thinking about other social situations.  How often do I see people spending time together but staring at their phones?    I can think of multiple situations where I have attended events and watched people more focused on technology than their company.

     Technology is a great tool, however when it is abused it cuts you out of experiencing a full life.   GOD calls Christians to live abundantly.. How abundant is that life when you are more focused on the people who are not there than you are on the people who are there.   Talk, fellowship, make connections with the people who are sitting next to you!  It makes the experience better for you and those around you.  Make it a rule, put away the cell phones (unless you are taking pictures) and enjoy each other's company.

~Sunny :D

I miss you LORD....

My best friend is moving away to Texas in two weeks.   We decided to take a weekend road trip together to go hiking.   We left on Friday we were done teaching for the day and traveled up to Page, Arizona.  We spent the night there and   we hiked horseshoe bend and Antelope Canyon on Saturday.   We drove to a town near the Grand Canyon and hiked there on Sunday.

           

It was an amazing trip of a lifetime.  We made memories I will never forget and I got to see things in Arizona I never expected to see.  If you are ever in Arizona, I recommend hiking in these locations.  

            But one thing was missing~ my time with the LORD.   My friend is not a Christian but she understands that my relationship with the LORD is important.   However, spending this much time with one person who occasionally swears and talks about things that don’t glorify GOD becomes difficult after 24 solid hours.

 I packed my bible and the only time I had alone with the LORD was when she was in the shower.   This gave me 15 minutes with the LORD.   This is not enough time and the trip was beginning to wear me out~ Spiritually.

After I got home on Sunday I had to do a million things to recoup from the trip.   I had to get groceries, pick up my dog, do lesson plans, wash clothes.  I was exhausted from the hiking and went to bed early.

           

The next day I made sure to spend lots of time with the LORD.   I realized how much I missed Him.  I missed communicating with Him and reading His word.  I missed my time to worship him.   After spending two hours with GOD I felt peace.  I felt like my relationship with him was restored.   It feels good to feel his presence in my life.    It was like breathing fresh air.

This trip showed me how important it is for me to maintain my relationship with GOD.   I don’t want to ever “miss” my Savior again.

~Sunny :D