Some new things have happened since my last post: I started Seminary school (Liberty University) and I have started my growth group with MyChurch. Some amazing things have happened, and although my plate is full, it is all with things that I am so excited to be a part of.
I am a students again! I am so excited about that. I really expected me to slide back into that old mind set in my under-graduate years, and yet, it is not that same.
I have learned so much in just the past couple of weeks from my lesson. I am currently taking Old Testament Orientation. I have to tell you, I have never been a bible student (unless you count the six weeks in third grade that I attended a Christian school). All of this information that I am learning, has given me such a new found respect for the Old Testament. When I previously read the OT I really couldn't understand much of it. I understood most of the stories, Psalms, and Proverbs, but really I felt that the New Testament was what I really enjoyed more. Now, I am just so interested in the OT. I would have never imagined the amazing things I have found in my studies. The most rewarding thing so far is how much I am learning about God.
God's mercy is one thing that I have learned so much more about. The Israelite's would continuously turn away from their Father, and yet God is always there to take them back. He wants to love them, and show them His mercy. His arms are always reached out for them, and He is ready to bless them. They would turn and worship foreign pagan gods, and not respect anything that the LORD has done for them.
When thinking about this, I wonder how would God's chosen people be so quickly to turn away from God and towards these foreign idols that our Father is so adamantly against? Then I realized that although our modern society of Christians would look down on any other Christian turning away from God to worship idols, we have put things before God. Isn't that in essence idolatry? I think it is.
There are many times that I have found myself too busy that by the end of the day, I haven't read my Bible at all, or stopped to talk to God. We tend to be so busy with the things that God has blessed us with (jobs, friends, children, food, etc) that we forget to thank and praise the one that gave it to us. We start getting too comfortable in our nice life and forget to realize why it is so comfortable. This has really had some influence on how I chose to spend my free time. I am not going to say that I will never be too busy again or that I won't forget to read my Bible. But what I will always keep in mind, is that although the stories in the Bible are from the past and many of the same situations are not the same, we still have something to learn from the inspired word of God given to us from the prophets. We would not still be here on earth if there wasn't anything for us to learn from the Bible and from God's inspired words.
That is just one of the things that I have learned so far from my studies. It so far has been an amazing ride, and I can't wait to tell you more about it!
I do not know where God is leading me and the reason behind going to Seminary school, other than that I really felt that I was called to go, and after everything worked out so perfectly, I knew it was in God's plan for me to go. But, I am learning so much, and I am leaning on God more than ever. He has become my firm and steady rock in every situation.
Living alone, and dealing with life on my own has been difficult after everything settled down. But I praise God for this gift that He has given me, and I praise Him for the journey He is taking me on. Life has become so amazing, and on my worst day, I still have God, in whom, I can share all of it with. That is the best part of my life right now. I am so excited about this new year, and the many things that I will learn and grow from in it.
