ECHO. Echo. echo.

I will admit, I was creeping on my boyfriend's [two months later, and that is still super weird to say :)] sister's Facebook, which led me to her blog tonight. I honestly have no idea why I began this process...I think I went to write something on Andrew's facebook and then got sidetracked, never ending up writing on his wall-and I can't remember what I was going to tell him.  Anywho, I ended up reading quite a few of Ashley's blogs and scanning the ones that I was too tired to read. 

It's funny how when God wants something known, He will use every mode of media available to get His point across. My mind has been consumed with two thought paths lately....and every song, Bible verse, random note, sermon, television show-EVERYTHING- has reiterated these two topics. Ashley's blog did just that....I began tearing up reading one of her entries-baffled by how God uses random instances to express the words that my heart has been longing to hear...to voice...for quite some time now.

On the flip side, God isn't the only one that echoes His point over and over again until we choose to listen to it...and then continues to repeat it. Satan does as well. Satan echoes what he wants us to hear until we eventually break down and believe it. That's what I used to be sure of anyway, or atleast, that's what my life showed. Now, however, I am not so sure that he echoes only until we believe....I think he also stops if we get a bigger force to scream over top of Him. Satan's voice will keep persisting like the annoying little cricket chirp when you're trying to sleep until you listen to it....or until it is deafened by God's love alone.

 Each time we hear something like "Follow me" "You're beautiful" "You're Worthy of Love" "You're forgiven".......you are sure to hear "No!, Come with me, look at the fun you will have" "you're not beautiful yet, but I can get you there" "You can never be loved! Are you kidding?!" "Forgiveness?! You've screwed up too much". 

Our heart can't believe both sides of the echo at once....we, instead, must tune our ears to hear only the Voice of Truth [insert Casting Crown's lyrics here]. 

It's a battle....but the truth is, we are promised victory.

Much love & Prayer

Verb: It's what YOU do

I am an extremist personality. It's hot or it's freezing; it's sunny, or it's pouring down rain; it's all the way up, or it's all the way down; it's super exciting, or its dreadfully boring....that's just the way I am. You can ask my mom, she was constantly telling me to stop being so dramatic while jumping from one extreme to the other when I was growing up. 

This extreme personality plays a huge role in all of my relationships, including mine with God. I like to have all of the control...or give Him all control while I sit back and watch him work....yet, I have just recently realized that that isn't always the case. I have to let Him do what He does best...but I also have to do my fair share of the work. [once again, I still really have no idea what this looks like] 

My best friend and I have been reading through the Bible in a year: today while I was reading, I realized all the verb usage. [I'm an English major so I pay attention to these things...] We are now reading in 2nd Kings and wow...there are verbs everywhere! The people are constantly doing things. One man wanted healed, yet instead of God just snapping his fingers and healing him, God instructed the man to go bathe in one of the seas. The people were praying to an end of famine, yet God did not just beam food down from the heavens, the people had to work for it. 

There are so many situations in my life that I am constantly praying about while seeing little to no response from the Everlasting God. I am constantly praying for Him to move....yet I am learning that sometimes [probably many times] He is asking me to move instead. It's not enough for me to pray that something changes, I also must listen for God's direction on how to bring about that change. For example, one can pray for God to allow them to drop 150 pounds...but they aren't going to lose the weight just sitting on the couch praying....they must get up and move. 

I must move and trust that God will move also. The end.

Lord move in the way that I've never seen before. Out of this state of complacency into a world where I fellowship with thee. Lord move or move me.