woah!

wows. it has really been a while since i've posted. 

dear blogging world,

i apologize for going AWOL for practically a whole month.

it is truly a tragedy. and i'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long for another post.

now i must catch you up with what has been going on in my life.

well, first off, i started my first college basketball season.

secondly, i was able to go home for thanksgiving. it was awesome to see my family! i love them so much.

thirdly, as of right now, i have only four more days of classes then exams next week. i can see the end people! yay!

fourthly, i am just so excited to go home for Christmas; i can hardly contain it! 

here are just some of my Christmasy pictures...

my tree at home. ain't it purty :)

this is a little what decorating looks like at the carver household...

even charlie wanted to help!

Forgiveness

let's talk about forgiveness.

yep, i said it. forgiveness. *cringe* 

it's something we all struggle with. and if you don't? 
you're simply not human. 

today i was hit, hard. 

i was simply just looking at some blogs, 
and i came across this woman's blog. 

there was a video on one of her recent posts. 
i had some time so i clicked play. 

and WOAH, i had no clue what i was getting into. 
so click on this link, then click play too.

the nato's : a don't give up story

so after watching this video, i read more of her story. 

let me tell you, it's so amazing. 

i'm not a crier, but i was in tears. 

i thought to myself, "if that happened to me, what would i do?" 

and the answer is not pretty. i would most likely be bitter and hateful. 

sometimes i am unwilling to forgive even the littlest things. 

one thing that really stuck out at me was 
when she compared the betrayal of his unfaithfulness 
towards her to her betrayal to God. 

everyday we betray God, and he still forgives us. 

so why is it different when someone betrays us?

ephesians 4:32 (NKJV) says, "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

i am commanded to forgive others because God in Christ forgave me.

romans 5:8 (ESV) says...

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, 
Christ died for us.

even though we rejected Him, 
He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us.

so let me ask you, 
why can't we forgive the little things? or even the big things?

people tend to get bitter. i know i do. 

i'll "forgive" someone, then i still focus on it and get mad.

that's bitterness my friends.

it's funny because in ephesians 4:31, 
right before God tells us to forgive others, 

He tells us to put away bitterness. 

ironic that the two are so closely connected. 

many times our bitterness is caused by a lack of forgiveness.

after i saw that first video, 
i couldn't stop thinking and reading about forgiveness. 

but then i was just browsing online some more, 
and then i came across this next video. 

press play again :)

mhmmm.. can i get an AMEN up in here!

it's so amazing that God would put two videos in my path to teach me this message about forgiveness and further my understanding of it.

what he says in this video,

FORGIVEN PEOPLE FORGIVE PEOPLE

if you are forgiven, you WILL forgive.

i don't know if there is a better way to put it.

i love that he mentioned that quote by C.S. Lewis, 
it's by far one of my favorites.

so please. i know it's hard. but next time someone does something that causes you to say, "nope, sorry, that's beyond forgiving." 

please, please, please, think about how God has forgiven you.

sunday morning recap

here's just a look into my notes from church this morning...

The Woman, The Well, and True Worship

Pastor Alex Tunnicliff

John 4:13-26

- you don't need that sin, what you need is Him

- FIX your eyes upon God

- don't miss the whole point of worship

- engage your heart in spirit and truth in your worship

- it's not just about feelings

- found your passion for Christ in TRUTH

- we're happy that we took the time for devotions instead of being happy 

that we are getting to know the Lord better

- in our minds we make Jesus like us, then we worship that view of "Jesus", when in actuality we are not worshiping Jesus at all we are just worshiping ourselves because 

we made Jesus fit into our mold

(sorry if these points are somewhat vague, and you don't know what i'm referring to; i've found that instead of trying to outline, little bursts of info are more helpful for me personally)

but yeah, the two that stood out the most to me are the last two points..

the first of the two hit me hard. how many times have i just been so excited that i set aside time for God that i forget to be excited about the reason that time is set apart. it's set apart so i can know him better! when i heard this i was like.. "woah, that's so me.." my thought process behind me devos has been totally skewed in the past, but i hope God will change that thinking to what He wants.

the second of the two also made me think. i guess i never thought of this before. how many times do we try to bring Jesus down to our level? we want Him to be like us. so we say we are worshiping "Jesus", but are we really? if we make Him out to be just like us, we are actually just worshiping ourselves. which is NOT good. again, our thinking is skewed. 

i for one, feel the need to definitely pray for God to fix the way that i think about devotions and Jesus.

Fall Lovin'

okay. i'm going to give it to you straight,

i LOVE fall.

like seriously, LOVE.

the leaves, the apple cider, the pumpkin everything.

and until this year, i seriously never knew how pretty trees could be.

i’m so grateful that God decided to give this time of year for us to enjoy.

so please, take advantage of it and savor everyday because it is truly a gift from God.

Thank you, Lord!

Here’s just a few recent pictures to keep the non-facebook fam updated :)

 

            

Christ Alone

so my school is going through a galatians study, so i've been reading galatians for devotions.

the other day i was just browsing on my computer, and i realized i haven't been to shereadstruth.com lately.

so i decided to see what devotion plan they are doing... 

and it just so happens they are doing a galatians study right now too! 

so i'm pretty sure God wants me to be all up in galatians right now.

and let me just tell you-- it's been so encouraging and convicting!

today i read in galatians 3:1-14.

verse 11 says,

now it is evident that no one is justified by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith"

ohhhh mann.. how many times do i feel like i need to be justified by works? 

i think to myself, "you know, i'm doing good right? i've not done anything too terrible."

uhmmmmm... WHAT? 

i am not justified by anything that i have done. i am not justified by my good out weighing my bad. 

i am justified by Christ's blood, ALONE.

as she reads truth puts it... the game of works is over. we are just called to believe and have faith in Christ's work on the cross.

faith in Jesus>works.