Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it

I have four more hours of waiting in Charles de Gaulle airport before my flight leaves for America.  I wish I could say I am crying because my adventure is over, but the sad emotions have lost to those that are excited to see home.  (Plus, Christmas is around the corner and what is better than that?!) I don't know where to begin in recapping my travels through France and Europe.  I am more than grateful, and I feel fulfilled in a weird way.  I have this mental checklist in my brain and save for one or two things I've always wanted in life, it's nearly complete.  It's weird to say that at the age of 23, and to be able to look forward to the unknown chapters.  We shall see what that has in store. May I leave you with one last quote from Eric Ludy that seems to perfectly sum up what I have found to be true in this past season: “We believe that the true Christian experience is epic and grand, a sort of Jane Austen meets Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings . It’s deeply pers

It took about two solid months before I could step outside of my house in Chamb éry and not be overcome with culture shock.  It was a feeling of an immense amount of vulnerability.   "Oh   yeah...I'm in FRANCE,"  and I  didn't have the simple security of a cell phone either.   This is my last week here and I realized I finally feel at home, but the hole in my heart for America grows bigger still. After this semester abroad, the false sense of security I've lived under in the US has been exposed.  I've been sitting under the covers of my bed all my life to try and protect myself from tragedy.  (Though as an aside, I have no country or place in mind yet, and God could very well call me to live in Nebraska the rest of my life. If you happen to find out, let me know.) My next thoughts went as follows:   "If I am to live radically for Christ (whatever that might look like for me) I cannot be scared of people nor the enemy of this world."   God

The previous post about Advent was a decoy...deterring from my heart and what was actually going on.  Now, I owe it to you.  I'm going to be simple, blunt, and ooey-gooey. God is constantly reminding me of my need for Him.  To expound on the verse I had posted previously, He sometimes subjects me to frustration in order to find me curled up in a corner (literally, I'm in the corner of my room by the heater), angry, frustrated, and at the end of myself. Sometimes He has to subject myself to my own frustrations so that I might learn my need and how to depend upon Him more, and more, and MORE. "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."--Romans 8:20-21 I found myself dealing with heart issues of years gone by today.   "Hey, I thought I got rid of you

I've been thinking about the Advent season lately.  Christmas is my absolutely favorite time of year because it gives me plenty of new perspective on the incarnation.  Perhaps this may assist you as well. ad·vent   [ ad -vent ]   noun 1.  a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:  the advent of the holiday season . 2.  ( usually initial capital letter ) the coming of Christ into the world. 3.  ( initial capital letter ) the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world. 4.  ( usually initial capital letter )  Second Coming. So we continue to wait, even after His first appearing.  The Bible even tells us the world groans with eager expectation.  Even the world cries out in earthquakes, floods, and storms to be reconciled under Christ. "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.   For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own cho