Encouraging words.

"Just wanted to remind you that you are an amazing young lady. I know working out the details of things is difficult, but you are already a step ahead of most because you know who you are: a woman of strong conviction, compassion and faith. What you are to do can be a complicated question but it is a lot better place to be than being confused about who you are. You are an exemplary young woman of great character."

- Lisa

Dating Delilah

My friend Cameron let me borrow this book called Dating Delilah by Judah Smith. It's all about purity and it's fantastic but since it isn't mine, I can't really write in it or anything so I decided to type up all of the things I want to highlight or underline and keep it here until I'm able to find my own copy of the book.

Notes/Quotes:

• Lack of purity affects intended influence.
• We do not have to be a product of the culture.
• Young people consumed with Christ and His convictions are the only hope for tomorrow's church and tomorrow's world.
• Our decisions have widespread influence and our compromises are hurting the future of our nation.
• We serve the God of the open coffin. We serve the God of the open tomb. It doesn't matter how far we've strayed or what disease we've transmitted. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and purify us. (1 John 1:9)
• God can take us out of a place of desperation and restore us to His purposes.
• God knows where we've been. He is familiar with the coffin that we have been laying in, but He is calling us to sit up because He is has intentions to take us elsewhere. It is time to be obedient and respond to our faith, and sit up. Sit up and speak up.
• "I was not willing to remain silent while my peers went to hell."
• Purity = without mixture. God's original intention was for man to be without mixture. Get decontaminated.
• "All of your efforts...are like Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves up with leaves. You might be trying to cover yourself up with cool designer leaves or multicolor leaves. It's still just leaves. Stop trying to make yourself holy."
• "Jesus loves you the way you are so He can make you into the person He wants you to become."
• Jesus isn't only the lover of our soul, but also the Perfecter of our faith.
• If God commands us to do something, He will always provide us with the grace and the ability to carry it out.
• Purity is the restoration of the image of God in you.
• "Don't you know you are the only Jesus many people will ever see? In compromising your lifestyle, you forfeit your capacity to accurately reflect God's image and endanger an entire generation's understanding of Jesus."
• "You must decrease so He can increase. You must go to God seeking His divine enablement and invite Him to help you live blamelessly. You must make it a priority to spend time seeking God with the purpose of better understanding His character and allowing His spirit to make you more like Him in your thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

2 Chronicles 32

I woke up this morning with a bit of an eery feeling and immediately started crying. At first I thought it might be because Andrew is leaving today but then I started thinking about how I'm going back to Ithaca in the fall (Yes, I'm going back...but that's another long story) and that made me sick to my stomach.

So I prayed for a few minutes and opened up my bible to 2 Chronicles 32. Which, initially, I had no intentions on reading. But God is good, and He urged me to read these pages, so I did; and boy am I thankful. :)

The bible I was reading out of is big, old, orange, and falling apart. It was given to me the day I get saved, nearly 6 years ago, by my youth pastor at the time and it is the NLT version. It is also a Student's Life Application bible which brings me to the point that there is a little excerpt on 32:1-8 entitled "Trusting God" that initially caught my eye and caused me to read this chapter. The excerpt says:

When King Hezekiah was confronted with an Assyriah invasion, he made two important decisions.

(1) He did everything he could do to deal with the situation, and (2) he trusted God for the outcome.

When you're faced with difficult or frightening situations, is this your pattern of action?

This spoke directly to me. I have been in the process of making a plethora of different decisions over the course of this semester, actually this entire year. It takes me a lot of time and persistent prayer to finally make a decision in order to be 100% positive that I have clearly heard from God and that I am taking the right steps to fulfill His will for my life.

Side note: Once I began reading the chapter, 32:5 mentions "supporting terraces" and ironically enough, I lived in the terraces at IC last semester, and that is most likely where I plan on living again in the fall. Although this verse is talking about how King Hezekiah reinforced these terraces and manufactured new weapons and shields to prepare his army during the fight against Assyria, the mention of the terraces reminded me of how that was my safe place in Ithaca. I felt comfortable there, and I had a support system of a couple of great friends. Living in the terraces was also how I came to meet one of the most God fearing, encouraging people I came to know at Ithaca: Jensey. She became one of my very best friends, and I'm so blessed and thankful that God put her in my life. Next year, Jensey and I plan on living in the terraces together again, with rooms right next to each other. Her plan is to be in a triple with our friends Fion and Sam; who will also be great encouragements to me while I am there. So that right there is something to be thankful for, a support system of Godly Christian women.

32:7-8 says:

Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of

Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side!

He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the LORD our God to help

us and to fight our battles for us!” ...

I think that verse basically says it all but it was a reminder to me that God is on my side, despite how it appears sometimes, and despite how it may even feel. God has a plan, a purpose and a destiny for my life and He doesn't expect me to fight my battles alone. Actually, He plans on fighting them FOR me as long as I trust in Him and rely on Him for strength and courage. The devil has been trying his best to come against me lately, and even though he seems efficient and operative in his works, God's power and authority is SO MUCH GREATER and God can't be defeated by anything or anyone because He is all powerful.

Stomp the devil under our feet!

32:10-15

King Sennacherib Assyria sends a message to Hezekiah's people questioning God and mocking their faith and trust in God; saying that He can't rescue their city and trying to convince them that they are being deceived by King Hezekiah. That is what the devil has been trying to do to me lately: he has been trying to take away my trust in God, and instill a spirit of fear and worry inside of me.

God will defeat our adversary. And I am so thankful for that.