Psalm 119: 8-9
"For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living."
I was doing my blue book today (which, if you don't know, is a really awesome devotional made by a Young Life staff guy out of Nashville), and these verses were part of my Scripture reading today. I LOVE this picture of what the Lord has done for us. Jesus didn't come to make bad people good, or good people better; he came to bring the dead back to life. This is such a great message as I'm preparing my heart for the World Race. I'm writing this post outside of Starbucks on a glorious day in Burlington, NC. I feel like college has been such a bubble- a very necessary one- but a bubble nonetheless. Being in such a comfortable place brings up thoughts of
Wait… How can I actually do extreme ministry in third world countries for a year? I know nothing.
I was reading Donald Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and he talks about this wealthy family who moves to the middle of nowhere Montana to live in a tiny house and farm their own food. It was obviously hard in many respects, but, really, it was also a lot simpler. In times of extreme desperation, I feel the truth of Psalm 119:8-9 more than any other time. I remember that I can't earn the Lord's love by any amount of good things that I do. I actually feel that deep seeded hunger for the Lord. I remember how much I need him, how I am absolutely nothing without him.
I am looking forward to physically feeling that need every single day, because when I'm walking across the most beautiful campus in the country, I forget the reality of the extreme brokenness of the world. And in turn, I forget about my own brokenness. I forget how much I need the Lord.
Obviously my time at Elon hasn't all been like that. I have gone through a TON of spiritual growth. And I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything else. The Lord has done amazing things in my heart because of where I am. I just know that it will be a bit of a reality check, but a very very good one that I am BEYOND excited about!!! I can't wait to be reminded daily that I can't do anything to deserve or earn the life that I have been given.
