After a long silence, she speaks!

Thank you so much for being patient with my long silence. I have had such a lovely break and found the thought of writing a blog a little too much like writing an essay assignment. Forgive my lack of dedication. ;) The downside to not blogging is there is so much to catch up on! This may end up being a series of blogs we shall see…

God has so richly blessed me this break, I am in awe of all the little ways he continues to show himself strong and faithful while I am still weak and fickle. My first quarter at Western completed, I felt accomplished but slightly depleted spiritually and emotionally. I left Bellingham with a couple issues I really wanted to bring before God in depth: a couple friends weighing on my heart and an emotional struggle with relationships in general. My hope was that God would illuminate what the next step was and how to pray deliberately in advance. He is so faithful! With the freedom to spend as much time as I wanted with him, came the answers and insights I was hoping for and I’d like to share a little bit with you so that you too can be praying. Without going into pride demolishing details, God gave me a glimpse of the spiritual war going on in my dorm that I had fallen prey to; lies I had believed. By showing me where I, an active Christian, had gotten tangled up, God pointed out how much more the non-Christians in my dorm are struggling.
*Author’s note: The following might offend some of my more conservative Christian readers with its charismatic leanings.
I fully believe that there are demons that perpetuate a certain emotional response such as “fear” or “hatred.” As I was praying for Edens, I kept getting the word “loneliness” as the prevalent spirit. The second name I got was “fear of rejection.” In a dorm of young adults, the need to fit in and be “accepted” is so strong. Whether it is the desire to have a girlfriend/boyfriend or just fit in with your peers, this need of acceptance overrides all rational thought sometimes. As I prayed over this battle I realized that if Satan can get us all wrapped up in trying not to be lonely, we will miss God’s unconditional love and acceptance. I would love your prayers as I go back into the battle field with this knowledge. I cannot wait to battle alongside my Father and pray against these spirits by name. I am very aware of how susceptible I am to the lies they spread and recognize that I can do nothing on my own but darned if I’m going to let that intimidate me! Prayer and speaking God’s truth are my weapons and I cannot wait to see what He will do with my willingness to serve him!

Switching subjects slightly I must share another blessing God has given me over this break. I am taking another overly full load of 18 credits and this quarter there are many more books than I had to buy last quarter. If anyone reading this has ever had to buy books for college you will know that each books cost a pound of flesh! It is beyond painful. Even with Half.com and Ebay at my fingertips, the grand total took more flesh that I wanted to give up. I didn’t even think of asking God to provide for me, I just dipped into my saving and complained a lot. Ah foolish me. Between babysitting an amazing little six year old, selling my own books online, and receiving generous checks from my grandparents, God more than covered my books for this quarter. How I wished I had asked him, so I could have been looking for this blessing. As it is, I just did the math last night and realized how unexpectedly he provided for me. He is so good!

Between times with God, I have spent this break catching up with friends over coffee. Volunteering at the Care Center and finally meeting a little baby I have watched all through her nine months growing and developing. Swing dancing until the wee small hours of the morning and working for my surrogate grandfather. Though it has been a very full three and a half weeks, I have enjoyed every minute. I am returning to another full class schedule but so looking forward to it! I will keep you all posted of what God is doing and what adventures my classes are taking me on. Thank you for your prayers and love!