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Friday, December 26, 2008

Romans 9

So I read through Romans chapter 9 and to be honest at first I was a little disappointed with how little I got out of it...at first.

The main point of this chapter is pretty obvious as you are reading it:
Sometimes we just need to accept God for who He is. He is God and who are we to disagree with Him? Who are we to question?

Pretty straight forward right? However how many of us actually go trough life with this perspective? How much of our stress and our worry would melt away if we could truly accept that God is in control and we just need to listen and follow?

Monday, December 22, 2008

Bummer no more Romens

Well I'm a little bummed. The Church I'm attending while in Iowa has decided that all of the women's groups are going to do Ester for the new year instead of Romans (which our group had chosen in its own.) I think Ester will be a good study and fun to do since its Beth Moore (it will also be pretty intense it has 5 days of home work per week.) But I was really enjoying Romans. I don't know when exactly we are starting with all of the holidays here but until then I'll keep doing Romans on my own.

New Years...

So what am I going to do? A New Years resolution? Goal? Huh.

I think I'm going to do a resolution, but not the typical " I will lose 10 lbs by summer" or "I will do devotions everyday" Its going to be stated very simply but the way it plays out will hopefully be intense.
I'm going to take care of myself this year Mentally, Physically and Spiritually.

So what does that involve? Well pretty much everything. I want to make sure I'm taking care of my body by not polluting it with foods that are bad for it and chemicals that arn't necessary. I want to get active again like I was a few years ago (climbing, kayaking, hiking...humm I need something to do in the winter.)I want to make sure that I'm communicating my feelings and emotions with those around me so that we can work together to have a healthy relationship. Most importantly I want to change my relationship with God. Scratch that, I want a relationship with God. I want the desire to talk to him everyday like I want to talk with Ryan. I want a lifestyle change, I'm expecting some big things to happen this year and I'm excited!

But I guess why wait for the new year, I'm going to start now!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Flashes of Hope


So last night at the Go Fish concert I stumbled across something pretty cool. Its called Flashes of Hope and its a not for profit organization that does free photo shoots with kids who have cancer or some other terminal illness. Then they give the parents a free leather bound folder with two 8x10's and a bunch of 4x6's as well as the CD with all of the pictures! How cool is that? It combines two of my passions cancer awareness, and photography! I haven't done a ton of research yet but surface level this seems awesome!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

How are you? (1 year later)

I've gotten this question twice today already. So here it is, overall I'm Great, today I'm a little on edge. I'm actully doing quite well but I've noticed the little things are getting to me more than they noramaly do. To be honest I have a lot of things going around in my head but I'm really not in the mood to type right now. I don't know how to put my thoughts down on paper. Just know that I've been blessed over the last year and Mark is healed. I'll try to write more later...



...Later

So the reason I didn't want to type earlier is because I feel the need to write something 'insperational' and amazing for you all to read. But really its just life as normal (at least for my crazy world) around here, so I don't know what to tell you. Mark and I always took life one day at a time because that was all we were guarenteed. That is still how I live life, I can't go back and change the past and I'm happy with where God has brought me. I've learned many things and am much stronger than I was 4 years ago. I know this is a sad day but honestly, Mark would want us all to look to the future not the past. Remember him yes, but don't cling. Remember he was healed and that is all any of us had hoped. It may not be the way we wanted but how many times does God have to show us that his way is not ours and he knows what is best.


In HIS Grip,
Amber

Friday, December 5, 2008

Not buying things is hard..

There are so many cute things out there and so many good sales!



I've already seen a coat I really want and one of my favorite stores (REI) is having a great sale!!! Oh well I havent died yet

Romans 7

A lot of the girls were confused about various parts of this chapter but when you got us all together we figured it out (at least from our perspective.) But then again I guess that is the point of a Bible Study.

So here we go. So right of the bat there is controversy vs 1-3 talk about marriage and some of the old laws related to that. However if you continue reading you will see that those verses are being used as an analogy about getting out death to sin and life with Christ. I personally find that this is a set of verses that are too often taken out of context to further someones agenda. There are verses in the Bible that speak to marriage and divorce and the rules for them, however this is not one of those places, here it is simply being use as an analogy. When you read vs 4-6 you can see the purpose of the marriage analogy. We have died to the law so that we can be belong to him and the "spirit of the law" not the written code.

Vs 7-12 again says how sinful we are and how much we need God. This is a reoccurring theme in this chapter and well worth it since as I've said before it is the basis of my faith. I am a sinner and because of that I need Jesus to save me. Vs. 9 is interesting to me because it is basically a summery of chapter 5. and Vs.11 reminds us that it is an everyday battle against sin.

Vs. 13-25 can be confusing but I think Nikki said it best "we need to defy Satan every day."

Humm so there you go!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Romans 7 Postponed

The homework from our Bible study leader was to write down out questions about the chapter and bring them in. She thought it was a pretty confusing chapter and wanted us all to help each other so...I will post tomorrow with my questions answers and revelations.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Lords Prayer

So I was praying this morning and decided to go through the Lords prayer and pray 'the way we were taught'. While I was doing that I realized that I was doing something wrong so here it goes:

Matt 6:7-12
7"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

English Standard Version from Bible Gateway.com

So where did I go wrong?

Three places, first of all in verse 11 it says "Give us this day our daily bread," wow do I fail here. I pray and desire for so much more than just my 'daily bread.' I don't think this is evil or bad per say but it does make me wonder why I can't just be happy with what I've got when I have so much?
Second, look at this paragraph nowhere in it does it ask for my wants or my desires it says "Your kingdom come, your will be done." Who am I to believe that my desires and dreams are better than God's ?
Lastly, how often when we pray do we remember to thank God in our prayers for all of the blessings? I don't nearly enough, I'm always asking for things.


So what do I take from this?

First of all I need to work on being happy with what I have. This doesn't mean I can't buy new things or anything crazy. But it does mean that I need to take time and inventory all of the blessings I do have and not take them for granted. To do this I'm going to do something that I've tried before and never been successful at. I'm going to not buy anything new and un-necessary to sustaining life (meaning I can buy food and such) till after Christmas. Note, I can buy things to do (movies and activities) so that I don't become a couch potato. But I want to live for a month without anything 'new' to try to drill in the fact that what I have is enough and is a blessing.
Second when I pray I'm simply going to pray for Gods will for whatever the situation is. I don't want to pray for my will to be done because my will may be wrong.
Third I'm going to work on praising God for all of the good things in my life (this goes with number one.)

Well this should be interesting, I don't know if I really convayed my thoughts clearly here but I tried, hope it makes sense.

In HIS Grip,
Amber