Pride?

“Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself.”

-Jonathan Edwards

I’ve begun, in my praying, not just talking at God, but talking WITH Him- which means listening too.  When I get upset with someone, I remember (sometimes it takes QUITE a while to remember because I’m hanging on to frustration or anger) to ask Him, “What do I need to know about this situation/person/myself?”  He many times shows me His compassion for them, how He loves them, what they need…BUT ALSO He has shown me my pride.  While I cannot control them or the situation, I can control my reaction to what He shows me.  I can repent.  I can be humble. I can remember that I fail at living the life He has called me to daily…but also remember that He is SO QUICK to forgive, love, heal, and restore me.  If only we could all be that way toward each other all the time…this world would look differently.

Because of all this- I began a couple months ago ask Him to root out the PRIDE that is so deeply entrenched in me.  I’m such a work in progress.  I’ll be sharing some more of what He’s teaching me in the near future.

Here’s to being refined.  Have you ever dared to ask Him to do that?  Because I think it’s something only He can do.

I Will Wait For You

Why?  You ever find yourself asking that of God?  It’s not a bad question.  And I believe He can handle it.  How often does our “why” have a whine-y tone to it too?  360 days out of the year, I’m content…really, I am…with my singleness.  If you know me personally, you know I’ve been able to do things in the past 4 years that I NEVER could have had I been attached.  But I’ve got my seasons of “whine-y-ness” like the next person.  But here’s some truth that will help combat it in us both.

1- The other night was LADIES NIGHT!!!  The fellas were off having man time and raising the bar for them as a community.  Conversation ranged, but you know that the topic of singleness WOULD come up.  How could it not??  One lady shared about a convo she had with God that sounds a lot like one I’ve had too!  It goes something like this…

Us: Why am I still single?  Where is he?  This isn’t the life I originally thought I’d have… etc etc.

God: Well pray for him.

Us:  in the middle of other things we ask of God for him, we say “thank you that you’re keeping him for me”.

God: “Do you suppose he could be praying this too?  And you’d like that right?  And I wonder if that’s why you’re sitting here complaining to me about your singleness-I’m keeping you for him?”

2- Another lady from that night sent this video to us.  Can you handle it???  Ladies and Guys- Be Encouraged and Challenged

Don’t Wanna Waste My Life

Lecrae’s “Don’t wanna waste my life”

If you wanna check the lyrics (he’s fast!!!), visit:

http://www.lyricsbay.com/dont_waste_your_life_lyrics-lecrae_f_cam_dwayne_tryumf.html

The Good Shepherd

How do you make a decision?  Put your yes on the table, ask the Good Shepherd to guide you, and check Scripture to see what it says.

Yeah, but it doesn’t say “Heads Carolina, Tails California” (shout out to all you country fans out there that actually got that).

So what do you do now?  Gather the facts (because if you actually did, you could probably make a wise decision anyways), seek Godly counsel, and look back to see how He’s led you so far.

So when I did that, my heart and emotions were torn, but all three seemed to be pointing towards moving to California.  What’s a girl to do?  Well, in my case, it has looked like selling or giving away everything, packing what I needed in my car, and relocating to the Bay Area, California.  (This tells you a little bit about the job).

I waited a week between accepting the job and announcing it because in my little human mind I figured that allowed God time to redirect me as even Paul had to be redirected at times.  That never came.  But D-day did…the day I had to start letting people at Clemson know.  I woke up, had to start a new journal because my last one had been filled the previous weekend, and opened to page 1.  It’s a great journal…it’s green…which makes it amazing by default.  But it also is the kind with pre-printed Bible verses at the bottom.  Yeah, God has a funny sense of humor…this time, His humor comforted me and left me in awe.  Hear the purposefulness of a personal God (and He feels the same way about you too!)…the verse was Psalm 23:1- “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

End of the year- a new chapter begins

What an incredible year this has been!!! Clemson is an incredible place with a ridiculous amount of ministry going on! I am floored by getting to be a part of incorporating the campus FCA with true athlete ministry. We have set several things in place that fulfill Clemson FCA’s goal of “Loving God- Loving Campus” within the arena of the athletic department! There is now an athlete ministry leadership team comprised of 20+ athletes from almost every team. They are gonna be used of God to rock their teams, the athletic department, and this campus!

As for me as an FCA staffperson, however, this has been a very abnormal year. All the other FCA staff in our area have moved on from their time with FCA. Between that movement and the economy, funding for staffing has be lacking. As I look at the ministry needs here objectively, I realize that my strengths matched the need when I arrived, I could meet the current need, but it currently would be better suited to someone else’s strengths. All of this comes together to help me in my decision to accept another position within FCA that is exciting, yet sadly would take me away from Clemson. I will be moving to the bay area (San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland) in California to serve several high schools and colleges. As the door has opened to work there, I have wrestled with the decision, realize that my strengths are needed there, and the position pursued me…all things to seriously consider. I feel blessed to get to remain with FCA as it has had such an INCREDIBLE impact on my life and countless others! I just got to attend the 2nd annual college conference as a Huddle Leader and watch 180 college athletes from across the nation get sold out and grasp their influence. Can you imagine the ripple from things like that?!?!

I’ve been asked what the job description would be…so….the area is only 4% Christian. Talk about being a missionary in your own country. Therefore, the mentality is to hit the open doors and use each staffer’s unique strengths. That means I will spend 1-2 days/week with a handful of highschools to relieve the other campus representative. My unique addition to the team is that I am female and my sport is soccer. The rest of the week would be spent with college and professional female athletes. FCA has presence on multiple college campuses in the area. Also, women’s pro soccer has launched in 6 cities, one of which is San Jose. That should tell you a little something about the soccer community there. There is still a need for the position to be fully funded and that will be a part of my job still, but I will have teamwork towards that. (If you would consider getting involved in that part, please let me know.) All this has happened so fast. I hate that I have not been able to call all of you who have been friends to me through this journey. The intention in coming to Clemson was to be there for the long haul. This doesn’t make sense, yet also makes tremendous sense all at the same time. There’s so much more I would love to share with you…please feel free to call me as I am journeying…and new posts will be coming soon!

For such as time as this

As you can well tell, it has been 3 months since I last wrote. Honestly, I was afraid to because there was so much change going on around here with FCA, I didn’t want to mis-speak. But I was recently convicted…it’s as if God was saying, “I’m up to some incredible things around here and because you’re afraid of how stuff will sound or what it will look like, you’re not giving me the glory I deserve for the cool stuff going on”. Yeah…that = slap in the face and a reality check and a “Yes sir” out of me.

So here you go…to catch you up on changes…bottom line…everybody that was on staff with FCA has now left for various reasons, and I am now the only FCA staff member in the area. This has posed a challenge in both things to do ministry-wise and in funding. Not sure what that will end up meaning for this area or me, but He has finally brought me to such a place of peace and rest about it! I have wrestled…”God what do you want for FCA here?!?! What is my role supposed to be?!?!” I’m sure many of you out in the working world have begun to have the same wrestle as the economy slides and jobs are threatened. Many of you are college students also…wondering what is the next step for you. This is what He has laid on me in that regard:

“Marla, you are seeking after my yet-to-be-revealed will. How are you doing on my already-revealed will? Loving me and people with everything you are…knowing me and making me known…being Spirit-filled? Are you seeking my hand or my face…making my will an idol in your life?”….. how bout you? We are each where we are today “for such a time as this“.

There’s nothing like watching God take His people, no matter how amazingly or little talented they are, and blow a place up! So to brag on Him…a few things I’ve watched the past 3 months. 400 students and student-athletes decend on St Louis, MO and share the love of Christ over spring break. 25 of our students serving as Huddle Leaders at the FCA high school state retreat. Pick of the week- where campus FCA decends en masse on athletic events in a way that has impacted athletes, coaches, AND support staff. Why Jesus?…an event put together by students in multiple campus ministries that rocked our ampitheater. I get to watch multiple students and student-athletes serve the youth group at my church and lead kids weekly. And something I personally am very excited about, adding “Athlete Ministry” to the leadership team within Campus FCA…I got to watch our athletes talk about their desire to love, serve and reach their teams and our athletic department last Sunday night! You’ll be hearing more about that!

And these are just a few…and not to mention all the things He’s been teaching/leading me through. So here’s to living out loud…today. Chances are, we live in a generally safe enough country and live relatively comfortable lives…However, you’re not promised tomorrow…and we weren’t called to lives of comfort. And there are days we all (if you’re like me) have amnesia. Make war on that today…”FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS”!