Seeing His hand

This semester has been a whirlwind, and honestly I can’t believe it’s November. Where has the time gone?!? Even though this year has gone by quickly there has been a statement that has been popped up a few times, “Make sure to use wisdom in the situation”. The other version I have been hearing as well is, “It sounds like you have been using wisdom in the situation”. I know as christians we often hear those two phrases or something closely parallel to them, but what exactly is “wisdom”? Dictionary.com defines wisdom as “the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight”. However, I am still scratching my head when I read this definition, so I took time to look up what God has to say about wisdom.  As I used my study Bible to do my research I realized that the Bible has a lot to say about wisdom. Proverbs 3:13 says, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understand...

How is it that you created this world that spins endlessly? That you chose to breath life into a body of  shame  and scars?  Of emptiness? These eyes lost in the sea of life, With memories that haunt and mock.  A heart that feels mangled by hopelessness. Yet, the crickets burst with song,  Praise adoring your name.  Butterflies soar with  majestic  beauty,  The skies radiate with clarity,  The sun rains down its warmth,  It doesn’t seem right,  That w retchedness  has life.  There is a sense of adoration that fills the air,  Love envelops this worthlessness in worthiness.  Why?  Did this body deserve it? These hands of disrespect.  Feet of treachery.  Voice of shame.  A body full of regret.  This worthlessness has…. life? How? You walked a rugged road,  Died without a fight.  Were rejected and scorned....

I am entering into my last and final year at Texas State University. I will be graduating in May of 2017. Sitting here typing this article I am thinking about the change I endured over the last three years. Change was the word I took hold of as I prepared for the upcoming school year. I declared that I want this year to be my best yet. So, before heading off to my leadership retreat I made a few subtle changes. I highlighted my hair, got new different glasses, and a few new articles of clothing. In doing these things I was a bit scared. I was nervous of what others would think about these new changes. Yet, I shouldn’t have. Those around me gave me compliments, and those that are close to me gave me good feedback on why a little change is good. All the feedback fueled me with a bit more confidence in the small changes that I was making. Then, at my leadership retreat I learned a lot about spiritual change. I was shown how I needed to evaluate my relationship with Christ. And during th...

What has this summer held for you? Has it held moments of exhilarating highs, or did it hold unbelievable lows? Were you challenged beyond belief, or were you able to relax? Well, I must say that I was challenged. Challenged in many ways. I saw God using my co-workers to bring out the worse in me as well as tears of laughter.  At the beginning of the summer my boss asked me to write down three goals for the summer that I could be held accountable for. However, I was not anticipating my co-workers to challenge me beyond what I wrote. One of the biggest challenges came when one of my co-workers had a dream that involved me on the ropes course. She began yelling at me while I was at the top of the pole setting up the element because I wasn’t connected to the lifeline that was above me. She was constantly yelling, “Victoria! You aren’t connected to the lifeline!!! You need to hook yourself to the lifeline!” Now, when she told me this dream at breakfast the next morning I just kin...

I have a personal goal that I want to work on this summer: to accept my weaknesses and learn what God has to say about them. The apostle Paul writes “ that is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am stron g” (2 Corinthians 12:10). One of my weaknesses is perfectionism. I have personally known this about myself for a few years, but it didn’t hit me about how evident it was in my life till someone called me out on it. For me perfectionism is defined as, “If it’s not done a certain way then it’s not right”. I am very particular about certain things. However, another friend of mine told me, “it’s a good thing you want certain things right because the other person isn’t looking at the situation the same as you are”. She was able to show me that perfectionism isn’t always a bad thing. In addition, in 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul writes, “ But he said to me, ‘my grace is sufficient for you,...

Romans 8:35 states, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” A fellow church member read this verse during worship recently and it was like water to my soul. This past school year was a very stressful year. Yet, despite the stressfulness of my junior year, God has been reminded me that he is with me every step of the way. The upperclassmen years (junior and senior years) are supposed to be hard because you are taking your major and minor classes. My major is Communication Studies where I’m focused on how people communicate in given situations. For example, family communication is different than small group communication, and interpersonal communication is different than relational communication. Each of these classes there have been some tough moments, but God has helped me fight through them. Moving forward, this year, my junior year, I had to fight for the grades I wanted, and from doing ...

As humans we don’t like it when our plans change. We have multiple ways that we react to a change of plans. We either, throw a fit and have a bad attitude, or we take it in stride. Over spring break I was doing some reflecting and noticed how many of my plans changed over the years since I have graduated high school. I can see how each of the pathways I had created for myself proved to be a dead end. Here are two examples. I went into college with the idea of becoming an actress, and for many people they understood that because my passion in high school was theater. I loved the way I could put on a different mask with every play I did. It was great being able to step into another world for a few hours. I thought that I would be doing that for the rest of my life, stepping into someone else’s shoes for others on a stage, but God changed that. I still love performing, but God showed me that theater wasn’t where he wanted me. He pointed me toward a different degree my sophomore year....

One of the many attributes to being a child is learning to listen, becoming obedient. As children we are taught to obey our parents, elders, and teachers in whatever they tell us. However, we do have our rebellious moments in which we later realize we should have listed to our elders when they try to advise against an action. Furthermore, just as on earth we are to obey our surrounding leaders, we are also to obey our Heavenly Father. Yet, as Christians we tend to struggle with this concept no matter our age. “But I gave them this command: obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you” (Jeremiah 7:23). God spoke this statement through his prophet Jeremiah to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. During this time God’s people had turned from His statues to the things of the world. If His people would have listened to what God was speaking to them they could have been saved from the death and des...

February is known as the love month. When one thinks of the month of February they can’t help thinking of Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s day is the day spouse's show their significant other just how much the other means to them. They go to expensive lengths to do something special for the person they care about. Christmas 2015 Sadly that isn’t the case for me. I am a single college student. My days revolve around school, my fraternity, church, and my relationship with Christ, and you know what? I have started to accept it. I have slowly begun to see why being single is ok. My cousin actually taught me this. There was a day she was talking to me about some personal things in her life when I said the statement, “You sometimes have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.” And as I laid in bed that night I realized that statement is something that needs to be playing out in my life. Throughout the semester I am overly stressed out about many things,...

5,4,3,2,1! Happy New Year!! 2015 has come and gone. I don’t know about you, but for me this past year went by in a blur. It honestly feels like just yesterday that I rang in the 2015 year, and now all of a sudden it’s 2016. Now that the New Year has arrived how do you hope the New Year will go? Have you written down a list of New Year’s resolutions? Are you planning to make yourself bigger and better than last year? Instead, why not focus on giving this year to God. Wholly and completely. Instead of making that list you think you are going to keep, write down a list of prayers for the upcoming year. Reaching toward the one who created me. One of my prayers that I have for this year is to just let God be in control. To learn to trust him in a greater context and allow his plans for me to come alive in my heart. Do you ever wish God would just tell you exactly where he wants you to go? That he would send you a scroll with where he is taking you? I do. As a college student I ...