Posted on

God’s Unending Love and Amazing Grace

“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought, because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He is right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you”

Deuteronomy 31:6 MSG

 

Sometimes we feel lost. Other times we just feel like God isn’t present at the moment. While reading Deuteronomy tonight I was reminded, that no matter what, God is always with us and he will always be with us. Just like he promised Joshua when he was called to lead the Israelites across the Jordan River to the promised land. God will never abandon you. Call on him and he will be more present than you ever imagined he could be.

 

Tonight, before I sat down to read my Bible, I felt like God was just observing but he wasn’t speaking to me. I started to call out to Him: “Are you listening? What do you need from me God?” I then realized, I wasn’t opening myself up fully to the Lord. I started listening to one of Hillsong’s new songs called “Touch the Sky.” It’s such an amazing song. We sing it at church almost every Sunday. As I listened to the words, I began to weep. The words of the song made me realize that I have to be living in God’s presence in order for God to be present. I have to fully offer my heart and soul to Him, and let him lead, in order to fully know Him.

 

I prayed my heart out asking God to speak to me when I sat down to read my Bible, and He did. God said to me “I never left you!”. He was always there. I just wasn’t listening. God knows all of our wants and needs and he is ready to fulfill them at any moment. He’s listening and waiting. All you have to do is ask.

 

In the Old Testament God was loving to those that were loyal. In Deuteronomy God speaks through Moses telling the Israelites that he will destroy any man that worships other gods. He was not as forgiving as He is now. When God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, He did that so that we will always have a chance. So that we know we are always forgiven. God sent his son to death so that we will be forgiven and Jesus willingly died for our sins. There is no man I know that is willing to die so that I will be forgiven. We are so lucky to have such a loving God. A God that forgives us and shares his unending grace. I am so grateful to have such an awesome Savior; we all are. I am learning everyday about God’s unending love and His passion for me as an individual. I learn through small things some days and on days like today, I learn through bigger lessons.

 

God never stopped loving you and He never stopped listening. God is just waiting for you to call out to him.

Posted on

Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Nomad

Every week I tell someone somewhere what my plans and goals are after I am done here in Zürich and every week my plans seem to change. I do not know what I want to do or where I want to end up, because truth is I want to end up everywhere and do EVERYTHING. I want to see more things and do more things and the more I think about it, working and living  in a new country every year is, in my mind the best way to spend my early adulthood. I want to work and travel until I am so tired that I decide to mosey on home and make a life for myself there, if I find a place to truly call home (which right now is where my family is).

 

Paris, France October 2014
Paris, France October 2014

I know so many people that are graduating Uni and getting degrees, that may or may not be useful and, even though I would love to go to school and get a degree, I know that in the long run I won’t really use the degree to its full potential. Instead, I will probably continue on with my nomadic life and maybe return to school after I have kids and they are grown up and out of the house. Almost every person I graduated high school with went on to try and accomplish something bigger and better through college that can provide what they need. I consider the Earth my giant classroom.

 

Innsbruck, Austria December 2014
Innsbruck, Austria December 2014

Each step of the way I am learning something new, not only about the culture and environment of the countries I visit, but also myself. I have learned to fly by the seat of my pants, survive off of $50 for 10 days and I have also learned that I am absolutely and passionately in love with everything to do with having a nomadic life. There is something amazing about being alone and on my own. Traveling alone has allowed me to be completely 100% in my own head. I was so frightened of being alone when I first got here and now that I have learned the art of emotional writing and stress management, I cannot wait for the moment I sit down on that train or in that plane and just sit and contemplate. My ideas and wants and dreams float through my mind and I am usually writing them down after a certain point, making list, after list, after list.

 

10956993_10206133062749253_8533294053771472185_o
Malaga, Spain February 2015

From the first time I set foot on an airplane, I realized, that if I did nothing but travel for the rest of my life, I would be the happiest person on Earth. At first I figured that it was just a pipe dream and that it would never happen, but that was when money meant everything. Back then, my frame of mind was all about picking a career that would make me the most money. I never stopped to think about what I could do to make myself happy. I know now that I have found my calling and passion. I have to live in the here and now while I am young. I can’t worry about what everyone else is doing or thinking.

 

1490603_10206169765346795_789985476939437874_o
Lucerne, Switzerland February 2015

I was so proud of myself when I finally made my dreams of coming to Europe happen. I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I thought that I would just take a year to be Au-Pair and travel and after that year I would go home maybe go to school. With this, I would be happy and content. The thought of going back to Seattle makes me want to shed tears of joy and angst. I know that seeing my family would make me happy, but now that I have experienced the world a little more, I feel that traveling is just as much of a family member as my sister is. I know that if I were to go back home and have a normal everyday job I would be so completely empty and bored. I would not know what to do with myself.

 

11038472_10206725986731982_5481738671383613217_n - Copy
Lugano, Switzerland April 2015

That’s why I have decided to take another year here in Europe and just live my life and make myself happy! I am currently looking all over for a job. Germany has a lot of beautiful cities, but tomorrow I know Ireland will be just as appealing. My season here in Switzerland is almost up and I feel that in my heart. It is both sad and happy. I have made so many friends and I have had so many fun experiences. I wish I could go back and do it all over again. That’s why I am finding a new country to do it all over again in. I want to make new friends, keep the old, share my joys and experiences with them and, who knows, I might even be sharing from another continent next year … but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.

 

little rascals

Posted on

Finding Grace, Happiness and Self Worth!

I am so new to this so please share your thoughts and advice!

Recently I have started a cover to cover 90 day bible challenge, and boy is it a challenge! I will say first off for me reading my bible from beginning to end is not easy. I often forget. I get distracted and I really have to remind myself everyday to read my bible so much so that I have taken to just carrying my bible with me everywhere I go (which is not a bad habit whatsoever). Through this journey though, I have already learned so much about patience and kindness and the love God has for not only me, but all of his children. I have really been working on myself and my thoughts my habits and also what I put into my mind.

I love reading and so the reading part of reading my bible is really great. The discipline of sitting down and reading is another thing, but through learning that discipline I have learned to have a lot of discipline in the rest of my life. I am able to control habits I wasn’t able to before. I have come to realize in the few weeks I have been reading my bible god has worked in me even if the text that I am reading that day does not speak to me directly.

In the process of cleaning up my mind and what I put in it, I have started listening to Jeff and Alyssa Bethke’s podcast. I have been following Jeff’s videos and Facebook page for a while now and I was so excited to see that they were so high up on the list in the Christian podcast category on iTunes. They have such a great mentality on life and happiness and gods grace! I have learned so much from them and because of them I have started to look at life so much differently and more positively.

Alyssa co-wrote a book with Robin James Gunn called Spoken For that has seriously inspired me. It’s written for girls and women, but is really for girls between 13-18. As a 21 year old though I have really benefited from it. They write all about how before time God had already claimed you as his own. You don’t need the love of a boy or a girl or anyone at that, because God loves you and he always will whether you are following him or not. I have been so extremely inspired by this book and its taught me a lot about the self love and self worth that I never thought about before!

I am extremely excited about God’s work in my life and I will continue sharing not only about gods love but all my happy travels throughout Europe and Switzerland!