"Perspective"

Hello!

My name is Megan, and I'm blessed to be one of the four young women who share the bathroom of blessings - not to mention, blessed to be living with the other three girls. I have considered posting many thoughts on this blog since Christa created it, but I usually didn't because I hadn't taken the time to introduce myself yet...so here I am!

First and foremost, I am a Christian. I love Jesus (never as much as He loves me!), and I want every part of my life to be oriented around him, even as I struggle to live out my faith with any fullness or consistency. Yet, as I am learning, it is not about what I do for Christ but what Christ does through me, so all I can do is try not to get in His way as he uses me, broken as I am.

Beyond this, I am a very deep thinker, and I experience life deeply. This means that most of my blog posts will probably be rather deep. Thoughts about God and life and relationships and how they are interconnected tend to pop into my head throughout the day, and I'm happy to share them with you if they're your cup of tea.

I am blessed that some things in life come naturally to me, but in general, relationships has not been one of them. Learning to build quality relationships of all kinds is something I've had to work at, fail at, and keep trying. Because it is not always so easy for me, however, I spend a lot of time thinking about it, and I get excited about every step of progress. If you ever struggle with building quality relationships, perhaps my posts will be helpful to you.

If you can comment on my posts, feel free to do so, and even to disagree with me! I always like to be proven wrong if I am genuinely wrong. I also love to hear other perspectives. Perspective is one of my favorite things!

God bless you, and let me make a suggestion: try counting your blessings, as we have been in our bathroom. It will help keep you encouraged and help you see where God is working in your life.

Soli Deo Gloria - "May all glory be to God alone."

Megan

"Warm Sunshine on a Fall Day"

James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Fall days around here aren't always the prettiest. Often, we find ourselves walking to classes under a gloomy sky, and in temperatures that are just slightly too cold. Today is a day very much like that. As we near the end of Fall, it is very likely that a snow storm could be coming soon, and as I picked a blessing to write about today, this one seemed especially appealing. As I think back on this Fall, it was quite beautiful: not too much rain, clear skies, comfortably warm. Now, we are beginning to find ourselves at the end of such a beautiful season. Will we still be willing to write blessings on our wall in regards to the weather? Will we still want to acknowledge that God is in control of the skies, and that knows what He is doing?

Thinking about Fall got my thinking about all the seasons. Winter is typically long, dark, cold. Spring is fresh, new, alive. Summer is hot, bright, sunny. But what is Fall? I often associate Fall with change. The leaves are changing colors, people are going off to school, and the lazy days of summer have changed into the fast-paced routine of life itself.

The girls who write blessings in the bathroom have been experiencing a Fall to remember. Change has been one of the only constants we have seen this semester. In the midst of changing majors, the changing relationship statuses, and the changing weather, life is happening. Life that God planned. Life that God loves. Life that God directs. Change, itself, is a gift. God knows what He's doing, even when we don't. Our world, our changes, our lives are in His steady, unchanging hands.

Dear Creator of the Universe, help me to trust you. You are in control. While my life is changing, you remain the same. Help me praise you through all life brings. In my precious Savior's name, Amen.

"Warm Showers"

Revelation 22:17 "The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." (NIV)

What a strange concept, to start this blog at the end of the Bible, but I thought this verse would relate very well to the topic of "warm showers". Usually, the image of a college shower is not the cleanest. I usually picture my experience last year: a community bathroom, old tile showers, hair all over the floor and walls, drains that won't empty fast enough. Well, luckily that is not the kind of shower I have this year, but I still think it is safe to say that showers are not always clean and fun. Most young children hate showers or baths, and why is that? Perhaps, they find it too painful to get soap or shampoo in their eyes, all the dirt and mud from playing outside that day comes off, the idea that play time has to be interrupted to take a bath, and sometimes it's just uncomfortably too cold when they finally get out. So, have you found the correlation to a warm shower and the beautiful gift of God's never ending forgiveness and grace?

We are in college. We face a ridiculous amount of temptations every day. These temptations appear fun: parties, un-Godly relationships, staying up too late which causes you to cheat on a paper, gossiping, and a whole host of other things. These temptations are the dirt that we have from playing all day. We do not want to leave them behind to live a holy life through God's free grace. But God, being the loving, smarter parent directs us into the shower. In it, He pours out His never-ending love and forgiveness. This forgiveness, is free, and sometimes it is painful, sometimes we have to get soap in our eyes, but we are cleansed.

Dear Heavenly Father, every day I face temptations, and every day I fall into them. Thank You for the grace which removes my dirt and guilt. Help me to face these temptations as Your child, Your loved, cleansed child. Grant me the courage to say "no" and to bring glory to You in my life. In Jesus' precious name, Amen.

Christmas, Weddings, Babies... Oh my!

To start things off, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Christa S. I have two wonderful parents, and 2 beautiful sisters. Sandi is 21 and Angie is 16. I am smack-dab in the middle at 19. Both of my parents are teachers in Lutheran schools, and the church has been a huge part of my life. Growing up, I thought for sure I would be a teacher, and I was studying music education for my first year and a quarter here, but as of yesterday, I am officially Parish Music, not music ed. I want to work primarily in a church someday, bringing glory to God by leading His people in His praise. I play the piano, the organ, the flute, and I love to sing. I cannot imagine my life without music, both traditional and contemporary, broadway and country, Pop and classical... all of it!

I have the most wonderful family, not just with my parents and my sisters, but also my Grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins... you get the picture. I have had some very close friendships throughout my life, most of which, unfortunately, I've let slip away. Here at the University, I have created such deep bonds with some wonderful women of God, and a few men too! God is truly working in the people around me to show me His love so much more than I could have ever guessed.

I have had one boyfriend. Jon and I dated for just over a year and a half, 1/3 of which was spent over 400 miles apart. Through our relationship, I learned a lot, some of which may end up being reflected in some of my meditations. (I figured having that background would be important to women in a similar life situation to mine).

Now, finally.. Why the title of this post "Christmas, Weddings, Babies... Oh my!"? While trying to think of something witty to put here, all I could think of were my three favorite things. I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. I love the carols, the general wave of goodwill that is felt in December, the time off of school, and most importantly, knowing that Jesus loves me so much that He would come into this world just for me. Weddings are just beautiful. Really, what little girl doesn't dream about the day she will get married? Well, I'm still dreaming and still find them to be beautiful especially with the hope of a Godly (but never perfect) marriage to follow. And babies, I find incredibly irresistible. I tend to be very motherly and cannot wait to rock my own kids to sleep, or be packing lunches, and cheering them on at sports or recitals.

My life verse at confirmation was 1 Corinthians 13:13... Look it up... My desire to connect to love will probably be reflected quite a bit in my writings.

A prayer for as many blessings in your day, as are on our bathroom wall.

A humbled sinner redeemed by Christ's precious blood,
Christa

Who would've thought?

How it all started?
From the very beginning of the school year, we had been writing our shower times for the next morning up on the mirror with dry-erase marker, so as to avoid a traffic jam of us all needing to shower at the same time. About a month into the school year, we realized we could write fun things on the board too, not just shower times. I suggested we each try to write one blessing in our lives each day (just for a week). By about the 5th day, the mirror was FULL! It was time to think of a new place to remember all our blessings. We decided super-sticky post-it notes were the way to go, and we would post them in our toilet room (separate from the shower room, so the humidity is not a factor). Now, after about one month, our bathroom is covered in pink, green, blue, purple, and yellow post-it notes, each of which brings a smile to my face.

What will happen now?
The blessing wall has been such a great daily reminder for me (and the other girls) of God's unending love for us, His desire to show us that love, and the hope we have in each new day He gives us. We want to share it with you. Hoping someday, to compile enough small meditations based on one blessing and a Scripture passage that relates to said blessing to create a book. These meditations will be reflections on life as female college students, and EVERYTHING that being a female, in college, and a Christian can mean.

Who are we?
We are, as said before, 4 Christian women attending school at a Lutheran university. I will let us each introduce ourselves in a post later on.

Don't Forget: Every day is a new, beautifully wrapped present from God, our Maker, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier.

A humbled sinner redeemed by Christ's precious blood,
Christa