Jesus is my passion

Today at House Church we were taking a look at Joshua and looking ahead to the coming year. We sang the song One Pure and Holy Passion. The words to the song reflect my prayer for my life this next year.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in the truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

Jesus, my life is all about you. This next year I desire to know you better, to follow after you in all I do, and to grow as a disciple of your truth. You are my passion.

Praying the truth

Psalm 119:28-30
My soul is weary with sorrow;

strengthen me according to your word.

Keep me from deceitful ways;
be gracious to me through your law.

I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set my heart on your laws.

These are the words that I am praying for myself right now. They depict how I am feeling right now and what the Lord is doing in my life.

Stand in awe

Habakkuk 3:2

LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

I do stand in awe of the Lord. Here are some of the ways that I saw the Lord today:
Riding my bike home, I was surrounded by the beauty of the Lord. The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze. It was glorious!
I had some great conversations with people today and could see how the Lord took care to make each of us unique and special.
On my run this morning, I was able to spend some good time talking with the Lord.
I saw the Lord as I opened my Bible and read His words.
I know that He is here; I know that He is real; I know that He is with me.

Lord, I have heard of Your fame and see it around me everyday;
I stand in awe of You and all that You do.
Lord, continue to show me Your great deeds that You do around me,
May You be known today;
May Your mercy shine in times of trials.

One thing I love about Sundays...

...is my Bible study with my mom and sister. My mom, Carina, and I have been doing a long distance Bible study together since I moved to Ames. Most recently we have been studying Beth Moore's Praying God's Word book. We read one chapter during the week and then "meet" on Sundays over the phone to discuss it. This has been such a great book as we learn how to pray scripture over ourselves and others.

I really love the time that I get to spend with them as we share our hearts and what God is teaching us. It is such a fun journey!

School & Prayer Request

Today started another semester. It amazes me that I am starting my third year of grad school. On the one hand it feels like I just got here and yet sometimes I think that I have been here forever.

My goal for this semester, other than my three courses and current research projects, is to figure out my dissertation research topic. This is a HUGE prayer request. I ask you to pray that I will be able to find a topic in which I am interested, a professor with whom I can easily work and who will guide me in my studies, and a way to be funded through this project. Ideally I would like to be working on a project that is similar to what I hope to do long term. My interests are in survey statistics with application in a social, education, or health field.