test Me now in this...

I can't get Malachi 3:10 off my mind...

I know what you are thinking, not the typical verse to have running through your mind. Its kinda like saying I have Leviticus 4:19 on the mind, but really the book is amazing!

You should stop and read it right now if you never have! (its only four chapters, one of those books that makes you feel real accomplished because you can read it in like 20 minutes, and then you are like, hey I just read a whole book of the Bible..in the unboastful sort of way of course!)

Anyways, Malachi 3:10 says "Bring the WHOLE tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows."

WOW! Did yall know that was in this Book! I feel like God is just constantly putting in front of me pictures of the sacrifices He desires. I emphasized WHOLE because God doesn't want a part of your offering, He wants the whole. He doesn't want part of your life, He wants the whole. God is a total kinda God.

For those of you who were at breakaway the week Ben talked about Cain and Able know that God also desires our sacrifices to be our first fruits. I have been challenged to ask the Lord what are my "first fruits"? He has shown me that praying at night right before I get in bed, after I have checked my email 3 times, made sure I don't have a message on facebook, checked the blogs for new posts, washed my face, brushed my teeth, talked to my roommate, and checked the weather for tomorrow is not my first fruits. When I put Him behind all those frivolous things, that is giving him the wimpy vegetables. I am giving Him the bruised apples. But I have also learned that "first" doesn't mean the first thing you do in a day. I used to try and do my quiet time first thing when I got up...I thought that was my first fruit, but again sleep was conquering me. I was like "Lord...what is wrong, I am trying to sacrifice for you." Then He showed me if I would just take a shower first I would be so ready to meet with Him. My first fruits then were when I was most attentive and awake enough to hear from His Spirit.

Its not just about sacrificing our time...i mean as an extremely wealthy compared to others but think I am "poor" college student I would much rather give God my time than to sacrifice my money. But I think this Malachi verse is specifically talking about our things. I mean it could apply to a multitude of things, but it has really convicted me about money. God says bring the whole tithe into my house and TEST ME...see if I don't provide for you! This is the one time in the Bible God asks us to test Him. He is begging us to just test Him in our giving. We should not be scared to bring the first fruits and whole sacrifice, we should desire to test him in this.

The reason we should not be scared is that God says He will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing...WHOA...that's a lot better than opening the window at McDonald's drive thru and having them pour out your food on you...God wants to open the windows of heaven! Do we not get to see the windows of heaven because we would rather rely on ourselves and settle for the McDonald windows?

I dont know about yall but I would much rather see the windows of heaven open than this drive thru window open with a woman in a visor reeking of french fries smell asking you if you want ketchup to go with your fries. It just blows me away that our God is a God would desires to open up blessing for us. He does not ask us to give of these sacrifices so we can be empty handed and live without. He is desperately crying out to us to test Him to see the kind of blessings we can only see when we give in such a way that we cant rely on ourselves to provide. I know I have a lot to learn about sacrifice. I am still holding on to part...I have a hard time giving the whole, I still give Him the extra fruit I have lying around, but God is at work. And I hope to one day live in the freedom of constant dependence on Him testing Him in my giving. He is worthy of that test...

My Spring Break Highlights!

So here are my amazing spring break highlights in a somewhat sequential order...

1. Watching the Lord paint a beautiful sunset over Lake Travis in Austin with 3 great friends.

2. Getting peer pressured by my typically low maintenance sister to get my eyebrows waxed with her for the first time.

3. Watching a dear family friend, who I like to call my cousin, marry his beautiful bride.

4. Having amazing car conversations on the road to and from Vidor, Texas

5. Experiencing Vidor, Texas in the daylight (I had only been there at night before!)

6. Taking a swim at night in the cold gulf in Florida...which was as I liked to say, "strangely exhilarating"

7. Sitting outside on a BEAUTIFUL white sand beach with a good book and great company

8. Getting really sunburned, but not really tan at all...

9. Riding the waves on a boogie board...i just love to boogie down!

10. Drinking crisp limeade on the porch overlooking the DEEP blue ocean and listening to the crashing waves.

11. Walking up and down the beach trying to avoid "jellies" (which for those of you who do not think like me that is what I call jelly fish...ryan is so cute he was like, "I have never heard them called "jellies" before, rather than saying, "you are a freak...no one calls them jellies!)

12. Getting 2 holes in one on a really fun put-put golf course

13. Stopping in New Orleans on none other than St. Patrick's Day...enough said on that one!

14. Stopping at Mulats (a restaurant in Louisiana) and getting a TRUE Cajun experience right down from the pecan pie to dancing (sorta) to the Zydeco music!

15. Back in Vidor...eating a bowl of raisin bran looking out into the beautiful vidorian woods and listening to Ryan play the piano...it was pretty much perfect!

15. Peering through binoculars to watch Eagles...no not the band, our national bird, with a bunch of vidor locals.

16. Witnessing a bunch of people be obedient to the Lord and get baptized!

Yep that is only 16 of the amazing things the Lord allowed me to experience this spring break. Oh Praise Him!

(p.s. unfortunately i do not have my cord to transfer pictures from my camera to my computer, so i cannot post any pictures, but you can always give Ryan's facebook a gander if you want to see the visual representation of much of my spring break!)

Sighing...

"Lord all my desire is before you; And even my sighing is not hidden from you."
-Psalm 38:9

I wish I never sighed! No I am not talking about the sigh of relief when you realize you haven't locked your keys in your car or you didn't actually forget your calculator for your midterm (Math majors have that sigh more than others maybe). I am talking about the sigh of discontentment. I am talking about the sighing of dissatisfaction. I think that is the sighing that David is talking about here. The sigh I let out when that interaction with someone close to me didn't go exactly how I wanted it to go. The sigh I let out when I feel like no one understands or no one cares. The sigh I let out when things don't go exactly how I planned. The sigh I let out when I hear a lie from the enemy and though I know its a lie, it hurts to hear. The sigh I let out when I am having one of those weeks that I just don't think I am pretty (girls, you know what I am talking about). I never realized I sighed so much until a couple of weeks ago when Christy Nockles shared this verse in Psalms with us. I thought the verse was amazing.

God cares about our sighing. But I think the most incredible thing is that this sighing comes from our inability to be satisfied in the Lord. Everything I just listed shows me that I still am not fully content in Him. The sighing is hurtful to Him...and yet he knows about it. God's will for my life is to be joyful always, praying continually, and to give him thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), I don't see sighing ANYWHERE in there. So i hate that I sigh because I know its not what God desires for me. Though He does not desire sighing; He cares about our sighs. I have been clinging to this verse ever since that night knowing that even when I am not experiencing a time of emotional distraughtness (i made up this word...so i hope you catch my meaning) or deep pain, when it is just a sigh, its not hidden from Him.

The ironic thing is a sigh is meant to be hidden. It's a sigh because its not something worth fully verbalizing because if you did, you know it would sound stupid and petty, it's just a sigh...and yet its not hidden from Him. God is so amazing! His love is so perfect and so intimate...i mean if someone can hear my sighs, He is pretty darn intimate with me. I think the beauty of that is that when I realize He hears my sighs, I realize I have no reason to be sighing. David reminds me in this Psalm that there is no area in my life that God doesn't minister to. So I put on thankfulness for this love that is so perfect and so deep. And thankfulness is the cure to discontentment which is the cure to sighing...ahh now that's a sigh of relief.

Instant Oatmeal...

There is a beautiful creation in this world that many people neglect to notice...Instant Oatmeal. You might be skeptical of its amazingness...but really it is. Not only is it warm goodness on a cold day and serves as a reminder that life is not all about cold cereal...but it is also a morning milk crisis saver! It is a lifesaver in the morning when you wake up and dum dum dum...there is either NO MILK in your refrigerator...or worse...very expired milk!

It's those mornings that I just fall deeply in love with Mr. Quaker, like I want him to be the father of my children! You see breakfast is my favorite part of the day and cereal is an essential part of that in my life. No milk or sour milk can most certainly put a damper on my morning! But not with Mr. Quaker and his amazing instant oatmeal...just add water and you can have a tasty breakfast without milk! Many nights I lay in bed about to fall asleep realizing I again procrastinated on my grocery shopping and I start to worry about my milk supply...

but then I rest easy knowing Mr. Quaker lives in my pantry!

Things you need to know to read my blog...

well...okay I have never posted anything on a blog before, but I thought what the heck! I created this so I could comment on other people's blogs, but I don't want to be that boring person who has nothing posted on their blog so that when i you click on my name you see nothing...that is so depressing. So anyways, things you need to know to read my blog are as follows:
1. I am not an exceptional writer...in fact the thought of writing a paper makes me want to vomit. Therefore, I will never have a thesis statement in my blogs.
2. I cannot spell...luckily there is spell checker, but if i forget to use it, read at your own risk!
3. I use way to many commas and I enjoy run-on sentences. I like to talk and i usually just write exactly what I would say to people and when I am having conversations I don't pause for a period, so don't expect me to do so in the blog either.
4. I might not really write on here that much...i hate the pressure.

Anyways, i might think of more warnings later, but as for now that's what I got. Basically, if you are one of those people that cringes every time someone uses incorrect grammar...MY BLOG IS NOT FOR YOU!! My advice: to avoid cringes...avoid my blog!