claire comes to bama

psalm 139.
you have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar.
okay such a small part of a great chapter.

this is my comfort this week. the lord knows my heart better than i do and for some reason that is comforting. he has brought me this far and he will never forsake me. i was reunited with the most amazing girl in the world today- claire amen. she's finally here with me at bama and i am just so overwhelmed at the faithfulness god has shown me through her. we worked together at frontier last summer, became best friends, and now she's going to the same school as me.. did i mention she's from chicago. that's the cool part. god has no limits so don't try to make them. i am trying to recreate my perception of god, who he is, and what he can do. an all-powerful god has no place inside my closed-mindedness and my boundaries i set for him. he has called us to be free while showing us that we can't put our human weaknesses with his holy strength. with god, perfection and love meet. with him, human insufficiency is masked by divine control. with him, doubts and misconceptions become confidence and truth.

late night talks

why is ak not taking a shower?! ahh she really wants to know.. of course its almost one and we are still hanging out. it has been such a fun night .. one of my roomates birthdays!!! 

the verse i read today was jonah 2:8 those who cling to worthless idols forfeit god's love for them. but i, with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you. what i have vowed i will make good. i will say, salvation is from the lord. 

it's late im sorry this is way lame.

roll tide.

lets roll with this tide
.....first day of rush.. done

and honestly it was so much fun. i feel weird because i actually really enjoyed it. it was the coolest thing this morning because i read this verse that  reminds me of what the lord did for me in my life when he brought me to birmingham and gave me freedom in his love. its psalm 107
" let the redeemed of the lord tell their story-those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south, some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. they were hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle."
and then i was like this is awesome, god has brought me to tuscaloosa and is going to continue to satisfy me. ahh im so pumped. college is the greatest.. the first two days at least

meet helen

this is helen. she was my favorite girl that i was with in new york city. all week we had been talking to them about how there's hope in the lord because one day we'll be with him in heaven. on the last day we were saying our sad goodbyes and she said don't worry i know i am going to see you again. i asked her where? she said first in college at alabama and then in heaven forever. haha i'm so glad that she got the point that alabama is the ONLY college in america.. jk but it was cute.. but what i love more is her hope for eternity. i learned so much from this girl all week. she taught me that there's so much beyond this physical world ... why waste time worrying about our life here. it's like my heart knows that everything here is fleeting, but  i put so much into the here and now that i become so consumed with myself. and now that i'm at college i feel the temptation more than ever to be constantly looking out for myself.. helen reminds me today that there's so many people out there and god's plan does leave room for me to be concerned with me and the false confidence in what other's think about me. 




 " you said all you feel for me is
  undying love.. 
  then showed me through the cross " 
~ Hillsong 


that concept of what god thinks towards me is something my mind wrestles with all the time. at frontier someone told me that the most important thing about you is what god thinks about you. this has become so true in my life because i realize how you live your life depends on how you think god views you. god gives confidence and freedom when you realize he looks at you as beautiful, not just beautiful, but perfect because when he sees me he sees his son. it's hard for me to imagine that his love towards me does not change through my stages. that in no way is it conditional. this very thought that a perfect god is "hopelessly drunk with love" for a broken people is so backwards that i think it can be something that keeps people from really accepting christ. i say that, because it has blocked me. how do i accept a love i've never seen? and that's what i love about the gospel.. it's that everything i've known-- bondage in my life--  is broken with the truth that christ's blood was a substitute for mine. and that block i had with christ's love was removed when i began to realize that the gospel is something not found in this world. i had to accept that to believe in who christ said he was i have to go against the way i percieved myself. it's hard to look at myself as pure and holy in his sight when i know my thoughts and i know how far away i am from him. and to think that a holy god would chase after me to the ends of the earth, that's so far from the way i see myself. he says all he feels towards us is undying love... not disappointment, or anger, or regret.... and he wants us to see this for ourselves and live in the freedom of knowing that our acceptance does not rest on our shoulders but on his goodness. so from this i've come to know that there's not a single good thing in me except jesus.. and that's enough.. more than enough actually

move in day

ISAIAH 33:17
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty 
       and view a land that stretches afar.
ahh im going to miss yall as we move in today!! i love you forever!

i should be in bed.... but i'm not

it's 12:25 a.m. i am sorta kinda finished packing for college?? it's hard to say since i have never done this before. tomorrow, or i guess today, is going to be a huge day! im living with the best girls ever, but it was soooo hard to think about being apart from all my auburn friends.. i wont see them for a month! anyways, it's so hard to keep consistent in my walk with God when everything is so crazy right now but this was my verse from today..
2 cor 4:⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
sweet verse huh... it reminds me that nothing in me is good except for God. he is my power. its such a reminder when things are going good to realize this has nothing to do with me, who i am, or what i deserve. god has so graciously blessed me and i sit here amazed at his faithfulness. 
how about this verse?
1 cor 2: ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
that is beauty right there, that's truth. i am the ultimate example of focusing on what's in front of me and not eternally..i mean come on i am a girl and we can be so obsessed with materials and image that we forget who we are trying to impress.  the lord is who i should be concerned with glorifying, not myself.




it's time to go to bed. kinda sorta packing maybe. tomorrow morning i am in college. roll tide up in here

as long as we're together

:( i had to leave wonderful charleston today. i seriously had the greatest time. this is where we rode a carriage around town. anyways, kinda crazy right now.. i have one day till i move in.. four dress to buy(yes, for rush, i have procrastinated way too much, but that's okay i love shopping).. and plenty other things i need to do. watching the bachlorette now with carrie.. roberto is hawt!!!! anyways, my verse for today was...
  the heart is deceitful above all else
  and beyond cure
  who can understand it?
  " I the Lord search the heart 
   and examine the mind "
   Jer 17:9
this verse echoes my summer. my heart can be so easily ripped in so many directions. i find myself constantly being like is this right? is this god's will? i have to run straight to the lord's arms and his promises that he is going to satisfy me beyond everything that i see. i remind myself what the lord wants is my heart. what does that even mean? i want to forsake everything in this world to taste god's goodness.. because it is good, he's good, he's good all the time. and it's exciting because as im learning to let go, i am beginning to see his wonderful plans for me.. . this summer god's showed me that his plans go beyond me sitting on my butt in birmingham, alabama. i want to know that this lord i am following is going to take me to the ends of the earth to share his love with every nation..scary ya but awesome ya.. 


it's the last night with my sister, why not stay up all night and watch our favorite shows?