His words are enough

It will be one week this evening. I finished reading BLUE LIKE JAZZ, by Donald Miller on the plane ride here. It reminded me of the tug of war I often experience as a Christian in a post modern society. The tug of war of balancing standard and free grace, knowing by the latter I am sustained and yet by the first I am held accountable. Then in our devotional, Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon there seems to be this reoccuring theme of allowing God to be my complete portion despite circumstance. And then, I picked up on an antique (on my kindle) called, ABOUNDING GRACE FOR THE CHIEF OF SINNERS, by John Bunyan, and in this, even this afternoon, I have been reminded that God is sovereign, and in his sovereignty he gives us easy things and he gives us hard things...but neither can make and break us. Only the giver himself should have that power. Not the gift. It reminds me the importance of speaking truth to myself moment by moment, which deductively reminds me to be memorizing scripture.

All that to say, this morning, I woke up and starting thinking how strategic these nuggets of truths are that were sent my way. They seem random and disconnected but no, they have proven to be perfectly connected. Because they have appropriately spoken to me in every situation this past week. I cannot begin to explain the situations, but inevitably almost in quotes, I have recalled lines from each book. That moment in Arenal for example when Matt and I were waiting for Tony's tour bus, thinking we had screwed ourselves... I remembered Spurgeon's words regarding circumstance and not allowing it to affect our joy and that faith cannot be grown with out experiencing trial. When I was debating on jumping in the waterfall with Matt because it was freezing cold and it couldnt be safe... I thought of Donald Miller and his encouragement to live in our liberty, instead of calculating everything we do...swimming in the waterfall has been my highlight of everything. Honestly, I could go on and on. A final example, at lunch time today, Matt came to me and his head was spinning from class. He had a headache and he wasn't sure he could go back, and he opened his email and we received an email from Greg (father in law) reminding him to medidate on Phil 4, verse 13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

Gods words are not just perfect, they are timely, and even though they come through several channels they always align with his word in the bible. It is a beautiful thing to learn that by experience and not just read it in a book.