Spring

I couldn't be more relieved that the prime spring is finally here, and it appears the last of this cold and rainy weather is behind us. The past few days have been filled with all sorts of wonderful things for me, such as disc golf and hookah to name a couple. It's the best when you get to experience God's creation in it's most prime form of 73 degrees and sunny, in my opinion. Getting to disc golf yesterday with my friend Grant across the beautiful rolling hills of Manhattan was incredibly surreal in itself. It really does make you appreciate the beauty in the little things that God has put into nature. One of my favorite things is being able to enjoy His creation with my brothers and sisters in Christ, whether that is through getting a bunch of people together for a game of ultimate, or by just grabbing a blanket and relaxing out in his creation wherever that may be. I feel like through nature, we can really experience God's peace and beauty in a captivating way. My heart always seems to ponder and grow closer to the Lord by just observing all he has given us even in our sinful world. All of the little things in nature seem to form together to make something truly beautiful, and I believe that God has created us to look deeper into his creation, not only in nature, but into our own lives as well as others. Life really is a beautiful creation, as sinful as our world may be.

Has it really been over a year?

Well, I guess I haven't used this in longer than I thought.

I guess you could say a lot has happened to me in the past year, and God has definitely been teaching me something, as He always seems to be.

The thing that has been on my heart specifically this morning is how much I hate losing people I care about. This pains my heart more than anything else. People are my passion, my friends are my passion. One of the things God has called me to specifically is ministering to people through building stronger relationships with them. I feel led to love others as Christ has loved me, and am stricken when I see relationships or friendships fail. The pain involved with losing a friend or someone you deeply care about is the most painful thing for my heart, and it has happened to me before. It can be hard and painful to try and repair things with those individuals in our lives, it can put out great heartache in knowing that you may never be able to repair things with that person to where it is completely normal like it was before. For some people, the pain will always remain even long after the end of the friendship or relationship. As painful as it is, we just have to trust in the Lord's guidance and love and trust he will lead us to greater things either with or without that person in our lives. Either way, losing someone we care about can be incredibly hard to understand and hard for our hearts to comprehend. The thing I have found that works the best, obviously, is keeping my heart in the Lord and trusting completely in Him. No matter what, He understands our pain, and will deliver us from it and into better things that are glorifying to Him. My prayer is that wherever God is leading you, that you would follow wholeheartedly, and if he removes someone you are close with from your life, trust in Him that He will guide you always, and that He has your best interests at heart. He loves you, and He will be glorified in you.