Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Interruption



So I’ve been trying to write a blog post for the past 4 hours. I sat down with my laptop in my bed and some Emily Wolfe playing trying to brainstorm what I was going to share with you. I had nothing. Nothing that I felt lead to share. Just as I started to look through my bible for inspiration my roommates came home and I lost my train of thought. It was totally okay though! I loved hearing about their days and learning more about their personalities everyday. We talked about classes, jobs, people, and life. We decided to Photoshop a picture of Shelby to see what her hair would look like blonde and then I decided to Photoshop my face onto a photo of Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum… hahaha this is the result. 
ANYWAY, I feel like this quarter has been so full of interruptions. Things have just gone so many different unexpected directions. I am not able to control everything and I am okay with that. At the beginning of this quarter, I made a list of 14 goals. 

One of them was to be open to God’s direction and where He could be placing me in a single moment. I’ve really been focusing on that. I need to be open to taking a break from my sociology reading to listen to different friends vent about their present living situations and listen to them stress about next year’s living options. I need to be able to take time on Monday nights to council children with addicted parents or children who are going through cancer treatment. I should be joyful to take a break from job applications to sing vocals for a worship CD.  These were all unexpected interruptions, but they were all welcomed. The thing that I have come to realize is that all of the necessary things that I must accomplish in life will get done. Somehow they will be accomplished. I might have to stay up later than planned and rearrange my schedule but I’m okay with it if I am helping others when I put my stuff aside.

Two weeks ago at Ekklesia, Garret talked about Mark 2. Chapter 2 starts with Jesus just heading back to His home after performing different miracles so He could rest. His followers followed Him home and interrupted His recuperation. When Jesus came upon them He didn’t tell all of them to leave, He started to teach them. He saw this interruption as an opportunity. There was a paralytic man who was brought to Jesus by his friends. Unfortunately, the crowds were too large for them to carry him to Jesus so they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus. The whole idea of the sermon was that we should do anything that is necessary to get to Jesus. The piece of his sermon that really resonated with me though was the idea that Jesus is never too busy to be interrupted. I think a lot of the time when I have things that I can’t handle in my life I don’t give them up to Him because I am afraid what He will do and that He will be too busy to make something of them. Wanna know what I found out? He is never too busy to be interrupted. Because of that fact, I never want to be too busy for someone to come and interrupt me with their life.

Some of the things that I have been “interrupted” (that’s in quotes because when I say interrupted I mean taken away from my own schedule and not Jesus’) with this quarter have tested my patience; others have brought great joy, and others I am still wondering what their meaning was. All of these things have taught me so much and I hope that with letting people interrupt me I can interrupt them too. Interruptions aren’t always bad. I think that Jesus speaks to me a lot through interruption. Let yourself be interrupted. And if you ever need anything, please, interrupt me.
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Monday, January 6, 2014

Winter Quarter 2014 Goals

Tomorrow is the start of my 5th quarter at Western Washington University. I am excited, nervous, and not fully prepared but I am praying for God to make the day His and let everything go smoothly. I want to make this quarter the best one yet. I want to develop into the person who God wants me to be. I want to establish relationships that he sees fit. I want to invest my time here right where he wants it to be invested. So to maybe help set me on the right path for that I have made some goals. Here they are.
Goals for winter quarter. 
  1. Read all of Acts. Take notes, look stuff up, reread if needed.
  2. Make a solid dinner once a week. 
  3. Go see an academic  adviser. 
  4. Apply for the Student Admissions Representative position. 
  5. Feeling okay to not hangout with everyone all the time. It's okay to do your own thing and take a break, Alli.
  6. Talk to God more and rely on him.
  7. Do laundry once a week. Thursdays?
  8. Blog once a week. I'm gonna try to do Monday nights!
  9. Walk to class and eat only when I'm hungry.
  10. Call someone from home once a week or write someone a letter once a week.
  11. Keep a prayer Journal.
  12. Look for God and look for opportunities where He is placing me.
  13. Go on adventures and admire God's creation. 
  14. Listen for God.
 I feel that with these goals I will be starting on the right path of seeking Jesus more. I long for him and I can't wait to see what God has for me this quarter.


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