Four Seasons

Posted by Morgan
I went for a run this morning and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was pretty chilly, but I loved it. As I'm running through Shimmels Park I was looking at all the gorgeous leaves on the ground and admiring the changing colors of the trees, God literally placed this analogy on my heart and it came to me so quickly that I almost couldn't comprehend it all at once. I was thinking about my favorite seasons, Fall and Spring, and why they are my favorites. And all of the sudden God showed me the coolest picture. The four different seasons are like seasons in our lives. We'll start with Summer, cause that just makes the most sense to me! :)


Summer: As we all know, summers in the south are HOT! Especially in Georgia. Summers can be hot and long and exhausting. Summers in life are the hard trials, the beginning of them. These are the hard times; it's the heat of the fire and the initial start of whatever difficult circumstance is in your life. Sometimes it's full of a lot of pain and tension. I mean, it's a trial, it's not exactly going to be easy.


Fall: Fall is beautiful to me. I love the changing of the colors and the cool crisp air. Fall is the time where the old dies and passes away, but it does so in a beautiful way. It's like the season of life where God is chipped away and taking away the things in your life that aren't good; its the process of dying to self, and it's beautiful. When God is working on your life, yes it will be hard, but it will be beautiful.


Winter: Winter is cold and long and hard, but when it snows, there is beauty. Winters in life are the times where you become dependent on the Lord (or it's where I become more dependent on the Lord, anyway). In winter everything is dead or dormant. Winter can be harsh. It's like a bleak period where, if you are not focused on Christ, it can feel like all hope is lost. It's like when you're sick, and there's that time where you aren't contagious any more, but you have to take those few extra days to make sure the virus is out of your system, well winters are those few days for your life. Whatever God is stripping away to make you more like him, this is that time where you are refined and the time where the selfishness of whatever he is taking away dies off (if you allow it to). 


Spring: Oh spring! Such a wonderful and beautiful time. This is when life begins. It's a new season. After the hard times of winter, new life comes. Spring always reminds me that we are new creations in Christ Jesus. And in each spring of life, you are becoming more like Christ. It's a time of growth and a time of prospering. And spring, is beautiful :)


I hope that makes sense. :) It makes sense in my head, I just don't know if I explained it every well.
Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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An Answered Prayer

Posted by Morgan
So last night was so interesting - and such a God night! This semester has been so different, I'm pretty sure I've said that a time or two, and this weekend is only the third weekend I've stayed on campus all semester. I do really well during the week because I can be so busy and I don't have a problem sitting in my apartment at night doing homework, because its a weekday - that's okay with me. But the last thing anyone wants to do on a friday night is homework. 


So I put on some warmer clothes and went outside for a walk, just to see what was going on. I walked around, called a few friends, who were all busy - I mean, it's friday night, that's expected.  So I'm walking back to my apartment and I was just praying and asking God for a friend. It actually went like this: God, I know there is purpose in this time. I know that you are growing me and changing my heart and my life. But, honestly, a friend would be really great. I know its not something I have to have, but its something I would love. 


Well, as I'm walking by the Sharp-Davis parking lot, this red Mustang is pulling out and I recognize it and smile to myself because I knew who it was. Well, if I've ever tried to lie to you, you know it. Because I'm the WORST liar ever. Especially when I'm asked if I'm okay. Last night was rough, and I was really in no mood to cover that up. Sarah, the precious girl who sits next to me in Marriage and Family class, rolled down her window and asked me how I was, and I said, good...sort of. And she said we should hang out and I said yeah that would be good.


God is faithful and good! I didn't need to sit in my apartment all night, and God provided people for me to hang out with. We went to the sand volleyball courts and I just watched them play. God has purpose in all of this. It's so wonderful and it's so beautiful; doesn't mean it's easy, but God is faithful and his ways are far better than my own. And I'm reminded that God cares about the little things - even something to do on a Friday night! :)


Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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A Challenge

Posted by Morgan
So the other day in chapel was sang "The Time Has Come" by Hillsong United. And this morning I looked up the song on youtube, because I wasn't sure I had it on my itunes. I came up with this video. And it's a live video with clips in between, I think it was done for a DVD or something. Anyway, I'm sitting there listen to these lyrics: 


The time has come to stand for all we believe in, so I, for one, am gonna give my praise to you. Today, today it's all or nothing. All the way, my praise goes out to you. Yeah my praise goes out to you. Today, today I live for one thing: to give you praise in everything I do, yeah my praise goes out to you.


And as these are being sung, pictures of people living on the streets and pictures of people in poverty are flashing up and they intermixed with clips of the band singing and worshipping together with these lyrics. And it was at this moment that I had this thought: 


I want to do that. I want to go and tell those people about Jesus Christ. 


How would I do that? Would they listen? How do I explain there is a God out there who loves them without them saying back to me, "If there's a God who loves me then why did he let this happen to me? Why am I living in poverty? Why did he let me lose my job? Why did he do this to me if he LOVES me?" I was so puzzled by my own thoughts and honestly completely clueless as to how to explain that. 


It seemed so contradictory watching the video of these people on stage singing about giving everything to the Lord and living for the Lord when they are comfortable, clothed, and fed. And then it would flash to the streets and people carrying all of their possessions and people sleeping on the streets. 


I'm not totally sure how to handle all of this. I'm not saying that we have to be uncomfortable in order to serve Christ - that is NOT what I am saying, so please don't take that from this. But I'm not saying that Christianity should be comfortable, because in my experience, most of the time it isn't easy.


I guess I would just challenge you. When you sing songs and when you say things about what you believe, be sure you actually believe it. When you sing about going out and telling the world, do you mean it? When you sing about surrendering everything to Christ, do you really mean it? When you say you live for one thing, are you really living that out?


For me it can be very easy to say that I do these things from the comfort of my home or apartment, while I'm in my air-conditioned chapel, and while I sit here eating cookies. I'm not in poverty, I'm not at risk of losing everything because of my faith, I'm not hungry, I'm not cold, and I have plenty to eat, drink, and wear. 


My challenge for myself, as well as for you, whoever you are, is to ask yourself this: if all of the comforts of the American lifestyle were taken away, would your answers to those questions above be the same? Would you still say "Yes" to Jesus if you knew that once you did, it would cost you everything? Because we know it can, we say we would give it all up to follow him, but would we still say "Yes" if we knew it would? I know we can't fully know what our answers would be because of the reality in which we are currently living; we can't fully separate ourselves from our current reality.


So with all that in mind, watch this video. Your thoughts, agreeing or disagreeing, are welcome and wanted. 


Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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Change in the Making

Posted by Morgan
God is so so SO good. I can't emphasize that enough. He has given me so much confirmation lately. God is changing my heart, goodness, he's changing my life. God has been doing something huge in my heart and life over the past 6 months, and it has been painful, but so beautiful and so sweet. God is beyond good. 


This morning I was talking to my precious, precious friend Rachel and as I was talking to her about some things, she just goes, "I can see the change in you. It's so different now, and it's so good." My heart just soared in praise to God. My desire is for him to change my heart and to empty me of me and fill me back up with him. Ah. God is so so good. He's changing me, I'm still a work in progress (I always will be) but he is working on me, and I know it and I love it. It's all for his glory and his honor. 


Again with the songs, but still, listen to it. It's amazing.
Addison Road is amazing :)

Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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Until the Whole World Hears

Posted by Morgan
Please just let the reality of these words sink in.
I've heard this song quite a few times before, but I was listening to it be sung in chapel today and the reality of it just sunk in and hit me so hard. It's where my heart is right now. I so desire for the world to know the love and the freedom they can have in Jesus Christ.

Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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God is...

Posted by Morgan
God is good and God is faithful. He is the protector, the provider, and he's my friend. He's healer, redeemer, and the forgiver. He has my whole heart. All I am I surrender to him, cause it's more than worth it. His ways are far better than my own. His timing IS perfect [even though I have the tendency to think that mine would be better from time to time...I am always wrong]. He is the one who sets the captives free. He is the one who has set me free! In him there is freedom and liberty. There is joy and peace. Resting in his presence is so sweet. He is worthy to be praised. 
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When bad days turn good :)

Posted by Morgan
DISCLAIMER: This post was written very quickly and without a whole lot of thought. There are probably run-on sentences and misspelled words and grammatical errors! Don't say you weren't warned! :)


You know when you have those days that are those days? Well I had one of those today. Bad test grade, obnoxious professors who think the only class you are taking is theirs - hello there buddy, I've got 16 hours! Well I had this lovely little meltdown. When I went to talk to my professor, he totally shot down my idea for my term project and when he ended up telling me that I should come talk to him in his office about the exam, I lost it, and I HATE crying in front of teachers. So let's suffice it to say that it wasn't good. 


I left the humanities building and I'm walking down Parker Street crying and I headed to the PCSU cause I was hungry and I was in NO frame of mind to actually make something, therefore, I grabbed some Chick-Fil-A...Ah, comfort food :). Then I went to check my mail and I saw a friend of mine who had dropped the class(smart girl) standing in Jazzman's. So I walked in and continued to melt down, although I had calmed down a significant amount since talking to the professor. So as I talked to Audrey, I friend of mine from my Marriage and Family class walks in, and I'm pretty hard to miss at this point, so she comes over and gives me a hug and says, "It's gonna be okay. You're gonna make it." Audrey hugged me and told me to come find her if I needed to.


So I left there and went to try and find Rachel. She didn't answer her phone but I was able to get into Davis and I went to her room. But there was no Rach. But I did find Becca (her roommate) and Liz (who lives in Sharp I believe) and they asked me what was wrong, and I told them and asked if I could sit and eat my lunch in there; they let me :). We talked about stupid professors, how much we wanted fall break to get here, living far away from home, and all the homework we had to do. It was a much needed break from topics my brain had been going on all day.


While I was eating lunch I got a text from Sarah (the girl from my Marriage and Family class) telling me that if I wanted to get some fresh air that she would be in alumni park in a hammock for the next hour. So I finished my lunch and went to see her. It turned out to be the biggest blessing of my week. Good conversation and a beautiful day. We almost fell out of the hammock a few times and then we finally gave up on trying to find a way to both sit in it and just went with it. It was hilarious. 


Looking back on my day I feel like I had two different days. One that was very, very bad and one that was very, VERY good. I feel blessed today. God has placed some awesome new people in my life :) Alright, now it's off to tackle that homework I've been avoiding for the last two hours. Excellent.


Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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Beautiful Slave

Posted by Morgan
My friend Meghan showed me this song yesterday, and I have just fallen in LOVE with it. It's so powerful. It's called Beautiful Slave by Take No Glory. It's about human trafficking and child slavery. Meghan knows my heart to go to India and my desire to work with girls who have gotten out of the sex trade, which is a type of human trafficking. 

The song is SO powerful. I know it's long, but if you've got 5 minutes, hit the play button and just listen. My favorite thing about it is the actual music. When it starts off you can hear the oppression and the hurt in the music, and as it moves towards the end, you hear the freedom and the love of God. Ah. It's amazing. Listen to it :)


Singing Harmony,
Morgan
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