A Reflection

Sorry I failed to keep up with adding posts to my blog towards the end of the year. I decided to make up for it by writing a reflection on last semester. Basically God did more in me last semester than I even realized! Hillsong College is one of the biggest blessings God has ever given me. I love it so much! In the classes and tutorials, my old mindsets/ways of thinking were challenged and the word of God has become so much more alive to me since being at bible college! The word always gives us direction and actually addresses our temptations and the lies satan tries to corrupt our minds with, by providing truth. The word of God is always near, but it's up to us to pick it up and be purposeful about reading it. Since I've been home for the holidays, I made a decision to read the bible during my lunch break at work. I'm telling you it gave me so much peace in a chaotic mall food court! Try reading ephesians and philippians when you are feeling stressed. It builds your faith and gives you so much hope! It's been a process but God has over time been instilling a passion for the word in me...and now I'm seeing the fruit!! It's so exciting!

The other important thing I took away from college is the significance and power of encouragement. Pastor Robert Fergusson taught on this subject one day at college and I will never forget it. What an incredible message! The thing is, we all need encouragement! Christians, non-Christians...we all need it! One of the worst lies the enemy can convince you of is that your words of encouragement don't matter or aren't needed. God uses us through encouragement. The Holy Spirit is always giving us a word of encouragement for someone around you; we just have to listen and be sensitive to what He is saying. You can encourage a complete stranger; just ask God how you should go about it and what you should say. He will answer you! And at the same time that you are blessing someone else, I guarantee you will feel the blessing just as much if not more. It's so awesome to hear from God, but it's so much better when we actually do what He asks us to do and witness how it can impact someone!! I'm just so excited about what God is doing in me, because I'm really starting to get that this life is not about me at all. That's why I'm choosing to lay down my fear and rebuking the lies of the enemy, because it only hinders me; it only keeps me from seeing beyond myself. And people are worth so much more! How can I allow myself to get in the way of leading people to the one who saves? How can I rob someone of a few words that could lift them up and put courage into them? Everyone needs the love of God, but how will they ever know about it if we just keep it to ourselves?

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Eph 4:29

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thess 5:11