rawr

hola hola

hope u guys are doing well...im currently at home (my real one) because i wanted to go when for a weekend where we didn't have missions on monday (memorial day!) woot woot. i also decided to take up the guitar too becuase i felt like i wanted to learn how to play worship songs and i also had one layign around from 9th grade (i got as a present for christimas, during my michelle branch obsession). so thats been fun...maybe i can perform a concert for u guys when we reunite in the fall lol

anyways, so ive been enjoying book peter and romans in the bible this past week. peter from the BRP which i am behind and romans we are studyign together for CSMP.

i liked these verses a lot from 1 peter:
22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25but the word of the Lord stands forever

So... I have been having some trouble with living a pure and holy life recently...it has been a rough week for me esp in the beginning. on sunday i had some scary dreams that caused me to re-hash my past bondages with sin (in regards to attachment). I kind of realized how sinful i am-it seems that i am just weaker in some areas and the above verse were a good reminder for me that I can purify myself through obeying the bible. the concept of being born again is very interestgn as well. I dont think I am conscious enough of my "rebirth". But, like it says, we are reborn as imperishable, people will wither and their glory may last temporarily, but the word of God lasts forever.

It is mentioned that we can enjoy eternity and lives that are pure THROUGH the word of God. THe bible is highly recommended as the way that we can learn Gods truths in order to obey, in order to become pure and imperishable. I think this shows how important daily intake of the word is for all believers to grow and continue to refine our characters to become more like jesus.
This is such an obvious spiritual discipline, yet so many of us struggle with taking the time to read the word daily or even to take it seriously when they are reading it. For example, the past week or two at MP i think i was just skimming Gods word and then napping after (tacky i know).

but this summer i really want to CULTIVATE! PART 1:MEDIDTATE! ( sermon from acccess last friday about how to grow more intimate with God through meditation) I want to dig into the word and try to seriously obey it and see if stuff actually happens. i dont think i've fully committed to this idea before! i wonder what will happen...

PS: link for meditation sermon...highly recommend! :)

http://annarbor.hmcc.net/sermons/?type=Access%20Series

as for how im doing....i guess its been up and down for me. the nightmares were definitely the down, im sure its all spiritual attack, especially doing csmp and all this summer. the plus side is that they helped expose certain heart issues that I still have to experince the gospel in that area of my life, and I am excited to see transformation occur as I try hard to actively seek God the next coming weeks. ill let u guys know if anything cool happens haha