Lackawanna State Park is one of our favorite hang out spots:
saying goodbye to maire maire was so hard... i am going to miss this girl so much... I can't wait till she comes back next semester....
Hannah, Jules, Tiff, and Steph dancing to Frank Sinatra in honor of Mary :-)
Also that night of Mary's party Robbie got thrown in the pond, a BBC tradition for the engaged couple to have the guy thrown in the pond after curfew then for all the guys from the dorm to come to the girls dorm then the girl runs out to kiss the guy. It was hilarious and I would have gotten a good pic, cept NICOLE got in my way ;-)
We also had a $16 million dollar black hawk down land on campus last week during chaplaincy emphasis... it was pretty much amazing!
Hannah, Lyssy, and I at the Conneticut Rest-stop on our way home :-)
My favorite place to walk especially at night... my camera died when I was trying to get a good shot, so this one will have to suffice, I love the tree with all the flowers and the fountain lit up. It is so beautiful especially on fall nights :-)
"I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts. It is easy to talk oneself into a decision that has no permanence-easier sometimes than to wait patiently."
~Elizabeth Elliot
I just started reading Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot last night. It's a book that Lisa recommended awhile ago and also one of my friend's here, so I am finally reading it. This woman and her faith blows me away. Her patient nature and desire to serve God first above all else is so encouraging to me. Life can offer so many good things, but God must always be first, which is her life testimony. This means that any of those good things that we long for must be pushing us to keep God first. Life is not about our desires being met, it is about us meeting God's desires for our lives. Every relationship that we have should be encouraging us toward this purpose. Even after she meets the one she loves, and he pursues her and openly admits his love for her, they both decide that just because they both have that desire doesn't neccesarily mean it is God's will which is why they didn't act on anything for awhile. (or at least i think it was awhile because i'm only 70 pages into the book so far :-)
It just really amazed me that God was so important to them that they decided that He was more important than their relationship and that they needed to be patient. I loved this quote because life is hard and to accept the things she mentions, the uncertainty and unanswered questions, is the only way to continue being joyful. If you don't except that, life will only bitterly dissapoint you. When life's events don't turn out the way you plan, or people dissapoint you when they don't seem to care as much as you want them to, we need to joyfully embrace the beauty of this quote.
God has been stretching me so much and just comforting my heart and molding it and putting a burden on me to just love people all the more even when they dissapoint me or let me down. To keep becoming more like Christ when conversations, events, or love doesn't happen the way I choose. And even if I don't reap all the things closest to my heart now, God promises eternal life with Him. And living to become more like Him for just the simple fact that He loves me is enough for me to dedicate my whole life to Him. No matter what happens in my life, whether experiencing the joy of what love and marriage can bring, or solely focusing on God without the added distraction- I can continue to learn contentment and experience true love by seeking after the creator of perfect love. And as the quote says, throughout the day as my mind wanders to the unanswered question, even if on some days it could be every two seconds, continually choosing and trusting in Him for that minute is a life that will bring glory to Him.
So these are some pictures of our trip to Dorney Park. It rained the entire day we were there. So we decided that since we were already wet, let's go on some water rides. We went on this thing three times... we were so soaked :-)
But we had a reason for doing this. We got to the park at noon, and were told we could ride the rides for two hours then we would have a 2:30-10:30 shift. Which none of us were really looking forward to cuz of the weather. But if we did this we could get $50 towards our 7 day cruise to Bermuda and the Bahammas and ride the rides for free. Since we were so soaked we decided to go on Hydra to "dry off" haha... right... we never were dry but I am third row back from the front all the way to the right in the pink sweatshirt
And here's our crew :-) This will probably be the group for the trip and a few others including Alyssa. By the way... they ended up closing the park at two, so we got to go on rides for two hours, and they still paid us! They said that they were thankful that we still came and brought such a joyous spirit with us. How much of a God thing is that? God really works when you are joyful even though you don't feel like it. As I learned once again in chapel today, even though this is a little circumstance of portraying the fruits of the spirit, when you sow Christ's character into you life, you really do reap way more than we ever could imagine.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." ~Galatians 5:22-25
And here's our crew :-) This will probably be the group for the trip and a few others including Alyssa. By the way... they ended up closing the park at two, so we got to go on rides for two hours, and they still paid us! They said that they were thankful that we still came and brought such a joyous spirit with us. How much of a God thing is that? God really works when you are joyful even though you don't feel like it. As I learned once again in chapel today, even though this is a little circumstance of portraying the fruits of the spirit, when you sow Christ's character into you life, you really do reap way more than we ever could imagine.
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