Sweet Saturday

Today was such a gorgeous day. First of all, waking up early to a nice cloudy morning was delightful. It gets so hot here, and having a nice break for a few hours was refreshing. I went for a bike ride, studied at the library, and went to church with my beautiful family. Oh! And I made delicious brown sugar iced cupcakes!

The magic ingredients? Brown sugar and butter. Mmm...

I got the recipe from Ryan, a baking savvy blogger. Check out the tasty recipe (and sweet blog!) here.

Moving on, today's sermon was incredible. Pastor John is so humble and warmhearted, but also candid in his lessons. He will tell you like it is! Today, we went through 1 Timothy 2 and talked about what is expected in a woman of faith. How we must be cautious of how we appear to others and how we act in public -- for there is always someone watching and our actions represent our dear Savior. I felt so humbled in that moment; I felt as if the chapel was empty and that message was just for me. Who knew it was possible to feel so guilty, but so liberated to hear the truth, and so encouraged to repent and live a life pleasing to God! 

My faith has been shaky for quite some time now, and I'm not proud of it. I was tested, and I failed time and time again. But God is so faithful. Pastor John said, "He is so faithful to cleanse our hands and make them holy and blameless!" He also added that we must be fully "cleansed" in order that we can pray on behalf of our dear friends. I have so many people that I love and cherish, but who are far from Christ and do not yet know of His love. I want them to one day have a relationship with Him and feel true JOY! But I can't help them like this -- I am so unworthy of His love but He gives it so freely as long as we come to Him first.

As I said before, my walk with Christ has been tested. From an incident of sexual abuse from a family member to bitterness towards God to thoughts of self-hatred... But it is time that I let that go. That I just be grateful that I am still here, still healing, and that I can let the "doom and gloom" phase end right here! (A good friend of mine said that -- "doom and gloom!" Is that how I want to live my life? NO WAY.) So here we go. The Christina Reformation. It won't be easy, but it's going to be good. No, great!

Blessings to you all,

C

P.S. I know this is completely irrelevant, but look! My pastor (John Werhas) used to play for the Dodgers. I know, random... but I'm just so proud to say that I look up to this man!