I was able to obtain some really expensive training software for FREE from my mentors this semester. Praise.

I have been able to catch up with some really awesome and well-missed friends these last couple of days. Praise.

Jesus often interrupts our very mundane ordinary lives to wake us up for the need to change. Change is something that is coming, and it is coming like lightning bolts. Going to the Passion Conference this week, has really helped me to refocus. Mainly just to get me thinking again.

I think for so much of this semester I was kind of dead to what was going on around me. I didn’t take into account the fact that everything I was/am doing has dramatic effect on the people/things around me. With this new year I plan to refocus my energy in a different sort of light.

This year is going to be scary, but it is going to be completely worth it all. I am graduating, I will be moving (somewhere, anywhere), I will hopefully be making it back to Ghana, I will change lives. At least that is my intent. If there is one thing that I’ve learned though, it’s that you can’t seemingly plan too much, because just when you do Jesus comes in and shipwrecks your life. It’s a beautiful mess.

The fruit of our faith glorifies God publicly. That is what we are here to do. We are here to glorify God publicly. Whether we are doctors, firefighters, photographers, filmmakers, architects, whatever it is. Our purpose is that we may fearlessly and boldly proclaim the glory of the Lord. In any and every thing that you do. This is our first prayer.

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” -Ephesians 6:19-20

So whatever this year brings, whatever trials and tribulations come my way, I will make known the glory of the Lord for it all. I will praise him when I am happy, I will praise Him when I am down.

This new perspective is one of beauty. It is one of freedom. This is what the world needs more of. More freedom. Not freedom from rules of the government, or freedom from our parents, or freedom from school. We need freedom of the soul and spirit. We need the freedom/passion/desire to live out the will of God in our lives. We need to have the freedom that comes with faith. Letting go of our fears and our inhibitions and just going for the gold.

I am going to take advantage of this season in my life, and I am going to live it all for His glory. I am going to help those in need, and I am going to try my hardest to shine His light in the darkness.

I can’t wait to see what this year has in store, and where God is going to lead me. It is a new adventure, and a new perspective for it all. Selah.

In His Love,
Buffy

(Source: thecanvaschronicles.com)

²⁸ You are my God, and I will praise you;
   you are my God, and I will exalt you.

 ²⁹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his love endures forever. -Psalm 118

Since it is Thanksgiving eve, I only thought it fitting to take this time to think about all the things of this life that I am thankful for. There are so many negative or bad things happening in this world, and for some it is pretty difficult to go around being thankful for everything still left to be thankful for. I really encourage everyone to take a moment and think about it though.

I have been so eternally blessed in my life, I almost don’t know where to begin. I have a wonderful family who is completely goofy, weird, and nauseating all at the same time. They are all these things, but I know that they will love me forever and do their best to do what they think is right for me in the moment. I also have been the wonderful gift of having best friends who also care for me even though they know I am so difficult to deal with, I have the worst memory, and I so busy most of the time I can’t always devote my full attention to them. None the less, my friends still love me and for that I am grateful.

I have also been blessed with the wonderful gift of dreaming. What I mean by this is that I take pride in the fact that I can always have a dream or a hope of a more exciting future or an awesome adventure that has yet to occur. Dreaming of lands yet to explore, and dreaming of people yet to meet. I enjoy my dreams, and I will not let someone crush those.

I have never really enjoyed this next gift as much as I have tonight. I have been blessed for the past 4 years with the gift of singleness. Without this gift I probably would not have been able to accomplish all the wonderful things for Christ that I have been able to. I have been able to go on mission trips, work for a ministry, and hang out with people on a regular basis and really cultivate relationships with them. This has been a gift that I have always somewhat overlooked, but it really has been a precious part of my life throughout my college career.

I hope everyone else out there can take a minute to stop and think about all the things you are thankful for. Even the smallest of things like rays of sunlight, your favorite song on the radio, a good-bye kiss, or that first hello smile. Stop and thank your maker for your maker made all these things.

In His Love,
Buffy