So this is the first time that I have blogged all summer. So much has been going on and I just have a hundred things that I want to write all at once... First of all, I want to share this video with you. At camp a couple of friends and I went to the retreaters' chapel while we were doing t3. The speaker showed us this video. It was the first time I had ever seen it. And I was touched to the core. It made me feel like I have been wasting my whole life doing things that won't even matter in a couple years... This video is called "A Letter from Hell". If you watch it I guarantee you will be convicted.
Another thing that I've learned this summer is to perform for God's glory. No matter what you are doing. This summer in softball when I wouldn't get the compliments I wanted from my coaches I talked to my mom about it. And she said, "Well you are playing for God's glory right? Not for the praise of the coaches."
And her saying that woke me up.
I wasn't giving God glory. I just wanted to hear the praise from my coaches... But, once my mom opened my eyes, I tried to put every game into God's hands and knew I couldn't compete without Him, and that went a lot better after that. I felt better about myself, knowing that no matter if my coaches don't compliment me, God was getting the glory, and that's what matters. So yeah, I want to be careful with my other sports this year and that God gets the glory. Not me. I need to have an all-glory-for-Him mentality.
Plus, I have seen a lot of answered prayers this summer concerning some friends. And that's been awesome to see.
Another cool thing I learned this summer is an analogy a counselor told me. God's plan is like a quilt, and we are one of the patches. All we can see are the loose strings and stitching on the underside, while God sees the masterpiece that the quilt is becoming. I thought that was pretty neat :) :).
Another cool analogy I learned concerns the law and how some people think that following it saves you. The purpose of the law is like a mirror, to show us our sin. But no matter how much you look into the mirror, you won't be made clean. That is what Jesus is for.
At t3 we went through the book of Galatians. The first chapter was the most powerful to me because of Galatians 1:10
"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Am I trying to please God?
Are you?
- Mallory
