Mary and Martha

Possibly my favorite story in the bible is in Luke, when Jesus and his disciples go into the home of Mary and Martha to rest, and while Martha is in the kitchen, stressing out and trying to prepare dinner, Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet, listening intently to his every word.

I can be so bad about using my busy schedule to fill up my time and keep my mind occupied so I don't have to think about all the stuff going on in life. Lately, God's really been teaching me the art of simply being - being with Him. That art of not accomplishing anything by doing the best thing you can, which is spending time with him. Taking walks with Him outside alone, reading his word, sitting and staring out a window while silently pouring your heart out to Him. Just to be able to look at all the crap going on in life and say "I know you're in control - it is well with my soul."

I have a lot on my mind right now, and my heart is very heavy today, and I'm scared, so I'm going to take my own advice and go spend some quality time with my first love! :)

Olivia~

Luke 10:38-42

³⁸Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named ^AL)">(AL)Martha welcomed Him into her home.

³⁹She had a sister called ^AM)">(AM)Mary, who was ^AN)">(AN)seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word.

⁴⁰But ^AO)">(AO)Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."

⁴¹But the Lord answered and said to her, "^AP)">(AP)Martha, Martha, you are ^AQ)">(AQ)worried and bothered about so many things;

⁴²^AR)">(AR)but only one thing is necessary, for ^AS)">(AS)Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

giving it to GOD

I'm reading a fascinating book from C.S.Lewis right now called "The Problem of Pain".

In one chapter, he brought up the common question: "Are we born sinful in such a way that we are destined to be terrible creatures and it's not our fault, or IS it our fault that we sin constantly?" He continued to describe us as spoiled brats. It's really interesting if you think about it that way. On one hand, no, it is not your fault that you were given the freedom to do whatever you want and were therefore raised in a spoiled environment, but it is your fault that you chose to do wrong, because no matter how you are raised God has still wired you to know right from wrong, being made in HIS image. He gave us free will and we abused it. And because we've been raised in this "spoiled" environment, no matter how much we think that we have killed that rebellious spirit in us that doesn't seek God, it is still alive and still needs to continue "dying".

Other than that - I just got back from a week long trip to North Carolina with my dad! We climbed four mountains in the Black Mountain Range and went canoing too. I gained six pounds from all the junk I ate, but I'm getting back on a good healthy diet today. :)

Since this week is spring break, my teen group has been doing something together every day. Today we're supposed to do Ultimate Frisby all day but it's wet, so I don't know how they're gonna adjust their plans yet... Everybody there is so awesome! I just love hanging out with all of 'em...

Ba! It's late.. I need to do my devotions and start on lunch.

later

Livvy~