A journal entry...

Hey Friends!!!  Forgive me for being so absent from the blogosphere... I have no excuse. :P

So I'm going to begin by asking a favor of you... or rather ask you to do a favor for yourself.  If you have time... please read 1 John 3:19-24.  As an explanation of this post I have to tell you that I journal a lot... like A LOT. The way I journal is letters to God.... because that is how I acknowledge to him that he knows everything... and often it is so helpful to write down prayers.  This is an entry I wrote earlier this month:

11th July 2012

Dear Heavenly Father,

The concept that I have your spirit is so massive.  The fact that you abide in me just blows my mind.  I do believe in Christ Jesus but Lord I so often fail at loving others.  I have but a  hint of how much you love me, and the enormity of it does my head in, it really does.  You say that if have confidence before God we will receive what we ask for.  I ask as Solomon asked, I asked for wisdom.  I also ask Father that you will give me your love for people.  I can be so much in my head Lord that I lose my compassion. Help me to love by prayer for people, give me joy in serving people.  May I have a servants heart and a humble mind to better serve you and others.  Guide me, keep me, show me your for me.  As you promise; "For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord, 'plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)  Keep me in the palm of your hand.
Thank you so much for the all the blessings you pour out on me.

Your girl;

Erin

I hope friends that this encourages you as it did me.  Keep in the way of the Lord!!!

AWOL.... again

Hi Friends!!! 

I'm beginning to pick up a trend in my blogging habits: wait until everything is due and.... BLOG!!! I have exams coming up and assignments due but oh well.  They can wait. 

So I have been musing on some things the lately, and for those of you who are older than 17 you will probably chuckle with amusement... in fact if you are 17 or younger you will still probably chuckle with amusement. :P  

Have you ever felt the process of growing up?  You can see the changes in you and it gives you a bit of a funny feeling.  I am getting more independent and this makes me want to be five again.  It's scary and exciting all at once.  I want to be older and I am having a blast as a young adult, but responsibility is creeping up and it is an exhausting feeling.  I am almost half way through my degree and thinking about having to move away from home for medical school, or going overseas for three months, while being extremely exciting, are also a little sad.  I will leave my family, my carefree days behind me and have to take full responsibility for my actions. 

Oh. Boy. 

The challenge for me is to trust God through it all and to depend on his amazing faithfulness and mercy to get me through.  I will grow up, but I will not leave my childhood behind... I'll take it with me. 

Blessings friends!!!  

P.S. Another little glimpse into the mind of Erin: 

Twitter posts!

Okay so I discovered this twitter feed called I Do That Too and seriously some of them I couldn't stop laughing for.  I thought I might share my favorite 20 here:  


1. The guy who discovered milk....What was he doing with that cow?.


2. Not being able to finish a sentence because your laughing about the ending


3. i hate it when i forget something i really wanted to say.


4. Accomplishing something before the microwave reaches :00..


5. Thanks phone, for being strong every time i dropped you..


6. Dear Math, Grow up and solve your own problems..

7. When I was a kid I........no wait, I still do that.

8. I always wonder what I look like from someone elses eyes..

9. Why are you sleeping in class? maybe because i wake up at 6 AM to come here (so true!)

10. IT WASN'T ME!!!!! Oh that........ yes that was me.

11. Pandas are the least racist animal, they're black, white AND asian.

12. Why is Monday so far away from Friday, and Friday so close to Monday.

13. The feeling you get when you understand something in math class..

14. When i read ur text messages I can hear exactly how you would say it.

15. Dear Homework, You're Not Attractive and I'm Not Doing You

16. I forgot your name, so i'm waiting for somebody to say it.

17. Comebacks that make the whole room go OOOOOHHHHHH'"

18.Telling inanimate objects to STAY when they look like they're going to fall

19. I'd rather do nothing at your house than at mine

20. That Moment of joy when you see your food coming in a restaurant

21. Dear sleep, I know we had problems when I was younger, but now I love you

22. mom, i could be dying and you're not answering the phone

23. I can't hear you, so ill just laugh and hope it wasn't a question

24. Open fridge, nothing. Freezer? nothing. Might as well try the fridge again. (study sessions anyone 

:P)

25. No, I'm not being immature, I'm having fun. You should try it

26. I love how my best friend and I can say one word, and crack up (:

27. My level of maturity changes depending on who im with.

28. I Will Go Slightly Out of My Way To Step On A Crunchy-Looking Leaf

29. I Wish Music Played During Epic Moments of My Life and Not Just in Movies.

30. No I'm not lying, but when you look at me like that, how can I not smile?

31. Laughing when someone falls

32. paper beats rock? ok,i'll throw a rock at u & u defend urseself with paper

33. I hate saying hi to people and they don't see you and you feel stupid

34. i finally stop laughing... look back over at you and start all over again

35. If the world ends in 2012, i've wasted my whole life in school. . . lovely.

36. Not finishing a sentence because your laughing too hard about the ending

37. BUT MOM...why would any of my friends jump off a bridge

38. Tripping, then looking back at what tripped you with an evil glare.

39. How did Barbie manage to be a doctor, model, actress, teacher and singer?

40. Life is getting too complicated , i wanna be 5 again

Yeah yeah I know there is 40, I meant favorite 20 x 2. :P  Just as a side note there is the odd tweet that has some bad language :( so I apologize. 

Have a wonderful day friends!!! 

So friends...

Hi again,

I have to leave for uni in 1/2 an hour so I just quickly wanted to share a short film my brother shot for a youtube competition.  It cost him $300.00 to make and he made it in 10 days.  Pretty good if I do say so myself.  Anyway, enjoy!!!!

2 more days....

Saturday is the day!!!!  My exam will take all day and hopefully I'll have a bit of time to write a proper post up. :)  Until then, enjoy these talented kids...

Too fun!!!

In peace friends!

Erin

My Clever Brother...

So, no I am not coming out of hibernation yet, I just wanted to share a video that my clever brother (who is studying media) made for our amazingly creative friend's birthday party.  Check out the blog here as well she is pretty awesome. :-)

 

Heya friends,

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I'm currently studying for a huge exam called the GAMSAT (Medical School entrance exam) that I'm sitting in 2 weeks!  I promise I won't be AWOL forever. :)

Stay in Christ!!!

P.S.  Just a bit of insight into me and my daily experiences. :-P

Sarah Slean

Discovered Sarah Slean from this lovely bloggers blog!!

Love this song!!!

In. Love. With. This. Song. 

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!

Shadows

My Dad read something to us on Monday night while we were waiting for dinner to cook.  We were all sitting around the table drawing on a piece of paper that covered the table.  Our doodles were all unique and we were just listening.  I must confess that when Dad sat down and started reading from his large theological book, I held in a moan.  I did not feel like being sermonized to at that moment.  So to say the least, my mindset wasn't the cheeriest.  But as we read on I couldn't help but feel the unwilling admiration for the beauty of what my Dad was reading.  Morgan G. Campbell published in 1903 a book called 'The Crisis of Christ'.  Now I don't have the foggiest of what the rest of the book says but the portion that my dad chose to read to us was all about our very person hood being in Christ.  One thing stood out to me as being so beautiful.

Morgan G. Campbell revealed this idea.  When you look at a shadow, you can recognize the basic form of who you are, but you can't begin to figure out the complexities and beauty of a person by their shadow.  It is the same with God and us.  We are his shadows, showing a resemblance of his being (as we are made in the image of Christ), but shadows of the real thing.  For example, we have emotions.  Since we are made in his image, God also must have emotions... but think on this; his emotions are pure and righteous, while ours are tainted by the fall.  We are merely shadows of him.

I have mentioned this before that I study Biomedical science and the body is a beautiful work of art.  So if we are so incredibly complex and intricate and beautiful, how much more so is God?   What a beautiful concept to think about.

Stay in Christ friends!! 

Wisdom...

'Teach us to realize the brevity of life,

      so that we may grow in wisdom.'

~Psalm 90:12 (NLT)

Wise.   A word that I often associate with men with long beards with a pipe, spouting pithy quotes that make everyone feel rather dumb.  

"This is my 'I know the answer to everything' look..."

But this is what the bible says: 

'The fear of the LORD

 is the beginning of wisdom,'

~Proverbs 9:10

I wonder if the the fear of the Lord has anything to do with the fact that He has control over the brevity of life.  Our Lord knows us intimately, including when we were created, and when we will die.  

Every week there is a horror story on how someone died.  We had three teenagers die in a  horrific car crash last year.  They were driving home from a theme park after a youth group event, around 10 at night.  A drunk and angry man ran a red light and smashed into them.  The driver survived but his best friend, girlfriend and another boy from his youth group died instantly.  These teenager's parents did not say goodbye to their children imagining that that was the last thing they would ever say to them again.  No one who dies in an accident is imagining that that day was the day they would meet their maker.  

Imagine for a minute that you knew without a doubt that you were going to die today.  How would that change your actions?  Would you take a little more time thinking about that cutting remark in response to your sibling/ parent/ friend/ partner? Would you take time to let people know that you love them? Would it perhaps produce more wisdom then you would  generally have?  The briefness of our days is something this world hates to think about.  We as Christians need to have the view that this day may be our last, and respond in wisdom. 

This is an ongoing battle for me.  So often it's easier to act like we have all the time in the world, that we have time to tell this person about Christ, that we have time to forgive that person, or ask forgiveness from that person.  That we'll have time.  Time is one of the few things we can not secure.  It is beyond our reach, beyond our control.  Praise God that he is the only one trustworthy enough to control our time. 

Remember the past, immerse yourself in the present, hope for the future my friends. 

God bless!

Creative Blog!!

So I just started a new blog over here.  It is just a little fun and there is only the one post at the moment.  Hope you enjoy.

Post again soon!!!

I Fear...

Fear. 

I have very rarely felt the terrifying feeling that we mostly associate with fear. The fear of hanging from Mt Everest from your little finger terror is something I (thank heavens) have never experienced.  But I experience fear everyday, and it is even more irrational then my fear of cockroaches.  

'What if I don't look alright?' 

'What if I say or do something stupid.' 

'What if I fail?'  

It all whispers all the time.  These sort of thoughts wouldn't be that bad if that is all they remained... thoughts.  But these thoughts start to dictate to my actions.  I won't attempt that because I'll look stupid.  I restrain from showing my true character because I'll be seen as a dork.  I'll cover my insecurities because I don't want to be seen as some weak insipid little girl.  Fear keeps me from being who the Lord created me to be.  How often do I run out in the rain and make up some crazy dance when the impulse comes upon me? How often do I tell someone exactly what I think and not what I think they want to hear?  When do I sing while walking in the park?  How often do I let myself cry, not because there is something specifically wrong, but just because I feel like it?  How often do I pour my heart out to someone with what is really troubling me?  Fear keeps me in restraints.  I often examine myself and want to break out of my conservative world, to really show people who I am, so why don't I?  Fear. 

This is what our Lord has to say about my fear... 

'For God gave us (a.k.a Erin) a spirit not of fear 

but of power and love and self-control.'

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

How awesome is that.  Not  a spirit of fear but one of power.  I do not need to be afraid of anything of this world for I have a spirit of POWER and love and self control.  Let my potential to serve Christ not be hindered by my spirit of fear.  

God bless friends!! 

Europe!!

Italy

Paris

Belgium

Saint Petersburg, Russia

So I have these magnificent plans to spend 3 months living in Ireland and visiting all over Europe in a couple of years.  These places are so beautiful it makes my feet itchy just looking at them. Compliments of Pininterest 

Talk soon friends!!! 

John 3:16

This is seriously too precious!!!




Just like that adorable angel said... WOW!!! Blessing friends, hopefully I'll find some time and inspiration to post again soon. :)