Complete in Thee: Graduation and Reflections

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Graduation and Reflections

Yesterday we celebrated my graduation from highschool with a graduation open house. Being homeschooled and not part of an actual homeschool group, I did have a cap-and-gown ceremony, but the open house was a nice way to "officially" make the transition between being a schoolgirl to being GRADUATED! :-D :-D :-D

With graduating and reflecting on my years so far and being asked what's next, I have been thinking a lot about the supremacy of God in every aspect of my life-- including (or especially) in graduation. Yesterday morning I read in Philippians about Paul's many great accomplishments-- "circumcised the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless"-- and yet all these things he counted as loss, they meant nothing to him, "because of--" (I love this!!) "-- the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."

All I do-- all I accomplish, in sewing, in writing, in music, in church activities, in friendships, in preparing for my future-- all these things matter nothing if Christ is not in them. I can do amazing things, but if Christ is not my all, then I have wasted everything. As I graduate and step into the next chapter of my life, I want Christ to be my ALL. My desire is to give Him that place of highest importance in my life, that He may reign preeminent over every aspect of my life. Oh that He would reign in my writing, guiding my hand and heart to write the words that bring glory to His name. Oh that He would receive glory in my sewing and music, that I would use them for His kingdom and to grow in character as I run into challenges. Oh that He might have supreme place in my heart as I wait for the man who will be my husband and best friend-- that I would find fulfillment in Jesus and not be discontent with where I am now. And oh that with each trial, each joy, each new experience God brings into my life, I might embrace those things and be molded more into the image of Christ Jesus-- that I would more and more reflect His patience, His love, His compassion, His humility. That there would be less of me and all of Him.

Graduating and stepping into adulthood is a little scary in some ways. I am now having to make more decisions, and more significant decisions, and people are expecting me to make their idea of a good decision... and the more I realize this, the more I realize the great need I have to come before God and seek His face and ask for HIS wisdom and rely on His leading. I am also seeing the need to "take every thought captive to obey Christ", to not allow myself to immerse myself in what is past (a.k.a. nostalgia, a.k.a. a form of depression ;-) ) but instead to "forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In these new and exciting challenges of growing up, I am finding so many opportunities to step out of myself and to rely more fully on Christ and seek Him more diligently. I praise God for that!

Please do pray for me as I graduate, not that I may be successful in any upcoming career, nor that I would have all the things my heart could ask for, but that I would be completely satisfied with and devoted to Christ-- that He would be my ALL. Not just Number 1, but my ALL.

~*~*~*~*~

TONE CHANGE:

For those who want to ask what my plans are and who I can just answer all at once, here's my plans... liable to change, though, for God's plans are always better!

Finish writing The Marquis' Daughter
Send The Marquis' Daughter in to a publisher
Keep up my Etsy shop and get more experience costuming/sewing
(far-fetched, but not impossible) Take a trip to Colombia to study and experience for Airborne :-) +PLUS+ as a missions trip opportunity
Learn guitar and improve my singing
Memorize 1 John
Improve homemaking skills

Okay, see? So a girl can stay very busy without having to go to college. Thought I might throw that in here since we were talking about graduating. :-) May God reign over all those activities.

5 comments:

Lindsey Ferguson said...: Melanie,

Best wishes for you in everything you pursue as you begin your new life after high school. I'm confident that you will accomplish much with the Lord as your guide.

You are a great witness and encouragement, and I pray that God blesses you greatly in the years to come in ways that only he can!; July 25, 2010 at 10:54 PM
Gaby said...: Yes, I think you will be sufficiently busy without going to college. ;) I really hope someone will publish MD!!

love,
Gabrielle; July 26, 2010 at 11:27 AM
Rosebud said...: :); July 26, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Fannie said...: Love you!; July 26, 2010 at 1:26 PM
Lilly said...: Thanks for sharing your heart!; July 26, 2010 at 3:24 PM

PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."