How I got the idea for this blog:

I am a member at Mars Hill Church in Seattle and for the past year or two we have been going through the book of Luke. Last Sunday the message came out of Luke 18:35-43:

³⁵ As he [Jesus] drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸ And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” ⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” ⁴³ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (emphasis mine)

Mark Driscoll, the church's main preaching pastor said during the sermon, "What came first for this man, friends? Was it sight or faith? What came first? Faith preceded sight. Faith always precedes sight. You have to trust before you see. You have to trust Jesus before it all makes sense. You have to begin with faith. The truth has to be believed and trusted, and then you see. Some of you are waiting to see. Let me say you are blind. You begin with faith and then you see. You don't have all the answers. You won't know all the details. There is no certainty regarding the future and God's purposes and provisions and plans for our lives. But what we do is we trust him by faith. And in time, we see. This is a story that connects to the story. I pray it would connect to your story, that your story would be, “Yes, I trust Jesus and now I see more clearly.” (emphasis mine)

For some reason that just really stood out to me, and has been on my mind all week. I feel like a lot of non-Christians (isn't that funny that we call people that?!) think that Christians are just ignorant sheep, blindly believing some fable, and maybe there are some out there, but the vast majority of Christians I know, study their Bibles, discuss questions and dilemmas with other Christian friends, and really seek to understand what the Bible is saying. In some ways, like the quote above says, "You have to trust Jesus before it all makes sense", but that doesn't stop us from trying to learn and trying to understand as much as we possibly can. We're not the blind following the blind. We're the blind following the Lord, asking for sight. I can't speak for every Christian, but for me, there are a lot of passages in the Bible that are either a) hard to believe, b) hard to understand, c) hard to follow through on. And when I read those things I don't always immediately accept them. I have to figure out if what it's saying is literal or applicable and seek out some answers. Ultimately I have to accept that what the Bible says is true even if I don't necessarily agree with it or like it because I believe the Bible is truth and is the word of God, but I've got to research it a bit first ya know?

It's not always easy to have faith. It definitely gives me hope. It gives me the ability humbly admit my powerlessness. But the cool thing is, I've seen God do miraculous things. An example from my life is that from 2007-2010 I was single. I really wanted to be married, and at times it felt hopeless. It seemed like there were no good-looking, Christian, single guys left out there. I had faith that God would provide the innermost longings of my heart, but after a few years of being single, you can start to wonder if something is wrong with you, or if you're just destined to be single. For a majority of those years I wasn't even emotionally ready for a relationship because I was battle-scarred from my previous relationship. I felt like damaged goods. I definitely didn't trust guys very much. But I still had faith. I knew I wanted to be a wife and a mom and I had faith that in God's timing it'd happen, if it was His will. In February of 2010, exactly three years from the end of my previous relationship, I went on my first date... with my husband! During the faith part, it was definitely hard to see through the fog. I was completely blind to what God was doing. Now I'm blessed with the sight! God was refining me, preparing me, and loving me through a rough time to get me ready to meet Jon. Faith then sight.

So Excited, I Don't Even Know Where to Start!

Wow. The world of blogging... I feel a little behind the times.

Throughout the day and especially lying in bed at night, thoughts just flood my mind of things to think about, pray about, talk to people about, etc. and as quickly as these thoughts enter my mind, they seem to flee from my memory. 

I'm hoping this will be a place I can get my thoughts down, really think about what I believe, and discuss the struggles of a 20-something Christian woman. I hope the people that choose to read my blog get as much out of it as I do. No doubt I'll be discussing things people just don't want to hear. But my hope is that as I try to have an open mind, the people reading it will as well. I'm not a preacher. I'm not a teacher. Right now, I'm not even an employee. But I'm going to do my best to explain Christianity, who Jesus is, who I am in relation to Him, questions I have, concepts I struggle with, and work through the objections and hatred some people have towards Christ and His church. Wish me luck!