Grace Abundant.

Dear Reader,

Today was threatening to be a bad day. Sometimes I carry a lot of shame and regret with me and it's like me and God have this time of wrestling with each other. I have my doubts and I desire Him to conquer them, but I don't always let Him. Still, today I went to take my Spanish test, already worrying because I was fearful of not doing well, and I find out I've been doing the wrong labs so I missed points for the workbook, the lab, and participation on Friday. However, when I was done with my test I realized I was doing better than I thought. As I'm walking out of the building alone, feeling silly and ashamed, I look up for a second and see the leaves falling. There are two main ways God reveals Himself: through His word and His creation. Right then I felt as if He was saying, "Stop your unbelief for a moment and look at how beautiful I made this day." Later, I thought of the song by Josh Wilson "Beautiful Like This" and remember that, although God's creation is beautiful, He still thinks of us. After that it was much easier for me to see that He does love and forgive me.
This morning He revealed Himself in His word as well in James.

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are yat war within you?2 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask zwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 aYou adulterous people!3 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?bTherefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit cthat he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But dhe gives more grace. Therefore it says, e“God opposes the proud, but dgives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. fResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 gDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. hCleanse your hands, you sinners, and ipurify your hearts, jyou double-minded. 9 kBe wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 lHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 mDo not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or njudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only oone lawgiver and pjudge, he who is able to save and qto destroy. But rwho are you to judge your neighbor?

I'm glad that His love and grace exceeds beyond mine and my knowledge of His does. 

Chelsy.

(P.S. Reader!) I had a MAJOR epiphany today about the election of God's people (it was ludicrous!) Read at your own risk...
So here it is, on the subject of truth. We were asking ourselves in Theology class last Tuesday, "What makes a statement true" or, "what is truth?" I was thinking on what I had just epiphanized (not a word I know) about election and saying to myself, "How can I affirm this is true?" Firstly, based on evidence (which is why I came to my conclusion, so on that note I knew it was true), but secondly based on its ability to fit into a statement. This may be confusing so let me explain it like this- sorry this is just how my brain works when I'm chewing on something!
So, we know a statement is true when you can fit any variable into the equation and it equals out the same. For instance (pardon me for using math but it's the only way I can explain):
x+y=z
Now if x is 3 and z is 5 y must be 2. Therefore the statement 3+2=5 is always true.

So what does this have to do with anything? If we know something about God it is like y=2. It must always be true for it to be true at all. It must fit into every equation of life and still equal out to 5. You see?

Sorry if this is confusing, Reader, but this is awesome if you're with me! So for God to be a God of election, He must ALWAYS be a God of election and every question we have about His elective process must have always equal out to prove it to be a true statement.

I'd love to hear back from you on this one to see your thoughts on this or answer any questions if I wasn't clear enough!