Tattoos and Puppies.

Think:
Matthew 14:22-31

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

This passage, one that I have heard over and over again, took on a completely different meaning for me last night (thanks to Rob Bell's Nooma video entitled "Dust"). I feel like the common thought, at least for me, is when Jesus says "You of little faith," that He is accusing Peter of having little faith in Jesus and that is why he began to sink. An interesting take on it is that Jesus had faith that Peter could walk out on the water with Him shown by His invitation to Peter to "come." Maybe the reason why Peter sank was a little faith in himself. He doubted that he could do what his Savior was doing, and that's what caused him to sink. Jesus has faith in us as His disciples. Look at John 14:12 "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Jesus tells us that we will not only do what Jesus did, but even GREATER things. That is how much Jesus believes in us. It's our doubt in ourselves that hold us back and prevents us from accomplishing those GREATER things.
Back in July, I got my first tattoo, "Faith" on my left wrist facing me. Depending on whatever circumstances life has given me, the meaning behind the tattoo seems to change and I never expected that to happen. Originally it was a physical representation of how my faith grew through going through some difficult things. "Faith through pain." "Faith through (tattooed) pain." It was a reminder of what Jesus has done for me (and still is). Then as I went through a phase in life when I was trying to figure out the directions I was to be taking in life and really struggling with it, it was a reminder to me to not forget that God is faithful. Hebrews 13:5 "because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” But even though faith represents both of those things to me still, and will continue to, both of those reasons are pretty selfish if I do say so myself. It's (pardon my cliche) a "what can my faith do for me," instead of "what can I do for my faith." Now my tattoo serves as an inescapable reminder that Jesus has faith in me to do GREATER things for His kingdom, and that I need to have faith in myself and not let self-doubt hold me back. And as a little side-note, how incredibly awesome is our God that He has faith in us, broken lives filled with sin? He loves us and He believes in us and that just overwhelms my heart with thanksgiving and joy!

Day Two: Ten
So, yesterday I talked about how it was just so easy and fun to already know what the base of my outfit was going to be and how I didn't anticipate a real challenge at least for quite a few days. Well, I was challenged this morning. Not to create a unique outfit, but simply to challenged to stick to my goal. I wanted to badly to put on something other than my simple white shirt (I wear jeans too much to want to not wear jeans already). This struggle about something as silly as clothes made me realize the depths of my materialism. It's frustrating to me that I felt that way, but I am thankful to be challenging it and hopefully ridding myself of it. Anyways, today I am wearing my light jeans, the long sleeve white tee, my UGGs, a cream cardigan from Marshall's, and my very lovely headband/ear muffs thing my mom got me for Christmas from one of the most overwhelming, but awesome stores I have ever been in: Sam Moon. If you ever want any kind of accessory, anything you could ever think of, go there. Plus the one in Austin is right by the Lifeway Christian store... so my money seems to go pretty fast if I go to that shopping center. Speaking of money, I didn't spend $10 yesterday and I don't plan on spending anything today. But, it is a good thing I saved because I am going to see Blue Valentine tomorrow at the Alamo Drafthouse downtown and that will cover my ticket and a snack!







Olive:


This is the precious little ball of sweetness (and also spunkiness) that I get to love on every morning and snuggle with when I have some down time. She is staying at my parents house because unfortunately with school and everything else, I don't have the adequate time she deserves to train her completely. (Don't get a dog in college, I love her so much and I don't regret it, but I was NOT prepared for the responsibility) Luckily I have incredible parents that have taken her under their wings, despite her more frustrating characteristics. I am moving back to my apartment this weekend due to the spring semester starting and I am going to miss seeing her precious little face everyday.

over and out.