Miracle, Engagement, & Worship!

I couldn't think of one main topic to write about for this week's blog so I chose 3. :)

First, I would love to have the honor of sharing with yall a miracle that happened this week!!

I know what you're thinking... miracle?? Yeah, right. ...Hear me out.

My friend, Peter Mattis (he's in the Comm Dept), had a friend who was sick with cancer. Apparently the doctor said that he's never seen SO much cancer in a body during his ENTIRE career! Well Peter brings a friend to visit this girl and they decide to pray over her. They prayed and BELIEVED that through Jesus Christ, she would be healed.

Sure enough, God answered their prayer and the cancer is 100% GONE! No where to be found!

The nurse involved was so touched by the Lord's power that she got on her knees and received Jesus Christ right there in the hospital!!

THIS STUFF STILL HAPPENS! God's Holy Spirit is still moving amongst us and allowing miracles to be seen even in 2010! I have been praising God all week for this. I am so in love with Whom I serve and live for.

Secondly, my closest friend from high school, Jordan Sasser, proposed to his lovely girlfriend yesterday! He was actually the person who exemplified Christianity to me in a way that was so real and genuine that there was no way I didn't want to be a part of God's plan for my life. I have watched this awesome couple grow in Christ for over a year and have never seen two people more made for each other than Jordan and Alex! They have THE most precious relationship and NOW they are getting MARRIED!!!!! I cannot wait to go to their wedding! This is the second person in my life to get married and I am so overjoyed! :D Here is a picture of them DURING the proposal!

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Precious, right???? I know. I cried.

Last but NOT least,

I am going to out of town tonight to join with a bunch of friends and WORSHIP! Four glorious bands are playing in Durham and a ton of people are going that I haven't seen in a good while. It is going to be such a refreshing little trip and I am most excited to be in a place with so many brothers and sisters praising our Holy Father!!!!!! I will probably post pictures or maybe a video in the near future...

I hope you all have a SAFE and MAGNIFICENT weekend! I look forward to reading your blog posts soon! :)

Blessings,

Carly

Life is good.

I don't know about anyone else, but this week has been absolute CHAOS for me. I have never had a more eventful and tough academic week in my life. I wish I could say it was all over but this upcoming week is even WORSE. How is this possible???!

I have spent last night and this morning in complete distress, worrrying more than ever before, and trying my best not to have a panic attack or maybe even a heart attack. But it's now 1:27pm and I'm 100% better. Why you ask?

Perspective.

My perspective has completely shifted. Can we talk about how Haiti is about to have a terrible storm hit RIGHT in tent city? Do we know that these people are living in TENTS and have NO WHERE TO GO when this storm comes? If my biggest problem right now is school, then I am FINE. I have a roof over my head, clean, hot, running water, and clothes on my back. This does not mean my attitude is "Sucks for the Haitians," but instead it's of humility. My response to this perspective change is prayer... prayer for Haiti and prayer for understanding that life is, indeed, good. But these are not the only thoughts that provoked me to calm down and change my perspective...

Where do I, Carly Finck, get my help from?

Well, let me tell you. The source for everything in my life actually is THE source of life itself. The most humbling and comforting verse I read this morning was Psalm 121:1 which reads "I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the MAKER of Heaven and earth."

So where does my help come from? Oh you know... this guy who happened to create the universe... no big deal.

Can we talk about a perspective SLAP?!

I also remember the verse that tells me God will not give me ANYTHING I cannot handle. He is not surprised by my work load this week and He knows I can do it... but with His strength only. There is no possible way my human efforts will suffice but good thing I have supernatural help with all of this or else my life would be in shambles. From these scriptures and the God who lives inside of me, I have gained such peace and comfort knowing that it will all get done. Life is good and with Christ, it always will be. These are just the beginning of my problems but thank GOD He always has my back.

For those of you who are also about to embark on a crazy academic week, I'll pray for you! Let me know, too, if there are any other specific prayer requests. God and I will be spending a lot of time together this week... :)

Agape

Today in one of my COM classes, we discussed the topic of love.

We went through the different types of love and their definitions...

· Eros – sexual love based on the pursuit of beauty and pleasure

· Ludis – love as a game, something to pass time

· Storge – love found in most friendships, siblings and family members

· Mania – obsessive love driven by mutual needs

· Pragma – love based on mutual benefits

· Agape – selfless love based on giving yourself for others

When we discussed each type, our class came to the conclusion that there is no IDEAL love and they also could not match which love is the love a married couple should have.

I couldn't help but get excited and wanted to share "No, guys, there IS an ideal love" and "This ideal love is the KIND of love spouses should have for each other!!" It's agape. (Unfortunately, my professor did not call on me when I raised my hand and she moved on to the next slide)

So what is agape love?

"THIS IS HOW WE KNOW WHAT LOVE IS: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 1 John 3:16

If you read all in 1 John, you see how we are created by, through, and for LOVE. It's the selfless kind of love... Jesus laid down his life for us. Now our purpose is to do the same. John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." What a powerful statement. I don't know about you but it causes me to evaluate my life and see how much I love my friends... Would I really die for them? Would I take the bullet in order to save them? When I answer these questions to myself... I realize I have a lot of work to do. Lately I have been praying for LOVE. Just love. God has surely been answering this prayer and all of a sudden I am having abundant amounts of love for people that I have never felt before. I also have fallen more in love with Jesus and have obtained more gratefulness in my heart for what He has done for us. Especially for the fact that He constantly intercedes for us to the Father when we pray! How beautiful.

Don't worry... I haven't forgotten to address the marriage-kind-of-love. You may be surprised... but it's the same. Agape. Check out this verse in Ephesians 5:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"

That's right. Husbands represent Christ and then wives represent the church. This means that husbands should have selfless love (agape) for their brides. Let's back up at look at the previous verse:

"Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything"

Oh look... more agape love. Wives are submitting to their husbands (being selfless, putting their husbands above them) just as the church (believers in Jesus Christ) should be submitting to their Savior. Agape all over the place!! Agape is the answer, people! We are to always be selfless and put others above ourselves, looking into OTHERS interests before ours. (Phil 2)

What if I told you that the bible holds even more answers than just these? What if I told you that the bible is the direction to life? Don't hold back any longer... pick it up... read it. You will find truth. God will show you. You were CREATED for this stuff! Jesus loves us... with the agape kind of love. I have no choice but to love him right back!

Things that I love

I sat still for an hour and a half thinking about what to blog about.

Finally I came upon the idea of making a list of things that I love. I'm not sure how well this fits the guidelines for our blogging assignment but I'm going to go ahead and start it.

I LOVE:

God/Jesus/Holy Spirit

The Word

My friends

My family

Babysitting the Sprunt family

Reading "Radical"

Journaling when I'm in the mood

Eating GOOD food

Mango Rita's ice

Spiritual conversations

Fellowship

Serving others

Singing

I used to love dancing...

Leading

Talking

Helping

Going to UNCW

Sleeping

Chick Fil A

Laying in a hammock

Driving around on a cool night with windows down and heat on the feet

Wearing sweatpants

Chapstick (cherry carmex for a dollar)

Visiting friends' families

Road trips

Charleston, SC

Church

Going to broadway shows

Hot chocolate chip cookies

Moose Tracks ice cream

Dr. Pepper floats

Philly cheese steaks

Texas Roadhouse's rolls + cinnamon butter

Random jam sessions

Working out especially with my friend Biddy

Worship music

Coming home to a clean room that smells like Pineapple Paradise

Belting at the top of my lungs

Listening to my pastor

Falling asleep to movies

I'm going to cut the list for now because I don't believe any of you are ACTUALLY reading all of it. What are your top 5 things or people that/whom you love? I wish I could say I love going to school or I love this particular class, but in all honesty... I don't. It's hard to discern the difference between 'love' and 'like' by the way. But it was fun to let my mind go and just type away.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Fall Break and that you all have safe, fun weekends!! :)

Radical

I thought I'd let you guys see a picture of My Best Friend (see below for reference)

This is us embracing RIGHT after one of our dear friends got married this May!

Can I just say that at first I was so discouraged about this particular aspect of our online class? Blogging is NOT my thing... I partially wish it was... and I enjoy reading other people's blogs... but I'm just not a big blogger myself. NOW, my opinion has changed, and I am thankful especially for the option of writing about WHATEVER we want. This week's post is going to be about a book I purchased last Saturday called Radical by David Platt.

Platt is one of the most convicting speakers I have ever witnessed. He inspires me (via the Holy Spirit) to WAKE UP from my Spiritual slumber and do. God's. work.

His book is also doing the same thing for me. My life has legitimately been changed and I have only had the book for six days. What Radical has done for me is open my eyes to the Jesus I serve in a whole new way and on a whole new level. When Jesus says stuff like "Pick up your cross and carry it daily" or "If you want to follow me, you must leave everything behind and worship only me," we Christians like to pass these truths by without giving it much thought and giving Jesus credibility. But what we quickly forget as we read through scriptures sometimes is that... THE BIBLE IS TRUTH. Why do we constantly form our own truths out of THE truth and ultimately get a false picture of WHO Jesus really is?

There is so much to say and I have no idea how to effectively condense my thoughts and beliefs into one single blog post. The book itself is not what is blowing my mind... it's how Platt breaks down the scriptures He incorporates. God's Word will shake you up if you are open to it. It is such a beautiful thing.

I suppose what I want to express is how so often Americans live so comfortably to the point in which their STUFF clouds their PURPOSE for being here. This is the reason why Jesus warns us while He's walking the earth and says, "If you want to follow me, you must drop EVERYTHING." Now this sounds quite radical, does it not? Well that's because it IS radical. This is a radical statement, a radical concept, a radical LIFESTYLE. I hate that not all Christians are considered "radical Christians." Every person who claims to be a believer should also be backing up that claim with a crazy, out-of-this-world (literally) lifestyle that reflects the only Lord, Jesus Christ.

It's time to take God out of our little American box and realize that He's not weak, He's not timid, He doesn't NEED us to complete His will. He just loves us that much that He's going to ALLOW us to be a PART of it so that we can get a taste of HIS GLORY and then thirst for it more and more. We are here for HIS sake, to point to Him always, but He was just fine when He was alone for all that time before He created the world and the people in it. You're either in or you're out. God wants it all or He wants absolutely nothing. The only problem with choosing nothing is... you're missing out. And you will be... forever.

My Best Friend

I have chosen to write this journal entry about my best friend, Megan.

She is your modern day, real life, Superwoman… only with red hair. Her heart is so big and so warm that I sometimes don’t understand how she’s even human. She is one of the busiest people I know, yet has time for everyone in her life that she loves and even those that are hard to love. My wish is that one day I would have maybe half the amount of compassion and work ethic she contains. Have you ever known someone who you just know you’ll be friends with forever? She is totally that person. I am so blessed to have not only an incredible best friend but at the same time, a beautiful role model in my life for the past 8 years… And she isn’t going ANYWHERE.

The picture is almost clear when I imagine us in our 80’s, sitting on the front porch in our rocking chairs, laughing about absolutely nothing and enjoying a virgin pina colada… because the real ones are gross. After Jesus, she is my sanity. She knows exactly when to make you laugh, uplift your soul, give you the perfect yet painful advice, and when to stop everything and just listen. Her zest for life is matchless…she never misses a moment. She is extremely generous and selfless, which is something so many people lack these days. She has her priorities set straighter than a line. God, family, friends, school, work.

You’ve probably seen her on that white and pink beach bike of hers with her long red hair blowing in the wind, most likely wearing the cutest, most well put-together outfit you’ve ever seen, and talking on the phone while waving to every other person on Chancellor’s Walk. This redhead is one of a kind and I cannot wait to live life forever with her. I want everyone to meet my Megan. She’ll give you guys a firm handshake and you ladies a sincere hug around your neck. You will notice almost immediately how Jesus shines through her big, beautiful smile.

Sometimes I don't understand how or why God is so good to me. I truly have no idea where I would be without this sister in Christ. The Lord has always blessed me immensely in the area of friendship. He surrounds me with joyful, encouraging, beautiful people who love Him with all their lives. I am so grateful for Miss Megan Suriano and I can only pray that one day every person will have a friend like her.