Beautiful Sacrifices

Hola to all 3 people that read this! I'm still alive and kickin here in San José. I just wrote a post about my trip to Monteverde in case you're interested. It should be below this post. Ok, well, what's new? Nothing really! It's been spiritual emphasis week at ILE. They flew in a pastor from the Virgin Islands to speak to us. I've been to the Virgin Islands once upon a time, but that's another story. On Monday he spoke about making the sacrifice of waking up early to meet with Jesus. I'm not going to lie... usually, I get a little distracted during chapel, but for some reason, God really wanted me to hear the message that day. He made an excellent point; if you can't make the sacrifice of giving up some sleep to pray, read your bible, and grow closer to God, then are you really doing your job as a Christian? (This is at least my point of view.) He's right, though. It's a lot easier to just read my bible right before I go to bed, but it shouldn't necessarily be easy. Jesus straight up sacrificed Himself for me, the least I can do is sacrifice 30 minutes of sleep. It's not easy, but that's what makes it a sacrifice! Sacrifices aren't meant to be a piece of cake and they're not meant to make you comfortable. I don't want to get to the gates of heaven and have God tell me that I let Him down because I didn't try to invest my time in Him.

So waking up early, I can kind of handle that. But it's not just a sacrifice of my sleep in the morning, it's sacrificing things like watching netflix before I go to bed so that I can go to sleep earlier to make up the time lost. In case you were unaware, netflix is kind of a big deal amongst college students. But all of it is worth it because Jesus rocks and deserves my devotion. 

I didn't know where to start Tuesday morning, so I prayed that God would show me what I needed to be shown. Low and behold, I somehow ended up in the book of James. I was reading about patience and felt so convicted. Specifically, James 1:19, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." Patience is an issue that I think every single person struggles with in a different way. How often I am quick to speak and slow to listen. Whether that be in a conversation with a friend, or an argument, it's an issue I want to work on. I want to be the kind of person that is slow to anger because Jesus was that kind of person. Words have this miraculous way of making things go from great to terrible. But they can also do just the opposite! I struggle with saying whatever comes to my mind. I have hurt many people in the past. I don't want to ruin beautiful relationships because I decided to say something that I know I wouldn't have said if I would have just stepped back and thought about it. I am trying now to follow the three steps: listen whenever someone needs listened to, stop and think about what I am going to say before I open my big, fat mouth, and take a chill pill before overreacting and doing something that I might regret. All these things are great, but I can't do it alone. The best part is that my biggest cheerleader also happens to hold my future in His hands. I truly believe that with God, all things are possible. This is so much bigger than me; it has always been, and will always be. So if you've made it this far, I challenge you to also set your clock back, wake up, and see what God wants to show you. I'm only two days in and already can feel the difference! 

God is so good. 

P.S. Here's a pic I took of the sunset in Monteverde. Enjoy:)