Midnight Ramblings: Thoughts About Almighty God

Before you read this post, sit and think for a couple minutes about the God you serve. I mean literally do it, not just think, "oh, I'll read this blog post and then maybe do it if I feel like it or if I have time." No... I want you to actually stop and dwell on almighty God for a couple minutes. Set a timer if you have to.

Fifty percent of you are probably still reading my blog post without stopping and thinking. Do it NOW.

Okay... assuming (hoping!) that you have done that, what did you realize? Did it occur to you in those two minutes that this God we are privileged to serve created the world? Just by talking? I talk... a lot. :) But I never create anything that way. The fact that there is a God up there who created an entire universe just by telling it to come into existence should drive me to my knees -- even before I stop and acknowledge that on top of creating the world, this God is glorious, magnificent, and powerful.

As Christians, we throw around a lot of words about God. We talk quite often about how "holy" God is, or how "sovereign" He is. Stop and think about what those words mean for just a second. God is holy, set apart. He is completely untouchable by my sinful being. We talk a lot more about how loving God is than about how holy He is. God is sovereign, powerful, ruler of all. That means He's in charge, whether I like it or not. Over and over again I'm told to surrender everything to God, to "let" Him run my life. God doesn't need me to "let" Him run my life. He just offers me the opportunity to make it less painful by agreeing to His control.

I've heard a lot of people talk about God's love and grace. Honestly, I'd be on a road headed straight for hell if it weren't for His grace. I'm not trying to say here that God is an evil killjoy in the sky. He's not. He loves me, and He's going to do what's best for me. God may be holy and untouchable, but He chose to become touchable in the form of Jesus Christ. He chose to bridge the gap, so now I can communicate with a holy God. But still, God's love and grace only make sense and are only beautiful in the framework of His holiness and sovereignty.

This is a God that doesn't need me. (If this sounds like a harsh statement, read Acts 17:24-25.) This is a God that could have simply started over after the fall. Yet for some, unexplainable reason, He chose to love me and redeem me, even at the cost of His own life. Why? I don't have that figured out yet. For some reason, the almighty God Who created the universe just by talking decided to come and die for my sins so that I could go to heaven. It sounds ludicrous... but I know it's true.

So my response? To get down on my knees, and to ask God for help. Even though I have this almighty God living inside of me now, I still don't want to surrender. I still want to think blissfully that I'm in control, that I run the universe. But if God can make the universe just by talking, He can certainly control it. And considering that I know from His death on the cross that He loves me, I think I might just see the same love in the way He controls the rest of my life. It makes a lot of sense just to admit that He's in charge and stop trying to grab the reins.

Especially when I take a minute and think about Who He is.

With love from an absolute doll,
Erin Joy

Sundry Happenings

My last few posts have been deep and full of serious thoughts. Enough of that!! :) For once, I'm going to give you a portrait of the daily life of a doll in the big city. Don't get used to it, though... for a small doll, I have deep thoughts pretty often.

You'll see here a lovely picture of me at a... well... we'll explain the picture later. It'll give you an incentive to read the rest of my post! (Clever, aren't I? Thanks. I thought so, too.)

I've been keeping extremely busy with several things. First... the unending job search. Jobs in a big city are very hard to come by, especially with the economy the way it is (but I promised no deep thoughts, so we won't go there). I've been searching for jobs in a variety of areas... teaching piano, working at a publishing house, serving food in the dining hall... but so far, we haven't had an official yes. (I think they're practicing height discrimination -- but it's not my fault that I'm under a foot tall!) I've scheduled a few interviews, and will keep you all updated.

In the midst of the hunt for a regular job, I've taken a couple babysitting gigs. These aren't going to be an every week thing, necessarily, but it's nice as extra income, and a relaxing time to do homework off campus. Homework...

Homework hasn't been that insane this semester. While I'm taking 17 1/4 credits this semester, the assignments have been fairly simple thus far. Sometimes I have a huge project due (like the one I worked on last night!) but for the most part, it's not that difficult to complete. Unless I have to play catch up from being sick -- which happened last week.

Yes, I got the stomach flu. It was pretty miserable -- I stayed up with it all night last Sunday, and then spent the next day recuperating. (It's pretty terrifying when you are losing your lunch into a large plastic container that's big enough to swim in.) My stomach is finally back to normal, thankfully.

I've also been hanging out with friends. We celebrated a friend's birthday a few days ago, and that was a blast. I'm continually amazed at how many close, godly friends God has brought into my life. I am so blessed.

I think that's all for now -- oh, wait, you still want to hear about the picture, don't you? I thought you'd never ask... :)

We had a "Winter Protest Party" on my floor this evening. We dressed in our summer clothes, and enjoyed pizza and frozen fruit drinks on the floor. Kind of like a picnic... inside... in the middle of winter. :) It was fun! And now I'm ready for summer...

With love from an absolute doll,
Erin Joy