A Glimpse into Poverty from a Materialistic Girl

Throughout my time at Taylor, God has opened my eyes up to the world and to what the Gospel truly is. I am repeatedly challenged by messages involving social justice. I know that our God is a God of justice. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 30:18 where it says:

The Lord longs to be gracious to you.

He rises to show you compassion.

The Lord is a God of justice,

Blessed are all who wait on Him.

Sometimes when I read this verse I insert my name in the "you's." Also, I insert people groups around the world who I have worked with and seem hopeless. This reminds me that God love for them is so powerful and that His heart breaks for the injustice that they are facing.

The past three years, Taylor has set up a Cardboard Community for Social Justice Week. This is the second year that I have participated. Last year, my friend Ellen and I decided to live outside in the cardboard box community. We had a lot of academic things that week, so this was really the only part that we were involved in. It was eye opening but a lot of fun. This week was Social Justice Week, and it has been one my lightest weeks so far. So, my friend Britt and I decided that we would build a cardboard home together. I was so excited to be more involved and to get a better glimpse of what breaks my God's heart.

I have to admit, I had no idea what a challenge this would be this year. The cardboard this year was flimsy and smaller, making house building extremely difficult. So, after 3 and a half hours, Britt and I had a home that looked like it could fall over at a moment's notice. Monday night we got into our house and it rained literally the entire night. I woke up around 3am with water pouring on my face and my pillow soaking wet. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night and was simply miserable. I remember looking at the time and thinking that I still had several hours till I could leave. Later I began to think about the whole leaving thing. Homeless people don't have the option to go back to a warm apartment if their box or street sleeping is just too much on them. I knew that in a few days this would be all over, and I would be back in my comfy bed. Homeless people don't experience this. I started to think about how hopeless they must be each day waking up to this reality.

The second night in our box was just as bad except we were so tired that we slept a little better. It had rained the entire day and again through the entire night. Our box was half soaking wet, so we managed to sleep in a ball tucked at the bottom. I woke up thinking that I don't know if I could do a third night. However, Britt and I lifted each other's spirits and we ventured out last night for our final night. When we got to our box, it was totally soaked and all of the walls were collapsing. We almost went back to our houses and gave up. But, then Britt had the idea of sleeping under the overhang of one of our academic buildings. We grabbed some sleeping bags from friends since ours were too wet. I can't remember two seconds after I put my head down. I woke up a few times being cold, but I slept pretty well.

To be honest, I am really thankful that tonight I will be in my bed. I don' t think that I will ever forget this week. It wasn't fun, it was miserable. I think that is what I needed though to get a more realistic view of the injustice occurring all over America and the world.

It is exciting to me that so many Taylor students are aware of this and want to make a difference. I pray that God continues to make us uncomfortable and uses our hands and feet to bring justice to His precious children.

This week we have been singing "Hosanna" by Hillsong. This is one of my favorite songs, and I think that it was perfect for this week.

I see the king of glory

Coming on the clouds with fire

The whole earth shakes

The whole earth shakes

Yeeeah

I see his love and mercy

Washing over all our sin

The people sing

The people sing

[Chorus]

Hosanna

Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation

Rising up to take their place

With selfless faith

With selfless faith

I see a near revival

Stirring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees

We're on our knees

[Chorus]

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours

Everything I am for your kingdoms cause

As I go from nothing to Eternity

[Chorus]

The Potter's Hands

A few weeks ago I secretly had a ceramics lesson with Laura, who is currently in the class. It was such a wonderful and fun experience. I have worked with clay before, but I have never done wheel throwing. The whole thing was a process that had such meaning to me when I thought about our Potter.

First, the clay is really tough, so you have to throw it as hard as you can to soften it. Sometimes, God has to take us through storms and even fire in order to speak to us and to get us to have softened hearts. Next, we had to center the clay on the wheel. Without being centered, the whole thing would fall apart. Without keeping God our center and our focus, this will happen to us, too. After that, you can start to make whatever it is you are making. Laura kept telling me that I needed to add more water because it dries out quickly. This made me think of prayer and time with God. We are only nourished and able to be filled vessels when we are filled with Him. We need more and more of this. We can never have enough. I decided to make a bowl for my first item. Getting the clay to look like a bowl took many steps. However, towards the end, after my hands had softened the clay and worked with it a great deal, it started to follow every slight movement that my hands went. Soon, I had a beautiful bowl (at least I thought so). Again, this reminds me of our Potter. Even when He speaks to us and we know He is working, we sometimes still want to hold on ourselves. We don't know what the outcome is going to look like. But, when we choose to give our lives 100% to the Potter's hands, we can freely be molded into something beautiful. Then, the Potter looks at His work and is so proud. He forgets all about the beginning steps and the resistance; He only sees beauty.

I am so thankful that I had this experience. The song, "Potter's Hand" was always one of my favorites, but now that phrase has a whole new meaning.

Spring Break in Ohio

For spring break I went home to be with my family. It was a great week that went by too quickly. I decided that I will make a list of the highlights:

In no particular order....
1. Learned how to knit (Thanks, Sherri!) :)
2. Watched enough Cavs' (Cleveland Caveliers) games to get myself hooked like the rest of my family.
3. Witnessed Lexie getting a bath which she hates!
4. Spent the day in Cleveland with my momma
5. Got to make some cash for the first time in way too long
6. Slept in
7. Wore flannel polar bear PJs that my momma got me...that may give you an idea of the weather
8. I beat some Guitar Hero songs on "Hard" with Brian...took us hours and even some headaches
9. Rented a lot of movies with Bri...most of which I fell asleep on
10. Had good converstations with each member of my family and was able to spend a good amount of time with each of them. God is good.