Journey for God

I have choosen the road not taken. I made a decision to follow God with my whole heart and in all things: In matters of education, occupation, and relationships. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed..."

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Teaching Again...

Teaching Again…

It’s not what you think.

I really love teaching, and I don’t want to join the mass exodus from the profession. Although I am not currently in the best position to again teach in a classroom just yet, I have been finding ways here and there to sneak in my passion.

One such way has been teaching and preparing lessons for our children’s Sabbath School at church. Our church is extremelysmall — my…

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Wait on the Lord

Wait on the Lord

Have you ever heard people say that sometimes God says “wait”? Usually when I contemplate that, I imagine that God is holding back something and asking us to exercise patience. But I realize that sometimes, He’s simply asking us to exercise patience.

Whatever God asks us to give up, He puts in its place something better. I know you guys heard that all through last school year, but it’s true.…

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♪ ♫ Nobody Knows...

♪ ♫ Nobody Knows…

♫ “… the trouble I’ve seen.” ♫

Have you ever heard that song before? Have you ever felt that way? As though no one could relate to you and your situation?

Since I have come home, I have really felt that way! Now, I know that self-pity is terrible, but it is a little hard to resist. I have sometimes felt as though there are no young people out there who can relate to my plight of joblessness and a…

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For This Purpose

He came to serve. To suffer. To die.

“Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this cause came I unto this hour.”

John 12:27

He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet for this very cause, He came to earth.

As young people, we make a big deal of trying to figure out our purpose in life. We want to know what courses to study in high…

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"What Doest Thou Here?"

“What Doest Thou Here?”

I had the awesome privilege of speaking with a handful of my girls (and a few guys, too) yesterday; and one of the questions that I got from nearly every one of them was, “So what are you doing?”

Now at the time, I was in a vehicle en route from our church to our country property in West Virginia. So when they asked, I said, “I’m driving.”

Please forgive my mischievousness.

In all seriousness…

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A Simple Prayer

“O let me walk.”

Besides being the title of this blog, it has also been the prayer of my heart over the last seven months. Many of you know that in January, I messed up my right ankle (presumably a sprain after falling during computer class one morning); and shortly after that, my left ankle began to give me trouble as well. The trouble was, I did not know why. A fall and sprain is a reasonable…

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The Promised Essay

For passers-by who don’t know why I wrote this blog, a brief background is in order. For two years, I taught English at a mission boarding academy in Oklahoma. Although I so much would have loved to stay and teach there, circumstances and God’s leading did not allow for that. This disappointed many of the students, and I promised some of them that I would write an explanation for my leaving. The…

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Hartland!

I am so excited to have embarked on another leg of my journey with God. Through amazing providence, tomorrow I am registering to take the childbirth educator / doula course at Hartland College in Rapidan.

It all started at GYC Kentucky 2015, when I met a Hartland student who is a midwifery major. She and I had so many things in common, from journalism to medical missionary to choir -- and then midwifery, too! It was quite a wonderful conversation. (She was very excited to see me on campus today; I do not believe that she anticipated me taking up her offer of attending this spring!).

Now I am here, getting ready for the longest time apart from my family ever. (The longest was five days. This course is ten weeks!). But God knows that I need to break out of my shell a bit and be the Gabby He intended me to be. Also, the schedule may allow me to complete my naturopathy correspondence studies while here.

What God will do with me after this is a mystery. But I am leaving that up to Him. What is important is that at each step I am where He wants me to be. There is the only place that I will find joy.

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When the ways of the Lord are understood, his providences will not obscure our faith, even though they be full of suffering and sorrow. They will purify the heart, refine and elevate the character, ennoble the thoughts and practices, so that much fruit shall be borne to the glory of God. Satan has cast his hellish shadow of corruption and iniquity, and has covered the earth with darkness as with a funeral pall, but the Sun of Righteousness still shines, and God would have every afflicted soul look to the brightness of Calvary’s cross. Faith, hope, and courage may be drawn from the Source of all light and truth. "Let every mourner look up and be comforted. Every service rendered to the Master in helping others, is blessing yourself, and the benediction that is spoken to those that mourn, will result in your own comforting. You will discern the invisible, and know the reality there is in Christian experience. Let there be rejoicing amid affliction until even amid the shadows that have thickened about you, you may have a truly grateful spirit. Christ himself will brighten your gloom with bright gleams of light, and his divine light will be all the more precious and glorious as it shines forth amid clouds and darkness. “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

Ellen G. White (Signs of the Times, 08/15/1895)

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Comfort Zone

One of the most difficult things I have had to do is give up my plans for God. No, my dreams were not totally out of line: In fact, they were designed for Him. To give up my plans for a nobler cause is easy. To change my already-noble plans -- not so much.

But something struck me this week. I was so willing to be a missionary - an English teacher, a medical missionary trainer, a midwife, a doula. I was ready to take on canvassing religious literature or going house-to-house to give Bible studies. And I may yet be able to. But those are in my comfort zone.

When God calls us, He draws us out of our comfort zone. Why? So that we can become more balanced and well-rounded. So that we can develop traits of character that would never have been exercised otherwise. So that we can see ugly qualities and begin to get rid of them.

My comfort zone is the adventurous - not the ordinary and the mundane. I need excitement, danger, activity. Not an office job. But that may just happen.

You know what, though: it has always turned out alright. Let me explain. I am a humanities girl: history, literature, creative writing, art. I thrive in that environment. And even in choosing the less artsy field of journalism, I have found my edge in photojournalism, infographics, and feature articles.

But nearly two years ago, God asked me to take a medical missionary course. Science? If anyone knows me well, they know that I am not a science fanatic. I love laboratory exercises - but in chemistry, not bio. And I never did pass physics. (Thankfully, my course avoids that!) Most of all -- I never wanted to become a doctor or anything that looked like one. Clinical science was not for me.

But as I work through my course in between chores, accounting, curriculum planning, and tutoring, I have realized something horrifying: I love medicine now! :-) And you know what: I might just consider the doctor think. Maybe -- just maybe -- God knows me better than I know myself.

And if He knows that I will grow more in a traditional job than in a radical one, so be it; because at the end of the day, I want to reflect His image and be His child. So Gabby, get ready to step outside your comfort zone.

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When God opens the way for the accomplishment of a certain work and gives assurance of success, the chosen instrumentality must do all in his power to bring about the promised result. In proportion to the enthusiasm and perseverance with which the work is carried forward will be the success given. God can work miracles for His people only as they act their part with untiring energy.

Ellen White (Prophets and Kings, p. 263)

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Run as fast as you can towards God, and if someone keeps up, introduce yourself.

It’s so funny: I was praying about this last week! One of the things that I recognize in my life is a propensity to start shaping my life around some guy who has interest in me (usually reciprocated). Unfortunately, that path has kept me back from striving to do more for God - or what He wants me to do in the first place! So I have asked God to do me a HUGE favor and help me long for Him alone and keep my eye single to His work and His glory; and when the right guy comes around at the right time, just be engaged! (Yes, if you have not already noticed, I’m crazy). 

Time will tell if my desire is God’s will.

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It is the very essence of all right faith to do the right thing at the right time.

Ellen White (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 24)

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Outpost

Definition:  (1) a small military camp or position at some distance from the main force, used especially as a guard against surprise attack; (2)  an outlying or frontier settlement.

“We are to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves in our efforts to secure country properties at a low figure, and from these outpost centers we are to work the cities. ...

“ The truth must be spoken, whether men will hear, or whether men will forbear. ... The cities are to be worked from outposts. Said the messenger of God, ‘Shall not the cities be warned? Yes, not by God's people living in them, but by their visiting them, to warn them of what is coming upon the earth.’ ...

“When iniquity abounds in a nation, there is always to be heard some voice giving warning and instruction, as the voice of Lot was heard in Sodom. Yet Lot could have preserved his family from many evils had he not made his home in this wicked, polluted city. All that Lot and his family did in Sodom could have been done by them, even if they had lived in a place some distance away from the city.”

Evangelism, pp. 77-78

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Canvassers should be able to give instruction in regard to the treatment of the sick. They should learn the simple methods of hygienic treatment. Thus they may work as medical missionaries, ministering to the souls and the bodies of the suffering. This work should now be going forward in all parts of the world. Thus multitudes might be blessed by the prayers and instruction of God’s servants.

Ellen White (Manual for Canvassers, p. 32)

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My Heart is Fixed

He whose heart is fixed to serve God, will find opportunity to serve him. He will pray, he will read the word of God, he will seek virtue and forsake vice. He can brave contempt and derision while looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself. Help and grace are promised by Him whose words are truth. God will not fail to fulfill His promise to all who trust in Him.

Sketches from the Life of Paul, p. 297

“O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory” (Psalm 108:1).

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A Lesson from the Snow

Last night while I was looking on the nearly two feet of print less snow that covered our yard, God told me something beautiful - something I do not think I could have understood any other way.

That snow represented His grace in my life.

You see, the day before, my family had tread down and sled in the eight inches of frozen water that had descended that day. Our footprints and snow angels and random tripping spots made little craters in the white landscape. In similar fashion, the purity that once characterized my life was rudely interrupted by one small, mistake that became an avalanche quite quickly. With no one to blame for my early entrance into a world God intended me to enjoy, but not now, I sunk into the abyss of self-condemnation and worthlessness. And just like the snow outside my window, my life was now clearly marred in spite of my efforts to reform.

But you know something beautiful about all this? Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound! Over Sabbath evening (Friday night) and day, several more inches of snow fell until we accumulated over 17 inches! As I looked at the fresh snow through the window, in the darkness, in the silence, my Lord's still, small voice spoke volumes: "You did make mistakes in the past, but I have restored you. I have covered you with My righteousness. You can start a new path in the snow."

Tears. That's all I could respond with. While there, it hit me that all this time, it was restoration that I had longed for. I knew that God had forgiven me; for if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I believed that God has done that for me. Why then had I so often knelt before God begging for it? You see, it was not simply a clean slate that I wanted: it was the ability to write again. And now, here, that is exactly what God was promising me.