tuesday.

i know this is technically posted on wednesday but it is referring to tuesday's devo.

first off i just wanted to say how great it was to meet you all.
this weekend was such a journey and im excited to see what God has
in store for us this summer on the water! it's funny because even though
we were together for a short time i feel as though i miss you all already
and can not wait to be together again come memorial weekend!
also thank you for opening up and sharing your lifestories and testimonies
of God's faithfulness in your life! know that i am praying for all of you :)

things that really stood out to me while reading through Philippians:

 3:7-14: "everything is a loss comparing to gaining Christ" these verses
stood out to me because it really set things in perspective. we hold earthly honors
so high in our lives such as awards, titles, roles, scholarships, recognitions, etc. but what paul
is saying is that even though he has all of these good things going for him all things
fade away after encountering Christ. It's one thing when we can recognize that Jesus holds
a higher value than earthly things but its another when we lay those things down at his
precious and holy feet just for the sake of knowing him more.

i LOVE the NLT version of this verse: "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ"


so true!
basically i just want to say how encouraging these verses as well as the study of today were for me. 
just recognizing the freedom we have through Christ to express ourselves in every single way!
it's so encouraging to hear Paul say that he desires to know Christ through his sufferings. That he 
would go that far as to suffer to know the Lord! How awesome is that! It's crazy because i think about it
and I don't know if i could handle suffering like Christ did. That is a bold statement! But Paul makes it because he is so confident and on fire with passion of knowing Christ. It gives me hope that I can work towards suffering for Christ and getting to know him more through this suffering. 


cheers to being free in Christ and suffering to know Him more.
-hope.