the beginning -- pt. 1 of the journey

everything has a beginning..."it" started somewhere, somehow. the earth, human life, love, faith; all have a beginning. a start, the origin, that point in time. i have been on a journey for the last 5 years. one that i did not know had even begun. i want to share with those of you who happen to read or stumble upon this blog...the journey of what i have really been doing and where i have travelled in the last 5 years.

if i had to pin point the time when everything began, i would have to say college. it was in college when God became real to me. my relationship was no longer my churches religion or my parents mandate. i truly came to know the Creator of the universe as my personal Savior and the Lord of my life.

i was raised in a Christian home and had years of religious teaching and had even been attending a Christian college for over a year before my life was changed. the passage of scripture below, from Deuteronomy 30, explains where i was in my relationship with God during my sophomore year. i was at a crossroads. i had a decision. choose life. choose death. it took me far too long to realize choosing life was not a one time choice, but a daily decision which required day-to-day surrender as well as regular reminding of what choosing a life with Christ demanded. Deut. 30:20 became the foundation upon which the next 5 years have been built. i thank God that this was my foundation because i had NO idea how much it would be rocked!


11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

more to come...