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Work is good for the soul.
Work. A word that I tend not to like. The word "work" to me sounds like doing things that I don't want to do, doing a lot of hard work, and generally feeling joyless. I tend to lean more towards comfort and resting and procrastination over working hard. Now, comfort and resting are not intrinsically bad, but when I into these things over working for the glory of the Lord, a real heart problem sets in. You see, work is actually a good thing. God created work. Work was a part of the world before sin entered in. God gave Adam work. God has also given me work. Currently, my work is being a student. After sixteen years (so weird!) of being a student, it is so easy for me to look at my school work as something that keeps me from having a joyful and abundant life. Yes, school work does take up a decent amount of my time, but it does not have to be something that I dread doing. With only five weeks left in my last semester of college, I'm asking the Lord to help me find joy in my assignments, to be diligent and work hard for the glory of God. Even though these are my last few weeks of being a student, fruitful work will be a part of the rest of my life. The work doesn't end when I graduate; it just changes. So the Lord is teaching me that work is good for the soul. It fills days and can bring real joy. God's still doing a lot in my heart in regards to learning the value of work and growing in discipline and diligence, but living in light of the fact that work is good is freeing.
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I have an innate love for traditions. You know, those special things you do only once in a while around the same time every year. One of my favorite traditions growing up was Easter morning. My family would wake up to present, go to church, come home for an Easter egg hunt, and then have a large meal as a family. It was tradition, a special day. At a surface level, I understood that Easter was a day of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, but I mostly associated the day with sunshine, presents, Easter eggs, and tasty ham. When Christ called me to follow him as a college freshman, my view of Easter radically changed. My relationship with Jesus gave new meaning to celebrating Easter. No longer was it about the egg hunt or presents, it was about the glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death could not keep Jesus in the grave, because he is the Son of God. It was the heart of Easter celebration. As I've grown in my relationship with Christ over these past few years, God has been showing me more and more how I don't understand the heart behind traditions, especially church traditions. I grew up in the church, but I didn't become a disciple of Christ until college, which means that I'm learning like a child about the significance of certain traditions. Today is Palm Sunday. At a head level, I could tell you that Palm Sunday is in reference to the day a few days prior to Easter, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and people laid palms on the ground for Jesus to ride over. They also praised Jesus and called them their King. But I didn't grasp the significance of this situation or Palm Sunday until reading an article on Desiring God called The Savior's Tears of Sovereign Mercy by John Piper (love that man!). The people we calling Jesus their KING! Jesus performed miracles, that displayed his power and sovereignty. He healed lepers, blind men, a woman that bled for twelve years. He fed the 5000, walked on water, and taught with power. And the people recognized his sovereignty. They praised him! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! {Luke 19:38} And yet these same people crucified him the following week. Jesus was praised and worshipped and seen as sovereign one day and then spat on and crucified the next. But that was part of God's plan to redeem his people. Jesus went to the cross willingly for the people that praised him and later denied him. He died a death he did not deserve to save sinners. And on the third day, he rose again to the praise and glory of God. People who didn't fully understand Jesus, praised him and recognized him as being the King, the Son of God, the Messiah. If they wouldn't have praised Jesus, stones would have {Luke 19:40}. That's the power and sovereignty of God and of Jesus. In heaven, every day will be like Palm Sunday. Jesus will be praised for eternity by all of the creation. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” {Revelation 5:13} I'm savoring this today. One day, I will get to meet Jesus and praise and worship him in his presence. I'm anxiously awaiting that day.  For the past four years, I've gone on a spring break trip with my Christian fellowship from college. Every year, when the spring break trip ends, I feel a mixed bag of joy and sadness. I'm joyful that I spent a great week with a dynamic and diverse group of people, talking about Jesus, co-laboring at a YoungLife camp together, and enjoying some warmer weather. But each year, I dread the day after spring break when I return to normal life, and I'm no longer surrounded by people. It might be an extrovert thing, but I think it's also a "longing for heaven" thing. As an extrovert, of course I love being around people constantly. It's how I refuel and feel energized. But I'm also made for community, and you are too! In fact, before Adam and Eve sinned, God knew that man would need a companion. Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” {Genesis 2:18} The Bible even paints a beautiful picture of the fellowship and community of believers. This scripture occurs after Peter gives the first sermon after the resurrection of Christ. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. {Acts 2: 42-47} Community is an essential and necessary part of life as well as the Christian faith. It isn't good that we are alone. We need people. We need companionship. It is a blessing and joy. Fellowship helps us to see God's love, and it gives us an opportunity to share the love of God with others.
However, fellowship and community this side of heaven are not perfect. People are still sinful, and we often sin against each other. But sometimes being in community can feel like a small slice of paradise, which is why I always feel sad at the end of spring break. I've been back for a week now, and I still miss getting to be in the woods with friends for a few days, but I can take delight in the fact that even with the bittersweet end of spring break, I will experience true paradise one day, praising and worshipping God alongside my brothers and sisters for eternity. Today is a big day, my friends! It's the one year anniversary of writing on this blog! WOOHOO! One Year! A year ago this blog was published as engagingculture.weebly.com and now it's shelaughswithoutfear.com A year ago, I would have never thought that I would have stuck with blogging for a year, or that the Lord would have used this blog in my life in such a profound way. Here are some ways that the Lord has used this blog to grow me in the past year and some of the cool things that this blog has allowed me to do: I Own a WebsiteI never thought that I would own a website. I use to think that only tech savvy people have websites. While I'm techie when it comes to film, I am not techie when it comes to website design. But here you have it: I own a website, and run a blog, and I love it! From the United States to PolandThis blog was like a link to home while I was away, I loved that I got to share the things I was learning about the Lord, myself, and Poland. I still like going back and reading my posts from that time. It brings back a lot of fun memories from Polska. You can read all of my posts from Poland here. 31 Day SeriesI started thinking about participating in a 31 Day series with a few bloggers that I follow this time last year. I wasn't sure if I would have the time or the diligence to write every day on a topic for 31 Days, but it actually ended up happening. It was a joy to get to write about being a creative person that is a follower of Christ for 31 days. You can read the whole series here. Look forward to more series in the future! Meeting and Connecting with New PeopleAnother joy of this blog has been getting to meet and connect with people that I wouldn't have gotten to connect with otherwise. These connections have been encouraging and life-giving. They've also given me motivation to keep blogging. Sharing What the Lord's Doing in My Life to Encourage OthersAlong with connecting with others, it's been unbelievably encouraging to hear how the Lord uses the things I'm learning and going through to encourage others. Sometimes I take for granted how the Lord can use the things He's doing in my life to then encourage others. I love hearing back from the people that read what I write, especially when the Lord has used it to impact them. Death to the People PleaserIf you have been reading this blog for a while or you know me in person, you know that I struggle with fearing and pleasing people. It's kind of hard to write a blog when you're a people pleaser. You want your words to be just right. You want people to like what you write. You want to write new and exciting things, and you want ALL THE PEOPLE to read what you write. I'm keeping this blog to honor the Lord and to share what I'm learning along the way. That was the heart of the blog when it started as engagingculture.weebly.com, and it's still the heart of it now that it's shelaughswithoutfear.com. So in honor of She Laughs Without Fear's one year anniversary, here's some throwback graphics. Also, here's the official TimeHop that reminded me that it's been a year! 
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