Today was a surprisingly warm day...which was rather funny consdering the fact that we had a blizzard here a week ago. I didn't even need a jacket when the sun was out, which was sooo nice! I wish I could have spent the whole day outside, but there's still snow on the ground...so we opted for just keeping our windows open in the apartment :)
I went to church this morning with some of my friends from Vintage. The pastor is still sick, so another man was preaching. His sermon was really good in general, but there was one thing that really stuck with me. We seem to have an obsession these days with strengthening our physical immune systems, especially around this time of year. But how many of us are putting the same amount of effort into strengthening our spiritual immune systems? Personally, this was a bit of a convicting moment for me. I have a naturally weak immune system, so I have done a lot over the past couple of years to strengthen it with different herbs and vitamins. I have to wonder if I have really had the same dedication to building up my spiritual defenses. That's something I really want to start working on.
After church today I went out for pizza with some friends. I just want to say what a huge blessing from God these people have been for me. This past year or two have been full of a lot of major ups and downs in my life, and being here with these people finally feels like I am really in a good place. My friends from Vintage are just so absolutely loving and genuine and honest in their friendship and in their faith. It was such a perfectly God-orchestrated thing that I met any of them, and I am so grateful to him for that. They have encouraged me to really fall deeply in love with my God again, and for that I am grateful to them. They have also made me understand a lot of things that have happened in my past, that those things have happened for a reason, and that they can be used by God for good and not for the evil that Satan intended them to be.
I spent the afternoon baking a cake and making eggplant casserole with spaghetti. My friend Rheanna came over to our apartment to get a break from her own, and we just enjoyed some girl time with my roommate, Stephanie (yet another blessing from God!) Neither of them had seen Pirates 2, so we watched it while we ate dinner.
Tonight was Catacombs, which is our Sunday night service on campus for Vintage. I have to say, this is very much the hilight of my week. It is so great to just come together and worship with friends and others my own age and just seek after our God together. Tyler's messages each week are always very real and relevant and challenging. We usually go out and have some kind of fellowship time after church...but I just felt like coming home tonight :) So here I am. My roommate and her friend just went to Taco Bell and brought me back a yummy chalupa! And now I'm talking to my best friend, whom I haven't talked to in about a week! Life is soooo good!
And now that you all know much more than you probably ever wanted to know about my Sunday, I think it's time to end this post! So, as Tigger would say: "TTFN!"