40 days.

T-40 days.

It is interesting that today is the day I start a blog that will walk through my seminary years. If you are unaware, 40 is a pretty significant number used many times throughout the Bible. The number of days it rained while Noah was on the ark. The number of years the Israelites wandered in the desert. And many others. But most significant to me right now is that it is the number of days Jesus spent in the wilderness when the Spirit led Him out to be alone to fast and pray before He began His earthly ministry. I am going to take the next 40 days and fast from a few things that are unnecessary comforts in my life, like TV (since food would never work, though I will for select days - be in prayer!).

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. I want to share what God is teaching me in my courses at Gordon-Conwell and in life. It is my heart's desire that this blog do two things. First, I want it to challenge you, the reader, to live a life that reflects what you claim to believe through telling how God is challenging me. Secondly, I want to use it as a place I can put things that I would like prayer for. So come as often as you like and comment if you desire. I can not say how often I will be posting new things, it will depend on the Spirit's leading, but it is my prayer over this blog that it can be full of words that are genuine and focused on Christ.

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"3:8" the title of the blog stands for the verse God gave me yesterday as my seminary verse. It comes from the book of Ephesians. It says,

"Although I am less than the least of all God's people,

this grace was given me:

to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

How I came upon this verse was definitely the Spirit's leading and bear with me, it is a long, inter-connected story.

This past weekend we had a Beach Day with the GENESIS women. After dinner, we began talking, as women do, and Krista mentioned the book of Ephesians for reasons unnecessary to type. I had randomly been reading parts of Eph. in my devos before that night but never from the beginning, intently or consistently.
Sunday night, GENESIS, the message was on how important the Word of God is to our lives and how we need to have a plan to read it. So Monday morning I got up early and started praying through where I should start my plan. Naturally Ephesians seemed the right place.
Monday Eph. 1.
Tuesday Eph. 2.
Wed's I do not get up early because I don't have to work.
Now, I need to preface Wed. with another occurance that took place back on Sunday night. I am usually a pretty friendly person and I try to meet all of the new women who I notice at GENESIS. Shea was talking to someone and I needed to mention something to her so I went over and introduced myself to Lora, a woman visiting some friends for the week. Usually I keep a conversation going by asking a crazy amount of questions to get the other person talking. But tonight was different. I could not come up with anything interesting to ask her. Lora and I still talked for 15 minutes or so and I found out she has been back in the US for 4 months after spending over a year abroad as a missionary. Without going into much detail of her story or mine I ended up talking about a couple of my bad ministry experiences... which if you are socially awkward, that is not a typical first conversation topic! On the drive home that night I thought to myself, that was weird, I can't believe I was talking about those things with someone I just met. But it was God. I did not know, but she related to me and it was a source of encouragement to her that I made it to the other side as she is not yet there.

Tuesday night, Lora came to the lifegroup I lead (Hephzibah shout out!) and I gave her my email and phone number if she wanted to hang out the rest of the week she was visiting. So Wed. morning she called and we decided to go up to Rockport, Ma to the shops and the beach.

I spent the day getting to know a beloved sister in Chirst and taking in stories of South Africa and Myanmar. While most of the things we shared were not very uplifting and a lot of pain and hurt came out of both of our stories, Lora left me craving Jesus. I love people who do that. When you can see on their face the painful situations that they have been in and yet they point to Jesus and say He is good. He sustains. He redeems. He is sovereign. I feel like I could have known her for at least a couple of years but it was only 4 hours.

There are many things about our conversation that I am still mulling over, but one thing stuck out to me the most. (paraphrased from memory) She said she is asking God, "What do You want of me?" because she knows what people all around her want. Her parents want one thing, her siblings another, her friends another and the list goes on. But the only person she is living to please is God. And if she doesn't know what He wants so she can pursue it she is at a standstill.

So Wed. night after hanging out with her I took Kayak, my precious puppy who turned 1 today and is sleeping by my side right now, for a walk around Horn Pond with my Bible. And I asked God, "What do You want of me? Why did You create me? Please, remind me tonight." I opened to Ephesians 3 since I had not read it yet and it was my "plan". The whole chapter, but esp. v. 2-12 and highlighting 8 was my answer.

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My decision to go to seminary has been a process. I never would have imagined I would be going to get my Masters in Divinity, but God is leading and I do not want to take one step out of the path. Without making this the longest first blog entry ever, the path started back in January 09. Some reasons are; My dear friend Emily reminded me it was there and she shared her heart of how she had always wanted to go but was getting married and moving to So Cal (horrible life!) and she encouraged me to go. Feeling like God wants me in Boston and a part of the GENESIS church plant and trying to figure out what it looks like to stay here longer than I had originally thought. Talking with Michael Davis and seeing his enthuiasm for me to pursue further biblical knowledge. Noticing most Women's Conference speakers have a Masters in something. Meeting Alice Matthews and hearing her heart for Women's Ministry. Having the 5 undergrad college transcripts get there within a week of applying flawlessly. Getting in with two F's on my Moody transcript (from unfinished internships past that is now turned in!). And the list could go on.

But God is good. Amen? Amen.

So what does He want from you? What is the purpose of God's creating you? Because there is one. I encourage you all if you don't know what it is to pray into it. God will reveal it to you. And also find a plan to help you to read God's Word daily. The difference it will make in your life will be huge.

Thanks for reading!