Year 1

Well, our first year of seminary is over! It's a bitter sweet time. Bitter, because friends are leaving. Friends we have known for only a year yet grown so close to. And, our friends Laura and Walter whom we have known for 9 years. We owe them a lot for showing us the ropes out here. They will be greatly missed. Sweet, because we are one year closer to being finished. In one year of seminary we/ I have learned a lot!





Coming out here I knew it was going to be a joint effort. I know Patrick pursuing a lifetime of ministry means I am as well. However, I thought Patrick would being going through the majority of learning. He has worked hard and learned a lot and I will get to that later. Right now I want to share with you what God has taught me this year.





I can't tell you the exact day I became a Christian. I know I am a Christian because each chapter in my life is written based on some new discovery of why I need Christ's grace. This chapter in life has been hard, but a good hard. Recently I discovered how ugly my heart is. I realize that I appear to be nice however, I am bitter and angry on the inside. I am putting on a front for people. When GOD is the one whom I should impress and he judges my heart.





Colossians 3:22-24 -Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.





Galatians 1:10- For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of god? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.





1 Samuel 16:7-For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”





It is great to have my eyes opened to this sin. The hard part is overcoming it. I see the sin now and I feel ugly. I feel like it is who I am. However, I read the word God's word and find encouragement.





Romans 7:18-24-For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.


2 Corinthians 5:17-Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.





I choose to serve Christ. I have been serving man. I can not serve two Gods. I am awakened everyday to the corruption of the world and I am so thankful that I am but a sojourner here. My reward is in heaven and Christ forgives all my sins. He sees a heart white as snow. This has been a hard but great discovery.





Now, on to Patrick. I don't say it enough, I am so thankful for my husband and proud of the godly man that he is! See he is the only one that really sees/ gets the brunt of what I described above (I am real with him/ he sees my heart) and yet he still loves me. What a great example to me of Christ's love for me. I have seen him work so hard into the late hours every night this semester. He has been tired, discouraged, over whelmed. Through all that he has made it a point to not put our marriage on the back burner. We just celebrated five years of marriage. I also just finished reading the book Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas. Some of us first year seminary wives started meeting and wanted to find a way to help our husbands though this hard time. I recommend this book to any woman married or planing to get married one day. After reading it I feel like I ruined/ wasted the first five years of my marriage. I am still making mistakes daily but I have learned so much, I now know when I am making mistakes, and that's a start. Something I have learned for example, I really thought Patrick was from Mars. I wondered why God would put two people so different together. I just couldn't figure this marriage thing out I felt like I couldn't get through to him and was always falling short. This book is just what every nagging wife needs.





So we/ I have learned a lot this first year. Still not sure where we are going to be in three years. However, we are sure that this is where we are suppose to be for now. Looking forward to learning more!





Lots of pictures from this year to come!