Today I spent 4 hours listening to a lecture about pregnancy and fetal development and it put God in an entirely new perspective for me. We watched an hour-long video that both showed and described the various stages of fetal growth in a 9 month period.
All I can think to say is, "Wow!"
Personally, I think that every single human being on the planet should have to watch that video in order to truly and fully appreciate how precious their life is. I learned a lot today, and I'd very much like to share it with you:
God didn't simply create you. He spent 9 long months intricately forming each and every cell in your body. It absolutely blows my mind to think that I, Kaila Arielle Bowlin, used to be smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. If that's not humbling, then I don't know what is.
God spent 9 months forming your heart and blood vessels in order to make every single thing you did today possible. 3 weeks and 1 day after you were conceived your tiny little heart began to beat. [That's long before most women even know that they're pregnant, which I believe trumps each and every argument that is pro-abortion, but that's another topic entirely.] That tiny little heart grew into what is now your primary source of physical life.
God spent 9 months developing your lungs and respiratory system so that you can breathe, sigh, yawn, speak, sing.
God spent 9 months assembling and strengthening each of your 206 different bones in order to support and frame your body.
God spent 9 months weaving together upwards of 600 different muscles, each composed of thousands of individual muscle fibers, so that you can move, sit, stand, walk, run, jump, swim, play, dance. You name it.
I'm guessing you get where I'm going with this.
We serve such a meticulous and intricate God!! There are over 6 billion people in the world right now, and God set aside 9 months to individually and uniquely create each and every one of them.
Psalm 139:13-16 says,
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
And that's not even the half of it!
The thought of myself as a tiny, single cell compared with the fully grown woman sitting in front of this computer is unbelievable. Think about it! All the things you're capable of doing, saying, thinking, learning! Just look at how far you've come and where God has brought you! I might not be doing a very good job of making my point here, and if that's the case then I'm truly sorry. My heart feels about ready to burst with gratitude and amazement.
And to top it all off, I feel honored to have been chosen for such a sacred task as carrying one of God's precious creations.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
God Is Already There
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them," -John 10:4
Recently I've found myself very anxious about the future. I'm about to begin my final semester of college, which means that finding a job and starting my career is only months away for me. Whenever I talk to someone who is about to start college or maybe is in their freshman or sophomore year, I'll typically ask them what they want to do when they graduate. So often the answer is, "I don't know," or "I haven't decided yet," which I believe is 100% okay. My response is always, "That's alright, you've got time."
Well, my time has pretty much run out.
Lucky for me, I bypassed the question of what I will do long ago. Now it's just a matter of where. I've spent the last few days searching for nursing jobs in Northern Colorado, emailing HR offices, and so on. Sure, there are jobs available. But 99.9% of them require x years of experience, which I most certainly do not have. That's the anxiety-inducing part.
So I find that my mind is flooded with questions like,
"What if you can't find a job in Fort Collins?"
"What if there are no new grad programs with spots available?"
"What if, by the time you graduate and are eligible to apply, there are no open positions?"
"What if Aaron can't find a job either?"
"How are you going to support yourselves?"
"Is Fort Collins really the right move?"
And so on.
Needless to say, it gets a little bit ridiculous. But I came across John 10:4 this morning and suddenly the future didn't seem so ominous.
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them,"
I wholeheartedly believe that God did not call me into nursing and get me through school to leave me high and dry. I don't believe that God sets us up for failure. He has every second of my life planned out, and has since before I was even a thought. Maybe I won't find a job right away, maybe I will. Maybe I'll get to work in hospital right off the bat, maybe I won't. Either way, I'm part of a divine plan; and either way, God is in control. Regardless of what I'm doing 6 months from now, I believe with all my heart that I will be where He wants me to be, and that I will be able to serve and honor Him in that. He knows what will happen so that all I have to do is quiet myself and trust Him to guide me there. Whatever tomorrow or next week or next year brings, God is already there.
That's all the assurance I need :)
"Now God is out in front. He is in our tomorrows, and it is tomorrow that fills people with fear. Yet God is already there. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass through Him before they can get to us." - F.B. Meyer
Recently I've found myself very anxious about the future. I'm about to begin my final semester of college, which means that finding a job and starting my career is only months away for me. Whenever I talk to someone who is about to start college or maybe is in their freshman or sophomore year, I'll typically ask them what they want to do when they graduate. So often the answer is, "I don't know," or "I haven't decided yet," which I believe is 100% okay. My response is always, "That's alright, you've got time."
Well, my time has pretty much run out.
Lucky for me, I bypassed the question of what I will do long ago. Now it's just a matter of where. I've spent the last few days searching for nursing jobs in Northern Colorado, emailing HR offices, and so on. Sure, there are jobs available. But 99.9% of them require x years of experience, which I most certainly do not have. That's the anxiety-inducing part.
So I find that my mind is flooded with questions like,
"What if you can't find a job in Fort Collins?"
"What if there are no new grad programs with spots available?"
"What if, by the time you graduate and are eligible to apply, there are no open positions?"
"What if Aaron can't find a job either?"
"How are you going to support yourselves?"
"Is Fort Collins really the right move?"
And so on.
Needless to say, it gets a little bit ridiculous. But I came across John 10:4 this morning and suddenly the future didn't seem so ominous.
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them,"
I wholeheartedly believe that God did not call me into nursing and get me through school to leave me high and dry. I don't believe that God sets us up for failure. He has every second of my life planned out, and has since before I was even a thought. Maybe I won't find a job right away, maybe I will. Maybe I'll get to work in hospital right off the bat, maybe I won't. Either way, I'm part of a divine plan; and either way, God is in control. Regardless of what I'm doing 6 months from now, I believe with all my heart that I will be where He wants me to be, and that I will be able to serve and honor Him in that. He knows what will happen so that all I have to do is quiet myself and trust Him to guide me there. Whatever tomorrow or next week or next year brings, God is already there.
That's all the assurance I need :)
"Now God is out in front. He is in our tomorrows, and it is tomorrow that fills people with fear. Yet God is already there. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass through Him before they can get to us." - F.B. Meyer
Saturday, January 7, 2012
God Made Me This Way
This morning I read the January 7th entry in my Streams in the Desert devotional, and it really touched my heart. Particularly a simple, yet beautiful little story:
A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine tree was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.
And so it went throughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found its face bright and happy as ever and said, "Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least disheartened." The violet responded, "No, I'm not. I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11)
I'm so guilty of wasting precious time comparing myself to other people and wishing I was a little bit different or more like someone else. Silly things, like wishing my hair was straighter, or that I wasn't quite so tall, or that I could sing like Carrie Underwood. Newsflash: my hair is curly, I'm 5'10", and I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
But God made me this way.
When I think about it, it seems absolutely ridiculous that I would want to change the things that make me unique. Striving to be something or someone I'm not is positively futile. So why waste all the time and energy? Why not channel it all toward honing the skills I do have and learning how to better appreciate who God created me to be?
I recently finished reading So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore. (It's an incredible book and I highly recommend it to every woman on the planet.) The book basically identifies the main roots of insecurity and discusses how to firmly establish your security in Christ. If there's one thing I learned, it's that insecurity does absolutely nothing for us or for anyone else, and allowing it to fester is 100% destructive. Simply put, that is not how we were created to live.
[She] will not fear evil tidings; [her] heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. [Her] heart is upheld, [she] will not fear, until [she] looks with satisfaction on [her] adversaries. (Psalm 112: 7-8). THIS is how we were created to live.
I am the way I am because God wants me this way.
You are the way you are because God wants you that way.
We are completely and intentionally unique.
Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
I believe with all my heart that life as we know it would be nothing more than an absurd fleeting thought had we all been created exactly the same. And I'm willing to bet that if we were all the same, we'd be wasting our time wishing we were different.
I know that the King wanted a Kaila Arielle Bowlin, so I'm determined to be the best little Kaila Arielle Bowlin I can be.
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it's stupid." - Albert Einstein
A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine tree was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.
And so it went throughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found its face bright and happy as ever and said, "Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least disheartened." The violet responded, "No, I'm not. I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11)
I'm so guilty of wasting precious time comparing myself to other people and wishing I was a little bit different or more like someone else. Silly things, like wishing my hair was straighter, or that I wasn't quite so tall, or that I could sing like Carrie Underwood. Newsflash: my hair is curly, I'm 5'10", and I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
But God made me this way.
When I think about it, it seems absolutely ridiculous that I would want to change the things that make me unique. Striving to be something or someone I'm not is positively futile. So why waste all the time and energy? Why not channel it all toward honing the skills I do have and learning how to better appreciate who God created me to be?
I recently finished reading So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore. (It's an incredible book and I highly recommend it to every woman on the planet.) The book basically identifies the main roots of insecurity and discusses how to firmly establish your security in Christ. If there's one thing I learned, it's that insecurity does absolutely nothing for us or for anyone else, and allowing it to fester is 100% destructive. Simply put, that is not how we were created to live.
[She] will not fear evil tidings; [her] heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. [Her] heart is upheld, [she] will not fear, until [she] looks with satisfaction on [her] adversaries. (Psalm 112: 7-8). THIS is how we were created to live.
I am the way I am because God wants me this way.
You are the way you are because God wants you that way.
We are completely and intentionally unique.
Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
I believe with all my heart that life as we know it would be nothing more than an absurd fleeting thought had we all been created exactly the same. And I'm willing to bet that if we were all the same, we'd be wasting our time wishing we were different.
I know that the King wanted a Kaila Arielle Bowlin, so I'm determined to be the best little Kaila Arielle Bowlin I can be.
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it's stupid." - Albert Einstein
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