Words.

I love Christmas music.  Like in the obsessive way where I will occasionally listen to it in July.  I wish I could say that I love it all, but then I would be lying - some of it is just horrible (i.e. this).  This song, however, is completely fantastic.  If you have not listened to The Civil Wars, I would encourage you to give them a try.  They are up there in the most played on my iTunes (my personal favorites include Dance Me to the End of Love and Poison and Wine.)

And I must apologize for limited words today..but my final paper for literature currently looks like this after several hours of staring at a computer screen:

But I will leave you with this thought, which I will blog about at a later date:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

B-Stud.

A few thoughts crossed my mind today pertaining my blog..

a) These blogs may make absolutely zero sense to you if I'm not there telling the story...perhaps a video blog is in order?  Ignore that - it would get out of control way too fast.  So, for these entries to make a little bit of sense, I encourage you to read them as if I were reading them to you.  Or not and you can make them into whatever story you would like - creativity is encouraged. 

b) Would anyone notice if I posted an entry from last year?  Just keeping you on your toes!

c) I have no idea how I am going to post 31 times this month. 

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My small group meets on Mondays and today we had what resembles a Christmas party!  [My roommate and I dressed for the occasion, matching Christmas socks and red hair bows.]  We had a white elephant gift exchange which yielded lighter fluid, a Star Wars bobble head, a severed hand, a poem, a puzzle, and other typical Christmas gifts.  We also played some games and enjoyed each other's company.  And as another semester with these people comes to its close, I am reminded again how fantastic it is to have relationships that have Christ at the center.  I didn't have relationships that ran this deep when I was in high school - I still have very good friends from high school whom I am very thankful for, but this stuff is different.  When I came to college and started going to Hope, God brought some very fantastic people into my life.  He has shown me what friendship looks like and how it is intertwined with love and sacrifice and accountability.  It is a bond where you love them the way they are but too much to leave them there.  It drives you to seek and follow after our Lord. 

To my Bible study, I love you.

"My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one's life for one's friends." -John 15:12-13

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This picture is completely necessary to show you the bow that my roommate and I purchased.  It is for small children and was $1.  Success. 

And Beth and I enjoyed the snow on Saturday.  

Baptism.

Wow.  Today, today was a super fantastic kind of day.  Today I got to teach Sunday school, see my parents and sister, enjoy lunch with friends and family, and relax a bit.  But most importantly, today was the day that I was baptized!

I was baptized in a Lutheran - Missouri Synod church when I was seven years old, when my parents had landed on a church up north.  I was not a believer when I was baptized; I accepted Christ as my savior when I was ten at Camp Joy Bible Camp.  I remember the night and the joy in my heart.  When I was sixteen, I realized that I was leading a "Christian" life for myself, not for God and I recommitted my life to Christ.  I was bound to religion and only superficially engaging in a relationship with Christ.  I was suffocating.  Religion requires perfection, and I fear failure, so I thought I could obtain salvation.  I was wrong.  I need Jesus, every hour. 

Today, I was baptized for the second time - but for the first time as a believer and fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  I praise God for the work that he has done and is doing my life.  And for a church that seeks God and preaches truth, gospel friends who love and encourage me, and a Savior that did not have to die for my sins but was glad to do it.  

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When I was in the tank, I was asked two questions:

1.  Are you now trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and for the fulfillment of all of His promises to you, even eternal life?

2.  And is it now your intention with God's help to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and obey His teachings?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. 

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."  -Romans 6:3-4 

"In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead." -Colossians 2:11-12

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And I wore the pearls that my brother Alex gave me while being baptized :)

Give.

"It's the little things in life..."  I say that all the time, because I really believe it.  

Excuse the cliche, the closet hipster in me is cringing, but it is a good one. 

I'm a pretty involved and take-the-lead kind of person - you should see me during a physics team exam (maybe not, it could be frightening).  But the point is, I like to get things done and be self-sufficient.  And then there are times when someone does something for me and I realize how great it is be shown love from others.  I have been shown so much love from my friends.  I am blessed.  

But it's the little things, not big things.  It's a thoughtful message or a stranger holding the door or buying someone coffee...  When someone shows me kindness when I do not deserve it, I am overwhelmed.  It brings me joy.  It's something that can make a bad day a little bit better.  

I'm trying to do something like this everyday.  I want to do a bunch of little things, maybe it will make people smile, maybe not.  But, maybe it will.  That would be nice.  I want to make people smile, not by being funny, but by being something unexpected, a friendly stranger.  That kind of thing. 


Get out there and show love to a world that doesn't deserve it.
We have been shown that kind of love. 
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
-Romans 5:8

Mistakes.

It is probably no secret that I am lazy when it comes to updating the blog.  

My reasoning:

a) I never have time.

b) If I don't feel like posting, I won't.

c) I keep to myself a lot, which includes not posting my thoughts on the internet.

d) When I started this blog, I didn't intend to make it the daily update on my life kind of blog. (Disclaimer:  those are totally fine (and I read them), just not my style.)

Well, I have just decided that I am going to update the blog once a day for the entire month of December.  I realize to do this I will probably go against all of my previously mentioned reasoning - clearly against "point d" up there.  

I am probably making a big mistake in doing this.  I have finals and papers and volunteering and working and applications and MCAT studying to do, but I will make this work.  I am, in fact, making a mistake posting this blog right now - aka poor time management (I have a physics exam in 30 minutes).  

So, brace yourself for a month full of Rebecca thoughts.  And then expect my posting to quickly cease after this self-influenced challenge is over.  

Also, Happy December to you!  

Doubt.

At least once a day I ask myself, "What will you do if you do not get into medical school?"

And then the answers follow like..

...you will not be a lab rat for the rest of your life..

...you could work at Camp Joy every summer...

...you could be a professor...

...you could be a PA...

And then I start getting serious...

...you could write children's books...

...you could open up a coffee/cupcake shop...

...you could be a soccer (football) mom...

But then it boils back down to...

...if the Lord's will for you is to go to medical school, you will get accepted...

...you will rely on Him, seek Him, glorify Him, use your talents for Him...

...you will follow.

Thankful.

Two years ago my life changed forever.  

And on a day when I want to feel anything but thankful, that is all I can do.  

Before Alex died, I did not understand the glory of the cross, how beautiful the gift of eternal life is, and how loved we are.  Two years ago, death was a distant thing.  I did not feel death.

On November 24th, death became a very real thing.  

And because of that, I am reminded how incredible it is that Christ has defeated death and gifted us eternal life.  I am a sinner, I have rejected the will of God and chosen my own way, I have been driven by my pride.  I need a Savior and rescuing from myself.  I need the very real death and resurrection of Christ.  

Even though it seems that there is darkness all around, I have so much to be thankful for.  I have a Father who loves me more than I can begin to comprehend.  I have a Savior who was obedient until death.  I have been filled with the Holy Spirit. 

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." -Colossians 2:6-7

Hallelujah, What a Savior! 

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." -Revelation 21:4.  God is so good. 

To my brother, you were incredible.  I love the person that you were and inspired all of us to be.  You were ambitious and brave and fearless.  You were a dreamer.

You were my role model.

I look forward to the day when I will see you again.  

I love you.