Philippians 1:27-30

The weather is wonderful this morning. It's cool and crisp and such a welcome change from the stuffy, hot days of late summer. I'm still not used to summer days lasting until nearly October and I miss the color changes in MN, but Texas is growing on me. I love Denton and am grateful that God brought us there.

I am really being encouraged by studying Philippians. I'm left feeling empty and even jilted when I get the "it's ok, you deserve better" kind of encouragement. I know deep in my heart that life is not that easy and also that there's something more important than my comfort and desires.

When I feel weighted down by my troubles and frustrated with my relationships it's often because there's something that needs to be addressed. Often it's that I'm not trusting God and not loving someone like I should (more than myself).

These verses stood out to me because it says that our salvation is from God and that our belief in Him isn't a guarantee that our troubles will end, we might even suffer for the sake of the gospel. So we might even get more trouble but how we react to those situations will show others that we believe that we're ultimately saved from them.

I'm realizing more and more as I blog about my study that there's so much to talk about but a lot of what I'm reading and the holy spirit is stirring in me is that I want to live and listen. I'm learning too that it's easier to do both of those when I'm thinking about Christ and love all day.

Philippians 1: 27-30 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.