Date:	2016-01-24 18:33
Subject:	We are IWOG's!
Security:	Public
Mood:	excited

Hello, this is the journal of several people :)

We are several young ladies who attend Oregon State University and have come together to form a faith-sharing community. We meet once a week to share our spirituality with each other, and thought it would be fun to share it with others, so that we might reach other people as well. We call ourselves the IWOG's: Independent Women Of God.

So please, feel free to read, be inspired, and leave comments.

God bless you!

So there have been several times that I've set out for a bike ride from my house. there's this cool little path that takes me through a little park that I'm very familiar with. It's nothing special and the pond in it is acutally kinda gross, but it's a little bit nature-y and it's relaxing when I need it to be.

One day I followed the bike path a little further...but I had no idea where it was leading, so before long, I turned toward the main road to go back home.

Months later, when the weather cleared up again, I set out on that path again, intending to go a little further. So I followed it until I came to signs for a popular park in town, so I turned off the bike path toward the park and rode around the park a bit before turning around to go back home.

Today I went riding again. And I stayed on the path a little longer, until it got to the river, then I turned around and came home.

So the question is, what's really holding me back from continuing to follow that path?

...

So what were you expecting, some philosophy on life?

~Megan

First of all, I would like to make an apology to all of my fellow IWOG ladies. All last term I kinda pushed the whole "I feel like I'm the only one that cares" thing and it took some humility and a good butt-kicking session of aqua aerobics to make me realize how wrong my attitude was. If I have energy to keep things moving, that's because it's a gift God gave me. Sometimes I'm insecure because I'm just insecure, but sometimes I'm insecure because I'm too lazy to kick that insecurity aside. However, the time has come for me to realize that I cannot give what I don't have, but must give what I do have.

It's funny how demanding we can get as humans. We get so wrenched up if we aren't happy, like it's something we all deserve. Especially as Christians, we need to remember that happiness isn't something owed to us. What is owed to us? Death.

I, along with many of you, had a tumultuous week last week. I was so proud of myself for not losing my head over the flat tire, the whole bank account ordeal, needing expensive mainainance done on my breaks...but all it took was for my cell phone to break for me to have a total meltdown. My dad really helped me put my pride in check, and realize that an easy life isn't something I'm owed. If things all go wrong at once, that sucks man, but that's life. I don't deserve anything better.

This all sounds so dismal, I know. Here's the hope for the day though: because he is good, God wants to give us happiness. And especially as Americans, we have so much handed to us on a silver platter. I would be willing to bet that there is more "good" in all of our lives than "bad." (Maybe I should just speak for myself, but I know it's true for me, so I'm willing to bet it's true for at least some of you.) So instead of simply aknowledging the good stuff that comes to pass once in awhile in our dreadful lives, we really need to bear patiently the burdens that come to us in a life full of blessing...blessing that we don't even deserve, but blessing that God gives to us because he wants to.

Don't forget that this is holy week. If you're struggling with things right now, maybe God wants you to. Maybe he wants you to feel some of the pain that Jesus felt in Gethsemane, before Pontius Pilate, on the cross, so that you can rejoice even more in His resurrection.

And if you feel like life is getting out of hand, don't forget who you can always turn to, who will always comfort you, even if he won't just zap the bad stuff away.

~Megan

I was having a good chat with our friends Mandi and Susan this evening regarding capital punishment and punishment for crimes in general.

The main reason I am against capital punishment is because I believe that life is sacred and that none of us should have the power to take life away from someone. However, there are many more supplementary reasons.

I am taking two courses this term related to criminology, and one in particular (juvenile delinquency) has led me to believe that our corrections facilities shouldn't be dedicated to punishing criminals. I see no virtue in that or good that could result from it. If we put criminals in detention, it needs to be for one of two purposes (or both of them): to rehabilitate them, or to protect the public from them. If you lock an offender up for 25 years, prison will harden him or her. Most criminals do not become penitent while in prison, they want to get revenge on the system because the prison experience is so horrifying. Therefore, letting them out is likely letting loose an even MORE dangerous criminal.

Well then, you might say, putting them to death is the perfect option. They can't harm anyone if they're dead. However, in most cases, it is more expensive to put someone to death than to hold them for life in prison. And the death penalty isn't at all a deterrent to criminals who commit crimes that warrant the death penalty. And there is always the slight chance that an innocent person gets the chair...why would we take that chance if it isn't doing any good?

Gah. The justice system in this country is frustrating to me.

~Megan

The opinions expressed are personal to Megan and do not neccesarily reflect those of all the IWOG's.

My dear ladies,

So I have had an awesome weekend but also a experienced some interesting moments along with it. Moments that for sure are reminding me that God has a will for my life, and that I must listen and pray that He continues to work in my life.
Thanks to Melissa who introduced me to a Christian band called Across the Sky...I have found this song that continuously speaks to me. I wanted to post the lyrics for you and hope that they may touch you as well.

"Broken World" -Across the Sky-

Promises shattered
Answers don't come
Friends say goodbye
Plans come undone
Dreams get crushed
Lies get told
Words can turn cruel
Hearts can grow cold

CHORUS
In a broken world where we cry to feel
Some hope that helps these hearts to heal
You're my strength, You're my refuge
In a broken world, Jesus I'm holding to You

You make sense of the madness
And You make darkness flee
You bring such a calm
To the chaos in me
Show me life
Tell me truth
Day after day I keep running to You

CHORUS

Long ago, we fell so far
Yet You came to where we are

~Emily C.

Last May I typed an email along these lines to our faith sharing group, and I sometimes think it's good to have a reminder of this concept. It's not a concept I came up with on my own, I just put it into these words. Hopefully, someone can draw inspiration from it.

We all go through "dry" spots in our faith, where we can't really feel God. And sometimes a dry spot is a matter of hours, weeks, or even years. The thing is, God didn't ever call us to feel close to him. Unfortunately, in this life, we don't always get to. And if we don't feel God in our lives, there's really no reason to start assigning blame to anyone or anything, including ourselves.

My freshman/sophomore years of college were very much "dry" spots for me,
and I remember the guilt that came along with that, just, "If only I prayed a little harder...we all go through dry spots but because this is such a long one, there must be something wrong with me." And now looking back on it, I know that wasn't true. I don't know yet why I went through a dry spot like that; maybe I'll never know. But one thing I DO know is that God has a plan for us. Like I said, he doesn't call us to feel him...you know what he does call us to though?

Faithfulness. He calls us to be as faithful as we can possibly manage, and if that means we're just going through the motions, that's all he asks of us! He's a loving God who would never demand more of us than we can give. I think of the parable of the rich men who gave big old sacks of money to the temple, but for them it was like pocket change, and the little old widow who had only two coins to give. And the widow, in effect, gave more. In the same way, if all the faithfulness we have in us is two little coins' worth, we are still called to give it to God and it's as precious to him as whatever anyone else is giving.

I think we've all had that person or those people in our lives who tell us things about us that aren't true, then scrape for examples so we start to believe their lies...And just because I love you all so much, we HAVE to break free of that! God wants so much better for us than that! Part of humility is realizing our beauty and attributing it to God...I mean, he DID make us beautiful, let's give credit where credit is due!

Just to make this a little LONGER, I think I'm going to leave you all with my favorite quote. It's a long one, from Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech.

What we fear:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves:
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
As we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

~Megan

I was reading the school newspaper yesterday, and I came across 2 sides of an abortion debate. I don't know the positions of each and every IWOG on abortion, but I vehemently oppose it. I don't consider myself a conservative or republican overall (nor do I consider myself a liberal or a democrat overall) but I do take sides on certain issues, and this is one of them.

One thought that came to mind while I was reading these debates, that neither of the young ladies on either side brought up, was, when did sex without responsibility for consequences become a right? I mean, we've all heard the argument about the woman's right to her own body, and the counter-argument about the fetus's right to life. But what it comes down to, is that couples who favor abortion in any situation are implying that it is everyone's right to have as much sex as they want without the "burden" of a pregnancy...when that is really actually a main function of sex, at least in my opinion.

This is not to say that sex should purely be for procreation. It is a very, very important way of uniting a man and a woman. They say that it's the union on earth closest to that which we will have with God in heaven! Sex is a gift, but it must be used properly.

~by Megan