God Keeps on Getting Better

Besides my internship with Ococo (somewhat of a struggle due to the language barrier) and history class (4 hour tours - at least 8k steps a class), I have been able to travel and adventure out. I have seen so much in recently that its hard to take it all in! I genuinely am very happy and a huge reason for that is because of the something, or someone who ties it all together: God! Now, I'll catch you up on what I've been thinking about!

This summer I have been following along with Christ Chapel College as they organized reading through the gospels this summer. The way they organized it, we started in Mark because of how the book is straight to the point on Jesus’s life while on earth. Highly recommend Mark for those who want to read about Jesus if you want the highlight reel. I thought it was quite cool that we started in Mark because he was writing to the Christians in Rome while I am (normally) in Rome - what a coincidence! Thankfully, God provided me with community before I even thought about it with Haley. We actually were able to form a bigger group to go through the readings together this last week and it's so awesome to see how God was able to bring us all together. That was probably my highlight of the week: the first two bible study meet ups. The thing I wanted to talk about was something that I briefly talked about during a bible study. For me, growing up in faith and going to church, there’s no doubt that I “knew” the Gospels, but as a person who is so imperfect, I will admit I become numb to what it means for me at times even if I am "doing good in my faith."

At a dinner this last weekend with my dad and Korin, we were at a beautiful rooftop dinner where we had a great view of Capital Hill (peep my last post) and my Dad pointed out that as we visit different places, especially in a place like Rome, we quickly can become numb to the monuments after nearly 3 minutes. We see things like the Colosseum and are astonished at its massive scale, age, history, and so much more. Then, after looking at it for a few minutes, our heads are down looking at our phones or distracted by other things. It made me think about how it's the same thing that can happen with the Gospel. We read and talk about the miracles and kindness that Jesus gives us out of His love for us, but become numb to how sweet and loving it truly is. For the last year and a half of actively doing my best to lay my life down for the greater path the Lord has for me, I have read through books like James, 1 Corinthians, 2 Samuel, and others just based off where I was at in my walk. In part, I think I subconsciously was focusing on other books when some of the best books were sitting there waiting for me to read them and shake off that numbed feeling.

Come to think about it, I was listening to a Becoming Something podcast the other day (I have been cranking out listening to these) and they were talking about how we often use the excuse that we want to do things when we have time. We say we will get to studying reading or even living our life for Him by figuratively putting God in a box on a shelf. However, they pointed out that we will never have more time than we have right now. Looking back on my walk, I realized that in that sense I was kind of doing that with the Gospels. But I also think the God knew I would read them at this point in time and had a reason for that. I know He did because His ways are perfect.

What’s so sweet is that God loves us. He is patient, He is kind, and constantly forgives us for our selfish ways. I have been thinking about ways that I can keep remaining in an astonished state of mind, but I have know that its going to be a constant battle because I am not perfect. It has to become a choice that I am going to decide day after day and continue to try to remain in. His love is so great and reading through the Gospels, I have been reminded over and over again of how good He is. How powerful He is. How perfectly loving of a father He is that He knows every little thing that we don't even think matters and for His graciousness when we mess up. It has also been so sweet to see how God has answered my prayer of being humbled to His goodness, continuous desire to know more of Him, and getting better at trusting Him more and more everyday.

♡,

Monroe in Rome

(edited in Switz)