So a little update...El and I have been doing pretty well. Our house is starting to feel more like home, and I have started cooking. I am an awful cook, but hopefully (fingers crossed) I will get better soon. We spent last weekend in East Lansing which was awesome! I miss it there! I got to go to the MIchigan State game where we stomped Michigan, while Elliott watched at a friends house. It was fun :)
But anyway, I have thought I needed to post a blog about pride for a while now. I have discovered that I have more pride in my ability to be independent than I anticipated. I grew up in a family where my parents worked for everything they had, and growing up in that atmosphere was great. I learned the value of hard work in school, in jobs, and in life. No one gave us a free hand out, and if they did, it would be repaid almost instantly.
Lately, I have been feeling this burden that I haven't been repaying all the gifts I have been given. It sometimes lays heavy on my heart. The sad thing is, I should feel over whelmed with blessings, but I don't. I feel that I have to pay back all the work that went into the house, the bills that have been paid by others, and the random acts of kindness people have done for us. Just another way sin has crept into my heart and has tainted all of the gifts the Lord has blessed me with. Looking at the bible though, I can see why my thinking is flawed.
Romans 6:23 states, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The Savior, who was sinless, died for all my past, present, and future sin and made me clean, so I could have eternal life. This is a free gift that cannot be repaid by any man or woman on earth. So saying I am a Christian, and that I believe in the free gift of eternal life through Jesus, how can I continue to allow my heart to be tainted by this? My life and world view is made up of a gift that cannot be repaid.
So I repent of the ways I have not been grateful for the blessings God has given me. I also thank everyone who has helped with the wedding, with the house, with food, with gifts, and with life. Through the Gospel, I can truly say thank you. You guys are are a true blessing.
