Freshman Year

I'm getting some goosebumps as I write this. I'm excited, and I don't know what to say. I'm not even sure what I think about this year yet. Its been good, and its been long, and its been worth it - praise the Lord. 


This is by no means a holistic account of everything that has happened, but merely a brief overview of the change that the Lord has been doing in my life. I could tell testimonies for days and days, and feel free to ask to hear them! But for now, I give you a general account of the adventure that was my freshman year.


Entering into college I had been told that it would be a challenge to keep my faith. If that's the statistic, then I sure wasn't part of that norm. The first week in College Station God led me to my church home at Antioch and I immediately started plugging in. 


The first semester was a whirlwind thanks to the fire of the Holy Spirit. When I got baptized in the Holy Spirit at the begging of the Fall semester Jesus started to do crazy things with me. As Zach Rodriguez would say, God was hitting the "Increase Button" as more and more blessings and giftings were poured out on me. With all of this change there wasn't ever really time for me to take a breath and adjust to actual college life. My faith always had me living on the edge, and I kind of miss that at times.


Winter break came and then the spring semester started. The slow down was just enough to make me stop and review all that had happened. As I compared my desires to where I actually was I began to slowly grow discontented. There was so much that I hadn't asked for from God that He had given me, and there was so much that I wanted God to give that simply wasn't there. That would be the theme of this semester, and would create a season of intense honesty with God. I wasn't happy with how everything was going, so I took every opportunity to be real with Him and let Him know. I've learned how blessed we are to have a Father who loves us with God-love. There is nothing better.


Just as I start to settle in with what God is doing, the time to leave for the summer is upon me. I sure haven't gotten a full grasp on God's timing yet. This has been a year of intense spiritual molding. I have constantly felt like clay in the hands of the Potter.


This year has been a year of transformation and revelation. I guess my year can best be summed up with this refrain:

 "I want to feel Your heartbeat inside of my chest. I want to know Your truth. I want to know Your love."

That's what my desires are. I want to experience God and know him on a deeper level. I want to live a life with such reckless abandon that I am obedient to the Truth. I want to be a disciple that bears fruit. I want to live out the Word. I want walk in the fullness. I want to live Matthew 10:8, healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons and freely giving all that I have received.


And it's all about love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."


I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way.


in love,
-matt