Student Blog Written By: Abigail McGinnis, Fellows
One thing I learned this year from morning rhythms and discipleship was the importance of scripture meditation and memorization.
I started to meditate on Philippians 4. I homed in on verse 7, which says, “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Through the memorization and meditation of this passage, I came to realize that I am really bad at guarding my heart and my mind, especially in Christ Jesus.
So, I started praying.
From December until the middle of April, I prayed very specifically and expectantly that the Lord would teach me what it looks like to guard my heart and my mind, and asked him to guide me in that.
In April, I got an answer.
The Lord was guiding me to have some hard conversations with a couple of different people and set some boundaries for myself and with others in order to help friendships flourish. I knew this was going to be hard, but the Lord was clear. So, in my sinful flesh, I decided to ignore the Lord. Dumb move!! I couldn’t keep that up for long.
I knew this was exactly the guidance that I had asked the Lord to give me, but I didn’t want to do the hard thing.
However, the Lord so graciously made it impossible for me to ignore him and taught me that my comfort will have to be sacrificed sometimes for his will to be done in my life. I ended up having hard conversations with multiple people that ultimately have become so fruitful.
In one of the conversations, the other person told me, “The Lord will reward this obedience,” and He truly has. He has rewarded that obedience in ways that I didn’t expect, but ways that he promised in Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about those things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Because the Lord called me to pursue these things and I ultimately was obedient to it, he has rewarded me by becoming the God of all peace for me. The Lord has taught me how to be obedient and pursue what is true, honorable, pure, commendable, lovely, etc.
He has shown me how he keeps his word and promises in ways I can’t understand, but that’s why he says it’s a “peace that surpasses all understanding”… yet again, there he goes keeping his word. He always keeps his promises.
We believe that when a student is rooted in truth, they become a catalyst for the Kingdom wherever they go. Help us continue to forge disciples who possess the resolve to stay faithful and the tools to make disciples. Your investment in the Multiply Fund makes this transformation possible.