STORM’s blog

Romans 8:5-11 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Each morning I challenge you to rededicate your life to Christ. We are surrounded by the darkness of this sinful world but we have been called to live according to the light of Christ that dwells within us. I often wonder how God can love me when I am so sinful. Reading this passage God gave me peace that He does not look at me as a sinner, rather, he looked at me as I will be in heaven. He sees my restored, spiritual body, He sees who I am in Christ. This however, does not mean that it is okay to sin because God will forgive us. Asking for forgiveness implies that you are trying diligently not to continue in the sin which you have repented of. By asking God to forgive us and then continuing in that sin we are mocking God's grace.

While this is comforting, it is also challenging. If Christ loves us in spite of our sin and looks past the sin to who we are in Him, we too must look at others through the eyes of Christ. Are there people in your life that you have difficulty loving and not judging? Pray that God would give you grace to see who they are in Christ. God views all our sins the same, thus we have no right to judge one another. As members of the body of Christ we ought to uplift one another. Rather than judging your friend love them into the kingdom of God and be an example of a Christ like lifestyle. They will see that you are different, that you are filled with the joy of the Lord.

We are living in a spiritual battle. God vs. Satan. Satan is the prince of this world and he battles to maintain control over people. The irony is that God is greater than Satan could ever hope to be. Just as soldiers endure rigorous training to prepare themselves for war, so we must put on the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the BELT of TRUTH buckled around your waist, with the BREASTPLATE of RIGHTEOUSNESS in place, and with your FEET fitted with the READINESS that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the SHIELD of FAITH, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the HELMET of SALVATION and the SWORD of the SPIRIT, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Each day, I encourage you to pray for the armor of God to be upon yourself and your family. Christians will face persecution and temptation we must be prepared to face the world.

Recently I have found that God often seeks to make me grow through pain. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God is teaching me to delight in my weakness for when "I am weak then I am strong."

During a very difficult time in the life of my church, God showed up in a mighty way. The music minister had recently been asked to leave and rather than seeking God's will as the pastors had, many congregants were angry. There was grumbling that worship wasn't going to be good without him and some threatened to leave the church. For the past seven years I had sung on the worship team, I am sad to have lost a friend but I know that God has great things in store for the church.

Amidst the anger, many forgot that worship isn't about a man, it's about GOD! In fact, by presuming that worship would be terrible without him, people were worshiping his talent rather than the God that he was serving. Sure enough, God proved His power. The man who has been asked to lead until a new minister is found was incredibly nervous about leading worship. During his prayer time, God comforted him saying, "relax, I'm in control of this."
That weekend at worship, God took control of our hearts. As I sang about surrendering to the Lord in worship, the Holy Spirit pushed me to my knees. In front of the entire congregation and in front of the Lord who had brought me to my knees, I was filled with His joy and an overwheliming sense of peace.

That day, God proved His power, He showed me His love and He humbled me in front of the entire congregation. I was broken of my pride and was able to block out the verdical earthly distractions and focus on the horizontal, ministering to God and allowing Him to fill me. Our pastor remarked that he believes God brought me to my knees as a prophetic word that God wants to take our church to a new level of worship. Another woman was given a picture of the Israelites following God's pillar of cloud through the desert and into the promised land (Deuteronomy describes this). That day God began healing our church.

In your pain look for God's perfect plan. What is God trying to teach you? Can you think of a time in your past where God has blessed you in your weakness? Without pain and hardship we will never grow. I wish that I had allowed God to break me earlier I am so releaved and I can't wait to see what He has in store for me tomorrow. Don't let fear rob you of God's blessings for today.

Jeremiah 29:11-12
For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

This scripture is such an encouragement. God loves us and wants the best for us. It can be so easy to get caught up in the "business" of life without first consulting God. God's plans are so much bigger and grander than anything that we can imagine for ourselves. As you go through the day, ask yourself, "who am I living for, me or God? am I doing all of these activities for His glory or my own?" We must surrender to His plans and promises or our lives have been in vain. He promises not to harm us but to prosper us. More importantly, hHe promises us eternal life, an eternity in Paradise. As Christ's disciples life will not always be easy in the world but it will be rewarding.

In order to hear the voice of the Lord, it is essential that we call upon his name in prayer. Through prayer God will lead you into your bright and budding future.

Another semester at Seton Hall University has come to an end. I'm a junior!  It has been a rewarding school year filled with lots of memories. Trips to the city with family and friends will never be forgotten. Before Christmas I dragged my poor brother through the snowy streets of NYC to see Christmas decorations, Mom was in ecstasy. Of course, there's Sini's birthday on Broadway where Mary Poppins fell in love with Frank making him a true musical fan, at the same time, Alana was forever scarred by the silver naked suits (you'd have to see the show to understand). Then there was Maggie's birthday dinner at Gauntanamera, an awesome Cuban restaurant with salsa dancing and Chapman was her superduper birthday surprise.  Our day at the Metropolitan Museum will never be forgotten, in fact there's plenty of incriminating photos on facebook capturing just how truly goofy my friends and I are. I also took my sisters and Rahrah to the Met and we giggled like school girls as we walked through the castrated rows of Greek statues.  I was honored to visit both Maggie and Alana's homes, it was a joy to see the places and people that they speak of so fondly.

The Stillman Exchange has expanded like crazy this year, our editing staff nearly doubled making way for next years extended 20 page spread. Our staff is so much fun, we laugh at things that I can't even explain. We often wasted time parusing through Youtube videos. One evening we embraced our youth and played lazer tag at a local mall, I was pathetic coming in third to last. (Remember those speed bumps Alana and Steve, how inappropriate? ) One evening we planned a surprise graduation dinner for Frank and little did I know that it was a double surprise for my birthday, my friends are so good to me! To top that off, Alana and Maggie treated me to a pedicure in the city at Alfongi spa. I can't forget to mention my "Lost" nights with Steve and Maggie, boy have we been perplexed this season. Of course, there were plenty of massage/late night conversations with my galpals and movie/chinese nights with room 3402A. As Mel, Johanna, Claire and Eddy can attest, I'm a terrible movie watcher, i always fall asleep and then start sleep talking. We also got into serious discussions about Africa's multitude of problems and took random IQ and personality tests, apparently the fact that I sleep on my right side is significant. Alana and I have enjoyed some fabulous walks through the quaint village of South Orange.

My first year as an RA enabled me many challenges and rewards. I have met some fabulous, inspirational young men and women I've also encountered people I don't like. I have come to the conclusion that I genuinely love people, I'm also more creative than i realized (my bulletinboards were fabulous). Throughout the year, I have gained some serious compassion and patience, I also went out of my way to be ridiculous and spontaneous in an effort to create bonds with my residents. In many cases, I believe this strategy has worked! One afternoon I dragged residents into the city to go on a scavenger hunt where they put straws up their noses and wrapped one another's heads in toilet paper, ah memories.

I can't wait to start all over again next semester. Unfortunatley my spiritual sister, Sini, wont be at Seton Hall next semester as she's studying in Argentina. Sini, I'm really going to miss you but I'm so thrilled to hear about all of your marvelous experiences, I'll keep reading your blog. In addition, my fabulous suitemate Alana wont be living with me as she has moved to an off campus apartment, I'm gonna miss not being a door away Lanlan. While this presents friend challenges I believes that in m time alone I'll be rewarded with plenty of God time and time to build relationships with my new residents.  

This summer's going to be busy with internships a job at Ann Taylor and applications for grants and study abroad.  I'll be intering with the Silver Ring Thing, a faith based sexual abstinence program, as well as  the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, I'm working on a comprehensive terrorism database for the Department of Homeland Security. I plan to use this blog to keep friends and family informed of summer experiences. Tomorrow I'm headed to Grove City to spend the day with my longtime childhood bestest friend Magz and in two weeks I'm headed to Orlando Florida to relax by the pool with Nana Storm. (I'll be under an umbrella as I'm as pale as refined sugar, lol! As Aunt Mindy says, "X ten super fine"). Well, thanks for reading my random thoughts, hope you had fun, stop back soon!