Growing in Grace

Thoughts on Colossians 3:12

2012-01-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Last night I was having one of those moments where you just lie in bed, thinking deep thoughts...I know what you're thinking, it's Christmas break! Deep thoughts are for geeks! I agree, I agree! But it turns I just so happen to be a geek..so there I was lying there thinking deep, geeky thoughts about what I really want out of life. Do I really want to glorify God in my every day life, in everything I say & do? In how I manage my time? In how I treat others? In what I focus my thoughts on? Or do I just want "enough God" to make me look good to my Christian circle of friends & family? In considering this & searching my heart, I decided, yes, I really do want God, His character, & the life of His Son Jesus Christ to permeate everything I say & do...not just when I'm in public, but every moment. I started considering what exactly that looks like, & my once-deep thoughts started drifting into sleepy thoughts. Well, I usually spend about 20 minutes in prayer before I drift off to sleep, but last night I still could not sleep! So, I turned over again, & picked up a devotional book that my mom had borrowed me earlier this week. It is called "A Gentle Spirit," & it is by a conglomeration of different authors; it has a short devotional entry for every day of the year. I've never really been a "go in order & read just one page" kinda person, so I'm pretty sure the entry I read was from some date in June. But it was just perfect for what I had been musing about earlier! God in His word lays out what a Christ-like life should look like moment-by-moment. Particularly in the verse that this entry was based out of: Colossians 3:12. This entry was authored by Barbara Johnson & she uses the analogy of a wardrobe to give a unique perspective into this verse:

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, hold & beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering."

Have you checked your spiritual wardrobe lately? The apostle Paul listed the Garments of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Colossian believers. First on his list is tender mercies, which are acts of empathy for weak or hurting people. These tender mercies are kind of like the underclothes of the wardrobe. They are the foundation of everything that goes on the outside. Next on Paul's list is kindness: treating others with honor & significance.
Humility is next. No matter how much we win or lose in life, God wraps us in a beautiful cloak of grace.

Meekness is one of my favorite things to wear. Meekness makes it possible to endure difficult circumstances & poor treatment at the hands of others.
How about longsuffering? Sometimes I wish that old rag would just wear out so I could get something more glamorous & colorful. But I know God has fashioned even this to enhance my life. Bearing with others & forgiveness are the outerwear of God's designs. They are the last things we pull on over everything else before we go out into the world.

Above all else, Paul says, put on love. Without this, we are never fully dressed.

I LOVE her perspective of meekness. It just struck me in a way that I had never really thought about before. I finally went to sleep shortly after reading through that entry, but it stuck with me through this morning. So instead of my current study of the gospel of Luke, I took some time to study this verse more in-depth. I wanted to look up the definition of some of the key words so I could have a deeper understanding. It was a huge encouragement to me! So I would just like to share a bit of what I found.
My personal devotions are out of the ESV version, so here is Colossians 3:12 again from the ESV =)

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy & beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, & patience."

Compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy & sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Christ was moved by His compassion (Matthew 9:35-38). Many times I feel compassion for people, but I don't do anything about it. It doesn't move me into action. True compassion doesn't allow apathy; it causes you to serve in a self-sacrificing way.

Kindness: Of good or benevolent nature. Considerate, helpful, self-sacrificing, mild, & gentle. Desiring to help others; charitable. Generous.

I looked up the word "considerate" as well in regards to kindness. The definition was "showing kindly awareness or regard for another's feelings, circumstances, etc. Carefully considers actions; deliberate." I often get so wrapped up in my own life, that I act without thought of how it will impact others. Even if it's something as simple as going for a run when instead I could take some extra time to be an encouragement to others. This makes me consider ways that I could be less selfish with my time & try to find ways to be more aware of the needs of others.

Humility: Not proud or arrogant: modest. Courteously respectful. Having a modest opinion of one's own importance.

Of course the passage I always think of when it comes to humility is the example of Christ in Philippians 2, who " though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Meekness: Humbly patient. Controlled strength. Meekness does NOT = weakness.

In looking into the definition of Meekness, I found an acronym that was useful:

M ighty
E motionally Stable (don't let your emotions dictate your actions.)
E ducable (this coincides well with James 3:17 & the concept of being "easily entreated." You willingly forfeit the "right to be right" in favor of being open to the teaching & critique of others.)
K ind

Patience: Bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude & calm, without complaint, anger, or the like. Quietly & steadily persevering or diligent, especially within detail & exactness. Having or showing the capacity of endurance. An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.

This was one of the most impacting character traits for me. Part of the reason I couldn't sleep was because of restlessness. I want to know what God has planned for my life, NOW. I'm not the most patient person in the world when it comes to the future, because I just love having a plan & a schedule. But the Lord wants me to wait right now...& not only to wait, but to wait patiently. This next paragraph sums up the kind of patience I desire to develop:

Composure, stability, self-possession, submissiveness, sufferance. Endurance, Fortitude. Implying qualities of calmness, stability, & persistent courage in trying circumstances. Patience may denote calm, self-possessed & unrepining bearing of pain, misfortune, annoyance, or delay--"to bear affliction with patience." Endurance denotes the ability to bear exertion, hardship, or suffering. Fortitude implies not only patience, but courage & strength of character in the midst of pain, affliction, or hardship.

One verse, so packed full of truth. God's word is SO rich!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2012-01-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

This Christmas I got to spend the weekend down at my sister, Amber's house with my wonderful family! As you can see, my adorable niece, Bri, LOVES making silly faces for the camera =)

Bri also loved opening her dozens of presents, & helping everybody else with theirs as well. Haha!

My big brother got to come too! It's always special when we can spend time with him. He is active duty in the military, so often he is overseas or on base for holidays. It was great to spend a few days with him!

I love my sister, Amber! I am SO thankful for the encouragement she has been to me, especially over the past several months. During the 3 months I was in Peru, she was one of the only people I could count on hearing from regularly, & that meant SO much to me. She also went out of her way to prepare a big "Thanksgiving Dinner" with all the trimmings on Christmas day, all because I wasn't able to have a traditional meal over Thanksgiving. She is so considerate, & so much fun to be around.

This Christmas was one of the best I can remember. The past few years I've been been guilty of taking the important things for granted & focusing more on the lesser things. But this year, after being so far away from my loved ones for so long, it just really hit me how much I have to be thankful for just to be able to spend time with my family over the holidays. I honestly almost forgot about opening presents I was just having so much fun cooking with my mom & sister, playing with my niece, & torturing my big brother. Haha! I am so thankful for all of the blessings the Lord has given to me =)

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to my dear sister Amber for so kindly (& bluntly) pointing out that I have been back in the States for almost TWO weeks & still have not updated...my bad. It's been a crazy month!

A lot of mixed emotions during my last week in Peru. We started out with a trip to the nearby city of Arequipa. It was a crazy 7 hour bus ride up into the mountains, & it was an absolutely beautiful city! And guess what? They had a Starbucks!!! I never realized how heavenly the aroma of Starbucks coffee was until I went without it for 3 months. Haha!

One of the things that impacted me the most about the trip to Arequipa was our trip to the Santa Catalina Monastery. This picture is actually of a different Cathedral; I couldn't get a good pic of the outside of Santa Catalina because it was so massive! The Monastery covered about 5 acres....it was crazy. I have a ton to say about that, so I'll save it. Hopefully I'll actually crank out a post about it, but I don't have a great track record for writing what I intend to, so if you feel like it, just ask me about it sometime & I'll share. =)

I flew out of Tacna the 10th at around 8 am, & I got to my sister's house in Wisconsin at about 4 am the next day. That afternoon my mom & I drove up to school, & that's where the next phase of craziness began. Helloooooo reverse culture shock, climate shock, health issues, FINALS, friends, PIANO, snow....it was a bit overwhelming the first few days! This sounds really strange, but on Monday one of the most overwhelming things for me was just how many white people were all around me speaking English! For the past 3 months I had the same 10-12 people around me that I could speak English to, otherwise I was immersed in Spanish. Now suddenly there were a TON of people all speaking a language I could comprehend without having to concentrate on translation. It felt like my brain was trying to take in every word that every person around me was saying all at once...headache!

Besides the initial feeling of being overwhelmed with all the English, It was SO wonderful to catch up with my family (for half a day), and some of my close friends at school that I was able to sit down with & catch up a bit even in the busyness of finals week =)

There were some difficult things though that came along with all of the catching up. Outside of the circle of about 10-15 people that emailed with me & kept up, there were a lot of people who I hadn't seen in 3 months that had no idea what I had been doing all semester! Suddenly I found myself in conversations that went a little something like this: "Hey! You were in....Spain? No...um, wow you're tan! You had a great time, huh?" I hate to say it, but I found myself getting frustrated...how do you sum up the incredible experiences, friendships, trials, growth, pain, & joys of three months abroad? It was one of the best semesters I've had, but it was also some of the most trying 3 months of my life, and I've found that when I try to explain that paradigm I get some blank stares...I need to learn how to communicate! Haha!

I have roughly 200 journal pages from this past semester; some with big, bold, happy letters expressing the joy of new experiences, new friends, glad days. Others are filled with my "comfort" verses, & stained with tears. There are pages with prayer requests for my new Peruvian friends who live in Viñani; who every day struggle just to get meals on the table. And next to those prayers, I have requests for friends & family who are on the other side of the world, going through trials that are on a different level, but still weigh heavily on my heart. Prayer has never been so "real" to me...whether it's because I finally had no other choice but to pray for the impossible when I was burdened with needs of those around me...needs I could never possibly meet. Needs that only God can meet. Or because I couldn't be there to hug my friends when they were on the other side of the phone in tears because of the pain they were facing...I could not be physically with them, so prayer became a tangible way I could express my love for them even when I was so far away.

The first journal pages after I returned to school expressed my mixed emotions; frustration with feeling like an outsider, but also the encouragement that came after catching up with friends. The busyness of finals is a difficult time to be dropped back into another culture. God has changed me a lot in the past three months, but His work has not been isolated to Peru. All of my friends have changed a lot too! And it's all happened in ways I can't understand because I wasn't there. But it was very encouraging to be able to sit down with 2-3 of my closest friends & hear about the tools God used in their lives this semester to change them to be more like Christ.

My most recent journal pages are covered in "Rock" verses...Verses that affirm God's stability in the midst of never-ending change. I'm still adjusting to some "American" things that I have been around for years, but suddenly view in a new way. And now that I've had some time to sit & really consider what took place over the past three months, how God has worked, and what He has revealed about me, I'm seeing myself in a different way. Finally surrendering to the fact that I have been bought with a price; I am not my own, & my life needs to be a constant pursuit to give God the glory. Even if it means giving up some of my own rights for the sake of serving others.

I want to thank all of you who have kept up with me, & prayed for me. I cannot express how much it means & how thankful I am for that support! It has been the hardest/most incredibly challenging/best 3 months and I can hardly believe it's over, but I am thankful to be home with my family for Christmas =)

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you[...]For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7-18

November!

2011-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

Creative title, right? Haha!
Hey everyone! So...I haven't updated in like 3 weeks, and people keep reminding me. So this is me trying to be good and actually let y'all know what's been going on my life. However, I have many mucho school work assignments to complete in not many mucho much time....soooo, this will be a very brief update and I'll try to do a more informative one later =)

Let us begin! Starting way back at the beginning of the month. We went on visitation to a place called Viñani. It is a very poor part of Tacna. The people who live there have very very little. Thatched walls, dirt floors, a tarp for a roof, and most just got running water this past year. Before that they would have to walk almost half a mile to get water to wash up, cook with, etc.

Thanksgiving just passed. How many of us simply thanked God for our homes? For four solid walls & a roof? I know I didn't. I was too busy missing my family. Thankfully, the Lord got my focus right again throughout the day & reminded me just how much I had to be thankful for, but otherwise, I don't give thanks often enough for a warm bed or clean water. It's just things that I take for granted because I've never known any different.

These kids were too cute! They sang us a song & said hello. Many were very shy though. Most of these children do not have a home or a family, so they stay at the orphanage full time, but several of them have parents who drop them off here while they go to work in Chile. The problem in Viñani is that when both of the parents work during the day in the summer, the kids are home from school by themselves. So many parents lock the doors of their homes while they go to work / the children are left there for 12-15hrs in any given day. With the weather so hot & dry, it is not uncommon for their to be house fires. The children would be locked inside with no way to escape. So the orphanage has opened its doors to parents who want a safe place for their children to spend the day while they are away.

Amazing thought; God chose us to be His children. Before the foundation of the world, He chose you & me. He gave His only Son to make you a part of His family. I still don't understand it; His grace amazes me.

LOVE these girls! The girl in the light pink is Claudia, and the crazy chica on the right is Michelle. They are SO much fun! I am very thankful I've had the opportunity to get to know them & I am going to miss them SOOOOO much!!!

Abbey's back!!! Please continue to pray for her as she has been diagnosed (finally), but still does not have a concrete answer on how to treat her sickness. So thankful to have her & Mrs. Earnhart back though =)

The other day we got a group of girls together for ice cream to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It was so much fun to be able to spend time with the girls from the church =)

Well, my birthday was this past Sunday. It was a lot of fun! Many people wished me well, gave me kisses on the cheek and what-not. They also warned me about the tradition of smashing eggs & dumping flour on my head for my birthday, but it got to be night time & after all the church services, so I thought I was off the hook...I was mistaken.

Mrs. Earnhart lulled me into a false sense of security & convinced me to come outside to get a picture with every one...first mistake. Hahaha! We got a picture all right! Lol! it was a lot of fun though, & definitely something I'll never forget!

11.11.11 ★ Chile Trip!

2011-11-15T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well, as I'm sure most of you are aware, this past Friday was the super awesome date of 11/11/11! So, myself, Sarah, & um, Sarah.(Sarah Earnhart & Sarah my roomie =), decided to go to Chile for the day! Arica Chile is only about a 45 minute taxi ride, so it was a very easy trip. Well, started out a little bumpy because I forgot to take my little white visa paper along with my passport, but the Lord worked everything out so I was able to cross the border without even having to pay the fee =)

We started out with just chillin' on a beautiful beach for roughly 4-6 hrs. It was an amazingly beautiful day! We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. I was able to journal some, & just rest. It was great. We all got a tad too much sun though, & ended up with some sunburn, but my poor roomie actually got sun poisoning & is just now recovering. But, at least now we all have great tans. Hahaha!

After the beach, we walked downtown to a cute little cafe & got some lunch. Super yummy!! The check was a bit difficult to figure out though. As you can see from the picture, Chilean pesos go by the thousands, so a sandwich costs like $12,000 and a drink costs $5000...you get the idea. So needless to say, figuring out our bill got a little confusing when we tried to split it up between us. Haha!

We walked around & explored a local Cathedral. I always get chills when I walk into places like this. Christ is only ever depicted as a helpless child, or a dead man. Just below this display was a padded stool for kneeling so that people could pray to a dead Jesus statue. It's just sad to me; so empty & hopeless. I'm so thankful I serve a risen Savior, & I know He is sitting at God's right hand because He accomplished His work on the cross & paid the price for my sins! =)

Shopping!!! I just about died when I turned the corner & saw this shop...it's all handmade & all super cheap. But I was good & restrained myself from buying anything...here. The other shops? That's a different story =)

We returned to the cute cafe for some coffee, tea, and ice cream. Great way to finish off a great day!! As you can see, we were all a little toasted. Lol!

It was a beautiful night & definitely one of the best days ever!! I am so thankful for the experiences I've had =)

You Know You're in Peru When...

2011-11-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

1. Every time you cross the street, you also say the phrase "we're going to die."

2. You have to pay for toilet paper in a public restroom (or bring your own).

3. You have learned not to make eye contact with anyone who is selling anything on the street, because they will take it as a sign of interest & follow you for the next 4 blocks trying to convince you why you need a fluffy toy that squeaks when you squish it.

4. You don't stop at stop signs, you honk & if anyone is coming through; they are expected to do the stopping.

5. You have eaten something that would be considered a pet in the States (for example... guinea pig).

6. You automatically try to conserve the water because you never know when the local government will shut it off because they have a beef with the big government...how this affects the big government. No idea! haha!

7. You've learned to ignore whistles, catcalls, honking, and other random gestures of interest from the majority of males walking down the street.

8. Everyone assumes you're rich because you're a gringo.

9. If rice isn't in the meal, potatoes, bread, or some other starch is.

10. If you don’t greet with a kiss on the cheek, they will find you.

12. Time is more of an idea rather than an actual instruction.

13. Public transportation is a sketchy guy in a sketchy van.

14. You see roughly 48 different stray dogs on any one excursion around town.

15. You see one man, one wife, two small children, the family chicken, and a loaf of bread...on one motorcycle.

16. If you do not understand someone, it will be followed by louder speaking & bigger motioning with the hands...I have to admit, I'm guilty of this one when it's the other way around. Haha!!

17. Traffic laws are really more like "guidelines." But the real rule is, whoever is bigger wins.

=) Oh how I love Peru!!!!

As of Late

2011-11-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all! Just wanted to give you a quick update of what's been going on this past week =)

Last Saturday we started out with visitation, which is always interesting when I'm with Jake or Justin. They definitely keep me entertained, haha! But I am always thankful to have a guy around when we walk through one of the areas with more gang activity. After visitation we came back to the house for about an hour, then returned to the church for a work day. I wish I had pictures to share from that! We got soooooo filthy! Lol. We were scraping paint off the side of one of the buildings. Since it never rains here, the paint isn't exactly water proof, so we would scrape it, get water on it, scrape some more & it would just kind of melt off. Somehow, most of the paint got on me. That always happens! I always end up all dirty from either a paint fight, or just because I have very clumsy moments. Haha!

This is my new roomie, Sarah! She got here a few weeks ago & has been a HUGE blessing & encouragement to me. She'll be in Tacna for 8 months, helping out with the ministry. I am very, very thankful for her =)

Monday was Halloween in the States, Dia de los Muertos here. Because of all of the things that go on during the night here, we had an activity to keep the kids and families off of the streets. The girl in the picture there is Claudia; she is super sweet & so patient in teaching me Spanish! Haha =) Everyone was feeling a little crazy this evening, but we had a ton of fun.

Volleyball tournaments! 'Twas great fun =)

Those who weren't playing volleyball just kinda chilled & talked. Michelle entertained Maddie, which made for an adorable photo op =)

After volleyball, we returned to the church for snacks, wii, and a movie. It was a great time of fellowship!

This past week has been a little crazy school-wise. My midterms have been kind of dragging out. Everyone back at N-land had all of the midterm fun at once, but since I take tests a few days later than they do on campus, I had papers due last week, & now all of my tests are this week. So staying on top of lectures while also participating in everything else here has been a bit of a challenge. It's all worked out though. I only have 2 more tests to take, then I'm done until finals!! I can't believe I only have one month left here; the Lord has taught me so much...but it's been in ways I never expected. He has given me a deeper burden for youth, and He's really sharpened my focus as to what I would like to do with my degree once I get out of college. I am so thankful for how the Lord uses even difficult situations to accomplish His will, and I am very, very excited for the future =)

I do have some prayer requests if you all think about it. Please continue to pray for Abbey & Mrs. Earnhart. They have been in the States getting tests run at Mayo Clinic for almost 3 weeks & still do not have any solid answers as to what's wrong, let alone how to treat it. Their tickets to return to Peru are for the 15th of November, but it's looking like they may need to stay longer. So please pray for wisdom & peace for them.
I would also ask you to pray for me as I try to keep my focus right. The Lord is dealing with a lot of things in my life right now. Some hurts from my past that I didn't realize were still affecting me, God has been bringing them to light & compelling me to deal with them & not hold onto that pain & bitterness & it's honestly really hard to deal with on top of everything else that is going on right now. So I would appreciate your prayer with that =)

Thank you all so much for checking in & keeping in touch with me. It means more than you know! I hope that you have a fantastic weekend!

Rooftop Update! =)

2011-10-28T08:27:00.001-07:00

The Danger of Love

2011-10-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
-1 John 4:7-11

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
-Matthew 22:36-39

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 Corinthians 13:2-3

God's Word is very clear, we are commanded to love; to open our hearts to others & give of ourselves just as Christ gave of Himself to us. But we all know that whenever you let someone else get close to you, then there is a risk of being hurt. I think C.S. Lewis said it well in his work "The Four Loves." Take a look:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I hate being vulnerable. I like to feel independent, self-sufficient, unbreakable. But God calls me to be Christ-dependent, find my sufficiency in Him, & to be broken at the foot of the cross. I've been contemplating this over & over again the past few weeks as I find myself missing my friends back in the States very much, yet somewhat apprehensive to develop deep friendships here because I know that when I return home in December, then I will have more friends that I am missing. Then there's always the possibility of trying to make new friends, & being rejected or hurt. All of this was going through my mind the other day when I was also thinking about Hebrews 12. And these two words stuck out to me: "Consider Him." Speaking of Christ, verse three of chapter twelve says "Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

How must Christ have felt? Coming to earth a helpless baby. Creator of the universe, unable even to ask for food or water. Completely dependent on the very fragile human beings he had given breath to. Christ was willing to be vulnerable & broken to restore a relationship with humanity. Yet I retreat behind my wall of insecurity or self-sufficiency all for the sake of protecting my pride. "What if they don't like me?" or, "what if they hurt me?" These are my arguments, but Christ came to earth knowing full well that he would be crushed by the very ones He had come to rescue. Chances are, I will never be physically harmed for sharing Christ, or reaching out to love on others, so what is my excuse? I don't want to love, because love=vulnerability? Unacceptable.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." -Ephesians 5:1-2

Three Weeks in SA

2011-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have been here in Peru for exactly three weeks and a day. What have I learned so far? I've learned nothing ever goes according to plan. At least not my plan, & that my friends, is a very good thing. God's plans are so much bigger than mine, so who am I to say what should & shouldn't happen? I've learned that there are ways to show love without communicating verbally, as many Peruvians have done for me. I've learned it's not always the big things that matter, but the little every day blessings that bring a smile to someone's face. I've learned that above all, my worth, my identity, & my purpose is not in what I can do, or what I look like, or where I'm from, but it is in Christ alone. A little over a week ago, we took a trip into the mountains, to a city called Juliaca. I didn't know there could be so much variation in culture in the same country, but even the Earnharts kept commenting on how it was completely different than the culture in Tacna. The weather was very cold, about 30 degrees or so. But unlike in the states, the homes have no insulation, there aren't heaters in every car, & very few buildings have any heating system.

Unlike the climate, the Peruvian church families were very warm & inviting! Many people invited us into their homes & made amazing meals for us. Keep in mind, me+the Earnharts=9 people! Saturday evening we had a youth activity at the Plaza Vea, which is the Peruvian version of a mall/walmart. It was a lot of fun getting to know the college/career age people from the church, even though I still can't really speak Spanish very well, they all made me feel very welcome. Sunday the altitude sickness that had been plaguing us since our arrival finally leveled me completely that morning. We had just finished breakfast at the church, and all of the sudden I felt like I would pass out. It was awful! I weird combination of the flu/sea sickness/cold/pure nastiness. I played piano for the special, and then while walking away I blacked out, but thankfully there was a wall there that caught me. Lol! I went into another room during the service & just took it easy, & then by late afternoon felt much better. I am very thankful that I have only gotten sick once since I've been here; God has been so good!

Monday afternoon we went to Juno, & visited Lake Titi-CaCa; the largest, high altitude lake in the world. The locals thrive on superstition, & even when Sarah was teaching the kids classes earlier that week we heard stories of man-eating mermaids that supposedly inhabit the lake. Mermaids or not, we went on a boat tour to visit an amazing cluster of man-made islands inhabited by the Uro people.

It was an incredible experience! An entire village made out of dried reeds...craziness! We had a lot of fun exploring & enjoying the sunshine. Afterwards we made the 10hr bus trip "home" to Tacna. Hallelujah for sleeping pills! We were all very thankful to be back where the sun actually warms the earth; little things we take for granted =) It was an awesome trip overall, & I am thankful for all of the opportunities God has been giving me, & all the little things He is using to open my eyes, & widen my perspective of ministry.

Thank you all for praying! I will definitely try to give a more current update soon, but alas, homework calls. Adios for now!

Weekend Ministry

2011-09-18T13:28:00.001-07:00

I've discovered that the weekends around here are pretty crazy! Friday night there is a ministry called "El Refugio," which is a counseling ministry for women. About 20 ladies attended & Sarah taught a very helpful & applicable lesson about how to handle depression. Depression is a huge problem for our generation! Sarah gave the basics on what the signs of depression are, practical ways to handle depression, & also taught about our most important defense against depression: God's word. It all comes back to focusing on truth. As Isaiah 26:3 says--"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,because he trusts in you." We also had a great time of fellowship & games. This was the first time since I arrived that I had enough courage to attempt conversation in Spanish. The Peruvian ladies had so much patience with me! I could understand a few sentences & converse a little bit, but I still have a LONG way to go! They kept telling me "Esta bien! Poco a poco! (It's ok, little by little.) One of the ladies after I looked particularly confused laughed & said "Tienes tiempo para apprender." Which basically means "you have time to learn." To which Mrs. Earnhart responded, "yup! And in that time you're going to get laughed at a lot!" Haha! I told them people back home make fun of me when I speak English, so I'm already used to it =)

Saturdays are very busy around the Earnhart home! We started out bright & early going on visitation; this was an area down town that we went to & either invited people to church who had never been, or went to visit church members. This is considered to be more of an upper-class part of town.

After visitation in Tacna, we went to Viñani...this is the place that broke my heart in 2009. Those thatched walls that you see in the background are actually homes. There are very few buildings with roofs; there is no running water; there is unbelievable poverty. We visited quite a few church members while we were there & tried to encourage one family in particular that is going through an extremely difficult time. Pray for the family of Ignacio if you could; pray that God would reveal attributes of Himself that Ignacio cannot ignore, & that as a result of seeing God for who He is, that Ignacio would in turn lead his family in a godly way.

That afternoon we had a ladies activity which was a lot of fun! Some of the younger ladies made bracelets & then afterwards Abbey gave a lesson out of Romans 8; it was so cool because I had just read that passage Saturday morning during my devos! So that helped me follow along better when she was teaching in Spanish =)

After the lesson, we all went to a nearby park & played volleyball. Those ladies have got some skill! it was a lot of fun, & they all had a great time laughing at me when I got really confused over some directions they gave me in Spanish. I think I'm going to get used to being laughed at -- haha! That's ok though; I don't mind =)

When we got home, we began getting ready for the young-adults activity that evening. We had over 20 young adults & we all had a great time playing games, fellowshipping, & then we had a short challenge from Pastor Cristian. I met a sweet young girl named Sheyda, who speaks English pretty well; so between her good English & my not-so-good Spanish, we were able to have a good conversation =) All in all, yesterday was great! Please pray for those who visited church this morning & responded to the message; pray that it would not be a one time thing but that that would continue to attend & to grow in their understanding of God's word.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hasta luego =)

Joy in the Journey

2011-09-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm here! Here being Peru =) My trip started Tuesday when my wonderful sister, Amber, drove me down to Chicago where I caught the first of my 3 flights. I have to share some of the "little" details that God took care of!

1) Monday night I was FREAKING OUT about luggage weight. I had taken out everything I possibly could, & my suitcases were still both pushing 50lbs. And don't even ask about my carry-on; good thing they don't weigh those things, because it weighed WAY over 50. Haha! Anyways, I was so nervous about checking my baggage in because I was sure they would both be over, but I really didn't know what else I could take out (I was taking some things over for the family I'm staying with that they can't get in Peru). Sure enough, my first suitcase was 56lbs. Not cool!! I was already starting to stress while my mind raced to think of what I could take out. Then we weighed the second one, & it was exactly 44 pounds!! God truly takes care of every detail =)

2) This comes back to my EXTREMELY heavy carry-on. I could barely lift it about my head....so much for P90x! Ha! Anyways, I was attempting to get it up in the overhead & almost dropped it on the nice, unsuspecting lady who was sitting nearby, but my wonderful seat-mate, a kind, older gentleman, used his man-muscles & hoisted it up there for me. At the end of the flight, he got up right away & got it down for me. The thing that was a rebuke to me about this whole thing that this man was deaf. He was so kind & helpful; looking out for others instead of himself. I definitely need to be more like that.

3) By the time I got to Miami, I was DYING of hunger!! Ok, not quite, but I was pretty famished since I had been too nervous to eat anything (except for a Starbucks Coconut Mocha Frappe...& that doesn't count, right? =) Anyways, I hadn't eaten in like 24hrs, so I had some rumbling in my tummy. I had heard tale that there was a sushi place in the airport, but it was a massive airport! So I walked towards my gate for....well pretty much forever, but not quite, because if that were the case I would still be walking. So it was almost forever...but not quite. AAaaaaand, I'm rambling. Back to the story! I was just about to settle for a nasty, 3-day-old-overpriced-refrigerated-sandwich, when I saw it: the sign that gloriously announced SUSHI!!! Ok, that was a blessing in & of itself, but God gave more. My waitress was a super sweet lady named Mary. She asked me about my trip, & then told me she had a missionary friend in Peru & gave me their contact info. Then she asked me straight up, "so you believe in God? Are you trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior?" I thought it was so great how she just came out & asked so boldly. So many times I find myself dancing around the subject when I first talk to strangers, even though it is the most important question I could possibly ask. Anyways, she was super sweet & gave me a big hug when I left. Blessing!!

4) I MADE MY INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION!!!! Ok, that was a HUGE praise, because the chances of me actually getting on my flight were quite slim. Especially with me navigating an airport I haven't been in for almost 3 years, with my minimal Spanish skills, & less than 6hrs of sleep in the past 48hrs. Thankfully I made it through customs without a hitch, but then when I got to the line to check into LAN, it was an extremely long line of all children! It was so strange; I swear every child in Peru was going on a fieldtrip to Machu Picchu or something. Lol! But nevertheless, by God's grace I made my flight. They were on their final call, & I made it with only 5 minutes to spare before they sealed the entrance. Nothing like cutting it close!

5) I feel at home. The Earnhart family has really gone above & beyond to make me comfortable here, & I really don't feel the dreaded culture shock. I definitely miss my friends & family, but I have loved getting to know the Earnharts & the Peruvians better. God is already widening my perspective of cross-cultural ministry, & He's also driving me closer to Himself. I no longer have my roommates from Northland nearby, or my friends that I have had almost every class with since freshmen year. I can't just pick up the phone & call my family, but my God is always near. One of the verses that has been a huge comfort is Psalm 18:30 "This God--His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him."

Thank you all SO much for your prayers! I look forward to telling you all about "El Refugio," the women's ministry that I was able to be a part of tonight. And also tomorrow we have a full day, so your prayers are appreciated then as well! We have visitation in the morning, a girl's activity in the afternoon, & then a teen activity in the evening. Please pray that each of these events would make opportunities for the gospel, & also for people to be encouraged in Christ. There are a lot of hurting brothers & sisters in Christ, & you can make a difference by supporting them with prayer. More updates soon!

En Route to...PERU!!

2011-09-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll be the first to admit that I am terrible at keeping this blog updated. Don't worry, my sister gives me a wonderful little guilt trip about the whole thing! But aside from that obvious fault of mine, I do have exciting news: I finally get to go back to Peru! TOMORROW!! Well, I'll be flying out tomorrow; I don't actually get there until Wednesday....but that's beside the point. Anyways, God has been SO good in bringing this all together! I just wanted to share with you all about how this came about =)

It's been almost 3 years since I first went to Peru. A group of 23 from my home church youth group went on a one week missions trip back in December of 2008. Just to give you a little bit of my background at that point, I was definitely going for the wrong reasons! There were so many things in my life that had my focus off God, I don't really know where to start! But...God gives more grace =) Even though I was living in hypocrisy & going on the trip for the sole purpose of escaping the Wisconsin winter, God had bigger plans. I've talked about this before on this blog, but for those of you who are only reading because I'm doing GSA this semester, this is for your benefit. Lol! Long story short, God used some difficult circumstances back home & some selfless people abroad to start changing my heart. When I got back home I broke up w/my boyfriend at the time; that relationship had been part of the reason for my spiritual nosedive, & I knew that was one of the biggest things that God wanted me to give up. Also over the next 6 months God just started giving me a love for His word & a desire to be changed into Christ's image. I went to Northland for 2 weeks of Leadership camp that summer & that really helped develop a foundation for spiritual growth.

Freshmen year at Northland I learned SO much! Which I guess is the whole point of paying an arm & a leg for college...but not just academically. There were so many people who invested into my life, & I am so thankful for them! At that time I was still praying about going back to Peru. I really wanted to go back with a better perspective. Hopefully with a less selfish attitude too! But God said no at that time. Instead of Peru, He opened up the opportunity for me to go to Haiti last summer after the earthquake hit. I was very excited, but God had some hard lessons He wanted to teach me. My family always accuses me of being adventurous to the point of recklessness at times. So I was pumped to be able to experience a culture completely different than my own while also having the amazing opportunity of serving alongside an incredible missionary family. When I got to Haiti, I was overwhelmed with culture shock the minute I stepped out of the airport onto the street. Before I even made it to our vehicle waiting nearby, 2 Haitian men tried to grab my arm & pull me into the crowd. The trip up the mountain to the Bower's home took 3 hours, even though it was only 30 miles away, just because of how bad the roads were. The property that the Bower's home, church, & school are on has an 8 foot brick fence surrounding it, due to the violence in the nearby town. While we were there, a young man was killed by voodoo, & as girls, none of us could even walk between the buildings without a guy accompanying us at all times....I HATED it there! The first three days were some of the most miserable that I can remember. I kept telling the Lord, "I know I told you I would go anywhere....but I could never live here! I could never, ever raise a family here." But again--He gives more grace! I had been studying Philippians that week, & the Lord used it to break me. Particularly chapter 3, in which Paul talks about all that his Jewish heritage had granted him, but that it is all less than nothing in comparison to knowing & serving Christ. For the rest of the trip, the Lord just gave me a joy in serving the Hatians that cannot be explained by anything other than God's all sufficient grace. It was SO hard to leave! I definitely cried. But something interesting happened on our last night there. I can't fully explain it, but the Lord just made it clear to me that He would make a way for me to return to Peru this year! I was pumped!

I was also confused, since I am a music major & study abroad was not an option at that time for my department, I had no idea how the Lord was planning on getting me to Peru. I started praying about changing my major so I could study abroad. That was a big "No." So now I knew that God wanted me to go to Peru, & also remain a music major....hmmmm. Next option, take a year off of school, go home & work for a while, take a month long trip, & come back to school as a music major. I started making plans, & I had talked to our head missions guy at Northland about it & he began talking through logistics with me. Three days after I had decided to take a year off & go, Northland made an announcement that they were changing the music program to allow majors to study abroad!! It was such a clear answer to prayer & I was immediately filled with peace! God truly does have everything under control if we will just trust! Not only to I get to go back to Peru for a whole semester, but I also get to stay with the wonderful missionary family that we stayed with during our trip back in '08. The Earnharts have a great ministry & I am so humbled that they are taking me into their home & allowing me to take part in the work God is doing there. I would definitely appreciate your prayers as I fly out tomorrow. Specifically that I would make my international connection in Lima. I will be updating again shortly with some more specific prayer requests. You can also check out the Earnhart's website if you would like to know more about their ministry or how you can best pray for their family. The address is: www.earnharts.org

Thank you so much for your prayers & for all of you who have been such an encouragement to me throughout this whole process. I look forward to sharing with you all about what God is doing throughout this semester. My goal is to update once a week, so if I go another month, make sure you send me an angry email or fb message or something. Haha! Peace out for now y'all!

(That y'all was in honor of my little Georgian roomie Miss Betsy Sue =)

P.S. Sorry this turned out so long. I always jabber after I haven't updated in awhile. If you actually made it through that whole thing, you deserve a prize....or at least some ice cream.

Another End Starts a New Beginning.

2011-08-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, LOTS of goodbye's have been said, & lots of hugs given. It's almost the end of the summer, & last Saturday marked the end of my summer at camp. It was definitely the best summer so far! The Lord taught me so much, broke me of several strongholds, gave me a ton of amazing new friends, & allowed me to be discipled by some people that I've looked up to for a long time. Among those was Evangelist Will Galkin & Evangelist Steve Pettit. This summer actually marked the end of Brother Pettit's 29 years as camp director. He has had a HUGE impact on countless lives & his investment into the staff will continue even next summer when he is no longer director. The Lord is moving Brother Pettit into a new ministry! He accepted Christ as his Savior at a state university many years ago as a result of a campus ministry, & now he has been asked to be the director of a similar ministry called Cross Impact. It will be exciting to see how the Lord works through him in this new opportunity.

I had some AMAZING roommates this summer! Sarah, & Betsy were a huge encouragement to me. Sarah actually travels with the Galkin Team, & she was a blessing. She has a beautiful voice, plays flute, & penny whistle, & always had a funny story to share =)

This is my wonderful roomie, Betsy! She's from Georgia & has an amazing southern accent. No joke--you couldn't hang out with this girl for too long without picking up a drawl. I actually had people ask me which part of the south I was from! Hahaha! She had the best attitude even when she went through a very big trial during the summer. Although she was in a lot of pain that even medication would not help, she never once complained. She kept saying over & over that if God was allowing this pain in her life, He knew it was best for her, & that He had a better plan for her than the plan she had for herself. God used Betsy in my life in a big way, by making me more aware of my attitude in trials, & being more aware of the needs of others. She really lived out the concept of faith & grace during trials that we studied in James this summer. She is also the most fun to be around/funniest person I have EVER met & I miss her terribly.

This is my lovely friend, Rophe! We had many good talks, & we also had some adventures trying to catch a fish named Gigantor...with a fork.....don't ask.

These are two of my fellow lifeguards! Zach & Ethan were both a huge encouragement to me this summer! Zach became like a big brother to me, & he always challenged me with his humility, & servant's heart. He would go above & beyond what he was asked to do & he even jumped in to help other departments when he wasn't busy with lifeguard duties. Ethan was such fun to be around, & it was awesome to see how God worked in him this summer! He grew so much! He's always such a gentleman, even to the point of jumping into the lake to search for my earring that fell in. Hahaha!

I can't thank the Lord enough for the AMAZING summer he allowed me to be a part of. As we studied James, lives were changed through God's word. Campers that came into camp hating their parents, hating God, & suffering from depression, came to know Christ as their Savior & finally let go of the bitterness that was eating them alive. Staff members who came into the summer anxious, burdened, & hurting were refreshed by studying God's word & having part in amazing Christian fellowship. I keep saying this, but I really feel like God did a complete overhaul on my heart this summer, & I am just amazed by His patience with me. Some of the lessons I learned this summer, I know God has been specifically speaking to me about those things for years & it took me this long to surrender. But with surrender came the sweetest peace & the deepest joy I have ever experienced. I thought that my plan for my life was good, but God had something infinitely better & I'm excited to see what He has in store for the rest of the year. Thank you for your prayers! I look forward to updating y'all again soon =)

Life at Camp!!

2011-07-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! It's me....remember me? Alicia....the dorky piano geek/dark chocolate addict/swimming fanatic from Wisconsin...I know I haven't updated in many moons, but I thought since I'm just chillin' right now, I'd let you know what's been going on as of late.

Well I think most of you know I'm working at Northland Camp this summer as a lifeguard; I love it! We have 2 other girl guards & 3 guys. We have all become pretty tight, & our supervisor, Josh has been a huge encouragement. He travels with the Will Galkin evangelistic team & he has definitely taken the time to invest into our lives. Our lifeguard group gets together every weekend for chips & dip (or campfires) & games. It has been a blast! We also meet every Wednesday morning at 7 for coffee & a study of Galatians 5 & walking in the Spirit. It has really been growing my understanding of what it means to be filled with the Spirit & walk in the love of Christ.

Our theme this year of camp is The Legend of Jack's Gold. It has been so much fun to be involved in all of the crazy, intricate games & see the campers having fun. The best part though is seeing all of the spiritual fruit. Our passage of focus this summer is James 3:13-4:10; wisdom from above, worldliness, & desires of the heart. During staff training we had 3-5 sessions daily on this passage from Brother Will Galkin & Brother Steve Pettit. It has been a huge rebuke & a challenge to be reminded of the massive amounts of envy & worldliness in my own heart....at times I felt defeated, like there is no way I can successfully live the Christian life---and I was right. There is no way I can do it. But it all comes back to Galatians 5 & walking in the Spirit. James talks about God's jealousy for our affections & how He yearns after a relationship with us; Galatians warns us about the war that take place between our flesh & the Holy Spirit. Our own natural desire is to do whatever "feels" good at that moment, but the Holy Spirit is jealous over us & compels us to use wisdom & make the right choice. And as James reminds us (to paraphrase it) Wisdom is not some mystical, elusive thing that comes once we're old & gray. Wisdom is getting to know God---His laws, His Love, His Character---through His word, & then based on that knowledge, make the right choice right now! These principles had a huge impact in my heart & the hearts of the 150 other staff members, & it has also had a huge impact on the thousands of campers that have already listened to the very same preaching of God's word. This past week we had over 450 teen & junior campers. There were over 30 salvation decisions & numerous other decisions to follow Christ & get to know God in a deeper way. It has been amazing to witness & have a small part in such an obvious work of God!

In other news, I am starting to prepare for this upcoming semester. I feel like God placed me just where I needed to be this summer to be stretched & grown in ways I couldn't have been at home. It looks like everything is starting to come together to study abroad in the fall, even though I still don't feel like I'm actually going back to Peru!!! (finally =) Some of the planning has been on hold as we tried to work it out so I could see my brother when he returns from Afghanistan, but now that we have figured out the dates (I think!) I believe that the rest of the plans are going to start coming together. Please pray that God will continue to work in my heart & prepare me to somehow be a blessing this upcoming fall. Also please be in prayer for the Earnhart family; they have graciously agreed to let me invade their home from September-December even as they are just getting re-settled themselves! Pray that God will bless them in their next phase of ministry & that He will provide everything they need to accomplish His will.

Well, thanks for dropping by y'all! If you could be praying for this next week of camp, that would be much appreciated =) We have around 475 campers coming, including my home youth group!!!! YAY! I can't wait to see them. Anywho, enjoy your weekend!

Peace out, yo =)

UN-Tangled: Part II!

2011-06-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Oh hey there!! Well, a very near & dear friend/sister recently pointed out to me that I never posted the other part of the UN-Tangled blog entry. It has been a LOOONG time, but I didn't forget, I promise! I've just been very busy with staff training, lifeguarding, sessions, meeting campers, etc. But that is no excuse, so I give you, part dos!! =)

4) The Cross Already Cut the Ropes of Entangling Sin!!

I LOVE this point!!! How amazing to know that those strongholds that so easily ensnare us actually have NO power over us! Colossians 2:13-15 says "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling dthe record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities2 and eput them to open shame, by ftriumphing over them in him."

Christ canceled not just the debt we owed, but also every record of the debt! His righteousness was transferred to you when you accepted His gift of salvation, so now it is as if you never sinned.

Sometimes we submit to the bondage of sin without even fighting it. Idk about you, but there are some temptations that Satan doesn't even have to try to hard to tangle me in. Take self-consciousness/envy. All that has to happen for me to get caught up in these sins is to see someone who is prettier/skinnier/more talented than me, & I'm throwing the ropes around myself! Why didn't God make me that way? (Discontentment/exalting myself above God.) I wish I looked like that way (Jealousy). I hope she gets fat someday (bitter envy!!).
Do you see how easily Satan traps a lot of us? We trap ourselves! But with Christ, we don't have to submit to our natural sinful tendencies. They are powerless over us. The chains have been broken by Christ's victory on the Cross!

5) Those Once Untangled can be WELL Entangled Again.

Have you ever thought that you have overcome a sin only to find yourself struggling, or falling again? Then what happens? You get discouraged, major guilt complex, etc! Be careful to guard your heart. Be aware of your weaknesses & keep them in regular prayer! Don't just clean up your life, FILL it with all the fullness of God!

6) A Grudge Can Entangle Us Where We Need Untangled Most.

Bitterness comes with holding a grudge bitterness is poison & can only hurt you. Why do we hold grudges? Someone hurts us...we feel like if we distance ourselves & hold out on forgiving them, then we are getting back at them. The OPPOSITE is true! Whoever or whatever you're holding a grudge against, you are bowed down & tied to! Forgive as Christ has forgiven, & the freedom will be a huge blessing to you. You will come to a deeper understanding & appreciation of God's forgiveness when you come to a situation where you have to forgive someone who never asked for your forgiveness. Someone who honestly does not deserve your forgiveness. Ephesians said that we were all enemies of God; our flesh HATES God. But He still loved us & gave His son to die for us, so that we could be forgiven. Can you not forgive?

I hope that these points give you something to think about this week! Lord willing, I'll be able to carve out some time to post an update on my life as of late, & then soon after I'll finish out this Untangled series with the last 3 points =) Have a great week!

UN-Tangled

2011-05-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Ever find yourself in this kind of mood? I know I have!

Do you feel tangled lately? No, I'm not talking about a bad hair day, but rather that inner conflict that we all deal with at some time or another. Sometimes circumstances confuse us, but sometimes we confuse ourselves!! Or at least I do! Lol. This past weekend I had the privilege of going to a Beth Moore conference in Minneapolis with my sister, my mom, & 41 other ladies from my home church. If you have never heard of Beth Moore, I highly recommended that you check out her blog, Bible study materials, etc. She has a great gift of communicating God's truth in a very clear & profound way. This weekend's conference theme was "UN-Tangled." I'll tell you, I definitely needed to get some things un-tangled & rest in God's peace again. It was a huge blessing to sing praises to God with the 4300 other women that were in attendance & then be refreshed by God's word in the sessions that Beth Moore gave. I would just like to share with you the 9 points that Beth made in the sessions because they were such great reminders!

1) God can UN-Tangle us when life is about to kills us!

Psalm 116:1-6
"I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me."

I don't know about you, but sometimes I try to put on a front before God....make that a LOT of times! We all do it with people; someone asks you how you're doing, & what do you always say? "I'm fine." Even when the whole world can tell, you are not fine. But why do we always try to tell God, "I'm fine." He knows everything & He's told us to come to him in times of distress; He is mighty to save!

2) God can UN-Tangle us when we are tangled up inside.

Hmmm....I am one tangled up girl on the inside. I feel just like Rapunzel in the clip I shared at the beginning. Especially when it comes to guys!! Haha! What if he likes me? But sometimes it seems like he just wants to be friends. But he took me for coffee! But he's just super nice, he would take a 90 year old grandma for coffee!! Lol! Ok, so maybe not quite THAT bad...but you get my point. I also get all tangled when it comes to more serious things, like, am I majoring in the right thing? Am I where God wants me to be? What will I do after college? How am I going to finish paying for school?

SO many tangles! But God knows all of them & He has the solution to every tangle in our lives. Ask God for wisdom; ask Him to simplify the situation & make a solution clear to you. SEEK wise, godly counsel. Also, ask Him for patience to wait on HIS timing in making everything clear to you.

One of the most amazing passages to me is Romans 8:26-27. Sometimes I get so confused about what would be best, I don't even know how to pray anymore, but God made an amazing promise that we can rest in:

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

Even when we aren't sure of the will of God, the Holy Spirit makes intercession on our behalf, according to the will of God!! How amazing is that?

3) God can UN-Tangle us when our motives are in tangles.

...this one hit me. I LONG for the day when I will no longer have to battle my flesh & I will have 100% pure motives. Even when I am doing something for someone else, I always feel like there is a small part of me...sometimes even a big part of me, that is doing it for my own good. Pride, to make myself feel better, because I'm expected to...etc!

God has commanded us to love HIM with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, & might. And, we are to love our neighbors as ourself. Only God & His Holy Spirit can take control of us & allow us to serve Him with pure motives. Walk in the Spirit, & you shall NOT fulfill the desire of the flesh!

Well, if I go through all 9 points, ya'll will have to be reading ALL day! So I'll leave you to ponder these three & I'll share the others soon! Hope that you have a wonderful day!

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." ~Philippians 1:6

Perception of Beauty

2011-05-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

This is something I struggle with almost every day...what is true beauty? We are bombarded with images of unattainable beauty every where we look; airbrushed models, anorexic celebrities, etc. This video was an encouragement to me this week as I try to maintain a healthy perspective on what true beauty is:

Oh Glorious Day!

2011-04-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Best day of the year. Christ is Risen!!

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a Virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me, dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming, oh, glorious day, oh, glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my beloved one, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Living, He loved me, dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming, oh, glorious day, oh, glorious day!

--Traditional Hymn/Casting Crowns, "Glorious Day"

Limitless Love Born from Limitless Pain: A Crucifixion Narrative

2011-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Got this from a friend who got it from Sovereign Grace Church...a powerful, yet somehow still weak description of the weight of the cross:

….after “hours of limitless pain.

Then Jesus is startled by a foul odor. It isnʼt the stench of open wounds. It is something

else. And it crawls inside him. He looks up to his Father. His Father looks back, but

Jesus doesnʼt recognize these eyes. They pierce the invisible world with fire and darken

the visible sky. And Jesus feels dirty. He hangs between earth and heaven filthy with

human discharge on the outside and now filthy with the weight of human wickedness on

the inside.

The Father speaks: “Son of Man! Why have you sinned against me and heaped scorn

on my great glory? You are self-sufficient and self-righteous—consumed with yourself

and puffed up and selfishly ambitious. You rob me of my glory and worship whatʼs inside

of you instead of looking out to the one who created you. You are a greedy, lazy,

gluttonous slanderer and gossip. You are a lying, conceited, ungrateful, cruel adulterer.

You practice sexual immorality; you make pornography and fill you mind with vulgarity.

You exchange my truth for a lie and worship the creature instead of the Creator. And so

you are given up to your homosexual passions, dressing immodestly and lusting after

what is forbidden. With all your heart you love perverse pleasure. You hate your brother

and murder him with the bullets of anger fired from your own heart. You kill babies for

your convenience. You oppress the poor and deal in slaves and ignore the needy. You

persecute my people. You love money and prestige and honor. You put on a cloak of

outward piety, but inside you are filled with dead manʼs bones—you hypocrite! You are

lukewarm and easily enticed by the world. You covet and canʼt have so you murder. You

are filled with envy and rage and bitterness and unforgiveness. You blame others for

your sin and are too proud to even call it sin. You are never slow to speak. And you

have a razor tongue that lashes and cuts with its criticism and sinful judgment. Your

words do not impart grace. Instead your mouth is a fountain of condemnation and guilt

and obscene talk. You are a false prophet leading people astray. You mock your

parents. You have no self-control. You are a betrayer who stirs up division and factions.

Youʼre a drunkard and a thief. Youʼre an anxious coward. You do not trust me. You

blaspheme against me. You are an unsubmissive wife. You are a lazy, disengaged

husband. You file for divorce and crush the parable of my love for the church. Youʼre a

pimp and a drug dealer. You practice divination and worship demons. The list of your

sins goes on and on. And I hate these things inside of you. Iʼm filled with disgust for you

and indignation for your sin consumes me. Now, drink my cup!

And Jesus does. He drinks for hours. He downs every drop of the scalding liquid of

Godʼs own hatred of sin mingled with his white-hot wrath against that sin. This is the

Fatherʼs cup: omnipotent hatred and anger for the sins of every generation past,

present, and future. Omnipotent wrath directed at one naked man hanging on a cross.

The Father can no longer look at his beloved Son, his heartʼs treasure, the mirror-image

of himself. And he diverts his gaze.

Jesus pushes himself upward and howls to heaven, “My God, my God, why have you

forsaken me?”

Silence. Separation.

Jesus whispers, “Iʼm thirsty,” and he sags.

The merciful centurion soaks a sponge in sour vinegar wine and lifts in on a reed to

Jesusʼ lips.

Jesus pushes himself up again and cries, “It is finished.” And it is. Every sin of every

child of God had been laid on Jesus and he drank the cup of Godʼs wrath dry.

Itʼs six oʼclock, Friday evening, and Jesus finds one more surge of strength. He presses

his torn feet against the spikes, straightens his legs, and with one last gasp of air cries

out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

And he dies.

The merciful centurion sees Jesusʼ body fall far forward and his head drop low. He

thrusts a spear up behind Jesusʼ ribs—one more piercing for our transgression—and

water and blood flow out of his broken heart.

In that moment mountains shake and rocks spilt; veils tear and tombs open.

The merciful centurion looks up at that lifeless body of Jesus and is filled with awe. He

drops to his knees and declares, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Mission accomplished. Sacrifice accepted.”

The Birdcage

2011-04-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Need a simple reminder of God's grace? Take 4 minutes & watch this video by the Skit Guys:

Life is Hard, But God is Good.

2011-04-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

A week ago this time, my big brother, Jeremiah, was told that in approximately four days he would be deploying again...this time to Afghanistan. When my mom called me late last Monday night & told me, I was totally shocked, & then came the tears. Neither of Jeremiah's other two deployments had been easy, but for some reason this one hit me a lot harder. Probably because we were all taken SO off-guard, none of us had gotten to say goodbye, & in the middle of one of the busiest weeks of the semester, there was NO way I could take off of school to go down to Tennessee. Well, no way without God, & how easily I forget the amazing way the Lord works things out.

I knew my brother was just as surprised as we were at having to get all of his responsibilities in order with only 4 days until he was deployed. I was so discouraged & broken that I wouldn't be able to properly say goodbye to Jeremiah that I spent every break crying between each of my 5 classes on Tuesday. I just couldn't understand how this could be happening.

My brother called me at work Tuesday night & we just talked for a few minutes; he told me that this deployment would be shorter, only about 6 months, & that I shouldn't worry because he would be fine. He also told me that Ben & Rebecca (my sister & brother-in-law) were going to be coming down to see him before he left. I told him I would do anything to be able to come, but it just wasn't possible. He assured me that it was ok, but it didn't feel ok. After talking to him, I skyped with my older sister Amber; she urged me to try anything I could to find a way down there. I told her the same thing I told Jer; it just was not possible right now!

I had been gone all weekend on a ministry trip, and I was still behind in schoolwork from that. I was also scheduled to work 5 hours Thursday night & 8 hours Saturday afternoon. I had two tests, three quizzes, and two assignments due. I didn't have a car to get back to Chetek before my family would be leaving to see him. I also didn't have any personal cuts left for one of my classes, so that would have an effect on my GPA unless the academic committee granted me emergency cuts. I was also scheduled to perform a movement of a Beethoven sonata the following Monday & still had some memorization work to do....it just seemed impossible in my eyes!

After work I went back to my room & just started crying again in frustration. My roommate came over & told me to pray about it. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have to be honest; I really did not want to pray about it!! There was no way it was going to happen, & putting any hope in going just seemed pointless. So my wonderful roommate just prayed for me & the situation.

Well, Wednesday came &I received a text from my mom; she wanted to let me know that she would be going to Tennessee as well. That made me want to go even more, & something made me ask when they were leaving, which was 7:30 that night. Which meant if I were going to go with, I needed to find people to cover both work shifts, I needed to get extensions on assignments, re-schedules tests, AND find a car, all in-between my classes & before 3:30 to leave time for the 4 hour drive. Well, long story short--God worked it out!!

In the 5 hour period I had between when I decided to try to go & the time I actually left, the Lord had somehow secured a car for me, worked out my class & test schedule, found work replacements for me, & everything inbetween!!! He is SO good!

The drive back to Chetek was stressful, but I made it just in time to go directly from my car into the car we would be taking down to Tennessee. Ben drove through the night & we woke up in Kentucky (it was SO beautiful!) I hadn't been to Kentucky in several years & I absolutely love that area, so it was refreshing to be back =) After a few more driving hours, we met Jeremiah for breakfast & I got to surprise him!

It was SO nice to have a day together with Jeremiah, Ben, Becca, my little niece Tatym, & my Mom. There was also another surprise; my dad, who has been working out of state for the past 2 months, drove 32 hrs to be there & see Jer off, so that was great. I know it meant a lot to my brother to have him make the trip.

Please pray for Jeremiah & the rest of the troops as they are in harm's way. We have not heard anything since we said goodbye, & Jeremiah told us that there will most likely be very little communication throughout the deployment. The Lord has always protected him in his past 2 deployments & we trust Him in this one too.

Food for Thought

2011-03-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have an app on my ipod touch that I gives me a daily C.S. Lewis quote; I read this one yesterday & it really made me think, so I thought I would share =)

March 30, 2011

Your real new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day, and death of your whole body in the end. Submit with every fiber of your being and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in. ~C.S. Lewis

Spring Break!!

2011-03-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello there everybody! Do you remember me? I haven't posted an update in a while, but I am still alive. Haha! And it's Spring Break! So I've been enjoying a week at home with my family.

This past month at school has been exhausting, but very, very good. I have a lighter workload than last semester, but I have been sick quite a bit. Actually, I've had 10 days all together that I was too sick to leave my dorm & had to spend the day in bed. I went about 72 hours on 6 hours of sleep because I was too sick to sleep, even though I took nyquil every couple of hours. Sounds miserable, huh? Well, it was, but the Lord really, REALLY taught me about his sufficiency even in that overwhelming circumstance, & He also taught me some things about myself that He wants to change. I look forward to sharing those lessons with you later, but for now I'll just catch you up on this past week =)

Spring break came just in time! As soon as I was well enough to get out of bed, I had to hit the ground running and catch up on everything I had been unable to do for the 5 days I was sick. Tuesday I had a midterm, Wednesday I had to give a speech & powerpoint presentation for a literature class, and Thursday I had to catch up on about 4 hours of music practice & get everything ready to go home. HOME!!! Yay =) Lol, anyways. Friday was the day! Me & several of my fellow Chetek-ians packed up & loaded up for the trip back to Chetek. Since my car died earlier in the semester, a family friend made the trip to Northland to pick us 3 girls up. I had planned on catching up on some more reading & homework on the four hour drive home, but the sleepless nights caught up to me & I ended up sleeping most of the way home. That was actually the longest I had slept at once all week! It felt soooooo good =) As soon as I got home, my mom & I got back in the car & drove down to the Wisconsin Dells to spend the weekend with my sister, Amber, & her family. She & her husband just moved into a new house, and it is beautiful! Me, my mom, Amber, & my niece Bri all went shopping on Saturday & had sushi that night...while watching Finding Nemo. I felt a little weird about watching a movie about fish while eating fish, but I got over it! Haha =) Because my sister & her husband own 2 restaurants in that area, it is really hard for them to get away, so it was SUPER nice to spend a few days with them.

I finally got home on Monday, & slept...a LOT!! I think that when you are super busy, you don't notice how tired you are until you have time to slow down...then it hits ya! I spent the day relaxing, and I also played piano for almost 4 hours....crazy I know! But I have a beautiful baby grand here at home & sometimes it is really nice to just sit down & play for fun since at school I have to be very rigid with practice time & the material I study. Tuesday & Wednesday I got to spend a lot of time with my mom, which is always wonderful. I have been blessed with a godly, wise, amazing mom & I am SO thankful for her! We got to do a lot of shopping this week, which is something we don't get to do too often, so that was a blast! I also got my hair cute & dyed, it turned out SUPER dark...so now I want highlights! Lol =) We got a snow/hail/slush storm, so church was cancelled Wednesday night...I was bummed about that because I LOVE my home church & I really don't get to go there very often anymore.

Thursday I got to spend some time with my other sister, Rebecca, and her daughter, Tatym. Becca & her husband went out to eat Thursday night, so my mom & I babysat Tatym. She is eight months old & absolutely ADORABLE! I have missed out on seeing her a lot since I am at school, so it is always fun to spend time with her. On Friday, my mom, Becca, Tatym & I went out to eat with my grandparents, and that was really a blessing to see them again. Then that night, my mom & I went to a restaurant called HuHot, which is delish! It is a Mongolian grill with a healthy & yummy selection of food! It is definitely one of my new favorites =)

Today I finally got to satisfy my craving to go swimming & do the butterfly! I did about an hour of lap swimming & now my shoulders are killing me. Although I work out at school, we don't have a pool....so I'm definitely out of swimming shape! Lol. I'm going to have to work out A LOT to work off all of the food I've been treated to this week....oh boy. Hahaha! I also got to see my good friend Cody. I taught swimming lessons with him every day this summer & I hadn't seen him since December, so it was great to catch up.

All in all, spring break has been AMAZING & I am going to miss being home so much! Tonight I get to hang out with one of my best friends & watch a movie, then I need to pack to go back to school. We'll be heading back soon after church tomorrow...time to get back into the swing of things! I'm so thankful for the refreshing time off & I'm looking forward to finishing out the semester. This is just kind of a "catch up" post, especially for my sister since I know you always want me to post more. Haha! I hope that you all have a great weekend =) Take care!!

He Is Jealous For Me

2011-03-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was going through my music locker down in the practice rooms & came across a notebook with songs I've written (or started to write.) So I thought I would share one of them with you all =) I never finished it so this is still the rough version, but I started writing it last semester around November when I was going through a difficult time. I hope the lyrics will be a blessing to you.

He is loving to me
In times of great pain, although I can't see
He mingles my tears with His own blood of mercy

He is jealous for me
When I've turned away, my idols blind me
He gently strips away that which steals His glory

In times of great agony, when all hope is lost
The one thing I can trust is in the hope of His cross
His hands that hold me are scarred by love and glory

When all is unclear and I am undone
You draw me to You, though I try to run
You shelter me in Your grace and mercy

He is pleading for me,
Not just when He died upon that tree
But even now He's beside the throne saying
"She's mine Father, please forgive her."

He is yearning for me
Not because of who I am, or what I have done
But because of who He is and what He has done
He is Love, and Love never fails

In times of great agony, when all hope is lost

The one thing I can trust is in the hope of His cross

His hands that hold me are scarred by love and glory

When all is unclear and I am undone

You draw me to You, though I try to run

You shelter me in Your grace and mercy

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

2011-03-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Need some humility with a side of encouragement topped off with a healthy dose of awe? Watch this video by Francis Chan:

WOW!!! Now consider that the same God who created all of that, has this to say about you:

"I have loved you with an everlasting love..."

The same God who created all of that, sent His only Son, for you:

"Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. "

...but why?!

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. "

I am blown away by this!! How could the same God who created the universe have also made me; loved me; and ultimately died for me? What a privilege to know that God knows us intimately & cares about me & you---just little specks in the universe. In Psalm 139, David was equally awed by this knowledge:

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

Are You Strange?

2011-02-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Read a quote today that made me stop & think:

"Go to church once a week and nobody pays attention. Worship God seven days a week and you become strange!" AW Tozer

So just something to consider this coming week: do you just go to church on Sunday & then consider the worship part of your life covered? Or do you continue to live your everyday life with God at the center? People won't really believe that you love Christ unless you live like you do. Be strange---live a worship filled life!

Random Me

2011-02-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well, usually this is done of facebook, but I thought I would let you guys in on some of the lesser known, random, & indeed, somewhat odds facts about me! If you have a life, this might be a good time for you to get to it, otherwise, read on! Haha =)

1. Things on my bucket list: go skydiving, learn to play the guitar, & learn how to surf.

2. I love cereal, especially Special K. I would pretty much live off of the stuff if I could.

3. I really enjoy hiking, running, kickboxing, swimming, and P90X; in other words---I hate sitting around!

4. I love horses! I used to take English saddleseat lessons on some beautiful Saddlebred horses & I placed 2nd in my first real show.

5. I'm secretly a history nerd; I would rather watch the history channel than most other programs...as long as it's ancient history =)

6. When I was a little kid, I was very gullible. My older siblings told me there was a secret room under our house & that it had a giant slide & a ball pit. They told me I could only get down there by pressing a "hidden button" that was located in one of our closets. Soooooo....I spent the next 2 days in the closet searching for the button. Hahaha!

7. I LOVE the piano & it's my college major, but I hated my first two years playing & begged my mom to let me quit.

8. When I was little, I thought Asian guys were the cutest. Lol!

9. I love dogs, but only big ones. Cats---not a big fan =p

10. I'm super artsy & I love interior decorating, drawing, & photography.

11. Dark chocolate is my weakness.

12. People assume I'm Latina in the summertime & ask me quite frequently what in the world my heritage is.

13. And just in case you were wondering after that last one, I'm German. =)

14. I would live on a beach if I could!!

15. Superpower of choice: Flying, duh!

16. I'm never sarcastic! (*note sarcasm*)

17 I think llamas are hilarious & I bring them up randomly in everyday conversation.

18. That said---Emperor's New Groove=Awesomeness!!!

19. I'm super random. Don't believe me? Ask the llamas....

20.I have the most beautiful nieces EVER!!

21. My favorite swimming stroke is the butterfly.

22. I'm allergic to vaseline...nothing else, just vaseline...weird.

23. I have a very awkward yet funny true story involving goat's meat & marriage proposals.

24. When I was about 5yrs old I could quote the entire Robin Hood book from memory.

25. Aaaaand, since that was my favorite story, I begged my mom to change my middle name from "Marie" to "Maid Marian" & my siblings will never let me forget it! Lol =)

26. I have a brother from Guam named Jacob.

27. Making really good French toast & smoothies is my secret talent.

28. I LOVE TRAVELING!!!

29. I should be doing homework right now.

30. I'm a reading junky in the summer & I've been known to finish a 400+ page book in 2 days or less.

That's all folks!!! Now you know more about me then you ever dreamed. Haha! Have an awesome weekend =)

Empty Me

2011-02-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

That's been my heart's prayer for the last 3-4 months. Empty me. Empty me of EVERYTHING that is not YOU.

This prayer was based out of a song that God used greatly in my life by a group called Tenth Avenue North. The song is called "Empty My Hands." One verse of the lyrics really hit me:

But if I let these dreams die
If I lay down all my wounded pride
If I let these dreams die
Will I find that letting go lets me come alive?

Empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with YOU.

God has been showing me how tightly I've been gripping onto things in my life. My time, my possessions, my friends, my education, my church, my mentors, my goals....have you noticed all of the "my's" in that list? Truth is, there isn't anything intrinsically wrong with any of those things, or the value I have placed on them. What's wrong is that I often find my self valuing them more than I value God & His plans for my life. Of course I wouldn't go around proclaiming "I love/value _____ more than I love God." I would get a lot of frowns from that. But the way I spend my time & thought life betrays what I value most. But one of our great comforts & encouragement in our Christian life is the promise God has made to us in Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
I've heard it said many times, God loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way. And God has definitely been changing me in some pretty, well, unexpected ways. In the midst of everything that was going on about a week ago, I had typed out a blog post entitled "A Series of Unfortunate Events." No, I wasn't retelling the story of 3 little orphaned children who get into all sorts of mishaps orchestrated by a mysterious & creepy Count Olaf. But it was the tale of the past 2 weeks of my life. I decided not to post it because of everything that God has taught me through the events, my other post had a tone of dissatisfaction & complaint. God has taught me so much through it though, I would still like to share. I will forgo giving all of the details, but I'll give you a brief overview of a few of the events.

The first shock was finding out our Pastor of 15 years had decided to resign & would be leaving at the beginning of this month. Since this is really the only church I have ever gone to, Pastor Schmidt is the only pastor I have ever known & he & his wife have had an immense impact in my life, our church family, & the entire community. It was a difficult, but also an exciting goodbye. I know that the Lord has great plans for them & I am anxious to hear how they'll be used in the lives of others.

The day I said a tearful goodbye to them, me & one of my best friends, Krystle, drove back to school to begin another semester. Got all unpacked &...sprained my finger! Ok, for people who are normal, this isn't a big deal, but as a piano major with the daunting task of learning, memorizing, & performing a movement of a Beethoven sonata in a mere 12 weeks, this was a BIG problem....cue frustration. Lol.

Thankfully, my finger was mostly healed by that weekend, just in time to get the flu. I was stuck in bed with a high fever & unrelenting cough for 2 full days. Being the stubborn person I am, I insisted on trying to go to church on Sunday; no, not because I'm super spiritual, but because I was bored of being stuck in the dorm...greeeeaaat reason, huh? Yeah...anyways, I got about 15 minutes in & had to leave. On the way back to school, my car broke down. Oh yes, in the middle of winter, me & the 2 girls with me were clueless as to what to do. Thankfully, a very nice couple came to the rescue. I had no voice, so it was very difficult to try to explain everything to my dad & the guy helping me, but it worked out nonetheless. Unfortunately, that little escapade put me in bed again the next day...all day. So I had to take class cuts for the whole day. I was still stuck in the room when I received the news that my favorite music professor would not be back after this semester. Later that day, I also found out that my personal piano instructor made the difficult decision that God was leading her to another ministry. Again, it is exciting to see God working & leading in the lives of others, but it is difficult to say goodbye. Especially with professors with whom I have spent so much time one-on-one. I called my mom just sobbing. My voice still sounded like a frog that had spent too much time around bonfire smoke, so I'm sure it was an interesting sounding conversation. But I was heartbroken. In the past week, I felt like I had lost my pastor, my ability to play the piano, my voice, my car, & now my two most beloved mentors at school. I really didn't know what to do.

But God wasn't far away. He truly drew near to me & revealed His purpose in allowing those things to happen. I can't explain it, but I was filled with such a deep, sweet peace. And then joy! God had answered my prayer to empty me of those things that I so often held above Him. He had also answered a major & specific request that I had been praying about since my time in Haiti last August. (More about that later...it's too soon now, but I PROMISE you'll know ASAP =). Thankfully, we also had Heart Conference last week. It was an incredible blessing! If you have never heard Phil Hunt & Will Galkin speak, you are missing out. Will Galkin taught about reclaiming the purpose God has for us that has been overshadowed by our pursuit of "The American Dream." That one pierced me deeply. Although my idea of what is truly important has changed A LOT over the past couple of years, I still identified with many of the points. I pursue comfort; I'm afraid of getting out of my box & witnessing to others; I have a hard time fully ministering to others because I constantly get pulled down by focusing on my own weaknesses & insecurities. I am ready to be who God desires me to be. I am ready to stop focusing on what I don't have & start focusing on the One who has me. God's strength is sufficient for anything He desires of me, so I need to stop making excuses. He has given me a clear burden for the next year & I'm anxious to share more with you when I know more =) I'm so thankful that Christ identifies with me in my weakness, but He still molds me & makes me more like Himself. Even when I am initially hurt & confused by "God's Chisel." I hope that you will also take a moment to pray & really consider what things you are holding onto that are preventing you from completely surrendering. It's never easy to give it up, but always worth it. Anyways, that's just what's been going on with me lately! If you stuck in there & read all of that, you must really be a great friend =) haha! But all of that just to say this; God truly is good ALL of the time. Even when we don't understand, and we are hurting & confused. He is there, & He loves us & is changing us for our good & His glory.

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

California or Bust!

2011-01-22T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Well, it is finally above zero here in good ol' Wisconsin. Yesterday morning, it was -27 degrees...um....is that even possible? Apparently! Lol. But thankfully, by midnight last night it had climbed up to a whole degree! This morning we reached 4 degrees!! Ah, the joys of living in Northern Wisconsin. Haha! Oh well, I can't complain too much; I just got back from a 10 day trip to Southern California (compliments of my incredibly generous brother =). The trip was a huge blessing in many ways, I wish I could tell you everything! But since I can't, here's a few of the highlights from the trip:

Somehow, in all but the first two flights that I have ever taken, I have always had a window seat. On my flight from Denver to Santa Ana, we flew over the Rockies & the Grand Canyon. It was a stunning view & a great reminder of how amazing our creator God is.

I went to see one of my best friends in the world: Ashlee!! We met during our freshmen year at Northland & became close friends. Even though Ash wasn't able to come back to Northland this year, we have still remained close. I am so thankful that God has given me a friend who is a lot of fun to be around, but yet is very serious about her walk with the Lord & is always an encouragement!

On one of the days of the trip, we went to Disneyland! Amy, Ashlee's older sister (& also a great friend) is on the right, & to the left is Susanna Smith & her older bro Nathan is behind her. Their family goes to the church that Ashlee's dad pastors. Their dad has worked at Disneyland for 30 years, so he was able to sign us in for a day of fun!

We had an amazing time! We stayed from 10am-9pm. It was one of the most fun days ever =)

Thursday we went to Balboa Park in San Diego & it was GORGEOUS! The sun was out in full force & it was about 78 degrees....loved it =) Also, the park had a lot of Spanish architecture & beautiful art. We took lots of fun pictures =)

One of many photos by the really cool doors we found. Lol!

We also met another friend from school, Allie, who happens to live in San Diego. She is so sweet & it was great to be able to spend the day with her! After Balboa Park, we went to Coronada & played at the beach for a while, walked downtown for ice cream, & then went back to the beach to watch the sunset. It was beautiful!

I think I took about 300 pictures of the sunset that day...I couldn't help myself. Lol!

Yeah, Ashlee & I are dorks...no denying it. But it was fun =)

On Sunday we went to LA to visit the other Church that Mr. Fox pastors. It was another gorgeous, sunny day!

The church is part of a mission right at the heart of skid row. My heart broke to see all of the homeless lining the streets, but I also felt hope being a part of the church service. People who were once lost are now accepting Christ & turning their lives around. I had the privilege of playing piano for part of the service & it was just such a blessing to see that God can use me even in a small way. I'm so thankful for God's grace!

On Monday we took one final trip to the beach, this time it was a beach called Crystal Cove in Laguna.

I miss these girls already!! They are so much fun & such a blessing.

Ahahaha! Inca Kola!! For anyone who has had this soda, you may understand my enthusiasm. It is a very popular drink in Peru & I hadn't had any since I had been there about 2 years ago. But I met a very sweet Peruvian lady named Mila on Sunday at the Foxes church. When she found out I had been to Peru we got to talking about all of the things we loved about it. She had to come to America 17 years ago because of her health, but it hoping to return to her home in Lima, Peru this December. . Later that evening, she brought a ton of Inca Kola & some delicious Peruvian cookies! Mila is a strong Catholic & also struggling with Lupis, so please pray for her salvation & her health.

I love this pic. Amy was watching the sunset & the silhouette was so cool!

Birdie! Another breathtaking sunset, even the birds were enjoying it =) After watching the sunset, we walked up to Trader Joe's & got some food, then drove down to Hunnington beach & had a picnic on a lifeguard stand. It was soooo much fun!

It was an incredible week, & I am so thankful for the people who made it possible!!

Well, it's back to Northland tomorrow. Please pray for me as another semester begins. Last semester was insanely intense & I'm not sure I could handle another like it. God's grace is sufficient though! I hope that you all are having a great year so far!! God bless.

Little Blessings

2011-01-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

Isn't it so amazing how God gives us little blessings each day? Mine came in the form of a seat mate on my flight from Minneapolis to Denver VERY early this morning. I settled into my window seat & a middle-age couple filled the two seats next to me. I don't know about you, but I think that flights are awesome opportunities to share the gospel! So I was praying about talking to Lynn, the woman next to me when I noticed that she was reading something about C.S. Lewis. So I mentioned that I love C.S. Lewis & we started chatting about our trips & life in general. Turns out she was headed to Okinawa Japan with her husband to visit her daughter & her family. She asked me about college & I told her that I attend a Christian University called Northland. She got this surprised look on her face & then started laughing. Turns out her niece is in graduate studies at Northland, & I actually know her! Small world, huh? We both agreed that it was a blessing from God to have been seated next to each other & then we got to talking about how good our Heavenly Father is. We exchanged information & I promised to say hi to her niece for her. Anyways, I thought that was so cool & such a blessing! What a great way to start out a trip =) So now I'm drinking a peppermint mocha in the Denver airport, waiting to board my flight to Orange County California to spend 10 days with one of my best friends. I'll be sure to update when I can & share pictures. I hope that you all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” ~Lamentations 3:22-24

Who Are You Living For Today?

2011-01-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

There's a saying that I've heard that may seem trite, but it is definitely true: "There are only two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self." It's so easy to start out the day by choosing to live for ourselves. Little decisions that don't seem significant: putting off devotions to watch TV or surf Facebook; ignoring someone with a need because we "don't have time"; putting up with inappropriate entertainment because we don't want to seem "uncool" if we object. There are opportunities everyday to show the world who we are serving. So I just want to challenge you to make an effort to choose to serve God today. Be selfless & Christlike in your words and actions. You can serve Christ, or serve yourself. It's your choice, but only One is worth it.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." ~Colossians 1:15-17

Looking Back on 2010: A GIANT Year-End Review

2010-12-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well hey there! I know, I know, long time no see. Or rather, long time no blog. Sorry about that...November & December were not very conducive months for blogging! Actually, this whole year has been quite hit & miss with blogging, so I wanted to take a compacted look back on the highlights of each month of this year, complete with pictures! Consider this the Reader's Digest version of my year!

January

Actually, January 2010 I reflected a lot on January of 2009. Everyone has turning points in their life, & the mission trip our youth group took to Peru was definitely one of mine. The months leading up to that trip, I was headed in the wrong direction spiritually. I believed that having a boyfriend & getting skinny were "it" in terms of satisfaction & I was determined to do whatever it took in both areas. One big problem: I was considered one of the "leaders" & a "good teenager" at church, & I was really worried about losing that reputation. I lived to please people; both my boyfriend at the time, & the people that I looked up to in my church family. As you can imagine, those are two very different groups of people & I ended up living a very hypocritical lifestyle. It came to a point where I needed to choose which path I was going to take: pursuing a godly lifestyle & a genuine, pure relationship with my Savior, or living to please my flesh. I remember very distinctly the depression I was in the week before the trip & the Lord in His goodness spared me from seeing my boyfriend that week & making a huge mistake. As we set off on our journey, I really only wanted to go for the warm weather....no joke. Great reason for a missions trip, huh? Shows you where my heart was. One of my clearest memories from one of our layovers in Miami is pretty pathetic. We were just about to board the plane to Lima, Peru, when I was overcome with the realization that I was in a relationship where I was sacrificing my convictions & still felt empty. I found a corner, sat down, & started sobbing like a little kid. I didn't want to go on the trip, I didn't want to go home, I didn't want to be me! The whole group was waiting for me to get it together so we could board, & one of my friends came over to pray with me & challenged me to leave my issues in the States & try to be open for what God had for me in Peru. Full of doubt, I agreed that I would try to be at peace & help however I could. I really didn't expect anything though....thankfully, God had other ideas. Through the whole experience; meeting the Peruvian believers, living with the missionaries, & being broken through all that the Lord was teaching me, my life was completely changed. It wasn't all at once, but God gave me different priorities through that trip. I came home & broke up with my bf, got rid of a lot of the things in my life that I knew were displeasing to God, & started pursuing the Lord with all of my heart. Yeah, January '09 was worth reminiscing about =)

February

One of the big highlights of this February was something called "Heart Conference" at Northland. It is a conference held every year to encourage pastors in the area. About 100-200 pastors & church leaders come & there are seminars & sessions with special speakers. This year's Heart Conference focused on prayer, but God worked on my in another area as well. He revealed that I had really been struggling in accepting God as my heavenly Father. I had begun to believe the lie that I had to perform & do all these things in order to gain His approval & love. When I messed up, I would feel ashamed to come to Him in prayer, but He taught me during this time that it's not about anything that I have ever done or could ever do, but it is all about what Christ did for me on the cross.

March

In January of this year, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake & my heart broke for them. I had been praying about going on another mission trip for over a year, but the Lord never opened a door. When I heard about the earthquake, I asked the Lord to give me an opportunity to go to Haiti. I prayed for several months & then received word of a possibility to go in August. I prayed some more & it really appeared that this was a step that the Lord wanted me to take, so I began to prepare to go to Haiti. Little did I know the adventures that God had in store for me!

May

I have to say that my favorite memory of May was the concert at the Heyde center. My former piano teacher & her husband have a concert there once a year & she has invited me to play several times. Obviously, I was also in college at this time, so it was a little hard to learn an extra song outside of my required exam pieces, but it was worth it! Both of my parents came, & my brother, Jeremiah, was also able to come. That made it extra special since I rarely get to see him anymore. We had so much fun, and it was also a great experience to play in front of that big of a crowd. Here's to hoping I get invited back again in 2011!! Haha =)

June

Ahhhh, summer =) God was so good to me this summer. I was able to spend about 8-10 hrs a day at the pool, about 5 of those in the water, 5-6 days a week. I taught swimming lessons & lifeguarded. Oh, I also finally learned how to do the butterfly stroke, which is now my favorite. Lol! But I was also able to head up a Bible study with two of my best friends: Stephanie & Krystle. This is a picture of me & one of the girls that came, her name is Destiny. God just taught me so much during the preparation for the lessons, discipling, & also just through fellowship with the middle school & high school girls. It was such a blessing to see the girl's desire to grow in their relationship with the Lord & to have the privilege of having a small part in their lives for a short time =)

July

More summer!! I love summer....can ya tell? Haha =) In July I was able to spend a lot of time with my family in between work & everything else. My sister Rebecca was 8 months pregnant & I was able to take some maternity photos. I discovered I love photography!! Well, I've known that for a while, but I've never had a great camera, or such beautiful subjects! I still don't have the camera, but I borrow whenever I can. Lol!

My niece, Aubrianna, also came for a visit over 4th of July, so I was able to do a quick picture session with her too. Only about 15 minutes though because she was grumpy. Haha! Still got some cute pics though =) I was also amazed to see how the Lord continued to make provision for me to go to Haiti, & how He was shaping my heart & preparing me for the blessing & challenges ahead.

August

The long awaited month of August finally came. I set off for Haiti not really knowing what to expect. I only knew 2 other people going on the trip & would not meet with them until I got to Florida. I had all of the vaccinations that were required & enough hand sanitizer to last a year in the States, but about a week in St. Raphael Haiti. Haha! This week I had a lot of firsts: first time eating goat & not having to shove the meat in my pockets (long story, ask me later ;). First time finding a tarantula in a pickle jar at the breakfast table (it was found crawling on the curtains the night before). First time hiking up a mountain with a witch doctor's nephew & apprentice. First time holding a 4 foot snake. First time hearing voo-doo drums outside while trying to fall asleep. First time being near to witch doctor prayers (he prayed for a wife, & chocolate....weird. Lol!) And first time ever fully realizing just how incredibly good God is to us & just how powerful He is over all things!!! But I'll save that for another blog post =)

The Haitians were so precious. The girls were very, very cold to us the first few days & had little to no interest in the gospel. But the Lord began to work & by the end of the week they began warming up & becoming more receptive to the Truth. The little girl in the green with the adorable smile is named Pafwinda. She was my little buddy for the week =)

Malaria was in peak season & out of the 200 people that were on the compound that week, over 10% of them were suffering with the disease.

Cuteness overload!!! This is one of the cook's sons.

The girl that is in the blue flower skirt is named Dolly. She spoke Creole, obviously, but also spoke some Spanish & English. We were able to talk quite a bit & became good friends. She was incredibly sweet, & I miss her a lot!

Teaching Sunday school on one of our last days in Haiti. I loved it & would love to return again in the future. Please keep the Bower family, (the missionaries we stayed with), in your prayers as they continue to face many challenges in Haiti.

September

Me, Ashlee, & Jen!

Back to school!!! By the end of the summer, I was ready to get back into the busyness of school! I just didn't realize how insanely busy it would be!! I guess I was a little bit overly-ambitious because I took on some extra credits....and a job. Lol! But God was faithful in helping me accomplish everything, & not fail any classes =) This semester was a little bit different because 2 of my best friends didn't return this year. God had different plans for Emilee & Ashlee. But Ashlee was able to come for a visit, which I was very thankful for =)

October

Spirit week at school!! Our room was the "Nerd Herd." Lol....very fitting. I honestly don't remember a whole lot from October, except that it was extremely busy! For the first month and a half of school, I was literally in class, practicing, or doing homework from 7 am until midnight almost every day. So October was basically made up of piano practice, classes, piano practice, homework, work study, & did I mention piano practice? Haha! It was good though. I know I'm where God wants me & I am confident that I am in the right major, so it wasn't hard to put forth my best effort with the Lord's help.

November

Bri bri!! In November, I was blessed with visits! Lol. My sister Amber & my niece Aubrianna came for a visit one weekend. It was so much fun! We had some great talks, and ended up going out for dinner since Amber was even less fond of Northland food than I am. Haha! I also got to see an old friend that I hadn't seen in almost two years. The missionaries that we stayed with in Peru are in the States for a while this year & their oldest son came to Northland for a weekend b-ball tournament. So it was good to see him again after such a long time =) That was also around the time that it seemed like God started testing my dependence on Him. With the end of the school year approaching quickly, November was a very intense month. Projects, papers, & practice seemed never ending. I deal with stress in unhealthy ways sometimes, & so I ended up forgoing meals in favor of de-stressing with some P90X or time on the treadmill. But between Thanksgiving & Christmas cookies, I think it evened out. Lol!

December

The beginning of December was consumed with finals & music exams, and let me tell you....I wasn't handling it so well. I wish I could say that I was fully resting in the Lord's strength & finding my joy in Him, but that wasn't always the case. I was struggling with several trials that God had allowed to come into my life & trying to deal with the fact that He had removed one of my close friends & several of my most respected mentors from my life at the time. But God showed my that I don't have to "get" everything that He is doing. He can see the big picture, I just have to trust Him. And guess what? There was SO much peace when I finally just gave over all of my worries! I had joy during my last week at school because I was once again relying on God for my happiness, but I definitely welcomed break! I slept 12 hrs my first night home, which was more than 3 nights at school combined!! Lol =) I've been able to catch up with friends, & spend time with my family. I also got re-certified to Lifeguard & give CPR again. Yay! Tonight, I get to see my brother for the first time in almost 8 months, & tomorrow the rest of my family will be up to celebrate Christmas.

It has been an amazing year. God is truly incredible, & faithful in all of His works. Even when I can't see or understand.

Bring on 2011!!!!

The Love of the Father: Part 2

2010-12-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

Remember back in part 1 when I said that the Lord began teaching me more about His role as my perfect heavenly Father when I was studying Hebrews 11 & Psalm 103 in tandem? I never really explained myself in the first post because I wanted to take the time to explore those passages a little bit more than I could have in that post alone. In that post I focused on God's fatherly love, but in this post I will be sharing more about what God has been teaching me about the way He lovingly disciplines His children.

Since February of this year, I have really been digging into Hebrews 12; it is a familiar passage, & I think that because it is so familiar that I sometimes have the habit of speed-reading, but it is such an incredibly rich chapter!
I hope you'll take the time to read through the eight verses that I would like to focus on. Verses 3-11 say:

"Consider him (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.'

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. "

God's discipline looks different in each of our lives, but His discipline always has the same purpose in every believers life: to make us more like His Son. It is often said that God loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way. Verse 10 of this passage says that God "disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness." This passage is also honest in acknowledging the pain that comes with discipline. There are times when God is working in our lives to make us more like Christ, & we just don't understand what He is doing, or why. We can be hurt, confused, lonely, & afraid, & it is all for the sake of discipline. You might be thinking that this all seems a little unfair, but consider again God's love & purpose in transforming us by any means necessary. We already established in the last post that God as our Father loves us more than humanly comprehensible. It is in these verses that we are confronted by the fact that if God truly loves us, He must discipline us, otherwise we would be regarded as illegitimate children. Many of the sweetest times I have had with the Lord have been during some of the most difficult times in my life.

During the midst of trials, we have a choice. We can either accuse God of punishing us & then ignore Him, like we are somehow "getting even," or we can accept that trial as a chance to show Christlike-ness. To be steadfast in our faith & grow in grace & in the knowledge that God is enough in times of confusion & pain. He has promised to sustain us & comfort us in every circumstance, if only we will ask it of Him. This is where Psalm 103 comes in. I love this. I was in this passage one evening & actually getting a little bit bogged down considering the discipline of the Lord, when I turned to this Psalm & read verses 8-17:

"The LORD is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to

everlasting on those who fear him."

Isn't it comforting to know that the Lord doesn't punish us according to our transgressions? To know that He looks on us with compassion & sympathizes with our weaknesses? I don't know about you, but I think that the word "dust" is the perfect way to describe our human fragility. Although God our Father must discipline us for our good, He also understands our weaknesses & has compassion on us. I encourage you to really study these passages on your own & find more about the Lord's discipline. It is an encouragement to understand God's purposes in allowing us to go through hard times. As I close out this post, I'm going to end back where we began in Hebrews 12, verses 1 & 2.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. "

"Word of God Speak"

2010-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm finding myself at a loss for words

And the funny thing is it's okay

The last thing I need is to be heard

But to hear what You would say

Word of God speak

Would You pour down like rain

Washing my eyes to see

Your majesty

To be still and know

That You're in this place

Please let me stay and rest

In Your holiness

Word of God speak

I'm finding myself in the midst of You

Beyond the music, beyond the noise

All that I need is to be with You

And in the quiet hear Your voice

Word of God speak

Would You pour down like rain

Washing my eyes to see

Your majesty

To be still and know

That You're in this place

Please let me stay and rest

In Your holiness

Word of God speak

I'm finding myself at a loss for words

And the funny thing is it's okay

~MercyMe "Word of God Speak"

More Updates from Haiti

2010-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
If you aren't up to date on what's been going on with the Bower family in Haiti, please see my last post.
Just as a very quick summary, over the past month their ministry has been undergoing an extremely difficult time: Tim had dengue fever just a few weeks ago, last week a school teacher & dear friend of their family drowned in the river, & now the cholera outbreak is ravaging the entire country. Here are their two latest updates:

"Tim and Pastor Vanier had to go to the peogn hospital tonight.Pastor Markelito is very sick and was taken to the hospital It's an hour and a half away. Normally Tim wouldn't go out right now, but, Markelito's family wants to take him out of the hospital and to the witchdoctor. Markelito is to weak to fight them so he called Tim.

Tim just made it back. Thank you for the prayers. He was able to get the IV's Markelito needed and had a talk with the family. Tim left Pastor Frisnel there to make sure the family didn't try any witchdoctor medicines on Pastor Markelito."

Please continue in prayer & intercession for the Bowers & for Haiti. They need the hope that only Christ can give.

Heartache

2010-11-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,
I have a burden & prayer request to share with you all.
This past August I went to Haiti for a week & met many brothers & sisters in Christ and was blessed to form a lot of new friendships. The Bower's are the missionary family we stayed with while we were there & I am able to keep in touch with them through facebook. This past week has been especially difficult & emotional for several reasons, but on Wednesday an extra factor of stress was added when I saw this on Tim & Roseanne's facebook:

"Please pray for our 6th grade school teacher Professor Joslin he has been missing since yesterday 3am. He left school sick on Wednesday, went to a clinic and got medicine, that night he was starting to have delusions and wasn't talking normal saying that the people had come to get him ect. and then he disappeared early in the morning. We let school out at 10 today so everyone could go looking for him."

Joslin is a dear brother in Christ that spoke English fairly well, so our group was able to converse & become friends with him, especially on our last night in Haiti. He came by & gave us all gifts of handmade bookmarks, necklaces, & bracelets.
In Haiti, if someone gets sick & starts hallucinating it is a very grim situation...and though praying about it gave some peace, it was a very unsettling report. Saturday, the Bowers confirmed what everyone had feared:

"Prof. Joslin's body was found today.He drowned in the river.Please pray for his family they are taking it hard. There will be no funeral because of the condition of the body.We received the neccessary papers from the police and buried him an hour ago."

It is just a heartbreaking circumstance...another update from today:

"Sad, sad day here. It's the first day of school since Prof. Joslins death. We had an assembly with all of the students, staff and teachers. He was well liked and had a good testimony for Christ."

Please, please pray for the Bowers & their ministry. Also for all of those involved in the school. God has a purpose in this, just ask Him to do a work through this tragedy. I really appreciate your prayers & I know the Bowers are grateful for them as well.

((Update!! November 16th))
A few more urgent updates from the Bowers:

"We are all safe and at home. The riots in Cap Haitian are aimed at the UN. The UN is being blamed for bringing Cholera into Haiti. The epidemic has spread even to where we are and bodies are being dumped without proper burials The embassy has told all foreigners to stay at home and that's what we will be doing."

and from this morning...

"More burning of tires and the road is cut in town. About two miles from our house. Everyone is warning us to stay inside. We are fine. The cholera panic has hit. Please pray that we can get more jif(water purifying chloro) we have purified drinking water but our neighbors do not and need the drops. We have a half gallon left to give out."

Please be in prayer for Haiti & for the Bowers. This is an extremely desperate situation.

The Love of the Father: Part 1

2010-11-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Have you thought lately about your relationship with God as your Father lately?
I don't mean just a casual knowledge that God is your heavenly Father; we all know that that is the relationship we have been given through Christ, but do we really comprehend it? I know I don't.

When you think of the words "Heavenly Father," what do you think of? Do you immediately think of the attributes of God that He has laid out for us so clearly throughout His word? His goodness, holiness, mercy, steadfast love, protection, & provision? Or is there a disconnect between what you know & what you actually believe? AW Tozer said that "your view of God is the most important thing about you." Do you truly view God as your perfect, loving Heavenly Father, or do you feel like He has forgotten about you? The Lord has been bringing these questions & others back to me over & over this semester, and I am admittedly still working through everything that He's trying to teach me. But I just wanted to share what He has taught me so far.

I'll admit it; one of the biggest things that I struggle with in my relationship with the Lord is truly comprehending that He loves me unconditionally. I didn't use to struggle with this at all. I heard it all my life, & I honestly didn't think I was that bad of a person, but the more I understand my own sin nature & the more I see how short I fall of righteousness, the more easily doubt creeps into my heart. I didn't recognize it until early this semester when I was in Hebrews 12 & Psalm 103 in my devotions. Although it wasn't a "lightbulb" moment, it started the ball rolling on understanding what was going on in my heart & in my view of God. Of course I know that God loves me more than anyone else does & that His love is unconditional, but that knowledge hadn't really, truly sunk into my heart. Deep down, I felt like I still had to earn it. It seems SO silly, because obviously I am a sinner. I could never, ever earn the kind of love that God gave to me when I accepted His gift of salvation & was made His child. But it's so easy to fall into the trap of feeling the need to do things to somehow earn God's favor; I mean after all, isn't that how it generally works in our human society? We have to do things, or act a certain way, & perform well to gain acceptance, a position, our grades, and even love. That's just the way we naturally think: I have to do _____ so that in return, I will gain ______. But the cool thing is, God has completely gone against every one of our socially shaped expectations of "earning." Let's take a look at some examples:

In our world, you have to be a friend to have a friend.
But God has said, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us & sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins....We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:10&19)
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. " (Romans 5:6-10)

In our world, you must be faithful, (whether it be on the job, in a relationship, or any other area of life), in order to gain trust & eventually earn reward for your faithfulness.
But God's word has said, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)

Are you beginning to grasp how incredibly un-human God is? His rules for relationships are so opposite of what we're used to...thankfully! We don't have to earn His love. We don't have to worry that God will forsake us when we are faithless; did you catch the end of 2 Timothy 2:13? He cannot deny Himself. We have been redeemed the blood of Christ. Ok, you may still be thinking "I don't get it...what does God saying He cannot deny Himself have to do with me?" Here are some verses from Ephesians two that may help clear up the confusion: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." (verses 13-16)

Pretty sweet concept there! If you have accepted the gift of salvation that Christ made possible through His death on the cross, then you have been made one with God. He sent His Son to die so that you would know His love! I know this is the whole foundation of the gospel, but it is so easy to lose sight of the truth. It is so easy to start thinking that God gives favor based on what we do or don't do, but that is such a lie. I heard a quote during Sunday school that past week that really hit home. John Owen said "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that He loves you.”

Are you convinced of your Heavenly Father's love for you? Really think & pray about it this week. Is there any area of your life where you're living like you believe God's faithfulness & favor is dependent on your performance? Focus on truth! God has really been teaching me SO much in this area, that I won't try to cram it all into one post, but I hope to post again soon to continue sharing. =) Thanks for stopping by & I hope that you are blessed & comforted by the reality of our Heavenly Father's perfect, steadfast love.

What's up

2010-10-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll! Well, by God's grace I made it through another week =) Woot woot!
Now I'm just sitting at work; 3 hours down, 5 to go! The Lord provided a job working at the switchboard here at school. It isn't usually busy during the hours I work, so I have plenty of time to catch up on homework....and blogging =)
These past few weeks have been really, REALLY busy, but there have been some really good things too.
Ashlee, one of my best friends from California came for a visit! I hadn't seen her since the end of May, & she stayed in my dorm room for the 3 days she was here, so that was a blast!

We went & hung out it Jen's room for a while, decorated a cake, laughed lots. It was so much fun & ended MUCH too soon. But I get to visit her in Cali in January, so I'm looking forward to that!

Then last Friday, we had Artist Series here with Dr. Gilliam & Dr. Renfrow from Bob Jone University. Dr. Gilliam is a singer with an AMAZING voice & Dr. Renfrow is an absolutely incredible pianist. It was a lot of fun to get all fancied up & get to listen to them both. I went with my good friend, Jacob, who also happens to be hilarious, so we had a great time =)

Me & Juli...Aka, Velma & Daphne =)

This week was Spirit Week, which is always a little crazy here at Northland. Monday was dress up like your favorite cartoon character; Tuesday was Room Theme; Wednesday was Hospital Day; Thursday was Mailman Day; and Friday was Northland Wear. It was so much fun!

Me & my awesome roomie Sara=NERDS =)

All in all it was a great week; super busy, but great. That's all I have time for now, but hopefully I can update you all on more later. Have a great weekend!

Hello, My Name is Martha!

2010-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Have you ever been in a place where you feel like the busier & more scheduled you are, the more you are spending your time wisely & honoring God? Are you one of those people that has a hard time sitting still & just resting because you feel lazy? I am guilty of both charges. A professor here at Northland calls it "The Busy Badge of Honor." Dr. Fellars spoke on this topic last spring (you can hear the message here, I highly recommend it!), but I hadn't really thought about it too much until this semester. Those of you in college understand how hectic & impossible the schedule can get; for me there are almost no free moments from the time I get up at 6 am until I go to bed at midnight...or later if there's homework. Between the 6 classes I have back to back on Tuesday & Thursday, 2-3 classes each Monday, Wednesday, & Friday; piles of homework; 10 hours of music practice per week; work study; weekend church extension, & other responsibilities, I felt burnt out. I hit a wall last week. Although I was doing my devotions & praying each morning, & sitting under AMAZING preaching of God's word each morning in chapel, I felt SO dry spiritually. I didn't understand!! What am I doing wrong?!! ...doing, doing, doing, doing.....& doing some more. I was so focused on what I needed to get done, how well I was doing it, what I needed to do next, that I had compartmentalized my relationship with the Lord into those moments I spent with Him in the morning. And let me tell you, if you are just "devoted" from 7-8 in the morning & then go the rest of the 16-18 hours you spend awake without being aware of the fact that God is your strength & without him you can do nothing, you WILL hit a wall. And I did...big time. I was never available for my friends & fellow classmates when they needed me, I was exhausted, considering dropping the extra class I had taken on, I was crying almost every day. Not a fun place to be. Then the Lord did what He always does & gave me just what I needed to hear.

Last Wednesday night, Coach Wehry spoke in campus church on the Lord's strength. More specifically, the Lord is our strength. Every Wednesday at campus church, Coach Wehry picks an attribute of God & we sing songs focusing on that particular attribute & then go around the room & many students read a verse or two about that attribute. It is an incredible blessing each time, but last week it was more. Coach gave a short challenge about how each of us need to rely on the Lord's strength for each avenue of our daily life. It isn't just for when "big" trials come. I know that I sometimes find myself believing the lie that God doesn't want to be bothered with the little things. SO not true!

Psalm 68:19 says "Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation". Notice, it doesn't say, blessed be the Lord, who sometimes bears us up when he feels like it. Or, who bears us up when we have something really bad happen, but otherwise, you're on your own! Nope---Daily. Psalm 28:7 "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." I was so exhausted & spiritually dry because I was trying to be good enough on my own & accomplish everything in my own strength. (P.S. We'll talk about the whole "trying to be good enough" thing soon too....didn't turn out so hot! Lol. But I learned another big lesson =). Jesus even says in John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Did you catch that last part? N O T H I N G. When you picture a vine, that is where the fruit gets all of its nourishment. It is constantly connected; the fruit doesn't just fall to the ground to do its own thing & then come back onto the vine when it needs nutrients. If the fruit falls away, it shrivels up & dies....which I think we all can agree that this is a fate most of us would like to avoid =)

So to summarize; I'm not telling you to drop all of your responsibilities & just be still & sit around all the time, not at all! What I am telling you is this; rely on the Lord's strength. Prioritize what's important & always be mindful of His presence in whatever you are doing. Homework, talking with a friend, anything. Be open for the Lord's use & be willing to stop what you're doing to just be still & know that He is God. One last thing for all of you Bible College students out there; don't get so busy preparing for ministry that you miss opportunities to minister now. The Lord will give you opportunities to share the love of Christ & be selfless in sacrificing your precious studying time. I know it's hard, but it is SO worth it. Be a Mary, not a Martha =)

What in the World?!

2010-09-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I've been back for 3 weeks & have only posted about the first 2 days of my trip. I also started a new semester of college & have yet to share a peep about it. I'm sorry, I really am. Truth is, I am absolutely swamped right now in just about every area of my life. The Lord is stretching me & growing me & hopefully I will find a few moments to update ya'll on my life, but I really just want to ask for prayer right now. Please pray that my focus will be on the Cross. There are struggles that are surfacing that I honestly do not have the strength to deal with right now, so I need the Lord's help, & I need the prayers of my family in Christ =) It's not all stressful though; there are some extremely exciting things going on in my life & around campus that i cannot WAIT to share with you. Thanks for stopping by! Sorry for being a bad blogger. Haha! Hope you all have a fantastic week.

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Haiti Trip: The Experience

2010-08-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

So I've been back from Haiti for exactly a week now & I still feel like I haven't even begun to process everything. It was an amazing, intense, challenging, heartbreaking, encouraging, stretching, & overall CRAZY week. The Lord taught me so much, & as I said, I'm still sorting through a lot of things that I saw, experienced, & learned throughout the week. Instead of trying to cram everything into one post, I'm going to break it into at least...8? Haha! jk. But I am going to break it up: the first several posts will be about the actual experience. What we did, where we went, what we ate...etc =) The final post I am hoping to sum up & express what the Lord did in my heart over the course of the trip. First of all, I want to thank everybody for your prayers & encouragement; there were times that I was nervous, or just doubtful about my decision to go, & I'm so thankful for everybody that supported me. You guys are the best =)

Shall we start at the beginning? Lol. I say yes, so starting with Day 1: August 9th...

Started out dark, & insanely early with a 2 am wake up call & 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport in Minneapolis. My flight didn't leave until 6:45, so I took the extra time to do devotions. I was so encouraged as I read through Ephesians that morning sitting alone in the airport. I have to admit that though I was excited & I love to travel, I was definitely nervous about going to a 3rd world country with 11 other people I had never met, to live with missionaries I had also never met. The Lord just used that passage & his Holy Spirit to really calm me & reassure me that this trip was part of His plan for my summer. My flights went well, although no day of travel is complete without a nice sprint through the airport to catch a connecting flight. Lol! I made it to West Palm Beach, Florida around 2 o'clock & met Dave & Carol Jean, the couple who organized the whole trip. I had nothing to worry about because they are both incredibly sweet & fun people! Carol Jean is the sister of the missionaries that we went to help in Haiti. We met the rest of the group (all AWESOME people), grabbed food, made several Walmart trips (I forgot tennis shoes...dumb. Haha!), & finally got to bed in the hotel around 1 am. Long day...

Day 2:
Again, started out dark & early! Lol....noticing a pattern yet? =)
Our group met for breakfast at 5 am in the hotel lobby & then set off to Missionary Flights International in Fort Pierce. If you have never heard of MFI, I encourage you to check them out; they are awesome! So we weighed all of our luggage & set off on our adventure. Let me tell you, flying over the ocean at sunrise was one of the most incredibly beautiful things I have ever seen. I got some great pictures, but....well, I'll save that sad story for later. Lol. We made a short stop in the Bahamas to refuel after about 3 hours in the air & then landed in Haiti about 45 minutes later. We landed in Cap Haitian, which is the second largest city in Haiti with Port au Prince being the largest. The airport was...well, I'll just say the airport was an experience in & of itself. Haha! It was maybe the size of a large garage & about that nice....& dirty. We shipped over A TON of supplies: food, soccer uniforms, balls, school stuff, crafts for the girls, materials for soccer goals, & other various things that the Bowers needed. The Haitian customs system is very corrupt...well, let me just make it clear now that the whole country is extremely corrupt on every level. More about that & the reason for it later...back to the story! =) Tim Bower has to go into a small room & "negotiate" with the Haitian authorities in order to be able to take our luggage.In other words, it required a bribe. Then, the airport staff went through all of the boxes. Thankfully, they didn't take anything, but in the past they have taken things right in front of the owners. There's not really anything you can do if they decide they want to keep something they see. After waiting quite a while to get everything sorted out, we made our way out to the bus. There was a large group of Haitian men lined on both sides of the walkway outside of the airport. I guess they wait there almost every day hoping for some rich tourists to come through. My first couple of steps outside of the airport, I was grabbed by a Haitian man waiting on the walkway. I don't know how serious he was, but I just jerked my arm away & thought "oh boy...this is going to be an adventure!" Lol. After we got the bus loaded, our next goal was to go to the market for rice, sugar, & a machete or two. For being the second largest city of the country, Cap Haitian is VERY poor.
The roads, although paved at one time, are now just chunks of cement among dirt paths. I didn't see a single divider, traffic sign, or anything of the sort the entire time we were there. The river is a murky brown that is lined with garbage. If you have ever seen pictures of India, that would be the most similar place I could compare it to. As we drove through town, there were men emptying the sewage right onto the street. When we arrived in the market, it reminded me a lot of the open air market we visited in Peru, except it was crammed into a stuffy building with too many people trying to get where they needed to go. I was thankful that Dave had made us all wear tennis shoes that day because to use his words, there were A LOT of puddles & none of it was water...ewwwwy! All of those people milling about & all of the booths spilling over with stuff created mass chaos. Our group of 14 plus Tim Bower & 2 of his kids got separated more than once. I had one guy in particular from our group that was doing his best to stick close & make sure nothing happened to me, but it was hard to stay together while there were people trying to get our attention & push their way through the market. It was about 3 pm, none of us had eaten since breakfast, but we soon lost our appetite as we passed through the meat section; goats meat was covered with flies & green spots; the fish was rotting; goat hooves littered the puddled ground. Small children ran around by themselves trying to sell small, dried fish. All of the sights, smells, & craziness was overwhelming. But the thing that really got to me was the look of hopelessness in the eyes of the Haitians. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, & there was just no hope. I don't know how else I can describe it, but it was heartbreaking. As we exited the building & entered a side street, our group got separated again. About 9 of them were 20 feet ahead of me, separated by a large group of Haitians. All of them trying to get our attention; they call white people "blancs" over there. Lol! I was trying to catch up with them & stay with my "body guard" Jon, but somehow he got stuck about 10 feet behind me for a few seconds & another Haitian man grabbed my wrist. I again jerked away & thankfully Jon caught up, but I was getting frustrated of having a big X on me just because I'm a white girl. Apparently in Haiti, the majority of guys have a fascination with white girls &...well I'm sure you can figure out the rest ;p

We made it safely back to the bus. The Bowers live up in the mountains, about 27 miles outside of Cap Haitian. Because of how bad the roads are, that 27 mile drive takes 3 hours!! But the mountains are absolutely gorgeous! Once we were outside of the city, it changed into the most beautiful place I have ever been, but marred with poverty. The landscape is dotted by shacks & huts made out of scrap metal, or plants from the jungle. Small children wearing rags could be seen walking around by themselves. Women were out doing laundry in a small basin with a rock, or carrying a heavy load on top of their head. After an EXTREMELY bumpy ride, we finally arrived at the Bowers at around 9:30. Our first thought was--DINNER! We still hadn't eaten since breakfast, & the long trip up the mountain restored our appetites. After dinner we received some general guidelines & instructions from the Bowers, sorted out our luggage & sleeping arrangements, & then finally hit the hay around midnight...

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip =)

To Know You

2010-08-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

To know You is never worry for my life, and
To know You is to never to give in or compromise
To know You is to want to tell the world about you
Cause I can't live without You

To know You is to hear your voice when you are calling
To know You is to catch my brother when he is falling
To know You is to feel the pain of the broken hearted
Cause they can't live with out You.

More than my next breath
More than life or death
All reaching for, I live my life to know You more
I leave it all behind, You are all that satisfies
To know You is to want to know You more

To know You is to ache for more than ordinary
To know You is to look beyond the temporary
To know You is believing that you will be enough
Cause there is no life without You

All this life could offer me, could not compare to You
Compare to You
And I count it all as lost, compared to knowing You
Knowing You

More than my next breath
More than life or death
All I'm reaching for, I live my life to know You more
I leave it all behind, You are all that satisfies
To know you is to want to know You more
To know you is to want to know You more

And I count it all as lost, compared to knowing You
Knowing You
And I count it all as lost, compared to knowing You
Knowing You

~Casting Crowns

Philippians 3:7-11
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

God's Amazing Provision

2010-08-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Over this summer I have seen some amazing things. God has been teaching me so much & one of those things is His incredible ability to provide in ways that I never expected. At the beginning of this summer, I was facing a college bill that I couldn't pay. I saw no way to come up with the money so the only option was to give it to God & trust Him completely. God delivered in a big way! Not only did He provide enough for me to go back to Northland this fall, but He moved the scholarship committee at school to pay the remainder of my school bill. So I now owe absolutely nothing for this entire year of schooling. Incredible, huh? God wasn't kidding in Ephesians 3:20 when He said that He is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think!! It doesn't stop there. Back in January when the earthquake hit Haiti, I was heartbroken for the people. I prayed & told the Lord that I didn't have very much money that I could give, but I would give of myself & my time if he would provide the opportunity. Several months later, a notice in the campus announcements at Northland caught my attention:

SUMMER MINISTRY: Interested in taking a trip to Haiti this summer? Work with Haitian teens at a summer camp in the hills of Haiti. Contact Denny Vauters if interested in this week long trip.

Interested?! This was what I had prayed for! But then, reality...no, not reality, rather doubt set in. The reality was that God could provide, but my doubts reminded me of the amount of money I still owed on my school bill. (This was obviously before I learned of the scholarship.) I didn't really think it was possible, so I just tried to forget about it. The Lord wouldn't let me though. I went through all of my classes, practiced piano, & was about 2 miles into a run when I just stopped the treadmill & turned to my friend who was exercising with me. "Did you see the campus announcements today?" I asked her. "I don't know how in the world it's going to happen, but I think that God wants me to go on that missions trip to Haiti." We talked a little bit more & we both agreed that I needed to trust in the Lord's ability to provide & act in faith. We stopped our work out & prayed about it together. From there I contacted the man in charge of the trip & started getting more info. Fast forward to this week & it's amazing to see God's hand in this trip so far. He provided for every bit of the original amount I thought I needed to raise, & then He even provided for extra expenses that I didn't plan for. One of my favorite instances of this happened just this week. When I got the necessary shots at the hospital, the doctor also gave me a list of things that I would definitely want to have while in Haiti. She was a Christian who had been to Haiti every year for the past 5 years, including shortly after the earthquake hit. She told me that it would be "beastly hot" & that I would be wise to buy a battery operated camping fan with an led light on top. (We will only have electricity for about 3 hours a day, so anything needed longer than that will have to be battery operated.) The fan sounded like a great idea, but I couldn't find one anywhere! Finally, I did find one in a sporting goods store, but it was $25. Not that expensive, but still, plus tax & batteries, it was more than I really felt okay about spending on something that I would likely only be using for a week. So I didn't buy it that day, but I did pray about it. I told the Lord that I really thought I would be fine without the fan, but the doctor had said that it would be a real blessing to have. So asked that if He would like me to buy the fan, that He would provide the money to purchase it in a very clear way. Otherwise, I don't mind going a week without the fan =) Well, that was Wednesday, & that very same night, I went to church & checked our communication file in the foyer. There was an envelope labeled "Alicia Ball" & what do you think was inside? A check for $25!! The exact amount that I needed! Isn't God good? It get's even better; when my mom went back to buy the fan the next day, she found a better one (moms have a way of doing that) & it was only $8! Awesome =) I was just so touched by that display of love from my Heavenly Father. I am so excited to see how He will work during this trip.

Monday, I will fly from Minneapolis to West Palm Beach Florida & meet the other 13 that are also going on the trip. We will spend the night at a local church & then fly out Tuesday morning with Missionary Flights International. Once we reach Cap-Haïtien, it will be another 2-3 hour bus ride to St. Raphael which is where we will be staying with the Bower family. They are the missionaries who are heading up the youth camp. There will be 5 groups of teens from the surrounding area attending, so please pray that there lives will be transformed by the gospel. Also pray that our group would be unified with the goal of glorifying God & being a blessing to the people we will be ministering to. I'll be back in Florida on the 17th & returning home the 18th, so I look forward to sharing all about the trip very soon. Thank you all for your prayers!! Here are some pictures of where we will be going:

Cap-Haïtien: Where we will be flying into, it is the 2nd largest city in Haiti.

The local Walmart =)

The Bower's home (& where we will be laying our heads at night.)

One of the buildings on the camp site.

Please pray that I would be completely unselfish during my time in Haiti & truly reflect the love & humility of Christ. Thanks again for stopping in to see what's up =) Have a great weekend!!

"And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” -Matthew 22:35-40

Tatym Renee

2010-08-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

Guess who finally decided to grace us with her presence? Tatym Renee was born July 31st at 11:00 pm after waiting two weeks past her original due date.

My mom, oldest sister, & I were able to spend all day Sunday at the hospital with Ben, Becca, & Tatym. We had a great time; here are a few pictures from the day =)

July in a nutshell

2010-07-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!! I know what you're thinking...well, not really; that would be creepy! But I know what I'm thinking: I've been worse with blogging over the summer than I was during college! This summer, though amazing, has been incredibly busy. God has definitely been growing me in ways that I never expected. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been posting a whole lot about what God has been teaching me lately. Honestly, that was because I wasn't really sure up until recently. I couldn't see the big picture in what God was doing in my life, but He showed me when the right time came along & I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you soon =)

Well, this week has been great! Starting out with the girl's Bible study on Monday. A lot of the girls were gone to music camp at Northland, so we had a small group. We discussed Roman's 6 & what it means to be dead to sin, which was challenge & a blessing. I also took one of the girls along with me for a Walmart run; she has been going through a really tough time at home lately, so I was thankful for a chance to have a good talk with her while we were in the car. It's neat how the Lord opens up opportunities when we least expect them =)

Unfortunately, this week was filled with lots of hospital trips for our family. Last week, my big brother was bitten by a poisonous spider. Being the guy that he is, he didn't think too much of the spider bite until the skin around it turned black... never a good sign. Lol. He went into the hospital & got it taken care of, thankfully. I always worry about that boy since he's so far away from home. Then on Monday, my dad hit his leg with a chainsaw...yes, you read that right: a chainsaw!! NOT GOOD. Thank the Lord, he's okay. By okay I mean his leg is full of stitches, but should begin healing & he'll be able to go back to work again in a month or so. Please pray for him if you think of it.
My older sister is now 2 weeks overdue to have her baby, so she's READY for a hospital visit =) Lol. Then yesterday I went to the hospital to get all of the necessary shots & prescriptions for my upcoming trip to Haiti. It was so cool how it worked out; the lady that gave me the shots was a Christian who has been to Haiti for missions trips every year for the past 5 years. She also went over shortly after the earthquake to provide medical care, so I was able to get a lot of helpful information from her. I only had to get one shot this week, but there will be 2 more follow ups, as well as medication for typhoid & malaria...the malaria meds gave me a fever today, so that was no fun =( But anyways, yesterday was a blast! After getting the shots, Krystle (one of my best friends) & I went to the mall & found some great stone wash jeans & neon t-shirts. They're having an 80's theme day at her job next week, so she needed some crazy clothes. Haha! After that we came back to our church in Chetek to play some music. The night before we had played around on the piano & decided that we would like to write a song together, so she wrote most of the lyrics & I worked on the melody. It's themed around God's amazing forgiveness & His sacrifice for us on the cross; hopefully I'll be able to share the finished song with you all someday =)

This weekend, I'm hoping to finally meet my niece, so hopefully I can share pictures of Peanut on here soon =) Other than that, relaxing sounds like a wonderful idea. Only a little over a week until I fly down to Ft. Pierce, Florida; from there I will meet the rest of the team & we will fly out to Cape Haitian with Missionary Flights International. I'll try to post more information about the trip soon, but if you all could pray for the 13 of us that will be going, I would really appreciate it =) After I get back from Haiti, there will only be about 2 weeks left of summer break. Crazy, huh? I think so! Well, that's all for now. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

Bridges Conference

2010-07-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll! As I shared with you last Saturday, I went to a Bridges conference that was taught by Foaud Masri, the founder of the Crescent Project. The conference was amazing & I learned so much about being an authentic witness & showing the love of Christ to my Muslim friends. Many Christians in America seem to be missing the opportunity that they have to share Christ with the Muslims that are right here in America. I was definitely ignoring that opportunity up until a short time ago. There is a community of over 400 Somali Muslims in the town where I work & I had gone years without reaching out to them. Much to my shame, I honestly didn't really think about it too much up until last year. Since surrendering my life to the Lord in the summer of 2009, God has been showing me that there is a whole mission field in the USA that is being ignored by the majority of American Christians. Most of us don't know very much about Islam, we aren't sure where to start with the gospel, or we may just be afraid after seeing all of the images that the media displays of radical Islam, so we don't feel confident about sharing our faith. That is what Foaud & the Crescent Project are trying to overcome. He teaches the basics of Islam, shares many testimonies of Muslims who have come to Christ, & teaches practical ways of building bridges between the gospel & the Qur'an. Not to compare the two, or equivocate them, but rather, to make your Muslim friend think & consider what he or she really believes on grounds that you can both understand & discuss. Consider a few of the beliefs we have in common: Muslims believe there is one god. They believe that Jesus lived the perfect life, is alive, & returning some day. They believe that the Injeel (New Testament) is a good book that Muhammad instructed them to read. We have some common ground to begin sharing the gospel, but you can't just stay on the common ground, you must "build bridges" to bring them to the gospel. The Bridges study is amazing & so helpful in learning to share Christ with your Muslim friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. After taking part in the study I understand how I can begin to share the gospel with my Muslim friends. We have such a fantastic opportunity to witness to Muslims without leaving our homes, so would encourage you to take that first step & start showing the love of Christ =) Here is a trailer for the bridges study if you are interested. If anyone has any questions, or if you would like to start your own bridges study, please feel free to email me or find me on facebook. I would love to talk with you!

Romans 1:16-17
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"

....My bad

2010-07-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Once again, I have gone so long without posting that it would take a small book to catch you up on everything that has happened in the past week. My apologies. Haha! I will try to make it short =)

Last weekend was great! Fourth of July is the busiest time in Chetek; we go from a population of around 2 thousand to about 7 thousand overnight! Which isn't that many for a big city, but Chetek is tiny. One of those "blink & you'll miss it" kind of towns. Lol! I was able to spend a lot of time with friends & family & my niece also spent the weekend with us. It was a great time =) Here are some pics:

I got to take some pictures of Aubrianna while she was here. She is so photogenic!!

This one is my favorite; look at those baby-blues!! =)

Krystle's family serve as missionaries in South America, so she was excited to go to her first 4th of July in Wisconsin....However, it ended up literally raining on our parade. We still had a blast though!

After we had lunch, Krystle dominated me on the Wii; that's us in front of our Mii's. Hehe! =)

I also got some pictures with my beautiful niece, Bri <3

I was trying to get her to wave, but she got distracted. Haha!

So the fourth was a lot of fun, but then it was back to work on Monday. During the last hour of swimming lessons, a little girl neglected to let us know that she had to go to the bathroom, & no, not just #1...#2!!! As if that wasn't bad enough, it wasn't solid. UGH!! Sorry, I don't mean to gross you out. Lol. So we had to close the pool down for two days; it was nice to have a day off, but still gross.

Wednesday was great; we didn't have church that night, so I wen't over to the Somali apartments nearby with my friend Keri & her husband Paul. Keri & I had some fun "girly time" with a Somali woman named Rokiya, & her daughter Ubah while Paul played soccer with the guys. We did henna tattoos, which was really fun! They use the henna to dye their nails red instead of painting them, so Rokiya did mine. It didn't quite work though because I had on clear nail polish; the henna dyed my nails yellow & the red color bled to the skin around my nails!! hahaha! I looked like my fingernails were about to fall off from some weird disease. Lol. It should wear off within the next week or so though. =) Please pray for us & the women as we seek to build relationships & share the gospel.

Thursday was another wonderful day. Something absolutely incredible happened! I got a phone call from the woman that is head of the scholarships & finances at Northland. Up until this week it didn't look like I would be able to afford to go back this semester. I still owed money from this past spring & I won't make enough this summer to make up the difference. I had an opportunity to go overseas to Dubai & teach English for 6 months so I wasn't too bummed about taking a year off of college, but I wanted to make sure it was God's will. I told God that I couldn't afford college this year & that if He wanted me back at Northland He needed to make it very clear to me. And God is faithful! I had around $9700 in scholarships & grants, but that still leaves a pretty big chunk left to come up with; the scholarship committee at Northland discussed it & they made me an offer. Without getting into all the details, I now owe $0 for this next year!! Praise the Lord!! Couldn't be more clear than that, huh? Thursday night I also got to go over to a friends house; she just got back from a 5 week missions trip across Europe, so it was a huge blessing to hear all about it & see the pictures =)

Friday after work I got to take some maternity pics of my sister, Rebecca. She is due any day now & I can't wait! (Neither can she, lol!) Here are some of my favorite pics:

As you can see, she is gorgeous! So it was easy to get some great shots =)

Last, but definitely not least, today I had the privilege of going to a conference in Minneapolis with Paul & Keri. It was all about reaching Muslims for the gospel. It was a life changing day & I won't even try to cram it all in this post, but I promise I will talk more about it sometime this week. If you're curious though, you can check out the website here! I highly, HIGHLY recommend checking out Fouad Masri's ministry; it is incredible.

Thanks for stopping in & catching up on all of my summer madness! I hope that you all have a great weekend =)

John 1:1-5 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Summer Sunset

2010-06-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

So after church tonight, I went over to my sister's house to help her walk her two dogs. She's very preggo now, so peanut should be coming anytime!! Yay =) Anyways, while I was driving home, the sunset was SOOOO beautiful! But I didn't have my camera with me, so I raced home (I only sped a little, lol) climbed out the window onto the roof to see if I could get a better view, which didn't work. So then I climbed down the antenna tower, & ran barefoot out into one of our fields to get a good view. It was so worth it!

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

Chlorinated, tanned, & lovin' summer!!

2010-06-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Just sat down to relax & decided to update the good ol' blog. =)
These past two weeks have been great. I've been teaching swimming lessons Monday-Friday from 8 to noon with some of the most awesome lifeguards ever! The kiddos are a ton of fun...most of the time. There's always a troublemaker or two, but over all they're all good kids. Thankfully we have two teachers per group, & the guy that I team-teach with is a lot of fun to be around, so we basically just have a great time! We also have about an hour & a half where there are no kids in the pool, so I basically get paid to swim laps. I'm lovin' the butterfly this summer! It is definitely the most fun (& my new favorite) stroke. We also just goof off & hang out; best job ever! Lol. The only problem is all the chlorine....it is intense! Haha! After 5-6 hours in the pool, a headache & extremely chlorine-scented-skin is inevitable. But it's all good =)

Last week we also started a Bible study with the girls in our youth group at church. Me & Stephanie have been praying about starting up a group study & it finally worked out. Thursday night we talked about Ephesians 4, & unity in the church body as sisters in Christ. It was really encouraging to get to know some of the younger girls that I hadn't really been able to talk to before. Then on Monday night, Stephanie shared her testimony & what God has been doing in her life lately. That was such a huge blessing! She has been growing so much in her relationship with the Lord & she is such an amazing friend. I'm so excited to see how God will work through this Bible study. Please be praying for us as we prepare for next Monday night; I will be talking through Isaiah 43 & also Psalm 139.

Sunday night in church, I was able to share about my upcoming trip to Haiti. It went well, thank the Lord! I also got to talk to our Pastor's son-in-law, who was in Haiti for over a month immediately after the earthquake. He is just about to finish medical school, so he was among some of the first responders to go over & provide much needed medical care. He's an awesome guy. So it was really nice to be able to talk to him & get an idea of what to expect. God has been providing for the trip in an awesome way; I'm at about 75% with my support level =)

Well, I can't really think of anything else to share, so instead of rambling, I'll wrap it up! Haha. I hope that you all are having an amazing summer as well. Make sure you enjoy the sunshine!! Thanks for stopping by =)

P.S. Go USA!!! Gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllll!!!!!! Hahaha! (The U.S.A. vs. Algeria World Cup game is tomorrow for all of you non-soccer fans. Hopefully we won't get robbed again like we did against Slovenia...I'm still bitter. Lol! ; )

Urgent Prayer Request

2010-06-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hey amigos. I just received a very urgent prayer request from Dr. Matt Olson, the president at Northland. His family has been going through a lot lately. I can't help but think of 1 Peter 5:8 right now: "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Satan is on the attack here. Please take the time to read the email & pray for this amazing family & servants for Christ.

Friend,

Normally I would run this through our office as a prayer request but it is the weekend and I am in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - and really feel I need to get this out as quickly as possible to ask you to pray with our family.

Our son, Ross, has been leading a team of college students in Ghana, West Africa, for the past month. They have seen some incredible works of God. There has also been a lot of testing and spiritual warfare along the way.

We just learned a day ago that Ross had contracted some internal physical condition that is closing his esophagus, keeping him from swallowing and causing severe pain and internal bleeding. Efforts were made to get him out of the country and to a hospital in Europe but they would not put him on a commercial plane fearing he would not make the trip. We have been waiting for an air ambulance and it has finally arrived - praise the Lord. As I am writing this they have just taken off with him on an eight hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We don't know what is causing all this - just that it is very serious.

Diane and I would covet your prayers for Ross. Most of all we want God to be glorified, and His purposes fulfilled - now and for eternity. We are also praying for healing, strength, and encouragement for Ross in the will of God.

He will be taken to Millpark Hospital, #9 Guild St. in Johannesburg. If you know of a missionary or person living there that might be able to help - please let us know. We know of no one at the moment.

We will try and give you an update as we are able. Our daughter Sarah Neighbors is keeping updates on Facebook - so that will be most current. Thanks so much.

Your friends and fellow servants,

Matt and Diane Olson

A Real Man...

2010-06-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well last week, I shared with you a list that had the traits of a "real" woman. This week, I want to share with you the list that goes along with that one. These are character qualities of a "real" man as defined by two teenage girls. I don't know how many, if any, guys actually read my blog, but I just want to clarify my purpose in sharing this list with you all. I'm not trying to set an impossible standard for guys or girls, but these are all qualities that we should always be striving after. We should each be praying for our brothers & sisters in Christ & I think that these lists give a good place to start. And if there are any guys reading this, I just want to encourage you. If you've ever wondered what a Christian girl is attracted to in a guy, I can definitely confirm what those things are. (Hey, you don't spend 2 semesters in a girl's dorm without hearing all about their "dream" guy! Lol.) For most girls, it isn't that complicated. (i.e. You don't have to look like an Abercrombie model or anything, ;) The majority of girls really just want a spiritual leader. A guy who isn't afraid to let God work in his life & then live out the result of his own relationship with the Lord. Yeah, not going to lie, I love it when a guy is a gentlemen in his actions (opening doors, helping with heavy stuff...etc. It's nice =), but I've met too many guys who are a gentlemen in their deeds but not in their words. They try to fit in & impress other around them & it's really hard to respect a guy who will say things, or make off-color jokes just to be accepted. I have quite a few really good guy friends who hold themselves to a higher standard in this area, & let me tell you, I respect them & appreciate their leadership so much! So anyways, without further delay...or my confusing chatter, I give you the guy's list. What makes "A Real Man"

Lori Hainline & Rebecca Chandler co-authored this list at the respective ages of 19 and 17. Their closing comment: This list is not exhaustive and men like this do exist!

A real man . . .
…understands and lives according to the basic purposes for which he was created: to worship, honor, and serve God. (Romans 12:1-2)

…values and carefully handles the scriptures. (2 Timothy 2:15)

…doesn’t pride himself on being knowledgeable in the sinful ways of the world. (1 John 2:15-16, James 4:4, Philippians 4:8)

A real man . . .
…isn’t embarrassed to worship God and pray in a group setting.(Mark 8:38)

…is wise, yet humble. (Proverbs 2:1-10, 1 Peter 5:5, Romans 12:16)

A real man . . .
…takes leadership in a self-sacrificing way. (Ephesians 5:25-28)

…is kind because, “What is desirable in man is his kindness”(Proverbs 19:22)

…doesn’t try to prove himself but is simply confident as he walks in the fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 14:26-27)

…doesn’t put others down with his actions, attitude, words, or his strength. But on the contrary, he affirms and builds others up(Proverbs 15:4, Ephesians 4:29)

A real man . . .
…treats his sisters and mother with as much respect as he would treat a prospective wife. (Matthew 25:21)

…not only respects but appreciates a young lady’s purity and innocence. In our culture innocence isn’t retained by accident. (2 Corinthians 11:2-3)

…values his purity as much as he values a young lady’s purity. He is not ashamed to live and act differently from the world in order to guard himself. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, Ecclesiastes 7:26)

…can look a girl straight in the eye without communicating any impurity. (Proverbs 20:11

A real man . . .
…isn’t ashamed to identify himself with his family (Ephesians 6:2-3)

…is a gentleman. He is polite and shows women honor in everyday things such as opening doors, etc. (1 Peter 3:7)

…has no desire to be gross in order to impress other men. He doesn’t burp, swear, or tell disgusting stories. (Proverbs 13:5, Ephesians 5:4)

A real man . . .
…shows by his actions that he loves children. (Matthew 19:13-14)

…is pleasant and expresses joy rather than feeling that it’s masculine to be sullen. (Proverbs 21:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:16)

…doesn’t blame others for his own problems but embraces responsibility. (Proverbs 12:27)

…can accept correction (Proverbs 12:1, Proverbs 29:1)

A real man . . .
…is mature in his emotions and his expressions of them. He can deal with the trials of life logically, with wisdom, not on a basis of emotional instability. (Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 17:27, Proverbs 12:18)

…understands the value of work and is financially responsible.(Colossians 3:23-24, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, Luke 16:10-11)

…expresses himself with intelligent words rather than using “street talk”. (Proverbs 17:20, Titus 2:6-8, 1 Peter 4:11, Ephesians 4:29)

A Real Woman...

2010-06-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I came across two lists on The Rebelution blog that had the quality traits, each based out of scripture, of "real" men & women. By real, I mean godly. The more guys that I meet, the more I realize how rare it is to know a guy who is really a leader. Someone who isn't afraid to talk about what God is doing in his life, be a gentleman, or be the one to make decisions. (Just an encouragement ladies, genuine, godly guys DO exist! You just have to be patient.) Yes, it's hard to hold out for a genuine, godly leader, but it's not all on the guys. There are a lot of girls who are making it very difficult for guys to step up & be what God intended them to be. Girls who flirt with guys, just for the attention; play with guy's emotions, or act silly, to be "cute." I'm guessing most girls do want to wait for a good, godly guy, but it is hard. One of the things that the Lord has been teaching me is this: you will attract what you are. Meaning, if you are truly satisfied in God, seeking to serve Him, & growing in your walk with the Lord, that is most likely the kind of guy you will attract. I see so many girls who are settling for any guy that shows them attention, so when I was reading the list of character strengths that three girls had put together to describe a "real" man, I wanted to just share it right away. I though, maybe if every girl saw the traits of a real man, they would be more willing to wait. But we have to realize that we can't just put together a list of traits that we desire in a future spouse if we aren't willing to look at our own lives first & seek to become a "real" woman. Hopefully this is making sense. Lol! Sometimes things make sense in my head, but when I say them, or write them out, I confuse people =) Anyways, here is the list, compiled by three authors, of a "Real Woman." I challenge you to really dig into & find things that you need to work on & pray about over the summer. I know there are definitely points in here that I fall short on!

Written by Philip Hainline, Heidi Reimer, and Maria Reimer at the respective ages of 16, 19, and 17.

A real woman . . .
…is glad she’s a woman and rejoices in her femininity, expressing it through her attitude, appearance and bearing. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

…does not compete for equality with men or chafe at God’s design for male and female, but delights in and understands the importance of her calling to complement man’s role. (1 Timothy 2:11-12, Ephesians 5:22-24)

…values the cultivation of her mind and diligently seeks after wisdom and knowledge. (Proverbs 22:17-21, 2:2-6)

…realizes her imperative need to allow the Holy Spirit to control her emotions and expressions of them. (James 1:19-20)

…does not wallow in self-pity or make a habit of voicing complaints, but radiates cheerfulness and joy. (Proverbs 15:15, Proverbs 17:22)

A real woman . . .
…appreciates her father’s protection, and respects and submits to his authority. In so doing, she is preparing herself to exercise the Biblical role in her relationship with a possible future husband.(Ephesians 5:33-6:3, 1 Peter 3:1-2)

…is trustworthy and gains the respect of those around her.(Proverbs 31:11)

…restrains herself from listening to, or participating in gossip, but instead speaks with wisdom and discretion. (Proverbs 11:12-13, 22, 20:19, 3:11)

…encourages and builds up those around her instead of criticizing and tearing them down. (1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:29)

…does not have a nagging, contentious or manipulative manner in which she deals with others. (Judges 16:16, Proverbs 21:9, 19, 26:21)

…is not boisterous or loud in her speech or actions but is characterized by a gentle and quiet spirit. (Proverbs 9:13, 1 Peter 3:4)

A real woman . . .
…portrays chastity, modesty and reverence in her manner, and wears the ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is her true beauty. (1 Peter 3:3-4, Titus 2:4-5)

…is not offended by respect shown her through gentlemanly courtesies (opening doors, etc.) but cultivates the differences between the sexes that make her worthy of this deference. (1 Peter 3:7, Mark 10:6)

…seeks to make God her number one desire and the Lover of her soul, knowing that only He can fully satisfy. (Psalm 73:25, Psalm 63:1)

…uses her years of singleness to seek and serve God without distraction, and is content to leave the details of her future to Him. (Psalm 73:25, Philippians 4:11)

A real woman . . .
…does not relate to members of the opposite sex in a flirtatious or forward manner, but instead saves all her passion for her future husband. (Thessalonians 4:3-8, Proverbs 6:25, 1 Corinthians 7:1)

…holds her virginity before marriage sacred and will not compromise it for anything. (This one goes for guys too)(1 Timothy 5:22)

Something Beautiful

2010-06-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this video to me & I just thought I would share it with you all. Beautiful music for another beautiful summer day! This is an arrangement of "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" by a very gifted pianist named Carlton Forrester. He has quite a few videos on youtube if you feel like checking those out as well. =) I hope you enjoy it!