Hard Lesson

So I've been doing a Beth Moore study of Esther. I have only finished the first week, but something about the timing of it tells me that God is going to use this study to speak to me in a powerful way. The last two weeks have been an extremely stressful time of my life and I have had to learn some very hard lessons in some very hard ways. The beautiful thing about it is that I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, God is using these circumstances to teach me.

I strongly dislike (and even this term doesn't do it justice) asking for help. I loathe asking for help. And God, in His infinite wisdom has been teaching me a very valuable lesson in the matter. My car, the lovely "cricket"- as the students so affectionately call it, died this past week. Died...as in...the transmission died...one of the worst things that can happen to your only vehicle.

In a mad dash to figure out how to get it fixed, pay for it to get it fixed (not a cheap job by any means!), and also find transportation for the NINE days that my car would be out of commision...God provided. God provided in a huge way, I was incredibly blessed by the outpouring and graciousness of a few people who shall remain nameless. I had a vehicle to use (for free!), and my car was completely paid for by a few donors who "just wanted to help".

One of my favorite quotes from the Esther study so far has been when Beth Moore writes: "When we trust our lives to the hand and pen of an unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending. And not just in spite of catastrophes. Often because of them. Don't just wait and see. Live and see."

I am learning more and more every day that God puts people in our lives to bless and encourage us... because of the love of God that is in people...lives are impacted and changed. I am learning to trust Him more, in every aspect of my life...not just the things I want to relinquish control over. Because when I trust God, things just turn out better and I come out of the experience having a newfound respect and love for my Creator. It's a beautiful thing.

Change

I guess you could say that I have been accustomed to change throughout my life. I moved a lot, went to 8 different schools K-12, my parents divorced, mom remarried...I went away to college (you get the idea). And I have realized that throughout this process of change has always come some sort of pain or heartache, but I would say that these periods of pain or heartache have also brought about tremendous growth in my life. Because of the changes I have been through I have learned so much about myself and about God. Even in the times that I wasn't sure what God was doing in my life...when I got to the other side of it, when I was actually able to process it, I saw how God was shaping and molding me into a different person. Now I am not saying to seek out pain in your life, but I definitely think that we should embrace pain and trials in our life. I see families all the time that are hurting and struggling, whether it be financially or spiritually or physically... and for the most part their struggles and hurt bring them together. Pain brings us closer, it ties us stronger. Change normally brings about pain, but change is something that some of us desperately need. My challenge to you is not to be afraid of change, but to ask God to give you change in your life. Some of us desperately need for God to change us, but we must realize with change comes obstacles and to overcome obstacles we must persevere. God is always with you, He always walks beside you. Be encouraged today, seek out change in your life and remember you have an amazing Savior that wants to walk through life with you.

It's Been A While...

sorry for the length of time it has been since I have made a post. We have been so busy this summer! Student Life Camp, Mission Trip and lunch Bible studies/late night sonic visits/countless movies (you get the idea!) have kept me pretty busy and I love every minute of it!

Here are some pictures of what life has been like around Community for the past few weeks:

The Inbetween

Today is the day I will call "The Inbetween". VBS is over and we leave for Student Life Camp on Sunday. So I will take this time to post more VBS pictures! We had over 450 helpers and children this week, WOW! I know in my crew, which was 1 of 3 crews of 4th and 5th grade girls I had as many as 12 children on one particular night! Thank you God for such an awesome week learning about how you never leave us, you constantly surprise us and even when life gets overwhelming you walk beside us!

VBS 2010!

This week is VBS here at Community Church, and what a whirlwind of a week it has been!

I have had the privilege of being the Crew Leader to Crew 31 (that's right 31, represent!) and I have the very best helpers (Ok I might be a bit biased, but that's alright!)

I realized the other day that with the except of 2 summers I have helped with/led a crew for VBS since I was in 6th grade. Crazy right?!?! I am 23, so that means that 9 summers of my life have been spent doing VBS! Hopefully I will be able to do many more, because I do enjoy it so much!

I just wanted to share some pictures from the week to give you an idea of what we have been up to. Please pray for God to really move in the hearts of these kids! What an exciting time and great way to kick off the summer!

Roots

Colossians 2:7 says "Let your roots grow down into him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."

Now that is a lot to consider. 1 being... what are my roots? What am I deeply grounded in? 2 being...the concept of overflow, being Jesus to all I meet. 3 being the concept of thankfulness. Being truly appreciative of the love, grace, forgiveness, mercy.. etc that God gives us.

The verse before this one basically says " just as you accepted the Lord you must follow Him."

Merely accepting God is not enough, there has to be a radical life transformation. Many people try and fail at so many diets before understanding that it is a lifestyle change if they want to have any lasting effect on their body. This is the same with Christianity. If you want God to have a lasting effect made on your life, you have to change your life.

Am I saying that becoming a Christian means that you can't have fun? Absolutely not. But it does mean that you hold yourself to a higher standard, not so that you can brag about it but because you want to be Jesus to all that you meet. What does being Jesus even mean? Pursuing the heart of God, after you have decided to make that radical life change and intentionally reaching out to people. Jesus was all about relationships, so make your life about relationships. Basically to sum up the commandments its "Love God, Love People". I'm sure that most of you have heard this before but that's basically the condensed version. By loving God you love people and by loving people you love God. Making sense? The radical life change that we are commanded to undergo by God means that we are so filled with the spirit of God that we are noticeably different to all we come into contact with. We don't disrespect people, we don't sleep around and we don't have a trashy vocabulary if we are filled with the spirit of God.

So just a challenge to us all today. Are we so rooted in the essence of God that we overflow love? Are we so overwhelmed daily by the gifts that God gives us that we spend time thanking Him?

The Great Plan

If it's one thing that I have learned in the past few years its that I am an ever evolving person. The person that I am today is not the person that I was a year ago. When I think about who I was a year ago, I see who I am now and I feel thankful. I feel thankful that my Creator, my Father gives the gift of grace daily. He looks at me and He sees me beyond the mess, beyond the sin. He sees my heart and He sees the person He created me to be. When I think about who I could be a year from now I have no idea what to expect. No idea at all. I know that I can set goals for myself and have certain things that I want to accomplish, but in the grand scheme of things it is God that directs my path.

I found a letter I wrote to myself my Junior year of High School just before I turned 16. I was in a Creative Writing class and had to write a letter to the "future me" and tell myself everything that I should have accomplished by the time I was 25. I can say that 2 of the 6 things have happened. I finished high school and college... but I am not married/engaged, I don't have my Masters in Teaching and I am not a Kindergarten teacher. Instead I have evolved into a completely different person. I have the most precious of all occupations, I do something that I love and enjoy. I might not be married or on my way there but I do know that when that day comes that it will be something that God ordains, I can't force happiness.

I'm learning that the evolution of life, the way it unfolds is truly a miracle of God. If we were left to our own understanding and ability to reason we most likely would be a mess. Not that life isn't messy, because it is most definitely messy. But the ability we have as Christians to intentionally make the decision to follow God and walk with Him through life is irreplaceable. Jeremiah 1:5 is one of my favorite verses, it says "Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you and set you apart".

Never forget that God has a plan for you, a plan that transcends all understanding.