I apologize for not updating my blog until now but as many of you know school in the spring time gets crazy busy. Well I am officially a junior in college and a 20 year old. Man does time fly. I had a wonderful sophomore year of college. I could not ask for a better group of friends, school, or church community that I have at Auburn. I have officially changed my major to Spanish and finally feel like that is the best major for me. Of course I am excited to come back to school after my trip in hopes that I will be fluent and my classes will be much easier :). I have also decided to do a global cultures minor and study Japanese, which I am so excited about both.
Okay on to Honduras requests and needs. I have about 50% of my support raised and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you that is supporting me financially and prayerfully. I am so excited for my time in Honduras next year. Due to schooling I have had to shorten my time to 5 months, but I am still extremely excited for this opportunity. I have never felt more at peace about where the Lord was calling me. Yes, I do get nervous at times, but I know that this is where the Lord wants me and I love that everyone is so supportive of my decision. I have learned a lot about myself and missions throughout my sophomore year and I know that the Lord still has so much to teach me about myself and my heart for missions.
As some of you know I am interning with the youth group at FPC in Macon this summer. I am so excited for this opportunity and I cannot wait to learn and grow tremendously throughout the course of the summer. It is so great to see how faithful the Lord has been to me even when I stray from him. Please pray that this summer would not only be a learning and growing experience, but one that would significantly shape my relationship with the Lord.
Again I am so sorry that I have not been able to update my blog until now. I hope to continue to update it much more often this summer and of course throughout fall of next year during my trip. Please pray that I would be able to raise all 100% of my support and that I would have a team of faithful prayer warriors behind me. Also pray that the Lord would prepare my heart to serve Him in another country for 5 months. Thank you all for your support and prayers!
2 and a half months till I leave!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Passion Conference!
Wow it has been a crazy past couple of weeks I don't even know where to start. Okay, well I went to Passion Conference in Atlanta the 1st through the 4th of January and man was that a great way to start off the year. I was able to go with a few of my wonderful pledge sisters, but while there got to reunite with a lot of my friends from home which made it a great few days. I learned so much at passion and I wish that I could share every point with you all but that would take quit a long time.
The first thing I really felt the Lord was telling me over and over again throughout the week was that I am supposed to work with orphans. I am not sure where or when or for how long, but I know that the Lord has called me to invest my life into working with orphans, which makes me extremely excited for the future. I also just gained a peace about going to Honduras and just felt like the Lord was saying trust me fully to raise every penny and do not doubt that I can for a second. That was so comforting just getting an overwhelming peace that the Lord has this covered, it is a lot of money to raise and it is hard to remember that I am not in control of this, but the God of the Universe is, which brings me to the second thing I learned at passion. The first night Louie Giglio spoke about Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ezekiel 37:1-10 has a heading called The Valley of Dry Bones, which I am sure so of you have heard of this story, but basically what is happening is that the Lord has taken the prophet Ezekiel down to a valley that was full of dry bones and then the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones and so Ezekiel begins to prophesy over the dry bones and the bones begin to come together and then flesh begins to appear on the bones and bodies are formed and then the Lord says to Ezekiel "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." And then it goes on to say the bodies now lived. I explain all of that so that you can get Louie's point of the talk. Louie wanted us to remember that the Lord can do immeasurably more than we could think or even ask, and we need to believe that with all of our hearts. God is the God of immeasurably more so why not just believe and trust that He will do more good for us than we could think of or ask Him for. The last morning of passion Louie finished wrapped up everything by talking again on Ezekiel 37 and he made so many good points that have stuck with me as I have moved back into school mode. Louie mentioned Isaiah 61:1-2 which says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn." The reason he shared that verse was to say that we are all missionaries and ambassadors for the Lord no matter where we are, and that we should not go anywhere unless the Lord has anointed us so that the power and spirit of the Lord goes with us. He summed everything up by saying that the main message is that we were dead and now are alive forevermore, and that that is our identity. And that our witness to the world is the healing of our wounds and when we show people that God has healed our scars and worship God we give God his breath back. When people ask how passion was I usually respond by saying the best way I can describe it is just imagine 60,000+ 18-25 year olds all praising the Lord together.
I have officially started back school which has been nice to be on a structured schedule again and I really enjoy all of the classes I am taking. I am taking two languages: Spanish and Japanese which have both been really fun so far! Please pray that I will continue to spend time with the Lord daily that I won't use school and friends as an excuse of being too busy to be in the word, but that I would instead seek to spend more and more time with the Lord each day. Also please continue to pray that my financial support will come in and that I will put all of my trust in the Lord to bring the money in. Thanks for all of your support!
The first thing I really felt the Lord was telling me over and over again throughout the week was that I am supposed to work with orphans. I am not sure where or when or for how long, but I know that the Lord has called me to invest my life into working with orphans, which makes me extremely excited for the future. I also just gained a peace about going to Honduras and just felt like the Lord was saying trust me fully to raise every penny and do not doubt that I can for a second. That was so comforting just getting an overwhelming peace that the Lord has this covered, it is a lot of money to raise and it is hard to remember that I am not in control of this, but the God of the Universe is, which brings me to the second thing I learned at passion. The first night Louie Giglio spoke about Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ezekiel 37:1-10 has a heading called The Valley of Dry Bones, which I am sure so of you have heard of this story, but basically what is happening is that the Lord has taken the prophet Ezekiel down to a valley that was full of dry bones and then the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones and so Ezekiel begins to prophesy over the dry bones and the bones begin to come together and then flesh begins to appear on the bones and bodies are formed and then the Lord says to Ezekiel "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." And then it goes on to say the bodies now lived. I explain all of that so that you can get Louie's point of the talk. Louie wanted us to remember that the Lord can do immeasurably more than we could think or even ask, and we need to believe that with all of our hearts. God is the God of immeasurably more so why not just believe and trust that He will do more good for us than we could think of or ask Him for. The last morning of passion Louie finished wrapped up everything by talking again on Ezekiel 37 and he made so many good points that have stuck with me as I have moved back into school mode. Louie mentioned Isaiah 61:1-2 which says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn." The reason he shared that verse was to say that we are all missionaries and ambassadors for the Lord no matter where we are, and that we should not go anywhere unless the Lord has anointed us so that the power and spirit of the Lord goes with us. He summed everything up by saying that the main message is that we were dead and now are alive forevermore, and that that is our identity. And that our witness to the world is the healing of our wounds and when we show people that God has healed our scars and worship God we give God his breath back. When people ask how passion was I usually respond by saying the best way I can describe it is just imagine 60,000+ 18-25 year olds all praising the Lord together.
I have officially started back school which has been nice to be on a structured schedule again and I really enjoy all of the classes I am taking. I am taking two languages: Spanish and Japanese which have both been really fun so far! Please pray that I will continue to spend time with the Lord daily that I won't use school and friends as an excuse of being too busy to be in the word, but that I would instead seek to spend more and more time with the Lord each day. Also please continue to pray that my financial support will come in and that I will put all of my trust in the Lord to bring the money in. Thanks for all of your support!
Friday, December 28, 2012
Psalm 37:4
Tonight as I am not able to sleep again because I sleep all day long since there is absolutely nothing to do while on break haha, anyways I began to read a book my mom gave me for Christmas, I'm sure many of you have heard of it it's called Kisses from Katie. I've always wanted to read this book as I've heard from so many people that I would love it and my roommate Amy, who went to the same high school as Katie, told me about how brave Katie was and how she is so in love with Christ that she took a giant leap of faith to follow him. For those of you unfamiliar with Katie's story, she is 22 years old and living in Uganda. Katie decided to go to Uganda for a year after her senior year of high school on a leap of faith and ended up falling in love with the people there and has decided to stay for the long haul. At the age of 19 Katie adopted 14 of these precious Ugandan children, and each day Katie trusts that the Lord will lead her and provide for her. What an inspiration Katie is to so many people and to me, and it is amazing to see someone my age with such a great faith and passion for the Lord. I tell you all of that to say that in the introduction of Kisses from Katie, Katie mentions Psalms 37:4 which states, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Katie talks about how in high school she believed that that verse meant as long as she did good and obeyed the Lord and his word then He would give her what she wanted, well she goes on to explain that she now understands and comprehends that verse in a new way. I thought the exact same thing of that verse when I was in high school, that if I said and did the right things that made me look like a "good" Christian then God would give me anything I wanted, oh man I was wrong.
Just like Katie, I have found a new meaning for that verse and I saw it a lot as I was in Mexico this summer. I learned that the more I follow Christ's will for my life and the more I fall in love with him each day, the more His desires for my life become my desires in life. This past summer at Casa Hogar ( a Mexican orphanage I spent two months at this summer) I experienced following Christ's will for my life in a whole new way, and I saw that as I delighted in the Lord he worked through me to bring others closer to Him. I take no credit for anything I have done or been able to experience, I have been blessed to be used by the Lord and I am so excited that I am able to go to Honduras next year and see his work in my life. As excited as I am for next year, I do not want to look past the opportunities I have right here in the United States. If you have made it this far and are still reading I ask you to pray that I would take advantage of my spring semester at Auburn that I would not look to the future, but that I would remember that God can and will use me wherever I am. I also ask you to pray that I begin to prepare my heart to work as a youth intern at my home church this summer. There is so much for me to stay focused on that is before Honduras, and as I am so excited to go I pray that I do not look ahead and forget how much God can do through me right here. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." I pray that each and every one of you get to experience the Lord in a new way in the year of 2013 and I pray that the Lord gives you the desires of your heart. Thank you all for the support and love you have shown me it has made a huge impact on me and has inspired me to keep running to Christ each day.
Just like Katie, I have found a new meaning for that verse and I saw it a lot as I was in Mexico this summer. I learned that the more I follow Christ's will for my life and the more I fall in love with him each day, the more His desires for my life become my desires in life. This past summer at Casa Hogar ( a Mexican orphanage I spent two months at this summer) I experienced following Christ's will for my life in a whole new way, and I saw that as I delighted in the Lord he worked through me to bring others closer to Him. I take no credit for anything I have done or been able to experience, I have been blessed to be used by the Lord and I am so excited that I am able to go to Honduras next year and see his work in my life. As excited as I am for next year, I do not want to look past the opportunities I have right here in the United States. If you have made it this far and are still reading I ask you to pray that I would take advantage of my spring semester at Auburn that I would not look to the future, but that I would remember that God can and will use me wherever I am. I also ask you to pray that I begin to prepare my heart to work as a youth intern at my home church this summer. There is so much for me to stay focused on that is before Honduras, and as I am so excited to go I pray that I do not look ahead and forget how much God can do through me right here. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." I pray that each and every one of you get to experience the Lord in a new way in the year of 2013 and I pray that the Lord gives you the desires of your heart. Thank you all for the support and love you have shown me it has made a huge impact on me and has inspired me to keep running to Christ each day.
Friday, December 21, 2012
7 Months till Honduras!!
So I just found out two days ago that I am going to get the opportunity of a lifetime. I have been officially accepted by Mission to the World (the missions arm of the presbyterian church in america) to go serve the Lord in Honduras for 10 months. The more I think about this opportunity the more excited I become about this upcoming experience. I'm sure that many people are wondering why now, and why in the middle of college. Well to answer that question, ever since I returned from Mexico this summer I felt uneasy about being at Auburn next year, so I began to pray and look into many internships. The more I prayed the more I realized that the Lord was calling me to the missions field and I felt I needed to answer that call, so I did. I know that this is a giant leap of faith and I am going to miss out on many things, but all of that is outweighed by the joy and excitement I have to go serve the Lord in Honduras for 10 months. I do plan to return to Auburn the following year and graduate a semester late, in fact it is not really an option in my mind to not graduate from college, and to not graduate from Auburn for that matter.
My basic prayer needs for now: that my financial support will come in. I have full confidence that if the Lord has truly called me to Honduras he will provide the means to get me there. I know that this is a big financial need, but the Lord is in control and will provide. I also need prayer for my own heart, that I would prepare to be gone from family and friends for 10 months and that I would prepare my heart to serve in a foreign country for 10 whole months, where the language is not my primary language. Lastly, I need prayer for the people of Honduras that the missionaries that are there now would be blessed in everything that they do and that the people of Honduras would have their hearts softened to God's love.
I leave in August assuming that all of my support has been raised and then will return to the States sometime in May, so that I can begin taking classes at Auburn again that summer. I am so excited for this opportunity to join the ministries in Honduras!
7 MONTHS WOO HOO!
My basic prayer needs for now: that my financial support will come in. I have full confidence that if the Lord has truly called me to Honduras he will provide the means to get me there. I know that this is a big financial need, but the Lord is in control and will provide. I also need prayer for my own heart, that I would prepare to be gone from family and friends for 10 months and that I would prepare my heart to serve in a foreign country for 10 whole months, where the language is not my primary language. Lastly, I need prayer for the people of Honduras that the missionaries that are there now would be blessed in everything that they do and that the people of Honduras would have their hearts softened to God's love.
I leave in August assuming that all of my support has been raised and then will return to the States sometime in May, so that I can begin taking classes at Auburn again that summer. I am so excited for this opportunity to join the ministries in Honduras!
7 MONTHS WOO HOO!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)