Give Me One Glorious Ambition

Sorry for such a long wait, but there has been much going on. Since summer started, I just wanted to relax and read some to start. I have been able to already get through some books that are on my summer reading list. This one below has been the most helpful and has spoken to the season of life that I am in now. I have been struggling with where the Lord would have me complete an internship and how to honor him in my decision. I am really working on how selfish I can be at times and how to make decisions that bring God glory and put Him at the center rather than myself. Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey has been so helpful.

This is one of my favorite quotes from the book, that really convicted me

"We’re a culture committed to self-fulfillment, self-expression, self-esteem, self-preservation – self, self, self. “To a great majority of Americans, “says David Wells, “self has become the source of all values. The pursuit of self is what life is all about.”

I have also been able to listen to at least one message from the sermon archives on my church's website every day. I have been going through the Sola Gratia series and just listened to a message from Mark Prater, called, "Stand Firm For Freedom." He quoted this from  Milton Vincent in his message:

“Showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of His forgiving and generous grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and to put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me.” 

This past semester in school, I became obssesed with my academic standing and ended up hurting some of the people I love the most and in return ended up getting hurt as well. Thankfully, God has given me AMAZING friends who are quick to forgive me and still pray and care for me when I ignore them. They have demonstrated the amazing gift of God's grace in my life and because of it I have been able to forgive and pray and care for those who did not always stand beside me.

Some of my favorite youth also graduated from High School this month and had an amazing graduation ceremony! Here is a picture of my favorite set of twins who sang in worship for the graduation :)

 

This day had also brought some sad news, because this was the day the Petit's house caught on fire. The Petit's have walked this trial out in a way that brings such glory to God I feel so honored to be able to call them friends. Please continue to pray for them.

My birthday also past, and later this week I will post about my amazing friends and what they did for me :) But one of the best parts was when Alison and I got to meet Matt Stairs!!!!

NEXT Surprises

NEXT 2010 is now over, and it had it's high and low points. While I did not meet with the Lord exactly how I wanted, I was able to participate in some rich fellowship with some of my awesome friends. The messages were good; I think my favorite was Jeff Purswell's. His message was on Eschatology. I don't think we hear too many messages about this particular doctrine, and not presented the way Jeff presented it. At times messages like this are hard for me to hear because of the current state of my family's souls, but it does remind me of how good my God is: "Jesus came as a lamb but will return as a lion." I don't want a heart that's tied to this world, but one that anxiously awaits my Savior's coming.
This weekend there were also two amazing things that happened. First, I got to feel Colby kick (first time I ever felt a baby kick). And......GEN IS ENGAGED!

Here's a picture of the bling...

And one of the happy couple, soon after their engagement

Here's one last picture of the happy couple. Gen is one of my best friends and it is a pure joy to see her with Aaron. I remember spending nights on end talking about who each of us will marry, and me telling her I didn't think her husband was at our Church yet (maybe I have a gift in prophecy :)...) Aaron and Gen have walked out their entire courtship honoring the Lord and displaying an example of what pursuing the Lord through a pure, biblical relationship looks like. I love them both and am so happy for my dear friend :)

NEXT

So I leave for NEXT tomorrow and I'm so excited! This may be the last time I am able to room with Gen and Maureen, and this conference is what really first sparked such an incredible friendship between the three of us. We'll also have Kristie Witter this time :) I'm really excited and pray that God will really meet me there and allow everyone just to see his Holy Spirit working through all those attending. Here's a video promoting NEXT that I thought was kinda cool:


All I Have Is Christ from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Laughter

So one of my favorite things to do is laugh. Lately, I haven't been doing a lot of that. I read this quote today from Terry Lindvall and now I am vowing to find at least three things today to laugh about, esp. if it's laughing at myself:

"Laughter is a divine gift to the human who is humble. A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego."

Feel free to laugh today, and to send any jokes my way if you have any good ones :)

God Rejoicing!

So today I had a meeting at the church with Jim Donohue, to talk to him about what's going on with me and how my family is liking the Bridge Course. He recommended a sermon from this year's Leadership Conference by Aaron Osborne titled: God Rejoices Over Us. This message highlights Zephaniah 3. In the message he says how the Lord sings and rejoices over us. At church this past Sunday I felt the Lord saying to me how that day he was singing over me. I was moved to tears by this realization, and so convicted by how I was viewing the Lord. I feel like he only loves me because he promised to, not that he desires to. Aaron said this in his message which made me cry:

"In light of who I was, in light of who I sometimes still seem to be, how can I be loved like this? Or to wade into the theological deep end of the pool, how can God be pleased with a sinning Christian? We know people, but we ourselves feel it is just easier to believe I'm loved because it's His duty, because He made a promise and He keeps them, then to rejoice to be loved like we're truly loved. Friends, we're loved like this because of a substitute. Don't lose sight of our substitute.... You and I are loved by our Father like Jesus is loved by our Father. His love for us is not different, it is the same! How is that so? Because we're in Him, clothed in Him, we stand with Him. Jesus is why and Jesus is how God sings over us loudly. "

Aaron also said this quote from John Piper:

"We must banish from our minds forever. any thought that God admits us begrudgingly into His kingdom. As though Christ found a loophole in the law, did some fancy plea bargaining, and squeaked us by the judge. No way! God himself, the judge, put Christ forward as our substitutionary sacrifice and when we trust Him, God welcomes us with bells on, He puts a ring on our finger, kills the fattened calf, and throws a party; Shouts a shout that shakes the end of creation, and He himself leads the festival dance. This is how He loves!"

This message was so applicable to me and the walk I am currently in. It even touched on how a woman should feel heading into a marriage, which is how I one day want to feel going into a marriage if that's what God has for me. He related it to how God loves us and this is what he said about young brides who have been married:

"There's something right about our hearts, about the desire to be delighted in....don't most young ladies? Leading up to your wedding, wasn't there a delight in your heart to know that you occupied the thoughts, the affections, the feelings of your groom to be? That you were carried on his heart?....That's the kind of relationship we were created for."


I encourage every person to hear this message, given at Grace Community Church.

The Bridge

So what was originally the Alpha Course, is now called the Bridge Course and my Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, and myself are all going :)
Please be praying for me and for them. I need it as much as they do, and I've been praying for them to go for 5 years now. It's just by the Lord's own timing that we would all attend at a time where I am going through a season of rebellion where I need to hear the same truths they will be hearing. Please please please pray for their salvation and conviction for me. I know that I have a God who loves to answer prayers, so feel free to send them my way :)

Happy Easter!!

So today I was able to spend some time with my wonderful family, unfortunately it was clouded by what seems an ever growing amount of homework. However, I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Peter Marshall that relates to Easter:

"The stone was rolled away from the door, not to permit Christ to come out, but to enable the disciples to go in"

Enjoy Easter!!

Spring out of Snow

Spring Break is officially.....HERE!!! I really needed a break and am so thankful that the spring semester allows for a break. I get to see Maureen today!!! and hopefully Gen too :) Compared to weather recently, it's really nice out. The nice weather this week is just another blessing. I've been able to work out outside this week. I'm also now able to update my blog :)

At Cross Culture a few weeks ago, the activity was a snow building competition. I have posted some pictures of my favorite snowmen. I was also a judge; I judged gerth. I don't think I posted it but as a group, the jr high kids are my favorite. They all really work together as a team, encourage each other, and are excited about participating. Jr High kids are def. the coolest :)

This snowman was the winner I believe. The arms are hangers that were "borrowed" from the Church lobby.

This was supposedly a "paraplegic" snowman, with fruit for eyes, mouth, nose and arms.

This snowman was my favorite, simply for the creative descrpition of the snowman. The snowman supposedly fell to it's face because it was touched by the Holy Spirit (which was apart of the night's message) and the little snowman next to it was praying over him. So funny :)

That's all I have for now, but I vow to keep updating more :)

Snow Motion

So today was a snow day....we got a TON of snow. This means no work :) but I had a ton of homework so I've been able to put a dent into that, do some cleaning, and some leisure reading :)

The snow also gave me time to talk about cars with my dad. My car died a while ago (RIP Henry) and I desperately need a new car. My parents have been very gracious in letting me use their cars, but I really need one of my own. I have always wanted a white jeep wrangler, like the one below.

However, lately I've really liked this car. It's a white scion tc. I drove one the other day and I really liked it; it is also more sensible and beter on gas (which is good for my pocket)

With all this recent snow though, I might as well invest in some of these below...

I will try to update more...this semester is just a little hectic :)

Two in Peru...

Sorry it's been so long, but school is already starting to feel really heavy :(

This post however is dedicated to best friend and all around favorite person, Maureen :)

Right now Maureen is serving the Lord at an orphanage in Peru. She will be there until the middle of June. I miss her very much, especially her fun texts. We have the best adventures together. :) If you think about it, pray for her. Maureen and her sister Colleen (another particular favorite of mine) are both in Peru together. They both have a heart to serve the Lord and are some of the best examples of godly women I know, and I'm sure God will use them in powerful ways while they are in Peru. Until then, I shall just miss them both :)

Day of Kindness

Today, was a very fun day :) My friend Alysia is turning 20 years old, so for her birthday each of one of her closest friends and family members have each picked a day (20 days before her birthday) to bless her. Today was my day and I was more than excited to do so.

I picked Alysia up and headed towards Philadelphia. She had no idea where we were going but she was curious since we had been driving for a while. I parked in a garage and then we walked right next door to Naked Chocolate. If you've never been, it's a must. Their hot chocolate is so cute and their cupcakes are to die for :)

This is what our hot chocolate looked like. We both got the classic American style in petite size.

We also split chocolate fondue, which was so good!

Our day was a lot of fun. We were able to catch up, eat delicious chocolate, and then we walked around the Borders in center city. If you haven't been there, the Borders there is one of my favorite places in the city. I'm a sucker for most book stores and libraries, but this third floor is beautiful.

I read this quote a while ago from C.S. Lewis, and it reminded me of how thankful I am that the Lord has given me such amazing friends like Alysia, that I couldn't have picked out better myself:

"In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting - any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say to every group of Christian friends, 'Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.' The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others."

I praise God for such a wonderful friend like Alysia. Her joy in the Lord is contagious and her example in her walk with the Lord has constantly been a challenge to me as well as an encouragement. I'm so glad I was able to bless my friend in some way since she has blessed me in many ways.