the perfect gift

well, it's the day after Christmas Eve and all the chaos has died.

I got up this morning and started my Biblestudy.  It was so exciting because not only was I able to be in the Presence of God (wow...can we just pause and think about that for a second??) but I used my Christmas gift...logos which is AWESOME!  

I'm studying 2 Samuel and I had to do a word study.  Instead of hauling the HUGE Strong's concordance and hebrew lexicons and all that jazz, I simply opened up my mac (yes, mac=way better than pc) and typed in the word and *poof* the definition came up with cross references and EVERYTHING!  wow...so much fun!  The greatest thing is that I'm not at home so even if I wanted to do a word study I couldn't, cause there is no way that I'm hauling my Strong's concordance around everywhere I go.  I would have scoliosis if I did that.  This gift is so convenient! :)

In other news...I would just like to commend my parents for having the greatest stockings EVER.  First of all, my momma made them (since I was born, we have had them...talk about quality).  She cross stitched our names into them and other Christmas paraphernalia...such as a golden french horn with assorted foliage, a shepherd with his sheep...etc.  My parents also put the greatest stuff in there!  It's not like they put crazy expensive stuff in there but just the simple things that you look forward to every Christmas.  There are some staples that we always get: a mini bottle of martinelli's sparkling cider, gum, underwear, socks, a cool pen or pencil, chapstick (for John)/lip gloss (for the girls), and this year my parents put jelly bellys in our stockings!  So fun!  I would say that stockings are the favorite...but my new favorite is logos.  I am a believer:)

but the greatest thing about our stockings and logos is that it reminds me of the Perfect Gift and that is my Savior.  As great a gift as logos was, it will never top the gift that was given many years ago.  How gracious is our Heavenly Father to send part of Himself in human flesh, and to humble Himself (remember this is God we are talking about) to save us from our sins.  Wow...

christmas eve shopping extravaganza!!

this is a Merry Christmas Eve video for your entertainment from the strand family.:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IujCMHEplsA

fun with dave barnes

this will def get you in the Christmas mood:)...if you aren't already!

if you don't know who dave barnes is, then listen to his song Nothing Fancy.

snow globe

(Danielle and I being goofy at Buffalo Wild Wings...mmm...love those honey bbq cheap wing nights)

It is freezing here!  On the way to church we saw one of those signs at a bank that said it was 13 degrees!  It's still snowing pretty hard.  We saw Dr. Tackett at church this last morning that we will attend village 7.  Well, it was my last sunday there but at least Danielle will get to stay because she is moving here!  We went and saw her cute little townhouse that she and Ashlie and Amanda are going to live in for the next year.  It is so perfect.  God has totally blessed them in finding their cute place for them.

(roommate pic during our 'spirit week': Roommate Matching Day)

(pic on an axis trip.  these are my beautiful friends Brenda and Waverly)

I have no homework to do, so I finally get to update this thing:)  We are cleaning our apartment all day today so that we are ready for check out in the morning!  So crazy...I can't believe that we are already done with the semester!  

(here is a pic of my quest team.  We did group projects together and random activities all throughout the semester.  I think we were the one quest team that bonded the most.  We even did extra fun get togethers and game nights!  I LOVE quest team 8!!)

ok, so graduation is quickly approaching.  My parents are coming Monday and we will be flying out Wed afternoon to the good ol' central valley where there is no snow.  Then I will have the longest last semester of my life probably...although I am looking forward to an easier work load.  What am I doing with my life after that you say??  Well...there are a couple options.  I will be getting a job.  Hopefully substitute teaching...I know right???  Who would have thunk that I would be in school for the rest of my life?  I really would love to teach Bible.  Whether that is to a home school class or at a Christian school, it doesn't matter that much.  I just want to teach people how to study the Word.  I may be going to seminary if I the Lord calls me to teach at the college level.  We will see!!  It's such an adventure being a child of God:)  

(here is a pic of the beautiful girls in my small group.  Callie, Andrea, and Rachel.  We were in a hospitality group with two of the secretaries from the Focus Institute.  They were WONDERFUL a we had an entire Saturday of baking Christmas goodies!:)

Friday we had a time of sharing with our group about what the Lord has taught us all.  The biggest thing I learned this semester is how to serve God in the ways that He has gifted me.  Since the Lord took soccer away from me, I have been learning what other gift

s the Lord has given me.  It has been such a hard journey because I had placed my entire identity in soccer.  This semester I took way more personality tests than I've ever wanted to take in my lifetime!  My favorite was a strengths finder test that helped identify your top strengths in order to help your weaknesses.  I loved it because most personality tests can be really self centered...but this one helped you understand your weaknesses and helped you appreciate other people's gifts that I did not possess.  We talked about our strengths in class and then our professor had us work and identify how we worked in groups throughout the semester.  I learned that it was a good thing that I am competitive (which has had such a negative connotation to it).:)  I've learned that one of my strengths is communication which has helped confirm that the Lord has gifted me to teach in some sort of capacity.

It has been a freeing semester to understand how God has created me in order to make His name known.  It is really exciting!  I am sad to leave this community where we have eaten, slept, learned, studied, laughed, cried, played, and experienced life together with, but it makes me desire to go back home and find my own community and live the way Jesus desires us to.  I'm excited to go home and be in the world, (and by God's grace) showing Christ to everyone I come into contact with.  

(Fun in Fresno with some CBU friends: Ethan, Rissa, and Bryce)

The Lord has been so faithful and he continues to be my solid rock on which I stand.  He has never failed me and never would.  This semester He has blessed me in so many different ways, when I'm not even expecting it.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the blessings He has brought into my life.

(Bryce and I hiking with friends)

He is so good!

trusting through the uncertainties...

So here are some pictures from our Axis trip to Ft. Worth.

These kids were SO much fun to work with!  I would love to teach these kids everyday.  I really feel like teaching is my spiritual gift and I would really love to become a teacher (which is so weird because I have NEVER wanted to stay in school...EVER!).  

Life is starting to become so complicated!  I have one last semester at Cal Baptist and then I'll graduate in May!  How insane is that??  

We found some old family videos tonight and watched them.  How on earth did I grow up so fast?  It was just yesterday that my dad and mom surprised us with a basketball hoop for Christmas (that was the best Christmas by the way)!  My biggest care then was if we were going to win our games that week!  

Now I'm trying to think about jobs and whether or not to go to seminary and where to go to seminary, where does the Lord want me to live...not to mention countless other really important decisions.  My emotions are unreliable and why is it that I sometimes care so much about what people think.  

Oh how I want to let the Lord do amazing things with my life and yet, when amazing things do happen, I get really scared.  The Lord has proven Himself so faithful in my life already and there is no reason why I need to worry.  Oh how I want to be faithful to the Lord by trusting Him completely with this part of my life.  

He is so worthy of a childlike faith and of my honest praise and of my unashamed love; of a holy life and of my sacrifice and of my unashamed love...

thanksgiving break begins...

(this pic is not from this texas trip but it was from a previous axis trip for a church from Denver)

So the axis trip was such a success.  The Lord used our team so diversely through the talents he has given us.  It was so amazing to watch the presentation come together with our creativity.  It was a pretty wealthy high school and jr. high so they were really into their music and iphones, but I know that the Lord did some amazing work!  

I was able to tell my story about soccer and how the Lord broke me and gave me new purpose for my life.  It was awesome.  There were a couple girls that came up to me afterward and thanked me for sharing my story.  One of the girls played soccer and is injured and there is no promise that she will be able to play again!  Another girl had just signed with a university to play basketball for them and she said that she really needed to hear that she shouldn't find purpose in basketball but in glorifying the Lord.  

It was a pretty big soccer school and so I became really good friends with both the guys and girls soccer team.  They were pretty awesome.  It was so much fun to be able to speak in their chapel and then to go to class with them, eat lunch with them, and I was even able to go to a soccer practice!  It was so much fun.  

Every time we present at a school it just confirms that I love being apart of students' lives.  I love spending time with them and teaching them.  This internship has been such a huge blessing.  I can't wait to see what the Lord has next!

Now, I'm waiting in the airport for my flight to leave from Denver.  My bag weighed exactly 50 lbs and the guy checking me in asked me if I did this often. haha  I told him that I was actually here last night! :)  Anyways, I'm flying into Sacramento where I will get to stay with my friend Bryce and his family until my parents come up and drive to get me tomorrow.  I'm so excited to be back in California!  I love Colorado but I miss my family.  I need a school break as well...although I do have to write a 5 page paper right now.  So I better go.:)  

axis in texas.

So we are off to Fort Worth Texas to do an axis presentation.  There are 6 team members on this trip including myself:

Rachel, Bri, Simon, Meghan, and David our Supervisor.  We are speaking to a bunch of high schoolers for 3 days.  We are super excited.  I will post more pictures later if we have internet access.  

Oh, and I guess I should explain what axis is, in case you don't know.  It is my practicum while I am at Focus on the Family.  We do a presentation on worldviews and use media clips to explain what worldviews are being portrayed in our country.  We use movies and music and explain what the lyrics mean and what messages they are sending/targeting their audiences and bring to light what the media is doing in our culture.  

Please pray for Simon.  He has a sprained ankle and just got the flu (which has been going around the institute...I haven't gotten it...yet).  Pray for our team and our supervisor and that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He leads us as we teach the students.  Also, please pray for the students hearts and that they would be so soft as truth is revealed and darkness is overcome by light!  Thank you!

i can't wait to go back!

I miss these days!  Good ol' CBU!  I can't wait to come back, especially with all that I have learned from being here in Colorado.  God is so good and He blows me away everyday!  He has allowed me to do so much and I am so thankful to be able to come back for one more semester! :)

the great debates

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my life in colorado

ok, so Colorado is probably one of the most beautiful places in the fall.  My camera cannot capture how beautiful the yellow leaves are, but here are a few pictures of my apartment and life at Focus.

Our apartments are really great.  Here is the front view:

Every morning I get to go outside on our porch and drink coffee while I see this view:

And this is pikes peak a little bit to the left of that view:)  It is gorgeous!

So, welcome to my apartment:)  This is the kitchen and desk/dinner table area:

And this is the living room (and Callie):

Then you walk a little farther and you come to my bedroom and bathroom:)

So this is my home.  I love it here!  My roommates and I love to take pictures so here are a few from random days at the institute:

Here is a pic from our first day of school:

And here is a pic of our first day of church in the Springs (p.s. look at the mountains in the background!):

So there were a few september birthdays.  One of our friends had a birthday party next door so our apartment decided to go to goodwill and buy some fun party clothes (This picture still makes me laugh):

I shared my birthday with another student here at the institute, Ashlie.  She is pretty much my twin.  We have taken a bunch of personality tests and we are both the "powerful hammer" and a "lion".  This means we are take control/competitive girls. lol  Anyways, we went to an airforce football game for our birthdays.  Then for dinner a whole bunch of us went out for dinner.  It was so much fun!

We also had a girls weekend retreat in the mountains and here is yet another roomie pic.:)  This is prob my fav pic so far!

We have also done a lot of hiking and I have made some really great friends.  Today was a super cold and foggy day.  We watched some college football and then decided to take a short road trip to denver to visit the outlet mall.:)  Getting new jeans on sale at the gap outlet for $20 (that actually fit well) is just SO exciting:)

why is he so popular?

I need your help:)

Hi everyone!

So my practicum for Focus on the Family is with the group Axis and we will be going to christian high schools and colleges, presenting different worldviews through media targeted to their age group.  To give you an example last night I went with my team to go watch the first presentation at a youth group in Colorado Springs.  We present a gird of 6 questions addressing:

reality: what is real?

origin: where did we come from?

identity: who am I?

ethics: what is right and what is wrong?

purpose: what is the meaning of life?

death: what happens after I die?

And the worldviews we present to the students are:

naturalism: the belief that only the natural realm exists (i.e. Atheism, Humanism, etc.)

spiritualism: the belief that only the spiritual realm exists (i.e. New Age, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.)

theism: the belief that spiritual and physical realms co-exist (i.e. Islam, Judaism, Christianity, etc.)

So last night two of the questions we presented to the students was: whoa am I and what is the meaning of life?

Then they played a clip from a song by the Pussycat Dolls: When I grow up---

(here are the lyrics)

But I ain't complaining 
We all wanna be famous 
So go ahead and say what you wanna say 
You know what it's like to be nameless 
Want them to know what your name is 
'Cause see when I was younger I would say 

[Chorus] 
When I grow up 
I wanna be famous 
I wanna be a star 
I wanna be in movies 

When I grow up 
I wanna see the world 
Drive nice cars 
I wanna have Groupies 

When I grow up 
Be on TV 
People know me 
Be on magazines 

When I grow up 
Fresh and clean 
Number one chick when I step out on the scene 

This song has such a great beat and a lot of the students in the youth group were singing to it and dancing in their seats but reading the lyrics made the song open up such new meaning.  The media is targeting students like no other! 

Anyways, I have to find these kinds of clips.  If you watch any movies or see a youtube video or reality show, or music video and you see how it has a specific worldview, let me know!!  It can even be a song or a billboard picture or magazine.  Anything that has a clear message from the media to students enforcing their worldview on their listeners.  Even websites would be helpful to me:)

With this assignment I'm pretty ruined for life. lol  I can't watch anything or hear anything without thinking really hard about the lyrics and what message the artist is trying to express/teach.  It is scary how oblivious we are about the media.  

Thanks for your help!

JFA

ok, so I borrowed a friend's camera memory card reader, so now I have pictures to share with you!! :)

So, the Justice For All day was a really great experience!  I learned so much and was able to really share Christ with a few students.

Thank you all for praying.  Here are a couple pictures of the and our couple days.  I want you to be able to see how big the exhibit is but some of the pictures are pretty graphic...so just a warning:

The 2 days we were on the Colorado State University campus was absolutely amazing. I had some really great conversations with students. I'd like to share some of those conversations with you.

One of the girls I talked to the first day was just staring at the exhibit so I went up to her and asked her what she thought. She replied that she really didn't know what she thought about the issue. It really has amazed me how we have been trapped by what the media is telling us about right and wrong. I talked to so many people who would say that they would never get an abortion and they would agree that the unborn was still a human being but that they still couldn't tell a woman what she should do with her body. It was amazing. It was heartbreaking as well. Anyways, I talked with that girl for about 15 minutes about the issue and she asked me what I thought abo

ut the cases of rape and incest (that was the most common question...and those cases only make up 1% of all abortions). I was able to share with her about how much I valued life and although that was such an AWFUL situation, it still created a life and there is a reason that the life was created. We were also able to talk about our world and society and by the time she walked away she had an opinion about the issue and she understand why she valued human life. 

I have a million stories about people who flat out just wanted to fight and yell, but the cool thing with JFA is that we want to share the love of Christ in our actions so when you looked at the people around the exhibit, all of the students that were having conversations with us were being loved on. I can't believe how many students we were able to pray with. 

But another story I want to share is that I saw this other girl just staring at the exhibit with such despair on her face. I went up to her and asked her how she was doing. She said that she was feeling so depressed. She had a cross necklace on (I know that doesn't mean much) and so I started hinting at Christianity a bit. I explained why we were out here. She said that she was pro-life but that these pictures make her even more pro-life. She then said that it seems hopeless though. I told her about the other story of the girl I talked to that morning and explained that no matter what, people are talking about this issue more now. After she heard that story she lit up. I told her that I was praying for the Christians at the school because I knew this was going to affect them so much. I knew that the professors were talking about it in their classes and probably harassing the students. She was SO grateful and so encouraged. She told me that she would be praying for us. It was awesome to meet her because I was in her shoes 2 years ago at my school.

So anyways, thank you SO much for praying. Oh One last story I HAVE to tell you is that one of the girls from Focus (Jenna) shared her testimony with one of the students at CSU and she told Jenna that she had taken a pregnancy test that morning and called to schedule an abortion appointment for that afternoon. She tole Jenna that she wasn't going to go to the appointment later on in the afternoon because of Jenna's testimony! So amazing! Praise the Lord! He is so amazing. Thank you thank you thank you for praying!

JFA is coming to UCLA in May.  I'm planning on helping out there so if anyone wants to get trained and help out let me know (especially you CBU students since we are so close!) let me know and I'll keep you updated.

please pray!

So tomorrow all of the Focus on the Family Institute Students are joining with "Justice For All" to engage students from Colorado Christian University about the issue of abortion.  We will be first and foremost showing the students the love of Christ in our actions and words.  We will be talking about the pro-life stance and why we believe in it.   Pray that we would rely on the Holy Spirit for wisdom, discernment, and for Christ to fill us with His love for these people.  Also, please pray that the Lord would open up doors for us to share the gospel.

We will be at Colorado State University for 2 days (tomorrow and tuesday).  I can't wait to update you about what the Lord is going to do!  Thank you for your prayers!

Gianna Jessen

I saw this woman tell her amazing testimony at Modesto High School a few years ago.  She was aborted by her mother of a saline injection.  A long needle injects a strong salt solution through the mother's abdomen into the baby's sac. The baby swallows this fluid and is poisoned by it. It also acts as a corrosive, burning off the outer layer of skin. It normally takes somewhat over an hour for the baby to die from this. Within 24 hours, labor will usually set in and the mother will give birth to a dead or dying baby.  They are usually left unattended to die.  While the abortionist was off duty this precious baby was born and because she was still alive, the nurse transferred her over to an incubator and saved her life.   She has cerebral palsy and was told that she would never walk again.  She was adopted and became a Christian.  She now runs marathons and sings beautifully.  This video is pretty powerful!

p.s. if you go youtube Gianna there are a lot of great videos about her story, especially how she met her biological mother.  Here are 2 videos of a little bit of her story that she talks about at a conference in Australia:

Part 1:

Part 2:

community

Today we had our Gender and Leadership Studies Professor talk about our strengths and how they contribute to working as a community as the Body of Christ.  He also talked about how knowing our strengths can help us overcome our weaknesses.  It was such a great lecture today.  I enjoyed it SO much!  He showed us this clip.  It is really great!  Tell me what you think of it.:)

The Battle at Kruger:

meet my new roommates

So I'm all moved in!! I can't believe that I'm living in Colorado.  Crazy!  This is the view from our balcony.  It wasn't the prettiest day but pretty awesome nonetheless!  The only sad thing is that I left my USB cord for my camera so these are stolen pictures.  I have a lot of fun pictures of our apartment but you'll just have to wait for those until my momma sends me the cord (and Mere Christianity cause I have to read it for class and my bank statement...oh the joys of moving and forgetting things).  

So, anyways...without further ado I introduce to you my new roommates:)

From Left to Right: Danielle, Brenda, and Callie.

So Danielle is from Minnesota and I share a room with her.  She makes the long 'O' sound and I have adopted it as my own.  I don't know how many times a day we laugh when she asks me a question and I reply, "Sure, you betcha!"  I told her to describe herself in one sentence and she said that she is a positively charged blast of fresh air. AND...I TOTALLY agree:)  Oh, and those glasses that she is wearing are totally fake.

Brenda (the one in the mask) is from Michigan.  She is one of 7 children and lives on a dairy farm.  She knows how to make homemade bread and brought a bread machine so we are definitely looking forward to homemade bread when we get home from family dinner tonight!  (Fam dinner is when all of the 84 Focus students get together with the Staff and have dinner.)  She also say's 'pitch' instead of 'throw away'.  She describes herself as a fun loving, Christ follower.  Since that doesn't describe too much detail, I will add my own opinion (she approved it of course).  Brenda is a responsible, front row sitter, detailed, always on time, surprises us at numerous talents we never would have guessed she would have (hence the hockey picture-yes Brenda plays hockey and this was at her first scrimmage here trying out for a women's competitive hockey league in Colorado Springs!).  Basically the Lord new what He was doing when He placed her with us.:)  If anyone really knows me, knows that I am not very good at remembering details such as time and dates.  So, when Brenda walked in the door with the handbook and the numerous pages that we were emailed memorized, we knew this was an orchestration from the Mighty One.  (I didn't even print off those emails or handbook:))  Callie (who is the 3rd roommate) just said that she is going to be so much smarter 

living with Brenda! lol

So, on to Callie.  Callie is from Cleveland, Tennessee so I definitely grilled her all about Tennessee and we talk about the south all the time:)  Callie loves sweet tea, Dr. Pepper, Tennessee football, Chicago Cubs baseball and Jesus. :)  She's not a fan of honey or pantyhose and she is interning at Focus's Counseling Department (which she is really stoked about).  So with her southern accent influence and Hanky's northern accent, they joke that my accent is going to sound confused.  

So far it has been going really great.  I have been so blessed with great roommates.  Everyone here is really great.  We went through orientation these first couple of days and then this past weekend went on a retreat where we did lots of team building exercises an

d really started getting to know those in our groups.  We also went hiking which was AWESOME!  

Focus has split the 84 of us into 2 groups: Alpha and Omega.  I'm in Omega.  I am interning with Focus's Axis group.  This group is a traveling group that presents a Christian Worldview and what that looks like through media demonstrations to high school and college campuses.  Our team is comprised of about 12 students and we will travel to Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.  We will go to those campuses and present, through interaction of movie clips and music, the concept of a worldviews and the importance of understanding worldviews that are present in our culture, as well as convince students of the truth, relevance, and necessity of a Biblical worldview.  So, I'm totally stoked.  I'll get to do presentations as well as act in a role.  I'm just excited to be able to teach students and get them excited about living for Christ.

Other than that I have sat through 2 classes already.  Christian Worldview studies by Dr. Leland and Marriage and Family Studies by Dr. and Linda Pampeyan.  They are awesome so far.  We have been reading about 100-150 pages each night for homework.  We

 are reading books such as "Making All Things New" by Henri J.M. Nouwen, "How To Win The Culture War" by Peter Kreeft, "The Abolition of Man" by C.S. Lewis, "The Universe Next Door" by James W. Sire, "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas, and "The Search For Significance" by Robert Mcgee.  This is just for the first couple days....there are LOTS more to come!  So stay tuned.  I will definitely let you know if I read a really good one!:)

We also have taken one personality test.  We had to read through it before class today and one of the things it described me as was that I relate well to people but I give priority to the task.  When I read that description I was at Brenda's hockey game! lol I read it to Callie and Hanky and they died laughing!  We were at Brenda's hockey game...I was loving being there and hanging out but I was giving priority to the task because I had my homework there! lol  

It was pretty accurate on my personality.  There were some inaccuracies, but most of it was really funny to think about.  For example, my attitude during competition is "I will win, you will lose."  If you have ever competed with me you have probably heard that exact sentence out of my mouth!! lol  

Anyways, I am really having such a blast.  I do miss home and CBU and the routine and people I got to see on a regular basis, but the Lord is teaching me so much already.  It is easier to be content when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are where the Lord wants you to be.  He is continuing to humble me in all areas, which is not easy, but is so awesome to think that He would love me so much to refine me and take away all of the sinful areas and make me more like Him.  I was reading Ps. 136 today.  It is such an amazing psalm, exclaiming the Lord's everlasting lovingkindness.  The Lord just keeps reminding me that He is such a faithful God and that He is worthy of ALL my affection and focus.  

p.s. 

I promise to post more pictures of the apartment soon.  So keep a look out:)

we have a picture of an elk on our plane

So we are in the Sacramento airport right now.  I'm excited that I don't have to travel alone this time.  We have a mess of bags around us.  I got everything in 2 suitcases, 2 very large (and pushing the limit) carry ons, 2 purses and overflow in dad's suitcase.  But I got everything in!! :)

This last weekend was super fun.  Saturday my friends Bryce and Trevor came down to hang out with my fam.  We had "special olympics" in the pool that included relay races, marco polo games, and cannon ball contests.  We also watched What About Bob which is one of my favs!  I got to see everyone at church one last time which is always so encouraging!

Ok, I've got to go to the bathroom before we get on the plane.  Those airplane toilets scare me.  Why do they have to be so loud??

oh and for those of you who are avid readers, I'm reading "When I don't desire God" by John Piper which is really good.  I'm almost done.  My mom is reading "Never Surrender" by Gen. William G. Boykin.  She just started it.  He was a commander of US Army Special Forces and she is really excited about it.:)  

p.s.

Crazy...we just saw people that we know really well that are on our same plane!  Sometimes it seems that we know everyone.  

ok BYE! 

for those Princess Bride fans

For Labor Day we went to Diablo Grande so Dad and John Boy could go golfing: 

While the girls went bike riding:)

This was after our bike ride:

The day was hilarious (of course, with my family...how could it not be??)!  Anyways, enjoy the very talented actresses as they demonstrate one of the classic scenes (that my family regularly quotes) in the Princess Bride.

1 month today

Today is September 4th and that means that it has been 1 month since I left the south (although sometimes I say certain words with a bit of a drawl...or so they tell me)!  I can't believe it!  How I miss the 7 of the other first guinea pig interns for Precept Ministries!

Wow...We were the first!! How awesome is that?!  Lord, why did you choose me??  It is really a miracle I was even there this summer!  These 7 grew up basically with each other every year, seeing each other once at Boot Camp every summer.  I was blessed to be able to join them and be a part of this family that's goal was to teach the Word of God.  It was nothing that we did to deserve this opportunity, but by God's amazing grace!  It's so amazing to think how the Lord orchestrated the past couple years, meeting the right people and providing for me to serve with Precept and then allowing me to serve there for a few months this summer!  How great is our God that we serve!

I just want to list a few of the things, I can think of on the top of my head, that He taught me:

-humility

-reliance upon Him

-sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's leading (especially during teaching times in class!)

-not showing partiality

-faith and works

-being a doer of the Word and not just a hearer that deludes himself

-sensitivity to others' feelings

-loving people in my thoughts toward them

-different ways to have small groups and the importance of them

-we studied Acts, John, James

-how to better study the Bible for myself

-the importance of the Word

-the importance of prayer

-that pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God is to visit orphans and widows in their time of distress

-the tongue and how destructive it is!

-what spiritual warfare looks like

-teaching and how to effectively teach and how to hold a discussion just using the text in front of me

-working hard

-how the body of Christ should look like

-Discipleship and mentoring

-Hungering for God's Word

-how ministry looks (and how various it can be)/how ministry shouldn't look

-learning about how a ministry runs

-how vital Prayer is

-trusting God with today, and then when tomorrow comes, trusting Him with that day

-getting strength from only Him

-being real and honest

-Godly marriages and families come in all different shapes and sizes because He has different purposes for each one.

The Lord blessed me so much.  I got to work with amazing people that constantly kept pointing me to the Lord and encouraged me to glorify and serve the Lord.  I was able to work with some pretty great kids too.  It was so amazing to be a part of their lives for a couple weeks.  I love keeping in contact with them on facebook.  

The Lord definitely got me out of my comfort zone (He always does...and I'm SO thankful He does:)).  He let me help lead worship on the praise team.  That was definitely a humbling experience in itself!  

The Lord truly blessed me beyond imagine this summer.  I can't believe how much he grew me.  This summer was definitely a catalyst in my life and I will always look back to it as a defining point in my life.  

So...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU all of you who prayed for me and gave support for the work that God did in my life this summer!  I can't thank you enough for making possible everything that I experienced this summer!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Now I go on to my next "big adventure" (as a lot of people are calling it).  I don't want this time in my life to be the only time that I have big adventures!  I want the Lord stretching me all the time!!  Oh how I pray that I would never be content in where I am but that I would always press on to be stretched and molded by Him!

Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, CO.  Wow, how did I get the privilege of getting to go there?  Precept and Focus all in one year???  God you are so good!  I am excited.  I'm ready to meet new people and grow with them.  I'm ready to hike in some of the most beautiful mountains God has created!  I'm ready to continue the path that the Lord has me on.  I'm ready to learn everything He wants to teach me this Fall.  I'm ready for a "real winter"! :)  

I leave Monday with my parents.  They had their 25th anniversary (Praise the Lord for awesome parents who love the Lord so much)so they are coming with me and then spending a few days in Colorado themselves.  So I'm kinda hogging their luggage space to fit all of my clothes! :)  Pray I can get everything in 3 suitcases:)  lol

I can't wait to update again what God is teaching me (hopefully how to pack for a whole semester in a limited amount of space)!