Haiti, VBX, Half-marathon training,

   It's been a while since I've posted a blog entry...
 A couple of weeks ago at church we had VBX and I worked with the 2-3yr olds. Let me take a side-step and say it was so much fun watching the preschoolers learn about the greatness of God. One thing that completely warmed my heart was when we did "offering time" each night, the kids would get so excited about giving their money to help others. The other thing that was a blessing was seeing kids worship with their families on the last night of VBX (family night.) 
     Last week was a particularly hard week in the training for the half marathon and the giving up of the mountain dew. I have to be honest that there times when I was ready to give up on both simply because both were hard. But God brought to mind Philippians 4:13 which says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." I kept praying God give me the strength. On Saturday I was able to run five miles (without stopping) and as of right now as I am sitting here typing this blog, I have only had one caffeinated beverage (and yes it was a diet mountain dew) today. This journey of giving up the diet mountain dew will continue to be hard but I know that God will give me the strength to do what He has called me to do! (and he will do it for you to if you just ask for it!!)
   Next update: HAITI...Can't believe it's so soon!!! I leave in 23 days (in just over 3 weeks)!! I am so excited about what God is going to do there!! Here's how you can pray for this journey to Haiti:
        1) pray for protection of the team members (physical & spiritual)
        2) pray that we would all be able to raise the amount of financial
             support necessary...
        3) that God would be begin to soften & prepare the lives to be
            changed by the Gospel




              

Update on Summer goals/plans

     I love how the LORD likes to use analogies in my life. For example, as I was running today I was focused on making it to running for thirty minutes without stopping. I ran on a treadmill and throughout the run I kept looking at the screen to see if I had reached my endpoint. As I was reflecting on my run today Philippians 3:14, which says "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in God in Christ Jesus," came to mind. The analogy, which is a very commonly known one, that the Lord reminded me of was that this life is like running a race and that we press on toward a prize (in running the finish line and in the Christian life it's Heaven.) Yes, I am beyond excited that I have reached the first part of my goal in the half-marathon training in being able to run thirty minutes without stopping. I am also thankful how the Lord is teaching/reminding me of scripture as I work toward the goal.
     As for "water goal", the drinking more water and reducing the amount of Diet Dew I drink is going. I've slowly increased the amount of water that I drink but the amount of Diet Dew is not decreasing.
    I have picked back up on my reading through the Bible in a year this week. The Lord has used this as well to teach/speak to me. I am reading a chronological plan and right now I'm towards the end of the book of Job. Each of Job's friends try to offer explanation to Job for the suffering that he is going through. One thing I've noticed is that his friends are not edifying, or building up, Job in his faith. As I reflected about how this applied in my life two things came to mine 1) I pray that I am edifying to my friends in their faith and that the Lord would show me how to be better at this and 2) I am thankful for the friends God has placed in my life who speak truth to me but at the same time edify me in my faith.


  As for a Haiti update: I am working on & hope to have my support letters out this weekend. I can't believe that journey is only six weeks away!!! Please begin to pray with me for Gospel opportunities & for changed lives.

"I can do nothing without Christ"

           My main purpose when I decided on my goals for the summer were to glorify the Lord with what I was doing. Little did I know that He was going to be teaching me lessons through them. I have started running (my goal is to get to 30 min of running without stopping this week so that I can start a half-marathon running plan next week) and it has been hard. It has been hard on the endurance part. I get five minutes in & I feel like I just want to give up. My goal of cutting back on the Diet Mountain Dew and drinking more water has been hard. The Lord has shown me why it has been hard. That is because I try to do all these things in my own strength. One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:13 which says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." If you think of that verse in opposite terms "I can do nothing without Christ," it makes one think of what Philippians 4:13 is talking about...Everything I set out to do can only be done with the strength that Christ gives me to it with, NOT WITH MY OWN STRENGTH! Something that I am going start praying is "God give me the strength to accomplish these tasks & remind me when I am trying to do it on my own strength." 


Though it's been hard, I am thankful that the LORD is teaching me the lesson of "I can do nothing without Christ!"

New summer plans & new summer goal

               In the last blogpost I posted about three goals I had for this summer. In addition to those goals, I've added one more goal. I've decided that I want to by mid-August have the number of Diet Mountain Dews I drink to 1-2 (it is currently at 7-8 a day) a day and I want to drink 8-10 cups of water a day by mid-August. I want to do this so that I can be more healthy but most of all to glorify God with what I put in to my body.
                I also have a huge praise to share with you all. Since finding out about a month ago that I would not be going to Malawi this summer, I have prayed that God would show me the next steps I am to be taking in regards to mission. Very specifically in the last week, I have been praying that God would show me what (& if I'm supposed) short term mission trip I'm supposed go on this year. (CrossChurch is having a campaign of having people go on a short-term mission journey during the 2012 year & I know that I'm supposed to participate in that.) This last Friday I had a conversation with a friend about the possibility of going to Haiti at the end of July for a week.I told her that I was going to spend the weekend praying about it & would have answer give answer today (so that I could get the ball rolling with everything if it was the Lord's will.) I am confident that the Lord wants me to go to Haiti at the end of July. As I prayed this weekend, I kept trying to talk myself out of going or would try to come up with excuses as to why I shouldn't go. This was especially true Sunday night when I woke up after midnight and couldn't go back to sleep/didn't have peace until I said "yes Lord, I will go." I am reminded of the passage in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah says, "Here am I send me." I want to be like that and go wherever the Lord would have me go. I would greatly appreciate your prayers, as this journey is only seven weeks away!!! the following is a list of things you can be praying for me about regarding the trip:

1. satan would be bound from attacking me or the team
2. that I would be able to raise the support needed to make the journey (the journey costs $1600-1800, I only have seven weeks to raise it, & the financial aspect of a trip always scares me (this is from satan I know and I need to rest solely about Christ)
3. that God would put together the team that He would have to go on this particular journey to Hait

I am thankful for how the Lord continues to show & reveal to me the plans He has for me this summer!! I want to leave you with the verse that I am encouraged with & that is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you"

Summer Goals

                Every year people come up with New Year Resolutions, but I've decided to be different and come up with Summer 2012 resolutions.

1.  I want to start my reading through the Bible through a year plan & stay on track with it. I've tried so many times but let worldly things get in the way. I want to do this to continue to get the big picture & a bigger picture of who God is
2. You may laugh at this one but I want to learn how to ride a bike. Yes, it's confession time. I don't know how to ride a bike. But I've decided I really want to do this.
3. I want to start training for a half marathon again. I started training a few years ago but stopped because I got sick & never got back up to full speed. I enjoy running but enjoy running distances even more (I know that sounds crazy but it's true.) I also feel like it will help teach me Biblical lessons such as discipline, endurance, relying on the Lord for strength when I don't feel like keep going, etc.

Though I don't know what this summer will bring these are some of my goals that I thought I'd share.

Step by Step

                 What? When? How? Where? Why? All common questions that we (myself included) ask God. We live in an age where we want to know and we want to know now. God doesn't always tell us now. Sometimes He makes wait a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade. In the meantime God wants us to walk step by step glorifying and making His name known and seeking Him in all that we do. Everything else will fall into place as we seek those two things. He will guide our each and every step and with the Holy Spirit in us, He will stop us when something is not His will. This is something that the Lord has been teaching me as I wait and seek what is next for me. 

The Words I Would Say

         
    Since finding out a couple of weeks ago that I would not be going to Malawi this summer, I have been praying that God would help me understand what He has planned for me this summer. He has been faithful to reveal a few details (and those details won't be easy but I know that they are a part of God's plan). God has also used the following song to speak to me:

Towards the end of the song there a couple of lines that go "But don't forget why you're here, take your time and pray, Thank God for each day." As much as I would like to know every detail for this summer, the Lord has reminded me to just take time to pray everyday over this summer. I don't know what it holds, but He does and I need to thank Him for each day that He gives me because it is 1) a day that I'm not guaranteed and 2) a day that will be used for my good. This song also talks a lot about not giving up hope. Though I've written before about never giving up, the Lord continues to show me where I've given up. The one thing I have to remember about not being able to go to Malawi this summer is that it doesn't mean I won't ever be able to go back (I'm just not supposed to go right now) and that the LORD will accomplish big things in and through my life (and He will do it in your life too!!) but I can NOT give up hope (and I highly encourage you not to give up hope either...just take your time and pray!!)


Another thing that the LORD has been teaching me is to take it one day at a time. So often I want to plan for the future and get so caught up in worrying about the future that I miss what the LORD has given to me that day.  Besides not being guaranteed tomorrow, we miss out on seeing what God has blessed us with that day.



This may have sounded completely scatterbrained but I really felt like it was something the Lord wanted me to share.