Just Simply Amazing

Have you ever had those moments in your life when God tells you to give something to Him, but you’re afraid, so you say no? Then something happens that makes you feel like you wished you had said yes? Or maybe you did say yes, and you felt that freedom that can only come from God and how His peace just fills your life and you know you made the right choice?

Well through these past couple months, from about November ’till now, God has been asking me to give up certain things in my life so I can be more/better used by Him, and to draw me closer to Him. Some of those things have been my relationships, my movies, my music, and the books I read.

It’s amazing to see that through all the stuff I shove into my brain my brain somehow turns it into what I think and therefore it becomes an action. you know the old saying (at least I think it is, if not I either heard it somewhere or made it up :D) – “What goes in, is what comes out.” It’s crazy to see how that is so true.

So God has been asking me to give up some of these things for more of Him. And slowly, sometimes relunctantly I’ve said yes. And although it was hard to do then; it has sure paid off. God has poured so much blessing into my life it’s incredible! Two main things stand out to me. 1) This session I have been grading homework for about 21 interns (that alone is enough to scare me!) among other things, and God has just given me such a peace and such joy!, and a sense of trust in Him that no matter what i have to do He’s going to carry me through.

At first when all this peace was coming into my life I was thinking that God had given up trying to teach me anymore lessons about anything (cause usually when you’re learning a lesson you’re going through something hard) and when I told a friend this she said that maybe it wasn’t that God had stopped teaching me but that I had finally learned or gotten to the part of just abiding with Him, and in Him, and in His will. And that was the lesson for me this session, was to just abide in Him, and the joy that He’s giving me, and the love for the children that I teach. It’s been absolutely amazing to see the love the God has poured into my heart for these kids, and why? Because I’m in His will.

And not to say that I won’t have trials. I was talking to my Mom about this too and she said that in this sermon this guy had said, “You’re either about to be in a trial, going through a trial, or just finished a trial.” So maybe I’m about to have a trial and God wants me to remember the peace and joy that He can bring me, or maybe I just got through the trial of surrenderring all to Him. Who knows? I’m sure I’ll find out when God wants me to.

The second 2) thing is the opportunities that God has brought into my life are just absolutely amazing! God is so good to bless those who follow His way, obey when He asks us to give our desires to Him, and allow Him to take control of every area of our life. Even the small ones that seem unimportant, like the books we read, but those small things influence us and God wants it to be glorifying to Him, and Him alone. I wan’t wait to see what God is going to do in my life next!! Hope to keep you updated! =)

Abiding in Him,

Camille

Wow! If you have never done a one month New Testament or three month Old Testament challenge (to read it within those days) I encourage you to do it. Last session Chad had the team do a 30 day New Testament challenge. That was very exciting and very challenging (thus it being called a challenge :P) it was really neat to see how all the books fit together, how it all related.

 It was amazingly crazy how much you had to read everyday in order to keep up with what you were supposed to be reading that day. You had to be reading in every spare moment that you had, otherwise you would surely not make it. I realized that if I really wanted to know God’s word I had to be serious about reading it; not just my two chapters sporratically put throughout the week, but consistently; and not just reading but really thinking about what you’re reading, and meditating on it.

Anyways it was very eye-opening for me and in the begining of January of 2012 Mom asked me if I wanted to do a 3 month challenge to read the Old Testament with her. We began and terrible as it was I got behind, but I kept at it, Mom kept encouraging me and I was doing okay, until I found out that we had somehow skipped putting 1 and 2 Kings into the 3 months! Now I am really behind!

I’m still going to try for my goal of 3 months, and we shall see how I do. =) If you ever need something to help deepen your Bible reading and open your eyes a little bit I encourage you to try doing a New or Old Testament challenge.

In His Hands,

Camille

Bri’s getting married to John Christenson!

(sorry i don’t have a picture i can put up right now)

Oh my goodness! So my family and I are going going through wisdom booklet 5 this month…the character quality is meekness. When I found out that we were going to be learning about meekness this month. My exact thoughts were “Oh well this will be easy, I mean I already give God everything. This shouldn’t be hard at all.”

Well let me just tell you. It is SO hard to give EVERYTHING to God! You know when God wants you to give Him everything, He doesn’t mean just the big important things, He means everything even the little tiny things

ONE of my experiences I had this month was…. Wait a minute, first you have to know that me, I’m a person that doesn’t like sleep, I LOVE my sleep! Usually on Saturday’s I sleep in until like 10:30 or 11:00 (I’d sleep in longer but my mom won’t let me)…. anyways Friday evening I asked Mr. Marshal (Somebody who works in the kitchen) what time he needed me in the kitchen the next day. Well I was expecting him to say something like 11:00 or later. But nooooo he was like “8:00” and my response was “a…am?” he was like “Yup 8:00 am.” While my mind was trying to figure out what that was, my mouth dropped open and I was like “Wait 8:00 AM? But that means I have to get up at like sev…seven…thirty! I’m gonna die!” I tried to convince him how I need my sleep…but those of you who know Mr. Marshal, well he doesn’t change his mind very easily. That night I told myself that I was going to get up at 7:30. So EARLY EARLY the next morning I woke up and I looked at the clock and it was 7:25. I was like: “YES 5 more minutes of my precious sleep!” Well at 7:30 I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I got up and got ready to work in the kitchen….yeah anyways… giving up something as small as sleeping in, is kinda hard.

Yielding my personal rights and expectations to God, is something that I’m going to be learning for quite awhile.

~Josie

Giving it all to God

“Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, it’s pleasures and it’s pains to a dear friend.”

~Francois Fenelon

People won’t always be there for us, but God is always there, waiting for us to talk to Him.

Sometimes we feel like God is walking away from us, but really it is us who is walking away from Him, He’s always  there for us.

“When God tests you, it is a good time for you to tes Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary.” ~Author Unknown

What does it mean to worship God? When you think of the word worship what comes to your mind? For me worship involves singing. Singing hymns at church, singing around the piano at home, singing with the radio…there’s a pattern to my worship. Singing. Music. But is that all that worship is? or can be? Or could it be more? At church this evening our youth group music leader was talking about how worship isn’t just singing. That is one big part of it and there is a feeling of unity when you do sing with people.

But it’s also in the everyday things. In the way we handle things when they fall apart, in the way we treat our family, our friends. in the way we treat that person at school whose always annoying you, the way we act when we’re all alone, the way we act towards our teachers, in school. That is a way to worship God. To show people that yes, we are Christians. That we love God. And not just at church where we stop living our lives for an hour or two, worship God, and then go back to living our lives. That’s like doing God a favor. Like saying, “Hey God, I’m going to stop my life for an hour and worship You and try to learn more about You.” But afterwards we go back to our lives where God is just a little corner in our busy lives. Coming out only on Sundays and Wecnesdays.

But that isn’t what worship is. Worship is living our lives for God. Doing everything for His glory, showing His love to the people He’s placed in our lives, knowing Him, and spending time with Him, talking to Him. That is true worship. It’s not a duty, it’s a pleasure.

What do YOU think worship is?

In His Hands,

Camille

“It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead. How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God’s great Son, not seeing one shoreline or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.”          ~From Days of Heaven upon Earth

So many choices, things, people, options, and venues surround us today and beg for our attention. They claim fame, fortune, prosperity, recognition, health, welfare, family, and more. With crayon-drawn maps, the world flaunts at us its little crooked stick roads with wobbly, lopsided projections of the nicest rest stops, exotic islands, and 5-star hotels. It attempts to entice us with the “best of the best!” and we follow along. In the midst of the business meetings, college, grocery shopping and the fun and games, along with the pitiful attempts at controlling our lives, we lose sight of where we should really be headed…and of what we truly want. Now, these aren’t bad things…until we let them control us. Because if we continue to look down at what the world has to offer we will lose sight of what is most important.

We fool ourselves into thinking we are sincerely happy, when in reality we hide our true disdain. We get so caught up in what everyone else is doing and how they’re doing it, and how we can then prove ourselves better. We give up eternal blessings, true joy, immeasureable peace, and so much more all because of the adament drive to live in a realm that gratifies our desire for “life, love, and the pursuit of happiness”. Sadly, we push to the side the perfect plan God has laid out for us. Satan is good at helping individuals believe that we know better than God and when things don’t go as we’ve planned he makes a way for us to blame God in an attempt to sever the trust we have in Him.

Trust me when I say that I KNOW life is hard sometimes. We go about trying to be happy and live a “normal” life, but then situations don’t go as planned, the party gets crashed, and our little world gets turned upside down. Honestly, I believe “hard” is just a mindset. True, our “adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8) But Christ has already said, “…Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail…” (Luke 22:31-32)

Lately, I’ve been wondering why (at 19 years old) 1. I don’t have a car, 2. I’m not doing the “typical college thing”, 3. I’ve lost my best friend, my family, and a few other things, 4. I’m currently unemployed, 5. I hang out with couples and individuals who are all at a thriving young age of at least 60, 5. and I watch game shows and do laundry for fun. Even to me that seems a little eccentric. And at times, it’s a bit discouraging. BUT, going back what the quote said at the beginning of this post, if I want to reach my final destination I need to constantly take my instruments and search for the unwavering Guide that is always there for me. I must get my eyes of the swirling sea around me and look above for my direction.

If I would stop worrying because I can’t see a lighthouse beam, if I would quit being distraced because I see only ocean and no pathway, if I would lay aside becoming fearful after not seeing a shoreline for a few months, then (and only then) will I be free to continually look to the Son for my direction.

I know by what means I am charting my course, but… Where are you looking?

~Brianna

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” ~Jeremiah 29:11

“Great faith is exhibited not so much in ability to do as to suffer.” ~Dr. Charles Parkhurst

“To have a sympathizing God we must have a suffering Savior, and there is no true fellow-feeling with another save in the heart of him who has been aflicted like him. We cannot do good to others save at a cost to ourselves, and our afflictions are the price we pay for our ability to symphathize. He who would be a helper, must first be a sufferer. He who would be a savior must somewhere and somehow have been upon a cross; and we cannot have the highest happiness of life in succoring others without tasting the cup which Jesus rank, and submitting to the baptism wherewith He was baptized… The present circumstance, which presses so hard against you (if surrendered to Christ), is the best-shaped tool in the Father’s hand to chisel you for eternity. Trust Him, then. Do not push away the instrument lest you lose its work. For the school of suffering graduates rare scholars.”
~Excerpt from Streams in the Desert

I know we haven’t written in a long time, and I’m sorry. But it’s been very busy, that’s my excuse anyways. But I’m only going to be able to tell you a few things that have been going on. I can’t remember all of them and it would be way too long of a post to do that. So here we go…

Since January I have done two more sessions with In The Gap (ITG) and am on the last week of the second one. (ITG is a character program that goes into the public school to teach children character. If you didn’t know) And that is very busy and time consuming of itself. =) This session I was what you would call an “unofficial staff member.” Which means I do almost everything a staff member does without having signed a contract. A.k.a. signed my life away. =D although my boss is trying very hard to get me to sign, that way I can’t leave.  =P  So for this Spring session that we’re in I taught a lot of the Level One training with my boss (Chad Christiansen) doing the rest. It was very fun, challenging, growing, and I learned a lot about being a teacher. It helped me grow closer to God and to be a better teacher, and learn how to answer lots of questions. =)

One crazy thing that has been happening since January, (seriously) is remodeling an apartment for us to move into. We’re going to be moving up to the tenth floor, and have a dining room, and living room, an actual sink, a stove and a dishwasher!! =) It’s like heaven on earth after not having one for so long. But the progress is slow, and since we’ve been working on it since January our enthusiasm has somewhat…um… disappeared. Which is part of the reason it’s taken so long (please pray that we finish fast). But hooray! we are getting closer and we are almost, and I think it’s for real this time, almost done. Which will be so amazing. God has truly blessed us with getting a bigger apartment. =)

One last thing that has happened since Januray was the Art’s Festival!! Which is kind of like a carnival with mostly artsy stuff and tons of yummy food =) I’m sure you can guess where I was. =D During that week we were out raising money by giving out water bottles by donation. We sold them through all kinds of crazy weather which kept us praying for hot and sunny days. And we got them, all except for two, which was really nice. But although we had those hot and sunny days I went against all common sense and didn’t wear sunscreen. I know, I know, it was NOT the smartest thing to do, but I wanted a good tan! and that was the only sure way to get one. I’m sure you can imagine what happened at the end of the week. I was as red as a…I don’t know, a something. I was very red, is the main point. And burnt to the crisp, at least my shoulders, neck, and forehead. Oh, especially my forehead; which felt like it was on fire it was so hot to touch. I felt like a walking oven. Now something you should know is, I have never been sunburned…NEVER. And I always told that to all the poor sunburned, peeling people that I never got sunburned. So this was a new expirience for me. Well, a friend of mine loaned me some aloe lotion and I lathered myself up hoping and praying that I wouldn’t start peeling. And for like three or four days I was good, I could breathe, I wasn’t peeling, had a nice tan, and everything. But as the Biblt says, pride always comes before the fall, and my forehead started peeling. (Don’t laugh -.-) Well, I wasn’t actually peeling, you see I had two splotches on my forehead of where I was going to peel and hadn’t yet. And that was way worse than actually peeling, cause it wouldn’t come off. Finally it did after a day or two and some hard scrubbing. =D It was terrible though, cause all these kids kept asking me, “What’s wrong with your face?” and that was so embarrassing. But I finally made it through and now that my face is fine my right shoulder decided to peel, so I’m in for another ride, hopefully the last.

Anyways, that’s kinda what’s been going on around here, sorry this was so late in coming, but thank you to all those who do read our blog, and may God use it to bless your day in some way. I’m going to try (emphasis on the try) to do better at blogging… we shall see how I do. =) May God bless you today!

Filled with His Joy, 

Camille