C'est Fini!

Hey friends!

I know it probs seemed like I was gonna leave you hanging, but I won't! (: It's funny how it's so much harder to find time to get stuff done when you aren't busy! I don't procrastinate, either. Ever. (That's a joke!!!)

Anyways, yes, project is over and finished. It was the fastest, most stretching, most fulfilling, most growing, most lovely summer I've ever experienced in my life. I can't even begin to describe to you all that God did in me and through me. You've had a chance to see along the way, but I am sure I can't even fully grasp the ways God has changed me. People told me coming into project that I would be a different person coming out of the summer. I didn't know if that would be true for me, but I am positive that God has done beautiful things.
I'll tell you about the things that have resonated in my heart the most...

Eternal perspective is something I have gained in huge ways. I've always been aware that our lives are short compared to eternity, but I feel like I've finally realized how the little things don't matter and how much God and people are truly what matters. It won't matter, in the end, if I had all the clothes I wanted or if I got a bad exam score. What will last is how I served God and others, how I loved. I think about this often as I tend to worry so much about insignificant things. I've realized that this is not our home...why would it be if we live here for such a short time compared to where we're going?! So I shouldn't live like these material things matter so much.

A wonderful example of eternal perspective comes to mind when I think about singing You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham during project. During the third verse when we sang "Now You are sitting on your heavenly throne, soon we will be coming home! You're beautiful," everyone's hands went up. I could feel that we were all ecstatic at the thought that soon we would be coming home to be with Jesus. How often to people think that way? I know I don't very often, but once I did, I realized how awesome it will be to get to praise Jesus with all my friends and family who love Him too!!! Such a great thought.
One of the hardest thoughts for me to process is that after an incredible summer together, all 100 of us students won't be together again until we're all in heaven. It's crazy but it's true! It makes me sad, yet I know forever together won't be too bad either. (:

Another thing that has been impressed on me is the satisfaction that Christ offers. Identity in Christ is something I had started to learn about freshman year of college, and this summer God revealed so much more to me. As humans we spend so much of our time chasing after worldly things that can't satisfy us. I have spent so much time throughout my life wondering why I don't feel like I measure up or like I'm good enough. I have thought that if I could excel at something, then people would look at me and see that I have worth. So whether it was with the sports I was in or the grades I got or with my appearance, I continuously sought after perfection in order to prove to people, myself, and to God that I had worth. The thing is, nothing was ever good enough. I was never satisfied, no matter how fast I ran or how close to 100% I got. I wondered why I felt that way, and now I know why.

My good friend Katie gave a message on this during project and it hit home. She explained, "To the murderer, how many victims will ever be enough? To the sex addict, how much sex will ever be enough? To the alcoholic, how many drinks will ever be enough? To the person with poor body image, how skinny or beautiful will ever be enough? To the person with poor self-worth, how much acceptance or praise or attention will ever be enough?" Nothing will ever be enough because only Christ can satisfy. Hearing this made me feel like I could exhale after holding my breath for a very long time. I could stop trying so hard because I'm already Christ's daughter and his beloved! Not to say that I don't struggle with this at all anymore, but my view of this has definitely been changed. I can stop striving after perfection because I am loved for exactly who I am by the One who made everything and planned all my days before one of them came to be.
 

Overall, this has been the best summer of my life. I have had a lot of nice summers, but none like this; none where I committed my way completely to the Lord and let Him use me how He chose. This definitely hasn't been the easiest summer; after all, it was still real life. Through the trials that I faced, though, I experienced God's provision over and over and over again. Whether it was with finding a job, losing it, and finding another one, or with my Grandpa's death, there was always only one pair of footprints in the sand. It's hard to believe all that He did in me and through me this summer, and it's all by His grace! I learned that God wants to use me like He did this summer every single day in every place that I'm in. The difference is not that I was on a Cru summer mission project, the difference is obedience. I opened my ears to what He desired for me this summer and obeyed what He told me to do. Because of that small amount of faith, He used me for incredible purposes. After seeing all He did through me I can only stand in amazement at the realization I have come to; I have seen a beautiful picture of what God does when we takes steps of faith, and now I have the choice whether or not to live this way for the rest of my life.

 

Thank you so very much to everyone who read my blogs this summer. It so encouraged me to look and see that people had been reading it. (: I am planning on keeping the blog up, so if you ever would like to read again I will post on here to document the craziness of life.

I hope that every one of you has a blessed rest of your summer. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported me financially and through prayer. You are all wonderful!

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45

 

Impossible List.

A few weeks ago I was asked to talk about the power of prayer at our Sunday school. I talked about my experience in writing what is called an Impossible List and watching God work in that. I thought I'd share what I talked about with y'all. (:

“You do not have because you do not ask God.”

We’ve all heard this verse spoken many times this summer, and in many ways for me it has hit home as I’ve realized, “wow, I really tend to give up before even asking God for what I need!”  But could it really be true that all we need to do it ask? In Luke 18 Jesus answers that question:

"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly."

Look at what Jesus is telling us! If a godless, stingy judge would give a woman what she wanted simply because she asked over and over, how much more will our righteous, extremely loving and compassionate father do the same and so much more for us! Jesus wants to answer our prayers, but he wants us to ask him, and ask him with faith. He also says that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I wonder how much we truly believe that, though, as we bring our prayers to God day to day.

This past semester I struggled quite a bit with feeling overwhelmed by all of the huge needs I had in my life that I felt would never be met. As I shared this with one of my close friends, she challenged me to do something that had proved to be very encouraging and powerful in her life. She challenged me to start what is called an Impossible List where I make a list of all of the things that I view as impossible and pray about them daily for six months. So that’s what I did; last March I made a list of about 25 things that I desperately wanted to see happen in my life including my mom coming to know Jesus, my support being raised and my future career made clear. One thing on the list was that a friend of mine would come to Cru. On one of the last weeks he finally came! Another thing was that my support would all be raised, and God brought in even more than I needed!

Another even more impactful experience occurred less than a month after I began praying for the things on my impossible list. I had been praying for direction in my career and life path, but I was pretty sure that Speech Therapy was where I was heading. One Tuesday night I was sitting in the study lounge working on a Sociology project at 2:30 in the morning, which is typical for me because I save everything for the night before, including this. Anyways, I was sitting there happily plugging away when I an idea suddenly came to my mind: “What if I went into fashion design (What?!) and used it as a ministry?” My thoughts wrestled with each other. “Umm God, no, that’s vain, isn’t it? Don’t I need to go into something where I can help people?” “Well what if I was able to have a business where people in impoverished countries could use their natural resources as a way to provide jobs and reach them with the gospel? And what if half of all the profits I make went back to missions as well??” At this point I was feeling almost embarrassed for having such a dream. “People will laugh at me. There is no way that I am adequate to do something that huge.” “Well, God says that His power is made perfect in weakness! It doesn’t matter what I can do, it only matters what God can do through me!”  These were the thoughts I wrestled with for a couple of sleepless nights. I kept pouring my heart out to God and telling Him that if this was of me that He could take it away because I definitely just wanted to do His will and not my own. This idea has not for one second gone away and now I truly believe that this is the direction that God is leading me! This also means that I will have to transfer schools, and though this was at first a heartbreaking thought to me, through continued pray the Lord has changed my heart in this as well. Though I don’t even know which school I am going to be transferring to or where I’ll go after that, I know that God knows and I am so excited and ready to followed his plan for my life!

And these are just a few examples of what God has done through my Impossible List. So I challenge you to do the same. Open up your journal and write out everything that you really want to happen. Ask God every day for 6 months and keep track of how he’s working. I can promise you that Christ will show up because “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Your Love is Strong.

Hey everyone, so sorry it's been a long while. These past couple of weeks have been quite different and pretty difficult. But, despite all that's happened, God has done amazing things in my life and in the lives of those around me.

So, to catch you up a bit, two weeks ago I got laid off from my job at American Vintage. WHAT. Yeah, it was pretty shocking. Just when I felt that I was settled in and getting used to my schedule, I was back to square one. I had been through the whole job struggle before, so I knew somewhat how to deal with it, yet I really didn't feel like going through it again! The words to Jon Foreman's Your Love is Strong kept playing through my head:

"I look out the window, the birds are composing.
Not a note is out of tune or out of place.
I look at the meadow and stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day.

So why do I worry? Why do I freak out?

God knows what I need, You know what I need.

Your love is, Your love is
Your love is strong.

Two things you told me; that you are strong
And you love me, yes you love me.

Your love is strong."

Even though I had no idea how it would play out, I knew that I had to trust that God knows what I need. The day I found out about my job I went and applied at a grocery store called Boulineaus. I wasn't sure if I was being lazy or if I just knew that God would provide, but I didn't do much besides that. Three days later I had an interview at Boulineaus and got hired! I now work in the Dairy Hut with some really kind people and get to eat all the food I want while I work! (Which is also a really bad thing since it's hotdogs and icecream...oops! Sorry..:)

On my second day on the job I was feeling good and feeling filled with the Spirit. I felt Him telling me to talk to my coworker, Megan, about Christ. I asked her about her background, and she told me how she knows she needs to have God first in her life, but in order to do that she needs to find a church and be baptized. I explained to her that it's not at all about going to church or being good enough. Because we were extremely slow that day I actually got to share the Knowing God Personally booklet (the gospel) with her! We were interrupted a few times by customers and were a little rushed, so afterwards I was feeling a little discouraged and like she didn't fully understand. I thoughy, "Maybe somehow some Cru people will share with her on the beach? But that's pretty far fetched..." Well, that very night was outreach, and after going out sharing we came back and told our stories. Karen, Cole, and Casey had gone to the park nearby and met a guy and his girlfriend. In typical God sovereignty, it so happened to be my coworker and her boyfriend. Yeah! They went through the gospel with them and Megan's boyfriend actually ended up recieving Christ with them. The next day at work Megan told me that she had prayed to recieve Christ the night before as well. God is so cool!!!!! I had a little freakout, well, okay, a large freakout when I found this out. Why do I doubt God?! He took me from a workplace with people whose hearts were hardened to a workplace where the gospel is ready to be received. This is all God and nothing of me, and that's why it's so wonderful!

Another thing that has been a change is that my Bible study leader, Mandy, asked me to take over when she left (which was last Saturday). This is both exciting and challenging. Exciting because it is a chance to be stretched and grow in new ways and to get experience leading a study (I will be leading a freshman study this fall as well). Challenging, though, because it is an extra ~8 hours per eek commitment as I prepare the study and disciple women. It is also a challenge because I am no better or different than the girls in my study and am learning just as much as them. I am so enjoying getting to know all four of the girls better; they all have such beautiful hearts for the Lord.

Also, a sidenote, I am having so much fun! The beach is incredible. I mean, not to brag, but I live in a pretty sweet place! We had a community night at the beach last Saturday and did a slip n' slide into the ocean and took fun photos! I don't think I'll ever be able to fully appreciate living in such a gorgeous place!I have enjoyed exploring the many places around North Myrtle Beach as well! In an outdoor mall called Broadway at the Beach (which is like a mini Wisconsin Dells) some friends and I found the jackpot!

The most significant thing in my life right now is that my Grandpa Jon passed away this past Tuesday morning. Something that was really special was that I had called my grandparents about a week ago to catch up with them. I was talking with my Grandma Joan, and during our conversation my grandpa called for her. She went over to see what he needed, and when she returned she said, "I told your grandpa that I was talking to you and he told me to tell you that he loves you." I immediately started crying, supposing that he knew his time was coming. I didn't expect it when it came, though, and I am heartbroken that my grandpa is gone. This is the first grandparent that I have lost, and I never really thought it would happen. When you're young it feels like everyone is invincible, and for a while that's how it seemed. Death is something I've always been aware of, but it doesn't feel real until it comes, and even when it comes, I can't understand it.

The most joyful part of this sad occurence is that my Grandpa Jon knew and loved Jesus. While death can feel like the most separating and destructive thing, I also remember that this life is only a mist compared to the everlasting, beautiful, perfect life we will enjoy with Jesus and everyone else who loved Him. I can't wait to praise Him all together!

Please pray for my coworkers, that their hearts would be open to the gospel. Please pray for my Grandma Joan, who is very confused and overwhelmed by my Grandpa's death. Please also pray for the rest of my family, as well as for my travels as I will be flying back for the funeral this next week.

A song we sang at our weekly meeting is powerful and beautiful. I can't wait to sing it to Jesus some day. (You should look it up: Great I Am: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CWGi82N7k) 

                        I wanna to be close, close to your side,

So heaven is real and death is a lie.

I wanna hear voices of angels above singing as one:

Hallelujah, Holy Holy, God almighty, Great I am

Who is worthy, none beside Thee, God Almighty,

Great I Am.

The mountains shake before Him, the demons run and flee

At the mention of the name, King of Majesty!

There is no power in hell or any who can stand

Before the power and the presence of the Great I am,

The Great I am, The Great I am!

 No matter what, God is still good.

Standing in Awe.

Hello everyone! It's absolutely insane that I've been here in NMB for four weeks already! I feel much more settled now that I have been working at my job for about three weeks and am used to the schedule. Sadly, the staff leave next Saturday and the project will be run by students! At first this was a scary thought, but I came to realize that because of our common purpose and heart for Christ, we will grow even more during the last five weeks of project than we did the first five. I am really excited for the opportinity for us to step up and lead!

Last week's theme was All for One, which meant the focus was on building our project community to make it stronger and more unified. This involved a confusing week of the staff not telling us anything! We had to find out everything from students and also couldn't use facebook or texting to communicate details about events that were going on. Although at times confusing, this week was a great reminder of how important it is to be relational and intentional with people. We ended the week last Saturday with playing a game of softball; staff versus students. The staff has won for the past fifteen years, but we came in close with only a four run loss! The game was a bit quarky, though, in that we first approached the diamond and were sent back and told to come back more unified. The staff would also change the rules as we went based on things that we did well and poorly during the week. We played a super fun, entertaining game of softball! I even hit the ball!

The past week's theme has been on having a heart for the nations. We kicked off the week during our Sunday meeting by learning about the desperate need for Christ around the world. For example, a country like Argentina has 180 people for every Christian. In many countries there are millions of people and absolutely no Christians at all. My heart broke for the unreached. I realized, looking at my own heart, that so much of the time I live my life like I don't care about the gospel. I realized that thinking about these things shouldn't be an occasional time of emotional experience; I need to change my perspective. And by perspective I mean that I need to see life as it truly is; short and just not  about myself. As nice as it is to enjoy my life and desire success, that's not why I'm here. We have, what, 70, 80, 90 years on earth? And then eternity. Eternity! This word just doesn't seem to sink in how I want it to. If it did I don't think I'd question so much IF I should share based on my own comfort or desire, because I would be asking "how could I NOT be sharing right now?" How can we not be moved toward action when facing a world filled with lost and dying people? My moment of discomfort or nervousness is worth a person being able to spend forever with Jesus.

This was my realization on Sunday. Fast forward 24 hours and my friend Andrea and I are on the beach playing guitar together. A guy and a girl soon pass by and ask us to play them a song, so Andrea plays them one she wrote. They thanked us and kept on their way. About ten minutes later they stopped by again and began talking with us. Taylor was going to be a junior in high school and Matt was 17 but going into the Marines. We began talking with them and told them about what we are doing here this summer. Micah (from our project) also walked up a few minutes later and joined in the conversation. Matt asked me what my favorite Bible verse is and then told me his. Micah then asked Matt, "So have you had much spiritual background?" Matt replied "Yeah, I've grown up in church so I've definitely heard a lot of it. I have no idea what happens after people die and we get to the gates of heaven, though. What do you think happens?" Needless to say, we went on to share the enitre gospel with the two, and they were extremely responsive and receptive! They are hopefully going to come to the weekly meeting tomorrow as well. I thought it was amazing how God really doesn't need us; He brought Matt and Taylor to us twice and had them initiate a spiritual conversation. God allows us to be his hands and feet and mouth because He loves us.

One last story. Today I went out sharing with my discipler, Mandy (who is an incredible and beautiful lady, by the way!). We approached a group of five and got to share the gospel with them! We also talked with another group of three girls. They were very sweet and receptive; one was agnostic and they others very curious. We gave them the survey and eventually got to share the gospel with them as well! At the end I asked them if they desired to know God personally, to which one of the girls said, "Yes! 100%!" I was honored to pray with her as she invited Jesus in to her life.

A song by Leeland reminds me of this week:

This is an emergency! There are tears from the saints for the lost and unsaved; we're crying for them come back home. And all your children will stretch out their hands and pick up the crippled man.
Father, we will lead them home.  

Hey all! Sorry it has been a little while; the past week or so has been great, but very busy! I started my job last Monday and worked 6 days in a row. This is a bit exhausting since we also have many other Project activities in the evenings. However, God definitely sustained me!

The theme of last week was "Killing You Giants." We based the theme on the seemingly impossible story of David and Goliath. We looked at all the lies we let ourselves believe, such as that "people won't want to hear about Jesus," that "I don't know enough to share the gospel,"that "I don't have time to go sharing," or "no one will respond to what we have to say," and decided not to believe them. We each made personal goals of how many gospel conversations we want to have and how many times we want to share the gospel during that week; my goals were 15 gospel initiations and 5 gospel presentations. It being Senior Week (when all the high school seniors come to party for the week), we had the perfect opportunity to share with students a bit younger than us. What I really wanted was to be able to share the Knowing God Personally (KGP) booklet that explains the gospel because I haven't been able to do that while sharing as of yet.

I went out sharing last Wednesday during the beautiful South Carolina evening for our outreach night with my friend Laura. We walked along the beach that night, praying specifically that God would allow us to be able to share the KGP that night. A little while later we saw a few people around our age who were sitting down in the sand. We questioned whether we should approach them, and then finally decided that we should. We sat down next to them and began a lively conversation with the two girls, one of whom just graduated high school and the other who would be a junior in high school. They and all their other senior friends had been drinking, which is probably why they found it intruiging that we were from Wisconsin! We talked about the differences between Virginia and our state for a while while about seven of their friends came and went. Eventually one of the girls asked, "So you guys are here for a reason, right? You're part of a church or something, yeah?" We responded that we were with Cru, and when more of their friends joined us they exclaimed, "They're missionaries from Wisconsin!!" We just smiled and said "Yeah...!"  Another girl soon asked if we had a survey or something like that that we did (which is what we use to get into spiritual conversations when sharing), so we said "sure do! Wanna take it?" "Sure!" We then gave them the survey, to which they responded really well. The high school junior in particular, Morgan, along with her boyfriend, JR, both were very intruiged and began to pour out many of the details of their lives. Morgan told us some of the gory details of her past, such as how she had been raped, her best friends' mom had died of cancer and how her mom had had an abortion and lived daily with the guilt, trying to somehow make up for what she had done. After asking them the third question, I asked if we could explain God's plan of salvation and way of knowing for sure that they could go to heaven, to which they agreed. I then went on to use the KGP to explain the gospel to them! As I explained how we can be completely forgiven of our sins because of Jesus' death, Morgan exclaimed, "My mom needs to see this! Can I keep this book?!" (aaah!!!) We went on to explain the rest of the gospel, and at the end both Morgan and JR expressed the desire to receive Christ, so we prayed with them. I don't know if they were truly sincere or where they are at now, but I do know the there is incredible power in the gospel and in God's word, as well as that He specifally wanted us to talk with them. Please pray that these two people will truly follow Christ in their lives ahead of them! Praise God for answered prayers and open hearts!


I did end up meeting both of my goals, to which I owe completely to the Lord. I had several other sweet conversations as well, but I won't go into all of those.One thing we did yesterday, though, was beat down with bats, sledgehammers and botchy balls this huge makeshift giant that we had constructed to represent facing our giants. Well, my turn came around, so I wound up with the botchy ball in hand, excited and ready to take out the head of the giant! I threw it and definitely missed the giant completely and instead smoked the house next door, just barely missing the window. And I was also the only one that missed. How embarrassing! But mostly funny, I must say. (: In total us 100 students initiated 1,600 conversations this past week, had around 400 gospel conversations and around 33 people received Christ! This was so incredible; there are absolutely insane stories I could tell you, such as people randomly driving to North Carolina and ending up leading a woman to Christ there! Our God is incredibly powerful, beautiful, and chooses to allow US to help Him bring His children home! I'm just so amazed by Him.


The theme for this next week is All for One, which is focusing on building our community so we can have a bigger impact. We are also focusing on continuing our ministry in our workplaces. I am praying and hoping for opportunities this week! Please keep praying for that, as well as for the 3 girls who still need jobs. Thank you all! (:

A little update! I got a job today!!! I thought I should share this news since it's something that just happened today and is a HUGE answer to prayer. It's not my dream job, in fact it was not the job I would have picked, but I am trusting that God wants me there for a reason. This job is at a store called American Vintage in an outdoor mall, and sells touristy merchandise, as well as Elvis and Marilyn kind of stuff. This is the store where the lady worked who I got to share Jesus with, so I really think He wants to use me in that!

Just yesterday I came to an awesome realization while trying to make sense of why things were going the way they were. To be honest, the past week of looking for a job was an absolute struggle. I cried a lot and felt disconnected from people because of how frustrated I was with my circumstances. After praying and thinking for a while, the thought came to me, "If I am without a job, money, friends, happiness and security, is God still enough for me?" I think God was choosing to take away some of those things for a short time to show me that my happiness and security should not depend on how well my circumstances are going. I was reminded of the verse from Matthew 6:33 where it says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." What a difficult, yet absolutely necessary choice to make!

Tonight we had our first weekly meeting that anyone can come to. A lot of students were able to invite people to come as they met people when they were sharing this past week, which was awesome to see! One powerful song we sang was called You Won't Relent by Jesus Culture. I was so struck by the simple chorus: "You won't relent until You have it all; my heart is yours." It was so clear to me in that moment that Jesus hasn't been giving me what I desire because he is doing what it takes to bring me closer to himself and make me see my need for Him. He wants my everything. The bare minimum I give him when things are going well just isn't enough. I came into project not making much time for the Lord. I am seeing more and more my need for Him every day and every second of the day. God is making me see that he's not going to stop working in my life until he has my whole heart, because after all, I gave it to Him.

Hello everyone! It wasn't until yesterday that I decided to start a blog; I thought it would be a great way to keep you all updated on my life here in North Myrtle Beach this summer!
First of all, thank you so much for your support!  Whether through prayer or with finances, I am so thankful that God used you to help me get here!
It's absolutely crazy to think, but I have been here for a week now! We took off last Tuesday afternoon and made it to South Carolina in about 24 hours. The drive was long and squished, but we all love each other, so it really flew by.

An interesting experience occured in Indiana last Tuesday night; I had just taken over driving Andrea's stick-shift car, and after about five minutes of driving (we were in a small town looking for food), the brakes went out and we almost had a little collision with Freddy's car! Praise God, I was able to hit the curb instead, but we were all pretty darn shaken up after that and really scared we wouldn't be able to continue our travels without getting the brakes fixed. We began praying over the car, that God would fix it and that we wouldn't have any more trouble with it the rest of the trip. Forty-five minutes later when we tried it out again the brakes were working perfectly and continued to work without fault for the rest of the trip! I was simply amazed by God's provision and protection; He loves us so much.

After finally arriving, I moved into my beach house apartment with two other girls from UW-Madison and UW-La Crosse. They are such nice ladies! Being surounded by 100 new people, I have to admit that it has been a bit of a culture shock. I am so thankful to be here, though, surrounded by God's incredible creation. The palm trees, the gorgeous sky, the warm ocean air. The ocean is such a wonder to me; the way the waves keep coming to the shore every second of the day. I  keep thinking to myself, this is so much sweeter than the wave pools in the Dells!

The first five days of being here have been orientation, which have been busy, stretching days. We've been learning how to evangelize to perfect strangers in an approachable way that really opens doors for the gospel. We've been learning how to study the Bible in a deeper way. We've been meeting with our disciplers and our Bible studies, going out sharing the gospel, as well as spending time in community by eating together and hanging out till the late hours of the night. I even had my first injury of project! While playing ultimate frisbee someone threw the frisbee from about ten feet away, right into my face! My nose gushed blood for a while, but I couldn't stop laughing! 

We've also been learning how to live in a community where a bunch of high school and college students come to party, and how to reach out to them. This has been loud, and at first, a bit intimidating. I am finding, though, that they need Jesus just as much as I do, and I don't deserve Him any more than they do. I have a heart for these people finding true satisfaction and fulfillment, because deep down, they all know that this world can't give them those things.  

Besides learning these ministry tools, a large part of my time has been spent searching for a job. This has definitely been the most difficult part of being here. I applied to over 20 different places during the past 5 days without much success. I have gone from feeling confident to completely freaking out. God is definitely testing my faith, and it's really difficult. However, I know that through this struggle He is so faithful, and I am reminded of 2 Timothy 2:13, where it says, "If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is."

I know I will be able to look back and see His plan through all this. I've found it's so easy to trust God when things are going how you want them to, but when everything seems to be going the opposite of what you want, those are the times when it is so hard to stop relying on your own strength and leave it in His hands. I am so thankful for the numberous brothers and sisters that have come alongside me through this and have encouraged me through this whole process.

One thing my sister, Amanda, pointed out to me was that sharing the gospel literally means "as you go." Another friend also pointed out to me that ministry is not just at a workplace or a certain community, but rather it's wherever you go. Our motivation in life, which includes in finding a job, needs to be to share Christ's love "as I go." I gave the struggle up to the Lord after hearing that, and yesterday I got the chance to talk about the gospel with a 20-year-old employee of a store I was applying to. She has a thirst for Christ, and she really wants to come to our Thursday weekly meeting. I was amazed at how God showed me how He could use me when I chose to trust in Him. Later yesterday afternoon I also got a good lead on the restaurant Zaxbys! God works is awesome, awesome ways!

The theme for this past week has been thirst. Not only have I've realized how the world thirsts for Him, but even how my own heart thirsts for Christ in so many ways as I've tried to accomplish my goals running on my own strength. My heart thirsts for Christ's strength and power in my life. By His grace there is so much hope for me and for this life He gives me.

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." -John 7:37-38