New Year, New Start!

I cannot believe that today is the first day of 2012! Where did 2011 go?!
2011 brought a lot of sweet memories and a lot of growth in my relationship with the Lord!

Of course, 2012 looks to bring a lot of excitement as well:
1) I GRADUATE COLLEGE!!! I can't believe that graduation is only 4 months and 5 days away! (Not like I'm counting down or anything...)
2) I'll start my internship
3) I'll get a job (everyone agree and claim it with me)!
4) This year will bring the end of my academic career.
5)The Lord's Favor will show heavily this year!
6) Did I mention that I graduate college?!

A few weeks ago, I heard an awesome sermon series about finding favor with the Lord. I wrote about it in a previous blog. As I enter this new year, I want to focus on finding His favor in every situation, whether I see it as good or bad. There's favor in everything, I just have to choose to look for it and acknowledge that it is there. So, there will be no "new year's resolution" for me this year, but I do plan to fully look for God's favor on my life in every situation.

This year will bring a lot of growth, change and adjustment. I look forward to all that God has in store! I feel like this year will have its handful of challenges, which is why I am having trouble getting excited about this new year, but I am working on being joyful.

No matter what this year brings, I want my heart to rejoice in the fact that I am walking in truth and that my heart belongs to the Lord! He is my defender and the love of my life! My heart belongs to Him and Him alone. No attack of the enemy will prosper because God is keeping my heart safe and protected!

I challenge you in this upcoming year to not only look for favor, but to walk in it. Don't let circumstances bring you down and rob you of your joy. The enemy wants more than anything to steal, kill and destroy you. Rejoice ALWAYS and be CONSTANT in prayer. Walk by the Spirit; He will lead you and show you where to go.

Happy 2012 to all of my wonderful readers. Thank you for joining me on my adventure of growing up. I hope that my blogs encourage you and challenge you to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ!

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."- Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

Code Orange Christmas Fun :)

Earlier this week I was able to experience one of the most awesome, joy-filled, powerful moves of God that I had ever seen! 

Elevation Church had their Christmas services this week. It was entitled "Code Orange Christmas," meaning something big is about to happen. The message was focused on something people sing about all the time in praise in worship, but rarely have a sermon about it. The topic was "God is, was and is to come." Of course, this is talked about in sermons frequently, but I cannot think of any specific sermon about this in all my years of church going (that'd be 21 years... well, 22 if you count the womb :D)!

Pastor Steven Furtick made some great points, hitting on God is with you on the highest mountain top and in the deepest valley. But I must say that the point that hit me the most was the "God is to come" part of the statement. I find myself a lot wondering about my future, what it holds and a lot of the time trusting that God is already there. There are times (we all have them) where I catch myself doubting it (why? because I'm an imperfect control freak, just like every other human). I've heard this statement before, but it hit me like a ton of bricks on Wednesday night during his sermon... if you want to know that "God is to come" (a.k.a. God is in your future, working on your behalf etc) look back at all that He has brought you through and done for you.

After dwelling on that statement for a bit, I look back on my short life and see time after time all of the ways that God has worked. He has been there with me during my biggest successes and during my biggest failures. He was there when I could feel Him, but He was just as much there when I could not. Everything that has happened in my life has molded me into who I am today and into who I will be in the future. So yes, the Lord is, was and is to come! I can walk around with God confidence because I know He holds my future. Because of that I can be like the Proverbs 31 woman that I so badly want to be: a woman that laughs at her future!

As Pastor Furtick began to wrap up his sermon with a beautiful presentation of the Gospel, I saw one of the most powerful things I have ever seen: I saw HUNDREDS of people stand to their feet to accept Christ!! I could not hold the tears back... I've never seen so many people go crazy, clapping their hands and cheering the new believers on! It was a beautiful picture, one that I will always remember! It gave me a little glimpse of the celebration that was going on in heaven as those people stood to their feet. I saw entire families standing up together to accept Christ!! There is no greater joy than to witness someone making the greatest decision of their life!

I will have more Christmas updates coming, but I couldn't wait any longer to share this experience with you! I pray that this Christmas brought you rest, joy and time with your loved ones. I pray that you remember that this is not only about Jesus' birth, but Him being sent to walk among us, to pay the ultimate price so that we could be free! 

The Crossfit Movement and Contest Winning!

I have been hearing so much about this whole "crossfit" thing for the longest time. I've always been kind of interested, but have read so many controversial reviews about it that I've been scared to try it. I don't have a lot of experience with strength and conditioning simply because I don't start that portion of my major until January. There is a guy at ECU who is now trying to start a Crossfit Group and my supervisor was telling me about it. After talking about it with a lot of my friends, I finally convinced myself to go try it. Oh my goodness... I am HOOKED! I will say that a lot of the negative reviews are for people who are a) like to be the best at everything and cannot stand to see someone excel more than them b) people who do not practice proper form and wind up hurt or c) people who do not have good coaching at their crossfit facility and also end up injured because of it.

It's tough, it's done at a high intensity and it will kick your butt. No matter what your fitness level is. Guaranteed. I am currently the only girl working out in my group, which means these guys are kicking my butt. They're stronger and they're faster, but I thrive off of their energy. One thing that I love about Crossfit is that they value community. I have never been put down or felt inadequate. These guys have pushed me beyond my limits and helped me develop my fitness training in a variety of ways! If you ever have a chance to take a shot at it, I say go for it! You won't know what you like until you try it. Don't just listen to the critics... everyone is entitled to their own opinion so go form your own! :)

SUPRISE!

A few weeks ago, the week of my 21st birthday to be exact, The Tim Tebow Foundation started a contest on facebook. I usually do not see their updates on my computer, but for some reason it popped up on my news feed that day. The contest was to encourage your friends to "like" the foundation on facebook. So I posted the link on my wall asking my marvelous friends, who never let me down, to "like" the foundation and comment on their status saying that I referred them. Because my friends are so amazing, they went to town with the "liking." I would say I had about 30-50 come through for me! For every friend that I had to "like" the Tim Tebow Foundation, their name was entered into a drawing. If one of their names was drawn, not only would they win a signed Tim Tebow jersey, but the person that referred them (that'd be me) would also win one! 

My favorite neighbor (seriously, she's been my neighbor for 20 years) and fantastic friend, Paige, was the lucky winner... which made me a very lucky winner as well! The funny thing is, the winners were supposed to be announced at noon the following day. I checked my facebook every 5 seconds all day long and there was no announcement. A week goes by, and there's still no announcement. So me being... well, me, sends them an email asking them about the winner. I get a reply back telling me that it was ironic that I had emailed them because I was the winner. They had sent me a facebook message the day that I entered, but neither I nor Paige received it! So after a long week of waiting, the suspense was over! I emailed her my address and about a week later, a beautiful, signed orange 15 jersey was in my hands! (With a nice post card too)! 

If you read my last post, you know I'm a Tebow supporter and am now an extra excited supporter haha! Thank you, friends (especially Paige) for entering me in this contest! It seriously was the best 21st birthday gift I could have received! 

And of course, there are pictures!

The lucky winners!

Signed :)

With a post card!

With a nice note... and you're welcome! :D

Needless to say, all of this will be going in a shadow box to hang up in my home gym! It's been the perfect end of a birthday celebration and a wonderful beginning of a Christmas celebration!

Speaking of Christmas...

My prayer is that you and your family will enjoy the time that you have together. I hope that you will all be able to sit back for a while, without getting caught up on the "lots of stuff to do" to celebrate what really matters this season: the fact that a little baby was born, a baby that would pay the ultimate sacrifice so that you could live freely and spend eternity hanging out with Him! Thank You, God, for sending Your Son and sacrificing Him because of Your love for me!

Also, I am honored to have been written about in a former teacher's blog. This lady, Lori Cole, has the sweetest heart. She will forever be one of my favorite teachers. Her love for Christ was genuine and she set such a great example for me! Please, if you get a chance, read her blog... not because it's about me (because it's really not), but because it's about the awesome loving and protective power of Jesus! www.loricole.blogspot.com 

The Tebow Effect: Finding Favor In Your Own Life

It's no secret that I'm a Tebow fan. I've been a huge fan since he was in college. I'm more so a fan of his character than his actual playing, but I do enjoy watching him play... it's hard to not to catch the passion that he has.

I'm sitting here listening to commentators on ESPN baffled at how all of this is happening. How does a not-so-great quarterback, statistically speaking, continue to lead his team to victory at the last minute week in and week out? Many won't give any credit to his faith, while others are beginning to question whether this God could actually be real.

Here's my thinking:

Tim is not the only believer in the league. I'm aware that there are very many Christians in the league. Kurt Warner is a Christian and even hosted the Dove Awards a few years back. Jonathan Stewart of the Carolina Panthers is constantly tweeting about things that he is learning in Bible study, Colt McCoy is a believer. These are just to name a few.

I believe Tim has been given a platform. I do not understand why his platform is larger than other player's platform in the league, but that is the way God has it. Tim is very vocal about his faith, never taking credit for himself in front of the media, but rather giving credit to God and his teammates. I think this is an awesome way for God to show off his awesome power and turn some heads.

After a huge Bronco's win, I do have to sit back and keep things in perspective. Tim is not doing any of this, nor is it the team's doing. This is simply a way God is using a willing vessel to show His glory. I think a lot of people will come to salvation because of this crazy season the Broncos are having.

Warning:

I understand that many people are excited and their minds are blown away by this "Tebow Mania" going on. We must be careful! He is a man. A very young man. He will make mistakes. We have got to be careful about putting him up on a pedestal. The higher the pedestal, the harder the fall. I'm not saying that I'm expecting there to be some "shocking scandal" to happen, but he is human... NOT perfect, like many people are believing him to be. We, as christians, need to pray for him, believing that God will use him for His glory. Also believing that he will be able to withstand any attacks from the enemy and continue to be accountable to whatever mentor is in his life. I promise you, attacks will come, the bigger the target, the bigger the dart. We also need to pray that many people will begin to ask questions and ultimately come to know Christ as their Savior.

Here's the point I want to get to, though...

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." -Psalm 84:11

Mr. Tebow is not any better of a Christian than you, me or any other believer. God is not showing him more favor by allowing him to win football games and be a role model to thousands of people. You and I are capable of walking in the same favor!

You, yes YOU, are going to be able to reach people that Tebow will never be able to reach. Wake up each morning asking God for favor... you can find favor in EVERY situation, no matter how good or bad.

I refuse to sit on the sidelines and be pushed aside by the enemy telling me I'm not good enough, or I can't obtain favor because I do not have a major platform. Folks, that's a lie! I challenge you to wake up every single morning asking God to show His favor in your life. Here's the catch: you MUST look for it. It's there, I promise!

For example, a few blogs ago I talked about my university going into a major lockdown due to what we thought was a gunman on campus. During that three hour lockdown, I was upset because I was missing out on a lot of things I could have been doing. I was inconvenienced. If the day would have gone the way I wanted it to go, I would have never met the Dean of my college and been selected on his Board of Advisees.

Another example, I was in a major car accident back in March. My car was totaled. I found favor in that situation... I'm ALIVE! This means I still have purpose!

"The favor of God is where you choose to see it."- Steven Furtick

Folks, no matter how big or small you feel, there is purpose in your life! As long as you are living and breathing, you have purpose! I challenge you to wake up every morning asking God to show you His favor. Open your eyes to opportunity, to not only find favor, but to give it to someone else. After you ask for it, walk in it! Look for it wherever you go! He wants you to ask! Better yet, He wants to give it to you. This is how you can achieve the "Tebow Effect." But really, in the grand scheme of things, it has NOTHING to do with the "Tebow," it's the "God Effect."

One more catch to finding favor: after you ask for it, you must look for it!

"When you pray for God's favor, He presents an opportunity and it's up to you to decide what to do with it." -Steven Furtick

Feel free to comment on this post, letting me know what you think of all of this or if you just have any questions!

Here's to 21!

This past week, I celebrated my 21st birthday. I've heard many people say that being 21 feels so different... so free. Honestly, this week I've told a few people that I'm 20, then have to say, "oh wait, I'm 21." I don't feel any different. I am living my life the same way I was when I was 20... completely surrendered to Christ, trusting Him to lead me.

I'm grateful for the 21 years I've had. I look at how much I have grown, changed and matured. I have learned so much. The most important thing I've learned (and continue to learn every day) is that God is the ultimate provider, protector and Prince. He is the reason I breathe. My prayer is that the next 21 years will be used to bring honor and glory to the Giver of Life!

Of course, what would a 21st birthday be without a little celebration...

These people mean the world to me. They are my friends, my family. The greatest spiritual family a girl could ask for! They stand beside me, encourage me and believe in me. God truly knows what He's doing when He puts people into your life! 

We celebrated a the King's Kitchen in Uptown Charlotte. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to get dressed up and walk around uptown. I have no idea why. I guess it's the atmosphere. I don't get to go out much, simply because I live so far away from the city and I'm usually busy with school, but when I do get out, I enjoy going nice places where I can dress up and feel like a grown up haha! 

After we ate a delicious meal, we all put on our coats and walked through Uptown Charlotte to see what was going on. We walked to the Epicenter and remembered that the ACC Championship was being held in Charlotte that weekend. We saw tons of Hokies and Tigers. When we arrived at the Epicenter, we see the Marching Bands both playing their fight songs. It was neat to watch! 

On our way to the Epicenter, I experienced the greatest part of the my birthday. I absolutely love ballroom dancing. I danced in middle school and really miss it. As I was walking through town, I heard a big band playing music. I had my entire party cross the street to go listen. Then the greatest part... my daddy asks me to dance. I adore that man... he is my hero! We were able to swing dance for quite sometime and I had a blast. My mom was able to snap a few pictures. I will always remember that dance. Unfortunately, since I'm getting older, I don't normally get the chance to spend time with my daddy. I treasure the memories that we have together. This was one of the sweetest ones:

I am so appreciative of all the people that were a part of my birthday weekend! Here are some more pictures from the fun weekend! 

Charlotte was decorated for Christmas! It was beautiful!

My good friend, Theresa, was able to come and spend the weekend with me! 

My mom is my best friend! She has sacrificed so much for me over the years! One day, when I grow up, I was to be just like her! I hope I make her proud :)

My Pastor and his wife were able to come also! I love them so much! They gave me a wonderful book that I had been asking for for a while and they had no idea! It was a blessing!

The infamous couple! I'm glad that Anna and Tyler were able to come and celebrate with me!

Ian and Alan! The two older brothers I never had... they are a blessing to me! I arrived at my party completely stressed from a week full of project and paper deadlines. Ian had me laughing in no time and Alan can make you feel better with his smile!

I had a wonderful time walking around with them! There's never a dull moment around any of them!

Family <3 I do not deserve them!

The grand question that everyone gets asked on their 21st... WHAT DID YOU DO?!

I'll tell ya what I did...

I drank an extra scoop of protein and ordered a soda at dinner. I know...WOAH... calm down, Sarah! Here's what I've been looking forward to since I was 16:

I CAN APPLY FOR THE AMAZING RACE!! I've been wanting to be on this show since it began years ago! My partner is beginning to work on our application video and I am going through the written application. I honestly can't tell you how bad I want to be on this show! I think my partner and I would perform incredibly on this show! Here's to hoping we get to race! 

and the ultimate awesome thing that happened... it's so awesome that I had to save it for last...

There is currently a package being shipped to my house. A package that I never thought I would have the pleasure of receiving. A package with such wonderfulness in it, I can hardly believe it. Want to know what's in this package? I'll give you a hint... then I'll blog about it when it is actually received.

15. 

That's the only hint I'm giving. I can't wait to blog about it with pictures! 

Gunbrellas and Opportune Moments

It's that time of year where the excitement of the holidays and the stress of school are so thick you can't breathe. Okay, not really, I can breathe just fine and I'm extremely grateful. I think you catch my drift, though! :)

I have a 10 page group proposal and a 30 minute group biomechanics presentation due within a week of each other. I also have 3 finals. It's a lot to think about, but there have been so many things to happen over the last few weeks that have put this all into perspective.

It's no secret that I am student at East Carolina University and that I love my school. Yesterday there was a threat to my university and we went into lockdown for almost 3 hours. I was unaware of this lockdown (sometimes emails delay coming to my phone), so I got up and got ready for school just like any other day. I arrived on campus at about 10:45 to catch the bus for my 11:00 class. I noticed, however, that the buses were in the parking lot, but not letting anyone on or off. So, I decided to sit on the bench and wait for them to figure out whatever was wrong. I'm sitting there by some nice stranger, just talking to him, when my phone goes off. I look at a new email stating that there has been an armed man walking down 5th street, one of the streets that run by campus. I look at the guy and ask him if he had heard about this. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "No." Right after he said that a door opens up from the basketball arena, right behind the bus stop. A girl sticks her head out and says, "you two know the buses aren't coming, right?" I shook my head no. She then said, "we're on lockdown, you may want to come inside." Needless to say, the kind stranger and myself put a pep in our step and got inside quickly. There were many people sitting in the cafe in the arena and I didn't really want to stand up because my legs were awfully sore from the previous day's workout. I found a chair by this older, well dressed man. I had a feeling that he held some high position in the school, but wasn't exactly sure who he was or what he did. So I sat down and started talking to him. We were on our phones trying to collect information from main campus on whether a gunman had been identified. After talking for about an hour, he asks me and a few people at our table what our majors were. I was the only Health Fitness Specialist major sitting at the table. He looks at me and introduces himself as the Dean of HHP (my college). After shaking the shock that I had been talking to the Dean off, I shook his hand and continued our conversation. A guy from my department came up to him and asked him if their meeting was still scheduled with the lock down, the Dean told him that it would still be happening. He then looks at me and invites me to his conference room with a few other students to have pizza and discuss some things. I thought that maybe he was just being nice since the guy mentioned it in front of me, so I didn't think much of it.

Well, after all of the rumors and freak outs of the lock down ended, the police lifted the lock down after finding that the "gunman" was indeed carrying an umbrella. Poor guy, he was just trying to be prepared for the 30% chance of rain yesterday and caused a lock down.

Be careful, folks, "gunbrellas" can be extremely dangerous.

Anyway, after leaving the school that I had been locked in for 3 hours, I decided to go to Target to walk off some stress and of course get a new cardigan ( of course on sale... whoop whoop)!! As I was headed back home from the store, I looked at the clock and it said 2:30. I knew the Dean's meeting was at 3, but I still wasn't convinced that I should go. I wanted to, but I was tired and had group meetings and a workout later in the evening. I drove past his office headed home when I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to turn the car around and go back. I decided being obedient would be best, so I turned the car around, parked and walked towards the Dean's office. I was nervous, I had never been there before and I had no idea what kind of meeting this was. As I walk into the conference room, I look around and see only 4 other students there. The Dean stands up, shakes my hand, greets me by name and says, "I'm so glad that you came, what size shirt do you wear?" I was thinking to myself, "free t-shirt AND free pizza?! Who is this guy?! I try not to eat pizza, but if the Dean says eat pizza... then I'm eating it!" I told him my shirt size and he went to his office to get me one. After we all settled into our seats, he finally explained why we were there (although everyone else knew but me). It turns out that professors nominate 4 students each year to be a part of the Dean's Undergraduate Advisory Board, they meet once a semester to discuss issues and gather ideas to improve the College of Health and Human Performance. I was the only student in that room invited personally by the Dean. My mouth wanted to drop as he explained this to me. In my opinion, this is one of the highest honors to receive as an undergraduate, not only that, but it goes on my resume and I can get a recommendation from the Dean. I can not believe it!!

This just goes to show that ALL things, even a gunbrella man causing a university lock down, works together for the good of those who love God. He knew that I would be in my senior year, about to graduate, looking for more things to put on my resume and God appointed this time for me to meet the Dean. I have been dwelling on the verse in Psalm 27 that declares to wait on the Lord... you will see His goodness! Just wait for the Lord! 

This is just one of the many things that God has shown favor in my life for over the last few months. This is one more thing confirming that I don't have to worry about my future because He is already there and has every single tiny detail planned out. I can be that Proverbs 31 woman that "laughs at the time to come..." because she knows who holds her future. I know who holds my future. I have nothing to worry about.

I never once want to feel ungrateful for the life that I have. I have so many wonderful things in my life that I should never even think for a second about complaining or wishing something was different. I am alive, I am healthy, I am getting a top-notch education and I have an amazing family. Even if I didn't have all of those things, I still have my sweet Savior, who loved me enough to die for me. Even if I were the only person on the earth, He would still die for me. That's crazy to think about, huh? 

The other good news... He holds your future too. Give Jesus your WHOLE heart. He will protect it, cherish it and guide it.

10 Years!

After enjoying a wonderful fall break at home, I came back to school thinking I would have an easy, relaxing short week. It turned into one of the craziest weeks I've had in a while!

First off, I woke up on Thursday morning ready to start a day that I knew would be very busy. I had two midterms the next day that I had to study for (one being all short answer, which is just wrong, might I add),  and I walk outside to have my car vandalized. It wasn't any major vandalism, but still, someone had the nerve to disrespect property that was not theirs. Thankfully, it only left some scratches on my car that I am hoping will buff out. I guess I will find out over Thanksgiving break! It didn't particularly bother me at first, because stuff like that happens in a college town all the time, but the more I thought about it, the more worked up I got. I just couldn't believe that someone would do that, especially to someone they did not know (I'm assuming the individual does not know me, but if I find out they do, they will be detailing my car...for free.) Then I went to class and came back home for lunch, as I was walking out the door I hit my foot up against my couch and break my pinky toe. I would have laughed at my luck, but was in too much pain to do that. After my last class of the day, I came home to study for my mid-term exams that I had the next day. My campus ministry was meeting that night and I help set up, so I left early to go do that and decided to leave after praise and worship was over since I had so much studying to do.
As I was leaving the meeting, I felt so discouraged about how my day had gone and was really believing that God would make good come from all of it, despite how awful I felt. Right as I was about to walk out of the building, my friend Kathleen stopped me. She said that she had something really important to tell me. She looked like she was tearing up. She said that she was standing behind me in praise and worship and she saw me raise my hands (sometimes I raise my hands despite if I'm feeling anything... Jesus still deserves praise even when I don't feel like doing it). She told me that she felt the Holy Spirit come upon her and speak to her about me. He told her that I was going to be a strong woman, taking a stand for what is right and challenging people on their beliefs of what they think christianity should be. She also saw me as a great mother. I always find it funny when people tell me that I am going to be a good mother, because quite frankly, I'm probably the worst baby-sitter on the face of the planet. No lie, I really just don't like it. Love kids, but I hate babysitting. It was nice to think about all that I have to look forward too in my life.

 I now believe that I have finally learned what it's like to "laugh at my future." The Bible refers to the Proverbs 31 woman as a woman who can "smile/laugh at her future" because she knows who holds it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was driving down the road with my roommate, Brittany, to go meet our other roommate, Lauren and her fiance, Kris, to go to the state fair. As I was riding along talking to Brittany, the thought hit me. Thursday, the day where all that stuff happened, was my 10 year anniversary of saying yes to Jesus. No wonder my day went bad, the enemy did not want me to remember to celebrate all of the wonderful things that had happened in the last 10 years.
October 13, 2001 was the day I officially surrendered my life to Christ and have never looked back. I had said a prayer to be saved before that date, but I feel like that night I truly understood what it was like to follow after Christ and serve Him whole heartedly. The last 10 years have been the craziest, but the best years of my life. I have experienced overwhelming blessings and heavy growing pains, but I would not trade one minute of one day for the entire world. My life has been radically changed by Christ's love. He gave it all for me, He made the ultimate sacrifice by dying for me when I did not deserve anything but death and to be eternally separated from Him and His love.

10 years ago my life changed forever. I will NEVER forget that day. It's the most important day of my life, it will always be the most important day of my life. More important than my wedding or the birth of my children. I am looking forward to the next 10 years, I believe God has some amazing things in store for me. He will continue to teach me and mold me into the woman He wants me to be.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. :)

Fall Retreat

Every fall, Every Nation Campus Ministries has a regional retreat for the colleges in North Carolina. It's always a fun time to come together and meet new people from different schools while encountering Jesus together! I always look forward to getting away for a while, getting rid of the distractions, no computer, no cell phone service and just enjoying my Savior and the wonderful people that I am with!
We had a variety of speakers and we focused on the kingdom of God. The verse that the weekend was based on was out of Matthew.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." -Matthew 6:33

Something that struck me most this weekend was the concept of righteousness... being in right standing with God.

"Pursuing righteousness is more valuable than sacrifice." Jesus wants us to be in right standing with Him. We can sacrifice things and perform a lot of works in His name, but ultimately He just wants a relationship with us. He wants to know us intimately and spend time with us all of the time!

"Jesus wants all of your junk. He gave His love freely, take it! He wants to see you enjoy it, not stress out about how to repay it."
This quote probably spoke to me most all weekend. Jesus gave His love as a gift and He wants us to take it and find joy in it. He doesn't want to see us stressing out performing work after work to attempt to repay Him for something that is priceless. He wants us to enjoy the freedom that He gave us and to be in relationship with Him.

"Don't ignore the stuff in your heart, He wants that too."
Sometimes we try to hide what's really in our heart by staying busy with schedules and doing things to try to earn Christ's love. The thing is, He couldn't possibly love us anymore than He does now. He wants to know the things we keep deep inside of our hearts, even the nasty junk that we are ashamed of. He wants to know everything about us and help us work through things. :)

Those were just a few of many things that were talked about this weekend.
Something I am going to focus more on doing is walking by the Spirit. I have come so far in this area of my walk with the Lord, but I have so much more to learn! God has my future laid out perfectly, just for me. Nothing that happens is a surprise to Him. I am looking forward to growing deeper in His love and learning to trust Him more and more each day! The Holy Spirit is powerful! I am anxious to see how I will continue to learn to walk by the Spirit each day. It will take time and discipline. My heart is to rid me of myself each day... humbling myself before the Lord and let Him take complete and total control of every aspect of my life!

I got to hang out with some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ! Here are a few pictures from our weekend adventure together!

There was a beautiful sunset at Camp Dixie as we arrived on Friday evening!

Two of my new friends admiring the sunset. haha!

Some of the most beautiful ladies I know! I have the joy of going to school with them and calling them my sisters in Christ!

They were all into "artistic poses" and interpretive dancing

The infamous "blob!" Too bad it was too cold to see anyone get launched off of it!

While waiting to go into our evening session, these lovely ladies decided to sing! I wish I would've gotten the entire thing on video. It was great!

The whole ECU gang! I love each of these people dearly! They are my brothers and sisters in Christ! 

For me, the best part of this weekend was getting away and resting in God's presence. I don't believe that you always have to have a huge revelation from God when you're at a big conference like this. I just enjoyed being in His presence and around people that I love!

 

Becoming Set-Apart

One of these days I'll get this whole "updating in a timely manner deal," but that day is not today... and tomorrow isn't looking good either. :D 

Senior year has begun, which mean I am busier than I have ever been! Thank goodness, I have mastered the art of "staying balanced." I've always dreaded having early morning classes. I had one last year and had a lot of trouble getting enough rest. This year I have been getting to bed early, going to class and then working out. It's been great!

One major thing I've done is vow not to eat out for the entire month of September. My roommate and her fiance came up with idea and I decided to join in. It's been a little difficult, because it is one of my favorite things to do. My mommy says I'm high maintenance when it comes to food and I completely agree. It has been so much fun cooking different meals, and I have completely control over what it going into my food... makes it nice and healthy! :)

On a serious note, I started reading a book (I know, shocking). This time it's not a crazy awesome Jesus fictional love story, instead it's a challenging book. 

Leslie Ludy is a christian author who writes books geared towards challenging girls and women to become the Godly women God has set them out to be. I started reading, "Set Apart Femininity" about 3-4 weeks ago. Sadly, I'm only in the middle of chapter 3. There is so much to chew on and think about. I don't think I've been challenged this much spiritually. After going to Harvest Institute, I realize that the calling on my life is high. The Lord has put a desire in my heart to show women what is means to be a true woman. There is so much more to being set-apart than I thought. The book started out talking about the Proverbs 31 woman... a woman that so many women today feel like is unachievable. I'll have to type the whole commentary on it soon, but today I don't have the time. Something that I had never really thought about before (it actually came up during Harvest Institute, but I didn't think about it until I started reading) is that the Proverbs 31 woman did not become that way overnight or when she got married. A Proverbs 31 woman develops throughout a lifetime. It's always a work in progress. I feel like so many girls today (I felt this way once) feel like that are inadequate or unimportant until they become married. Now that I think about it, that's so silly. God has so many things that He wants to do in your life as a single lady. Instead of praying for the right person, become the right person! Let God do what He wants to do in You. I promise, the life He has set out for you is better than anything you have planned or can imagine. Trust Him! He loves you and works everything out for good! 

On a different note... Football season has begun!!!!! 

Not just football... Pirate football! :)

We took on South Carolina last weekend in Bank of America Stadium (home of my favorite NFL team, The Carolina Panthers). It was an exciting game and I thought that we had them during the first half of the game. Unfortunately, we did not come out with a win, but it was a great game! My friend, Daniel Drake, got his first career start as a pirate. It was a very exciting day! He's a linebacker and his hits are almost as big as his love for Jesus (which is waaaayyy big). After a lot of prayer and hard work, it was great seeing him take the field... and because God is amazing, He threw in the honor of receiving scout.com's player of the game! Yay!

It was great to kick off football season with the people I love most! I have the best family, but I hate that my little sister couldn't join us! She's a little young for football games, but one day I will take her to a Pirate football game! 

A first career start deserves a bright neon yellow poster amongst all of the Gamecock fans. Good times!

I love my Pirates! :)

I'd have to say it's been a great start to what I know will be a wonderful school year! God has huge things in store and I am so excited to see all that He wants to teach me!

Just thinking...

"Godly sorrow is not defined by tears or outward displays of contrition. Rather, it's a change of heart resulting in complete agreement with God over the matter." -Beth Moore

I'm not exactly sure why this quote struck a chord in me, but it did. I believe sometimes it can be easy to cry over an issue, convince yourself that you are over it and finally sweep it under the rug as if it never happened.
Sometimes a change of heart can take longer than a night of crying,  a week of sorrow or a month of fighting to become stronger.

My prayer is that you will be able to trust the Lord when you are having a hard time letting go of something. I pray that you will take time to deal with the issue instead of having an emotional block by convincing yourself that the problem is gone. It's important that not only the issue be resolved, but that the root of the issue is identified and dealt with between you (and the other party, if needed) and Jesus.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" -Psalm 139:23

Harvest Institute

Last week I was able to attend a week long student leadership school. It was meant to equip student leaders to go out on the college campus and spread the Gospel, and to make a plan on how to make your campus ministry thrive. I was happy to be there with 10 fellow student leaders from ECU. I, personally, was not ready to go when I first arrived. Like I've said in previous posts, I've really been struggling with hearing from the Lord. I figured that going to this may help... and it did. I went almost all week, pressing into what God may have to say, and I started to get discouraged because I was getting nothing. Then Thursday came along and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The Lord spoke to me clearly for the first time in what seems like weeks. "I have not forgotten about you, I've been here the whole time, I'm simply preparing something new and better for you." Okay, cool. Sounds good to me! That's all I heard that day, but I will take it! The next day I was prayed over by 4 different people and they all spoke powerful prophetic words over me. I almost had them stop because I couldn't stop crying due to being overwhelmed from all that they were saying. It was a powerful day and I have heard the Lord speaking to me everyday since. Sometimes we do not understand why we go through the things we go through until we've walked through them completely. I look back on these last few years, especially my college years, and now I completely and fully understand why I walked through every single thing that I did. Some things were intended for evil, but God made them for good. Isn't great how He does that?

I also had the honor of going out and doing prayer evangelism on Duke University's campus. I had never been there before. The campus is beautiful! They have a lot of international students there, so it's really neat to talk to them and listen to their different experiences and perspectives. One thing I did notice about Duke is that many people there are lost. Prayer evangelism simply involves you going up and asking someone if you can pray for them. It eventually leads to hopefully being able to share the Gospel with them. Our group went on two different days. My friend Lauren and I partnered up and set out to pray for people. We got the opportunity to pray and talk to many different kinds of people, but I was believing for someone to not only hear the Gospel, but to accept it. Finally, on the last day of outreach, we ran into a lady named Sashlee. At first she didn't want us to pray for her, but then Reggie (Duke's campus minister) stopped her and she eventually started talking to us. I would say that we stood there talking to her for about 10-15 minutes. She was pregnant and is going to have a little girl on October 4. We presented the Gospel to her and she prayed to accept Jesus as her Savior! Talk about a glorious day of Duke's campus! It was amazing to watch a girl I had never met before to accept Jesus. All it took was stepping out on faith and caring enough about a stranger to share the Gospel with her. I'm so grateful that Reggie stopped her and encouraged us to talk with her. I'm also extremely happy that he was there to help us walk her through it!

A verse, well a chapter really, that was prayed over me last week was Romans 12. It talks about many different things, but it starts off by talking about presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, Holy and pleasing to the Lord. I've been dwelling on this chapter all week. I can't even guess how many times I have read this chapter throughout my life, but it has new meaning to me. I feel as though my purpose has been renewed. It's funny how I can go back, read verses that I've known my entire life and get something completely new out of them! I encourage you to do that, don't push a verse or a book of the Bible aside just because you've "simply read it." Go read it again and see if there's any new meaning to you.
A lot of the time, the Lord likes to teach us through the things that we know best. :)

Another great thing that happened was I grew much closer to a dear friend of mine. I now consider her a sister. Merrin and I went to the same high school, but she was a year younger. We weren't friends then, but she ended up coming to the same college as me and we started hanging out. She embarked on the Harvest Institute journey with me and I honestly feel like God sent her to ECU for a reason. He does all things for a reason. She loves the Lord and has radically encountered God over this last year. I am so proud to call her my sister in Christ and one of my best friends! I love how God can bring things from our past that we did not think were significant (like Merrin being my acquaintance in high school) and turns it around for His glory. This is a God centered, heart to heart friendship. Many people go a lifetime without them. I am so grateful for Him putting a wonderful friend like her in my life! This year is going to be great!

This week was powerful! No, I didn't get any exercise and I didn't eat very good, but you know what... I had an encounter with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Nothing is greater than that!