What the World Needs to Hear

11/1/11 ...

God is sooo present, you guys. Because Christ died for sins and rose again to save us, and gave us the Holy Spirit to live in and through us every day, we can have a huge Hope and Joy that nothing else can take away. No matter how hard or easy our lives are now, God sets our hearts on Fire with His LOVE and gives us a Passion to serve Him above everything else.

We don't have to fear. Anything from serious life-or-death situations to the fear of not being liked or not getting your homework done. Why? Because God's grace, His gift of His Son Jesus' life for us, though we are imperfect and undeserving, is enough! And we have access to that Grace every single day! I am also in awe that though we are sooo weak, HE is our Strength, and He will accomplish the good work He began in you from the beginning of time, if you only let Him in.


So today is 11/1/11. Pretty cool. But more than that. For whatever reason, my uncle Steve, his Pastor, me, and a couple other people at his church always seem to come across "1"s a lot. Last year, I started seeing 11:11 on the clock almost every day, as well as other things. (My friend's house number is 14211 but two of the numbers are missing on the mailbox so it says 1_ _11; last year there was a semi by my dorm with the number 111 on the back). Maybe it means nothing. But the fact that we all seem to notice them? Some of them really prayed about it and went to the Bible to explore if God wanted to teach us something through verses with ones or anything.
My uncle told me they didn't have "one definite revelation" or anything, but they felt that it was just a simple reminder to seek God 1st (#1) above everything else, and remind us that He is alive, ever-present, and at work in our lives. We should seek Him with all our heart, body, mind, soul, and strength; He is our all in all. (Mark 12:30) (Col. 1:17)

So, after seeing those last year (2010), I just prayed and had faith that God was about to do BIG things in 2011. I look forward to 11/11/11, partly just because it's cool, but also, hey, we can't underestimate God or His sense of humor... I think He's up to something:

So today! I woke up today feeling anxious and a little discouraged because I did not accomplish a lot of homework last night (-although, I'll come back to that. ;) So I prayed and asked Christine to pray for me for Peace and re-focus on God today.

I was on the computer and happened to look right when it said 11:11 AM 11/1/11 in the corner. Now, some people say, "11:11, Make a Wish!" I prefer to say a prayer. :) I just thanked God for His Presence and prayed that He'd do work for His Glory today, so more people could know His name! Then-- here's where it really gets me. In my Psychology class, we were minding our own business, having a lecture discussion on Intelligence... when I realize that we're looking at "Figure 11.11" in the textbook - we're reading from Chapter 11, and we had already looked at Figure 11:1 too! (Hayley Graham or Laura Rodriguez could quote me on this!) At 3:30 when I was working out, I looked down at the elliptical right when my time running was at 11:11 minutes. You can't make this stuff up!! I don't know why it keeps happening, but it's cool! God is creative! :) I entrust my life to Him -- whatever He wants to do!


OK, then one more thing I wanted to talk about - (sorry these posts always get sooo long! I have about 20 things I wanted to post from this past AMAZING summer at Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp and God's work this summer and fall, but I've been super bad about keeping up with this blog - I might post more of those old ones eventually ;) -- Navs tonight was awesome! People shared stories from Main Event, a retreat/conference for the Navigators through the Midwest, in Kansas City this past weekend. They learned a lot and had true, authentic, worship and fellowship that brought them closer to God. (Worship in spirit and truth! John 4:23-24) (WHOA I just found this AWESOME lesson that totally summarizes something I am learning - http://www.scripturessay.com/article.php?cat=&id=387 -- check it out).

OK quick story -- I have had a deep passion since 8th grade to work at Riverside Bible Camp to help kids know Jesus and come to know Him more -- I felt so alive there, like I could purely seek God and have fellowship and Worship God in Spirit and Truth. (read the short article on that link above -- it's soo good!) Then last fall (2010), God reestablished my deep, God-given desire to use my gifts to serve Him in that way, by being a summer camp counselor there and hope to help change lives like God changed mine there in 2004. I got to! (I got to see and experience some of the AMAZING work God did in 2011, that's for sure!) It was probably the most incredible summer of my life. I lived in a community that was out of this world, seriously, and experienced the best of the Holy Spirit's ministry through me, focus on Christ, and fellowship EVER. I realized that I had lost that fire a little bit last year at Navs, because without knowing it, I had made it more about the work I was doing for God and my memory verses and how dedicated I was (PRIDE) instead of listening to God first and seeking Him and His love to guide me in every way. Soo then this year I have been struggling to know if I could fuel that Passion from summer the best through Navs, or BASIC, or what, to find that place where I could worship God in Spirit and Truth like last summer. Then I started over-analyzing everything and just got more distracted. ha. funny how that works. BUT NOW I know it's really about where my heart is! If all these groups are proclaiming the Gospel, which they are, I can worship God anywhere! I just have to devote myself to Him and worship in spirit and truth, and ask God to lead me where He wants me.

Anyway, so at Navs tonight, people who went to Main Event told stories, and many of them said they feel on fire for God again instead of just warm, close enough to God, (God is a consuming fire-that's too deep to get into now but maybe later!)... this is the Passion I'm talking about from this summer. How can we stay on fire for Christ and not lose our excitement to follow His purposes for our lives? A huge support is Fellowship! Live like the Acts 2 church, like Riverside strives for, as we were designed to live, in community with other friends in Christ, encouraging each other and getting deep in your conversations and truly sharing life together so you can help each other and pray for each other in the struggles and the deep stuff as well as in the everyday light "how are you" stuff too!! (Proverbs 14:4... alone, things are "cleaner" and simpler, but when you share your dirt with each other and get messier, life is so much more rewarding. ;) Or like that Tenth Ave North song "I need your hurt, I need your pain, it's not love any other way". Fellowship is essential to keeping your faith strong! Build each other up! Pray for each other! Seriously, the benefits and the closeness to each other as well as to God is out of this world. (Literally, it's eternal! :) Love each other as Christ loves us. (Mark 12:31) Yes, you may have to break through some awkwardness to "go deep" in conversations with new friends, but it's so worth it. You'll hold on to your fire for Christ when you share life with people, including having them encourage you in the goods and bads of your faith and keep you accountable too. :) Tonight after Navs it was amazing to walk back with the girls in my Bible Study (love you!) and just be ourselves and sing loud and laugh and open up and share the JOY we have found in Christ and the thankfulness to have each other!


Also! Since we have this never-ending HOPE that Jesus saved us and lives in us, we should overflow with JOY and LOVE to share with the people around us. Sometimes we have such great intentions and are so focused on reaching lost people for Christ... that we make it about our work instead of about God's glorious work through us, by His power through our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9) that He gave us as a gift. Everything good in our lives is from Him (James 1:17) -- AND He is faithful to complete all the work He began in us (Phil. 1:6) - we should rejoice in that! Lets set the world on fire for Christ!

GREAT songs I heard today: "Set the World on Fire" by Britt Nicole -- soo true! And He DOES "take our dreams, come and give me wings; Lord with You, there's nothing I cannot do!" Letting God's Spirit work through you is incredible. Surrender to His will and ask God to live through you, and you'll be amazed at what He does! He shines His light to people without you even knowing it, just by your obedience to Him! (p.s. That song is #11 on my WOW Hits 2009 CD. ;)

And also "Heartbeats" by We are Leo - "I'm addicted to this Hope in my heart like a brand new song." We should be addicted to Jesus in us! He is our life-source and He LOVES US and He CHOSE us! He is GOOD and He LIVES!

(Oh also- This morning I was anxious and a little discouraged because I did not accomplish much homework last night, but instead I carved pumpkins with Christine, my amazing roommate and Sister in Christ, and spent time with God in His word -- He really spoke to me through Matthew 3 (I'm doing a slow read through Matthew) and 1 Thessalonians (my Bible study this semester). Then I wrote an encouraging note to a friend, on bright construction paper :) ... but this morning I felt guilty ... SATAN'S LIES! God will be my strength when I'm weak, to get my hw done if I'm committed and faithful to Him and His work, and work hard to do all my hw! (Col. 3:23) Today God blessed me- I have no homework for one class and class cancelled next week. God is faithful. AHH!)

OK some final things to leave you with:
Pure JOY and HOPE because of Jesus. "Your GRACE is enough"!
"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
-Hebrews 11:1, yes 11:1, (and yes, I chose that verse on purpose...but
it's a great one!!)