Church Bashers vs Church Goer

Yesterday at church, our pastor, Bruce, was talking about how we had a choice of which we could be a Church Basher or a Church Goer. Bruce was saying that right now the best was to sale a Christian theology book is by bashing the Church. What does that help though. If you sit there are write down everything that you hate about the Church or everything that you see the Church doing wrong and stop there, what good are you doing the Church itself. That would be like going to the doctor and he looks at you and says, "Well you have this disease and the only way you can get better is with medication." and then he leaves without writting you a prescription. What good does that do you? Instead we should be Church Goers. People who are trying to make the Church a better place. Not people who are cheating or scamming people the second they walk through our doors. We need to be accepting, loving, sharing, Christ like.
Personal story: When I moved to Levelland I had to find a new church home. I was so scared to go to new churches by myself. I didn't always feel welcome and many times I could go through the entire morning without anyone really talking to me. You feel like you are being judged and that the only way they will talk to you is if you force them by starting the conversation or you meet their standards. And then it made me stop and think about the 23 years(well 22 years at that time) that I have been going to church, and wonder was I like that, when there was a visitor did I make them feel welcome?
Thought: The Church is suppose to be like a family. The way we make it like that is not wait for someone to come and talk to us but actually going over to someone whether you know them or not. I am guilty of waiting for someone else to start the conversation so why I felt out of place at the church I visited was because I made it that way.
Goal: I want to help build my church up and to make it feel like a home to those who are searching for love. I want to start conversation with the people I know and do not know. To build relationships with the people that I go to church with so that they are not just another face in the crowd.

Hosea 2:14

A couple of years ago I was part of a traveling sports mission team. My director for the summer suggested a book to me called Redeeming Love. This book is a modern story based on the book of the Bible Hosea. I love the book so much that I decided to read Hosea. It was there that I found my favorite verse and the verse that I believe describes my life right now. "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." Hosea 2:14. I really had not thought about this verse and how it perfectly described my life in Levelland until this week when I was talking to one of the men in San Angelo. It hit me. The verse says that God is going to allure her. I look up the definition for allure and it said: Attract powerfully- to exert a very powerful and often dangerous attraction on somebody. God has been drawing me into him. Just like with the reading the Bible in a year thing and how that has just caught me on fire and I want to read more and know more about this 66 books of love letters that God has sent to us. And then making prayer become so alive to me on Saturday when the storm had come and he granted mom and I this amazing peace. Then the verse says, "and lead her into the desert." I do not know if you have ever been to Levelland but on my drive to school every day the only thing you see is dirt and houses. I know it may not be consider the desert but I like to think of it as that. God has brought me out here and has started speaking tenderly to me. He has been revealing to me that just like Hosea he will always love me and that he is a jealous God and wants to be my only lover. God has pulled me away from all the things that I use to depend on or turn to when I should have been looking to him. He wants to be number one in my life. So as you can see I have found this verse that comes from a book that is thousands of years old yet it still applies to me. Yet another reason why the Bible has become so alive to me. I hope that you can find a verse that will encourage you daily. Hold on to that verse. Write it down in places you will see throughout the day. Well that is all for today. I am still processing spring break. It is funny how one week can be pack full of so many things. Hope you are have a wonderful Thursday.

The Storm

I have been trying to get this story posted but coming back to work has been crazy and I have not had much down time to type it all out. But here it is now.
So Friday night was our last night at the Ranch and there was only five of us left. It started off with Mom, Dad, and I watching the lightening which is something we use to do all the time but since I haven't been home much we have not really had a chance to get to just sit out side and watch a good lightening storm. Well seeing as how it had been a long week we decided to call it a night and get some sleep. I had no problem falling asleep, however it did not stay that way. At 2 o'clock in the morning I wake up to the sound of a hurricane outside of my window. And trust me I am not exaggerating. So the first thing that pops into my head is all the scary movies I have ever watched because we are out on this ranch in the middle of no where and it is storming really bad. So I begin to pray that God will just protect me and not let any harm come to me and when I opened my eyes there was a figure standing at the door...............it was my mom. So I ask "Mom where are you going?" and she replied "I want to go look out the back door to see what the storm looks like." The first image that popped into my head was mom opening the door to find a man in a scary mask standing behind the screen door holding a bloody knife. But instead of going to check the weather, she sat down in the bed and said she wish dad was in the room with us because he would know what to do. So we both sat there in silence, with these horrible pictures passing through my mind. So finally I tell my mom that I am very unsettled and that I wanted her to pray for us. Mom prayed and asked that God would just grant us a peace. When she finished praying, the images left my head and I was able to go to sleep. Mom and I both slept until 8 something the next morning and it was the best sleep we had all week. Mom's side of the story is very similar. She had been laying in bed debating whether we should go to a safer room or stay in our room. She was praying that God would send an earth shaking thunder to let her know she was suppose to move. But he never did so she stayed. When we talked about it the next morning she had had the same feeling about someone being outside.
This story is awesome to me because it showed me the power of prayer. That as soon as mom prayer I felt this peace come over me and I was no longer afraid of what was outside but was able to sleep and not a tossing, turning sleep but a deep, relaxing sleep. That goes to show that God does hear our prayers and that he answers them as well. What a wonderful way to end my spring break. It was an awesome week and God really showed up.
There is still more to come later.

Water for All

Okay I feel really bad because I have had Internet all week and have not told you a thing about the awesome week I have been having. So I am sitting here on the second to last night of my stay, completely exhausted, but ready to share some of my week with you.
This week I have been so fortunate to be a cook at the Water for All training week in San Angelo. We have about 15 total people that are here, this includes mom and I and the instructors. There are two guys from Arkansas, three men from California, one man from Tennessee and then Terry, Kim, Jeremy and Sara are the instructors. It has been such an awesome week to serve these men who are preparing to head out to various mission fields. To spend an entire week listening to their passions for the people they are hopefully going to bring water too has been such a blessing and that spiritual refresher that I have needed. The conversations have been great too, in fact one of the guys here is not a Christian but you can tell he is very interested; well, mom got a chance this morning to talk to him about it all. Just to see this guy and how broken he is and how he is just searching for that Christ example in a corrupt world is a perfect reminder of how God has called us to be this light to the world and not to blend in.
We have talked so much about how people have made the church more of this social call then what it truly is, a place to gather together with fellow believers and worship the one true living God and to do his will, whether that is going to Africa to drill a water well or to Levelland, Texas to teach freshmen. In fact this week has been more like the early church in Acts than any thing I have seen. Luke describes how the church was a group of people who met daily and fellowship with one another. That is what we have done this week. We have all met daily and fellowshiped, shared our lives with one another, our passion for the lost, and our desire to serve. How God takes 15 people who come from all kinds of backgrounds and brings them together is so awesome to me. Just to see the bonds we have formed this week and know that it is because of Him that each one of us is here. It has truly been a spiritual breath of fresh air.
Plus this week I got to learn how to cook from the best cook EVER!!!!!!!!! My mom!
That is all for now I am sure that there will be more to come later. Hope that you are having a great week!!

SPRING BREAK!!!

Next week is spring break and let me tell you, I am so ready for it. I have decided that it is just like in your spiritual life. There comes a time when you are just super warn out and you are just ready to get a break. Those are the times when you go and find a quiet place and just spend sometime alone with you and God. Well that is what spring break will kind of be for me. I am going to help cook for the Water for All training. So if you could be in prayer for that, I mean mom is cooking to so really it will all be great but still the prayers will be needed. Also if you could be praying for my little brother as well he is going to Harlingen to do to Champs Camp! He will be great. As well as my church is sending out three groups on missions. So as you can see spring break is a great time to go out and serve. To have that spiritual refresher as well as a physical one for some. So if you are getting to have a spring break soon. I hope that you enjoy it and that it is a time of rest and relaxation.

God's blessings

So on Saturday I celebrated my 23rd birthday. The only reason I am sharing this fact is the tell you the blessing God has given me of another year of life. God has truly given me a blessed life. I have a wonderful family who loves me and supports me and encourages me in everything that I do. I have a great job getting to teach wonderful freshmen (I love freshmen on certain days). I have a great church family who is so much fun to get to go and visit. I have a roof over my head and food to eat every day. This year has really shown me how truly blessed I am. To have lived the life I have. Listening to some of my students lives really makes me thankful that I never had to go through the things they went through. Like divorce, having a child in high school, drugs, alcohol. So thank you God for placing your hand of protection on me for 23 years. May I continue to grow close to you in the years I have left.

Birthday wish number 2

Okay so this birthday wish is a day early but I wanted to post this so all the people who see her can wish her a happy birthday tomorrow. Tomorrow my wonderful mother is going to be turning 50, (don't hate me Mom that I just told everyone your age) Yeah I would not guess she was 50 either, boy does she look good for her age. Anyways if you see her tomorrow you should wish her happy birthday!! God has truly blessed our family with the best mom ever. I know for sure they do not get any better than her. Mom is a strong Christian women who can never meet a stranger. She is trusting and trustworthy, she is fun and funny, she makes you laugh till you cry and comforts you when the tears are not those of joy as well. She is someone to be look up to. A great role model for not only what a mother and a wife is suppose to be but a friend and a Christian. I am lucky to say that my mother has been my best friend for the majority of my life. She has been there to encourage us and to show us that we should never stop believing, anything is possible. Although she worries on the inside she does not let us know but instead supports us on our many adventure even when they are in far off countries. She is strong, all the time. I pray that God will allow me to be at least half the person she is when I turn 50. So happy birthday Mom and thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooo much for everything you do. Hope your day is a very special one!!!

Urgency

Last night I received the news that one of my childhood friends had died. I do not know for sure what his belief where but I do know for a short while he did attend the same church as me. While I sit there listening to my mother tell me the story of his death and his life for the past couple of years, I could not help thinking what had happened. I have been reading this book by Linda Rios Brook called "Lucifer's Flood," it is a diary written by a fallen angel who quickly regrets the side he choose. Although it is fiction it really makes you stop and think. The part I was reading shortly after my mom had called was about the power of intercessory prayer. How we should pray for others. That is when it really hit me about this childhood friends death. Like I said when I started this blog, God has really been growing me this year. I am sad to say that in school I was not the person who prayed for the lost. Yes they would teach about it in Sunday School so I would pray for a couple of weeks and then would stop. It is something I never really knew the power of. That makes me stop and think how many of my friends would be Christians now from school if I had truly and whole heartily prayer for them. There is a Christian song out now, I do not remember who sings it or what it is called I just remember it says " We should be so careful as to who we let slip by" So I am going to ask you the same thing I am asking myself, What lost people are you passionately praying for? Let's dig into this power and pray for the lost before another one is gone.

Classroom discussion

I know that if you are reading this that most likely means you are sitting at a computer, however if you are not sitting down I suggest you do as you read the AWESOMENESS that is God. So background...I have always felt called to the classroom. It was not until I did my student teaching that I really saw how big of a mission field a single classroom could be much less five a day. Okay moving forward a little bit... two Sundays again we started this thing at our church called S.L.O.W. It is a prayer for our ministry and it's leaders, as well as for ours and God's will for us. It has really got me to thinking about what I pray for. So Last night I started really praying for my students. I asked God to reveal to me which students were lost so I could pray for them. Okay so the awesome part. This morning during 2nd period one of my students called another student a Jew and she said "I'm not a Jew because I believe in God." I then told her that Jews believe in God as well. The conversation grew from there, we talked about God as the trinity, about the Holy Spirit and how we no longer had to have someone to confess our sins to because we could confess them straight to God. It was so cool to be able to share parts of my faith with these nine students. And do it legally because they were the ones asking the questions. Then during fifth period, we have these five minutes before lunch that is suppose to be used to take roll even though it does not take me five minutes, one of my students asked me what I did this weekend and when I said I went to church on Sunday he asked me why. So I was then able to tell him the reason I went to church because he had said as long as you believe in Jesus you don't have to go to church. So WOW!!!! Twice in one day. Look what a little prayer can do for you. God wants these kids he just needs someone to show them he exist and is waiting to welcome them with open arms no matter what baggage they bring with them. So if you could continue to pray for my students that they might keep asking questions and that God can provide me with the answers! Hope your Monday was as good as mine or better.