Well, today I finished my summer job, and it's so bittersweet. It has not seemed like a job at all to me, because when I think of a job I think of HAVING to go to work and doing stuff. To me, this summer I got to put my passion into use. I got to meet lots of college freshman and get to know them. I got to work with some amazing ministers and meet some people that I truly look up to and respect, whom I hope to work with in the future. When I was in the office I got to talk through facebook and email to even more freshman- it was amazing.
I've been pondering the summer and trying to figure out how God has planned it all out. Obviously I don't know what will come from it in the future, but I can tell you what God has taught me. I think one word could describe what God's taught me this summer: SURRENDER
Looking back over my journals, it seems to be a continuous theme. This summer God has called me to surrender. Surrender my plans, or ruin me if you will :) Surrender my ideas of what is best for me. Surrender my standards. Surrender who I am trying to become so that God can mold me into who He wants me to become.
I'm so glad I know what the next year holds, and I am so looking forward to serving as Campus Missionary. But, in the back of my mind are the questions of what's after that. Grad School? Ministry position? Missionary? Marriage? They are all questions I have no answer to, and at this time God has given me a peace about it. I've surrendered it to Him, and pray He will continue to just show me the one piece at a time that I need. Hopefully my puzzle will start to make some sense soon!
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender ALL!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Community
So, over the course of this summer, and especially this past week, I've really started to realize how much community means to me. Now, I don't mean like a small community you may live in, but the community of God. In Acts 2 it talks about the first church, and how they did life together:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
I've always loved looking at the local church in light of this passage, and now I see the true importance of it. This summer I have not had a church family. I have only been in town 2 Sundays, so I went to a church those Sundays. It was a great church, I liked the people, but it wasn't my church...you know what I mean?
Because of this, I've realized just what the church is. Now, your church should not be a place you go just to be fed...a place where you feel most comfortable and the preacher speaks exactly what you need to hear, and the music is the best in the area. I know a lot of people find a church for these reasons, but if you look back in Acts, there is nothing there that goes along with that.
In this passage, the believers were taught, hung out with one another (fellowship), ate together (broke bread), prayed, gave and continuously met together. It wasn't about meeting together once a week, it was daily living together. I know we make jokes about Baptists eating every time they get together, but what better way to talk about life than over food? I mean, everyone has to eat, so why not eat with fellow believers and talk over the food? They praised God together and enjoyed each other's company. They GAVE TO ANYONE AS HE HAD NEED. It wasn't about them, it was about what they could do to glorify God.
So, over the past few weeks I have desperately missed this fellowship we read about- I have experienced this in the past. God has taught me a lot about leaning on Him, and grown me in my personal faith. But for me personally, I long for those relationships. Many times God grows me and He uses conversations with people to grow me even further. When I tell people what God's doing in my life I feel needed.
All this to say, one of the many things God has taught me this summer is that Community in the body of believers is extremely important. When you don't have that, it is very hard to stand...especially if you have a similar personality to mine. But, God is faithful, and He is definitely showing me a lot about what it means to be a part of a community!
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
I've always loved looking at the local church in light of this passage, and now I see the true importance of it. This summer I have not had a church family. I have only been in town 2 Sundays, so I went to a church those Sundays. It was a great church, I liked the people, but it wasn't my church...you know what I mean?
Because of this, I've realized just what the church is. Now, your church should not be a place you go just to be fed...a place where you feel most comfortable and the preacher speaks exactly what you need to hear, and the music is the best in the area. I know a lot of people find a church for these reasons, but if you look back in Acts, there is nothing there that goes along with that.
In this passage, the believers were taught, hung out with one another (fellowship), ate together (broke bread), prayed, gave and continuously met together. It wasn't about meeting together once a week, it was daily living together. I know we make jokes about Baptists eating every time they get together, but what better way to talk about life than over food? I mean, everyone has to eat, so why not eat with fellow believers and talk over the food? They praised God together and enjoyed each other's company. They GAVE TO ANYONE AS HE HAD NEED. It wasn't about them, it was about what they could do to glorify God.
So, over the past few weeks I have desperately missed this fellowship we read about- I have experienced this in the past. God has taught me a lot about leaning on Him, and grown me in my personal faith. But for me personally, I long for those relationships. Many times God grows me and He uses conversations with people to grow me even further. When I tell people what God's doing in my life I feel needed.
All this to say, one of the many things God has taught me this summer is that Community in the body of believers is extremely important. When you don't have that, it is very hard to stand...especially if you have a similar personality to mine. But, God is faithful, and He is definitely showing me a lot about what it means to be a part of a community!
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