Running From or Running To?

Whether it was the crowds or the little criticisms that I was taking too personally, I was in a bad mood.  I needed to get away from people.  I didn't want anyone loving me or talking to me - I just needed to be angry.  The only solution that I could think of was to do what I usually do best: run away.  Now that is definitely not something I'm proud of, but sometimes it helps more than just sitting in my frustration.  So I put on my running shoes and I just went.

For the past six months, God has put the idea of Baptism on my mind.  It has been a random thought, popping up in my every once in a while.  I looked into getting Baptized a couple of times while I was at school, but it never worked out with my school and work schedule.  In light of that, I kept the possibility of getting Baptized here at Maranatha in the back of my mind.  It would be beautiful to be Baptized on the beach in Lake Michigan with the sun setting in the background.  What a stunning and assured picture of the presence of God.  But nothing pointed me toward Baptism here, so I didn't seek it out.

For the past couple of weeks, God has been showing just how much of my life and myself that I have not given to Him.  I say I give my heart and soul and body to Him, but do I act like it?  Do I pray before I make an attempt to love on someone?  Am I constantly in pursuit of the Spirit, trying to discern where I am being lead?  Am I giving the little things to God?  What about food?  God has blessed me with this body and He has given me dominion over it while I am on this Earth.  Do I think about how I take care of it - the food I eat, how much sleep I get, how I work out?  What about music?  Am I thinking about the words that are in the songs and how it affects my spirit?  I do not give these little things to God.  In all honesty, I haven't even thought about giving God such "small" matters.  But, if I don't give God the small things, how can I give Him the bigger things?  If I don't give God control of my eating and music and dressing habits, how can I honestly give Him all of my heart and life?  I don't think I can.

After God opened my eyes to this revelation, I knew confidently that I was being called in Baptism to give everything up to Him in a public manner.  I can have my eyes opened and know in my head and believe in my heart that I am in pursuit of giving God everything, but I am human.  I am human and I will forget and I will run the other way and I will take back control every single day.  But God knows me all too well.  He has blessed me with an opportunity to make my commitment to Him public, beautiful, and celebratory - through Baptism.  He has blessed me with a tangible act and a way to look back and remember that I surrender... and that means surrendering everything.  (AND I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED.  I am literally about to pee.)

So anyway, I'm running away from my bad mood and the criticisms and the crowd when Hawk Nelson's "Arms Around Me" comes onto my iPod.  My favorite mental picture of God is Him in His beauty and warmth and lightness cradling me while I talk to Him like a child and a best friend.  He is smiling and just thrilled that I am there and I am wanting to include Him in my life... and I am comfortable and so in love with this being that takes care of me - that determines my every breath and who I will come into contact with.  And so the words of this song struck a particular personal cord with me.  As the words swirled and resonated in my mind, I started tearing up and soon laughing - I had to stop running.  And it struck me all at once: I am giving my life to my best friend, my Father, my Creator.  Nothing can touch me.  No one can hurt me.  I can go nowhere that He does not deem as okay.  I am completely under the protection and power of my Lord.  And I have never felt more secure and more joyful.

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Wrap your arms around me  / Trying hard not to let go / Every time I stand up I fall without you / When you wrap your arms around me I know / You're with me wherever I go / Nothing else matters at all when you're here

-Hawk Nelson

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"Baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." -1 Peter 3:21

"What is this thing? This thing called Beauty?"

A couple of week ago this question was posed to me.

It started out as a question being planted in the back of my mind and has slowly, over the days, grown to a constant conversation with the Lord.  Please take a second, stop where your thoughts are going, start over in your mind with a blank page and see what thoughts come to you:  What is Beauty really?


I have been plagued with doubts of my beauty for almost my entire life.  I remember being in first to second grade and thinking that other girls were prettier, skinnier, had better hair, and whatever, than I did.  Through the years, this has only gotten worse.  I have struggled with my self-image for so long and that started affecting my self-esteem.  To make myself "prettier" and "more beautiful" I have starved myself, changed my clothing, changed my hair styling, tried make-up; basically, done everything to change my appearance that I could do on a poor student's salary.  Let me tell you what I have learned from all of my experiments: I never felt prettier.  I never felt more beautiful.  I never felt happier.
This summer at Maranatha, my struggle with my beauty and self-image came to an all-time high.  I don't know where it came from or what triggered it, but I couldn't stand anything about myself.  I was so frustrated!  I knew the truths that the Bible says about my beauty and image - I am the Lord's creation!  He made me very good!  He finds me beautiful.  But man, I did not believe any of this.  It was purely head knowledge.

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So ever since this question was thrown into my life, God has been teaching me truth about beauty.  We are surrounded by a world today that does not know what beauty is.  Beauty has been lost.  Our world today is focused on the outward beauty.  On weight.  On hair.  On make-up.  On acne.  On tanning.  On jewelry.  On our outward appearance.  I was caught in this whirlwind of false importance as well.  If I was only skinnier... If only I had clearer skin... If only my hair was longer and could hold a curl... Blah, blah, blah.  

I knew I was unhealthy in my ways of thinking of my own beauty.  Through a series of conversations with God, I feel like truth is finally hitting my heart and I can feel my own beauty.  

On top of this whole beauty conversation going, God has also been showing me things about my heart. For so long, I have hidden my heart and my emotions, thinking that I was a burden to those around me. I have felt things, but have tried to hide them.  I have numbed myself behind anger, been shamed of tears, and mellowed out my rejoicing in order to not make others feel badly.  I have not opened up my heart or used it in ways that are glorifying to God.  Instead, I have hidden behind fears.  

Enough is enough.

My heart is precious.  The things that I feel from within and the emotions that I pick up from those around me and the environment that I am in - these are important.  My heart is not a burden.  My heart is a weapon that God has bestowed unto me.  I am a princess that feels for others.  I am also a warrior for my precious King.

"Who is this who looks down like the dawn,

beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,

awesome as an army with banners?"

-Song of Solomon 6: 10

Here, Jesus, our beloved, is referring to his bride, you, that you are both beautiful in your femininity and a vital and strong warrior to the fight of our faith.  My ability to feel for others and pull out emotions in myself is a tool of connection.  The enemy does not want me to use this gift that God has blessed me with.  He does not want me to make heartfelt connections with other people.  He wants me to feel alone and ashamed in what my heart tells me and brings into my life.  

As I have slowly accepted the heart that God has given me, I have started to see the potential behind what I hold inside.  By opening up my own heart, I give others permission and encouragement to open up theirs.  By being vulnerable in my emotions, I have given others truth and dispelled lies.  By choosing to listen to my heart, I have been able to encourage and love people in ways that I normally would not be able to.  My heart allows me to love people who I do not get along with.  When I let my heart lead me, I can enter into relationship with more people.  

Tell me, what do you think the Enemy is most afraid of?  I think it's love.  

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So what is beauty?  

Beauty is your heart.  Beauty is the love you have for your Creator and Savior.  Beauty is the love he holds for you - the love that he proves time and time again for you, each time he takes the cross for you instead of letting God's wrath fall upon you.  Beauty is loving your sisters and brothers in Christ unconditionally.  Beauty is loving those who are not believers.  Beauty is loving people who you would like to push off a cliff.  Beauty is trusting what God has given you and provided you with.  Beauty is light.  Light rarely comes from the external.  Beauty rarely comes from the external.

Here is truth: I will never be happy with my appearance if I am not happy with myself.

More truth: I will never feel pretty or beautiful if I do not act in a pretty or beautiful way.

Even more: Who am I to call something beautiful or not beautiful?  I cannot judge.  Only the Lord has enough truth and wisdom to deem what is and is not beautiful.

I have come to accept that I will have days where I will feel very ugly.  I will also have days where I will feel like a princess.  But I think God is leading me to a place where that will not determine my self-image of -confidence.  For if my heart is seeking beauty and living out of beauty, then I shall radiate beauty.

I shall radiate beauty.

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No Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.  She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.  She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, "Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, 'Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun.  And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand'?"  Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go."  And she said, "I will surely go with you.  Nevertheless, the road on whch you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman."  Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. -Judges 4:4-9

Week 3

This week was super different than any other week.  Greg Speck was here in Maranatha speaking and all of the teens were asked to join the adults in his sessions.  He was the best speaker I have ever heard in my life.  I walked out of each session, nine in all, with a different perspective on faith and life.  I loved him so much I bought one of his sermons.  Here's a taste of Greg Speck: "Life is Short".

Since the teens and the teen staff were all in the sessions, we didn't get to know the kids nearly as well as we otherwise would have.  This was pretty disappointing because it was an awesome group of kids! I was with the 11-14 year old girls with Melissa.  They were the most fun girls I've had this summer.  I would see them around the Maranatha campus and they would scream my name and run over to me with fun stories and jokes.  I got to know two girls particularly well and I pray that I can keep in touch with them to the best of my ability.

The week ended with a visit from Shelbye, Hannah Davis, Vivian, Eric, and Jacob.  Seeing them reminded me of what a beautiful community I am blessed with back in Clifton.  I love them so much.  And thinking over the distance and trials we have been going through recently, it's amazing that God still grows love even when we are unaware of it.  My times of catching up with both Vivian and Shelbye were wonderful.  I was able to hear about their lives and share some of my own experiences and the lessons God has been teaching me here (which is a lot, haha).

Saturday night, we were all sitting on the beach and Hannah Davis had brought her guitar with us.  The sun was setting and we were sitting in a circle, enjoying each other's company.  It was the perfect opportunity to worship God and all the He is for us - so we did.  We sang and bowed our heads to the great God who loves ALL of us and brought us together.  I think that really hit me.  The perfect timing of bringing us together in love and joy.  And He brought us together not just to worship Him and dive deeper into relationship with Him, but also for laughter and fun.  He brought us together because He wanted to bless each of us with pure enjoyment of our fellow brothers and sister in Jesus Christ.  It was freaking beautiful.

But anyway, we worshiped.  And just as it was getting dark, we sang "Your Love Never Fails" and the waves started crashing against the shore to the strums of the guitar, the wind started blowing a little harder, and the Holy Spirit was so present.  I firmly believe we all rereceived the Holy Spirit Saturday night.  After singing, we bowed our heads and prayed in thanksgiving, petition, and praise.  As we were praying, John 14:12 came to my mind: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."  As believers and children of God, we have received the Holy Spitit and this is such a weapon and tool that goes unnoticed.  Jesus promises us that we will do greater things that He has.  What stops us?  Fear.  Fear from within ourselves stops the Spirit from working in our lives to do greater things.
I am sick of being afraid.  I pray fear is banished from lives.  I pray that fear is no longer the thing that stops us from doing God's work and spreading His Kingdom.  Because hoenstly, what a lame excuse.


Something else that God has been teaching me can best be summarized in the book of Romans, chapter 9:

"It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy.  ...But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?  Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?"

I have been so focused on what is wrong with my life and the struggles that I have been enduring that I have completely and selfishly overlooked all of the beauty and blessings that are surrounding me.  I am at Maranatha, one of the most beautiful and relaxing places, with some of my favorite people, and still I choose to settle in my anger and bitterness.  That is ridiculous.  How about the fact that my Lord that saved me is GOOD?  

I was talking with Jesus last night and it hit me: I have chosen to follow Jesus and that comes with trials and suffering.  This does not mean that there will be no joy and no laughter, but this does mean that when I suffer, I suffer for a purpose.  The Lord will never let my trials and suffering go in vain.  

So now, why not meet trials with joy?  For I know the Lord makes all things beautiful.  All things worthy.  

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"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." -James 1:2-4

Week 2

This week has been jam-packed.  On Tuesday, Melissa and Austin showed a documentary of The Road to the teens.  It's about the genocide that is occurring in Burma.  It is a really graphic and honest documentation of a current genocide.  In the evening, we wrote letters to the Karen people in Burma - words of encouragement and prayers.  It felt really good to be doing something tangible to help these people who so badly need help.  If you're interested in watching the documentary or learning more about it, go here.

On Wednesday, I told my testimony and talked about my journey to Christ in front of the teens.  It was a super cool experience for me.  For the first time, I was able to tell my testimony honestly and completely and I felt no guilt or bitterness when I was through talking.  It was such an eye-opening moment for me - God really is healing me. (:
After I was through talking, Jon taught about the idea of God as our Father.  It was a really concise and cool teaching and I think it really got the kids to open up.
Wednesday night was guys/ girls night.  After some praise and worship, Melissa, Kendra, Sarah and I each talked about a particular struggle that we are going through currently: feeling unworthy, self-image, being at peace with oneself, and fear.  After we were done sharing, we asked the girls to pick a leader and spend some time with them in hopes that we could support and encourage each other in our alike struggles.  To see the group of girls I lead come together, be vulnerable with each other, and then desire to encourage each other in big ways was stunning.  It was such a wonderful night of sharing.  It proved how alone we are NOT in the body of Christ.

Thursday we focused on the inviting God and ended the day with a bonfire.  I got to spend some time with Hannah and enjoy finally being with her!  I love my sister (:  God is really going to move through us for each other this summer.

Thursday night, I stayed up ridiculously late with Josh and Shawn.  We were able to have awesome conversation and provide encouragement for one another in our trials.  It was just so wonderful to be able to be real with some brothers in Christ and be treated with love and respect and as a sister in return.  We ate numerous packages of gummies and talked about everything from testimonies to pokemon.

The prayer walk and tower happened again Friday.  It was beautiful and the Holy Spirit was so present.  I was given the opportunity to pray over some girls again and have God use me.
Molly also came up to me on Friday night and asked if she could give me a hug.  Man, I love this girl.  God had definitely blessed me with meeting her and having an opportunity to hang out with her more than I originally expected.  Going from Monday when she barely would let me hold her hand or put my arm around her to Friday where she was asking to give me a hug.  Watching her heart transform this weekend was my seeing a miracle progress throughout the week.  She left a different person.  I know God has other things planned for this summer, but honestly, if she was the one gift and blessing God has planned for me, I would leave Maranatha happy.  Molly is a beautiful woman who so cleary exhibits 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"


Friday night was a night unlike any I have had.  Jon knocked on the girls side of the dorm around midnight saying that Shawn needed some prayers.  The following thirty to sixty minutes consisted of intense prayer for Shawn and spiritual warfare like I have never experienced.

Saturday was a definite welcome from the busy and intense week we all had just had.  The UC Maranatha teen staff drove to Chicago and spent our day walking (lots and lots and lots of walking) and eating (also lots of eating) and enjoying each other's company with laughter and jokes.  It was such fun!

           

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

-2 Corinthians 12: 9 & 10

Also, here are some pictures from previous weeks I have uploaded recently (or stolen from Kendra) and my living area!

Hanging out on the porch of our first house before
we moved into Lebanon Lodge.

Lebanon Lodge living area

Lebanon Lodge

Center of Maranatha

Staff Infection volleyball game

Week 1 girls leading praise and worship

"Love is our true destiny.  We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with one another." -Thomas Merton

Let's See Some Miracles

God has been blowing my mind.

Let’s finish up last week:

On Wednesday night, the girls and guys split off and the leaders were able to minister to personal issues.  The girls focused on insecurities.  We showed some clips from the movie Tangled, provided nail polish for them to paint their nails, and made chocolate covered oreos and strawberries for them.  Kendra, Melissa, Sarah and I each then shared something that we had been struggling with, or still struggled with, and how God healed us or was in the process of healing us.  We wanted to let the girls know that they were not alone in dealing with insecurities in beauty, weight, boys, and girl friends.  The result was amazing.  The girls had such a blast and we had some very fruitful conversation as a result from the leaders sharing. 

As a gift, the leaders had made book marks for the girls that had a verse written on it:

“The Lord God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, quiet you with his love, and rejoice over you with dancing.” 
–Zephaniah 3:17

Personally, I was super excited to share this with the girls because this verse has impacted my life.  The idea that the Lord of all would delight in me so that he would dance over me became such a powerful image for me.  My hope is that, through the verse, the girls are able to reminded of just how much God loves them, but not only that, adores and delights in them as well.

After girl’s night wrapped up, I pulled one of the girls (Lexi) in my small group aside.  I asked Lexi if she would be willing to share her testimony with the group Thursday evening.  She agreed and we set up a date some time for the next day to get together and go over her life story. 

On Thursday, I met up with Lexi and we went over her testimony.  She has a beautiful story and I was blessed to be able to listen to her and witness to how God has been working in her life.  She was full of desire to follow Christ and had a new drive to do so.  I was so encouraged by her determination to be open and let go of her past.  Lexi was beautiful.  I count myself as truly blessed and honored to have met her and shared life with her.

That night, Lexi did tell her testimony to the rest of teen staff and teens while sitting around a bonfire on the beach.  She was open, clear, and willing.  So far, that was by far one of my favorite nights to be a part of.

After Lexi told her testimony, we split off and ate s’mores.  Sarah, Kendra and I found out that the guy leaders – Jon and Ryan in particular – were planning on throwing us in the lake.  So we did what every girl would do: we ran away and hid in the sand dunes.  Unfortunately, they found us.  We were then dragged mercilessly into the lake water.  Honestly, it was hilarious and kind of fun (: 

On Fridays, Maranatha teens do something called then prayer walk and tower.  Each staff person does an activity with the kids during the prayer walk revolving around a subject.  Sarah and Jon decided to focus this year on the prayers God loves to answer: healing, blessing, forgiveness, etc.  Each teen staff member had a station and came up with a short interactive activity to do with the groups as they came by their station.  My theme was forgiveness.  So for my station, I had the teens write down someone they were angry at or holding a grudge against.  We then put them in a pile and set them on fire, symbolizing letting the anger and bitterness go and letting God be the one and only judge in the world.  We do not want to put ourselves above God, for who are we really to know what is good and bad in this world?  We are disciples and followers of Jesus – we do not judge, only love.

After the groups made it to each station, we all walked to the prayer tower.  We celebrated communion with each other and then shared what God was doing in our lives.  Each teen staff member got the opportunity to pray over some people who were having a particular rough time or were feeling convicted in some way.  I got the chance to pray over two girls – Alyna and Micaela.  It was such a cool experience to be able to share in their struggles and realizations.  It was humbling realizing that I could do nothing for these girls but pray for them.  So I did.  I prayed over them and tried to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit and follow where it was leading me. 

Saturday was our day off!  Sarah and I got a chance to grab some time to hang out just the two of us, which was super nice (:  Then that evening, the teen staff climbed up the sand dunes that are by the beach.  We watched the sunset then gathered on the top of one of the sand dunes and prayed together.  It was such a beautiful experience – God was everywhere around us.  IT WAS AWESOME!  Then Kendra brought up the roles of the women and men that were her serving the teens on the teen staff – men as leaders, women as supporters.  It was such a cool reminder of the roles that God was calling us to.  We were then able to share and encourage one another and pray for the coming week.

We got our new group of teens Sunday night.  I am leading 15 and 16-year-old girls this week.  It’s a pretty quiet group and honestly, I’m struggling with getting them to open up. 

Monday night was pool night.  We go to the pool for teen swim and while we’re there, a staff member shares their testimony.  Shawn did this week and the results were astounding.  First of all, Shawn was not even supposed to share this week, Melissa was.  However, while teen staff was praying on the sand dune Saturday, Jon felt a nudge to encourage Shawn to share his testimony this week instead of Melissa.  Shawn followed Shawn’s encouragement and did so.  So, Shawn shared his testimony Monday night and was able to encourage many people with his story.  There was one girl in particular who was touched by his story.  After Shawn talked to her for a little bit, he asked me to talk to her.  I was able to share the Gospel with her for the first time.  I was given the opportunity to give her my Bible and encourage her to read and learn more about Jesus’ life.  It was mind blowing.  I was so completely overwhelmed with God’s sovereignty and his perfect timing.  He orchestrated everything so that this girl could be introduced to Jesus.  And she accepted that Jesus loves her and died for her. 

Praise the Lord!

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Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the weak I become weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.  
-1 Corinthians 9:19, 22

Beginning the Race

“Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.” –Romans 12:9 & 10

The first group of teens is in!  On Sunday night, the teens showed up in the teen room and the teen staff introduced ourselves and made fools of ourselves through videos and such.  It was nerve-wracking since the group of teens this week was a tough crowd, but the improv ended up really getting to the kids and pulling them into participation.  Here are some of the videos and skits:

Staff Video!

I met with my group of girls – I have 13 and 14 year old girls this week – and man, am I blessed!  We immediately started laughing and discussing the potential cool things that will be in the Kingdom of God (like cloud mopeds and rainbow slides) and singing “Call Me Maybe” and dancing like crazy girls.  I am really excited about this group of girls.  For my first week leading high school girls, God has really blessed me with a funny and outgoing small group. 

This morning, a missionary family came into the teen room and talked about their experiences in Bolivia.  It was such a cool talk!  They have been living there for the past 30 years, have raised 4 children in the jungles in Bolivia, and have lived a type of life that I am completely unable to imagine.  He brought in an anaconda skin that was 22 feet long and talked of alligator tackling – adventures that I never dreamed of!  Ten years of their life was devoted to interpreting the Holy Bible into this people’s language that they have committed to serving. 

When we split into small groups, my group and I discussed this idea of a body of believers and how diverse we all are.  I get so wrapped up in our own little worlds that I forget sometimes that there are followers of Jesus in a different country living their own lives.  I forget that there are people who have never heard the word of God before.  That hit me like a ton of bricks: There are actually people out there in the world who don’t know the Redeemer. 

If that is not something worth committing my life to, I don’t know what is.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Matthew 28:19 & 20

“When you find your path, you must ignore fear.  You need to have the courage to risk mistakes.  But once you are on that road… Run, run, run, and don’t stop ‘til you’re reached its end.” –Jose N. Harris

Prayer requests: Please pray for the team staff.  Pray that we come together in support and encouragement of one another.  Please pray that we do not lose sight of why we are here: for God and His Kingdom.

Gettin' Busy

OH MY GOSH IT'S FREAKING AWESOME HERE!

This past week has been planning week for the teen and children staff.  This basically means that we've been having meetings once a day and hanging out with out staff, getting to know each other and preparing for the coming summer.  In no way has it been stressful or busy.  In fact, I actually started desiring a shcedule and things to do because we were relaxing so much!  

We lived in a cute little dollhouse-looking this past week since our teen staff dorm, Lebanon Lodge, wasn't ready.  It was super cute, but very cramped.  Five girls shared a section of the house with one bathroom in which the bathroom connected the two rooms and one of the rooms to the rest of the house.  This was slightly unfortunate when someone was in the bathroom, blocking someone from the rest of the house.  Kendra, Sarah, and I shared the room that coule be easily blocked and we were quite frequently seen climbing out of our room to walk around the house to actually get into the house again. It did have an awesome porch though.  I am definitely going to miss star gazing on that porch.  (:  And the stars here are super awesome!  Oh my goodness gracious, there are so many!  I'm super excited to make star-gazing a frequent activity in my life (:

On Wednesday, the UC kids plus Melissa and Austin (our teen staff leaders - they're basically fantastic) all went to Grand Haven, Michigan to get some food, watch the sunset, and see the musical fountains.  It was beautiful!

The rest of the week has consisted of sand volleyball, playing on the beach, dance parties, telling testimonies, thrifting, and other generally crazy and random things.  It has been such an awesome week!  I can already tell that God is going to show up in some magical ways this summer!

We get our first batch of teens tomorrow evening, and, surprisingly, I am not nervous.  I have such a wonderful team supporting me and loving on me that I know love will be surrounding me no matter what.  I hope to see God work in some amazingly huge ways and I definitely think I will.  For now though, He has blessed me with some amazing friends, some old and some new.  We're going to be a family for the coming summer and I am SO pumped to see what He decided to do with us.  He could do anything!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live." -John 14:18-19