In Complete Awe

So much has happened in the last few days! I am totally and completely amazed by God in a way I have never been before. My love and awe has increased by a factor of about a million bajillion!

To start with, yes, I am disappointed our house sale fell through. Yet, if it had gone through I would have missed out on so much!

GU (Generation Unleashed) is a conference our church attends. As always I was impressed by the church itself but also (much more importantly) by what God did in student's lives.

For me, GU was a reminder of God's love for me. That was the most important part for me. Of course we had loads and loads of fun and ended up exhausted.

The best part though? The van ride home! Oh my word!! Can someone say 'Our God is amazing!" Please? We had gone around in the van and everyone shared their favorite part, least favorite part and how they were changed. Then we prayed and some people led out. It was cool, but the best part was still to come.

For some reason Jason brought up the Holy Spirit. Then Sydney asked who hadn't been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then we moved seats around so girls could pray for/over girls and guys with guys. I explained our beliefs about speaking in tongues and we began.

It was so unexplainable powerful. Something about people uniting together in the name of Jesus is so intensely moving. I was praying over Trisha and she was just sobbing in God's presence. Then a little while later I leaned in to hear her speaking in tongues! I nearly screamed out of excitement and joy! Then I couldn't help but laugh! The Holy Spirit was working and moving in that van on the way home from conference. God doesn't care where you are. If you press into Him he will not let you down.

So all of this was amazing and really pushed us over the edge. Usually, at least for me, the car ride home from camp is when the 'spiritual high' already begins to wear off. But we broke that this time. And I will never be the same because of it.

This Sunday night was our worship night at Stone. Now, I've always loved worship, I may not be a great singer but worship is still so awesome to me. Anyways, the lady leading the night said something along the lines of God's love for you isn't going to grow based on you and your works. Wow. My whole life I've been taught it's not the works you do that save you (Romans 1), but that it's loving and accepting Christ as your savior. Yes, I know that. But to realize I don't have to work to please God or to make him love me any more totally removed a huge burden off of me. As a PK I always know there is more I could be doing for our church and that I therefore should be doing. Now I realize though that it isn't about pleasing God, it's about worshiping Him. I've known this in my head forever but this was the first time I felt it, and I knew it for myself.

I have such an unexplainable all powerful joy. I'm never going to be who I once was.

If God Is For Us, Then Who Could Ever Stop Us?

FINALLY!! Our house is coming off the market! We have 13 days (January 19th) to pack up and move out! It's such a huge an amazing blessing!
People keep asking if I'm excited. My answer? I don't really know. It's so overwhelming, and there's so much going on. I feel kind of lost in all the confusion of packing, hanging out with friends for the last time, and trying to get school stuff ready to transfer.
But, God has given me the best friends in the world! I can't imagine what I'd do without them! Whenever I just need someone to encourage me or to tell me it'll be alright I know they'll be there. I love them so much! And I'm going to miss them even more...
I am amazed by God and his love for us as his creation. I've always 'known' this but the older I've become and the more I've learned the more amazing this seems. "Nothing you could ever say or do will ever change God's love for you." This phrase has been ingrained into my mind for as long as I can remember. But I will NEVER take that for granted.
God has given me all I have and I am so thankful!
I've had some moments where I was scared for my life, yet God's hand of protection was over me. Because of God's protection I'm still alive and well. This is proof to me that with moving to Moscow my God will protect me. He loves and cares for me. Nothing can stop that.
I will not forget that.