amazing grace

God is amazing. The more I read and study His Word, the more I desire Him and the more content I am in Him. I'm amazed by God's grace being poured out on my life right now.

There is a possibility that we might be moving in a year, due to changes in Dad's job. We're not certain yet if we'll stay or move. Even in the uncertainty, God has given me peace and contentment. I know this is where God has me right now, so I'm trying to be more purposeful in what I do here. I'm not being lazy and saying, "Oh, I'm not going to do much here because I could be somewhere else in a year." No, I want to give my all for what God is doing right now, where I am. This is only because of God's amazing grace at work in me.

Another mark of His grace is that I will be sad if we end up moving, but I know God will provide everything I need to serve Him wherever I go. He will give me strength to press on.

Thank You, Lord, for your amazing, unending grace!

Grace unending all my days
You give me strength to run this race
And when my years on earth are through
The praise will all belong to You

I Stand in Awe

I feel like posting a song, so here it is.

I Stand in Awe

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard
Who can grasp such infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of your love?
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty enthroned above

And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

You are beautiful beyond description
Yet God crushed You for my sin
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in
Who can grasp such tender compassion?
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description
Lamb of God who died for me

brief update

Friday night I had the privilege of serving at our youth group end-of-year celebration. It was my third time helping, and I always enjoy it. I love being there to see awards being given to the young man and woman who most exemplify Christ. It's encouraging to hear how these young people devote themselves to God, because they represent the future of our church. The youth of our church love the Lord, so by His grace our future looks bright. =)
Serving with friends is fun as well. We helped set up tables with cupcakes and other desserts, and a water/coffee table. Then during the event we restocked the food and drinks, and manned the popcorn machine. Afterward we cleaned up, and even got to use the photo booth we rented for the teens. Fun!
Here are some pictures.

The decorations were really colorful this year! This is the entrance to the auditorium.

they made a huge canopy out of streamers

two of the lovely helpers, Kasey and Samantha

one of the dessert tables

the popcorn maker

Sorry if you can't see this one very well. It's most of the helpers, having fun with the photo booth. (if you click on the picture you can see it better)

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Also last week I got a gift from a friend. It's a license plate frame for my car, and it matches my steering wheel cover. ^_^

humility

I've been reading Humility by CJ Mahaney, and it's a challenging book. CJ says that pride is your greatest enemy because to be proud is to contend with God for supremacy. He says that humility is your best friend because it attracts God and His grace. The best way to kill pride and cultivate humility is to focus on the cross of Christ.

Think about it:
All of us were slaves to sin, chained to a cruel master. We were completely helpless; there was absolutely nothing we could do to break free. We didn't even want to. Sin blinded us so that we saw our lives as the best there was. We couldn't see that we were enslaved. We were the worst creatures on earth.

But God so loved His creation that He sent His son Jesus to live on earth and die on the cross, in order to set us free. God provided a way for us to be delivered from slavery to sin. Yet even with that wonderful provision, we cannot believe in Jesus without God revealing Him to us. /Everything/ regarding salvation is God's doing. We contribute not even the minutest part to our salvation. It is all a gift from God. Unmerited and undeserved.

When I think about that I am ashamed of how easily I fall into pride, thinking I should have things differently than what they are. How can I contend for authority with God, when He so freely gave me the gift of salvation to which I contributed absolutely nothing!

something new

Sorry I haven't been posting very much! I'll try to do better.

The latest news of the family is: Wesley has a girlfriend! :)

(sorry for the bad quality of the picture) Her name's Anna Grace, and she's really sweet. I'm so excited for her and Wes!

one year ago

One year ago today I was baptized. God has done some amazing things in my life in one year.

For one thing, He helped me memorize the book of Philippians. Yes, by His grace I've finished. I'm excited that I have this portion of God's Word in my mind. It did help that my M28 small group was studying Philippians as I was memorizing it. :)

Another thing is that He helped me grow in talking with other people. One year ago, I was almost afraid to start conversations with people. Now, I love asking customers at work questions to see how their day is, as well as college students at M28 meetings. God is so good!

Also, I think I've become more content and grown in trusting God. I do get sad sometimes when I see all the young couples at church and M28, and wish I had a boyfriend. But then God reminds me that His timing is perfect, and He will provide someone if it is His will for me. I need to grow in my passion for God and grow to be more like Jesus. If I focus on that, I won't have time to be discontent about being single; in fact, it will be a joy to serve God where I am right now!

Saturday evening there was a thunderstorm. At first when I looked out the window and saw the black clouds and the strong wind, I was afraid. (by the way, I've always had a fear of storms) But then God said, "This storm is not out of control. I am making this storm. Yes, the storm is powerful, /but/ it cannot do anything unless I make it do so. I am in /complete/ control." It was amazing how God helped me trust Him and brought me peace.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" Philippians 4:6

photos from Rekindle!

Sunday, March 6

On the bus on the ride down

view out the window

We got bored, so we played Mafia.

Monday, March 7

view from our balcony

the note rope

new this year: a coffee station :)

"brown shoe bingo" to pick the teams for the Rekindle Cup

playing dodgeball

volleyball

sign-ups for the Whoa show

digging a crater

the first sunset


sumo wrestling

Tuesday, March 8

the girls had to get marbles out using their toes
volleyball again
making macreme bracelets
playing extreme crinisiffle (crazy-tennis-wiffleball)

water gun fight!


playing four-square

doing a challenge from "minute-to-win-it"

Wednesday, March 9

in this game, they had to pull the opponents' thing off their head

Seth smoking his pipe

then the rain rolled in

dashing across from the meeting room to the dorms
this is what we do when it rains at Rekindle:


goofing off

Thurday, March 10

our amazing worship band!

relay race

birds
getting coins at the bottom of the pool
Wes and Eric showing their injuries
sunset on the last night

the Rekindle Cup winners
the Whoa Show

Wesley, doing an UnderOath song

Friday, March 11

packing up to leave

on the ride back

stopping for lunch

dinner at the mall of Georgia