Need a smile?

A few days ago in my Global Consumer Culture class we watched this video. At first I thought it was pretty weird, but then as it went on I was fascinated. My teacher was using it to illustrate how the internet enables us to be in contact with people all over the world. However, I was knocked off my feet once again by how big the world is. When I watch this video, I see the creativity of God in making so many kinds of people and places and cultures. I see people who need Jesus, and he has given us the beautiful task of sharing in his work of making his glory known in the ends of the earth!

Psalm 67

God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us—that thy way may be known on the earth, thy salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness, and guide the nations on the earth. Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear him. 

Vertigo

Until a year or so ago, I had no idea what this word even meant. Now, I rather wish I didn't. The day after moving in to my new home in Magnolia Hall, I got extremely dizzy. The dizziness didn't go away when I closed my eyes, or when I was lying down. It made rush difficult, to say the least. No surprise, my great God used this ordeal to give me more of himself. Isn't it incredible how he is so faithful to do that? The Lord really taught me what my head has known for a while - that joy is a choice. Me being miserable was no excuse for me to be grumpy, or to treat people poorly. Sure, a constant spinning room is infuriating, but I still have SO much to be thankful for. God is good in sickness and in health. At one point in all my testing they stopped an inner ear test because they found something wrong and sent me immediately to get an MRI. As imaginable, my mind rushed to all of the possible things that could be wrong. I was afraid, but not overwhelmed. My God has proved himself to me over and over in spite of my faithlessness, and I knew that He was enough for me. Whatever life has next, bring it on. All that matters is knowing and enjoying Him. 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength1 of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

There is enough of God to furnish us with any matter of joy in the worst circumstances on earth... Joy in God is a duty of great consequence in the Christian life and Christians need to be again and again called to it. -Matthew Henry

Magnificent

Almighty and most merciful Father, we are thankful that your mercy is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings and deeper than all our sin. Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant pleasure, our indifference to the treasures of heaven and our neglect of your wise and gracious law. O God, change our hearts so that we may desire what is good, love what you love, and do what you command, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen


"Without knowledge of self, then there is no knowledge of God." -Calvin's Institues


Praise be to God who crushes me with the depth of my own sin, in order that I may dance for joy because of his overwhelming grace!

The Shores

Wow. How do I sum up my last three weeks? I am sitting at a Starbucks in Tyler, Texas right now. I'm about to get my third cabin of rising senior girls. I do not feel like my life is real. Which is probably because I'm living in Pine Cove world and not the real one. The Lord has been so gracious to overwhelm me with my inadequacy. If I am completely helpless in my salvation how do I expect to be able to make it through daily life on my own? I feel like a broken record sometimes, repeating the same things over and over and over again. But then that reminds me that I NEED to hear the Gospel that many times each day. God has filled me with an even deeper love for his Word and so much insight into ministry. I am learning what it means to rely on him completely. Hopefully there will be many more details to come. I get practically giddy every time I think about moving back to Auburn, which will happen in A WEEK AND A HALF!!! Yay! But until then, Week 9 Go hard!

Banana Trees and Iguanas

Here's another update as I move on from one thing to the next in this whirlwind summer. Last week I was blessed to travel to Ecuador with a group of nine people from the church I grew up in. I feel like the trip kind of snuck up on me, but the Lord used it in such a big way! We worked with some longtime missionary friends who live in Guayaquil. The bulk of the trip was a weekend retreat we put on for their youth group. It was so neat to notice and analyze all the similarities and differences between this weekend and the countless D-Nows I've been a part of in the States. Below is a picture of our whole group. The redhead on the front left and the black tank top towards the right were my sweet (and chatty!) roommates.

I absolutely loved being able to translate (however poorly) and understand all sides of the conversations. I'm ready for Phonetics and Syntax in the fall like never before! I think a short term relational trip was more of a challenge for most of us. It's so easy to go and paint and build without getting outside your comfort zone or without being intentional. (Not that those things are bad at all, but I know the Lord taught us so much through a different kind of ministry.) One day at the retreat a few of us went exploring in the Ecuadorian jungle. It was incredible. Bethany and I braved it in dresses and chacos. 

When we got back to the city, the Tates showed us around. Who knew so many iguanas could live in a little city square?

While all these things were wonderful, there was one thing that jumped out at me more than all the rest combined. On Monday morning we visited Caty's crisis pregnancy center in the city. For those of you who don't know, my two majors are Spanish and Human Development and Family Studies. When people hear that they always get a confused face and ask, "What in the world are you going to do with that?" For some unknown reason I have been telling people for about the last nine months that I want to work with crisis pregnancy. As I went on this trip I prayed that the Lord would continue to reveal to me whether or not this might be something he is laying on my heart for the future. And that he did. I will post more about this later, because I don't want to go off on a super long and spirited tangent at the end of an already too long blog. But, I'll leave you with some food for thought: 41.5 million abortions occur each year world wide. 2500 life-giving pregnancy centers serve the United States, where 1.5 million of these occur. The rest of the world (that's right, 40 millions abortions each year) have only 600 centers that provide women with alternatives to abortion and share the Gospel. Those numbers are staggering. What a unique mission field abortion creates. Keep praying for those who faithfully share the Gospel and minister to hurting women in a wholistic fashion. My next post will be from lovely Tyler, Texas as I move to the Shores on Friday!

Ecuador

Here's a quick update on my crazy summer : I just spent a few days in Fairhope. Which was fun to see old friends and I got to hit up all my favorite places. (East Shore Cafe, Coffee Loft, Los Tacos, Foosacks) Now I'm in Wetumpka for a night and off to the lake for some quality family time. After that it's Ecuador! Crazy I know! A group of college (ish) aged people from my church in Fairhope are going to see some missionaries that we have supported for years. We're putting on a retreat for their youth group. So, I would greatly appreciate prayer! For:

1) Unity among our team

2) Safety in travel

3) The students at the retreat to learn and grow

4) My talk at the retreat (It's not ready and it's in Español. Eek!)

5) Each member of our team to be challenged and to have a better understanding for how missions fits into their lives

The Love of Christ is Rich and Free

I have been listening to Indelible Grace's version of the beautiful hymn on repeat 

for the past few weeks. Read it slow and take it in. His relentless love never ceases 

to amaze me. No matter what I do, His love is unfailing. How blessed are we, brothers

and sisters, to be called children of God!

1. The love of Christ is rich and free;
Fixed on His own eternally;
Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove;
Long as He lives, His own He’ll love.

2. His loving heart engaged to be
Their everlasting Surety;
’Twas love that took their cause in hand,
And love maintains it to the end.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day.

3. Love has redeemed His sheep with blood;
And love will bring them safe to God;
Love calls them all from death to life;
And love will finish all their strife.

4. He loves through every changing scene,
Nor aught from Him can Zion wean;
Not all the wanderings of her heart
Can make His love for her depart.(Repeat chorus)

5. At death, beyond the grave, He’ll love;
In endless bliss, His own shall prove
The blazing glory of that love
Which never could from them remove.