Lessons on Love

I had the opportunity to speak at my local Baptist association's WMU annual conference. They asked me a few months to be the guest speaker. I considered it an honor for them to ask me because these are all older women and for them to ask me, a 20 year old nothing college student, was a big deal to me. I was able to share about how God worked in my life over Christmas in my time in China and how He is working now. The enemy tried to attack me this morning when I woke up. I woke up with no voice. Ironic since I would be needing my voice to tell about my amazing God, right? Well, I went straight to my Bible and started praying. I asked some good friends to pray. God prevailed like always. :) (Thanks to those who prayed for me! I love you!)

I displayed a power point presentation before I spoke and I did not realize just HOW much I missed that country. The tears started coming and I was even more heartbroken for the Chinese people. This was also the first time I was not nervous whatsoever about speaking in front a crowd. I shared about one of the many experiences of time in China. It was the time we spent at the street kids home that really struck me this morning. God's love..it is unfailing, never-ending, filled with hope, wonderful, amazing, awesome, patient(VERY!), kind, and full of trust.

One of the children from the home ran away while we were there. We split up and started looking for him. There was a prison near by the home and I knew that, but did not realize where I was walking..I was just looking for the kid. Our missionary started shouting my name like crazy! I turned around and he is telling me to come to him now! I walk towards him and then realize I was walking straight to the prison gate. He tells me to look up and the prison guard had his gun aimed on me. In other words, if I would have kept walking towards the gate I would have been shot. After it all happened, I remembered that there a man shouting Chinese at me, but since I did not know the language that well I did not realize he was talking to me or any of what he was saying. Ha! Through that little experience, I was reminded that God has kept on earth this long for a purpose and that is to tell others about Him and my time is not up yet. I am also reminded of that every time my heart messes up on me and I pass out. Anyways, back to the story..we did not find the child. Later in the afternoon, the police show up while we were outside playing with the kids..they had brought back the child we were looking for. Praise the Lord! I am busy with some other children and the next thing I know the child comes up to me and just starting hugging me like I had never been hugged before! I did not know what to do. He was in tears and just hugging. I was told he was deaf and I did not know that much Chinese to begin with and so I was like, "God, show me what to do." And He responded, "Show him the love I have shown you." So, I just started hugging him back and just embraced him. The kid looks at me and hands me a tissue to wipe his tears away. I lost it on the inside. My heart broke instantly. I wiped his tears away and he smiles so big at me.

I realized what God's love is that day. I thought I knew, but I had no idea. How many times do we feel lost? We find our way back to God. We had been searching for Him all along and never really realized it. We come to Him with tear-filled eyes..longing for Him..needing Him like no other. We find His love in His Word and our brothers and sisters and their encouraging words and godly counsel. God wipes our tears away and tells us He loves us everyday!

We all know what it feels like to be let down by our friends and family. They break promises, they lose our trust, they break our hearts, they turn against us, and sometimes they just have no idea what the meaning of the word "friend" is. I have good news for you though!! God is my best friend and has been for quite some time now and He knows everything about you and loves you anyway. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will be there when no one else is.

Know that God loves you and we are called to show His love to others on daily basis. If you love someone, then you will tell them about your Lord and Savior. :)

Peace and Blessings!

Back to the Basics..

In the past year or so I have been constantly reading a book of some sort, and in the past month I have noticed that I have not even picked a book up except for Bible. And I have not even opened my Bible as much as I should have. I have noticed that my focus has shifted some and that is in the middle of changing right now! God deserves my undivided attention and nothing less. I have been so busy with school, work, people, and doing stuff that I could go without doing and forgot about my purpose. Wrong thing to do by the way.

I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities and obligations. The things I have been busy with are not "bad things", but they become bad things when they take focus off the Lord. On Tuesday nights we have a college worship service at my church, Livingston First Baptist, and it felt like my college pastor was preaching directly to me tonight. I know God used Scooter to speak to me. And not only did He use Scooter, but he used the worship music too!

One of the songs we sang was "Forever Reign" by Hillsong. The first line of it says: "You are good, You are good when there's nothing good in me". This line hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason. My mind went back to the sermon I heard on Sunday based out of Romans and also the verse Isaiah 64: 6, which says "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Wow. Just wow. It does not matter how many "good things" I do or how involved I am in church or how much of the Bible I read because my most righteous acts are considered filthy rags! I have been so caught up in doing things and not in my relationship with God. The next line that stuck out to me was "You are joy, You are joy. You're the reason that I sing." God should be the reason behind every single thing I do and everything that I do should be to bring Him glory and honor! No other reason! And the last line that rung a bell with me in this song was "You are God, You are God. Of all else I'm letting go!" Nothing else matters except God. End. of. story.

Scooter's message was on point fo sho! Definitely the exact words I needed to hear. One of the verses that he used was Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." I cannot put into words exactly what all I feel right now or how the sermon spoke to me, but I know that my sin was pointed out to me clearly and I have been encouraged. Back to the basics for me.

Crazy Awesome Week!

Last Thursday morning I was asked to be a leader at a D-Now in Calera, AL that started the next day. I said yes right away because I had no plans for the weekend and what better way is there to spend my weekend learning about God and allowing God to use me to help teach some youth? I automatically got pumped! I didn't know anything about the weekend except where it was going to be and what the theme was. Spontaneity is pretty cool.

Last Friday on my way to Calera I had my 3rd appointment with my new cardiologist and praise the Lord I have finally been diagnosed!! It has only taken 15 years to figure this out. I have vasodepressor syncope. It is not life-threatening. I have to take blood pressure medicine twice a day along with aspirin, drinks lots of water and gatorade, eat 5 meals a day, and make sure I get rest that I need. This is an answered prayer for sure! Thanks to all who prayed for me, I really appreciate it. :)

So I leave from Tuscaloosa to Calera. The whole weekend was awesome. We discussed how important it is to be a leader. You have to be a follower of Christ before you can lead others to Him. We talked about discipleship and how Jesus did things. We were able to help with the town's local ministry called Acts of Kindness. We also got to learn about being a leader and a follower by going geo caching in Oak Mountain State Park. That was a first time experience for me and it was awesome! Although, it would have been a lot better if it was not raining the whole day. But we were all wet together! Awesome weekend, awesome worship, awesome people!

I also got to spend Sunday afternoon with my cousin Haley, who attends UAB, and her roommate Deidra. We got to eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and hang out. We went to Church at Brook Hills. I got to hear David Platt preach the Word of God. He is in a series going through the book of Acts that I did not know about and since I have been studying that book for a while now, it was pretty cool.

This Tuesday I got to go worship with Hillsong!! That was something I have been looking forward to since the beginning of December. It was well worth the wait! Definitely one the most powerful worship experiences that I have ever been a part of!! The gospel was preached and people came to know God. Awesome time!

This Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. I take part of the college ministry of Calvary Baptist Church called The Well on Wednesdays in Tuscaloosa. We had a special service that was really amazing. God never fails. He is faithful like no other. We deserve nothing He gives. "Hear and draw near."

There are a lot of other things that have taken place this week. Lots of answered prayers. Lots of praises. And prayers and asking for guidance are constantly going up. :)