God's Story In Me

"Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow." -Jesus Paid It All

Today we were able to attend one of three different churches. I was fortunate enough to attend the church I went to when I was here last summer. This church is in a township near Cape Town and is run by a group of people that invested many kids in our FCA camp last summer. I was able to see some of the girls and boys that were in my huddle last year and two of the guys that helped us lead. I was so excited when I learned a few days ago that we were going to this church. It's a very small (inside what used to be a garage), sweet church. One thing that I really like about this church is that they give the kids a lot of authority. Two of my campers from last year help lead the worship, one boy is the "emcee" of the services and keeps track of the schedule. They also get up and dance in the middle of the aisle. I love that. They form a line and the "leader" provides the dance move for everyone else to copy. Most of the congregation joins in, even the really young kids who have more rhythm than most American adults. It's amazing to see people from around the world praising Jesus and the ways they choose to do it. I would love to be able to dance during church back home and have it be a normal thing. After they did a few songs, it was our team's turn to share. Charles and I volunteered yesterday to share our testimonies during the service. I went first and got nervous when it was about two minutes before I had to get up in front of everyone. I thought I'd share the written down version with you, so below is God's story in my life:

I was raised in Christian homes, went to church every Sunday, and Christian schools until college. When I was 6 years old I understood that because of my sin I was separated from God. I knew I was a sinner. Jesus came and died for my sin, and because of His resurrection I now had a chance for salvation. I decided then that I wanted to accept God's love and mercy and that was the day I became a Christian. 

Throughout elementary, middle, and high school I lived a good life. I never got in trouble, I did well in school, I listened during church, and was learning about God. And although I was a Christian I was still missing out on this personal, daily relationship with the Lord. I continued to try to be good apart from Christ. 

Because of my lack of dependence on God I began struggling with issues with body image and began trying to find my identity in guys. In February of 2011 I heard about this FCA trip missions trip. I can't explain it to you other than saying it was a God thing, but as soon as I heard the words "South Africa" I knew I would be on this trip. Absolutely no reservations of any kind. It took me traveling to a different country, on a different continent, being completely stripped of everyday distractions for me to actually listen to the things GOd had been telling me for months. That first week I was in South Africa we focused on the passage in John 15 that talks about the Vine and the Branches and how He will prune away things that will keep us from bearing fruit. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:1-2) I finally realized how important this is and began watching willfully as He started pruning things in my own life. Up until this point I had secured my salvation in Christ, but this was when my heart was actually transformed and I desired to be a true follower of Christ. 

Over this past year I have learned so much and have grown in so many ways because I want Him, I want that close relationship. It's still a process though. I'm still letting Him prune things from my life that will allow me to look more like Him. John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."

Thanks for listening/reading. I would love to share more with anyone that wants to know about the amazing things God has done and shown me throughout my life. He has blessed me in so many ways and I am so incredibly thankful that I can call myself a daughter of the King.

I hope your day is brighter now than before, if anything you've just read has inspired or encouraged you thank the Lord; for it is His Spirit that flows through my body, my heart, and through my fingertips as I wrote this. Bless you.

Just One Hour

"My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, My Savior has ransomed me. And like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace." -Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin

Yesterday after our sessions we were able to do some exploring. We went to a vineyard in Stellenbosch and a beach in Somerset West. After that we went to the mall in Somerset West and were given four hours to walk around, eat, or do whatever we wanted. My little group went to this restaurant in the mall called Spur's. It was so much fun just to relax and be away from the Island for a little while. After a very long dinner we went to Mugg & Bean for dessert...finally!! After eating double our weight we headed back home for an amazing night of worship. 

We sang at least eight different songs and stopped in between some of them to read a few passages that dealt with these themes: adoration (Psalm 8), confession (Psalm 32), and our response back to God(1 Peter 1:3-9). It was amazing. I could feel the Holy Spirit's presence in the room. I became so overwhelmed by some of the truths and desires I was singing (i.e. Nothing compares to Your embrace/consume me from the inside out). After all of the songs We heard the passage about when Jesus prays in Gethsemane before He's crucified:

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' Going a little farther, he fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.' Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. 'Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?' he asked Peter. 'Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.' When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!'" Matthew 26:36-46

We were split up into four teams and given two different times throughout the night that we would have to wake up and come together and pray. Jesus' disciples couldn't even stay awake for an hour to pray while Jesus did, so we were going to dedicate an hour that night (two rounds of 30 minutes each) to just pray. So that means that we would have four hours, from midnight to 4am, of people constantly praying. I was on Team Three with Brant, Ethan, Clark, Mary Morgan, Calyn, and Mary Carr. A lot of people wrote down specific prayer requests and put them on tiny sheets of paper in the middle of the room. Our times were at 12:55-1:30 and 2:55-3:30. For the first five minutes of every session we would join with the group that was praying before us, then we would divide the prayer requests up among us and pray for each thing individually out loud. 

Team Three!

It was so awesome to see what's really on some people's hearts here. Some notes remained anonymous, but most had a name attached so we could pray for that person specifically. It was so worth only getting about an hour of sleep, and just to experience praying to God at all hours during the night. We were abruptly woken up at 4:30 to start our day. We had no idea what the rest of the day would look like. These groups we thought were just prayer groups turned into our teams during the entire process of what happened today. The trust bank is definitely open with all the members of Team Three.

I hope your day is brighter now than before, if anything you've just read has inspired or encouraged you thank the Lord; for it is His Spirit that flows through my body, my heart, and through my fingertips as I wrote this. Bless you.