okay so I had absolutely no time on the trip to blog...sorry to anyone who tried to keep up with it. I am in TX again. There is too much to even write about in one blog, but I must say it was an amazing thing to share hope to the hopeless, watch miracles take place, and watch scales fall of the eyes of the spiritually blind.

I hate sin, I hate that I have compromised my faith because of sin, and I hate that I didn't realize it until this trip. It is my new found desire to never compromise my beliefs for the feelings of other people. The challenge to defeat sin started the moment I said I hated it, in fact, it got harder to not compromise, than when I didn't recognize my sin. I could preach this, but I won't, because no one reads this blog anyway...

So, I'll be home on Sunday...stories to come...

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This is the day that the Lord had made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Our MA's got in yesterday. It looks like we have a really solid group of men and women ready to touch Uganda.

The Lord has really been stretching me in my prayer life. I feel like I should be up before the missionaries, MA's and even the project director, to be praying for the day, those I'm around, and for the spirit of God to fall consistently on us. The difficult part is the getting up. After that it's all gravy....The other thing is, coffee is sparse. That is excruciating.

We had a mock severe weather storm this morning at 6:05 to practice our safety skills. NEXT...

Alright, if your cool enough to keep up with this...mom ;) , know that I'm so thankful for the prayers.

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Training began last night and we met up with our leadership team. They are really great and I really feel like God is knitting our hearts together for his glory.

I just wanted to share a little bit about our vision for this team.

Adrian, my co-leader, and I both feel God leading us to be servants. So our team name is Diakonos. Diakonos is the greek word for servant, more specifically, servant of a king. And we are in the pursuit of becoming better servants to our King. Our vision comes from John 13 where Jesus washes the disciples feet and says, " ...having loved those who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love." If that is the full extent of his love is humbling himself and becoming a servant(phil 2) then that is how we will show our full extent of our love, Christ's love in us, to Uganda and our our team members. We want to pull people out of their self-centeredness and focus them first on God and then second on others. I was reading The Servant and I wrote down this quote: Loving serving, and extending ourselves for others forces us out of our self-centeredness....This is our hope.

I love you all and miss you!

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New hair, New Day

Goodness the Lord has been so very good to me. I feel much more confident in the fact that God is really going to use me. I still don't feel that prepared, but I am as prepared as I'm going to be. The thing I really need the most prayer about is my confidence in the mock crap. I have to go in front of project directors and share my net(the gospel) as well as do confrontations and counseling and its all fake and practice...so I'm not so stoked about that. But it will be okay.

I got my hair cut yesterday. I officially look so much like my sister its uncanny. So that's so cool.

love you all

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So we'll try this blogging thing again.

I'm in Garden Valley, Texas preparing to prepare for Uganda. I feel a little inadequate as I sit at this computer and type. The devil has really been hitting on my inadequacy today. But I refuse to let him have a foothold. This morning sitting at Mercy Ships Coffee House, I was struggling with moving past camp and getting on to mission trip mode, and God gave me the verse in Philippians 3:13-14 "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"

I feel like I'm ready to move forward, I have been spending a lot of the day preparing, and repreparing for what's ahead. I believe God is going to move in awesome and powerful ways. I felt kind of down today, because I noticed I was about 100 dollars short of what I think I will need for this trip, but God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory.

For your glory I serve.

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Concecrated Lord to Thee

Well...Clearly, it's been May since I last posted. It's been a crazy summer. I went to New Orleans on a mission trip, I made some new friends, I started school, I quit my job, and I took a position as youth pastor at my church...Holy Cannoli!

God has been showing me that if we are not focused on and set on having our thoughts on the things of God and not the things of man, that ultimately, we become Satan to him, and become a stumbling block to those who are around us. (Matthew 16:23) It's hard, but God willing, he will purify my lips with the coal of His Spirit. O to know Him rightly and intimately!

On my mind is the old hymn...

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord to Thee
Take my time, Take my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee(Chorus)

Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King
Take my lips, let them be, filled with words from Thee
Take my love - Lord I pour, at Thy feet its treasure store
Ever, only, all for Thee

Take my will and make it Thine
It shall be no longer be mine
Take my heart - it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne

(Repeat Chorus)

Ever, only, all for Thee

Vampire

So, I'm not a morning person. It's not something I am not ashamed of, but it's definitely something I claim to be, but clearly, am not. I am a coffee person. Mornings without coffee bring my frustration and exhaustion to a boiling point.

This morning I arrived at the coffee shop a little early. I thought I would get my work done. I actually thought I was pretty peppy despite the fact I opened our store before God opened day His. Let me preface this story with the fact that I get irritated when I am tired. It's a flaw, but it's definitely something I deal with. I get irritated at people walking slow/coming at all, basically anything. I also don't think clearly and frequently forget I have scones cooking or that I need to open the register before my first customer. Today wasn't out of the ordinary. I was irritated and forgetful.

I went outside for my daily cup of coffee in the fresh air and the sun was so bright! I literally said, " Stupid Sun, you are way brighter than you ever need to be! You need to go behind a cloud!" Yes, if your wondering I did throw a hissy fit over the fact that the sun was bright.

Through that immature spout of emotion this morning, I realized something...

Sometimes I throw a fit over the fact that the Son is to bright for me. Sometimes he is glaring so dead in my eyes that I want to go back to be the way I was, because it's more comfortable.

Today in my mini rampage I forgot to feel the warmth that comes from the sun. I didn't see the beauty. I felt uncomfortable

How often do I miss the beauty and the warmth of the Lord for the sack of my comfortability?

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