Consumed by my Abba

Towards the end of October I started praying that God would consume every part of me. I needed to find a way to remind myself to be constantly connected to him through out my day no matter what the circumstances.

I decided to start being more intentional about looking for how God was moving around me and listening closer to the Spirit's voice. To mark those connections I decided I would stop in the moment and jot down a quick prayer in my journal. When I didn't have my journal I would text myself or twitter the prayer.

Tonight I went back through the last 24 days and read some of the prayers. I am amazed!

• Abba teach me to be more patient and to love like you love.
• Abba your love and faithfulness overwhelms me. You are my source of joy.
• Abba teach me to love more, to takes steps of faith to shine you.
• Abba just one. One love. One focus. One more worker for the harvest.
• Abba I am overwhelmed by your passionate pursuit of me and consuming love.
• Abba break me of the things that are not of you. I long to look more like you.
• Abba, you are the source of my joy. Thanks for an incredible day.
• Abba I’m trusting you. Help me when I doubt.
• Abba my life is yours. All for you and for your glory.
• Abba help me in my unbelief. Forgive me when I fail to trust you fully.
• My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness 2 Cor 12:9 -- Abba you are all I need. Consume me.
• Abba consume every part of me.

God is doing so much in my life and I feel like I can't keep up. I'm falling more and more in love with my Abba as I see more and more how much he is pursuing me. I find myself consumed by his love and goodness at what appear to be the most random times. His love is far beyond my comprehension. I can't wait to see what he has in store next!

Anticipation, Homesickness and Advent

Some vampire movie came out this week called New Moon or Old Sun or something like that. Evidently people are really excited about this. They are even counting down the days in the facebook updates and tweets. I have to confess all of the anticipation seems a bit overdone. Perhaps it is because I find myself convicted. After all I've been guilty of doing the same thing with summer vacation. It's the expectation and a longing for something that just can't seem to get here fast enough. But should those things really be the focus of my anticipation?

I've found myself feeling homesick lately, not for Vestaburg or my family, but to be done with this broken world and be in the presence of my Abba. I even asked Jesus the other day if we could hurry up and get some more people saved so he could come back. Don't get me wrong I am loving life these days. I start thinking about what God has promised and I get impatient. (Big surprise. I know.) It seems like this is ought to be something I have great anticipation for instead of temporary things.

Advent is just around the corner. It is my favorite time of year. Advent is about anticipation and expecting that God will deliver on his promises. I don't really now what I love this season so much. It just always seems right. I always seem to discover a deeper peace during this time of year accompanied by a bit of unrest. So many people don't know that sense of longing that tugs on their core is Jesus just waiting for them to respond.

I guess the arrival of the vampires and the advent season have challenged me to stop and ask some tough questions. What if we had the same anticipation and longing for Christ's return as we do for things that really have no lasting value? Would my life look differently? Would I be more willing to share with others? Am I waiting with great anticipation?

More Roadtrip Highlights

For someone who really doesn't enjoy driving, I sure do take a lot of road trips. This month will be full of traveling too! Here are some highlights from this week's adventures.

- Doing tons of baking with my mommy
- Consuming wheat - NOT a good highlight!
- Beginning to dream about Camp 2010 with an incredible leadership team
- A beautiful fall evening remembering how my brother would beg me to be his hunting dog
- Staying up too late with Kari and the 1A girls
- Coffee and lunch with my brother
- Great conversations in Wally's office
- Praying with my boss, Dean
- Watching God answer more prayers than I think I even prayed!
- Sharing stories with Brooke from our journeys

Next road trip is this weekend. I'm heading to Kentucky to see Joe and Bev and enjoy some personal retreat time. I can't begin to explain how excited I am for this!

Roadtrip Highlights

Surprising Jeff and Mitch at Speedway
Being challenged once again by Matt, a faculty member from high school camp
La Senorita's with my parents
Logan, running to greet me and whispering over and over in my ear "I love you Aunt Sarah"
Hearing how God is working in the lives of former campers and friends
Wheat-free dinner with Derek, one of the most encouraging friends I know
Watching Kari and Caiti play some great volleyball on senior night and seeing a couple of my middle school teachers while I was there
Phenomenal conversations with Jesus during the long car rides

I love these little mini road trips. God always does amazing things on them!

Life is Good!

There is really no point to this post other than to blog and share a great picture DC took at GSM yesterday. And since this is my blog, I can ramble all I want...in list form of course.

- God is doing some amazing things on South Bend campuses. We've started our Core Group Bible study. We have an incredible group of students who are passionate about following Christ and anxious to share with their fellow students.

- GSM is in full swing and the school year is off to an incredible start. John taught during middle school on evil this week. Check out this awesome picture DC took during his message. Hilarious!!!
- I'm trying to find a way to take a mini-personal retreat in Kentucky. I've been waiting so long to go and visit my friends there and learn more from them. It actually looks like it could happen now. This is very exciting to me.

- I am in Michigan connecting with some students I've coached and mentored, as well as catch up with some friends and family. I made a surprise stop at the St. John's Speedway to visit my camp buddies, Jeff and Mitch. I love making quick surprise stops like that.

- I had the privilege to catch up with a good friend, Matt Schantz. I've posted before about how much I've learned from him. He has been doing campus ministry at Central Michigan for many years. He had some great advice and was incredibly encouraging. I'm very thankful we were able to connect today.

- I had a date with my Daddy tonight. He took me to my favorite restaurant back home, La Senorita's. And to make it even better was the fact that Mom got to join us since she didn't have to go in for jury duty!!! It was so much fun to just sit and hang out.

- I'm looking forward to connecting with some former students tomorrow and some other Lansing friends. These Road trips are always so refreshing.

Living Examples of Jesus - Part 11

Showing our cheesiest smiles while watching baseball with the Chicag09 team
Photo by Sam Peterson

I ran into my friend, Seth, this afternoon and he brought some encouragement with him. As I thanked God for the encounter, I decided my next blog post would be about what he has taught me through Seth.

TODAY'S LIVING EXAMPLE OF JESUS:
Seth Bible

Seth is one of most intriguing people I've ever met. One minute he makes you laugh so hard your crying and the next you are scratching your head trying to figure out what in the world he is talking about. He's an phenomenal musician whose heart desires nothing more than to fully worship God. Seth has an amazing talent of arranging notes and words to create powerful works of music and art. We are nothing alike but I love serving with him. Whenever I do I'm reminded of God's creativity.

I've learned over this past year Seth is also incredibly patient. I have to process things out loud and Seth became one of my sounding boards this summer. Sometimes this meant sitting and listening to me ramble for while stuck in Chicago traffic. He never complained or checked out and even offered his perspective along the way. I'm confident Christ was the same way, listening as his followers shared what was on their minds.

Seth also has this great skill of recognizing the little things in people and encouraging them with it. At what seems like the most random time, Seth stops the conversation to point out something great he sees in someone else. I've seen him do it with students, leaders, and friends. They are simple, yet powerful words. It reminds me of how Jesus saw things in the people he met and called it out of them when they needed it most.

I'm so grateful for my friendship with Seth and his faithful obedience to Christ. Thank you Seth for allowing God to use you to teach me and many others. Thanks for showing us Jesus.

A New Ministry

I took a huge leap of faith by turning in my letter of resignation without having another position lined up. It was evident that God was working and I knew he would reveal the next step in his time. That is exactly what he did!

Today I met with the director of Impact Ministries International and accepted a position doing campus ministry right here in South Bend. I will have the privilege sharing Jesus with college students across the area and helping them build an intimate relationship with Him. How exciting is that?!

And if that isn’t exciting enough, I’ll be working alongside my good friend Lowell Kosak. I’ve spent a ton of time talking with him about campus ministry, asking questions and learning a ton about loving Jesus and loving others, and praying about Impact’s ministry.

“So when do you start?” may be your next question. Well, I’m already volunteering in the ministry and will continue to do that as I raise the financial support needed for the position. I am so excited to see how God will use his people to provide that support. He has already proven his faithfulness in amazing ways the last few months.

I don’t have any words to express how incredible grateful I am to be a part of what God is doing here on our local campuses. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and encouragement during the last several weeks. Buckle your seat belts. The fun has just begun.