July 4th weekend: Last E-training week

All I can says is wow! It was a challenging and exhausting weekend. We had so many people here with it being family weekend and 4th of July! But it was also very joyful too!

It was our last week of evangelism training. I went out with Laura Tyler(LT) this week. The first people we came up to wanted to listen to us but while we were sharing seemed really uninterested and told us they were already believers. We kept walking down the beach and prayed for the two girls we had talked to. As we were talking we passed a group of six girls. We usually only talk to groups of less than three...it's a lot less intimidating and much more personal. But I really felt like we should go talk to them. I told Laura this and she's like "I don't like talking to big groups" and I said "I don't either but they are all girls and they aren't doing anything." Before we approach we quickly prayed for boldness and courage because we were pretty scared.

We went to the three girls on the far end and asked if they wanted to see an illustration of the main theme of the bible. The girl on the end pointed to the third girl in and said "I think she wants to see it." I asked all three girls if we could share it with all of them. They agreed. The girl who wanted to see it was named Nikki and then there was Elizabeth and Bri.

As I started the bridge illustration they were joking and Iw asn't sure how it was going to go. Once we got to our testimonies though they became much more serious. After I shared mine I asked LT to share hers and I saw on the face of one of the girls that she could really relate to the ways God had brought Laura to Himself. We continued on and were talking about how it's not just knowing that God has saved you from your sin but it has to be a heart thing, a relationship. Nikki asked "Yeah, how do you do that?" We told her she had to turn from her sins and trust God that He forgave her and let Him lead her life. She told us she had really been thinking about it a lot lately. I was so excited. God had really been speaking to her heart and a seed had already been planted but He used LT and I to really point her toward Christ.

None of the three girls accepted Christ that we know of but we did get to pray for them before we left. We asked them what we could pray for them about and Elizabeth, one who hadn't really said much said guidance. I ask if you are reading this to please pray for Nikk, Elizabeth and Bri. Pray God would be ministering to their hearts and they would accept the gift God is giving them. LT and I left really encouraged by what God had done and just the opportunity He gave us to share the truth with these girls. We literally couldn't stop smiling :) Even in our weakness God used us.

The fourth was wonderful. We went to the beach and the waves were absolutely crazy as well as the number of people there. They shot fireworks off the end of the pier. It was a great time of fellowship and I brought home enough sand in my stuff to make a sand castle in our room. :)

Today was the beginning of prayer week!

Who Am I Really?

Welcome to Identity in Christ week. I feel like this is a question I am constantly asking myself. Who am I? What is my purpose? The bible has a lot to say about this and I have been learning a bunch about the lies I have been believing about myself and the truth, the way God sees me.

As people in this society we are constantly are giving and receiving messages about who we are and who others are. This could be something someone told you or even an event in our lives. As I think about the times where God really broke down my identity to make me trust Him more, one in particular comes to mind. When I was a sophomore in high school I got a varsity suit. I was then devistated that as a Junior I was denied one at the beginning of the season. It felt like everything I ever knew about myself was untrue. One of the things that God really taught me during this time was that I was more than just basketball, infact I wasn't basketball at all. Basketball became something I enjoyed rather than something that defined me.

Basketball was something that had made me feel good about myself but I think the false identities that make us feel bad about ourselves are even worse. In high school I wasn't very well excepted. I had one good friend but was being left out of things often. These events allowed satan to tell me lies like: You're not lovable, you are pretty enough, you aren't someone people like to spend time with. Last fall at Main Event confrence in Kansas City I identified these as lies that I still have trouble combatting. I can see how they effect me and still wrestle with them in my friendships which can make me insecure at times.

One of the things I've really been learning this week is just how to look only at who God says I am. God doesn't want us to find pride or sadness in anything that people tell us but rely on what He says as truth. What is really cool is that we have been given the fullness of Christ's identity when we accepted His gift of salvation. For bible study this week we looked at Ephesians 2. We made a list of who we were before Christ and now after.

Before: dead in transgressions & sin, following the world, disobedient, objects of wrath (ouch!), separate from Christ, excluded, without hope, without God and LOVED.

After: alive, receivers of Grace, God's workmanship, citizens of God's people, members of God's household, dwelling in the Spirit of God, and LOVED.

It's sweet that this is how God sees us every day! I can't wait until Heaven and my experience of who I am is the same with the way God knows me.

I think a good way to show you what I've learned this week is for you to watch this video. A couple of the team leaders I work with were talking uabout it and so I showed it to my girls as part of our bible study last night. Please watch it. Oh and one last thing. I just found out today that one of our staff was diagnoised with breast cancer and is having surgery on the 14th. They found it extremely early and she is having a mastectomy and they don't even think she will need any other treatment so praise God for that, but just be praying for fast recovery for Patty would be wonderful!

Video: You are Special