Last First week of School...as an undergrad student I guess

It seems like I have been in school for forever but at the same time no time at all...how can this be?  Well I will give you the big ideas of how my first week has gone.

I LOVE my apartment! My bed is lofted, which isn't my fav but I have lots of room and a futon to take naps on :)  I also get my own sink and only share a bathroom with my immediate roommate.  This doesn't seem big but when you are living with 10 other people it is!  I love having lots of roommates.  Today four of us went on a walk around Cedar Falls.  It was fun to get to talk to Farren, a roommate I just met, but absolutely love already! 

Ministry has been hard getting started.  First of all I feel really disconnected to campus since I am only here for a semester.  On Tuesday I just decided to tell God: Lord, I don't want to serve you right now, I don't feel like this is where I want to be, etc etc.  But lets get real, God always knows just what to say to encourage me.  It came from 2 Timothy 1:7 "He has not given you the spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline."  Guess what the one who is in me is SWEET-power? Love? self-discipline? it is exactly what I need!  I am still struggling getting a bible study together but think my apartment is going to be a good starting place, today on our walk I talking to Farren about it and she is in.

Classes are going extremely well!  It's easily going to be my easiest semester since I was a freshman.  I love many of my classes, ok all but my Capstone and Methods of Science.  My Capstone is entertaining because my professor is a stick it to the man kinda guy, hilarious comments that are often inappropriate; The class however is about science terms that are way over my head and i can't pronounce.  Methods of Science is just plain boring.  I have decided to dedicate my time to working on my doodles and building relationships with the girls that sit at my table, possibly by writing notes.  Our professor reads off of a wordy PowerPoint that she posts online. 

My time with God has been awesome since coming to school!  I have these very awkward breaks in my school day that are like 2-3 hrs long so I just stay on campus, hemisphere lounge of the Union, and do my quiet times and some homework.  It's been awesome.  I am reading through Acts and I love it!  As I am about to embark on a new journey next semester it is really good for me to see how the first church is run and just their love and fellowship with each other.  It has also been sweet to see the faithfulness of God, in the end of Acts 2 it talks about how God gave them favor in the eyes of all people and was bring new believers into their group daily!  WOW! I am beginning to pray that for this not just of Navs but for this campus.  It makes me so excited to see what God has in store next!

Tuesday night was Nav night and it was flippin' AMAZING!  First of all we had to sit on the floor and stand in the back because there were so many people!!!!!!!  Worship was great with the packed house!  Kyle Nelsen did a great job of explaining what the Navigators is all about and laying out the gospel.  I am so excited to see how God is going to work through this ministry with him leading it!  Also as student leaders we are praying for over 100 students to sign up for Main Event this year.  We are going to take charter buses if we can get enough people to go!

Ok, last but not least I am reading a book/going through a bible study with the book Calm My Anxious Heart. It's so great!  I am learning so much from this amazingly wise woman!  I started reading it after I got really anxious about student teaching over the summer.  It has been so great to just let go and let God take over.  This weeks memory verse was Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  WOW!  I have had this memorized for a long time but I haven't really meditated on it.  I have learned that we have a choice when we are tempted to anxiety a.We can become anxious and nervous and just a mess or b. We can pray!  Pray specifically for what we are tempted to be anxious about and pray for peace, which is God's part.  Our part is to pray.  God's part is to give us peace.  This has changed not only the way I have been dealing with my anxiety but also my prayer life. 
One of the activities I did this week was right out the positive and negative parts of my circumstances at this time of my life.  So i did this.  Then it asked which one do you dwell on...ok I had a TON more in my positive side yet much of my time is spent on the negative part.  Dang!  Philippians 4:9 says "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."  It takes practice to give our anxieties to God.  It takes practice to pray specifically.  It takes practice to be thankful.  It takes practice to dwell on the positive.

So here are my thoughts, lessons and processings for the week.  Hope you enjoy! :)

Part I - Beginning the Journey

I would say it started last summer. I stayed in Cedar Falls, took classes, and worked all the hours catering and babysitting could give me. I definitely learned a ton and grew as a woman of God but it wasn't a restful or extremely fun summer to say the least. One day while sitting on my couch in my apartment avoiding homework I began research on what I was going to do THIS SUMMER!

I eventually decided on doing Eagle Lake Camp. It was perfect! It was in the mountains of Colorado (which I love), it was PAID (my parents would like that), and it was working with kids (which is what I'm going to do with the rest of my life). This was exactly what I was supposed to do with my summer! I was sure of it. I had even talked to one of my best friends and she was thinking about it too!

For some reason though I knew I wasn't suppose to send in the application. I had it almost all filled out...but it just didn't seem right for some reason. Then Main Event 2010. Even though I was convinced I was going to Eagle Lake I knew that God wanted me to have a leadable heart and keep my options open. I had been learning a lot about listening to God and waiting on him.

One night as I was praying and spending time in the word before my bible study I felt God was telling me I didn't trust him. I began to realize that I wasn't trusting God with my finances. Eagle Lake Camp was the easy choice because all I had to trust God with was that I would be accepted. With JAX I would have to trust him with raising over $2,300 and being accepted and guidance to lead and I am currently learning much more.

So...I resisted...until encouragement came. As I was leaving for Thanksgiving break I received an anonymous card in the mail with $100 in cash in it. It said to use the money to help me do God's will for me that summer. I knew as soon as I opened that letter I was not going to Eagle Lake and I was going to trust God with more than I wanted to at that moment! God had increased my faith through this he was going to be faithful for the rest.

I ignored this and tried my best to escape the topic for the time being with my parents. Then over Christmas break I went to EDGE preview. The whole weekend was about trusting God--go figures :) I also had a talk with one of my roommates at EDGE about raising funds and how her parents weren't in total support and how she dealt with it.

After EDGE preview I knew I was going to STP.

Two verses that comes up time and time again in my journal during this time.

"Always give yourselves fully to the word of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

I knew that no matter what I did this summer it was not in vain as long as what I was doing was for the Lord...

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you and watch over you.

Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding

but must be controlled by bit and bridle

or they will not come to you" Psalm 32:8

I knew God would be faithful to this promise of leading me as long as i sought to understand and listen to his voice. It also was reassuring that this decision depending more on God than on me.

*more to come in PART II :)