What more can I say...

God is good!

God is doing so much in our church! Rashad was saved on Wednesday night. And, as if that wasn't enough, God showed Himself even more powerful yesterday at church! Christian, Rodney, and Javana were all saved yesterday! Christian is about 6, Rodney is about 9, and Javana is about 10. What a wonderful thought, that these kids have the rest of their lives to be able to live for God!

Christian was saved in Sunday School, then Rodney and Javana were saved after the afternoon service. We had a missionary from Hungary (He's a Hungarian man who is a missionary in Hungary) who preached yesterday. He preached a sermon focused more on witnessing to others, so it wasn't what we would call a "salvation message" encouraging others to be saved. But it turned out that way! Praise the Lord! Pastor came to me after the service was done, and he said that Javana wasn't sure that she had been saved! I took her down to the nursery and spent about 20 minutes (?) talking to her and showing her the "Roman's Road" and answering her many questions, like "How do we know God can hear us?" and "Do I have to pray out loud?" She has been coming to church for a while...since last spring, I think. She has heard a lot of Bible stories between Sundays and Wednesday nights, so she had the foundation. What a blessing for "one begger to tell another begger where to find food!" God is definitely doing some wonderful things at Stoughton Baptist Church!

Wednesday nights

I'm helping with Teen Time, our youth program for teens, at Stoughton Baptist Church on Wednesdays. Titus has been teaching the teens how to witness to others. So, last night, Titus asked for a volunteer. We've been praying that Rashad would get saved, and he volunteered. So, he went up to the front with Titus, who then showed the other teens how to witness to their friends by presenting the gospel to Rashad, which accomplished two things at once: showing the saved teens how they can witness to others and also presenting the gospel to Rashad! Well, they came to the end, the "decision," and Titus asked Rashad if he wanted to be saved, all part of the roll-play. Rashad asked, "For real?" Titus answered that he could be saved, for real, if he wanted to! And Rashad answered that he did! He prayed and asked God to save him, right there in front of all the other teens! Praise the Lord!!! God worked out the little details! Titus needed a volunteer to present the gospel to for the lesson, Rashad volunteered, and Titus was able to present the gospel to Rashad, who was ready to be saved! God is so good! Let the angels in heaven rejoice over one more sinner who has come to repentence! And let us pray that he will grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

I did a search

Here are the results:

I Corinthians 14:33 "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."

Philippians 4:7 "The peace of God...shall keep your hearts."

Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts."

Psalm 71:1 "In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion."

I must admit that I've allowed confusion to rule my heart, not the peace of God. God's peace will not necessarily make the confusion go away, but it will at least be able to give you the joy of the Lord, if you "let the peace of God rule in your heart." I've been wasting my time lately by not allowing God's peace to prevail in my life, and I've done some stupid things because of it.

What is peace? I've been asking myself that recently. I was looking through some old sermon notes last night, and I found a quote from one of the preachers saying that peace is a knowledge coming from God that lets you know that something is right. Ouch. I knew that, but I didn't want to think about it. Maybe I wanted something so much that I convinced myself that I had peace about it. Maybe the peace I had is for the future, that it will happen someday, but now is not the right time. I cannot see the future. I can hope, and pray. But God will do what is best; I just have to trust Him for today and have peace in what He has given me for today.

off-campus

So, I've been living off-campus for a while, now, and I love it! I've been living with the Garlands since January. I love them very much (please don't misunderstand me), but I kindof just want a place of my own. I mean, I'm 24 years old. I'm financially able to pay for an apartment (or, at least, I will be by the time I get around to moving). I want to be able to do my own grocery shopping, live a little closer to campus so I can go visit more often, and just have a place of my own. So, I have a few options, and I'm thinking about them and praying about them. Decisions, decisions. I hate making decisions...

Summer '07

Ok, so I got the email: I didn't make a summer ensemble. Of course, I'm a little disappointed, but I had wanted to do a camp more, anyways. So, now comes the great decision: at which of the many camps should I spend my summer? Where does God want me this summer? They all kindof start sounding alike after a while. A couple of them stick out a little more than others. CoBeAc is only a few hours from my house, so my parents could visit me, or I could visit my parents. Others have opportunities for me to use and broaden some of the various interests that I have. But, are they where God wants me? I don't know. God will show me. I want to get the applications filled out and sent in, then we'll see what I get back. I want to have time to pray over them. Of course, there are always things that would make me want to go some places over others (like Camp Eden, up in the mountains of Colorado, doesn't normally get above 75 degrees; Camp CoBeAc was where I went when I was growing up, and I've heard that it's improved since then; etc.). I hate being decisive!!!

It's a mystery

Actually, men are the mysteries, and they don't even smell as good as we do! ;)

Thoughts

I'm sorry for the meloncholy posts lately. That's just kindof how my life has been lately. I'm getting over it (VERY slowly, but surely), so I hope this doesn't last for too much longer.

So, the second round of summer ensemble tryouts is this Tuesday. It's mixed groups this time, but it's still split into the 4:00 and 9:00 tryouts. I'll be going to the 9:00 one since I work until 3 and probably won't be able to make it in time for the 4:00 tryouts. Plus, I would have nothing to do all evening if I went at 4:00. And I would have to find something for supper, which would mean I would have to pay extra money for that. And I wouldn't be able to spend the evening with the Garlands, and I hardly ever get to see them, anyways! No thanks! I'll just go at 9:00!

Ok, so I've had a rough week, and I needed a little "pick-me-up." This one helped me a little, at least for a little bit. You'd have to follow the comic strip to really realize what's going on. Pig has been reading a book on levitation, and he learned how to levitate in the second chapter. I thought we were done hearing about the levitation, but....So, zebra is trying to sell his house because the crocodiles that live next door are always trying to eat him. He has consulted a real estate agent to put his house on the market. Now, on to the comic strip:



So, we are also having Spirit Week here at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Here are some pictures of me, Nikki, and Ashley on Monday, which was superhero day.





In case you can't tell, we're the powerpuff girls!

life's curveballs

Sometimes God allows "curveballs" in our lives; you know, when you think you know what's going on with your life, then everything completely changes? Yeah. For me right now, I don't know what God has planned for my life. A year ago, I probably would have said that I was planning to go to Wales, at least "for now." But now, God seems to be leading me a different direction. "Which direction?" you may ask. Yeah, that's the question of the day. I don't really know. There are so many different directions that I could go. That's always been my problem: I want to do everything. Well, almost everything. I never wanted to be a surgeon or a nurse or anything like that. Too much blood and guts and needles. I never wanted to be a sumo wrestler, either; I'm not big enough, plus, who in their right mind would want to wear nasty stuff that? I never wanted to be a pastor: the Bible says that only men are to be pastors. But there are so many different things that I might be able to do. How am I supposed to know what to do? Even the professionals don't know what I would want to do. My mom told me the other day that, when I took the ACT's and I did the test where they tell you what kind of job you might be good at or be interested in, my test came back saying something like: "your results are inconclusive. Your answers are so varried that we cannot give you an answer." How's that for help. And there are so many different things that I would like to do: maybe teach, maybe work full-time in a church, maybe just be at home and be a mom (assuming I get married and have children), maybe have a "secular" job and be involved in the ministries of the church, maybe write and arrange music (that would be really fun!). Maybe a combination of some or all of the things above. I'm willing to do whatever it is that God wants me to do, but I don't know what that is. And I know that God will show me what it is that He wants me to do, when I need to know. I just hate this "in-between" time.

Irony

If you will notice, the top of my blog (I guess it's my blog name) is "'His way is perfect'-Psalm 18:30." Ironic how I needed that verse last night and was not expecting it. It was a rough night, and I really needed some encouragement. And I appreciate the encouragement that I get from my friends, but nothing is as encouraging as words from God. So, I was reading in II Samuel 22. Who would have guess that it had exactly what I needed?!? In the middle of all these stories about David conquering cities and other nations, David and his family problems, and all these things about David, the Bible includes a prayer song (psalm) that is also known as Psalm 18. It is almost word-for-word what Psalm 18 says. But I was reading along, just about ready to cry in the first place, then I came across my favorite verse, only in a different chapter and book than what I normally see it in. "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried; He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him." It was exactly what I needed. I pretty much started balling. That verse has helped me get through many other times when I don't know why God is allowing things in my life, and I don't understand what He is doing. That's kindof how I feel right now, but the verse reminded me that "His way is perfect." I have to keep remembering that I don't need to understand God's ways; in fact, I most likely CAN'T understand His ways. But it's ok, because God didn't make us so that we can understand His ways. He just wants us to trust Him for EVERYTHING. No matter how hard it may seem, it's always "perfect."

And something I need to keep reminding myself right now, one of my favorite quotes: "Keep breathing; it's good for your health!" Hope you all keep that in mind, too!

tryouts

So, I made the first cuts for tryouts. The next tryout is next week, so I'll keep you all posted!

I've been hearing a lot about relationships recently. So many people are confused by this guy or that girl, whether they're dating, "just friends," or not even sure what the other person is thinking. Why do we have to make these things so complicated? Yes, starting to date is a big step in our Christian college culture. We take it very seriously because we've been taught that you're supposed to "date someone who would be a good mate," as the saying goes. People are scared to say what they really think because they do not want to lose the friendship that they have, but they still want to know if there is a possibility of more than "just friends." Then, sometimes people assume the worst. I suppose it's hard NOT to assume the worst when you really don't know what the other person is thinking. That's why communication is so important. "Communication is the key to having a healthy relationship." That means ANY kind of relationship. Now, obviously, there are some things that the other peson just doesn't need to know. But, there are things that the person DOES need to know, or wants to know. COMMUNICATION!!!!! That's my soapbox.

tryouts

So, today starts the beginning of my search: the search for what I am supposed to do this summer. Ok, I've already started the search...I was checking out Amazing Grace Baptist Camp. But this is the official beginning of my quest. Tonight, at 9:00 pm, summer ensemble tryouts begin. Yes, I've tried out 4 other times and have never made a team, but I figure that I might as well try out again, just to keep it as an option, if that's what God wants. I made it to the last round of tryouts the last time I tried out, so that's always a good sign! We'll see how it goes! I just hope that I don't have to keep trying out if I don't make it because it will cost me extra since I'm not on-campus. "As for God, His way is perfect."