My Dream

When you ask a normal teenager what their dream is, they will probably tell you something in the lines of what we call the "American Dream." They want to do better than their parents. Have better cars, houses, ect. Well, my dream is nothing like the typical teenagers dream!
      My dream is to be fully and wholly used by the Lord! I want to be a vessel willing to do whatever it is that He would have me to. I want what the Lord wants for me. This dream began shortly after I was saved. I wasn't content in just being a Christian. I realize that the Lord wants more of me than that! I wasn't saved simply just to be a Christian! I was saved, one because the Lord loves me and two, for his glory! My dream is to be used of the Lord for His glory, so that one say I can hear the loving words of my savior, "Well done, my loyal and faithful servant!" My dream isn't to have riches on this earth, but to have them in heaven, so that I can cast them at my sweet Savior's feet! My dream is that no matter where the Lord would have me to go, I would follow without second guessing. To love Him more today than the day before. To be completely willing to live for Him. To give Him every part of me for His use and not my own. To be overflowing with the spirit of the Lord. To walk the path less taken so that I may please the one who gave me life!
        My dream may not be the typical dream of a teenager, but it should be the typical dream of a christian!

My desire

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Psalms 90:17

    When reading my Bible today I came across this verse. One thing that amazes me about our Lord is that he would be willing to use a christian to glorify himself. I just can't quite grasp the consept that the Lord, creator of the universe, would want to use a lowly sinner like me. WOW! What an awesome and merciful God we used.
     When reading this verse, I decided that this is my desire as a christian. To allow the Lord to establish my works. Nothing that I do on my own will truly be satisfying to the Lord, but when I allow him to work in my life, he will mold it into exactly what He would have it to be. At camp, Brother Jenkins was speaking about a silver refiner. When a refiner is working to make his sliver as pure as he can get it, he puts it into the flame. Never taking his eyes off the silver. He recognizes that it is finally finished when he can see his own reflection in it! Wow!! What a wonderful picture of our Lord. He is continually working in our lives and sometimes we must go through the firey trials. In these trials, despite what we may think, God hasn't taken his eyes off of us. He is watching us until that perfect timing when He can see his reflection in our life!
       Isn't it great to know we serve a God who is continually working in us, so that we may be more and more like Him! My desire is not to just simply be a christian, but in any situation that may come, to let the Lord work in my life so that I can be encouraging to others when similiar situations come and most of all to glorify the Lord. I just want to be used by the Lord for what He desires!

Texoma!

Well, my week at Texoma was great! I met alot of new friends, got to see many old ones, and got to be under great preaching for a week! It was such a blessing. I can't believe it went so quickly though. Of course it never fails that whenever I go somewhere, I must get hurt. And that's exactly what I did. People keep asking me what happend and wishing it was a cooler story just laugh and tell them I slipped in mud. Who knew you could sprain your whole foot?? Crazy right? Well, I will write some more later!

Making Cookies :)

Currently I am at Mrs. Whetsell's house. She is teaching me how to make cookies. Though I love cooking, anytime I try to make homemade cookies... it doesn't work. Thankfully she is really patient.. haha! Anyway, the reason for this festive cookie making is camp. That's right it's church camp time. I am sooo excited. Even though there will only be 4 of us, I can't wait. Just being in a place filled with people that are your age and believe the same as you makes me ecstatic! Well, I am off for now!!

Just Life....

It is incredible to me some of the people that you can meet on visitation. A typical visitation day consists of a team going out and sometimes we will have a couple doors slammed in our face, but usually most are nice... or at least act like it. On Saturday we had a visit with a catholic man, who was rather rude.... He got extremely offended because we asked if Jesus was his Lord and Savior. The best part was, he accused us of "taking the Highroad." Now to most that might seem offensive, but Caitlyn and I had to hold back our laughter. And yes, Mister Mean Catholic Guy... I do take the Highroad!! (It's also a very awesome coffee that you can purchase at Starbucks :P )

Anyway, School is coming to an end, which is really exciting. I honestly can say that this year has not been the funnest one yet... and yes, I did just say funnest. Whether it be dreading going to math or horrified at going to german class with Jefferey, I have experienced it. Luckily, not everthing has been horrible this year. I have had the opprotunity to be in a singing quartet (REDEEMED) It has been so amazing, but I have also learned many things from it. Probably the most important thing that I have learned is that no matter what you are doing you most do it for the glory of the Lord and He will bless you more than you could ever have imagined! When we started singing together it was mostly a really fun thing to do, but we all realized that we must do it for the Lord, or this is no point. That doesn't mean it wasn't fun.. I mean singing with my 2 best friends turned out to be the greatest thing that I could have ever imagined!! I am so glad that we got to do that and the Lord truly blessed me in the process.

Well, I am not sure what my plans for the summer are, besides going to church camp... Which I am really looking forward too. There is no better way to grow closer to your friends than to spend a week with them in services and praying together! I am also really excited to see my Crown friends!! I love any chance I get to see them!!! Speaking of Crown friends, tomorrow is the Crown Southwest. I am really excited to be able to see one of my closest friends, Kara, graduate. She has been such a great influence to me and I am happy that I get to be there for her graduation. It may seem like a little thing, but I am uber excited. I also get to see my other Crown friends. :) Plus, Caitlyn is picking me up, which means even more fun!!!!

I know I am writing alot, but I have alot on my mind. This weekend was a pretty tough one... Yesterday my Uncle left because he is in the army. Also, 2 of my best friends are leaving, so it wasn't the easiest week. Regarding my friends, I know that they are in God's will, but it is still hard. Sometimes people move on from where ther are and we just have to realize that God has a purpose for everything that happens.... Well, I am going to go now....

The Promise Land!

That's right. . . a few weeks ago (April 9-16) I was in the promise land, also known as Tennessee!! It was soo awesome. I got to attend the Baptist Friends meeting at Crown College and it was such a blessing. Me and Caitlyn we able to stay in the dorms (Dorm 22!!) Luckily we weren't killed by Bubba, since we didn't bring back his sacred spoon. Anyway, we got to hear many amazing preachers!!! I am so thankful that the Acosta's allowed me to go. I am also very thankful that I got to skip a week of school. HaHaHa!!! Well, hopefully I will be able to put some pictures on here later, but for now..... Auf Wiedersehen!

Youth Congress....

Youth Congress was amazing!!! Bro. Pauley is always a huge blessing to hear! After waiting basically forever it is now over. Bro. Pauley preached an amazing message called "Are you ready?" This was such an awesome message in which many people made decisions. Pray that all the decisions made will be fulfilled. There is no use in making a decision in which you are not willing to do. Our Youth Choir did an amazing job as well. I am so proud of the Jr. High girls. They are working really hard in order to learn their parts and memorize the music. Our quartet, Redeemed did I really good job, but I am kinda bias. It was such a great opprotunity to be able to glorify the Lord in something we all enjoy doing. I am so glad the Lord gives me these opprotunities to please Him!! I am so glad that all of us who sang had the right heart about it. Hopefully I will be able to add pictures later!