Week eight, not so intense and prfound as six and seven, but a good one none the less. This was special because I have been praying for God to give me His joy, not the temporary kind that we can create, but His real, deep joy and He's been giving it to me big time! We had outreach prep week this week, which was full of dramas, skits and dances and late nights. By wednesday, we were all already extremely burnt out, but God just gave us so much energy for the final day of learning, which were dances. I learned a dance, HA, and actually had so much fun because we were constantly reminded that this wasn't about us and that looking silly or untalented didn't matter as long as we were giving it our all for God. I was able to have so much fun and confidence in performance just for the small fact of knowing that I wasn't doing it for me. This makes me wonder how much differently we would step out if life didn't always revolve around us and if we were living lives to reflect Christ instead of ourselves. This is something that I and many others here struggle with, but our previous speaker Dean Sherman gave us a phenomenal quote to digest. "You should only refrain from doing things out of wisdom, not fear", and we have an unlimted amount of wisdom available from God when we are willing to ask. This is not to say that I have left fear to the dust and am now able to go through life completly lacking fear-of-man, but I am able to take baby steps towards that reality. Not only did Dean Sherman give us that idea to contemplate, but also he reminded us that, "There is zero possibility that God will not be with you when you are obeying the great commision." These have come to life for me this week in how I need to decided that when I go after something, it needs to be with 100% of me. So, in turn I was able to have a good time being part of God's work in preparation for Thailand. The thing about this week that was pretty crazy though was that it started as one of the worst weeks for all of us. We are getting to the point where we are tired and getting to know each other well enough that it's fair to be grumpy - so monday and tuesday weren't a hundred percent awesome. After a really intense worship time though, the attitude of the school had shifted. We were able to take communion mid week, as well as spend two straight hours just being with Jesus and we were able to wash each others feet. This was a great way for us to refuel and has made me realize how important it is to recharge with praise. The book that I just finished is called "The Power of Personal Prayer" by Jonathon Graf, and he made a statement in there that "Praise poises us to battle from a position of victory instead of for victory." I thought this was extremely profound and almost forces me to value praising God so much more.
This week we also started to pray everynight as roomies. We throw prayer requests out to each other and just end our night with thankfulness and petition. It was crazy to see the closeness that tiny little act brought, but not surprising since prayer is extremely intimate. We also started a prayer wall in our main lounging area which was cool so that we could all come together and rise up as the body of Christ instead of just individuals.
With not so spiritual stuff this week I got to shred for the first time!!! Saturday we went to Breckenridge and for the first time for most of us, got out to snowboard for the season. It was amazing and I couldn't help but thank God for the beauty and fun that He has created! We also, on Thursday night, went to this wear house that has trampolines over the whole floor and the side walls. It was the most intense workout I think that I have ever done in my whole life, but it was crazy fun. A group of 15, 18 and olders walking into a childrens birthday party hotspot felt kind of ridiculous, but it ended up being a ton of fun for all of us and we saw some pure talent after eight o clock when bed time hit for the kids who had school the next day.These guys who came after were AMAZING and had core strength that I have never expereinced in fraction so I have found my newest hobby to pursue. Just kidding, but there is some crazy things that people can do on a trampoline. I also spent the night after we got back laying in bed feeling like I was bouncing, which was kind of cool but made me dizzy too. I also learned a little bit of how to salsa this week, I realized my hips are very much attached to my body and unfortunately I was not blessed with rhythm, but my dance partner was a girl.. so either way we looked ridiculous and everyone else was just as brutal as myself so we just got to have a good time together.
This week was amazing for God providing joy to us all and I have been able to recognize God's presence in things so much more than just worship, class and church. It's about the baby steps and just working to live like Christ. He is more interested in the process than the product so here I am in process, faults, struggles and shortcomings which are all made perfect through Christ.
The next webisodes for Jesus Freaks are on the web!!! YOU NEED TO VEIW THEM AND LINK THEM TO YOUR FACEBOOK STATUS AND BLOGS TOO PLEASE!!
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