Father heart of God

Boy. what a week. The internet finally decided to work up here now so i decided now would be a good time to do some updating. This week we were able to have a speaker named Jeff Pratt come and teach on the father heart of God. He is an excellent communicator and was a walking quote book almost haha. I don't even know where to start with his teaching. I'll try to explain it the best i can. So tuesday the subject was on the passion and dream. He talked about the importance of being impassioned people as followers of Christ. Then he went over the many different faces of passion that God embodies. He is the lover/bridegroom, husband, friend, mother,  and father. Then on Wednesday he spoke on the wall of divide. He was saying that its through our hurts and wounds that we can create this wall of divide between our Creator and ourselves. It is never about God reaching to us rather its about our past hurts or sins that hold us back from truly loving God. He also talked about our times of darkness or captivity that we often find ourselves in. He defined those times of captivity as the times where God seems distant and living a christian walk seems so difficult. He talked about how when we go through those dark times that is when God is able to do some pretty challenging but life-changing things in our lives. Then came Thursday. Wow. that was a very intense day. We had a long time of ministry that day where we were able to surrender some areas that we had held onto and had created walls in our lives. Then on Friday our last day with Jeff, he gave practical ways to walk out this freedom we had experienced from tearing down those walls. I really enjoyed this week a lot and learned a bunch too. It also brought us much closer as a school. It was awesome to watch students reach out to

Then friday evening i went down with some of the people here to the arvada base to take part of a thing called kingdom night, Kingdom night is a ministry they more recently started where they do ministry in downtown denver. There was about 30 or 40 of us that went and it included people from the different schools at the arvada base. So we went down there and we could either walk around with signs that say free prayer or we could just walk around and talk with people. So me and another girl from my school started talking to this one guy who was checking out what was going on. We ended up talking to him for over an hour but got no where it seemed. He was very open to sharing what he believed and he would listen to what we had to say but yet he still didn't quite buy the whole Christianity thing. He believed that putting and name to the whoever created everything limited that being. I found myself feeling really sorry for the guy. He really thought he was living a pretty full and amazing life, but he still had such a huge part of himself missing. In some ways its always harder to minister to the ones who are well off and satisfied with life because its so hard to see there need for Christ. Its even the same for those Christians who are just as well off. They are so easily caught up in there success and having celebrating that success that they forget that with that blessing comes responsibility in the church. 


So as of now i'm still leaning toward going to columbia for my outreach. So its time to start practicing some spanish i guess :). And we leave for Albuquerque, new mexico next sunday to do some outreach there. So yeah thats about it for now. Next week's teaching topic is relationships so it should be another good week. So goodnight all! keep in touch! and GO PHILLIES!!!

observing.

Theme of this weeks teaching: Characteristics of God. We learned about God as the creator, risk-taker, trinity, father, lover, and a few others. The teachings on the trinity were pretty mind bending and in depth. This whole week was full of information and got a bit overwhelming at some points, but thats why we have the weekend. I've pretty much spent the whole weekend at eagle rock which is nice. Currently I'm sitting by a nice cozy fire in the dinning hall. It's so nice to have some down time finally. All week we are doing something from 7:30 till 6ish. The day can get long fast. But I'm starting to learn ways to keep relaxed and make the most of my time here.

Today was definitely not an all relaxing day however. For one thing my day started at 5 in the morning. Thats right 5 AM. A bunch of us decided to do a sunrise hike to eagle rock which is a rock formation type place that overlooks eagle rock. So we started hiking up this mountain while it was still pretty dark out. So my little headlamp was pretty handy-dandy. The hike up was pretty difficult i can't lie, but the view was TOTALLY worth it. We got up to the top in time to watch the sun change the appearance of the landscape. We could even see the continental divide from where we were. Despite the cold wind and whole fear of heights thing I was able to enjoy it all. Well i was going to try and upload some pics for you all to see but its not working at the moment. So I'll try some other time.

Well thats about it for now. Enjoy your weekend!

birthday pics (a little late i know)

so i got some pics from someone else of my birthday and figured u all would enjoy them a little :)

So yes mom they did sing to me and have  a cake for me. Don't worry :)

First birthday away from home

Well i spent my 19th birthday away from home.. it was bittersweet. So heres how my day went:
I woke up pretty early and took a shower. Apparently i missed a pretty fun awakening from some of my roommates. They were all going to climb in my bed and wake me up so instead they all sang to me in the bathroom as i brushed my teeth :). Then after breakfast we had our first classroom time. This weeks teaching is on the different characteristics of God. We started looking through the creation story and it was pretty awesome some of the stuff everyone noticed. All through the day everyone kept saying happy birthday and it was great. I love everyone here. a lot. So then after our two teaching sessions we had our first introduction to creative presentations class. But this one was a bit different because it had more of a focus on drama stuff (its not usually like that). The reason it was that way is because we are leaving in about 3 weeks for New Mexico to do a mini outreach. We will be ministering to a correctional facility there through dramas and such. So in todays creative presentation time we did a lot of stretching stuff haha like mimeing so it was a bit of a stretch for me but i had a good time laughing at myself and everyone else. Then after that we had our work duties and mine is dinner prep. I have a feeling its going to be an absolute blast. Again I'm with some pretty fun folks :). Then tonight i played some good ole volleyball. Its going to be a fun week i can tell. Its really starting to feel like my home away from home now. I am really looking forward to see what all God is going to do with my time here. He already has shown me soo much and its only the beginning of the second week! I just hope i can take it in while i can because i know its going to go by wayy too fast. So yeah. That was my eventful day. It was a pretty amazing birthday dare i say it was one of my best. So goodnight all!

my week in review

Well. I made it through the first week! and so far no melt downs about going home. So i'd say it was a great success :). Let me just inform you all of what the rest of my week included.

The big bull elk on the golf course

Wednesday- This was the day full of hiking and elk fun. We traveled down to Estes state park which took about an hour and a half. But it was a drive through some beautiful mountain scenery. Anywhere you go here you see mountains. its great. So we started out the hike and ended up going the wrong way on a trail. We took the climbing trail instead of the nice little easy trail. The climb was pretty crazy and by the time I got word that we had to stop and turn around I was almost to the top of this mountain. So then on the way down I had my first encounter (and hopefully my only) with a cactus. I was trying to make it down on the trail without sliding so i put my hands behind me to brace myself and put my two fingers right where a cactus happened to be. This also happened about a minute after i had warned a guy to watch out for the cactuses (cacti?) on the trail. So yeah im pretty sure there are still little thorns stuck in my hand. Who knew there were so many thorns on one cactus. O and they range in size too. There were little itty bitty ones and big ones. Anyways. We finally all made it to where we were supposed to be and had a little worship service on the mountain. It was a great experience. I loved it. O and then we went and saw some elk! Apparently they really don't care about people. They just sit and chill while a huge crowd gathers around only about 50ish yards away. They act like they own the town and i think they pretty much do. We spotted a herd on a local golf course and were able to get some pretty awesome pics of them. Even got to hear them. O man they sound so awesome. So then we went over the the local ymca and had some sharing time. I was able to hear all the testimonies of the staff and students. Its pretty amazing to hear what some people have come through and to see some walk out in faith in this DTS even though some have no idea why they are here. That was pretty much Wednesday.

Thursday- We spent that this day at the base all day. We got our work assignments for the rest of the dts. Every week day we have a scheduled work time and during that work time we all have different tasks to do each day. So my work duty is dinner prep. I was pretty happy about that one cause it meant i wouldn't have to get up early or clean anything :). So we had a lot of class time that day so it was pretty uneventful till the evening. We had a pretty intense evening service. Where we were all challenged to relinquish control. God's still working that one out in me. Its a pretty difficult task i must say. So its only been about 4 days into the school and already God has been doing some pretty difficult shaking in my life. Which can only mean even greater things are to come.

Friday- So then today we went down to Boulder for the afternoon where we met up with the musicians dts that is at the arvada base and did a scavenger hunt. Pretty fun time. Got to see an interesting side of Colorado. There were lots of hippies there and a good majority i'm pretty sure were stoned. It was a beautiful town despite that though. And when we got back we had the rest of the evening free. I must say my classmates here are pretty amazing and they definitely know how to have a good time.

Weekend plans- So saturday I'm thinking i'm going to get a chance to play some soccer! I'm telling you I'm in the perfect place! One day I'm hiking and seeing elk the next I'm playing basketball and the next I'm playing soccer. Other than soccer and church on sunday its a free weekend. Which i'm kinda dreading and looking forward to at the same time. I'm most definitely looking forward to some down time but yet with down time comes thoughts of home, which i do miss. I know that sunday i'm really going to miss church and being home :(. but i'm taking it a day at a time and try not to dwell on the fact that I'm here for a while.

Well that was a lengthy post. O well. Its whats been happening in my life this past week and its been a very eventful week. So long all and i hope to hear from you soon :)

Reporting to you live from Eagle Rock!

So in case you haven't heard I made it safe and sound. The flight went perfectly fine, well after I had to say bye to my parents that is :(. So far we've been doing a lot of group activities just to get to know everyone a little better. This week is whats called bonding week so theres going to be plenty of opportunities to get to know all these people here. Today we had went over all the guidelines then in the evening we went up to the leader, Mark's, house. He has a beautiful log cabin about a 10 minute walk from where we are staying. So that was fun we just hung out and talked. Also today i got to play some basketball with well pretty much all guys haha. It was a blast. I think i held my own among some of the over 6 foot guys. But it was pretty challenging to play in this altitude. I lose my breath just coming up the stairs. Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day. We are heading out to Estes state park, its about an hour away i think. We are going to do some hiking then worship up top the mountain. Then after that we get to go see some elk! Can't wait for that.

The transition from here to home has been pretty easy so far, which is surprising but i have no doubt that its due to all the prayers from you at home, so thanks for that :) The people here are just amazing. My roommates are awesome. Theres 4 other girls in my room with me and so far we are getting along just fine. I think these next few months are going to be pretty spectacular and i'm excited to get to know all the people in my class better.

Well thats it for now. I uploaded a few pics i took already, no worries there are more to come. THANKS again for all the prayers cuz i'm pretty sure thats what has been getting me through these first few days. I will write again soon telling you all of my mountain adventures :) so long for now

colorado or bust

Well. Its my last night at home for a while. I can't believe how fast it came. All day today i kept thinking, hm wonder what i'll be doing tomorrow this time? still a bit of a weird thought to think that the next few months I'm going to be in a completely different world that is Colorado.

So my goodbyes really went over pretty well. They weren't as hard as i thought it would be. I feel like I have 3 families sometimes: my real family, my family cupboard family, and my church family. Yeah i feel loved a lot :) I'm not too sure what I'd do without each family to be honest. I have had such great support from my parents and brother through it all. They are amazing people and they are the ones i'm going to miss the most. The family cupboard family is just amazing too. I always know I can swing by the restaurant and be greeted with a smile and a genuine how's it going. The people I've worked with these last few years have definitely impacted my life and well the customers... I can do without most of them, the grumpy ones anyway :). Then my church family. I have recently been attending Zion church of millersville and well frankly i have know idea what i would do without them. I know they are going to support me through these next few months and it's truly an amazing feeling. I'm going to miss it like crazy but yet I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I thought that i'd explain a bit my title of my blog. It was brought up today in sunday school and mark had some pretty insight on it. Well i discovered the phrase while reading the shack last year or so and it has stuck with me ever since then. For me it has always made things simple. When i find myself striving and trying so hard to keep God happy as well as those around me happy (an impossible task mind you), I just remember that you know what, i can do nothing to gain any brownie points for God. It all comes down to accepting the love that is freely given. Through this mentality it leads to a natural outflowing of love. Its so easy to get caught up in the busy flow of life and let some of the simpler messages of the Bible go unheard. Life gets complicated and messy when we lose sight of what truly matters in this earthly life and that is belonging to the Savior. Sometimes it feels like the world is caught up with finding the perfect formula or perfect words to say in order to make things right with God, but in reality it just comes down to letting God meet you where you are at. Haha i guess that explanation got a bit lengthy o well

I guess my last few words to you all as i write this from home would be a great big thank you. If your reading this its probably because you have in some way poured time and love into my life so i thank you for it. I also want to say thanks for all the prayers this week and in the week to come. Its gunna be a hard but terribly exciting week for me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Well thats all for now. exactly 12 hours till i'll be taking off just fyi :)