Killing the Giants

Hey all! It's been a hot minute since I last updated you, and I apologize. But let me explain.

This past week on mission was entitled "Killing the Giants" week. Calming, right? No but for real, this week was a strong emphasis on evangelizing. As much as we all love God and proclaiming His name, it can be scary. It takes boldness to approach strangers and strike up a spiritual conversation. We're never alone in this endeavor, though. God - the creator of the universe - is right there with us every step of the way. Letting fears hold us back just limits His glory and power. That's why this fourth week of mission, we wanted to get over those fears to lead to an even more miraculous summer.

Killing the giant of sharing looks a little different for everyone. For some people, it looks like approaching bigger groups. For others, it looks like talking with people of a different age. Whatever the challenge, God is bigger. So we all took steps of faith and promised to go outside of our comfort zone this past week and trust God to kill our giants. We all set a qualitative goal of who we wanted to share with, and a quantitative goal of how many people we wanted to talk to. We all decided to go out sharing everyday for as long as we had - this being the reason why I didn't have time to update you. And let me tell you. God delivered.

My own personal qualitative giant was to talk to people I have known for a long time. I have such a passion to share with strangers. It's easy for me to trust God to direct that conversation. Talking to people I know scares me a lot more. I'm afraid they will hear my words but know what a sinner I am and not listen because I'm being a hypocrite. I'm afraid it will ruin our relationship. I'm afraid to bring it up now after so long of not. But our God has such a heart for finding the lost. That's why He includes so many parables about it - the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son. The more I shared with people on the boardwalk everyday and heard their stories, the more my heart broke for the lost and gave me courage to approach those I've known for a long time. I talked to my mission friends and prayed about the best way to approach this since the conversation will look different than sharing with strangers. I felt so unqualified and unprepared. But God qualifies the unqualified. I don't have all the answers, but He does. Trusting God this week in sharing with those I'm close with was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But trusting God this week grew my faith like nothing else.

My own personal quantitative goal was to talk to 62 people and have spiritual/gospel conversations in five days. The thought of doing that despite working 8 hours everyday seemed impossible. But at this point, I've learned to not doubt God. So I went with it and shared every chance I got. At the end of the week, I tallied it up and found I had exactly 62. I was blown away. But I was more blown away by the conversations. I saw people come to Christ. I saw other people reject Christ. I saw some people being torn between being in control and letting God be in control. Every single person I encountered made my own faith grow deeper and give me a want to keep talking to more. God has been breaking my heart for those who don't know Him. Please pray for those I talked to.

If this is something that God has been challenging you with and you'd like advice, please reach out! Sharing God's word is my favorite thing to do, and I pray it becomes yours as well. Every single time I take that step in faith, I learn more about God. God killed the giants in my life this week, and really solidified my purpose and passion here on this earth. I pray you allow Him to kill your giants too and see what He does with them.

Faithful follower - Kels

Spirited

God has done it again in my life. Since my last post, I am a new person. Let me share with you.

Something God put on my heart since being here is how to live a spirit-filled life. People tend to either try to do everything relying 100% on themselves or 100% God. There are dangers to both of those. It's only when you let God help you 100% and you give 100% that things work in harmony. I am unfortunately one of those people that rely all on myself. That only leads to being so worn out and feeling like a failure.

Ephesians 2:6 says "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus". What does this have to do with learning to live in the Spirit's power? Back in the Biblical days, a king wouldn't sit until the battle was won. God seats us with him because our battle has already been won. Learning this from a friend struck deep with me. Why do I try to rely on my own power when my battles have already been won? This realization altered my view of life. Since that moment, I've been learning to rely on the Spirit's power to win my battles. One of the staff here said it this way - God has made no provision for you to live the Christian life - only for Jesus to live His life through you as you moment-by-moment surrender to the Spirit. Part of this has involved prayers to surrender my time and my social life to the Lord. They have become idols in my life.

God answers prayers, and He has already answered mine. Surrendering my time to Him has lead to earlier bedtimes and wake up times which allow me more time in the Word and have more grace with people. I have never been so joyful than being this close to Jesus. Surrendering my social life has lead to me sharing my testimony and the gospel with my non-christian co-workers here in Ocean City. Some of them haven't responded. One girl, however, has started coming to our Cru events because of it. God is moving in so many peoples' lives here.

Prayers to continue surrendering to the Spirit would be greatly appreciated. So many powerful things come from it. Three high school boys on the boardwalk here heard the gospel and are considering receiving it because of the Spirit's boldness dwelling in me. It constantly amazes me. I challenge you to see how the Spirit can move in your life. Feel free to reach out to me if you need prayers!

Kels - Faithful Follower

The Confession of Confession

In the seven short days that I have called Ocean City home, God has changed my life. I have no other explanation for such a heart change other than our mighty God. Let me attempt to explain.

This past week has looked like a lot of raw emotions and vulnerability. Many tears have been shed and friendships made as we have realized just how broken we are next to our holy God. See here at Ocean City, we have these things called action groups which is a group of 3-5 students of your gender meeting with your discipler - a full time missionary on Cru's staff. My action group met on the beach one night and just shared the story of our life - our highs and lows, how we came to know Jesus, our mistakes and sins. Maybe it was the ocean waves or maybe it was realizing how  genuine all these girls were, but my past came pouring out with shame. The gospel shone through those girls that day as they prayed over my sins and loved me for who I was. It's a beautiful picture of being fully known and fully loved by God. It's also a beautiful picture of how God changes hearts considering I came to Ocean City with the condition that I didn't have to share my sins because that's "just embarrassing".

The next night looked like all 60 women on the trip gathering in one room to do the same thing. Four hours went by as we all poured out our dark secrets to each other to ask for help. I learned there is just something so freeing about confessing. Romans 3:23 says " For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". ALL have sinned. Why pretend we don't? By admitting to our mistakes, we only raise God higher up. A beautiful thing about living in the Christian family is that we don't have to have the burden of trying to do it on our own. By confessing, we are opening up and letting other people help share our burdens.

Even when sharing the gospel on the beach, confessing does amazing things. I confessed my struggles to a woman on the boardwalk, and it opened up a conversation about how much we need Jesus. It connected us, and it took away the stereotype that Christians have it all together. Even my sweet roommate has been teaching me this. The very first morning together, she woke up and exclaimed "I need roommate confession time!" She then shared what she woke up convicted with. And you know what, it didn't make me judge her. It made me respect her so much more. To quote a song from High School Musical, "We're all in this together". I encourage you today to explore the possibility of being vulnerable. If there is no one in your life that you feel comfortable doing that with, I would love to talk to you. There is nothing more freeing than confessing and letting Jesus's forgiveness wash over you through people.

Other big things have been happening at Ocean City as well. We have been out sharing the gospel on the beach and some students have already seen people come to Christ as a result. Other days have looked like worshiping God in our house for two straight hours. Games have been played, friendships formed, and shoulders burnt. I ask for your prayers as we continue this summer getting to know Jesus more. I ask for prayers as we form relationships with co-workers in attempt to share the love of our savior. Mostly, I ask for prayers that God moves in Ocean City this summer. To God be the glory!

Kels - Faithful Follower

Action Group