Ministry is defined as the work of a religion. Up until this summer, I didn't think everyone could have a ministry. It's a word associated mostly with pastors and deacons - not 19 year old girls. Spending 10 weeks in Ocean City, New Jersey changed that for me. This summer I learned what ministry God has called me to.
It began with strengthening my own faith, however. The first half of the summer just helped me fall more in love with God. Without that, ministry is useless. Part of falling in love with God meant falling out of love with myself. My awareness of my sins was heightened. The second half of the summer strengthened my own personal ministry in a variety of ways. I learned that my heart hurts most for the "successful" business people of America. My passion is to help the ones who don't think they need any help.
I learned how to disciple Christian women and walk through life with them. That was the role I was assigned when the staff left the mission. So I had no choice to step up the plate and dive into each woman's struggles and find gospel-based solutions. It was the greatest privilege in the world to get to lead these women as we got to know God more. They taught me so much more than I ever taught them.
I learned how to share the Gospel in new ways. Being out on the boardwalk talking to strangers almost everyday really just made me come in contact with new doubts and new struggles from each person. Every person is different so finding a way to share the same Gospel to different people can be tricky. But it was the most rewarding and preparing thing I could have ever learned. One specific story was a girl from East Asia. After talking to Cru people on the boardwalk and coming to one of our meetings, she became a Christian in our last week there. I got the amazing privilege of meeting up with her the next day to go through more in depth concepts. She came in ready to learn and willing to give her current life up for God. We got to talk about the Trinity, the cost of following Jesus, Jesus' life, how to read the Bible, and even how to start sharing this with her friends back home. I saw God completely change her life in a few hours, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. God is at work in this world, and I got a front row seat to watch it.
Between discipling, sharing, and learning my own gifts and passions and how they fit into God's plan, my life was changed. I have a ministry now in my life and back here at my college campus. All of what I learned I want to continue to do at my spiritually dark school. I know God wants that as well. I just can't wait to see what He's going to do.
Thank you all for coming on this journey with me! Feel free to ask me in person about what God did in New Jersey!
Kels - Faithful Follower
Monday, August 20, 2018
Friday, July 27, 2018
Look At The Birds
Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Hey y'all!
This verse is a pretty common one. I've heard it. I've believed it. But it has taken on a whole new meaning to me this past week in Ocean City. Part of that is due to the gosh dang seagulls here.. but in all reality, God's provision over me this past week has been crazy. Prepare to get a full load of my life in these next paragraphs.
God's provision has shown itself in an abundance of ways. One of the hard parts about being on mission is the financial aspect. Food here is not provided and is not cheap to buy. I was getting really frustrated with the amount being spent on food. So I decided to have more self-control. When people went out for ice cream, I said no. And when I went to do quiet time at the coffee shop, I didn't buy any coffee. Small things, but things that were hard to do. And God provided. He sent a friend to me with ice cream that first night, and a friend to buy me coffee the next day. Again, they were little things, but they touched me so much. God cares. He saw my efforts, and He didn't leave me alone. That same week that I was stressed out about finances, I literally cried out to God. Within half an hour, he sent me an email with a job offer. God doesn't leave us, guys. Now that doesn't mean God will always give me what I want. It just shows that God is powerful enough to do what needs to be done. He will provide for us much more than He'll provide for the birds. And let me tell you - those seagulls are sure well-fed.
Another way God has shown provision is by teaching me that I need to accept help from people. For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't like to be weak. I don't like to accept help. But God knew that was an unhealthy mindset, so He did what He needed to do to change that. A hard situation arose that I didn't know how to handle. I've been learning to lean on the help of all 67 other students here. They have given me wise words, emotional support, love, protection, and hugs. I could honestly not have done it without them. They were the provision God gave to me.
Just because we go through trials doesn't mean that God isn't providing. In fact, it's the opposite. It means God is providing. He cares about the little things. He provides. He is always providing sanctification and love. He is providing himself. He is providing the church - community. And those are better things than anything from this life. It's not all good. But God is all good. And He's working it out.
Faithful Follower - Kels
God's provision has shown itself in an abundance of ways. One of the hard parts about being on mission is the financial aspect. Food here is not provided and is not cheap to buy. I was getting really frustrated with the amount being spent on food. So I decided to have more self-control. When people went out for ice cream, I said no. And when I went to do quiet time at the coffee shop, I didn't buy any coffee. Small things, but things that were hard to do. And God provided. He sent a friend to me with ice cream that first night, and a friend to buy me coffee the next day. Again, they were little things, but they touched me so much. God cares. He saw my efforts, and He didn't leave me alone. That same week that I was stressed out about finances, I literally cried out to God. Within half an hour, he sent me an email with a job offer. God doesn't leave us, guys. Now that doesn't mean God will always give me what I want. It just shows that God is powerful enough to do what needs to be done. He will provide for us much more than He'll provide for the birds. And let me tell you - those seagulls are sure well-fed.
Another way God has shown provision is by teaching me that I need to accept help from people. For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't like to be weak. I don't like to accept help. But God knew that was an unhealthy mindset, so He did what He needed to do to change that. A hard situation arose that I didn't know how to handle. I've been learning to lean on the help of all 67 other students here. They have given me wise words, emotional support, love, protection, and hugs. I could honestly not have done it without them. They were the provision God gave to me.
Just because we go through trials doesn't mean that God isn't providing. In fact, it's the opposite. It means God is providing. He cares about the little things. He provides. He is always providing sanctification and love. He is providing himself. He is providing the church - community. And those are better things than anything from this life. It's not all good. But God is all good. And He's working it out.
Faithful Follower - Kels
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| My support group this past week |
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Worldy
Hi friends!
I don't know how God continues to teach me so much in such little time. This blog is a little more of a personal story, but it's been on my heart so I invite you to see how God is shaping my life.
The past week was titled World Week. It concentrated on God's calling in all of our lives to reach different parts of the world and fulfill the Great Commission. For those of you unfamiliar, the great commission is found in Matthew 28:19-20 - "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." God is at work in the nations whether we involve ourselves or not. It is so incredibly beautiful.
From the time I was a kid at maybe age 10, I knew I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to see God's Word move through the world. But I thought that being a missionary only looked like moving to a desolate jungle island and living with a tribe. While that can certainly be true, I didn't feel called there. I was in such conflict at such a young age of how to be a missionary. When high school and the age of choosing a career rolled around, I decided on event planning. I had a talent and a passion for it, but it never really fulfilled me.
Fast forward to now. One of our wonderful Cru staff gave a message about not living in our comfort zone of the typical American life. All that was running through my mind was all of the people here in their comfort zone and living the typical American life. They don't know they need anything more. My heart hurt for them. That's when I realized those are the exact people I am going to be working with in the business world. I suddenly was able to see how God had fit all of the pieces of my life together - my talents for events and my heart for sharing the Gospel with Americans. Ministry in the business world is what God has called me to do, as terrifying as that is. I mean why would they want to listen to me? Realizing that for sure gave me peace that surpasses all understanding. While the details might be sketchy - what specific city, what ministry training to gather before entering the workforce, etc - my vision to see the great commission fulfilled has taken shape.
I don't share this to brag about how God revealed something to me. I share this to encourage you. I never saw until this week just how God uses our passions and talents to accomplish His work if we let Him. While I wanted to be called overseas, my talents and heart are for here. I pray you can use your talents and passions for the Lord as well. Our time here is so short. It's a beautiful thing when we can use that time to bring glory to God in our own unique ways. Nothing is more fulfilling. If you need some direction at where your skills lie, I recommend taking a Spiritual gifts test and praying over the results. We were made to fulfill the great commission if we so choose to dedicate our lives to that. I pray you have found the way God has called you.
Faithful Follower - Kels
I don't know how God continues to teach me so much in such little time. This blog is a little more of a personal story, but it's been on my heart so I invite you to see how God is shaping my life.
The past week was titled World Week. It concentrated on God's calling in all of our lives to reach different parts of the world and fulfill the Great Commission. For those of you unfamiliar, the great commission is found in Matthew 28:19-20 - "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." God is at work in the nations whether we involve ourselves or not. It is so incredibly beautiful.
From the time I was a kid at maybe age 10, I knew I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to see God's Word move through the world. But I thought that being a missionary only looked like moving to a desolate jungle island and living with a tribe. While that can certainly be true, I didn't feel called there. I was in such conflict at such a young age of how to be a missionary. When high school and the age of choosing a career rolled around, I decided on event planning. I had a talent and a passion for it, but it never really fulfilled me.
Fast forward to now. One of our wonderful Cru staff gave a message about not living in our comfort zone of the typical American life. All that was running through my mind was all of the people here in their comfort zone and living the typical American life. They don't know they need anything more. My heart hurt for them. That's when I realized those are the exact people I am going to be working with in the business world. I suddenly was able to see how God had fit all of the pieces of my life together - my talents for events and my heart for sharing the Gospel with Americans. Ministry in the business world is what God has called me to do, as terrifying as that is. I mean why would they want to listen to me? Realizing that for sure gave me peace that surpasses all understanding. While the details might be sketchy - what specific city, what ministry training to gather before entering the workforce, etc - my vision to see the great commission fulfilled has taken shape.
I don't share this to brag about how God revealed something to me. I share this to encourage you. I never saw until this week just how God uses our passions and talents to accomplish His work if we let Him. While I wanted to be called overseas, my talents and heart are for here. I pray you can use your talents and passions for the Lord as well. Our time here is so short. It's a beautiful thing when we can use that time to bring glory to God in our own unique ways. Nothing is more fulfilling. If you need some direction at where your skills lie, I recommend taking a Spiritual gifts test and praying over the results. We were made to fulfill the great commission if we so choose to dedicate our lives to that. I pray you have found the way God has called you.
Faithful Follower - Kels
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| My sweet discipler Amelia |
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Body Image
Hi all!
Last week in Ocean City was a beautiful week. It was Family Week for all of us here on mission. That meant some beautiful lessons about comparison, support, and encouragement were learned. While that all sounds fun and dandy, don't be fooled. It was hard. It was painful. Let me give you a glimpse into my sin-filled perspective of this and how it was changed.
Coming to this mission, I met some of the most incredible people I've ever met. Everyone on this mission is here because of their genuine love and commitment to God. We came to be trained as leaders and change this world for God. Inevitably however, that means there is a lot of subtle comparison going on. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I subconsciously wanted to be the "Best Christian" - whatever that meant. I didn't realize how hard I was pushing myself to be the best at everything and perform for God. I woke up early to spend time with God, talked about my testimony at work, shared my faith with strangers, journaled, tried to become best friends with everyone, and learned how to help people. While all of these are worthy and God-glorifying things, I realized I was comparing how much I was doing with how much other people were doing. It caused stress and exhaustion and isolation.
Once I became aware of this desire of mine to be the best, I broke down. How could I take even the purest things and twist them with my sin? Sin hasn't tainted a part of us. It runs through our whole body and overflows into every single aspect of our life. Bringing this sin into the light was depressing. But realizing it is cancelled sin in the eyes of our Lord made me bow down in thankfulness. Romans 5:2b says "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." I learned to rejoice in the fact that I can see God's glory abound from this. Romans 6:6 says "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." I have freedom from these feelings of comparison and self-righteousness.
The week ended with every student being assigned a role to take over when the staff leave on July 7th. There was a lot of potential for comparison and bitterness to see how the roles were assigned. But we have freedom to think of ourselves less. God gave the perfect opportunity to rejoice with each student in their individual role. I've been able to see how well each is performed and how I couldn't do their role. I can't be strong in every area. I've gotten to see where my strengths do and don't lie and it is okay. I was made perfect by God. Why do I need to compare and try to be the best at everything?
Since learning this freedom of self-forgetfulness, God has changed my hard heart. Putting God and others first as commanded is truly the most freeing thing. I guess that's why God listed them as the greatest commandments.. I've found so much joy in encouraging and supporting others. Together we are the body. That's why this blog has the strange title of Body Image. My image of the Body of Christ was changed when I stopped thinking about myself. I pray you can experience this yourself.
Kels - Faithful Follower
Last week in Ocean City was a beautiful week. It was Family Week for all of us here on mission. That meant some beautiful lessons about comparison, support, and encouragement were learned. While that all sounds fun and dandy, don't be fooled. It was hard. It was painful. Let me give you a glimpse into my sin-filled perspective of this and how it was changed.
Coming to this mission, I met some of the most incredible people I've ever met. Everyone on this mission is here because of their genuine love and commitment to God. We came to be trained as leaders and change this world for God. Inevitably however, that means there is a lot of subtle comparison going on. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I subconsciously wanted to be the "Best Christian" - whatever that meant. I didn't realize how hard I was pushing myself to be the best at everything and perform for God. I woke up early to spend time with God, talked about my testimony at work, shared my faith with strangers, journaled, tried to become best friends with everyone, and learned how to help people. While all of these are worthy and God-glorifying things, I realized I was comparing how much I was doing with how much other people were doing. It caused stress and exhaustion and isolation.
Once I became aware of this desire of mine to be the best, I broke down. How could I take even the purest things and twist them with my sin? Sin hasn't tainted a part of us. It runs through our whole body and overflows into every single aspect of our life. Bringing this sin into the light was depressing. But realizing it is cancelled sin in the eyes of our Lord made me bow down in thankfulness. Romans 5:2b says "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." I learned to rejoice in the fact that I can see God's glory abound from this. Romans 6:6 says "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." I have freedom from these feelings of comparison and self-righteousness.
The week ended with every student being assigned a role to take over when the staff leave on July 7th. There was a lot of potential for comparison and bitterness to see how the roles were assigned. But we have freedom to think of ourselves less. God gave the perfect opportunity to rejoice with each student in their individual role. I've been able to see how well each is performed and how I couldn't do their role. I can't be strong in every area. I've gotten to see where my strengths do and don't lie and it is okay. I was made perfect by God. Why do I need to compare and try to be the best at everything?
Since learning this freedom of self-forgetfulness, God has changed my hard heart. Putting God and others first as commanded is truly the most freeing thing. I guess that's why God listed them as the greatest commandments.. I've found so much joy in encouraging and supporting others. Together we are the body. That's why this blog has the strange title of Body Image. My image of the Body of Christ was changed when I stopped thinking about myself. I pray you can experience this yourself.
Kels - Faithful Follower
Monday, June 25, 2018
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
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
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
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
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
Monday, June 4, 2018
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
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
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