Being a part of Student Leadership

It has been a busy few days! I am so thankful that God has placed me on the leadership team! I love being a part of something and being a part of the student leadership at LU is exciting and challenging. I do not believe that any school could come close to our student leadership! This year I will have more responsibility as a Prayer & Life group leader (PLGL), but I am looking forward to what God has in store for me! He placed me on an amazing hall, I couldn’t ask for a better leadership team!

LU Student Leadership Team 2013-2014!

I feel that I am a small part of a bigger picture as a part of the student leadership. There are about 1,500 student leaders at LU this year (including RAs, SLCs, and PLGLs). On Tuesday night we all split up around campus and prayed for the year. Our hall prayed specifically for the Liberty godparent home and the women’s soccer team. It is amazing to see 1,500 students all over campus praying at the same time! I love that we make prayer such an important part of our school! Starting off the school year with prayer is a great beginning to a great year!

Today was fun and exhausting. Instead of sitting in orientation, we were running around all day helping students move in! As soon as we spotted a car full of luggage we would descend upon the family and begin carrying everything up to their dorm. You could say we were like red ants with our red student leadership t-shirts and our hands ready to carry whatever there was that needed to be carried to a dorm. With about six leadership helping, we could unload one student in a single trip. It was rewarding to know that our help was appreciated by the students and their parents. The most exciting part though was when the student would tell us that her dorm was M27-1, because that is my dorm!

            I am tired. It has been a busy day and tomorrow will be another day of moving students in. But it has been a great day! I am so thankful that God has given me the opportunity to be on student leadership and that He has placed me on M27-1! This semester is going to be busy with all my extra responsibilities as a PLGL, but I know that He will be with me every step of the way!

Answer to Prayer!

If you turn your eyes the the column to the left you will see that some things have changed! Resolving my financial aid has moved from a prayer request to a praise! Next week was the deadline for my financial aid and God allowed it to be worked out before then! It amazes me how many times He has answered my prayers during the summer! And I would like to thank each one of you who prayed for my financial aid! I am so thankful and relieved that it was worked out and that I will for sure be able to stay in school this year! And I know that God has amazing things for me this year! It is going to be awesome! Please join me in praising God for answering prayer and giving me the financial aid I needed for this school year!

Overwhelmed by Him

In light of my last post, I would like to point out that there is a very positive thing to be overwhelmed about. In fact, you should all be overwhelmed about this. We should all be overwhelmed to the point of stopping and thinking of everything God was, is, and will be. Overwhelmed of His awesome glory and power! Overwhelmed by His majesty! Overwhelmed of His love for us!  Overwhelmed that He sent His only Son to die in our place! Overwhelmed that He is Who He is! Take a moment to stop and worship Him!

Overwhelmed

     Sitting in the midst of all my possessions lying strewn across my dorm floor I  have become overwhelmed. Packing is easy, I simply throw everything I possess (minus my sentimental childhood items and the few things I don’t need for University) into a suitcase, crate, or the car. Unpacking is another matter altogether. Unpacking entails putting things away, but putting things away gets complicated when you have not the slightest idea of where away might be. And now my stuff is everywhere. Like I said, it’s overwhelming. So overwhelming that I have, at the moment, decided to give up for the time being and try again later.

    Many things in life can cause us to feel overwhelmed, classes, jobs, plans, decisions, and the list goes on. Sometimes life is overwhelming in general (I get overwhelmed with life!). And when we are overwhelmed we tend to stop and feel unable to go any farther. But this causes us to become even more overwhelmed with everything. Instead we must push on, one step at a time. And if you ask Him, God will hold your hand through those steps and help you stay on sure footing so that you won’t sink in.

     One last thing if you are never overwhelmed and have never had that feeling of just wanting to stop and run the opposite direction, remember to encourage others who do become overwhelmed. As the body of Christ we are to encourage and pray for each other. Take time to help lighten someone’s burden!

     Also, pray that I can find a place for all my many possessions that are currently lying on the floor of my dorm room!

Stressed?

Yeah, I’m stressed. I am usually always stressed about something! Currently I am stressed about my financial aid for University. I will be leaving on Saturday and my financial aid is still not worked out for the fall semester, which means I am heading off to school without knowing how my tuition will be paid. At the moment I feel as if my life has been one last minute plan after the next. God has been challenging me to wait on Him and His timing. My timing is much different, I like planning things out well ahead of time and knowing how everything will work together. God is teaching me that I have to trust that He will provide even when deadlines are coming.

Knowing that God will provide is one thing, believing that He will provide and trusting in Him is another thing. Especially with my financial aid. It is sometimes hard to believe that He will provide for me. I need to change my knowledge into faith! Faith is believing in something that we can’t see, we believe because He has told us to trust Him. Having faith is so important!

Sometimes I look at what I have written and I wonder if I truly believe it. Do I truly believe that He will provide the money and financial aid that I need by the deadline I need it? Do I truly believe that He is leading me down the path that He chose for me before I was even born? I know these things are true, now I just have to believe. God is such a gracious and loving Father that He has given me many chances to see Him answer prayers and fulfill His promises. No matter how much I disappoint Him by my doubts, He will always show Himself faithful and will lead me to Himself.

Now I just need to give my burden over to Him and allow Him to take care of everything. Stress will only hurt me, it will never solve a problem. Only God can solve my problems!

Thank you Father God!

A small summer update

      My family vacation this summer was possibly the best family vacation I have ever had! In June my immediate and extended family headed down to Charleston, South Carolina for my brother’s wedding. We stayed in a beach house right across from the ocean. Charleston is a beautiful city and the wedding was perfect! There was a tropical storm watch for the day of the wedding but God gave us beautiful blue skies instead! The wedding was fun and exciting and joyful! Coming back from such a great time was disappointing, but I am so happy that we were able to take home so many happy memories!

      Looking back it is amazing to see God’s hand guiding me throughout my summer. He was with me every step of the way. When I was applying for summer jobs and getting frustrated that He wasn’t answering my prayers and giving me a place to work, God had other plans for me. I got much needed driving practice by going to nearly every store in the Windsor area to hand in applications (I am never able to drive while at school). He also gave me some time to relax and be with my family. And then He got me a job! Nothing like what I was looking for, but it was an amazing place to work. I got an email from my sister about a camp in Ohio (Pleasant Hill Outdoor Center, or PHOC) needing extra staff. I applied Thursday night, was hired on Saturday and arrived at the camp on Tuesday.

      Getting thrown into a camp and missing the weeks of training was not easy. It took me a week or two to get used to the camp and find my place among the staff. PHOC is an amazing camp with wonderful, encouraging staff and a beautiful campus! I, of course, had my bad weeks and good week and God was with me through it all! I met some truly amazing people and worked with great staff! God challenged and encouraged me through my four and a half weeks at PHOC and I am so thankful He gave me that job. Even if it did feel last minute, He had been planning on me being there from the very beginning.
      It was a physically exhausting summer, but a summer of spiritual growth and so many good memories! Now to see what God has in store for me this coming school year!