Trusting

Where does worrying really get us?  God has really shown me recently that worrying gets me nowhere.  I worry about people I care for, if I will get a job when I graduate college in May, where I'm going to live, how certain situations will play out in my life, for what my future holds in general, etc.  Regardless of the situation, God says over and over again in the Bible not to worry but to trust only in Him.  Driving down the road the other day, I caught a short piece of a message on the radio.  I was reminded that God is our Daily Bread.  We do not have to worry about the next day because God will provide what we need for each day and each day alone.  He is the Great Provider.  Then, in the book that I'm reading, it said, "Our ability to trust God is completely dependent on our view of who God is." It also said, "A God-box is created when we have an overinflated view of who we are and and underinflated view of who God is."  Wow!!  To me this says, maybe I'm spending too much time doing things for myself and thinking about myself and not spending enough time with God to completely know Him and the amazing things He is able to do because then I wouldn't worry.  God has made this so evident.  He has also made it so evident that prayer is the answer, to pray for the day that God has given us today.  When I talk to my Father and tell Him my worries and concerns of the day, He takes them from me and bares them for me.  Knowing that it is in His hands also brings peace and comfort.  I'm learning to trust completely in Him and not try to figure things out on my own.  I'm able to rest and have peace knowing God's going to take care of it all and will work it out for His glory!  

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. 

Talk to Your Father

  God has restored the joy in my life that I lost for a little while!  One thing that has been made clear to me is to lean on Him daily.  Leaning on Him daily means being in constant communication with Him.  Having a prayer life is so crucial!  Its more than just blessing each meal and thanking Him for things at the end of the day, but its about wanting to know God intimately and desperately and seeking His willl for your life.  It's a joy to get up in the morning (and everyone knows I'm not a morning person) or go to bed at night and just talk to my Daddy.  It has brought a peace in my life that I'm so grateful for!  Not only is constant communication about prayer life, but its about being in God's Word.  It's amazing the things God will show and reveal to you if you give Him the chance!  Just thought I'd share this because it's on my heart!

Bring It On

"Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance."
                                                             -Psalm 16:5-6

This verse has been on my heart recently.  I have found comfort through it!  I would say that my life has completely been turned upside down this week.  God can and does come out of no where when your least expecting it to turn you in the complete opposite direction.  The message I listened to at Millbrook Baptist yesterday was a new series on prayer.  The pastor said, "There are 4 types of answers to prayers: yes; yes, but not right now; no; or I have something better in store for you."  Sitting through that message yesterday, I realized God had answered one of my prayers, but not in the way I was expecting.  Our prayers and cries of our hearts are never forgotten by God.  God has proved to me over and over again the past few days that through Him, I have a delightful inheritance, that my future IS bright if I rely on Him daily, that I don't have to let the fears of my past hold me in bondage.  I can't say I'm not scared, but I am ready! 

Let Hope Rise and Darkness Tremble!

Where do I even begin? I was able to be apart of Passion 2012. No words can describe Passion except that it was all God! The glory of God shone brightly in Atlanta, GA this week! Over 44,000 people gathered in the Georgia Dome to worship and praise the name of God for four days. I'm so grateful for this experience! Our generation is taking a stand for the name of God and making His name known around the world! There is nothing in the world like seeing 44,000 people raising their hands and worshiping God together in one place. I guess its just a glimpse of what eternity is going to be like.

Every day we had amazing speakers and worship leaders including Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, John Piper, Francis Chan, Christine Caine, Hillsong United, Lecrae, Matt Redmon, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, and Chris Tomlin. Beth Moore spoke to my heart when she was saying the God can't be used up. He is there for us to come to Him about any situation, and even when we try to hide from him about our most private issues, we can't go unnoticed by Him. He wants us to reach out for Him daily! Throughout the week, God used the speakers and worship leaders to bring these wonderful messages to us! They got me fired back up and feeling like I could conquer the world! The worship leaders introduced the new "Passion songs" throughout the week, all of which were so powerful. I'm ready for the Passion 2012 CD to be out!

The theme for the week was Freedom. There are over 27 million slaves around the world today, which seems crazy since we don't really think about slavery still existing today. Human trafficking and sex trafficking (like in the movie Taken) are two huge issues they raised awareness for. Louie Giglio set up a goal for us to raise a million dollars to go to the different organizations around the globe that fight different types of slavery. Let me just say, GOD IS SO GOOD! By the second night there, we had almost raised a million dollars, and there was still 2 nights and a day to go. By the last day, we had given about two and a half million dollars, but another couple had felt led to give a huge chunk of money so our total ended up being $3,066,670! God knew the needs of the organizations! Sex trafficking has just really been on my heart ever since passion. It's disturbing knowing that it happens to normal girls like me! I plan on reading some books about it, and just praying for the organizations around the world. It breaks my heart!

Here are some pictures and videos from Passion.

It's insane worshiping with this many people!

To remember the slaves around the world, and to take action!

Excited that I was able to be apart of giving to Freedom!

New Website of Interest

One of my friends told me about pinterest.com, and it has so many great ideas! I found some really cute ideas for when I start teaching and some other DIY stuff and recipes. Check it out!

Last Night

I have a test in a few hours and I cannot focus for anything! I had to do the hardest thing in my life last night, but I'm not going to come out and say what I had to do for respect for the other person, but I'm sure its not too hard to guess. For the longest time, I have felt like God was telling me something but because I have been too stubborn to listen to Him, I ended up causing myself and others way too much pain. There is nothing that was said or done to make me initiate my actions last night except for God. God has put that feeling deep inside me, but for so long I have tried to hide it and run away from that feeling because I wanted to do my own thing. Last night, I exploded inside because I know that I can't keep doing things my way. If it were my choice, I'd still be doing my own thing. Ultimately, I was put on this earth for a purpose. This life does not belong to me, but to my creator, and I can't continue to live for myself anymore no matter how much pain or hurt I'm experiencing or will experience. God took those nails for me, so I owe Him everything.

Its only been a few hours, and without me constantly depending on God right now, I would literally be a complete wreck. God is sustaining me and upholding me. I don't know if people will understand my decision or if I'll even have support. All I can do is continue to rely on God.

The Little Things

Its so easy to get caught in the daily cycle of life. I get up, get ready, go to classes, go to work, and see my boyfriend. Since school has been back in session, I have been so busy almost every single week. Its hard to fit in time to do other things, but somehow I still manage to. Through this, God has shown me his grace and sovereignty in my life.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to work at a day camp for people with special needs. I had to volunteer for my service learning class I am taking. When I first arrived, I was nervous because I have never spent much time around special needs people. It broke my heart because I felt so unfair for me to be normal. However, I began to talk to them and get to know some of them individually. I was hoping that through this experience God would show me his glory, and He did! A thought came to my mind about Genesis 1:27, "God created man in his own, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." We are all created in God's image and this verse gave me the strength to get through the rest of the time. I felt like I created bonds with some of the campers!

Also, last week and the beginning of this week I was so worried and nervous about teaching my first lesson to my first grade class that I am observing in. I knew that God was with me the entire time, and that gave me the strength to stand on when I got frustrated or unsure of how to handle certain situations. Overall, I felt happy about my first lesson. There are things I have to work on, but it assured me that teaching is what I am supposed to be doing!

Even through some of the simplest things in life, God is still present and His glory shines!

A Sweet Memory

Last weekend, my dad's side of the family had an Easter get-together at the lake. It was the first time that I had seen some of my relatives in a while. Just like all our family gatherings, we had so much food and dessert! We played games, acted crazy, and went on a hike (got lost and had to hitch hike back).

The most memorable moment was when my grandma prayed to bless the food. My grandma has Alzheimer's. She can on occasion recognize faces, but she has trouble even putting a sentence together now. However, they asked her to pray to bless our food and she agreed to say it. To my surprise, she was talking to God, making almost complete sentences that made sense. It really touched my heart. I realized that no matter the condition we are in we can still go to God to talk to Him and it all makes sense to Him. He knows exactly what is on our hearts. It was amazing and God blessed my heart that day!

Costa Rica-Summer 2010

Last summer I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip overseas to San Jose, Costa Rica. San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica, and it is a well-industrialized city! Our group from Go Tell Ministries stayed at the Score International Villa. We were lucky because we were provided with hot water, nice beds, electricity, and hot meals. I felt guilty because most of the people we witnessed to while we were there probably did not have most of these things. We stayed there for a week and it was a very eye-opening week!

The first few days there we were able to go into downtown San Jose and pass out tracks! It was an intimidating experience at first because most of the people in our group knew very little Spanish, and communicating with people was a challenge. We had a few translators that allowed us to share the Gospel to these people. Some were receptive, and some were not. We also made and gave bracelets to children. The bead on the bracelets represented the plan of salvation. The children loved them!

The first night of being there, we made food bags for the homeless. We went to downtown San Jose but it was the rough part of the town. When we pulled up to the location of where we were going to be passing the bags out, I was scared! That's when it became clear to me that sharing God's Word to other's is not about being comfortable. It's about stepping out of your comfort zone. When we got off of our bus, we had to put our backs to the wall for security reasons. As soon as we got off the bus, we were flocked with homeless people. They seemed to come from no where. Most where high or drunk, and they were begging for us to give them more than one bags. They were very thankful for what they got. It broke my heart to know there are people living in that kind of situation.

We got the opportunity to visit a village. I was stunned. I knew people lived in poor conditions, but to see it in person was a whole different view. Families of about 8 lived in a tin shack of about 50 square feet. We took them food, and spread the gospel with them. To see people with so little made me truly realize how blessed I am! The thing that shocked me most was that even though they had so little, they were happy! It opened my eyes to how materialistic we are as Americans!

One day we drove an hour to an orphanage. We got to spend two hours with the children at this orphanage. The children were ecstatic to see us. Even though communication was limited, we had so much fun with all of them! We danced, played chase, played a game of baseball (just for fun), and did a Bible story with them! I wish we could have stayed longer!

We also drove an hour to a church to reach out to the neighboring community to invite them to a movie night at the church. The movie was of the life of Christ! We also went to that same church on Sunday morning. God was definitely moving in that church!

I'm so glad I was able to go! My fear of flying was conquered, and I'm anxious to go again soon! Seeds were planted in San Jose, Costa Rica!!!

Back to Blogging

So I admit, I only got this account because I had to create a blog account for one of my classes last year. But, I do enjoy writing sometimes, so I'm going to try to get back into that. Since my last blog last year, a lot has gone on in my life.

First of all, I have had an amazing boyfriend for almost a year and a half now (which is my longest boyfriend ever). We have been through many up's and down's but we have definitely come a long way in our relationship. Seeking God in a relationship is one of the hardest things to do, but it gets easier and easier every single day! I thank God for him!

I finished my first year in college! I never thought that day would come. I only changed my major once (from psychology to education). I love the education program, and I am so excited about being able to work with children one day. My most recent excitement is qualifying for the education honor society. I'm so ready for graduation day, though!

This past summer, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I got to work with Go Tell Ministries at a summer camp for four weeks. I worked with teenage students from all over the U.S. I even got the opportunity to lead some to Christ!!!!!! It was AWESOME! To make this whole experience even better, I went on my first missions trip over seas. The Go Tell Staff went to San Jose, Costa Rica. It was incredible and I'm dying to go back!

My sophomore year in college has flown by and now I'm almost a junior in college. God has been so good to me this year (and every year). I know he has amazing things in store for the next fews years in college!

My First Big Accident

When I was little my family took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One of the days that we were there, we went to a place called Ober Gatlinburg which is mountain in Gatlinburg that has a lot of fun things to do. There is ice-skating, arcades, ski slopes, and so much more. Our family decided to go ice-skating. I had never been ice-skating before so it came as a challenge for me. I eased my way to the ice, stepped on, and began to glide very caustiosly while holding on to the hand rail on the side of the ice-skating rink. I went around the rink a couple of times, and felt I was getting descent at it. Mom let go and started to glide on her own so I was on my own. A few minutes later, I took a nasty fall onto the ice face-first. I got back up and felt fine. Mom glanced back at me and gave me a horrified look. She came up to me and put her hand under my chin and pulled it away covered in blood. She grabbed my hand and pulled my quickly off the ice. I began to feel my chin start to sting. I had busted my chin wide open. She took me to the emergency center they had there. They covered my chin in bandages and told me to go to the ER because I needed stitches. After we went to the ER, and they stitched me up I was fine again and ready to carry on with our vacation. It was the first big accident I had ever suffered!

Open Dorms

It's open dorm night, and I'm definately glad that our dorm is not coed! It is kind of frustrating because people are loud, and I know that if I were to be doing my homework, I wouldn't be able to focus! People have been screaming and acting crazy! I also don't like that anyone and everyone is able to come in. I like to have privacy and be able to have peace when I'm in my dorm. It feels like guys are invading my personal space! However, it would be nice if NGU allowed visiting hours for guys to come in girls dorms, just because it is easier if we wanted to watch a movie. Sometimes it's easier to just hang out in dorm rather than having to drive and waste money to hang out somewhere else! Overall, though, I'm glad dorms at NGU are not coed!

God vs. Satan

Over the summer at church camp a really bad storm came up one night! It honestly looked like a tornado was about to hit. The next morning, the guys told us that a tree had fallen on their lodge. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the boy's room that the tree fell on top of did lot of damage. He wasn't in his room at the time that the tree had fallen, but if he was he could've been seriously injured or even killed. Everyone that week was on a spiritual high, and we believe that Satan came in and pushed that tree down to shake us up and put a damper on that spiritual high. God, however, turned this situation 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Apparently, the boy was not saved and he said that he felt like God was after him to get saved. That night, after the tree had fallen he prayed to recieve Christ. God's power was displayed to me. He did all of that just for one person to come to Christ! It's amazing to see God's glory!

A Miracle

Psalm 77 is about comfort in trouble in recalling God's mighty deeds. God is definately a miracle worker. He has worked so many miracles in my life whether big or small. Some small miracles He's done for me being able to attend this college, having awesome family and friends, giving me breath every new day. One miracle that really astounded me last year was when my aunt had an MRI and they had found a mass in her brain that could've been cancerous. She was already a cancer survivor, so there was a possibility that the cancer could've came back. With all the cancer my family has had, I figured it was probably cancer. I was scared because I knew all the pain and heartache my family had already suffered, and I didn't want us to go through it again. My aunt went in for a biopsy to find out if it was cancerous. I remember that night before she found out the results, I was crying out to God. I asked Him to just let it not be cancer. I prayed really hard that night. My aunt found out the results the next day, and to my dismay, it wasn't cancer! All I could thing about was how God had answered my prayer! It was truely a miracle in my life. God is awesome!

Life is Changing

Since I've been at NGU for about 2 months now, many things are different in life. When I go home on occasional weekends, I'm bored most of the time and wish I was back at school. I love my friends and family to death, but its so different when I go back home now! I have so much more freedom here, and when I go back home I feel like I'm back in confinement again! However, I never really ask to do stuff anymore, I just do my own thing at home and she doesn't really care. I guess I just like the freedom of being here on my own and learning new things on my own. I also love my roomie and all the friends I've met here, and when I go home I miss hanging out with them. I usually end of texting them the whole weekend anyways. Life is so different since I've been in college and I love it!

SC State Fair

I went to the fair this weekend in Columbia, SC. It is a family tradition for our us to go every year. There are so many rides to ride, and I am the daredevil of the family so I ride some stuff alone. My favorite ride was Drop Zone. I was strapped into a seat and raised really high in the air, then when I least expected it, it dropped me all the way to the bottom. No one else would ride it with me so I had to ride it alone. We rode many of the other rides as well. The other awesome part about the fair is the food. Fair food is so fattening, but it tastes so amazing! Pretty much all the food they sell there fits into 2 categories: sweet or fried! I had a corn dog for supper, and then topped it off with an amazing Elephant Ear. I also ate some of my mom's fried mushrooms and then a slushy later on. The cool part about the state fair is that they have many exhibits to look at. Every year they have an amazing sand sculpture that surpasses the imaginable. It is absolutely incredible the amount of time and detail they work into the sculpture. I enjoy it so much every year.

Surprise

When I was in the second grade, my mom and dad planned a major vacation for me but kept it a surprise. They were planning to take me on a cruise to the Bahamas. They had already informed my teacher that I would be missing school because of this. My mom had been telling me that she had a surprise for me, and one day at school me teacher slipped and said, "Have fun on the cruise, Morgan!" That caught me off guard. I then began to wonder if that was the surprise mom was talking about. I went home from school that day and asked her if this was true and she asked me how I found out. I told her the teacher told me. The next few days were spent packing and driving to Florida to board the ship. When I stepped on that cruise ship for the first time, I was in awe. I had never seen anything like it before. The other surprise was, my mom and dad had told my aunts, uncles, and grandparents that we weren't going to be able to go on the cruise, but little did they know that we were. After we got settled in our room, we searched the ship for them. We finally found them on the upper deck of the ship. They were all surprised! The rest of the cruise was spent relaxing and exploring the islands of the Bahamas. It was truely the experience of a lifetime!

Fall Break

Fall break is finally here! I live in Aiken, SC which is about three hours away! The drive home is so boring, but I play my music loud and jam to it the whole way home. It's mostly back country road all the way home. I can't wait to get home to see my mom and brother and my best friend. Most of my friends, however, don't have fall break the same time as NGU, so on Monday and Tuesday I will be bored out of my mind trying to find stuff to do. I will be doing homework as well as tryin to catch up on understanding Biology over the long weekend. Then, on Tuesday afternoon I will be driving back up to NGU for the long torturous 3 hour drive.

Something Most People Don't Know About Me

I have always loved to sing, but being the shy type I'm not one to admit it that I can. When I was little, I would sing in plays at my church for the children's ministry. Then, when I was about 12, my family was throwing a surprise party for my dad at my church. I told my mom that I wanted to sing with my cousin at his party, and she told me I could. It was the first time I would actually stand up in front of people and sing for a large crowd. After that, I really didn't sing much except in the car or in my room with the radio blasting. Then, last year me and my best friend were talking at church camp. We both discovered something about each other that we didn't know. We both thought we had a descent voice, but never really acted on it. We decided that we wanted to sing in church for a youth service. We were terrified, but we loved it! We did it again the following year and we also had the opportunity to sing at another church! I love to sing, and even though I don't get many chances to, I still enjoy doing it in my spare time.

Wednesday's Chapel

I really enjoyed chapel on wednesday! I can't remember the speaker's name, but he was by far the best one we have had yet. He wasn't afraid to say what he thought! It was about dating, and it really spoke to me! One thing that made an impression on me was when he said that we should be happy single. I've had a couple guys come in and out of my life for the past month that have treated me not so well, so it's left a bad taste in my mouth for dating. It made me realize no one can complete me but me. I didn't lose interest in chapel this time. I really enjoyed his message.