I just got back from one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I'm not even sure how to put into words how challenging Worldview Academy was. Honestly, I was reluctant to go, but it was a pretty awesome week.
   Last Wednesday we spent about an hour evangelizing in Seattle. I was absolutely terrified at the prospect, but I would say it was the best part of the week. Not because it made me feel good about myself, not because I had fun meeting people, and not because I liked convincing others. On the contrary, I didn't enjoy that at all. However, I believe God used that time to give me more of a heart for the lost.
   Since Sunday, we had been learning about different belief systems and the various ways people viewed life. I absorbed this information and understood it, but did not completely comprehend that there are actually people that believe this until we went out and asked others what they thought happened when they died or if they believed in a higher power than themselves. For a while after that, I just felt like I had this heavy weight on my shoulders.
   That night at dinner, I stared at my food and, though I was hungry, the sick feeling in my stomach turned the sweet corn on my plate raw and saw-dusty in my mouth. As I stared down at my food, my eyes began to mist over and the faces of those that I had spoken with earlier flashed through my memory. They are all so lost, every one of them. And all I could do was pray. Pray that God would reveal himself to them and that He would use our words to plant seeds in their hearts, because behind each of the faces we talked with was a dying soul headed to a eternity without Christ.
   I'm really thankful that I chose to go, as difficult as some of it was, because I know that God used that week to change and mold me into more of the person that He desires me to be. All in all, it was a good week.

"Hallelujah, all I have is Christ! Hallelujah, Jesus is my life!"

Till next time,

~Jerusha :)

So Great a Love

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.  For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.  ~~Ephesians 1:3-6

   It will never cease to amaze me that the God of the Universe and the maker of all things could look at me, see me for who I really am, and want to be with me. There is simply no earthly comparison for a love that vast. When we as humans love, we always love without seeing all. We can never totally realize all of a persons weaknesses and sin, but God looked down and saw humans in total rebellion with no desire for Him and had a desire and love for us. He saw a people so drawn to their own selfish ambitions and was drawn to them.  

  

   What then can we do to deserve this love? Nothing. Try as we may, we can never earn what has been freely given to us. We can, however, surrender our lives to His will and strive, with everything we have, to be like Him.

"I once was lost in darkest night

Yet thought I knew the way

The sin that promised joy and life

Had led me to the grave

I had no hope that You would own

A rebel to Your will

And if You had not loved me first

I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race

Indifferent to the cost

You looked upon my helpless state

And led me to the cross

And I beheld God’s love displayed

You suffered in my place

You bore the wrath reserved for me

Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ

Hallelujah! Jesus is my life"

Live To Be Forgotten

 "When I die, I think it would be wonderful if, at my funeral, no one could remember my name."

Those words caught me off guard a little over a month ago as I was sitting listening to a speaker. My instant reaction  was, "But isn't that the meaning of life? To impact as many people for the better and leave such a mark in the world that you are remembered long after you leave it?"

The speaker went on to explain that he would much rather have Christ be remembered than himself. That what others will remember of him after he is gone is of next to no importance, but what others will remember of Christ is of infinite importance.

These thoughts humbled me so much. I realized that I have adapted to the worlds view of success: make plenty of money, be well known, have a good job, be remembered as a good person, etc. But in the grand scheme of things, while all these things are good, how much do they really matter? If I live my life so that when I die others remember me that's great, but in an eternal perspective, what have I really accomplished? I want to live my life so that, when I die, others will remember Christ. 
 

A Dangerous Business

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

   Four months - In four months I plan to be on a strange continent, living with people I've never met before and in a place I've never been. The thought terrifies me. I will be alone in a foreign country where I don't know a single person. But then, this is what I've dreamed of forever: travel, new people, new places and adventure!
I've always had an urge to go, to see, explore and discover new things; my Type A Personality has ensured that that desire has yet to be quenched. Granted, I haven't traveled a lot, but every time I return I'm left with a longing to do just a little bit more, see just a little bit more, and meet just a few more people. I don't think that this adventure will take the "travel bug" out of me, but I do believe it will give me a bigger appreciation for my family, home, and all of the people I've been blessed to have in my life.

 ~~That's about it for now, I realize it's been almost a year since I've last posted. I'll try to be more faithful, but I don't know how well that will work out.:)