Is it Thanksgiving break yet?

I could really use a break.
Last weekend our small singing group, Highland Singers, went on a 4 day tour around eastern KS, mostly the Kansas City area. It was a great time and the best music tour experience I've had thus far. We became close as friends and became tight musically. It was a good tour, but we did miss two days of class and didn't have time to do homework. So I've been playing catch up this week. It's really a scramble sometimes.

This weekend I'm heading up to Kansas City again for our semi-annual trip to the International House of Prayer. I'm excited because a big group is going (25) and many have never been before. Also, I'm not in charge! That is a good feeling, especially when there is some sort of snag with the trip planning. I'm not being held responsible. It is also a hard feeling sometimes because I wish I could just take control and straighten it all out, or go back in time and help my friends (including my roommate and my boyfriend and another good friend) plan for all these snags about a month ago. It is times like this when I realize how much of a greedy power-monger I am. God is teaching me a lot about that. I'm excited for a slight break at one of my favorite places! I'm anticipating the work that God is going to do in these students lives. Some amazing things came out of our past trips.

That is all the updates you get for now.

What a weekend!

This past weekend I had the privilege of leading a group of 30 sterling college students (out largest group ever!) to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. It was a little crazy at first. I don't recommend putting all 30 people in a living room and tell them to be quiet all at once. All the people that went are amazing! I have loved getting to see close friends and new friends experience new depths of God's love and receive new understanding of scripture. I've loved seeing these new faces dive right in to the deep end and run after God. I am excited to see everyone as we come back to our campus and apply these new things to the daily grind.

One of my biggest prayers for our group was from Ephesians 1:15-20, basically that God would open up their hearts to receive a greater and deeper understanding of His heart and that they would come to know the hope that comes from being the chosen inheritance of Christ. Also that they would come to see for the first time, as well as more clearly what their calling is. God was faithful to answer these prayers in such amazing ways.


God is crazy! He doesn't care what background you have, what doubts you may have, what plans you've made, He will do anything to show you His love and make it easier to love you.


Watch out Sterling College!!!

Yah, that is a picture of the new IHOP stage. My friend Ben took it (no flash!). I love the new stage. It is not all that distracting and I actually felt that they way the stage was situated it involved the congregation more.

Thank you IHOP

Thank you International House of Prayer for making the GBF (global bridegroom fast) free to watch all this week.
Listened to some Merchant Band this morning.
Enjoying some Misty Edwards-ness right now. Amazing!

"You are stronger in my weakness

So I'll lean into Your strength.

You are greater when I diminish

So I'll lean into Your grace"

Fall Breather

Fall Breather, one of the best ideas for a break ever, was last Monday and Tuesday, which means an awesomely long weekend. Instead of just hanging out at home all the time, which I did last year, I lead a school trip up to the International House of Prayer-KC (referred to as the ihop from here on out). How did I get this super-cool responsibility? Because I'm a chaplain, that's why! (By the way, I love all of my chaplain duties it's amazing!)

A total of 9 students went, which was just the perfect amount. The students who went were also perfect for this trip. I feel like God hand-picked them to go on this trip. Though I knew everyone on the trip and knew they were responsible, there is always that fear that the leader will become the baby-sitter, in a sense. Thankfully I never had to do that and never felt the tension between simultaneously being a friend and a leader. The whole trip was amazing, God was definitely leading it and blessing it. Logistically, which is my least favorite part, everything went so smooth. I was never stressed by anything and nothing that could've gone wrong did.

Also, the students who went, and myself included, were all impacted by God while we were there. We spent most of our days in the prayer room and just soaked in the presence of God. We also had some group meetings to pray together and talk about what we had been experiencing.

For me, it was amazing to see how everything came together in the end. David, my chaplain co-chair and a pretty cool guy, had been planning this for a few months wondering how everything would really come together. It was neat for me to bring others (I'm friends with most of the group) to a place that is so close to my heart and see them experience it. It was amazing to pray with them and talk to them about what they were experiencing with God and to see them flourish in prayer and Bible study.
















Photos from www.ihop.org

I want my caramel Apple Cider, dangit!

I'm sitting at Mokas waiting for my apple cider to be done.
Anyway.
It is Fall breather (Monday and Tuesday off=yay!) and I'm at home until Sunday.
Sunday I leave with a group of 8 other Sterling-ites and we head up to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I love that my chaplain duties include taking people to places I love. My co-chair buddy David F. and I organized the whole trip. Unfortunately he is not able to go as he tore his ACL a few weeks ago and just had surgery. So I'm completely in charge. No sponsor or anything. Just a sophomore telling everyone else what to do. That's bad planning.
The good part is that those who are coming are all responsible and are all my friends. We should get along just fine.
I'll actually have to update my blog sometime. Life has been crazy busy, or cruzy.
Oh, and I cut my hair today.
And colored it.
ha!

Saturday!

I don't know why I put that exclamation mark in the title, so far this Saturday hasn't warranted a "!". I guess I'll just leave it there expecting that the day will become very "!".
Right now I'm at Mokas enjoying a Strawberries and cream smoothie. Delicious! This was really just an excuse to get out of the house. I'm so used to being away from my parents away all day that weekends are kind of weird. Weekends mean overexpousure to my parents. I think Dad and I might go see a movie later so that actually might be fun.
Hmmm...It's always been interesting to me that I, and many others, go to coffee houses, bookstores, and the like to be 'alone'. What is it about these places that attracts the somewhat anti-social? I think I've figured it out. Obviously when one goes to a coffee house they will not be alone. However, they will most likely not be bothered by others who have also come to be 'alone'. In our culture being alone is feared because (duh) it can lead to loneliness. The allure of such locations is that you can be left alone without being alone. Ta da! My theory is that if people weren't so afraid of being alone, and didn't like expensive, unique beverages so much, that places like coffee houses wouldn't survive.

---

Anyway....I also have this amazing song by Misty Edwards, my favorite worship leader at the I.H.O.P-KC, called I set my heart. Some of the lyrics are as such:

It's just a moment

Less than a minute

Life is a vapor

And there's more than meets the eye

So I will set my mind on things above

I will set my heart on things to come

I'm on my way!

I'm on my way to Zion!

You'd really have to hear it to get the full impact. It's based on one of my favorite Psalms,Psalm 84:5-7. It's definitely been on heavy rotation in my CD player and in my mind.

Finally!

After a rather discouraging week of realizing that I hate t.v. and don't have much to do I got a break. Thursday Jen B. , my R.D. at school, called me up and invited me to a weekend at the IHOP (prayer, not pancakes). I was able to go, since I haven't planned anything. We got there just in time for the Friday night Encounter God service (EGS) and my favorite worship leader, Misty Edwards, spoke and it was amazing. Saturday I got up early and did the Special Olympics Bun Run with Ang, Trav, and Jack. It was a lot of fun! After than we went to brunch at First Watch and returned home to nap. After napping, feeding the Jack, and playing with the Jack, Travis dropped me off at the IHOP. I ended up being in the prayer room for almost 7 hours straight.

This weekend was what I needed. After running after meaningless entertainment and feeling stuck where God seems far away I have returned refocused and refreshed. Soaking myself in the Word, worship, and prayer reminded me of God's faithfulness, worthiness, and how much I want to know and love Him.

Weekend at Ihop and with family=success.

Take that boring summer!

I love this kid!!!

I found this great post the other day on Jackson Bohlender's blog Behold a new thing is coming . Jackson and his Dad, Randy, have some excellent blogs. Randy actually spoke at my Summer Teen Internship 2 years ago at the I.H.O.P (prayer, not pancakes) . Anyway, one of his sons, Jackson, made this amazing post. This is what most I.H.O.P kids are like, wise beyond their years but also a lot of fun. Here is a excerpt:

"The more I think about it, the more I realize how fortunate I am to be young.

Why? Well, first of all, some people just tend to not take me seriously because I'm 12 years old. However annoying at times, this has more pros that cons...

No matter how bold I am, no matter how professionally I dress, no matter what I say, there will always be someone in the crowd who tunes me out because I'm an irritating 12 year old.

My days as cute and cuddly are numbered, though, and soon I'll either have to stay cute and cuddly for my entire life or start being aggressive and irritating. In just 30 days, I'll be a teenager, and after 8 years of teen life, I'll be 21. An adult. A full-sized stinking adult. And even then there are going to be people of the previous generation who think I'm inexperienced and won't listen to me way I see it, until I'm about 35 (old enough to become a US president), I have no voice in the corporate world.

This is kind of sad, because not including the Millenial Kingdom, half of my life will be gone and if I'm not careful, I'll have lost my message.

This is why we must not worry about being "mature", but about being heard, or at least Holy, because it is out of fellowship with God that true maturity blossoms.

Wow. I just wrote what was on my mind and my heart and when I looked at it, I realized that it's really poetic."

Amen to that.

The Rest of Christmas Break

Again, long time no post. I was busy, honestly.

Christmas consisted of hanging out at my grandma's christmas eve and going to a movie w/ my parents christmas day. We saw Fun with Dick and Jane. It was pretty good. I think you have to be in the mood for it to enjoy it though. My parents and I also drove up to Kansas City (Where my sister and her family live) to have christmas there. It was really fun. We decided this year not to buy a lot of presents in exchange for cash. Sounds good to me. I spent one third of it (On mystery science theatre dvd's and conference apparrel) and put the other 2/3's into my savings. I figured at some point it might be nice to have some money.

From the 28th-31st I was hanging out with Jesus and 10,000 other people at the One Thing conference. I had been to the '03 conference, where I was introduced to the IHOP (and basically Jesus for real), and decided to make great effort to make it back this year.

Highlights were Misty Edwards and her team, Shelly Hundley (she messes me up everytime I hear her speak) seminars, Dwayne Roberts (one of my favorite bald guys w/ artsy glasses from the IHOP), Praying with and for other people, hanging out in the prayer room, and having my heart tenderized through the word. To check out the One Thing conference or the IHOP follow the links: http://www.onethingglobal.com
http://www.ihop.org

I didn't get to see a lot of my friends during the break which is a bummer. But I had some quality time with my best friend Ellen. Turns out we're going through a lot of the same things (a.k.a. life question freak-outs) right now. It was great to have someone who knows how I feel.

P.S.

More Later...I Nabbed the cool photo from Randy Bohlender's (IHOP Staff) blog called Stuff I Think

"Ah ha!" with Jesus moment

As I just posted, I got to hang out in the prayer room when I was up in K.C. For awhile now, as I wrote about in previous posts, I've had a hard time being in this season of 'blah' where I want to hang out with Jesus/read the Bible/pray but I can't (and won't) force myself to. As I sat in the prayer room throughout the day God was working in my heart.

First, I was in the intercession set. I listened to, and joined in, people's prayers for the upcoming One Thing Conference, for Kansas City, and for countires. As I prayed I realized how much I love to be in this place of intercession. I love to be inquiring to God about what is on His heart, what He wants to do, what His desires are, and then partnering with Him in the place of prayer. Again, and not for the last time, God opened my eyes not only to how important prayer is, but how important it is to me and to Him.

Later on Thursday, I was sitting in on the Misty Edwards 'Prophetic Worship' set and again God opened up my heart to Him. Since I've been in this 'blah' season I've had a hard time just being here. I want to move onto the greater adventures of knowing and loving Him. Although I didn't want to admit it, not only did this 'blah-ness' drive me nuts, but it made me feel as if I were somehow failing at this whole 'God thing'. Misty and her team sang about the heart-ache and the longing we feel for God, singing and speaking lines like "This ache is love. It doesn't lead to love, it is love." One of her team members started speaking about how God longs for us, how He wants us to be with Him, and how He's been waiting for us ever since we were a thought in His mind. And this realization came to me:

"Why is it that when God waits, longs, and wants more it's love, but when I wait, long, and want more I call it 'failure', I call it 'Try Harder'."

This one thing that God revealed to me has changed (and is changing) how I feel about 'blah' seasons. I'm not as frustrated now that I realize that with the ache and longing in my heart I am becoming more like the One who first felt the ache and the longing for me.

Yay for Jesus!

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6

(NIV)

What I've been up to

I know, I know. It has been awhile since I've posted anything. So here is what I've been up to:

1.) Babysitting my nephew!
I drove up to Kansas City Sunday and stayed until friday. My sister, Ang, was having her finals week so I went up there to take care of Baby Jackson. Not a lot of sleep was had, but a lot of fun was! Jackson and I bonded. He knows who his 'cool aunt' is for sure! I also got to hang out with Ang and Travis, which I don't get to do much, so I enjoyed that. As my 'thank you' for babysitting they let me go to the IHOP (International House of Prayer) Wednesday night and all day Thursday. I was also able to visit the Curts family at that time (The father was the pastor of my church and I dated Ethan, the son, for 2.5 yrs = We are all close friends). It was great!

Hanging out in the prayer room was great. I also picked up the new Misty Edwards and Team Cd. It is AMAZING! All the songs were recorded live in the prayer room and a very powerful.

2.) Resting
Since I babysat I haven't gotten much sleep (not to mention that I went straight from my finals week to babysitting) so I've been resting up, seeing some of my friends, hanging out with familiy, and spending time with Jesus.

So that's what I've been up to.