Submerge to the Rescue

I'm so excited about Submerge, but I definitely have to get my act together. My mom said I can't go if I'm not respectful to her. That's so hard. I'm kind of scared too. The last time I told God that I would do whatever He told me to do, I got really tough. It was right before Amplified. Right after that was really hard, but definitely made the months to follow awesome. I told God I would do whatever He tells me to do yesterday. I prayed all this in faith and told God I could only do that if He gives me the tools I need. I know He will. I have this crazy feeling that after camp it is going to be another hard time for my faith. So I've been praying about this fear I have of what God is going to do. Almost everything I've read today and yesterday had something to do with embracing trials and hard stuff for the kingdom to help strengthen my faith. God is awesome, but I'm still scared about my HUGE God and what He has in store for me. I hope that all makes since. I can't wait until tomorrow!!! See ya!

Drew Liche Obsession and More!

Yesterday we did so many things. We had prayer at 6 a.m. We then helped with the jambalaya sale. After that we did a water outreach. It was a little scary because it was my first time, but it was fun. I would definitely do it again. Then we had Next Generation Prayer for the new arena and summer camp. It went well. We talked about what we see when we look at the new building. It was a great day besides a few minor emotional situations.lol

Today I went to see Dancing with the Stars the pics below are from that. It was incredible! Drew is my absolute favorite! Drew Liche won season 2. He is an awesome dancer! He is in pic. 4 in the front. The other pics of him are with his partner Cheryl Burke. She is unbelievable! He was in the 98 degrees band. We had a great time. The dances were incredible. If no one cares I know Candice would've loved it. I'm going to try to download some video from it tomorrow. See ya soon!

Closer Modified

Tonight some of the Closer people met at Laser Tag. We had a great time. I think my team lost every time. I did horrible, but I had fun anyway. Then Jason spoke about witnessing with our actions and how are actions speak louder than words, especially in our Christian walk. Then we went to Burger King. That was pretty crazy. The "guys"(Jason,Phil,Jake) made fun of me with riddles and jokes. I over think everything.! I teased Heather and Jake about "going out". That was hilarious. They are probably going to kill me for putting it on my blog. I definitely hope Heather doesn't read this. She will kill me! We had so much fun. The funny thing is I have fun when people make fun of me. Paul Musso put his face in an icee cup top(the clear top that goes on an icee cup) and sucked in and made it suction to his face. It was really funny. I started thanking God when I got home for the great time I had. God then revealed that He had answered one of my prayers. At Amplified I thought I was going to have an awesome time and meet so many cool people. That did not happen. God told me to quit focusing on having friends and focus on Him. He said He would give me friends later. Someone told me that Sunday at Amplified that I forfeited good friends to have a great relationship with God. Today as I prayed and God showed me that He has given me so many great friends. I once was lost now I'm found, I once didn't have many friends and now I do. I just wanted to tell these friends how much you'll mean to me. This would include: Jason, Jake, Phil, Heather, Kira, Nick, Angela( I just found out that that was Paul's sister yesterday), and many more. Thanks for being my friends. I can now come home and say I have great friends who I can call on. I'm super thankful for you people. You'll are incredibly awesome! I'll see some of you at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Get you some sleep tonight!

Refuge With a Side of Jason, Phil, and Jake

Refuge was cool. Worship was awesome. Everyone was jumping around like crazy. God was all over the place. It was crazy intense. Then a guy named Terrel spoke. It was really good. He sings Hip Hop/ jazz/// and about five more things put together. He spoke about passion. He talked about God being the only one that can satisfy us and that we should be willing to be passionate about God. We should be willing to give our lives for God. He said that people should be able to definitely tell you love Jesus. They should be jealous of what you have. That's how evident it should be that Jesus is in your life. For me, since I went to a Christian school, during the school year I was like on fire. I had so much passion I was overflowing. It was a great feeling. I just wanted people to be able to feel what I felt. My passion this summer seems like it's not as strong. It's really not like I'm in a dry season, but for me personally I don't feel the same passion that I did. I have been going through doubt and just believing the lies of the devil. I know that but sometimes I still believe the lies. It's crazy. I just feel weird like I can feel God but I still can feel the doubt too. I don't know if that makes since. I just think that God is going to bring me out of this season when I'm ready. After the service I stopped thinking about having doubt. I just talked to Jason(that would be Guidry), Phil, and Jake. I noticed later that my doubt didn't even matter any more. I noticed that doubt doesn't mean anything bad that it will be o.k. It is just something that God wants me to go through. I'm cool with that because I know God knows best and He will help me through it. Anyway, I hope we didn't hurt any feelings during our discussions after church. I think everyone understood it was all a joke. Thank you for exasperating me, Jason. I loved every minute. I'm sorry you don't like me to comment on your blog! Thanks for the cool necklace, Phil. Thanks for the encouragement, Jake. Y'all(not Texan) are all great friends. I will see y'all soon. I really enjoy all the laughing and lack of breathing.(lol) Please keep Blake in your prayers. He is in the hospital because he is throwing up because he has Crohn's disease. I think he is going to be o.k., but he needs prayer. Last I heard the doctor hadn't seen him yet and he had been there for two days. I feel really bad for him. I'm so excited about summer camp. See y'all soon.

Painting in Donaldsonville

Yesterday we went to Donaldsonville to paint at the new Donaldsonville Dream Center. It was so much fun. We had to pull staples out of the wall with forks before we began painting. Jake was the only one with the screwdriver. (1000 staples to 1 screwdriver)I spilled paint everywhere yesterday. I am like the messiest painter ever. Then me and Jake painted each other. That was the most interesting thing that happened all day. We had a great day. At the end we prayed individually and as a group for the people at the dream center. It was great getting to help some people out, have fun, eat pizza, and play hard. It was a great way to show God's love to a lost and poverty stricken community. I actually was in D' Ville today with my family so helping that community gives me hope that the dream center might one day do something to greatly impact my family and their beliefs. I hope we have many more outreaches like that to come. Outreaches is, for me, the coolest way to serve someone else. I guess it's like one of the things I love doing and have a passion for. I will see y'all soon.

Confidence in Focus

Today we had Equip. It was really good, but one thing that totally smoked me was being confident in who I am in Christ. It seems as if the root of all spiritual growth is confidence in who you are in Christ. I struggle with that greatly. Last night I read a devotional about spiritual growth. It said that you have to know who you are in Christ or every time you fall the devil will make you doubt your salvation. That was really cool. I never have known why I go through doubt until last night. I now know the root of the problem. It said you have to see yourself like God sees you. That has definitely been my prayer. Today I read about humility. Again, it said the key to being humble without thinking less of yourself is to know who you are in Christ. Do you see a common denominator?(The math lingo is for Jake.lol) God is really trying to tell me that I need to get that together. I started doing a "study" on my identity in Christ. It's really cool. It's all about Paul's life. I hoping this will help me see myself in a new light. I will see some of you at the outreach tomorrow.

Refuge ADD Style

Tonight Jason couldn't even concentrate because of the weather, but it was still awesome. He talked briefly about Jeremiah 2. He said that God is the only thing that will satisfy us. That is amazingly true. I've tried to get acceptance from people before. That didn't work. Several weeks or months ago God told me He was the only one who could make me happy and truly accept me. It's very hard to not try to fill a void in your heart by trying to get people to accept you or a guy to like you. Every once in a while God likes to remind me that nothing can satisfy me but Him. Then Jason asked if anyone had something to share. Several people came and spoke. Paul Musso said something amazing about how we shouldn't let guys, or in his case girls, get in the way of God doing something in our lives. That is something that I think we all struggle with. Just tonight I couldn't pat attention because my friend wasn't there. It was awesome that what Paul said was exactly what Jason talked about. You know the whole thing about God can only satisfy us. That is for those of us who might not of understood the relation. Lets face it girls, guys won't satisfy our cravings for acceptance, even though sometimes it seems like if we could get that one guy's attention we would be happy. By the way, today this guy tried to talk to me at the pool. I freaked out! I kept walking very fast to go sit with my family. I really don't like when guys that I don't know talk or look at me. He probably thought I was crazy. Anyway, at Refuge this other guy came and rapped. It was awesome. The ADD night turned out to be great. I am very much looking forward to Closer tomorrow. I think the spiritual warfare thing is really something I need to hear. I'm excited and I'll see you tomorrow.

Equip Starts

Today we had our first day of Equip. It was so much fun. So much for having to do work, we played laser tag. I'm horrible at it by the way. I hope I get to know the people who are participating. It's weird going somewhere that you don't really know too many people. I hope I find out all the details soon so I know what I have to help with and attend. Please pray for my friend Amanda. I don't know exactly what happened, but she fainted today at the laser tag place when Pastor Dino and Pastor Mike Hamen were talking. I'm not sure if it's spiritual or medical. Please comment if you know anything. I have been worried about her. She used to go to my school and I say hey to her earlier today. I keep trying to remind myself that God is bigger than anything that she is going through. It's hard not to worry. I will see ya tomorrow.

Equip Anyone?

Hey, I'm doing Equip. I just want to see if there is anyone else doing it that I know. So if you're participating in Equip, please write me a comment telling me so. I'm really excited about it and am ready to learn about, not just being a leader, but being a Godly leader. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun serving and meeting new people. Meeting people is one of my weaknesses, but this will be a way for me to have to get to know the people I'm with. I can't wait to see you'll there.

Remix

Tyler Tullos spoke tonight about thinking your story of salvation and road with Christ is boring. It reminded a lot of how I feel about my own life. I got saved on a trampoline when I was 4 years old. I have gone to church all my life. I have thought several times, Who would want to hear my story? Don't get me wrong I have my struggles and trials. Lately, my life as a Christian has gotten more "exciting". I've had more challenges and trials and my life has definitely changed since going to Refuge. Anyway, for the most part I'm just an ordinary girl who has a relationship with God. It really got me thinking about the excuses I make up so God won't use me. Not only that my story isn't exciting but that I'm not good enough or my personality isn't perfect. God told me tonight to quit making excuses and just relax and let Him use me. It was crazy emotional. I really wanted God to touch me tonight and help me through my doubt. God just said I care about you and love you and I want the best for you. I feel like even when I feel like no one else is there or understands, God really does. It was refreshing to be reminded of how much God cares for me and how He has a plan for me. He told me He can use me the way I am. I don't need to change, I can come how I am. The Remix thing comes into play when I asked God to remix my thoughts and make His thoughts about me my thoughts. The only other thing I could have asked for is for someone to pray for me and talk to me. God was there again. Nick just put his hand on me. It showed me he was there even when God was dealing with me and I was a mess. Then two girls came and told me they were there for me and would pray for me. I couldn't have asked for anything more. It was an incredible and emotional night. I just want to give a shout out to my three supporters, Thank you so much! God, I just want to thank you too for reminding me how much You care and that you can use me however I am. I'll see the Closer people tomorrow.

Who are You Representing Jesus to?

I read this devotional on my email. It explained how we should represent Jesus. It was incredible thinking about this,“You may be the only picture of Jesus people will ever see.” Or they may form their opinion of God based upon the reputation of our congregations – how we get along, how we support each other, how we criticize, how we love one another. No pressure, right. It sounds like, oh my gosh, people might form a bad opinion about God because of me. But it's really not that bad because God is always going to be there to shine His light through us. We can do it with His help. I put a lot of pressure on myself to always do the right thing, but God working through us is about Him, not about us.(Tori explained that so well that I decided to use it. It's like the ultimate revelation.) We should do our best to represent our Savior well, but it's o.k. if we mess because we're human. God loves us knowing we're going to mess up again. It also explained how are love towards others shows others that we love Jesus.“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NLT) It's proof of our love for Jesus. Is there proof in our lives that we love Jesus. God totally slam dunked me on that. By the way, I made the 2007 Freshman volleyball team! I'm so excited! See ya soon.