The Fellowship of the Hedge

The Hedge!

What does that mean?! I used to laugh when people would pray a “hedge of protection” over someone. Thanks to Tim Hawkins, I was thinking “A Hedge?! Why not a brick wall?! You can step right over a hedge!” It turns out, a hedge is something farmers would plant around their fields to protect he soil of the crop from the winds, storms, or any critter wanting to eat the vegetables. The winds would blow over the crop so often that it would steal the moisture from the soil, resulting in cracked, dry ground. So the farmer would plant them around each field to protect it.  They can be small bushes anywhere to a couple inches high to 10 feet high!

That is exactly what God has done with our fellowship this semester. My neighbor suggested one evening about having a Bible study two nights a week, where we could come and study scripture, share what God is doing in our lives, and just be real with each other. Over the past month we have met once if not twice a week to do that very thing. Every time we meet I end up more blessed with the reminder that we are all in this together (Yes, I am singing High School Musical as I type this... Don’t judge me!)

This is a place where we come to for shelter or rest in God’s presence. Life gets tough, school gets tougher, and God has blessed us with personal fellowship with him! We all have struggles and crosses we have to daily carry. But nothing beats the encouragement you get from a friend that keeps telling you, “Keep on going! Don’t give up!”

If you want to join “The Fellowship of the Hedge” (Giggle…) please feel free to message me for info!

Blessings to all of our family in Christ out there! How could you reach out to people through your home or apartment?

14 Things about 2014

14 things

It would be so easy to list 2,014 things I am thankful for that God has blessed me with this year, but I will spare you from reading it all. I hope as you read this list, that you are thinking and thanking God for what he has done for you this year! I am thankful for:

1.       The opportunity to go to college. Without him this would not be possible!

2.       A supporting family. I know it is hard for them to see me move away from home. I am so thankful that we are still a close family despite the distance!

3.       GREAT roommates!  Each of them are a blessing to me as I hope I am to them! We are the party house for sure. We are always laughing, praying, encouraging, and learning from each other. Sounds like the perfect living condition, considering we hardly knew each other four months ago. We have issues when things come up, just like everyone! But we take the time to work them out. These are the kind of friendships that last forever!

4.       Great Neighbors! God literally blessed us so much by our neighbors who are just as crazy as we are! They put up with our extremely loud laughter and our wacky ideas.

5.       Great friends! Even those who don’t live next door to us, but always find a way to our living room. The friends that feel so welcome and come over just to talk or even to study with someone.  My heart smiles when we consider them our “honorary roommates”.

6.       The Hedge. It started out as an idea, then turned into a weekly fellowship. Our neighbors suggested meeting once or twice a week to just worship, share, scripture encouragement and pray over each other. Even though we have only met about a month, God has blessed each of us through this fellowship of believers who want to change the World one campus as a time. (For explanation of the name, check out the rest of my blog!)

7.       Great Professors. I don’t know where the university finds these professors, but they are incredible! They are so willing to be there for you and take an interest in you! When I was struggling this semester, they took time to help me through it.

8.       A job on campus. Work is such a blessing to me especially when you get to work with people such as these!

9.       An apartment with a kitchen! Makes eating healthier and cheaper so much easier! Plus people always come over and bake things because they need an oven. J

10.   A great place to workout on campus! While living next to the gym has awesome benefits it also is a constant reminder that I don’t have an excuse not to use it…. (Check out my New Year’s Resolutions for a good laugh…)

11.   Hillcrest Baptist Church family. Even though I have only been with them 6 months, it feels like I have grown up there. Thank you for welcoming me! I find such joy in working with the youth and watching their passion for Jesus come out in there worship and friendships.

12.   Along with that, I am blessed with such amazing interns who I get to work with on a weekly basis! They are awesome and always good for a laugh!

13.   FREE T-shirts and FOOD all the time at school! We are Baptist, therefore there is always food…

14.   Most important of all: A God who reminds me daily, that I am worth more than what I make on a test or a letter grade I make. This semester especially, he showed me that in my weakness, when I cannot go any longer, he is my strength. Because of him, I finished out strong!

So what are you thankful for? Being thankful should not just happen one day of the year before you dig you face in pumpkin pie, but every single day. Before you even roll out of the bed, be thankful that God has blessed you with another day with breath. He has you here for a reason. Be thankful that he isn’t done with you yet!

Two Things I Learned This Semester...

Two Things I learned this semester (Ok, the two most important things I learned this semester…)

1.       My identity is not found in how I do on a test, what grade I get in a class, what size my jeans are, or how many friends I have. If my grades or GPA is what defines me, my worth is based on my performance. If the number of friends I have or what cool plans I have on a Friday night defines me, my worth is based on what people think of me. Or if how well I look in a dress or in the gym defines me, my worth is found in myself. ALL OF THIS IS USELESS. IT WILL ALL FADE AWAY!

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised!” Proverbs 31:30. Instead my worth and identity should be found in how CHRIST sees me. He is the one who created me and ultimately has the final say anyway…

 

Lord, please help me to see myself the way that you see me.

2.       God is my strength when I have none. One memorable week this semester, I had so many projects due in all of my classes and ironically they were all due in the same week. (I think the professors get together and discuss what day to assign papers and project due so that they are all together…) So I was averaging about 4-5 hours of sleep per night, living on coffee and fast food, struggling with keeping up with due dates, working two jobs, and trying to be patient with myself and people around me. Typical college kid life. It was the most stressful week of my life. However, despite the stress and everything going on, God was reaching his arms out to me showing me he wanted to take care of all of it if I would just let him.

One day I was late to class because I wasn’t done with the assignment due that day. I came in late, turned it in, and headed to my next class. Once I sat down, the professor said “Ok, everyone, turn in your papers up here!” My palms started sweating, my head and heart were pounding, I couldn’t manage to move. I seriously thought I was going to have a panic attack. Through the grace of God, I made it through the rest of the class and talked with my professor who agreed to accept it if I emailed it to him by the end of the day. I was in a daze on the walk back home.

 I came inside, went into the bedroom, shut the door (thankful that my roommates were not home yet) and got down on my face and cried out for strength.

Lord, I can’t do this anymore! I have NO more strength left. I need you. I know I need to get this done, and I still want to honor you. Please help me to concentrate and finish this paper.

 I had one hour before I had to be at work. I sat down, opened my laptop, and took a deep breath. The paper was only two pages of a book review I have already gone over in another class. It was two pages down to the last line, and I still got to work on time! It was truly a miracle. I have NEVER been able to write that fast. Praise God! During the rest of the day God provided me strength and encouragement to share with others, to depend on him!

That night some friends and I were discussing Matthew 11:28-29:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

God want to know our burdens and he wants to be involved in EVERY area of our lives! What do you need to talk to him about? He cares about each of your worries and fears. Talk to him.

Wyoming!

Wyoming Mission Trip 2014

God has blessed me with yet ANOTHER amazing experience to intern with the youth of Hillcrest Baptist Church. This week we embarked on a long journey to Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. We took about 54 Jr. High/High school students and 18 adults on a Hour-and-a-half plane ride, and a hour-and-a-half road trip to Happy Jack Country Church, our home for the week. 

Sunday we joined our family at Happy Jack for worship. Our youth choir sang and a 16 year old student preached. God was definitely there! 

Ansley!

 

Good 'ol Spicy Uno! It was entertaining teaching them how to play...

Sunday night we all went to Trinity Baptist Church in Laramie for worship and another student who shared. These guys are amazing y’all. 

Half of our group went to Cheyenne and the other to Laramie for day sports camps and VBS in the evenings.

Sports camp was probably my favorite part. We just walked to the park across the street from the church and played Frisbee, baseball, kickball, and Lava Monster with the kids. The park was absolutely beautiful with such PERFECT grass. I made a few grass angels…

I love action shots! Our team leader surprised us with Sonic. :)

The view of Trinity Baptist Church from the Park..

VBS was all student lead, and they did an incredible job!

Cheyenne also has an incredible outreach during their "frontier days." They pass out water bottle which are labeled with the gospel! We labeled somewhere around 14,000

My "twin"

Our last day we went to the mountains!

The interns just chillin!

The water tasted sooo good!

Michelle!

So, this mountain you see has a very interesting story... Me, Alex ( another college intern), and two high school students (Hannah and Sydnie), decided to climb up and slide down on an air mattress (which apparently this group has done before, so I'm thinking, "No big deal, right?")

Took us a while to get up there since the air is so light... 

The view alone was worth it!

The weirdest thing: here we were trekking in the snow, and I am not even cold. In Texas, we don't get snow, we get ICE.

The top! There is about a 15 foot drop where Alex is standing..

The other side!

So all four of us get on top of this queen size air mattress... We shove off, go over the 15 ft drop, picking up speed rather quickly. About a another 50 feet, we start headed toward trees, Alex mentions not being able to steer it, so he yells, "Just get off!" I am in the middle, Sydnie rolls off the side, I roll off after her, Alex jumps off and then Hannah. We all go tumbling down the mountain.The most terrifying thing was seeing trees every time you roll, and not being able to stop yourself...

Over half way down, I figured it would be a good idea to tuck and roll the rest of the way down so I don't break anything. Immediately my sunglasses flew off, causing me to think I just hit my head. I finally came to a stop, to look around for the rest of the crew. Alex is running toward Hannah, who I think is dead. She just sits up in the snow, her left side paralyzed and starting to have an asthma attack. She, thankfully was okay, and turned out to have "only" sprain her wrist.
Sydnie landed about 5 feet from a tree with only a few scratches and bruises. Oh! And a wet phone. :)

Thankfully, I ended up with a few scratches, bruises, and sore muscles myself.

On the flip side, we are all closer now since this near death experience. I was ready to meet Jesus that day! 

Chilling at the Denver airport

Share time was always incredible to reflect on how God used us to make his name famous.

Our group of fearless leaders! 

Such an amazing and incredible group!