Well, here I am again. Finally posting about the second half of faith walk. I can pretty much can guarantee this will be much shorter than the last one since I have waited so long to finish posting about it.
Faith Walk was absolutely incredible. The family who picked us up was so sweet and they blessed us tremendously and we we're able to bless them as well.
Freddy and Genna are the amazing people that stopped curiously to find out why there were 5 young people passed out on the side of the road. haha!
So the 5 of us and the 2 of them all got into their truck. They asked us a series of questions of what the heck we were doing. They both made us laugh so hard we all nearly peed our pants. Also, it only took about 10 minutes of being in the truck for them to offer to bring us to lunch. (Chinese, yeah we actually prayed for a chinese buffet earlier in the day.)So yes, they took us to a chinese buffet when they said that I'm pretty sure Chad and I almost cried. ;) They offered for all of us to stay in their home that night and they wanted us to come to their church, do some worship, and help with some renovation stuff the next day.
All day long we just walked not knowing what was going to happen next, if we were going eat, be able to actually use the restroom in a restroom, or get more water. Then suddenly, the plans for the whole weekend were just laid out right in front of us. What an experience of God's provision! All of this happening... seriously I was holding back tears. Not to mention, Freddy and Genna were so FLIPPIN HILARIOUS that we were all crying from laughing as well.
My favorite part...
By the end of the day we met the whole family. They have 4 boys. Talk about an awesome family! From youngest to oldest, Rowdy, Jesse, Colton, and Braxton. We got to spend lots of just quality time with the family. We ate food, played football, we helped on some renovations on their house. We tore up the back porch... Demolition... Super fun! ;)
We loved them so much we could have stayed with them forever. We still plan to go back sometime soon. God moved in many ways within the family, it was so awesome to see that. Also, God majorly moved in our hearts.
It was absolutely incredible! Praise God for using us and providing for us!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Faith Walk- Part 1
Ok so I'll be telling the story of our Faith Walk in parts. I really only have time to blog about one part of it today. In the next few days or so it will end up being quite long. I hope you read, enjoy, and are inspired by what how good God is. So here we go...
Saturday Morning 4am- Yes, 4am that's nuts right! Ha! My alarm was set for 4:30 but I was so pumped about Faith Walk I could hardly sleep. All night I couldn't think about anything else but Faith Walk and even when I was sleeping I was dreaming about it. My assigned team included Elyse, Kaitlin, Chad, and John. We took off in the van and about an hour or two later we stopped. And yes indeed it was in the STICKS! Straight nothing, middle of nowhere, no man's land, whatever other country name you can think of I assure you this was it. Both teams had to get off the bus then Lauren and I had to play rock-paper-scissors. Now at this moment we did not know which result would lead us to staying in the middle of nowhere. I was kind of hoping the winner's team would get put back on the bus and taken somewhere else. I was wrong... I won... and we definitely had to stay in the sticks. Well the van took off and there we were 5 young people, bookbags, no food, No waterbottle for me because I left it at home, one change of clothes, and a cross. Of course we ended up stopping at a 4 way stop (on a gravel road) so we immediately had to decide which way to go... north, south, east, or west. We decided to head east.
Saturday 10am- We are still walking east down this very LONG gravel road. Besides the very few people that have passed us, and the goats, cows, and horses, we have seen no one. By this time we've stopped and had our fire time (a.k.a. - talkin' with Jesus). And neither one us feels like we had an certain revelation from God as to where to go and what to do. We continue to head east until way far off we thought perhaps it was a stop sign. Now don't make fun. This stop sign meant people actually drive on this road so you can imagine our excitement. We go close enough to tell that it was most certainly a stop sign and even better we could see a paved road. We started screaming we we're so happy AND tired of walking on this gravel "no man's land" of a road. Anyways, Elyse and I ran up to the paved road and kissed it!! I'm so serious right now. We actually did kiss it. It had double yellow lines, this meant that it was a some what busy road. Which means PEOPLE! Praise Jesus! PEOPLE. I LOVE PEOPLE!
Saturday 12pm- Ok about this time we are coming up on a very small town called Glencoe. We went into the only store there which is a small gas station. We were believing for big things to happen in this gas station. Food, shelter, a ride to another town, really anything would have helped. We didn't get any of those things BUT we were able to pray with the people that worked there for their families which was cool. We started walking again. It took us about 2 minutes to be out of the town we were in and so we kept on for the next town.
Ok time out- I know I'm being very detailed. Perhaps it's boring for you to be reading my story with such detail. However, I am writing this for me as well. I want to be able to look back and remember how God got us through from moment to moment. Life will continue to be a "Faith Walk." I want to have recorded how He got me through my first official one. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read. I shall continue...
Saturday 1pm- For awhile as we were walking we sang worship song, after worship song. It was really good! Praising God through the challenges in life is always the best way to go. The farther we went the harder it got. The more difficult it was to keep my mind right. I started to think things like..."We've been walking forever and we've accomplished nothing"..."God, have I not prayed enough?"..."Have I not spoke in tongues enough?"..."Have I not read your word enough?"..."Have we missed you as to where to go?" At this point the team stopped singing for a little bit and this was when my mind just flooded with all of these thoughts. I continued to sing. I'm pretty sure I sang every worship song I could remember. For just a moment I thought maybe my team was getting annoyed with my constant singing... then I started to think negatively again so I kept singing anyways. ;) (I did find out later they were all grateful for my singing, so it ended up being really good.) Though none of us and even complained once we all could tell that we were all getting a bit discouraged. I mean we had been walking for about for hours now. Chad would hardly let anyone of us carry the cross at all so he carried it nearly this whole time. Finally, we all agreed that we we're tired and we really just needed to take a nice break. We spread out on the side of the road to rest. We spoke with our director (yes, we did have a cell phone but it was for emergency usage only and to communicate with the director.) He told us how the rest of the teams were doing and all of them had something happen already. All of the teams were offered meals already and rides. This did not help with our discouragement at all. For just a moment I thought about all the doubts and then I was just tired of my thoughts and laid down to sleep.
Saturday 2pm- "HOOONK!" Oh yes, FINALLY, a car stopped to offer us a ride!!!!!!!!! We were thrilled.
Ha! Sorry to end on that note but I must be going now. I will continue the story very soon. I promise it's a happy ending! ;)
To be continued...
Saturday Morning 4am- Yes, 4am that's nuts right! Ha! My alarm was set for 4:30 but I was so pumped about Faith Walk I could hardly sleep. All night I couldn't think about anything else but Faith Walk and even when I was sleeping I was dreaming about it. My assigned team included Elyse, Kaitlin, Chad, and John. We took off in the van and about an hour or two later we stopped. And yes indeed it was in the STICKS! Straight nothing, middle of nowhere, no man's land, whatever other country name you can think of I assure you this was it. Both teams had to get off the bus then Lauren and I had to play rock-paper-scissors. Now at this moment we did not know which result would lead us to staying in the middle of nowhere. I was kind of hoping the winner's team would get put back on the bus and taken somewhere else. I was wrong... I won... and we definitely had to stay in the sticks. Well the van took off and there we were 5 young people, bookbags, no food, No waterbottle for me because I left it at home, one change of clothes, and a cross. Of course we ended up stopping at a 4 way stop (on a gravel road) so we immediately had to decide which way to go... north, south, east, or west. We decided to head east.
Saturday 10am- We are still walking east down this very LONG gravel road. Besides the very few people that have passed us, and the goats, cows, and horses, we have seen no one. By this time we've stopped and had our fire time (a.k.a. - talkin' with Jesus). And neither one us feels like we had an certain revelation from God as to where to go and what to do. We continue to head east until way far off we thought perhaps it was a stop sign. Now don't make fun. This stop sign meant people actually drive on this road so you can imagine our excitement. We go close enough to tell that it was most certainly a stop sign and even better we could see a paved road. We started screaming we we're so happy AND tired of walking on this gravel "no man's land" of a road. Anyways, Elyse and I ran up to the paved road and kissed it!! I'm so serious right now. We actually did kiss it. It had double yellow lines, this meant that it was a some what busy road. Which means PEOPLE! Praise Jesus! PEOPLE. I LOVE PEOPLE!
Saturday 12pm- Ok about this time we are coming up on a very small town called Glencoe. We went into the only store there which is a small gas station. We were believing for big things to happen in this gas station. Food, shelter, a ride to another town, really anything would have helped. We didn't get any of those things BUT we were able to pray with the people that worked there for their families which was cool. We started walking again. It took us about 2 minutes to be out of the town we were in and so we kept on for the next town.
Ok time out- I know I'm being very detailed. Perhaps it's boring for you to be reading my story with such detail. However, I am writing this for me as well. I want to be able to look back and remember how God got us through from moment to moment. Life will continue to be a "Faith Walk." I want to have recorded how He got me through my first official one. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read. I shall continue...
Saturday 1pm- For awhile as we were walking we sang worship song, after worship song. It was really good! Praising God through the challenges in life is always the best way to go. The farther we went the harder it got. The more difficult it was to keep my mind right. I started to think things like..."We've been walking forever and we've accomplished nothing"..."God, have I not prayed enough?"..."Have I not spoke in tongues enough?"..."Have I not read your word enough?"..."Have we missed you as to where to go?" At this point the team stopped singing for a little bit and this was when my mind just flooded with all of these thoughts. I continued to sing. I'm pretty sure I sang every worship song I could remember. For just a moment I thought maybe my team was getting annoyed with my constant singing... then I started to think negatively again so I kept singing anyways. ;) (I did find out later they were all grateful for my singing, so it ended up being really good.) Though none of us and even complained once we all could tell that we were all getting a bit discouraged. I mean we had been walking for about for hours now. Chad would hardly let anyone of us carry the cross at all so he carried it nearly this whole time. Finally, we all agreed that we we're tired and we really just needed to take a nice break. We spread out on the side of the road to rest. We spoke with our director (yes, we did have a cell phone but it was for emergency usage only and to communicate with the director.) He told us how the rest of the teams were doing and all of them had something happen already. All of the teams were offered meals already and rides. This did not help with our discouragement at all. For just a moment I thought about all the doubts and then I was just tired of my thoughts and laid down to sleep.
Saturday 2pm- "HOOONK!" Oh yes, FINALLY, a car stopped to offer us a ride!!!!!!!!! We were thrilled.
Ha! Sorry to end on that note but I must be going now. I will continue the story very soon. I promise it's a happy ending! ;)
To be continued...
Friday, October 1, 2010
FAITH WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our team is pumped and ready to leave early tomorrow morning on Faith Walk 2010!!!! Faith Walk is an event that is literally us walking out our faith. Our team is being split up in small groups of 4 and each individual team will be dropped off in an unknown area of other states carrying a 5' foot cross. We will be bringing no money, no phones, a change of clothes, one roll of toilet paper, and one bottle of water. The goal is to trust God for all needs- food, transportation, a place to sleep...etc. The main purpose of the Faith Walk is to share the love of God, spread the gospel, and lay hands on the sick and we will SEE THEM RECOVER. Everyone we pass will be touched by the love of God! I am believing for HUGE THINGS to take place. I believe that LOTS of people are going to know God through us and I believe that diseases will be healed, sicknesses will be gone in the name of Jesus, the blind are going to see, the mute are going to sing praises to God, and the lame are going to walk!!!!!!
Matthew 10:5-8
"But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."
This is our mandate. We are asking God to meet our every need... and our every need will be met "as surely as the sun will rise!!!!"
Please be praying that God would open doors. Our focus in our prayers is not that God would provide luxury hotels, or limos to ride in. We are not asking for steaks to eat or mansions to sleep in. Though all those things would be nice our prayers are "God let your will be done. Lead us in the right direction. Send us to the desperate, the hungry, the needy, the thirsty, and to the broken hearted. Send us to the place where your light is needed so that we may shine brightly for you!" Please be agreeing with us in prayer, this is a major event for us. We are going out to turn this world upside down. Partner with us in that!
Paul and Silas were hated by the Jews in Acts 17, the jews angrily said they had turned the world upside down! How great is that!!! Even the lost knew what Paul and Silas were called to.
Pray in the spirit for us as well. So that God's perfect will would be done in and through us.
Ephesians 6:18-10... "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perserverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."
Acts 4:29-31... "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."
These are just a few scriptures that we are believing will come to pass on our trips. Again, be praying in agreement with us! I so appreciate all of the love and support from you guys! I love you all so much!
Thanks!
Jenna
Matthew 10:5-8
"But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."
This is our mandate. We are asking God to meet our every need... and our every need will be met "as surely as the sun will rise!!!!"
Please be praying that God would open doors. Our focus in our prayers is not that God would provide luxury hotels, or limos to ride in. We are not asking for steaks to eat or mansions to sleep in. Though all those things would be nice our prayers are "God let your will be done. Lead us in the right direction. Send us to the desperate, the hungry, the needy, the thirsty, and to the broken hearted. Send us to the place where your light is needed so that we may shine brightly for you!" Please be agreeing with us in prayer, this is a major event for us. We are going out to turn this world upside down. Partner with us in that!
Paul and Silas were hated by the Jews in Acts 17, the jews angrily said they had turned the world upside down! How great is that!!! Even the lost knew what Paul and Silas were called to.
Pray in the spirit for us as well. So that God's perfect will would be done in and through us.
Ephesians 6:18-10... "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perserverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."
Acts 4:29-31... "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."
These are just a few scriptures that we are believing will come to pass on our trips. Again, be praying in agreement with us! I so appreciate all of the love and support from you guys! I love you all so much!
Thanks!
Jenna
Saturday, September 25, 2010
After School Kids...LOVE THEM!!
On Thursday afternoon we drove out to the Dream Center. (I think I might have explained what the dream center is before but just in case I never did... The Dream Center is a community center in the most criminalized area of Tulsa. Since Pastors Billy Joe and Sharon opened the dream center the criminal statistics have lowered significantly in that area, PRAISE GOD! The center is a food bank, after school program, attorney assistance, and many other different types of outreaches for this area.) This particular day we helped in the after school program. We tutored the kids and assisted in any homework that they needed to do. This outreach was awesome! One of my favorites so far. I sat down with two second graders, Jazmine and Demeaco. It was so fun helping and getting to know them. I was able to help out with their math homework. And yes I was secretly praising God for the math because if it had been history or science they probably would have needed to help me instead. ;) I can't wait to go back and see the both of them again. This ministry is great way to be mentors to these kids who so desperately need positive influences in their lives!!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Bus Ministry!
Saturday was a big day for us. We had Bus Ministry until 2 or 3 and then we had our Block Party outreach in our apartment complex at 4.
We were asked last week if we would commit to Bus Ministry. This ministry sends out buses every Saturday morning and buses in approximately 350-400 inner-city kids ages 3-12 to bring them to their own church service. To give an explanation of how much of an impact that this ministry is would never do it justice. In fact, when I was asked to commit to it I said no. My IMT team is apart of so many other outreaches I didn't want to over do it. Well...
We showed up Saturday morning at 7:30 am ready to go out to pick up the kids. When I got on the bus and met the bus captain and he began to tell me what it is like to pick the kids up every week and take them to service and then take them home. It just started to capture my heart. Even before I saw one child God began to give me His heart of compassion. I never have felt so mandated to serve a generation ever. Of course, once the kids started filing in. With each child, with each smile, with each frown, with each child filled with fear, and with each child filled with happiness, my heart just completely broke. It took about 1 minute to know that I was DEFINITELY commiting to this ministry.
These kids are from very broken homes... homes of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, and every other kind of abuse you can think of. Their role models are in jail, or on their way there. Most of these kids haven't got a clue what it is like to be loved or to love.
Pastor Rod says it like this, "Children won't just come to church...we must "GO" get them!"
So...we do just that. We go get them. The service is awesome for these kids. They receive the word of God play games and interact with people that love them. The bus ride itself is a HUGE ministry opportunity. These kids want love, they want respect, they are dying for the feeling of significance. Most of them beg to help you in anyway possible, they beg to sit in your lap, and they beg to be appreciated. It's hard. Many of them behave horribly so it's hard to give them respect and significance that they are crying out for. So many times you think to yell at them or get angry with them. One thing I figured out. They will not respond to anger. Why would they? That is the way they are treated all day. They will respond to love. NOTHING but love! So I just began praying that God would give me his heart of compassion and love for them. That I would see with the eyes of Christ. God loves ABSOLUTELY LOVES those kids. He doesn't yell at them or snap at them. He loves them. I will be the love of Christ to those kids.
I did commit to this ministry and I will be able to stay on the same bus so that God can do a new thing in those kids with his love through me!
Well that concludes today's entry. I ran out of time sorry this blog is kind of all over the place. Also, I'm having some issues uploading pictures but I have a few from the Bus Ministry on my facebook. You can check them out there!
Jenna :)
We were asked last week if we would commit to Bus Ministry. This ministry sends out buses every Saturday morning and buses in approximately 350-400 inner-city kids ages 3-12 to bring them to their own church service. To give an explanation of how much of an impact that this ministry is would never do it justice. In fact, when I was asked to commit to it I said no. My IMT team is apart of so many other outreaches I didn't want to over do it. Well...
We showed up Saturday morning at 7:30 am ready to go out to pick up the kids. When I got on the bus and met the bus captain and he began to tell me what it is like to pick the kids up every week and take them to service and then take them home. It just started to capture my heart. Even before I saw one child God began to give me His heart of compassion. I never have felt so mandated to serve a generation ever. Of course, once the kids started filing in. With each child, with each smile, with each frown, with each child filled with fear, and with each child filled with happiness, my heart just completely broke. It took about 1 minute to know that I was DEFINITELY commiting to this ministry.
These kids are from very broken homes... homes of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, and every other kind of abuse you can think of. Their role models are in jail, or on their way there. Most of these kids haven't got a clue what it is like to be loved or to love.
Pastor Rod says it like this, "Children won't just come to church...we must "GO" get them!"
So...we do just that. We go get them. The service is awesome for these kids. They receive the word of God play games and interact with people that love them. The bus ride itself is a HUGE ministry opportunity. These kids want love, they want respect, they are dying for the feeling of significance. Most of them beg to help you in anyway possible, they beg to sit in your lap, and they beg to be appreciated. It's hard. Many of them behave horribly so it's hard to give them respect and significance that they are crying out for. So many times you think to yell at them or get angry with them. One thing I figured out. They will not respond to anger. Why would they? That is the way they are treated all day. They will respond to love. NOTHING but love! So I just began praying that God would give me his heart of compassion and love for them. That I would see with the eyes of Christ. God loves ABSOLUTELY LOVES those kids. He doesn't yell at them or snap at them. He loves them. I will be the love of Christ to those kids.
I did commit to this ministry and I will be able to stay on the same bus so that God can do a new thing in those kids with his love through me!
Well that concludes today's entry. I ran out of time sorry this blog is kind of all over the place. Also, I'm having some issues uploading pictures but I have a few from the Bus Ministry on my facebook. You can check them out there!
Jenna :)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Feeding the Hungry. :)
Today was absolutely amazing! It was our first day of outreach. We packed up the mobile foodbank truck and brought it out to some of the Governmental Housing in Tulsa. Then we gave food to many of the families and the director of IMT, Kevin preached the gospel and then we were able to pray and minister to anyone who was willing to receive. I was able to talk and just love on a few different ladies. The love of God is so sweet. It was so awesome to be able to spend time and just minister to the lives of these women.
After we left Kevin took us by the Dream Center. It is an outreach center in the most criminalized area of Tulsa. It is a community center made to be a blessing in the community, to preach the gospel, meet the needs of the people and share the love of God. Joel is a man that works there and wanted to bless all the IMT's (That's my ministry team) with food. We were so happy and excited to get food. We are all on a tight budget at this moment so free food is received with much excitement. We got bread, eggs, milk, cakes, grapes, bananas. OH my gosh! It was so much food... such a HUGE BLESSING. We were having a food party later. Haha!
As we were walking away from the dream center we were all so happy! One of the guys on the team mentioned that we were living out the reality of Malachi 3:10- "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." This was so true. We really were living out this scripture. We just finished stocking the kingdom of God with food and next it was God stocking us with more food than we could have asked for. It was incredible. Our first day reaching out and God blessed us tremendously.
This day actually happened a few days ago. I am just now finding the time to finish the blog and post it but even since this all happened we have been blessed even more. Praise God for He is our Provider!
Until next time...
;)
After we left Kevin took us by the Dream Center. It is an outreach center in the most criminalized area of Tulsa. It is a community center made to be a blessing in the community, to preach the gospel, meet the needs of the people and share the love of God. Joel is a man that works there and wanted to bless all the IMT's (That's my ministry team) with food. We were so happy and excited to get food. We are all on a tight budget at this moment so free food is received with much excitement. We got bread, eggs, milk, cakes, grapes, bananas. OH my gosh! It was so much food... such a HUGE BLESSING. We were having a food party later. Haha!
As we were walking away from the dream center we were all so happy! One of the guys on the team mentioned that we were living out the reality of Malachi 3:10- "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." This was so true. We really were living out this scripture. We just finished stocking the kingdom of God with food and next it was God stocking us with more food than we could have asked for. It was incredible. Our first day reaching out and God blessed us tremendously.
This day actually happened a few days ago. I am just now finding the time to finish the blog and post it but even since this all happened we have been blessed even more. Praise God for He is our Provider!
Until next time...
;)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
TULSA!!
Hi There!!
Here I am finally updating my blog. As some of you know and some of you don't know I am in bible school in Tulsa, Oklahoma instead of Cleveland, TN. I arrived in Tennessee as planned and decided that the school there just wasn't for me. Spiritually it is just not what I'm looking for. I spoke with Pastor to discuss the situation with him and he suggested I look at bible schools in tulsa. I was already thinking about tulsa as well so I headed there the next day. I looked into few bible schools and absolutely fell in love with Victory! They have bible classes as well as a specialty or major. I was so excited to know that they have a worship major and of course am doing that. Also, I am doing what's called IMT- In Ministry Training. It is a full time ministry internship. The IMT team is made up of 24 young people ages 18-28 and we do ministry outreaches after classes monday through friday and on the weekends. We travel around central USA on the weekends ministering and we will go on 2 mission trips between now and next may. It is an awesome and incredible opportunity. I am so excited to be apart of IMT this year and I can't wait to see what God does through the team!!!!
Ok now that I explained that... OH MY GOSH!! I LOVE IT HERE!! SOOOOOO MUCH!!! IMT has been SO incredible. We have a super awesome team. We've only been doing team training so far. We finish training on Sunday.
ANNND... This week is only the first week of classes and I've learned so much! God has been moving in my life so much. I am so thankful that he sent me here!!
That's all for today! Love ya.
Jenna <3
Here I am finally updating my blog. As some of you know and some of you don't know I am in bible school in Tulsa, Oklahoma instead of Cleveland, TN. I arrived in Tennessee as planned and decided that the school there just wasn't for me. Spiritually it is just not what I'm looking for. I spoke with Pastor to discuss the situation with him and he suggested I look at bible schools in tulsa. I was already thinking about tulsa as well so I headed there the next day. I looked into few bible schools and absolutely fell in love with Victory! They have bible classes as well as a specialty or major. I was so excited to know that they have a worship major and of course am doing that. Also, I am doing what's called IMT- In Ministry Training. It is a full time ministry internship. The IMT team is made up of 24 young people ages 18-28 and we do ministry outreaches after classes monday through friday and on the weekends. We travel around central USA on the weekends ministering and we will go on 2 mission trips between now and next may. It is an awesome and incredible opportunity. I am so excited to be apart of IMT this year and I can't wait to see what God does through the team!!!!
Ok now that I explained that... OH MY GOSH!! I LOVE IT HERE!! SOOOOOO MUCH!!! IMT has been SO incredible. We have a super awesome team. We've only been doing team training so far. We finish training on Sunday.
ANNND... This week is only the first week of classes and I've learned so much! God has been moving in my life so much. I am so thankful that he sent me here!!
That's all for today! Love ya.
Jenna <3
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Enthusiasm!
For my Practical Ministry Class the other night we had a guest speaker, Ray Ulery. He was awesome! He said something that totally sparked a fire in me. He was actually speaking in reference to his marriage but he said "Enthusiasm is the secret to a Lasting Relationship." He talked about gaining and keeping enthusiasm for your spouse everyday. He was using this to say, enthusiasm is the secret to a tight relationship with the Lord.
I have to ask myself how many mornings have I gotten out of bed and out of the house having not expressed my enthusiasm for my best friend, my God. How many moments of the day do I let pass without telling my father and creator how much I am in love with him and how thankful I am for all that he has done in my life.
The definition of enthusiasm is:
1. absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by any interest or pursuit; lively interest.
2. an occupation, activity, or pursuit in which such interest is shown.
3. any various forms of extreme religious devotion, usually associated with intense emotionalism and a break with orthodoxy,
Therefore, enthusiasm is an action, an activity, and an intense pursuit of something. Wow. I definitely have my days or moments of when I am intense pursuit of God. Though days and moments are certainly not enough.
I have been taking piano lessons and I've been working so insanely hard at it. Last week I spent about 13 hours practicing. I DESIRE WITH UTMOST PASSION to play piano for worship and to write worship music. Though all that is great... God has asked me, "Do you pursue me with the same utmost intensity as your music?"
I must work at having enthusiasm for GOD at every moment.
A friend of mine ask me the other day what my daily word of encouragement was for her. She said every time she sees me it's like I have a word of encouragement and she wanted another one. Well, this day just so happen to be the hardest day at work I've had in a long time. I was exhausted. When she asked me this my insides were just screaming "NOOO, don't' ask me anything. I'm tired and I just want to go home!" Enthusiasm did not exist in me in that moment. Now, once we started talking God did give me a chance to encourage her about her situation. Praise God! However, the point is, I shouldn't let a hard day take my enthusiasm. I shouldn't let anything, ever, take my enthusiasm for God away... not even for a moment. This way at any moment God can use me in some one's life and I don't have to take a 10 minute time out to kick my flesh in the butt.
A couple of weeks ago I was going through the introduction to my workout DVDs, they are called 'Insanity'. In the introduction one guy said, "The key to seeing success is never pressing pause." That is so true, in the life of a christian, the key to being a success in the kingdom of God is never pressing pause to your passion and enthusiasm for Him!
Love ya
Jenna
I have to ask myself how many mornings have I gotten out of bed and out of the house having not expressed my enthusiasm for my best friend, my God. How many moments of the day do I let pass without telling my father and creator how much I am in love with him and how thankful I am for all that he has done in my life.
The definition of enthusiasm is:
1. absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by any interest or pursuit; lively interest.
2. an occupation, activity, or pursuit in which such interest is shown.
3. any various forms of extreme religious devotion, usually associated with intense emotionalism and a break with orthodoxy,
Therefore, enthusiasm is an action, an activity, and an intense pursuit of something. Wow. I definitely have my days or moments of when I am intense pursuit of God. Though days and moments are certainly not enough.
I have been taking piano lessons and I've been working so insanely hard at it. Last week I spent about 13 hours practicing. I DESIRE WITH UTMOST PASSION to play piano for worship and to write worship music. Though all that is great... God has asked me, "Do you pursue me with the same utmost intensity as your music?"
I must work at having enthusiasm for GOD at every moment.
A friend of mine ask me the other day what my daily word of encouragement was for her. She said every time she sees me it's like I have a word of encouragement and she wanted another one. Well, this day just so happen to be the hardest day at work I've had in a long time. I was exhausted. When she asked me this my insides were just screaming "NOOO, don't' ask me anything. I'm tired and I just want to go home!" Enthusiasm did not exist in me in that moment. Now, once we started talking God did give me a chance to encourage her about her situation. Praise God! However, the point is, I shouldn't let a hard day take my enthusiasm. I shouldn't let anything, ever, take my enthusiasm for God away... not even for a moment. This way at any moment God can use me in some one's life and I don't have to take a 10 minute time out to kick my flesh in the butt.
A couple of weeks ago I was going through the introduction to my workout DVDs, they are called 'Insanity'. In the introduction one guy said, "The key to seeing success is never pressing pause." That is so true, in the life of a christian, the key to being a success in the kingdom of God is never pressing pause to your passion and enthusiasm for Him!
Love ya
Jenna
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Brand New..
I want to rewrite my story. God has been so inspiring me lately to be different, to live different, to seek being EXACTLY who he created me to be and NOTHING less! So this is the beginning of my journey. And I call this the beginning because my yesterdays don't matter. Thanks to the grace of God I am brand new today! So here it is... My name is Jenna.No need for introductions of what I've been or what I've done but I'll introduce you to who I am. I'm a daughter of the Almighty God! I live to love the Lord. I believe that love is the very reason of our existence. God is a being of Love. He created us to love us. He created me to love me.Though we were people of sin he sent his son, Jesus to pay the price for our sin. And for that very reason I have been made righteous in the eyes of my perfect father. Praise God! So today is the day I begin pursuing God and his purposes for my life with greater passion than ever before.Pastor has been discussing End Times during the Wednesday night services, and he has made me realize that it's time I stop dragging my feet. It's time I allow God to put some fire in my stride and get some things accomplished in the kingdom of God. As Paul so beautifully said, "I do not consider brethren, that I have captured and made it my own (yet) but one thing I do (it is my one aspiration) forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly) prize to which Christ Jesus is calling us forward."
Peace out. :)
Peace out. :)
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