Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22

well, a lot has been going on lately.. some good and some just... eh. i'm going to the mission council meetings each month. so far it still seems like the right thing. i've been trying to do the Crisis Care Kits in my youth group... but it's not going so well. only one person besides me has brought anything in... but i know it will turn out well. just trusting him :)

i'vc has some other things going on with me.. but i don't think i'm going to post that on the world wide web. haha.. but yeah... it's just been kind of rough. but again, more than ever.. I am trusting in God.


Thy Will Not Mine

So, I'm pretty excited! Me and a few other girls (Lindsay, Julie, and Hanna) had the genius idea to start a bible study on Sunday night. Since the service is kind of boring(you have to admit) we thought we do something for the teens because we don't have the Shore all the time(or at all anymore :/)
We're thinking that we'll base the bible study off of the NYC devotional books we got last summer in St. Louis. So we have all planned out and stuff and I have a feeling that it is going to go great!

Plus, the crisis care kits that I am doing are in progress. Nothing has been brought in yet though. It might take some time though, I guess. I believe we can do it, soooo.... our goal will be achieved! haha

I've got to go. I'm at the library and only have so much time to be on here.

mariakate

Yeah, I know I haven't written on here in a while. Umm, you could say a lot of things have happened :)

First of all, ever since I went to the missions council meeting I got the idea to get the youth group involved in making Crisis Care Kits for Kids. I have a goal that our youth group can make at least 50 of the 100 that our church puts together. Well, that has launched and will be going on all this semester :D.

Also, a new missions/outreach group has been made(among many others different other types of groups) that I will help be leading for the youth group.

So, I'm pretty excited! Can't wait to see what God has next!

It seems like a lot of things are falling into place(starting to make sense). Almost like some of the puzzle pieces are coming together. I love it!

For example, I remember last summer at NYC I was standing near the aisle and Starfield was playing(I think). I just remember God saying that I was to do something with leadership. And I was like "what"? Now, I know what he was talking about to me that night. He was refering to leadership in my youth group. I would go more into it but I don't really want to... if you personally want to know more, just ask.

Anyway, my thing with missions.... I'm having more and more hints/affirmations/coincidences (whatever you want to call them) toward it that it's hard to believe that it would just be a call to obedience. But hey, I don't know! Still just taking it day by day.

mariakate

Okay, so I DID go to the mission council meeting this Wednesday night! It was much better than I thought it would be. I took Alexia with me also :) Since going to that meeting I(we) have some great ideas for the youth group and stuff. I'm starting to realize all the different ways that you can go with missions. It's really exciting and I'm pumped baby!
Oh, and I'm definitely going to the next meeting!

mariakate

Nothing much has happened lately. I'm just waiting for God to talk to me. I'm hoping something like that will happen tonight when I go to my first mission council meeting. ahhh! But, you never know....

Hey, Leah is fine. I heard on Wednesday that it wasn't too serious. She did get whiplash though. Thankfully nothing worse happened to her.

Oh, and I am going to the missions council meeting. That's the only way I am going to find out if missions is my calling or if God is just simply asking me to be obedient :)

One other thing, it's a little off subject, but Wednesday night we played "Are you smarter than a youth intern?" and I lost by a measley 100 pts. but I still ended up getting the prize ;D (Thanks Jon)

I don't think anyone has faith in me that I can take care of Jon Ghoti. And I will prove to you guys that my fish will not die, but is a miracle fish!

You see, Wednesday when I got home I put him in a temporary green bowl. But, obviously he didn't like the bowl so he jumped clear from the bowl to my kitchen floor(suicidal or just retarded). It was very dramatic. But, Jonny lived! Now he loves his new bowl with clean water and marbles! haha

And I've come to find out that Jon doesn't like the camera... he swims away every time I try to take a picture of him :/
mariakate

Whoever Reads This...

Last night we got a call that my 5-year-old niece, Leah, had to be taken away with a neck brace in an ambulance. She was climbing a tree... she fell and landed on her neck. I'm just hoping and praying that she will be okay. And I'm asking that you do the same :)
My brother(her dad) sent us a pic from the hospital last night. She was smiling with huge neck brace on and I guess she told him that the ambulance ride was cool. That's Leah for you.
But anyway, again, just pray for her.

mariakate

As I was reading my daily bible passages yesterday a couple verses in Romans really stucks out to me.
This first stuck out just because everything I've been dealing with, with God talking to me about my calling and everthing.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

This next one I don't really have an explanation for... it just speaks for itself.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

So, that's what I have for now. I can say things have been going well. I can I'm not really worrying so much as trusting in what God is doing with me. Just waiting to see, hear, feel, etc what he brings next!

mariakate

Well, nothing has really happened lately. But, I do have to say that I'm not so much confused and stressed about my calling. Because, I know God knows what is best and and the right timing for everything to revealed to me. So I've just been praying about it and talking to some people about as I go. I more relaxed about it now and am just anticipating what he reveals next.
This one is kind of short but I wanted to update :)

mariakate

Well this past Tuesday I went to Holiday World with my youth group. I was talking to Hanna, Jon, and Stephen. I was telling them about what has happened these past couple weeks(if even that). With God talking to me a stuff, it's been making me ask a lot of questions. Like... How does God talk to you? and How did God tell you about your calling? ...just questions like that. I was also excited because I had my long anticipated meeting with Scott and Jon the next day.

Okay, I'm going to, kind of, skip ahead to the next day.

So, the next day I did meet with Scott and Jon. We did talk about my calling and stuff part of the time. They ended up telling me that maybe I should talk to Jeff Johnson about my whole missions thing.. So I thought about and stuff(not really taking it into a whole lot of consideration to be honest). That night at youthgroup we spoke about our trip to Mississippi. After we were done speaking Jeff came up to talk to us for a little bit. Well, he started telling us that they were thinking about having a youth rep. on the missions council and that if any of us had a call to missions or if God was talking to us that we should talk to him. I was just thinking "Oh my gosh, are you serious?" It was another one of those "Aha" moments(as Stephen would call them) when God is trying to tell you something that seems like a big "coincidence".

So after the service I was still questioning whether to talk to Jeff or not. But Jon sort of convinced/pushed me to talk to him.. So I told him what was going on. What he told me just confused me more. He said that sometimes when people think they are called to missions that it's really not that but God is trying to tell them to be obedient.... Are you following all this? He also told me how the council meets one Wed. a month and that there is trip planned for this January and one next summer. I can't remember what all he said but it left me thinking a lot.

I'm going to need to pray about this more because I'm still not sure what to do next.

About a week or more a go I went on a mission trip to Pascagoula, Mississippi. It was such an awesome and eye opening experience.
I never realized how much devastation there still was in Mississippi after three years since Hurricane Katrina. Can you imagine?... I can't. My group worked at Peggy's house. Her house didn't seem bad at first but really it needed a lot work done. The walls in two bedrooms needed torn out and replaced, the carpet needed pulled up, and the bathrooms needed fixed.She told us that hadn't been able to use her toilet since the Hurricane! Three years!! She also told us that once she went into her bathroom and the floor collapsed below her and she got her leg stuck in the floor. It felt really good to be able to help someone that really couldn't get help otherwise. And at the same time while working, we had a lot of fun doing it!
I also had some great moments with God. On Friday night everyone came together to testimonies and then after that they showed a video from right after Hurricane Katrina had hit. Right before the video started a feeling went through me that this video would change my point of view on missions. Indeed, after the movie my ideas and thoughts about missions did change. I'm not sure yet what God is trying to tell and I may not know for a long time. But, I will trust in him and trust that He knows whats best for me even if I don't completely agree with Him at times.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give hope and and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

On Wednesday, after the trip at youth group. The youth pastor did something a little different. He had a quiet service with lights out and TV showing diffeent verses and stuff. Earlier that day a had been reading my daily bible passages and cam over a verse that I recognized and really just popped out at me. That night at the service they showed the same verse on the TV screen.

11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

That was too much of a "coincidence" to just let go. Before that night I had really been frustrated because I had never really thought that God had really tried to speak to me before. I just didn't know what I was doing wrong. So after the service that night I went to Jon (our intern) and asked him when God started talking to him about his calling and how he knew it was God. He told he was in junior high but didn't know that it was God talking to him. He asked if I thought that God was trying to talk to me about my calling. I told him I didn't really know but, maybe he was. He said "When you start questioning whether God is talking to you or not, he probably is." After realizing that God was trying to talk to me, I was really happy and kind of relieved. I wasn't excited so much that God was talking to me about my calling, but the fact that I was recognizing God speaking to me was the best part!

Hey, I'm kind of new to blogspot. I just needed a place where I could just blog and nothing else :) I'm going to use this blog to talk about my experiences and everything with God.

I don't really expect that very many people will actually read my blog. But, thats okay. It's still a good way to get my thoughts and everything out.

mariakate