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