Senior Retreat!

I'm on my senior retreat this week, spending a week here in Jersey Shore, PA and I'm loving it here!!! This week is kind of like a quick preview on what life is going to be like for those of us who are planning on going on with New Tribes. We're learning a little about building a good foundation for teaching, how to understand culture and the importance of knowing it, phonetics and linguistics, and so so much more! Today we "went into the tribe." They have a village set up with people in it and it's a small taste of what it's going to be like for us the first day we go to the tribe. It was really hard!!! Here we come in with absolutely no idea of what is culturally acceptabe and absolutely no knowledge of the language and we had to communicate with them and try to make it out of there with some new vocabulary. It'll take too long to tell ya'll about it here, but seriously, ask me about it sometime! Seriously, as time goes on, I become more and more excited about pursuing tribal missions! My passion to join this team grows every single day!
Please be in prayer for us as we continue to study this week! There is a lot of information to understand, lots of foreign and difficult concepts to be grasped, and lots of "stepping out of my comfort zone" and trying new things. I can't wait to fill you all in on what God is teaching me here....and it's only day one! If you have a few minutes, here is the NTM promo vidio for Wayumi that will give you a better picture of what we're doing here.

I'm in the Lord's army.....YES SIR!!!!

~The Spiritual Qualifications to Enter God's Army~

1. Foolish enough to depend on Him for wisdom.
2. Weak enough to be empowered with His strength.
3. Base enough to have no honor but God's honor.
4. Despised enough to be kept in the dust of His feet.
5. Nothing enough for God to be everything.




1 Corinthians 1:27-29
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Oh my cow......

I'm sitting here doing my homework...I'm a little stressed because there is a LOT to do in a very small amount of time. Then I said to myself, "Self, don't worry, you only have a few weeks left." Then I stopped. "SELF!!!! YOU ONLY HAVE A FEW WEEKS LEFT!!!" I'm not going to lie, it was a bittersweet realization. But there it is...in less than a month, I am going to graduate from NTBI. This is going to take a while to soak in....

Reverse Thinking

I hate lists....

BUT....there is a phenomenal list that we worked on in chapel last week that I absolutely love! In our ladies chapels we've been talking about the mind. Transformation of the mind, taking our thoughts captive, thinking on what is true, etc. As we discussed this, we talked about what our culture says we should be or look like verses what Scripture says we should look like. So many times we work hard to conform ourselves and our minds to the things that the world values. We get upset and discouraged when we find that we don't fit in with what our culture says we should be. It all comes down to what we're thinking about. What do we consider to be true?

As we discussed all of this, we began to talk about our identity in Christ. Forget what the world says I am or what it says I need to be....what does the Bible tell me is true of me? So we began to make a list. Seriously, there were no pauses between answers. We kept throwing them out there and could have kept going if we didn't have to stop for time's sake! Ephesians tells us that as believers, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenlies! We are positioned in Christ.



In Christ, and in Him alone, I am......
-at peace with God
-pure
-eternally secure
-complete
-accepted
-placed in Christ
-a new creation
-an heir
-justified
-a friend of God
-a daughter of God
-dead to sin
-forgiven
-seated in heaven
-redeemed
-given new life
-sanctified
-alive to God
-united with God
-restored
-victorious
-loved
-declared righteous
-bought
-blessed with every spiritual blessing
-filled with the Holy Spirit
-adopted as a SON (the significance of adoption as a son is that the son receives
the inheritance)
-a co-laborer
-an ambassador
-a saint
-a member of the Body
-the Bride of Christ
-a bondservant of Christ


The list could go on and on! THIS is true! This is who God says I am. It is so important to know that I'm dwelling on what I know is true rather than what I hope is true. I have been provided with everything that I need to live a life of godliness. God is at work in my life every moment of every day, transforming me into the image of His Son. He doesn't want me to look transformed....He wants me to BE transformed! The flesh no longer has authority over my life. God is the One who has the authority and I can rest in the knowledge of who I am in His Son and know that He is the One who is at work in my life to transform it and conform it to His image!