Tuesday, February 26, 2013

2-26-13: Past Weekend = CHRIST-FILLED AWESOMENESS

Hey there!

Ok, I know the title isn't a real word, but I don't know any other description.

It started out on Friday with a Dominican rapper at Willow Creek, and that was awesome because as I'm going to the DR (Dominican Republic) in 26 days, and it was cool to experience their love of music! I didn't understand most of the lyrics, as they were in Spanish and I take German and know, obviously, English, but just how into the music the rapper and other fans were...overwhelming. I cannot WAIT to go to the DR!

Then Saturday, I went to Winter Jam 2013, which was just...I don't even know how to describe it. It's essentially a Christian concert with about 8 artists and a guest speaker. The main (well-known) artists there were Matthew West, Sidewalk Prophets, and TOBYMAC!!! Though I'm super disappointed that they had my favorite band as the pre-show act, and didn't have them as part of the main concert, even though they were part of the lineup: Capital Kings! Their debut album came out on January 8th, so they're fairly new, but they've gotten amazing reviews, and I LOVE them! They're AWESOME! They use a mix of dubstep, rock, electronic, and hip-hop, and just the whole mix is insane! They've also been featured in some songs with TobyMac. I did, however, get to talk to one of the artists, so that was SOOO cool!

Sunday, we had the rapper at Student Impact as a "surprise". That's in quotations because he told me on Friday that he'd be there, but told me to keep it a secret as that was meant to be a surprise. It was SOOO hard not to say it to my DR team, but I SOMEHOW managed not to. Then in youth (house) group, we did the Harlem Shake...it was SCARY. It's part of a competition throughout Impact that was started by Streamwood when they made one and are now challenging everyone else to make one. Here's ours: Barrington West Harlem Shake. Wish us luck!

Friday, February 8, 2013

2-8-13: God, HELP!

Hey guys and girls,

Major prayer request today. It seems like every day brings new troubles and I know it's impossible for me to get through on my own, and I need God, but sometimes the anger and fear and tears wipe Him from my mind. Please pray that I remember He's with me through the struggles and the good?

Anyone interested in knowing more depth as to my emotions, please check out my poetry blog, Many Worlds Set In Few Words. It has more explanation as to what I feel. I express my emotions better through poetry than simple words.

Here's the poem I wrote today, though. It gives you an overview as to what I feel in a nutshell:

My Savior, SAVE ME!

LORD, these things seem to happen just to me,
Most of what I do these days: cry in bed,
LORD, please uncover my eyes, let me see,
What are your plans for me waiting ahead?

God, all troubles happen for a good cause,
But all I see now is this deep, cold black,
I’ve been stabbed many times, I’m clothed in gauze,
I’ll break in two with one more ax’s hack.

Father, save me from this place; I’m dying,
I feel so abandoned, I need You near,
I always say I’m ok, I’m lying,
The real truth is that I’m filled with fear.

Creator, hold my hand, walk me through this,
My Savior, help me escape this abyss.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

2-5-13: Blast info follow-up

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

Sorry it took me so long to get around to the additional information about Blast last weekend. I've been fairly busy with stuff with friends and not feeling great (emotionally and physically).There's just been a lot of stuff going on which I'd rather not get into much. Bottom-line, I've had a bad few months with losing friends. Though I've got to say, the friends sticking around, they're AWESOME! I was texting this one friend (name not mentioned) about it and I hadn't been even smiling for days, and of course in one text from him I went from crying, literally crying, to laughing and smiling! Also, he reminded me that I don't need the love from my friends to be ok, because Jesus is the ultimate love and comfort, and He is all I need. That helped SOOO much.

Ok, now I'll get to what I promised last week: the Blast full summary.

So for anyone who hasn't gone to Blast or Sandblast, it's one weekend (Blast: leave Friday, back Sunday; Sandblast: leave Friday, back Monday) and the Saturday night session (service) is the emotional service, as in it's always really deep and often brings people to tears. However, in my case at least, it wasn't that great. The worship, though, brought me to tears, especially when we sang This Is Amazing Grace by Bethel Live. That literally brought me to my knees. "Jesus I sing for all that You've done for me."

However, I also had several friends stand up when Bryan Jones, our pastor, asked anyone who'd gone from a fan to a follower. If you're a fan, when you get into a situation where being a Christian may be a bad thing, you'd leave your faith. However, if you're a follower, no matter what situation you're in, Jesus will always be your refuge and never deny being a Christian. That was by far my favorite part: seeing my friends stand up.

That's just about all I can say that can be a summary without giving you the whole session.


So, for my prayer request, it isn't for me. It's for my friends who stood up. Could you please pray that they continue to stay confident in their faith and don't back down when times get hard? I've seen it happen before, and it's disappointing sometimes.

I also want to remind everyone that if anyone's interested in coming to Student Impact, don't feel bad if you've either never been to church before or haven't been to Willow before! Everyone's welcome, and everyone's greatly encouraged to come if they wish. Something I hear often is the person invited doesn't know anyone who goes, but don't let that hold you back! If you've been invited, you know the person who invited you, and you'd be surprised who you might find out goes.

Praying for you all and always keep God at the center of your life!

Don't forget to comment!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

1-27-13: Blast summary preview

Hey everyone!

This past weekend was Student Impact's winter (Willow Creek high school ministry) retreat, and it was alright. It was awesome for others, and I admit it was...alright...for me. Only the worship touched me, and I was hoping I'd be affected far more, especially as last year's Blast rocked my world, and Sandblast (the summer retreat) also made a major impact (no pun intended). One of the songs with the biggest impact on me was "This Is Amazing Grace" by Bethel Music (lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iFEOB8Coes). Especially the line "Jesus I sing for all that you've done for me". It LITERALLY brought me to my knees, crying tears of joy. I've had several bad points in my life, and I just thank God for all He's done for me!

More on Blast will be posted later this week, I just wanted to get an overview up.

We had the Uprising rally a couple weeks ago at Barrington High School, and we had probably 50 different people say they wanted to be contacted by someone from Uprising! We had around 10 new faces at Uprising this morning, and I have a friend who says she wants to come, but the only limitation is the fact that she drives her sister to school as well, so her sister may not want to get up early! Darn early-morning club! Ah well, it's fun anyway! Please pray that we continue to have more new faces at Uprising over the next few weeks and that we continue to grow as a club.

That's all there is for now...as I said, more later this week.

Prayer request: More people come to Uprising and my friend's able to come to Impact this weekend. Her twin went to Blast, and my friend was interested, but as neither go to Willow, my friend didn't feel comfortable, unlike her twin.

And instead of a verse, a psalm. At Blast we had the opportunity to write our own psalm, and here's mine. Sorry it's so blurry! The camera isn't great. "The LORD my God has given me life"

God bless you all!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

1-15-13: Here goes my second semester

Hey everybody,

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the regular blogger, having something up on a steady pace, i.e. weekly, daily, etc. I mostly post just when I have time, so sorry if these are a bit long with updates. And this one will be short due to a lack of time.

This prayer request is so big I need to start with it. PLEASE pray that I don't end up in this stupid "well disguised anger management class" next semester! It's mostly because my councilor thinks I don't have social skills because he never sees me with people...because I'm usually with people OUTSIDE school. PLEASE pray something turns around. That'll just drive me over the edge. Haha, not exactly what "anger management" is supposed to do, huh? :)

Ok, "on to your regularly scheduled reading." God's been stirring in my heart, especially with "I Used To..." going on at school. It's Barrington High School's Christian club's outreach rally, with speakers talking about how they used to do drugs, or partying, or felt useless...until they found or recognized Christ. Today's the first day, and maybe 80 people showed the first day! Not bad I think...could do better by the end of the week (when we finish).

Plus BLAST IS COMING UP NEXT WEEK! It's Willow Creek's high school ministry's winter retreat. We "invade" a resort for a weekend, and it is SOOO much fun! Can't wait!

Ok, sorry guys, but I gotta go. Bell's about to ring (7th period).

God bless!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

1-9-13: Truth Vow

HEY EVERYONE!

Sorry I went AWOL, I've been stressing with school stuff and whatnot. AP Chem is a killer!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice winter break, and good luck with getting back into the groove of school! (I've never used that word, at least not on purpose...weird.) Did anyone get anything nice for Christmas/Hannukah/whatever else you celebrate? I got a few books, money for my Dominican Republic mission trip ($400/1600-1800 covered!) One of my favorite books is Phil Callaway's To Be Perfectly Honest. It's a book about a year of trying a challenge his editor gave him: to be 100% honest for a full year. He wrote in a journal about how he did the day, almost every single day. Not bad!

From reading his book, seeing how it's helped him change a bit and be more truthful, as well as grow in his faith, I've decided to accept the challenge, with my own twist. As I'm sure that I'll probably have a bit more trouble with it, I'm doing it by the month. I started Jan 3rd, and at the end of the month, I'll think back to how I did. If I did well enough, I'll try another month, and another, until if I do well, I'll end at the end of 2013 (assuming the world doesn't end a year later than it was supposed to! haha!) So far, so good.

On a bit more solemn note, this past weekend was a bit hard on me, though probably far more so for one of my friends. He had some problems with his mom and ended up kicked out of his house. For privacy purposes, I won't give his full name, but if everyone who sees this could please pray for him? His first name's Joey. Thank you all. I ended up taking him in Friday through Monday, but still. Not easy for anyone. He's a cool guy, though, so it wasn't THAT bad. We still had some fun. Thanks all.

Ok, I'll wrap this up with another prayer request, a reference, and a verse.

Please pray that the funding for my Dominican Republic trip continues to increase and I raise all the money I need to to be able to go. I definitely don't have the money to pay by myself.

The reference is to my other blog, Many Worlds Set in Few Words. The URL is "mwsfw.blogspot.com". It's set on private, so it'd need to be directly typed into the address box.

Verse of the day: The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. -Proverbs 12:22

Monday, December 17, 2012

12-17-12: Long weekend...

Hey everyone.

This post may make absolutely no sense whatsoever, as I only got one hour of sleep last night! Long story short, AP Computer Science...

I hope everyone's doing well in their faith, and that they have plenty to share, as since the last time I posted, there was a massacre at an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Connecticut (Sandy Hook Elementary School); 20 kids, 6 adults shot and killed. All because the shooter, also dead at the scene, hated his mom (a teacher at the school, the main target of the shooting). Stupid, right? No sense, though since when have any shootings, much less school shootings, made any sense? I mean seriously! Deal with the family problems at home, however you do it. DON'T KILL INNOCENT, DEFENSELESS KIDS!!! Please pray for all of the families and friends in that community through these hard times.

On a somewhat more cheery note...ok, MUCH more cheery note, I GET TO SEE MY BEST FRIEND (college freshman) IN THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS!!! :D :D :D I'm so excited, if you couldn't tell! Haha! Most Christian person I know, helped me a TON in advancing my faith, helped me become the person I am today. I love him so much! He's like a brother to me, and with winter break coming, he'll be around for a while! YAY!

I'm talking to my small group leader about some stuff with our youth group, just a lot going on, in and out of my own small group. Long story...again.

I'll stop here while I have my head on straight. PEACE!

Verse of the day: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." -Revelation 21:4

Friday, December 14, 2012

12-14-12: FTI!!!!

[WARNING: beginning rant]

SOOO!!! EXCITED!!! FOR!!! TONIGHT!!! FTI tonight, serving the impoverished community at a local apartment complex, and last night we had a...rally? info meeting? I dunno how to describe it. Basically we told the parents of the high school students serving there (including myself) about what FTI is (for the invisible) and why we do what we do. Plenty of praying went into this, and with a turnout of 110+, I'd say those prayers were answered!!! :D :D :D

One problem for tonight...we've been having to adjust the starting times, starting at intervals for certain locations around the complex, so we (I, maybe others) don't know when who is starting! It'll all be figured out eventually, though, I'm sure. 4 MORE HOURS UNTIL THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK! (sorry, just super excited, if you couldn't tell)

God has shown and taught me so much through FTI, visuals such as seeing the food we bring fly off the tables, to the clothing we bring flung on their backs, and to the joy on the kids' faces when we're playing soccer (last week, the high school-college kids got beaten by 6-14yr olds 8-2! Beautifully-embarrassing). And taught me by the fact that just a few minutes away, one of my friends is "fairly well off" while these people have so little? Why are we so oblivious? Therefore, For The INVISIBLE!

[End rant]

On a different subject, tomorrow I've got my meeting for my mission trip to the Dominican Republic over spring break (the trip, not the meeting), which I cannot WAIT to go on! People I've known who've gone in the past say that it's rocked their world, and I want to be the LORD's light, shining through the darkness in some of their lives, and working alongside the communities we'll be helping. So beautiful, so amazing, so exciting. This past week has been sort of hard on me, though knowing God's with me has helped, and then I have one of the most Christian-event-filled weekends I've ever had in a few hours? So awesome. It'll help a lot to be serving God.

Verse of the day:
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” -Acts 20:35

Leave a comment/question and I'll reply ASAP! God bless you all!


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12-12-12: The 2nd craziest day of this generation (behind 12-21-12)

Not really sure what to say about today! 12-12-12 12:12:12. Gotta say, awkward day! People saying, "Oh, I'll go crazy for 12-12-12! I'll yell and shout" or "I'll tell the girl/boy I have a crush on that I love him", etc... Awkward, strange, and who knows what else.

How about instead of going crazy about the date, go crazy about God because we've seen another day, not a specific date?! Go crazy about and for Jesus because he saved us?! 

Had Uprising, my school's Christian club, this morning. That was fun! Donuts, orange juice, friends, God, too early in the morning when NO ONE should be awake yet (6:30AM CST). Then of course I go straight into an AP class 1st period, nice and early...joy.

We printed the t-shirts (designs onto the t-shirts) of Uprising this afternoon/evening, I guess you could say that was fun. Plenty of jokes (not exactly appropriate though, let's just say many were followed by "don't take that out of context"...haha!) Though all fun must come to an end with pizza, Mountain Dew (caffeine at 9:30PM, not good), and head home.

P.S. I've decided I won't be available to post daily, so just check back weekly or so if you'd like to keep with my posts, and keep the comments coming!

Friday, December 7, 2012

12-6-12: AWESOME!

I forgot to post yesterday, so sorry about that.

Yesterday, I had a pretty miserable day. Sick. Working on AP Computer Science (ridiculously hard) for 9 straight hours, and yes, that is while being sick. All the while I was just wanting to go to sleep! Oh how much I wanted to sleep! So little of it lately, I'm often sleeping a bit in history or math (not necessarily a bad thing, haha!)

Then last night, around 10PM, I got the BEST CALL EVER!!!! A few weeks ago I applied to go on a mission trip over Spring break through my church with the high school ministry, I was slightly doubting the chance I'd make it, but still plenty of prayer for a yes. Then at 10 last night, one of the leaders for the trip called me, and said that I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO GO!!! THANK GOD! He is AWESOME beyond anything I can comprehend!

Something that's been on my heart a lot lately, the spreading of the gospel, and now I have the chance to do just that. LORD, I LOVE YOU!!!

Verse of the day: Mark 13:10 - And the gospel must first be preached to all nations