Finally! (Can you tell my life has been busy?)

• having to walk through mud because of all the snow we have had already. . .
• running around in the dark Admin building, playing "Sardines"...
• having "girl time"...
• playing musical chairs on Saturday night...
• writing research note cards...
• going to bed after midnight on the weekend...
• completing the weekly lesson in "Biblical discipleship" ...
• witnessing, in very real and obvious ways, that God is the God of the impossible...
• hiding out in the furthest corner of the building in order to study (and then having fun when no one can find me!)...
• working on reading Genesis through Esther for Old Testament survey class...
• experiencing the reality of chilly feet (because of the snow!)...
• having fun in the dorm, especially when it involves Melinda, Liz, and Bethanne (don't even ask!)...
• studying for mid-terms...
• loving, yet at the same time, dreading, Tuesdays--loving it because I have a free hour, yet dreading it because there is dorm cleaning...
• electing class officers and having class meetings...
• planning and doing a fundraiser...
• participating in "over-breakfast" study groups. . .
• missions conference. . .
• beginning to stress out about getting my papers done. . .help!

What do these all have in common? They are all a part of college life!

An Update. . . and some quotes from Tozer's "Knowledge of the Holy"

Well, since I asked you all to pray for Melinda and the Bible study she started last Wednesday, I need to give you an update on what happened, right? Well, to start off with, I need to add that it is Melinda AND Liz (another student here at CBI who also works at the Ambulance shed) who are doing the study. With that said, praise the Lord that there were no calls while they were having the study, as that would have, obviously, ended the study for the night. Thank you for your prayers! However, an even bigger praise is the fact that the two ladies, Connie and Ruth, with whom they are doing the study, are interested in meeting again! So, continue praying!

So. . .on to Tozer! For the doctrine class that I am taking, I have to read the book "Knowledge of the Holy," which dicusses the attributes of God. I am only part-way through the book, and so far, it is an amazing book!

Tozer. . .
on the immutability of God:

" All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He
willever be." (page 65)

on the wisdom of God

". . .we shall not seek to understand in order that we may believe, but
tobelieve in order that we may understand." (page 76)

" We rest in what God is. I believe that
this alone is true faith. Any faith that must be supported by the evidence of
the senses is not real faith." (page 80)

" And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;I will lead
them in paths that they have not known: I will make darknesslight before them,
and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake
them.

"Let Him lead thee blindfold onwards,
Love needs not to know;
Children whom the Father leadeth
Ask not where they go.
Though the path be all unknown,
Over moors and mountains lone."
~Gerhard Tersteegen (page 82)

An Update. . . and some quotes from Tozer's "Knowledge of the Holy"

Well, since I asked you all to pray for Melinda and the Bible study she started last Wednesday, I need to give you an update on what happened, right? Well, to start off with, I need to add that it is Melinda AND Liz (another student here at CBI who also works at the Ambulance shed) who are doing the study. With that said, praise the Lord that there were no calls while they were having the study, as that would have, obviously, ended the study for the night. Thank you for your prayers! However, an even bigger praise is the fact that the two ladies, Connie and Ruth, with whom they are doing the study, are interested in meeting again! So, continue praying!

So. . .on to Tozer! For the doctrine class that I am taking, I have to read the book "Knowledge of the Holy," which dicusses the attributes of God. I am only part-way through the book, and so far, it is an amazing book!

Tozer. . .

On the immutability of God:

" All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He will
ever be." (page 65)

On the wisdom of God:

". . .we shall not seek to understand in order that we may believe, but to
believe in order that we may understand." (page 76)

" We rest in what God is. I believe that this alone
is true faith. Any faith that must be supported by the evidence of the
senses is not real faith." (page 80)

" And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;
I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness
light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do
unto them, and not forsake them.

Let Him lead thee blindfold onwards,
Love needs not to know;
Children whom the Father leadeth
Ask not where they go.
Though the path be all unknown,
Over moors and mountains lone.
~Gerhard Tersteegen (page 82)

Prayer Request

Just wanted to share a quick prayer request: Tomorrow, Wednesday, Melinda (my roommate) is going to be starting a Bible study with two of her co-workers at the Ambulance shed, where she is an EMT. Please pray that God will give her the words to say and that He would use her to open their eyes to the Truth of His Word. She has been praying for an opportunity to begin a study, so it is exciting to see that God has paved the way for it all to work out!

Some pictures from the last few days. . .

Finally...a few glimpses from my life here at college!

Fellow "dorm-mates"

Left-Right:

Leah, Christiana, Liz, me, Melinda (she's a great roommate!) and Anna

Go Freshmen girls!!

Left - Right:

Christian, Lydia, me, Jennifer, Nikki, Bethanne

Front: Annaka, Anna

Having fun on Friday night playing "four on a couch." If you've never played it, you s hould sometime--it's really fun!

Left-Right: Celeste, Me, Stephen, Isaac, and Michael

Hanging out with the cool penguin one of the girls got from her secret prayer sister. :)

Angostura--the lake that we've gone to several times on the weekend, and, of all things, I got burnt from being out in the sun! For some reason, I had in my mind that SD is all about snow, snow, snow! I never drempt I would get a sunburn one of the first weekends that I'm here! :) Yes, I think I already have a fondness for this place!

Freshmen-bonding time at the park on the merry-go-round

Left-right: Lydia, Jennifer, Anna, and I


Anna (the other MK girl from Brazil--how cool is that?), me, Isaac

As I spun 'round and 'round. . .



A cool picture --I just had to put it on. :)



And there you have it...many thanks to Anna and Isaac for all the pictures!! (unfortunately, I don't have a camera. . .) Hopefully there will be pictures from the Labor Day picnic coming up soon!

P.S. Just in case you might be wondering, life here at CBI isn't all play! No way! There is a lot of studying and homework that we have to do, I just don't have any pictures of it. :)

To sum it up what has happened since my last post: I have now completed two full weeks of college! Yay! Even though this is just the beginning, the last two weeks have been amazing! I can honestly say that I love college life! Yes, there is a lot of studies and homework, and I will probably wonder at times how I will ever get it all done. But, I am looking forward to what God has in store for me this semester!

God blessed me with a wonderful roommate--I don't think I could have asked for a better one! And. . .on top of that, there are three of us MK's in the same dorm! How cool is that?!?

Life has been wonderful--so far--but it definitely is not all just fun. I am discovering that now that I am technically "on my own" and away from my parents, I have to start making decisions for myself. Before now, there have been things that I have always done "because my parents do it" or because "my parents make me," yet I haven't specifically established my own convictions about that specific area of my life. Now, however, I am, for the first time, being faced with making such choices on my own. I now have the opportunity to either contiue in what I have always been taught and simply do what I have always done, or decide for myself where I stand on certain issues. I am now at the place in my life where I can decide whether I am going to abandon everything that my parents have taught me or adopt it as my own. Yes, being an adult has its privilidges, but it also has it's responsibilities!

Please don't get the wrong impression though--I have not been anxiously awaiting the moment I could run off to college so that I wouldn't have to be under my parent's authority. This is not about finally being "free" from rules and restrictions. Rather, even in the short time I've been here, I am discovering that it is about establishing what I actually believe, what my convictions are, and learning to do what is right because I believe it is right, not simply because "it's what my parent's made me do." It is about standing up for what I believe and not simply following the crowd because it is the easiest thing to do. Even at Bible school, I am discovering that I am not immune to having to make such choices.

These days are once-in-a-lifetime days. I recently read the following quotation: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." ~Jim Elliot.
I believe God has me here at CBI for a purpose. In chapel last week, the question was asked various times: "Why are you here?" My answer in a nutshell is "To grow in my spiritual walk and become better equipped to serve the Lord." Now let me ask you: "Why are you where you are now?"

God is good. . .

God is good. Have I mentioned that? All my life, I've heard people say: "God is good. He is in control of things." However, it isn't until one actually experiences His Goodness that one can even begin to understand. Now that I am somewhat "on my own," I am beginning to see a little for myself how good God really is.

One example that stands out is my job. You may remember how, back in April, I began working at Pleasant View Home. I really enjoyed it there, but, for reasons God alone knows, I was putting in a minimal amount of hours there. So, as you can imagine, when June rolled around and I had yet to even get 30 hours a week, I began to ask myself: "Do I stay here and hope to somehow pick up some more time, or, do I look for another part-time job to fill in all the extra time I have?" I began to ask around town to see what my options might be, but at every turn, I seemed to run into dead-ends. God brought me to the place where I had no choice--I had to choose to trust Him and believe that He would provide for my needs. I had done all I could.

And God provided! It was the beginning of July, I believe, on a Sunday morning, that a good friend of my family mentioned a job opening at a sign company that was needing help, even for a few weeks. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will say that it sounded like an answer to prayer! However, it wasn't all that easy. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of it all was discerning whether this truly was of the Lord and an answer to prayer. For two or three days, I really wrestled and struggled over it, but to get to the point: I applied, was accepted, and worked there from the second week in July until just this past Wednesday! Now that it is all over, I can only say that God is good. There were so many things that seemed to be big hurdles to get over--juggling two jobs, transportation, schedule, etc.-- but in the end, God worked out each of those things! Yes, God truly does see our needs and when we are willing to wait for His timing, He will bring about His best for us!

And now, I'm heading off to Cornerstone. I've been looking forward to this day for soo long, but now that it is finally here--literally, as I'm leaving this afternoon--I'm beginning to feel a little nervous. "Can I really do this?" "What if the study load is more than I can handle?" "What if. . . what if. . . what if. . .?" But I try to remind myself that even in school, when I feel overwhelmed and discouraged, God will be faithful and work out all and give me the grace and strength to do what I could not possibly do on my own. Like a dear lady mentioned to me earlier this week, "if someone totally satisfies us [or I am totally able to do it on my own] we would not trust in God."