My mission trip to Tenerife, & some ramblings about some things I've noticed in this world...
Here's some ramblings from my "Summer Journal" (created in the last meeting of Small Group), which I wrote on my plane trip home from London on Friday:
If you think about it: How many people are in this world? Wow. 6.4 billion! When spoken, that #'s big, but not comprehendable (spelling?). If one were to stretch out a long line of the # of people on this earth, it'd be over 200 strands circling the globe. In other words, the # would be a huge mass! Wow. & we're ALL God's children, we all belong to Him, & He's worthy of all of us to have a relationship w/ Him. Those of us who reject Him just break His heart, as do those of us who sin (against Him). In other words, we're always breaking God's heart. How SAD of a thought is that? But we have one hope: striving to live for Him every day, as He calls us to, which is all we can do. & to remember: w're ALL ONLY human! The only person who's perfect is & was Jesus Christ! Today, I read in Hebrews 2:18: "B/c He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." This promise of help means the world! Or, at least, it should. The fact of the matter is this: God knows we're not perfect, He knows that His Son is & was, & He's willing to give us hope & help. The Lord offers salvation so that we can pull ourselves up out of our sinful misery daily. The Bible says in Mark 8:31 & Luke 14:53, the Lord states that "His disciples must be willing to take up their cross & follow Him." By this, He means that we as God's children, we are called to "die to ourselves daily." & by this (again), we are called to constantly repent of our sins, & to try to change our outlook daily. Personally, I also think that it means to remain positive, even through trials & tribulations (esp. through these)! We are called to lay aside our selfish, worldly wants, in trade for God's better, more sufficient plan for us on a daily basis.
Randomly awesome scripture I found: "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever & ever." (Micah 4:5) Wow .. that's awesome.
"Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O Man, what is good. & what does the Lord require of you? to act justly & to love mercy & to walk humbly w/ your God." That's all God requires of us: to follow Him & His laws. Doesn't seem too hard, but it is. Yet He's understanding & faithful NO matter WHAT. He gives us chance after chance, time & time again. Wow. "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me." (Micah 7:7) "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin, & forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy." True, true!
So ... here's my trip in a nutshell, in an IM w/ my friend/small group Sister/future roomie, Leslie M. (I am sure that many of you know her) If you have any more ?'s (preferrably, more in-depth ones) from me about the trip, then just feel free to ask. :) Pics will be up sometime tomorrow or Tuesday, prob. I am glad to be back!!! I love you guys! :)
Leslie [2:21 PM]: hey, how was your trip?
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: hey girly
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: brb k
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: sorry laura's here
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: thanks for asking, brb
Leslie [2:21 PM]: ok
TxSweethart8302 [2:23 PM]: k sorry about that
TxSweethart8302 [2:23 PM]: wow was it amazing! :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: to start, 5 people got saved ... 3 of those people (a family; a man & his wife & their child) came b/c they got flyers (which we had posted around the city like 4-5 days during the 9 days we were there) on their car
Leslie [2:24 PM]: wow, thats cool
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: so God just took our hardwork & reaped a harvest from it
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: yep ... it was awesome! :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: also, we built a lot of relationships w/ people there, & i got tons of emails - from people in the church we worked w/, & from the university students, as well as a couple of the teenagers we met on "teen night"
TxSweethart8302 [2:25 PM]: our group was REALLY unified ... i think that if we hadn't had that unity, GOd wouldn't have been able to use us as much, ya know?
Leslie [2:26 PM]: thats really cool
TxSweethart8302 [2:26 PM]: i found out a couple of things about Spain (er, Tenerife):
1.) the people there are very cold, prob b/c they are so numb to the immoral acts that are taking place all the time around them, & b/c God is not a predominant thing there ... & 2.) America is a spoiled country. we take for granted everything that we have, & just seeing the way that they live in Tenerife is just heartbreaking
TxSweethart8302 [2:26 PM]: so that's my trip in a nutshell! :) God really opened my eyes to many things, ya know, & I am praying that that doesn't change
If you think about it: How many people are in this world? Wow. 6.4 billion! When spoken, that #'s big, but not comprehendable (spelling?). If one were to stretch out a long line of the # of people on this earth, it'd be over 200 strands circling the globe. In other words, the # would be a huge mass! Wow. & we're ALL God's children, we all belong to Him, & He's worthy of all of us to have a relationship w/ Him. Those of us who reject Him just break His heart, as do those of us who sin (against Him). In other words, we're always breaking God's heart. How SAD of a thought is that? But we have one hope: striving to live for Him every day, as He calls us to, which is all we can do. & to remember: w're ALL ONLY human! The only person who's perfect is & was Jesus Christ! Today, I read in Hebrews 2:18: "B/c He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." This promise of help means the world! Or, at least, it should. The fact of the matter is this: God knows we're not perfect, He knows that His Son is & was, & He's willing to give us hope & help. The Lord offers salvation so that we can pull ourselves up out of our sinful misery daily. The Bible says in Mark 8:31 & Luke 14:53, the Lord states that "His disciples must be willing to take up their cross & follow Him." By this, He means that we as God's children, we are called to "die to ourselves daily." & by this (again), we are called to constantly repent of our sins, & to try to change our outlook daily. Personally, I also think that it means to remain positive, even through trials & tribulations (esp. through these)! We are called to lay aside our selfish, worldly wants, in trade for God's better, more sufficient plan for us on a daily basis.
Randomly awesome scripture I found: "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever & ever." (Micah 4:5) Wow .. that's awesome.
"Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O Man, what is good. & what does the Lord require of you? to act justly & to love mercy & to walk humbly w/ your God." That's all God requires of us: to follow Him & His laws. Doesn't seem too hard, but it is. Yet He's understanding & faithful NO matter WHAT. He gives us chance after chance, time & time again. Wow. "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me." (Micah 7:7) "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin, & forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy." True, true!
So ... here's my trip in a nutshell, in an IM w/ my friend/small group Sister/future roomie, Leslie M. (I am sure that many of you know her) If you have any more ?'s (preferrably, more in-depth ones) from me about the trip, then just feel free to ask. :) Pics will be up sometime tomorrow or Tuesday, prob. I am glad to be back!!! I love you guys! :)
Leslie [2:21 PM]: hey, how was your trip?
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: hey girly
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: brb k
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: sorry laura's here
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:21 PM]: thanks for asking, brb
Leslie [2:21 PM]: ok
TxSweethart8302 [2:23 PM]: k sorry about that
TxSweethart8302 [2:23 PM]: wow was it amazing! :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: to start, 5 people got saved ... 3 of those people (a family; a man & his wife & their child) came b/c they got flyers (which we had posted around the city like 4-5 days during the 9 days we were there) on their car
Leslie [2:24 PM]: wow, thats cool
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: so God just took our hardwork & reaped a harvest from it
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: yep ... it was awesome! :)
TxSweethart8302 [2:24 PM]: also, we built a lot of relationships w/ people there, & i got tons of emails - from people in the church we worked w/, & from the university students, as well as a couple of the teenagers we met on "teen night"
TxSweethart8302 [2:25 PM]: our group was REALLY unified ... i think that if we hadn't had that unity, GOd wouldn't have been able to use us as much, ya know?
Leslie [2:26 PM]: thats really cool
TxSweethart8302 [2:26 PM]: i found out a couple of things about Spain (er, Tenerife):
1.) the people there are very cold, prob b/c they are so numb to the immoral acts that are taking place all the time around them, & b/c God is not a predominant thing there ... & 2.) America is a spoiled country. we take for granted everything that we have, & just seeing the way that they live in Tenerife is just heartbreaking
TxSweethart8302 [2:26 PM]: so that's my trip in a nutshell! :) God really opened my eyes to many things, ya know, & I am praying that that doesn't change