One Word

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

This weekend while conversing with a dear friend I was posed with a question that proved to be more challenging than I thought. The question?

Describe camp in ONE word. One word? My first response was: there is NO way I could describe camp in just one word. So, I thought for a minute or so and decided. The one word I would use to describe camp, the one word that summed up my entire summer.

Gospel.

That’s it. That’s the one word.

Throughout the summer, and even still today, I have been learning about the power behind the Gospel. During the summer I was so immensely broken by what my Savior did for me.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5

Not only did He save me, but He also saves you. Que bueno! What a thought! Throughout this summer I was so blown away by this truth. But, I also saw the opposite side. I saw brokenness, heartache, suffering. I also saw a misunderstanding and apathetic view towards the Gospel in its entirety. I’ll admit, I have taken the Gospel for granted. I have not shown gratitude where it is due.

Yes, having grown up in church I have heard the words of the Gospel spoken more times than I could count, but I had never fully understood the weight of what it really means. Nor had I ever been taught how important it was to apply my life to the Gospel. This summer, with the help of some dear friends and children (campers) whom the Lord so graciously blessed me with, I finally understood. Meet: my camp family.

These people are absolutely wonderful and were great examples of what it looked like to not take the Gospel for granted and how to seek the Lord in all things.

The gospel is powerful. Straight-up legit power. You may be thinking well DUH the Gospel is powerful. But really. It’s POWERFUL! And. I am thankful. It’s overwhelming looking back at my last post from the beginning of the summer and the lesson I was learning on thankfulness and how that lesson continued on a deeper level. Thankfulness for the truth and power of the Gospel…proof that God is consistently Sovereign.

Concluding thoughts (finally, right!?)

My last week of camp I was priveledged to travel to a different location and work with a completely different set of people. This week proved to be one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding weeks of the summer.

At one point a friend from this new team in an effort to build a quick friendship asked a simple, challenging question.

How has the Gospel changed your life?

My answer? How has it not? … but really, if you think about it. How has the Gospel not changed your life? Now, that is a discussion for another time.  But to whomever chose to read this lengthy post, I do encourage you to consider the question..

How has the Gospel changed YOUR life?

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29

Shalom aleykhem.

Gratitude to the King

Dear friends..

 where to begin. I am so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude right now that I can not even begin to explain all that is working in my heart. The source? None other than Jesus Christ! There is no possible way to narrow down all of this into one blog post, so the topics will most likely spiral into several different posts!

First off.. Gratitude. This is a concept that I am currently chewing on and thus are my sporadic thoughts..

The word gratitude doesn’t even come close to how my heart is feeling

nor thankfulness

nor appreciation

NOR ANY other synonym..

Today was the first day of training with the camp I’m working this summer (CentriKid .. CK3 yeaaa!)

As a staff we are studying through the book of Colossians this summer. Out of some of the core verses that have been shared, one in particular stood out to me.

Colossians 3:15-16″Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God..”

Take a moment and meditate on those words, will you?

the past few weeks have been overwhelming to say the least.. between working, hanging with family, seeing old friends, packing/prepping for camp.. I never sat down and truly thanked God. I never thanked my Father for providing me those things/opportunities that I don’t even deserve.BUT God is so very faithful and provides just what we need when we need it.. even if we don’t deserve it. This is a lesson I am learning daily. And what a lesson it is! .. for that, I am truly grateful.

Philippians 4:6 says “Do not be anious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thaksgiving, present your requests to God.”

How often do we truthfully and earnestly come before the Lord and present our requests to God with thanksgiving! This alone is shaking me to the core, because I know I don’t.. Colossians 2:6-7

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Overflowing with thankfulness.. my first thought is what on earth would this look like? Think about all the people you come into contact with each day.. can you think of one person who is just overflowing with thankfulness to God? How sweet a image would that be?

Before I go on a rant, I’m just going to end with the following food for thought:

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanksin ALL circumstanes, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus

How beautiful would it be if we all lived like this.. (myself especially included!)

shalom aleykhem~peace to you 

 

 

 

Water From a Rock

First off.. Go to the “I am His” and read  it to know a little more about me!

Water from a THE rock..

This title has a double meaning in my mind.

Stemming from chapter 17 in the book of Exodus.. it serves as a symbol to how the Lord ALWAYS provides. From the beginning of Scripture, God has continuously shown His people that He WILL provide. But, what did they do? What do WE do? They/we rebel. We rebel from the life of freedom that God offers to each one of us if only we embrace it.

#1

Exodus 12 (this continual redemption begins way before this moment. But this moment is also pivotal in regards to the deliverance of the Israelites)

-The Exodus: God delivers His own people (Israelites) from  the hands of captors and sets them free.

1. Captivity to Liberty.

THIS is what belonging to Christ is about. FREEDOM. Pure, absolute, sweet freedom.

#2

Exodus 13:21-22

-As the Lord is leading His people out of slavery, He guides them.

“After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”

How cool is that? The Bible says that He was IN the pillars guiding them. Delivering them from a life of bondage. Yet… the people rebelled once again.

Exodus 16:13-20

God sends His people manna… daily. He asks them to only take provisions fro that day –essentially asking them to trust Him.  However, they did not trust. They collected more that a day’s worth of manna and did not trust the Lord to provide for them.

This is what we do daily–we trust in ourselves and in man to provide our daily needs..instead of the One who has constantly proven that He will provide.. If only we would depend on Him..

“Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” Isaiah 2:22

Obviously there are many more ways the Lord has provided for His people.. but I am just soaking these up for now!

#3

Exodus 17: Water from a Rock

God gives Moses a way to provide water for the Israelites. Once again the Lord provides for His people. Yet, once again they rebel… Numbers 20:Water from the Rock part 2.

God specifically commands Moses to speak to the rock, but instead he strikes it twice. Disobeying God’s command and not trusting in Him. Therefore, “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” numbers 20:12

Reason #2 for “Water from a rock”

Water

In John 4 Jesus is approached by a Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus asks her for a drink and she questions Him. In return, His response is “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

Jesus offers living water.  Eternal life. Water then when you drink of it you will never be thirsty again.

Rock

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge…” Psalm 18:2

Christ is our Rock. He is the cornerstone on which we stand. The center of our lives.

Soooo.. eternal life from a Rock solid God  … hence Water from a Rock.

 

My Beloved, He longs to restore us and redeem us from a life of strenuous bondage to sin.  He desires a personal relationship with us and longs for us to be fully dependent on His provision.  To recognize that we/I am sinful and broken and that we/I am in desperate need of a Savior.  This, in turn brings a peace that is only fulfilled by the One who can bring it.

So why don’t we trust Him??

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Shalom aleykhem- Peace to you.