December Recap!

Wow, it's been awhile since i've updated...

First i should start off saying where our team is going for OUTREACH!
On Jan. 14th our team of 10 will be heading off to Nicaragua for 3 weeks and then to Costa Rica for the last 3 weeks! I'm getting pumped for what God has in store for us during those 6 weeks in Central America!

Well here's a recap of whats been going on here in St. Croix!

December 1-5
December seemed to fly by! The first week our speaker was Chet Ingram and he spoke on Surrendering our Rights. This was a very moving week for me as we all evaluated who was sitting on the throwns of our hears... and i found that in some area's i didn't have Christ sitting on the thrown. I was reminded who's story i was in and how God chose me to fit into his story, not the other way around, having God fit into my life. This means giving God full control of all area's of my life! We have to be willing to lay down everything in order to follow God! And the awesome thing is what follows--> there is freedom in surrendering something to God. As long as we are honestly surrendering and giving God control, He is excited and He will bless you for your honest surrenderence!
Chet broke down "Rights" we need to lay down into four categories:
Relinquishing our rights to Fear, Anger, Pleasure of the Flesh, and Attitudes.
I realized i had things from each category that i had never fully given them to God. One big area was Fear. Fear of what people thought of me and also a fear of my future. There was such freedom in declaring these right surrendered fully to God. But the process doesn't end there... Laying down our rights in a constant surrendering of our lives to God.

December 8-12
Relationships by the wonderful Dean Sherman videos! His key phase that will be forever inbeded in my head: "Relationships are the root of every problem in the world!"
When you think of it, it so true... There is a break down between God & People, which is sin. Then there is a break down between People & People and there is a break down between People and Themselves!
Romans 16: 3b says " Don't think you are better than you really are." Two big problems in relationships are: someone is thinking more highly of themselves = PRIDE and our inability to accept differences. God created everyone differently for a reason--> so we could depend and relate with others! I felt like God was really stressing these two points for me to examine and see how they are causing problems in my own life.
Instead of being prideful and not accepting differences God has called us to be devoted to each other in Brotherly love! In order for a relationship to take place there needs to be commitment. A commitment to love and serve each other is a way that is valuing to the other person --> deepens relationships!

I'll wrap things up by another quote that Dean Sherman said that really made me think: Your Relationships are only as deep as they are open and only as strong as they are broken."