Busyness

Forgive me... I've been lost in the busyness of life. It's been my intention to update for weeks, but alas I've simply not taken the time to sit down and do it. It seems like I've not actually rested long enough to put my thoughts together, so we'll see how this goes. Leading worship for the Alpha retreat at church went well a few weeks ago. I was very blessed by my time at the retreat. It was Spirit-filled, and a great time of learning. My weeks have been full of work and ministry. It seems like I've been driving to Naperville nearly every single day to either hang out with kids or do something else with the church. From missions meetings to leadership meetings, my schedule is never ceasing. Of course all the driving means that my bank account is pretty depleted these days so I'm focusing on staying put a lot more.

I haven't been able to make it down to Indy since February and it's definitely a bummer for me. I miss hanging out with those kids and I miss my friend. It doesn't look like I'll make it down anytime soon and it'll be like a full 2 month span that I wasn't able to make it down before we leave for vacation. April 16th I say goodbye to Illinois for a while and I get to go to Indy for the weekend and then from there we leave for Florida for a week. I'm SO looking forward to that... a time away with friends, relaxing sounds amazing right about now. Who wouldn't want to sit on a beach and play guitar right??

Anyways, last night was the first Wheatland Cafe that raised funds for Uganda. (more photos on facebook) The focus of the evening was worship and it turned out to be a really chill time with some awesome people. The current youth worship team that I direct did a fabulous job!! I'm SO proud of them. Ben Thomas played too it was a major blessing and honor to have him involved. He and his wife, Joy are very supportive of me and I just love them so much. I mentioned before that I was going to have the youth worship team reunite from when I played on it and we did. It was so cool to be leading with all those guys again. I do have to admit that because of our schedules and locations, we weren't able to practice at all before going on. Of course playing guitar next to John Dudich makes me nervous because my skill level so slight next to him, but I feel like it didn't matter in the end. Everything went as well as it could, not having practiced. The only thing that I didn't like was that I sang... the thing is, my mic was really loud and it was hard to hear John, Carley, and Laura. On that team of people, my mic should have been turned down the most. I rarely sang on the team in high school, I mainly played rhythm guitar because that's what was needed. I'm just not a confident singer, so it's stressful for me to be loudest. Regardless though, in the grand scheme of things it's doesn't matter and we had fun. I'm really looking forward to the show in May because some guys that Trent knows are in a band and they're coming up from Indy to play. It'll be fun to be able to just relax and not worry about what my responsibilities are.

Fundraising seems to be going fairly well right now. I'm more than halfway funded and can't even believe how awesome people are. The Lord is prompting people to give and they are being faithful in responding to Him. I'm being covered with prayer and it's definitely being felt. What a difference it makes when people are praying! Truly. Having all of this time to think about heading back to Uganda is really great. It was so fast last time, the decision to go was made and I left. I've been preparing for this trip since returning last June. Even in the busyness of life as of late, I've been able to process through some of the thoughts running through my mind... the excitement of getting back, the fear of the unknown, the heart-breaking sadness of leaving those I love, and so many more. Above all of those things though, something greater is looming. The fact is that I'm going because God has called me to go. There is a need amongst the people I get to interact with. It's a need that the Lord continues to equip me to help meet. Jesus. All of the fears, the excitement, and unknown, all of those things are completely covered by Jesus and the task at hand.
During the sermon 2 weeks ago, Pastor Scott said something that has stuck in my mind. "Jesus is relentless in His ministry." I love the present tense that Scott used. Jesus IS. First of all... SO true! Second, what an awesome example of how to approach the ministry I'm in now and the ministry that awaits in East Africa. Relentless, never ceasing, always moving forward. In the end, I would love to hear Jesus say, "Christina was relentless in her ministry." Even when I get tired and grow weary, my prayer is that I would still be relentless. No excuses. Through His relentless ministry, the way Jesus related with people and loved on people sticks out to me. During the Last Supper Jesus and the Disciples are hanging out and during the meal Jesus tells them of the betrayal that is about to take place. According to the Message translation, "the one Jesus loved dearly" aka John was leaning on Jesus. I imagine John had his head resting on Jesus' shoulder with affection. It seems like such a small act, but the level of comfort among Jesus and the disciples was great. For one man to recline on another man is not something common in our culture. There's great love there. When my niece, Alexandria who's almost 3 comes and sits down and says she wants to "cuddle me" there's no greater feeling. She knows that she loves me and wants to be near me. John loves Jesus and wants to be near Him. Jesus loved John dearly, just as He loved the others dearly. Jesus wants us, especially in our relentless ministry, to climb into His lap, just because we want to be near Him. Because we love Him. I would say that relentless ministry can only happen when we truly climb onto His lap and lean on Him. Amen?

So anyways... things I'm looking forward to: the youth being on spring break and fun hang out times, regular Sunday school curriculum, RENT with Ashley, Holy week and Easter, Selah concert with Trent, time in Indy at New Hope Pres, Florida beach vacation, a new tattoo, Carley's baby shower with my bffs, Haiti mission trip with WSC, WGM 100 years Celebration, New York mission trip with New Hope PC, and Birmingham mission trip with WSC! So much is happening in the next 5 months before I leave!!

Please continue praying for support to come in and for partnerships. Pray for Uganda, Heritage International School, and World Gospel Mission. Pray for health safety. Thanks you guys. Please let me know how I can be praying for you. Much love!

Jesus WANTS to

When you've read something over and over again and hear sermons pertaining to Jesus it's easy to think you've got it all figured out. At least for me. For a while now I've had this tendency to skip over the Gospels because I've had this egotistical assumption that I knew all the stories. How silly to think that I had it all figured out. For the past two weeks I've really been enjoying hearing from the Lord while reading through the Gospels. I've been thinking a lot about the character of God, of Jesus and how He relates to His people.
From my time working at the Christian bookstore I acquired a copy of the Message, just the New Testament on CD. As you all know I spend more time in my car than anywhere else, so it's been a major blessing to have it. When I sit down to read I usually read out of the NIV or the NLT, but hearing the Message translation is pretty refreshing.
Anyways, so I took to really listening to each story and observing Jesus' actions and reactions. I've been looking at the way He interacts with people and their responses to Him. One story that I'm sure we've all heard before, or at least have some recollection of reading over is Jesus healing the leper. There's an account in each of the first 3 gospels: Matthew chapter 8, Mark chapter 1, and Luke chapter 5. So as I'm listening to the New Testament, Message translation in my car each time this story told one main thing sticks out for me. The leper kneels before Jesus and tell Him that if He WANTS to, Jesus can heal his body. How does Jesus respond? "I want to. Be clean."
Jesus WANTS the man to be well. He doesn't just heal him because that's what the Son of God is supposed to do. He does it because he WANTS to. I looked at the NIV just to get another idea of Jesus' willingness. In the NIV the word used is willing. "If you are willing, you can make me clean." "I am willing. Be clean!"
Now it doesn't strike me as strange that Jesus does something for someone because He's done more for me than I deserve. He DOES lots. During His whole ministry He was doing. What strikes me is the way the man approaches Him. He is humble... viewed as a lowly person in society, if he's even really a part of society. He knows though, that Jesus needs to merely speak the words and it will be. "If you want to, you can make me clean." I also feel like he was a bold man. For someone who doesn't have a high standing the in the world, he sure does walk right up to Jesus talk to Him. Of course those of "high standings" looked down upon the fact that Jesus kept the company of mere peasants, but that didn't bother this man. He knew that Jesus was the one place he could find refuge. Jesus wanted to make the man clean. He wanted him to be well.
Jesus wants to make us all clean. Another word for want is desire. His desire is for us to be clean and well. He is willing to make us clean. He is willing... it's His will for that to be so. How powerful are those words? I think it's a very big deal to remember what Jesus WANTS. To know what He wants we need to be in His Word, getting to know Him better. I guess that seems elementary, but how easy is it to throw a fit when you don't understand what God is doing? To understand more about the Jesus wants things for you, read your bible.
What does Jesus want for you? What does He want to DO for you? What is He willing to do? Pray for discernment, be in the word, be in constant communication with Him. Recently I've been feeling like God has been really telling me to pray for certain people in my life. At my job my hands stay busy, but my head is given freedom to roam so during those times I often find myself thinking about people and my relationships with them. More often than not I get consumed by my own thoughts. The imagination is a funny thing. So the Lord has asked me to pray for those people that run through my mind each day. instead of just thinking, praying. So now when people cross my mind, who have a tendency to take up much of my thought life, I pray for them. The Father loves hearing the prayers of His people and the prayers for His people. He loves when you talk to Him. He's captivated by you.
Onto update-land. The purity night at church went much better than I could have dreamed. The girls heard what we had to say and the Spirit was moving in that place. My youth worship team was blessed beyond belief by John's talk with them. Worship team has been a bit stressful for me as of late. Would you be praying for the kids and for my leadership? Other than that, I was privileged to go down in southern Illinois to visit with the Hopsons last weekend. They were in Uganda with me last year and they're getting ready to head back in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to spend time with them before they left the States. They'll be in Uganda for the next 3.5 years! It was a major blessing and totally refreshing to spend time with them. They're really like my own family so it was very relaxing and chill. We played laser tag, jammed on the guitar, and D made me my favorite food. I love them so much!
I'm SO glad it's March because it means Spring is on the way. More daylight is sounding really good right now! I'm beyond excited for Spring Break in Florida and hanging out with fun people! Fundraising is moving along fairly well. It's not easy for me to be relaxed about it, but God is ever so patient with my impatience, thankfully. I have been hanging out with some amazing women from Wheatland Salem who are very encouraging. I'm blessed to be in ministry with them and love the way that they challenge me in my daily walk. I have the opportunity to lead worship for the Alpha retreat at church coming up here soon. I'm also REALLY excited because the next two Wheatland Cafes (local band shows at church, outreach for the youth) are raising support for Uganda (which is a total blessing!!) and the first one is a worship night. SO, wanting to be involved I've asked everyone who was on the youth worship team with me in high school to come back and play a set! It's gonna be the first time in almost 10 years that we've all played/sang together! It's so exciting!! I love them all. :)
How can I be praying for you this week? Email me concerns and praises! Much love!