It's my birthday!

So today is my 22nd birthday. It has been a beautiful, quiet, and easy day. I praise the Lord for the life He has blessed me with on this earth. Hearing from people around me, I am so blessed to have a roof over my head, here at college! that my parents provide for me! My parents aren't drunks or have cancer. We never had to struggle to live and we had the resources at our fingertips for whatever we needed. I am so grateful for that. Sometimes I forget. And looking back, since I've had such a great 22 years, I want to make life easier for others. I want to help students read when they've been told they will never amount to anything. I want to lead young girls to Christ when they've thought their lives were over. I want to show my husband and children what unconditional love is.
Thank you to those who have shared my life with me!
In Christ,
Christine ><>

Baptism

A little over a week ago I was baptized! I had been praying for this moment for about two years now. I felt this was perfect timing right after Beach Project. I learned so much and grew so much at Project and I wanted to show the church that I was committed to it and to my Lord. I was baptized in the Tennessee River by Dr. Tom Phillips of my church, New Beginning. Also baptized was the girl I keep after school, Mary Makensie Berry. Both of our families were there and some of my sorority sisters. I was an amazing feeling being dunked. I didn't feel darkness overcome me like I usually do when I go underwater; I felt light. Rising to the surface, I remembered long ago how Jesus died so that my sins could be washed away.
Praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!

Psalm 51
In Christ,
Christine ><>

Home

So I've been home in Huntsville for a little over a week. It hasn't been too hard adjusting back to this life but I definately miss Beach Project. It was a wonderful experience that I will cherish forever. Reflecting back on it, it was a hard summer! I truly was the hardest summer that I've loved. I learned a lot, grew a lot, strengthened friendships I already had, and made new friends. I'm excited to see how the Lord is going to use me this semester at UNA and how I can apply what I've learned to college life in Florence. I'm on the leadership team for CO at UNA and we had a long meeting one of our last nights in FL and now I am so excited about what is going to happen according to God's holy will this year at UNA.
I am moving into an apartment tomorrow with 2 of my best friends and sorority sisters that were also at Project. It 's gonna be so great living with people that experienced Project as well so we can keep each other's fires going.
I am going to Washington D.C. this Monday and will be there for 5 days to visit high school friends. I'm nervous about money and I've never traveled alone before but it will be exciting!
Thank you to all of you who supported me financially and with your prayers this summer. You don't know how much it means to me!
Thank you and God Bless!
In Christ,
Christine ><>

Sharing Our Faith

I learned this summer about how sharing the gospel is an absolute necessity for our faith. Last Monday, I took my girls to Harborwalk Village in Destin, a tourist hot-spot. We had D group there about missions and evangelism and then I said, “Let’s go share!” They didn’t seem that excited about it but it’s in those moments God will rejuvenate our spirit for evangelism once we go share. We walked around for awhile looking and praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit to show us someone we could talk to. Nothing. My two girls said they had to go to the restroom. I said “I have to share my faith.” So I split off so I could work alone. I found one lady sitting down on a bench with a dog. Perfect setting and conversation starter. We got into conversation about why she was in Destin, her family, and what she does for a living. I told her why I was down here but her family came to get her before we got into a spiritual conversation. I was disappointed, but God can use any situation for His glory. Then I went to a boardwalk right outside a restaurant where people wait for their table. There is a game outside to keep people occupied while waiting: a hook is posted on the rail and a ring on a string. The person swings the string to try to hook the ring on the hook. The Holy Spirit gave me a perfect analogy. I went up to a group of teenage girls and talked to them about the game. I asked them if they hooked the ring yet and they said no. I took the opportunity to talk to them about sin. I said “I feel like that’s my life; I can never get it right.” I preceded to tell them about the archery term “sin” which actually means “missing the mark.” I then told them about a Savior I have that saves me from that sin. I asked if they were involved in a church back home and they said yes and told me about it. They got into conversation with my two girls about where they were from and then had to go. I saw them talking to their parents as they were leaving looking in our direction, most likely about their encounter with us. I hope and pray we got their wheels turning.
The following Wednesday, four of us from UNA went to go play laser tag with 2 of my co-workers. It was so fun! Afterwards, we went to Whataburger to get free drinks and sat in a booth for 2 hours and had a gospel conversation! It was awesome! I could feel the Holy Spirit there the whole time! He placed the answers on my heart for the hard questions they would ask. One kid was being really immature but I got a text from him later that said “Thank you for giving me a new perspective on life. I love you and am so glad we met.” The other guy thanked me later too. It was such a high for us UNA kids! One of the UNA kids, Cole, told me later that he had a dream the night before that he shared his faith with someone. He thanked me for inviting him to come; he really needed that. That’s my point. I think half the reason God has us share our faith is to increase ours! My faith is twice as strong each time I walk away from a gospel conversation!
The Lord is so good!
In Christ,
Christine ><>

Almost Done!

There's a reason it's been so long since I've updated. It's been crazy around here! I finished my last day at Whataburger last week. I went to turn in my uniform today and my manager begged me to come back next year. She said I really made an impact around there, even on the Area Supervisor and District Manager. I truly do love my co-workers and it's hard to leave them.
We cleaned up Project today, moving our furniture out and their furniture back in. Tonight we're going out to eat as D groups and then having a slide show and worship. We leave in the morning!
I'll write again with more details.
In Christ,
Christine ><>

Becoming “un-numb”

What God has shown me the most this summer is that as a Christian culture, we have become numb to the phrase “Jesus died for my sins.” One weekend, I heard it and questioned myself: What does that really mean?
People in America base Christianity around themselves. When people say “God loves me” they are making themselves the object of Christianity. David Platt writes in Radical, “The message of biblical Christianity is not ‘God loves me, period,’ as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make him-his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness¬-known among all nations.’ Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is.”
What I’ve really been learning about this summer is what the cross really means. As a Christian culture, we typically see the cross as a sign of God’s love. But it’s so much more than that. C. J. Mahaney writes in Living the Cross Centered Life, “For Jesus, the cross will bring incomparable and unprecedented suffering of wrath and abandonment.” When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He wasn’t crying out to God and sweating blood because He was afraid to die; He knew He was about to face all of God’s wrath toward sin poured out on Him. When Jesus prayed for God to “remove this cup,” He was pleading for the Lord to save Him from His wrath. What is this “cup?” It is a reference to the wrath of God for our sins. Isaiah 51:17 says “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up O Jerusalem, you who have drank from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” In the words of Mahaney, “This cup contains the full vehemence and fierceness of God’s holy wrath poured out against all sins, and we discover in Scripture that it’s intended for all of sinful humanity to drink.” When Jesus prays in the garden, He is not worried about dying; He is in fear of the agony of being abandoned by His Father. Habakkuk 1:13 says “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…” God is so holy and so perfect that He cannot even look at sin. When Jesus called out “My God my God, why have You forsaken me?” He felt God look away because He could not look at all of the sin on Jesus.
So what does “Jesus died for my sins” really mean? “Bearing our sins meant utter distress of soul as Jesus confronted total abandonment and absolute wrath from His Father on the cross, a distress and an abandonment and a rejection we cannot begin to grasp” (C. J. Mahaney). What should this mean to us Christians? Jesus freely took on ALL of our sins, past, present, future of all humanity past, present, and future “so that He could look down on us and whisper our names and say ‘I drain this cup for you-for you who have lived in defiance of Me, who have hated Me, who have opposed Me. I drink it all…for you’” (Mahaney). And accepting this gift of mercy and grace isn’t just a prayer and commitment to a church. When we say this is all you have to do to become a Christian, we are reducing the Gospel. It makes Jesus look so puny and desperate for us to come to Him. Even though God does draw us to Him and pursue us, does Jesus need our acceptance? Don’t we need Him?!
So what is a proper response to the Gospel? Radical, reckless surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is. With that comes a new heart; a heart that desires God and only God. Casting Crowns sings a song that asks the question “What does it mean to know God?” The answer: to want to know Him more. We get God. That is enough.
This summer has inspired me to live a radical life for the Lord and for others. I am totally turning my back on the American Dream, thinking I can make a life for myself without help. I need help and it only comes from my Savior. I want to give my life away and make disciples of all nations. I want to teach in inner city schools where they are in desperate need of the Gospel. I want to teach in orphanages overseas. I want to disciple young women my whole life. I want to disciple my children so I can send them out to make disciples. I want to stand before the Lord and for Him to tell me “Well done good and faithful servant.”
So I challenge you: How do you define Christianity? What does “Jesus died for my sins” mean to you? Have you surrendered your life to Christ or to yourself and the American dream?
Stay tuned. Only 2 weeks left.
In Christ,
Christine ><>

God's Blessing

God has truly opened my eyes to His blessings this summer. Last weekend, the Lord rained His blessings down on us all weekend. First, at work Saturday morning, one of the girls at Project received a $100 tip from a man who wanted to bless others since God blessed Him. That afternoon, a man that runs a ministry gathering food from grocery stores and bakeries brought us bread and pastries. In turn, a few of us gave the bread to a couple homeless people in Ft. Walton. Then that night, a group of 10 of us went to see a movie. A lady caught us as we were getting in line to buy tickets and told us she was giving away tickets to the movie we were about to see. She had the exact number we needed. Not one more or one less. The next morning at church, Kristen asked a church member if he knew someone that could help her fix her car window. He suggested her to go to the car dealership and use her insurance. In response to Kristen saying that her deductable was expensive, he gave her the money she needed to get her window fixed. God just blew me away. When you take what He’s blessed you with and bless others, He will continue to bless you.
“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17