Summer Has Come and Gone.

At the beginning of this Summer I prayed, I prayed that this Summer I would grow and mature in Christ. Now, Summer is just about gone. It's been a good one, I had a lot of good times. And as I consider all those thoughts & prayers I had at the beginning of the season, I feel God has taught me so much. He's opened my eyes to a lot of truth and wisdom. I had been struggling with this particular sin in my life, it had really taken control of my life, and I hated it. But the truth is, I hadn't been taking my sin seriously... I am the queen of excuses. I could make an excuse for just about any situation.. I would often find myself doing that with my sin, making excuses. But when I do that, I am making excuses to God. And I knew it was wrong yet, I continued to do it. Yesterday, it really hit me, I need to STOP!! I need to start taking my sin seriously, I need to blot it out of my life, get rid of anything preventing me from loving my Lord and Savior. So, right then & there... I prayed. I poured out all that I was feeling to God. I told Him I was sorry and needed forgiveness. And He gave it (1 John 1:9) I felt this tremendous burden come off of me, like I had been released from my bondage to sin, which I had. This Summer has been awesome. I met some amazing people, I learned so much, and I had tons of fun in all of it. I'm looking forward to the end of this Summer, I'm excited for the year to come, excited to see what God will teach me in the future. And I do believe that I have grown and matured in Christ this Summer and I'm looking forward to growing and maturing even more in years to come. Thank you God for all you have taught me this Summer, You are Great :)

"Oh How He Loves"

Well, July has come and gone. So many fun and exciting things have happened these few past weeks. This last week, I was up at camp Pinewood in McCall. Being up at camp last week was such an awesome experience. I learned so much and had so much fun with old and new friends. Camp Has always been so important to me, having a week just to focus on God and His grace and mercy, contemplating His never ending love, worshiping Him, singing praises to the God who created the universe. Coming back home, I've realized that I don't always focus on Him in my daily routine. We need to give Him the glory and honor, because it is only because of Him that we have life. He is the source of everything on this earth, and I often forget that. It's so easy to become selfish and arrogant, thinking that we are all that and a bag of potato chips. We get so caught up in ourselves that we forget that our Lord, the One who created the entire universe, is in control. And that it is only because of His grace that we live. I am thankful. One of the things I really enjoyed up at camp was the worship. All the songs that we sung were wonderful. I really tried to just think about the words we were singing, let them sink in and teach me. One of the songs, "Oh how he loves me" was one of my favorites. As you read the lyrics, let His love just overwhelm you. His love for us is incredible.

He is Jealous of me.
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are
and how great your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us
Oh, oh how He loves
Oh how he loves us all.

We are His portion, He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes.
If His grace is an ocean
We're all sinking.

And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart beats violently inside my chest.
And I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way..

oh how he loves us oh
oh how he loves us
how he loves us all
how he loves

yeah he loves us
oh how he loves us
oh how he loves us