Encouragement!

Okay well I want to start off by saying that this weekend came at the right time in my life!! I loved how we all connected and meshed so well!! We all trusted, encouraged, and loved on each other. It was AMAZING!!

Now reading this blog has got me so pumped up for this summer!

Now on to the good stuff...

In Monday's reading I loved how it challenged me to think about stories of other God's...In the stories i have heard of other god's none of them have ever "tried" anything like ours has. Our God challenged the Egyptians, brought the Israelites to the Holy Land, and saved them!! But they still took God for granite!! This reminds me of me at times.
I mean how many times has God saved me?
Too many times to count.
How often do I forget to thank God or do what he says?
Often.
God is a crazy huge God. He is crazy enough to send young adults out on a lake to bring his word to Jr. high and high school students! that's a crazy God!!

Then in the selection for meditation. The only thing that kept coming to my mind was humility. humility. humility. It's hard not to bring attention to yourself and say "Look what I did! aren't I great?!" God calls us to be humble. Jesus humbly served everyone he came into contact with. When he would make the blind see he would basically say do not go around and tell everyone what I have done. He did not want to draw attention to himself!! This is the model we are supposed to follow!! Its a good reminder for me over the summer.

Then Tuesday's reading...
Paul is this amazing Christian, that I don't know about you but I have always looked up to. He went through so much persecution and pain to live for God. Before he started following Jesus he was the pharisees pharisee. He was in the highest village etc. etc. Needless to say he had an amazing resume. BUT EVEN HE ADMITS HE ISN'T PERFECT!! "Not that I [Paul] have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Ahhh this is awesome. Even someone as good as Paul admits he isn't PERFECT! This is encouraging to me because this reminds me that God is going to save me from my sins and help me achieve that ultimate goal! I think Eric said it earlier that the ultimate goal is GOD!! He is the prize...meeting him and being in his prescense is the goal!! That's so awesome. God is helping us achieve him and what he has planned for us! Woot! We have God on our side!

Okay Finally! I loved 2nd Corinthians! "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." This is so encouraging!!! God frees us. As we discussed over the weekend in order to be free we must free our souls into the hands of God and let him mold us into what he wants us to be. It is no longer about us but about the lives of the campers we will be touching!!
Woot!!
Hope everyone is having an awesome week!!!