A new committment to my blog

I've decided that I'm going to do my best to blog once a week. I want to document what God is doing in my life and in the lives of those around me so that I can go back and be reminded of how very blessed I am. So....here goes....

This past weekend BJ and I went back to Clayton Crossings to help Chris with another ISO Discipleship Now weekend. BJ lead the band and I sang with him and lead a high school small group. There was one major difference between this year and last year when we went....we took 4 of our own students from Cross Culture. Let me just pause for a second to acknowledge the Mach 3 speed at which our lives are going. A year ago we had no idea that God was working out our dream to work with students full-time. Student ministry has been BJ and I's passion for many years and God managed to work it out, in his perfect timing for us to continue in music ministry, while also taking on the C2 students. This alone is HUGE and reason to Praise the Lord! I take this fact for granted wayyyy too much.

We had a interesting weekend, but as always, in spite of ourselves, God showed up to meet with us. And again, as usual, my heart was far more touched than that of any of the students sitting under my teaching. I was blown away over and over at the maturity and grace of OUR students. And yes, I say OUR because I am so very proud that I get to be an observer of these kids lives...it is an honor to say the least.

Here are the 3 things that totally blew me away:
*The lone boy we took with us is precious. He is the lone teenager that helps every Sunday set our church up from scratch. His service continued over the weekend as he helped BJ with anything BJ needed and after getting into bed after 1am on Sunday morning, he was up at 6am to again help set up C2. He did this all with a smile and humble heart. What more could we ask for, this teen is showing a self-less desire to serve and see people come to know Jesus...I can't say that for myself half the time.

*We all know that girls can be difficult and the group of teenage girls I had this weekend are no exception. Our 3 girls extended continuous grace and positive attitudes to the other girls, even when it was not deserved. I told them over and over how VERY proud I was, they made choices over and over to honor God rather than simply react or judge others.

*During the final Saturday night worship there were many tears. I knew that God was speaking to the hearts of my girls...so in the car on the way home I asked if they would like to share what God was doing in their lives. One of my girls, the quietest of them all, said the following: "I have never felt God speak so clearly to me and He said that I needed to get on my knees for the students of Clayton". I was blown away....while most of the people in the building were speaking to God about their own hearts and lives, Hannah was sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the darkness that is consuming many of the students in Clayton.

So I said all of that to say that I am more in love with Jesus and ministering in His name than ever before. For the 1st time in a long time, I am TRULY grateful of the ministry that God allows us to be a part of. As Pastor Clay often says..."We get to do this" and I couldn't be happier about it.

Next week I'll blog about other milestones....Devlan's 1st crush and Drewdie's 1st baseball games!