Some thoughts on Transformation...

I shared this with my church in Cincinnati. I figured I should post it on my blog as well.

If I had to sum up this school year with one word, I would choose: Integrity. Throughout my time here in Long Beach, I have begun to experience the fullness of this definition, which is, “The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished; a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.” I love that this definition describes what God desires for our lives.

One verse that I have strongly clung to throughout this year is Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

The parts that stand out to me are in verse 3 where it says, “to grant to those who mourn a beautiful headdress instead of ashes…” I love this because I see a picture of God transforming the broken and hard places of my heart with His truth. The verse continues on to state God’s reasoning for doing this, “that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” God desires to be glorified through my life and must do a work within me that transforms, redeems and brings freedom. As I continue to work with the Navigators, I desire to share this same message with the women I meet on college campuses.

There is one woman that I have had the best time hanging out with and getting to know this year. She has a church background but never really took ownership of her faith until our spring break trip to the Grand Canyon. As she was staring out at the vast beauty of God’s creation, it became evident how much God is fighting for her and wants to personally impact her life. Since our trip, she daily spends time reading the Word and meeting with God. It is a complete joy to watch the Lord transform this young woman and to see her receive a deeper understanding of how Christ not only brings her salvation, but also provides a healing transformation in her life.

I wanted to thank you all for praying for me this year. As I said before, I've watched God transform and do an incredible work. Recently, He gave me a new verse that I think provides a perfect description into "inner healing"...

Psalm 62:6 says, "He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken." Things from the past... past sin or brokeness... when those things are touched upon in the present, they tend to hurt. They tend to cause us to react or bring us back to places we thought we would NEVER go back to. I see the healing power in this because those things will not be what I stand upon. I will stand firmly upon the rock of Christ who is my salvation and my fortress. I won't be shaken by anything.

Please continue to pray as the Lord and I keep walking through this process of healing.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for praying.

End of the Year?!

Last night was our last Nav Nite of the year. Two more weeks and this school year is over...

The end of semester Nav Nites are quite possibly my favorites. Each time, we invite the students to come up and share how they've seen God at work throughout the year. I am amazed by our wonderful and very active God. He has used His Word, hardship, brokeness, joy, scripture memory, boldness and many other things to invoke change in the lives of my friends at CSULB. Some shared about the hardship of the semester and the various lessons they have learned by walking through trial. Others shared about finding joy in just about every situation. Some even shared how fun/challenging it has been to attempt to figure out God and what He's doing in our lives. I think everyone who shared was incredibly thankful to have found the Navigators and to have made life lasting/impacting friendships.

I, too, have been blessed to be apart of the Long Beach Navigators. My life has been drastically impacted by the faith of my amazing friends at CSULB.

Psalm 37:4-7 was mentioned. It says,

"Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of
your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him, and He will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers
in his own way, over the man who carries out evil devices!"

One student shared his love for this verse because it talks about what deep commitment to the Lord looks like and what it does for us. We can trust in God because He will act; God impacts our heart and desires to become more like His; good must come from being committed to the Lord and following His way; at times, we must wait patiently for God but when He moves, it's always amazing.

I love that these thoughts are coming from our students.

Thank you friends for being apart of my life. I love watching the Lord work and transform you!