Catchin' Up

So I've come to realize that I'm terrible at updating this blog. I feel like I'm always so busy or I just forget about it and never get a chance to update it. But not today! I will update this thing! Well, I guess I'll start by letting you guys know what I've been up to for about three months haha.

• I've been studyin' it up at Columbia International University!
• I've had the privilege to work at my church's after-school program. It's definitely one of the things I look most forward to in my week.
• I have an awesome roommate! (Seriously, she's amazing)
• My dad isn't traveling to India anymore, so I get to see him more often:)
• I've made some wonderful friends!
• I changed my major from psychology to Teacher Education! I'm going to be a teacher, yay!
• I just finished my first semester of college!!! Never in my life has something gone by so fast! (and I passed all my classes!)

There's been so much going on this past few months, and I feel like so much of it was a blur, but I've enjoyed every minute of it, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

-Sarah 

A Living Testimony

Hi everyone! I hope you guys are doing well. I've been waiting to find something to write about, and I've finally found it! I hope this encourages/challenges you today.

If I had to pick one word to describe yesterday, it would have to be crazy. So many things happened yesterday. From my check engine light coming on in my car, my gear shift light flashing at me, getting ranch dressing all over my pants, leaving my student ID at my house, and the day just not going the way I thought it would. Earlier in the day, before all this happened, I read something on facebook that my friend put up(thanks Candice!), and it said "A true test of heart is how one reacts when even the little things such as a few moments of time go differently than previously anticipated." When my car started to freak out, that phrase popped into my head and in that moment I had a split second to decide how I was going to deal with it. I could: 1. freak out and ruin the rest of my day or 2. acknowledge what just happened and proactively deal with it. Thankfully, and by the grace of God, I chose option number two. If I would have freaked out about my car, my attitude would have been terrible the rest of the day, especially when everything else happened. At the end of the day, I could honestly say that I had a good day, despite everything that happened.
What I'm not trying to do is boast about my reaction to the day, because believe me, there's no way that reaction would have happened without God. There have been days when I've freaked out about the smallest things, and ruined the rest of my day. And of course, when I freak out, there are people all around me, and I really don't feel like they saw Jesus in me at that moment. Lately I've been reminded so much that my life is a living testimony of who Jesus is, and me getting angry about something as small what happened yesterday was not something Jesus would get mad at. What I am trying to do is encourage/challenge you.

• Encourage: We get the awesome opportunity to live our lives out for Christ and be a living testimony of what he's done in our life, so let's live it out to the fullest!
• Challenge: People are going to be watching your reaction when life doesn't go as expected, so let's try to be positive instead of negative(definitely still working on this one, and will be for a long time).

Just like Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, I don't have this all down and figured out, but I am pressing on and trying to daily live a life of Christ. I'm trying to take life for what it is, through the good and bad, and live a life that reflects Christ in me. It's really hard sometimes, but so worth it. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day!

"TORNADO TORNADO!!"

   So I'm sitting in my room, looking at facebook, TV's on, music's on, and all of a sudden I hear "TORNADO, TORNADO!!!" I jump up so quick and my heart starts to beat a mile a minute! I hear Logan and my mom upstairs getting Alli and I thought a tornado was comin' down our street right then and there. I was SCARED. The only reason Logan freaked out was because they announced it on TV with their beeping and buzzing, making sure everyone knew what could happen.
     What if God warned us like that when a storm or challenge is about to come into our life? I know I would be freaking out like Logan is right now. I would be scared out of my mind! I would be so worried about what's to come, when the storm would hit, if I would be ok, etc. etc. My focus and faith would be nowhere near God. I would be putting faith in myself, trying to get myself prepared. Instead of us reacting like Logan and freaking out, wondering when the storm is going to hit, we should react like the people who only had a tornado siren to warn them. They didn't have time to prepare. All they had time for was to run down into their storm cellar and brace for the worst. They didn't try and put faith in themselves, because they knew they couldn't win against a dangerous, raging storm. They ran and took refuge in their storm cellar, a place that was underground and would protect them when the storm hit. If God told us what was coming before it came, would we truly be putting our faith in Him to get us through? I know I couldn't flat out say that I would if He told me beforehand. If God had told me I was going to go through a bunch with my family, I wouldn't have put faith in Him. I would have tried to get myself ready, and no one but myself would be helping me get ready. Thankfully, God didn't do that. I found out right when it happened, and I ran and took refuge in God. No, I didn't always stay deep rooted in Him, but He was right there, ready for me to run back.

Say What?!

 "Am I really applying to CIU? I thought for sure I was going to Winthrop. God is good." Just a few thoughts that have been running through my head this week. God has continually been teaching me and guiding me so much this year.
     Last Fall I was accepted to Winthrop, and I thought for sure I was going there and majoring in Special Education. Last week at church we had Impact (like a DNOW), and on Saturday night the speaker had us get up and find a LIFEgroup leader and go pray for them. I found a leader and prayed with some other girls. After we got done, the leader hugged me and said "I'm going to miss you so much!" I told her I would miss her too. I went back to my seat and sat down, and all of a sudden I was asking myself "What if I stay in Columbia and became a LIFEgroup leader for Gateway Student Ministries?" I told myself I wouldn't be doing that because I was going to Winthrop, and could find a church up there to do that. 
     Wellll, Sunday night I went to church with some friends and the sermon was titled "All in" The speaker was talking about how we had to be all in with something God tells us to do. His last point was "The calm may not come until you commit." Right then the same thought I had on Saturday night came back. I was asking myself over and over again, asking God to give me some direction. I didn't feel peace at all. I asked a friend to pray for me after the service and then went home. Monday during school I decided I'm applying to Columbia International University.
     So that's how that all happened! God works in some awesome ways. After I decided I was applying to CIU, I felt overwhelming peace. I know this is what God wants me to do, and I'm faithful. I haven't gotten the acceptance letter yet, but again, I have faith. I'll be majoring in Youth Ministry and minoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I'm more excited about this than I ever was Winthrop, which makes me feel even better about this! I believe God has big plans for my life, and I plan on giving Him the glory. I'll leave you with this... "You make the commitment, and the peace will come." Thanks for reading!

Pray for NYC

Hey guys! So this Sunday our church is having our Global Impact Celebration. It's basically a celebration of missions and how God has been working through missions. Every year that I've been we've had tables set up around the worship center with different missionaries. Some are local, while others are from the ends of the earth. I have the priviledge of representing the Student Ministries table. This year we're going to New York City. When I heard where we were going, I was pumped about what God is capable of doing in NYC through Gateway, but I honestly didn't feel like God was calling me to NYC. I wasn't upset that we weren't going somewhere out of the USA or anything, I just didn't feel like I that's what I would be doing during my summer.
     As I've been preparing for the table and making a poster, God has been laying NYC on my heart big time. A couple of things woke me up: NYC's population is 8,391,881. Out of all those people, 2,173,498 (1/4 of the pop.) don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's almost the entire population of SC. I don't know about you, but that breaks my heart. Even though we're staying in the U.S., there are over 33 nations represented in NYC; over 3,000,000 foreign born citizens. What a diverse city! In one day, I could see over 33 different nationalities. By going to NYC, we're able to meet the nations without having to go all over the world. Yes, I know that it isn't the same, but if God uses us to bring one person to Christ, that person could talk to their relatives back home across the world about Christ. Think about the impact that one person could have on a nation! God has also put together an amazing group for our trip this summer. I absolutely know that God is going to do some amazing things in NYC, and I can't wait to see His hand work in all of it.
     Be praying for NYC! Specifically, be praying for the homeless and children in NYC. Pray for the people we'll be coming in contact with. Pray for the people we'll be serving. Pray for the people we'll be sharing Jesus with. Pray that our team would be united and focused on the Almighty King. Pray that God would do something so big there, that God is the ONLY one who can get glory. Ultimately, pray that God would work powerfully in NYC.

The glory goes to God! (and no one else!)

Three words: God is good. I feel like I have been saying that so much over the past few weeks. God has been working so much in my life and showing Himself like crazy! It's been amazing! I've felt overwhelmed, but I guess that's a good thing with God. It shows that God can't be put in a little box or in our pocket. There's a verse in a song that I've been listening to a lot lately that says "You are bigger than we let You be.." How true is that! God is so big, He can't be contained. He holds the oceans in His hands. I don't know about you, but when I think of that I'm in awe of how big God is.

Even though God is so big, He isn't distant. He's so involved in everything that we do. When Mark and Jacky left, Dr. Olshine had told us that it usually takes a Student Ministry six months to find a new Youth Pastor. If someone would have told me that Gateway would have found someone in three months, I would have never believed them. God is so good though! I am super pumped to say that Gateway has a new Youth Pastor! Tagg and his wife Susan are two amazing people who love Jesus like crazy! I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous and a little scared when Amanda told me how close they were to finding a guy, but God gave me a peace that can only come from Him. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Gateway Student Ministries. I really hope and pray that God will use the students at Gateway in an audacious and amazing way that He's the only one who will ever be able to get glory for it. There's a verse I'm reminded of when I think about all that's happened lately: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

I hope you have an amazing week! Thanks for reading!!

Feelin' the Love

I feel like I've been at a masquerade for the past few months, especially with my LIFEgroup. I had been acting like things were fine in my life, when really it felt like my world was turning upside down. I didn't want them to see me vulnerable. Looking back now, I wish they would have been able to see how much God has worked in my life and how much peace He has given me over these past couple of weeks.

Sunday night I finally told them everything that was going on with my family, and it was so hard. Not because of what is going on, I have peace about that now, but because I've kept this from them for so long. They missed out on seeing firsthand how God can take a situation that seems hopeless and make it something that brings Him so much glory. Even though I didn't tell them until Sunday night, they were awesome about it. There's so much love going on in my LIFEgroup, it's amazing. We've been together since seventh grade, and we've been through a lot, but we've gotten stronger through each situation. It really puts things into perspective and makes me see how much I love my LIFEgroup and appreciate all they do. As excited as I am about graduating, I will definitely miss my LIFEgroup! I love y'all so much!