The Acts of the Apostles

I have been studying the Book of Acts since my Christmas break has started. It is amazing to me to read how bold the apostles were. They took every opportunity to share the truth of Jesus with anybody that would listen, even if they were in danger. Peter's transformation is amazing to me as well. I remember reading in the Gospels that he did not always have this boldness for Christ, but once Luke starts writing the book of Acts, Peter's boldness is hard to ignore.

And ofcourse, as I apply the scripture and take some time for some self reflection, I realize, that I do not make the most of every opportunity. I do not share the Gospel with boldness... so I am praying for boldness, and that God would continue to add to the number daily of those being saved!

Plans for December

It is December, and I feel like a scrooge because I am not decorating for Christmas---at all. My mom and sisters would be sooooo ashamed of me!!! I just can't justify doing some much work when I will not even be home very much to enjoy it. And our house is so stinkin small we don't even have enough room for a Christmas tree (so it will remained boxed up). I am making a promise to myself that I will decorate when I have kids, because I loved having that growing up, but I have some time before that happens. *Hopefully we will have a baby next Christmas* Jon and I are talking about adopting soon.

While my students are home and away from campus I want to make the best use of my time. Though I am excited for a break and for some refreshment, I don't want to be wasteful. Here is my list of December goals'

-Manuscript the Book of Acts (inductively study)
-Get back into an exercise routine
-Deep, thorough clean of the house
-Raising the remainder $6000 of my budget for this year
-Planning for New Student Outreach for January
-Different types of Ministry planning
-Spending lots of time with family
-Going to St. Louis for the National Staff Conference

Winter break has started

I am officially done working with students until January 22. CRAZY! Albion has a crazy long Christmas/Winter Break. I am really looking forward to spending some extended time with the Lord. He has been teaching me sooo much and I haven't made the time to process and study lots of scripture, including meditation and memorization.

Also, during my break from students, I will be spending a lot of time fund raising. I am about $6000 short for this year's budget. Please pray that God would provide for me so I can focus on student ministry.

There will be lots of time for me to prep for January, prepping the Bible Studies, planning prayer meetings and leadership meetings, doing some advertising and even working on some new student outreach things. It is sooo fun to plan new student outreach, usually January is not as popular as the beginning of the year, but it is still a good time to meet students and to invite them to fellowship events.

Time to be productive today!

Praying ACTS

Yesterday was one of the most amazing discipleship appointments that I have ever had. I didn't think it would be that great, because the two freshmen that I was meeting with didn't read and study the parts that they were supposed to this week. So we decided to talk about prayer and how they are planning to grow spiritually over Christmas break. A few weeks ago, we were studying prayer and the acronym ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication). We decided to pray through ACTS and to spend an extended time in prayer. It was completely amazing. The girls have never prayed this way before and were so excited about meeting God in that way. It was encouraging to be in prayer for an extended time with them. YEAH for discipleship, and for what God is doing on campus!