Girl’s Weekend in Mexico!
I was lucky enough to spend this last weekend in Mexico with some great friends. My friend, Emma, has the most beautiful house outside a little town called Primo Tapia just south of Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo. It was an awesome weekend of fun and fellowship and just encouraging one another as friends.
Saturday we just lazied around in town and at the house then went to dinner at a little hotel restaurant called La Fonda. I had really good fillet mignon and mashed potatoes, but it was kind of weird eating steak and potatoes in a totally decked out Mexican restaurant. After dinner we went back to the house and I learned how to play Texas Hold ‘Em. It was pretty fun, and now I think I’m ready to go head-to-head with James Bond in Casino Royale. Haha! 
Although Saturday was really enjoyable, Sunday was my favorite part of the weekend. After brunch, we went to church at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. It was amazing! Worship was in both English and Spanish. There is nothing like singing praises to our wonderful Savior, looking around you and realizing that even though there is a language barrier these people around us are brothers and sisters in Christ and we are united by the cross. It was really cool 
The sermon was on unity among believers. The pastor taught through unity in the church, unity in marriage, and unity in friendships and how it‘s all possible because of our Savior on the cross. We thought it was the perfect message for our girls weekend together in Mexico. After church we all sang worship songs together in car all the way back to the house.
After chilling at the house for a bit and packing all our stuff up, we went grocery shopping and stopped by Grace Children’s Home to surprise George, Stacy, and the orphans with some groceries and supplies we had brought for them. The kids were so excited to see us but were really confused because our group from FBC wasn’t supposed to visit until next Saturday. They invited us into the girls house and we got watch High School Musical in Spanish with the kids. It was so funny! All the kids had the songs and dances memorized and were performing them for us in the living room! We enjoyed hanging out with them for a while then had to say our goodbyes and head back across the border to come home.
All-in-all it was an amazing weekend. I got to enjoy time with some wonderful friends, be encouraged at a great church, and visit my little orphans that I absolutely love! God definitely blessed me through our girls weekend in Mexico
Back to Basics
I was reading through a book last night, and I got to a chapter that was all about the Gospel (very cool!). It was talking about how so many times we look at the Gospel as the beginning of our faith, and we fail to realize that it’s actually the center of our faith. We overlook the beauty and importance of the Gospel because we feel we have reached a place in our faith where we have outgrown it (how foolish!). It brought up the verse John 3:16, and suggested we really stop and look over it and see it for what it truly says rather than just an easy verse that children memorize in Awana groups.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
When you really stop and think over the words of this verse it’s amazing! The God of the universe – the God who made us from the dust of the earth – loved us so much [agape love] that He sent His only Son – His precious Son who has been one with Him for all eternity as part of the trinity – that we might believe in Him so that we won’t perish [be destroyed] but have eternal [perpetual, constant, abundant] life.
How cool is that! What a great and glorious God we serve, and may we never forget that or the beauty of His Gospel!
Guarding Hearts
This week at Kaleo we heard from Luke 12:35-48. This passage is a parable that Jesus told about being ready for His second coming. He likens it to servants who are left in charge of the house while the master is away, and speaks on the consequences of those who are prepared or unprepared.
Between that message and conversations I had with some of my best friends last night, God showed me the importance of keeping watch over my heart. In the passage in Luke it talks about the manager whom the master has set over his household while he is away. Since Christ dwells in us He is the master of the house (our hearts), and He has placed us (the managers) in charge of the house/our hearts while He is away. We are responsible for guarding the house/our hearts until Christ’s return, and we can choose to be faithful and guard them well or not. It reminded me of a passage in Proverbs:
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” – Proverbs 4:23-27
By guarding our hearts/minds/words/ and keeping our eyes focused on Christ, we will be prepared when our Glorious Master returns!
Worth Living For?
In Kaleo last night we were asked to complete the statement, “My life is worth living if I know I will have ______________.” I didn’t think much of it at first, but then God started poking at my heart and revealing some things to me. Funny how that always works, huh?
If I can be honest, my answer was “My life is worth living if I know I will have job security.” For some reason I have a tendency to idolize my job. I have no idea why, I don’t even like working most of the time (does anyone, really?), but it seems with every message on idolatry or treasures, my answer is always “my job.”
The more I listened to the message and thought about my answer, though, the more ridiculous it seemed to me. My job never took my sins from me. It never died for me (on the contrary, I seem to kill myself for it! Lol!). It never cleansed me in it’s blood so that I might have a reconciled relationship with God. It’s never done anything for me, except deprive me of sleep, and yet I still place it high in my heart.
After the message last night, though, I was reminded that my job is just here-and-now, something temporary, and if I treasure it I will be disappointed because it will fade so quickly. My heart and mind need to be set on the Everlasting God, who will never disappoint or fade away. It showed me the necessity of treasuring Christ as my all and reminded me of Philippians 3:7-8, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
So what’s my answer now? My life is worth living if I know I will have Christ always
Top Five – Heather tagged me!
1. 5 things under $5 that I couldn’t live without
- Starbucks Peppermint Mocha
- Highlighters
- Lip gloss/chapstick
- Tissues
- Gum
2. 5 Favorite Movies
- G.I. Jane
- Master and Commander
- Hitch
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
- Stargate
3. 5 Baby names I love
- Ezekiel
- Titus
- Talitha
- Hayden
- Evelyn
4. 5 Songs I could listen to over and over again.
- “Mighty to Save”
- “Wondrous Love”
- “Tears of the Saints” by Leeland
- “Vertigo” by U2
- “Jesus Freak” by DC Talk
5. 5 People who have influenced me in a positive way
- My Mom
- Jean Mueller
- Jake & Lauren Dietrich
- Erick Cobb
- Armando Garcia
6. 5 things that are always in my purse
- Wallet
- Lip gloss
- Gum
- Ponytails/Bobby pins
- Cell phone
7. 5 moments that have changed my life forever
- Accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior
- Going on my Guatemala missions trip
- Joining in the Marine Corps (and then deciding against it)
- My grandma passing away
- Attending Kaleo, then FBC
8. 5 Obsessions I have now
- Drinking coffee
- Mascara
- Texting
- The beach
9.5 places I would like to go.
- The Bahamas
- Tahiti
- Africa
- Peru
- Australia
10. 5 appliances or kitchen tools I cannot live without
- Blender/Smoothie maker
- Microwave
- Oven
- Tupperware
- Crockpot
11. 5 people who I would like to see their top 5’s
- Everyone I know who blogs has already done it
New Books!
So I just ordered 3 new books and I’m so excited. The first one is The Reason for God
Blessing in this morning’s devotion
This morning I read a very cool passage in my devotions. I’ve read it probably a million time before, I even have it highlighted and underlined in my Bible, but for some reason it really jumped out at me today.
“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -2 Peter 1:5-8
As I was reading this it seemed to me like it was good advice on the cure for dry periods in our walk with God. Verse 8 is what led me to that conclusion: “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we feel like we are at a stand-still in our walk and we want to be growing but we‘re not sure how, we can pursue these qualities with diligence. That’s not to say we shouldn’t pursue them all the time, though. It’s just helpful to have specific qualities to pray for and ask God to teach and perfect them in us. I also found it neat how they are laid out in a progression:
I thoroughly enjoyed my “Aha” moment this morning and just thought I’d share a little. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings
A short praise report
I’ve been praying lately (and having friends pray) that I would get more hours at work because things were getting a little tight, financially. Well, today I was checking out the new schedules with my manager (who is the world’s best manager, BTW) and miraculously my hours have doubled – almost tripled. I’m so excited! It’s awesome to see what God does for His children when we simply offer it up to Him in prayer.
Grace
Lately I’ve been struggling with understanding God’s grace. It’s been frustrating because I know God does not condemn me since I have already been justified by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, I’ve just had a hard time understanding how I can still be forgiven when I make such big mistakes so often.
A few Sunday’s ago at Kaleo Erick was speaking on Jesus’ disciples and how He didn’t pick perfect people to follow Him, He picked some pretty messed up characters. He pointed out the apostle Peter who seemed to consistently screw up big time, yet Jesus forgave him and Peter still remained a disciple. He made big mistakes and his spiritual life looked like a roller coaster with huge highs and lows, but over time God worked on his heart and he became more consistent in his relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the awesome work of sanctification. I found the example of Peter so encouraging in my struggle. It really helped to see that life isn’t always going to be like a roller coaster. I am a sinner, but God is working on my heart, sanctifying me. God doesn’t love the far-off perfected version of me, He loves me as I am now.
I read a really awesome verse in my devotions this morning that I found very encouraging in the matter:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the originator and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12: 1-2
Basically, I take this to mean I need to lay aside all my issues, all my sin, condemnation and guilt, and pursue God with my everything. I need to live under the grace Jesus has given me and have faith that He will continue to work in my life and change my heart.
I still may not fully understand all this, but God is slowly opening my eyes to what it means to walk in His grace and I am so thankful that He loves me enough to show me that.
Thursday – Kaleo Girl’s Night!
Every Thursday night some of the girls from Kaleo get together to chill. We encourage one another, pray for one another, and pig out on chocolate cake. It’s an awesome time of fellowship and I just love the girls there. They are always keeping an eye out for me and praying for me. I truly appreciate their friendship and genuine care for one another. Tonight we had some great conversations about Kaleo’s recent marriage/biblical roles studies. I really enjoyed hearing all the girls perspective on the studies and what they took from it. I definitely encourage all the girls out there looking for an awesome time to join us on Thursday nights :)
