What a Head-ful!!!

Whew!!!!

What a semester! The whole 4 months has been nothing but one big learning experience (that's why I've had trouble keeping up with you guys...)!

So...what has God taught me during these last few months?

1) College takes DISCIPLINE! Thankfully, I have some natural organizational skills. However, I don't know what I would do without Mom to help me lay out a schedule, focus on completing homework, and distract me when I need to be distracted! :-) My Dad is there to proof-read papers and to cheer me up when I am stressed (which is all too often!).

My brother...well...he provides the comic relief!

2) Staying in tune with God is vital. Keeping up with my devotions has proved especially difficult lately, especially with the never-ending homework, time-consuming piano practice, early morning volleyball workouts, church twice a week, precious family time, late study-nights (no all-nighters yet!)...I am ashamed to say that I was not as consistent in the Word as I should have been, especially during the first few weeks of school.

I realized early on what a difference it makes when I miss my quiet time. I began to see myself giving into temptations more easily. I saw how much harder it was to stand alone in a crowd.

Over and over again, God reminded me that a busy schedule is not an excuse to stop spending time in His Word! In fact, it is the very reason why I must stay in His Word!

Thanks to God, I have grown in this area. Yet, I still have a long ways to go. Praise God for His never-ending patience!

3) I must rely on God, not people. As I started the school year, I had high hopes of developing at least one tight, godly friendship. I am realizing that those expectations are not always realistic. I have made some new friends, but for various reasons, my schedule included, it's been difficult to develop close and godly friendships.

My mom and I have had many long talks on this subject, and I am slowly realizing that I need to trust in God's plans and timing. I need to draw close to Him and not place my hope in human companionship, not even that of other Christians.

4) I am so thankful for my family! I am meeting so many different kids with so many types of backgrounds; sometimes their stories amaze me! I praise God for how He has blessed me with a safe home, godly parents, and a wonderful church.

5) I am so thankful for church family. I especially want to praise God for my friend Courtney. We met when I was only 7 years old, when her family started attending our church. We've been friends ever since! Over this semester, I've grown to appreciate her more and more. She is a godly, talented young women who is striving to honor God and is always there for me when I need to talk about "stuff."

I am seeing more and more how difficult it is to find solid, godly friends. God has blessed me so much through Courtney!

~~~~~~~

There is a boatload more to learn, and I am somewhat excited--somewhat apprehensive--about what God's going to teach me next semester!

Right now...I'm just enjoying my BREAK!!

Cookie baking, Christmas shopping, room-organizing...
and lots and lots of SLEEPING!! :-)

So I'm Going To College...

I found this video through the Rebelution. It's very challenging...

A Witnessing Opportunity

I have a paper due tomorrow! And guess what...you'll get to see it before my professor does! :-) Our assignment was to write a dialogue in which we "engrafted" Scripture into a Gospel presentation. In other words, we're supposed to quote Scripture without directly quoting it. I based my dialogue on an experience that I had about a year and a half ago, when I was working at my dad's sports camp. I was talking to one of the junior counselors about music, and about why I only listened to Christian music. This boy was not a believer, and he thought I was really weird.... :-)

Anyway, I responded to his questioning with some lame answer like, "Well, I have my taste in music and you have yours!" Afterwards, Mom and I talked about how I could have responded by sharing specifically why I listen to Christian music...because I am a Christian!!

So anyway, I based my paper on that experience; I kind of wrote down how I wished the scenario had turned out! :-)

A Witnessing Opportunity

“Why on earth do you listen to so much Christian music? Don’t you ever listen to secular music?”
I turned to face the teenage boy who was speaking and grinned at his incredulous expression. “Lord, this kid thinks I’m a nut!” I thought. Then out loud I replied, “Not usually, Jay. I really appreciate the lyrics of most Christian music, and so I usually prefer it over most secular stuff.” I knew this reply would not satisfy Jay. Even though he was a fellow counselor at the local Christian day camp where I was working, his attitudes, actions, and words made it clear that he was quite clueless about Christianity.
"Yeah, well you obviously have no clue about all of the quality music that’s out there!” Jay’s demeanor grew more and more sarcastic. “Be honest, Bri, you probably just listen to Christian music because your parents won’t let you listen to anything else. Why don’t you try branching out and having a mind of your own? ”
“Actually, I do listen to some secular music, Jay. I’m not sheltered, I just don’t like the fact that so much music brings the listener down, both mentally and emotionally. Seriously, think about the messages that many song lyrics send. They talk about sex, drugs, alcohol, bad attitudes...it’s not information that I want to feed into my brain!”
"Oh, come on, Bri! They’re just songs! You won’t become a drug addict if you listen to one song about drugs!” “Maybe not, but, Jay, I’m a Christian.”
“Oh, so it’s your religion then. You just follow a bunch of rules, and you believe that if you listen to Christian music, you’ll impress God!”
“Nope…that’s not it at all. Actually, God comes right out and says that no one is perfect. It’s impossible for us to impress Him or to live up to His standards because we’re such bums!”
Jay’s look morphed from one of sarcasm to one of total confusion. “Well then what is the point of even trying to please your God if it’s so impossible?”
"The point? Well, I guess the point is that I’m so grateful to Him for all He’s done for me that I try to please Him every chance I get.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that He’s so awesome and merciful, that I try to thank Him for His love by honoring Him and by feeding my mind with good information that encourages me to obey Him. He loves me so much, Jay! Even though He knows I mess up all the time, He still wants to be my friend! He’s done everything He can to make it possible for me to have fellowship with Him. He loved me first, and so I love Him back.”
“Oh yeah?” I was surprised at the interest in Jay’s tone. “Well, what specifically did He do to make you fall all over yourself trying to please Him?”
“Well, since He knew that there was no possible way for me to fellowship with Him
because of my sin, and because He loved the world so much, He gave up His only Son, Jesus. Jesus, who was completely perfect, came to earth and became sin for me. He took all of my punishment and died on the cross so that God could forgive me and cover me with His own perfection.”
I could tell Jay was listening intently, and I was sure I saw some comprehension creep into his face.
“Well, that’s really nice and everything, but what’s the point of trying to please someone who’s dead?”
“Well, actually, He’s not dead. After three days under ground, God raised Him from the dead because death was not strong enough to hold Him down! He conquered death, and that means that we can enjoy eternal life and complete fellowship with God!” “Eternal life? That sounds a little over the top, Bri.”
“I know it does, but it’s true. God says that if we believe in Jesus and in the fact that God raised Him from the dead, and if we admit that Jesus is our all-powerful Lord, we will be rescued from death.”
“That’s all there is to it? Just believing? Man, it sounds so simple! But what about after you believe? What if you really mess up? Does God get mad and disown you?”
“Nope! God actually says that when we believe in Him, He seals us with His Spirit! His Spirit is a permanent guarantee that our salvation will last forever! Isn’t that amazing?” Just talking about the Gospel and meditating on His mercy was stirring up great excitement in my heart. “Lord,” I prayed, “please touch Jay and draw Him to Yourself! Help him to understand!”
Since the beginning of our conversation, Jay’s attitude had undergone a complete change from one of mocking confusion to one of intent interest. Now he seemed to snap back to his original indifference.
“Ok, well, uh, I gotta start setting up lunch now.” He started to walk away, but then suddenly stopped and turned back to face me. “Hey, could I talk to you about this again?”
I was excited by the genuineness of this request. “That’d be awesome! Maybe after lunch…?”
He nodded and walked away, and I quietly thanked God for giving me the right words to say and for revealing to me how to clearly and tactfully communicate the appropriate Scriptures. God was working in Jay’s heart, and in mine!

Cougar Volleyball

Last weekend my volleyball team took a long, LONG road trip...to Kentucky! We left on Thursday and came home on Sunday; we played 4 matches in one weekend! Needless to say, it was quite a tiring experience! Despite the exhaustion, it was a lot of fun, as well as a great learning experience. I'm so grateful for the opportunity God has given me to play on this specific volleyball team...I have enjoyed myself greatly, and I have also been stretched physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Here are some awesome pics from the KY trip, courtesy of Kathryn (one of our assistant coaches/team photographer).

Go Cougar Volleyball!!

One cool team... :-)

I'll tell you what, Tabitha can KILL that ball...

...seriously...

you don't want to stand in that ball's way!! :-)

Me passing!!

Me serving!!

"Calling all team captains..."

Team huddle

We played well..had fun...and we got to eat Dairy Queen ice cream! How much better can it get!?!?! :-)

Please continue to pray for me as I am still adjusting to the college work load...I'm TIRED!!!

Love you guys!

Oh yeah...BLOGGING....

Remember me?!?!?! I'm that person who used to post 2-3 times a week...I'm very sorry that I haven't posted in so long!

I have several good excuses for why I haven't been consistently posting and several not so good ones...the good ones are 1) our Internet has been down for several days and just started working today, and 2) COLLEGE involves a lot of WORK!

Wow...novel concept... :-)

I'd like to share several prayer requests along with several praises to God. I'll PTL first...

1) I love my Bible classes. I am taking two this semester, and both of them are challenging me spiritually. They "force" me to study God's Word regularly and from a different perspective than I have had in the past.

2) My music classes are definitely stretching me mentally; that's a good thing. I have two of these classes, and, well, let's just say that I'm honestly astounded that people actually sit down and think up all of this theory stuff!!! I'm also experiencing what it's like to be in a choir (GO ALTOS!) . I've never been a choir member before, and so far it's been challenging and fun.

3) I'm greatly enjoying my experience on the volleyball team thus far. We had our first game yesterday afternoon; we played in NC and were gone from 7am-12am!! **HUGE SKULL BUSTING YAWN** We lost, but we had a BLAST!! :-) We also played pretty well, considering it was our first game...

4) I am SOOO thankful that I am able to live at home during college! My parents are so helpful, and I honestly don't know what I'd do without them.

Now for some prayer requests.

1) Please pray that I will learn to use my time wisely and efficiently. I always get my work done on time, but I tend to procrastinate as much as possible. I also need to plan out my day so that I have time for QT...which I know is vital as I strive to grow in my spiritual walk.

2) Pray that I'd learn to control my emotions. I STRESS over a lot of stuff--everything from homework to volleyball to friendships--and I know that I MUST bring my emotions under Christ's control if I want to glorify God throughout these years in college (not to mention the rest of my life).

3) Please pray that I would be bold and that I would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as I experience situations which challenge me to stand alone. It is so hard!!! I think college is going to stretch me mentally, physically, and spiritually; it will force me to make choices between doing the "easy thing" and doing the "Hard Thing."

4) Please pray that I would have the attitude of John the Baptist: "He must increase and I must decrease." I am constantly tempted to zero in on myself and to forget that there are others around me who need encouragement and love. I have a responsibility to build up my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how I feel at any given point in time.

Thanks for being patient with me as try to fit blogging into my schedule. Hopefully I'll be able to post at least twice a week; however, it may be a week or two before I get into "the groove." Just know that I am NOT dumping this blog or the blogs of my friends...I love you guys and I love blogging...