"Reflections"

How many times can God wave a big flag in front of my face? My whole life, God has shown me again and again I should be working with the youth. My latest excuse (besides changing my major....again) is not being able to figure out which age I should work with.
My passion has always been high school. I can't explain it, but when you mix high school students with Christ's love in their lives you get this amazing outcome of passion and extreme living (at least to all their peers) which only further reveals God's glory and truth in all the earth (I told you it is hard to explain).
So I know what you are all thinking. WHY NOT HIGH SCHOOL??? Well, a few years back, when I was stuck in Idaho, I found a job working as a substitute teacher. Long story short, I found my calling at a local Jr. High. The principle would call me just about every day about another classroom which needed me. Those kids ended up changing my whole outlook as I knew it. We ended up moving 6 months later to Japan, but I knew, at that moment in my life, Jr. High is where I wanted to be.
After a long year and a half in Okinawa with no real direction in my life I finally looked up COMPLETELY. Within weeks, God had taken my life and shook it. I found a group of girls who invited me to come to a Bible Study (before I was a one man show; who found herself drying up rather quickly with no Godly relationships) After serving our community as a makeshift church body, I got more news that my time in Oki was being cut short.
Now before I go to much farther in this part of the story, I must tell you a huge factor in my life at this time. About 3 months after I arrived in Okinawa, I became extremely sick. After every meal I ate, I would get hives, nasaua, and/or anaphalactic shock. I quickly realized (although I should have realized this LONG begore) my life was no longer in my hands. Before I was living for God, but I was still in control; at this point all my trust had to be placed soley on God. We lived about 45mins from a hospital (on a good day) and on top of all this the hospital told us they didn't "really" have the means to help fully with allergies. F.Y.I., I would NEVER, NEVER take this season of sickness out of my life. Although I didn't understand it at first, God used all this to teach me so many lessons. Rather than being me and God, it became God and then me. I can't put into words how many things changed in my life, but I began to not just crave God, but to find him around every corner. This season I would call the "dig up and heal up" season. The reason I had to tell you this, was so that you can better understand where I was coming from. My life was quite literally, no longer in my hands. But it took that full 1+ to truly place it ALL into God's hands.
Getting back to the story, on top of putting my

VBS

God has been so awesome this week. I don't even know where to began. I have been serving in our (read: Living Water) VBS as a counselor. I came into this, just wanting to serve God more. I felt so stuck just a week ago and now I feel as though he has opened a new estuary of water just for me. Despite being so wiped at the end of the day, despite only being able to stay awake for a small Scripture fill at night, and despite my lack of voice, I AM SO THANKFUL! My Papa is doing miraculous things in these kids lives. And when I say kids, I mean K-5th. True kids! Not only have the kids totally caught on fire for our Jesus, but they (amid plenty of other counselors) have sparked a new found passion in my own life. The impact of this week and all its people has not just restored my walk with God, but has gone so far past all my hopes, desires, expectations, etc. It is so funny how you can put your own personal quests and situations on the back burner for things like this and God will always bring them up before they have any time to sit at ALL! :) I am on a level of worship and love for God, which I never knew about. I, like so many other Christians, so desperately crave worship-the kind of worship where you can close your eyes, fling you arms out, and sing straight to Papa. I long for these moments. But more and more this week God is showing me this kind of worship exsists outside of the sanctuary or when there is no music present. I will never forget this week! It is truly an encouragement to see Olympia's next generation live for God and worship Him in the things they do. I think more adults need to take time to spend it with our kids. Their faith will amaze you