Global Staff Conference....

Brett and  I are just returning home from another 3 weeks in Orlando, FL. The first week we were so blessed to be apart of such an encouraging week...the first ever Global Staff Conference. Where CO staff from all over the world joined together for one week to grow in our vision and relationship with the Lord. E-mail update to come with more details of the GSC and finishing out Orlando Project '13.

To check out the website and listen to any of the talks from John Piper or Matt Chandler click here. Also on the link is a little recap video. Check it out and be encouraged, the Lord is doing more than we could ever ask or imagine in the world through the ministry of Campus Outreach!!

If you fear... read here

The word fear is found over 435 times in scripture. There are countless Godly resources that can be found on the topic, this brief article is my attempt to tackle the topic of fear. I cannot think of a more frequented topic for women than that of fear, which in my opinion stems from two things: too small fear of the Lord and the need to control; to control our lives, our surroundings, our loved ones. We too often think that we know better than God and sit in anxiety of what He may be bringing, fearing not being able to handle all that He brings. More than any other resource, obviously we should look to His word. Below are a few scriptures (many of which may be familiar, but I pray that they will fall on fresh ears) that I have found comfort in, as I along with you am praying to never again allow fear to take a hold in my life.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Exodus 20:20Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

Deuteronomy 3:22 You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’

Deuteronomy 6:13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.

Deuteronomy 8:6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

Deuteronomy 13:4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 31:6,8 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. ”He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 25:14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Psalm 103:10-12 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Psalm 118:5-7 Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper;

Proverbs 9:10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Isaiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 44:7-9 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8 Fear not, nor be afraid;have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Jeremiah 5:21-24 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season 
the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.

Luke 12:4-6  “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Romans 8:14-16 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

2 Timothy 1:6-7  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Hebrews 13:6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

Psalm 127:2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,“Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”

Jeremiah 17:7-9 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 6:25-34  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luke 10: 38-42 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Philippians 4:5-7 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I pray that some of the verses above you will commit to memory and use as a weapon against the evil one; the father of lies, who feeds us many fears. O, Lord may we be women who believe truth, who run from lies and at all times combat them with the truth, I pray for you my sisters that you would choose to believe truth. God is for you! No more is that displayed than in the suffering and death of his son. He has bought you with the blood of his precious son. Would you not see that He wants good for you in all things, in your trials and in your suffering. They are not to be feared.  Our lives were not given to us to control them and to try and make them as easy as possible. If we are in Christ, we have been crucified with him, and our lives become His. Let Him work His righteous will in your life. Boldly trust the only one who can be trusted.

“Open hands should characterize the souls attitude toward God- open to receive what He wants to give, open to give back what He wants to take. Acceptance of the will of God means relinquishment of our own. If our hands are full of our own plans, there isn’t room to receive His.“ Elizabeth Elliot

If we allow ourselves, there will always be temptation to fear but this I know, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”(Hebrews 4: 15-16 ) Sister, will you join me in making war on the area of fear and anxiety in our lives. No longer allowing it to control us, “It is peace to leave it all with him, asking only that He do with me anything He wants, anywhere He wants, anytime that God may be glorified.” Elizabeth Elliot

Ready for summer!

Well this girl is very ready for summer...for multiple reasons:

1) I will be officially done with cosmetology school May 24th. I blame school for not being able to update the blog more often ;) I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to learn some new skills and gain more knowledge of "real life" ministering for Christ. I am continually blown away by God and all the many opportunities He allows for me to share at school with the girls. I believe the Lord has really allowed me to be a light for him there and I will give Him all the glory! That being said, I am ready to graduate and have more of my time to be with the college women and minster there. I am also looking forward to potentially working in a salon for a couple days a week starting next August.

2) I will be leaving for the Orlando Project May 25th (Brett will already have been down there for a week). This summer Brett will be leading COASU!!! Very Exciting, and we are also excited about all of the students who have made the big Lordship decision to spend their summers serving the Lord. Please join us in prayer for 45 ASU students to attend summer project. We are projecting around 150 students from University of Memphis, Rhodes College, and Arkansas State University to be in attendance this summer. For more information on OP please click here http://comemphis.org/www.comemphis.org/Orlando_Project.html

Questions about suffering....

So as many of you know the Lord has been brining me through some of the deepest suffering of my young life in loosing my mom. It has been 9 months now, when most days it seems as though it were yesterday. There are many details that go into her and I story that I will not go into right now, but like most mother and daughter relationships she was my best friend. She knew me unlike any other and some days are excruciating not having her here; although the Lord is healing my heart little by little. This past week I received an e-mail from my sister in law sending me to a link of a blog that she follows. This blogger and his wife have been though the unthinkable of loosing an infant child to a terrible disease. He shares in his blog a link to a sermon entitled Questions about Suffering by Tim Keller.

The first few months when I was so angry at God for taking her I scoured the internet and books, hoping and praying for something to make sense of my hurt. I came up empty time and time again. I began to learn that the Lord was wanting me to turn to Him to make sense of my life and deep pain. It has been a slow process (one that will never be complete), but the words that Pastor Keller speak in this sermon has probably been one of the most helpful things that I have heard about suffering thus far.

I heard a pastor say once that we are all in one of three places, getting ready to head into a trial, in the middle of a trial, or coming through the valley on the other side of a trial. So as this would be applicable to all, I highly encourage you to take 30 minutes of your time and listen to the word this man has to say.  I pray the Lord will use it in your life as he has in mine.

Questions about Suffering

It's been a while....

Hey all!! So, I'm a slacker and I always have good intentions to blog weekly but they never seem to happen...maybe it's just that I don' really have much to say, or in comparison to other blogs I read I just don't lead that fascinating of a life! But here I am again!!

Week 6 of cosmetology school and it has been so fun! We are already practicing on "real" customers verses Kim who has been such a great customer for the first month, but I'm happy to move on to a real head!

Here is Ms. Kim in all her beauty, with painted on lipstick and a little extra eye makeup! I like to have fun with it ya know!!

SO I wonder if this ever happens to anyone else...

Last night I got home from school planning on a fun date night with my hubby. As we are eating the delicious dinner that had been waiting on us all day, (crock pot meals are my fave) Bretter tells me that we were gonna be having a few football guys over for dinner tonight. So I knew that he was planning this and that's why when I made my weekly grocery run, I got all the needed ingredients for ONE tater tot casserole. However, the latest was that it was up to 10 football player now, which means One wasn't gonna cut it. These guys aren't kickers here, we are talking about line backers...those boys can eat! Which meant date night included running back to the store and preparing all the fixins for tonight's dinner! Which consisted of :

TWO tater tot casseroles, 

Large batch of mashed potatoes (I know, your thinking exactly what I said, two potato dishes for one meal...but that's what he asked for, so I just went along with it) & Gravy

Green Beans and Carrots

Bread

and cookie cake for dessert (i got a little lazy with the dessert)

Now they are all here, eating happily in the other room and I am sitting in the bed room writing and praying that the Lord will use Brett, this time at our home, and this meal to draw them to Himself. 

OP 2012... Completed!

Another one gone, and only memories left behind! Above is a video of some of our students sharing what the Lord has been doing and is doing in their lives this summer though Project! Please check it out and I pray that your heart will be encouraged!!

Sweet new D-Group...

(Left to right: Bailey, Farrann, Mary & Amalie)

Last semester I had started praying though if the Lord wanted me to enter into a discipleship relationship with any of the women here at ASU. Of course I play a big part in a girl coming to know the Lord I would naturally move into a discipler relationship with her. Seeing as there were no girls here that that really described I had not been leading anyone. However, after prayer and getting to know the women in the ministry who were needing some leadership these four women below were the ones that the Lord led me to! 

Last night after D-group just being silly!

A serious one :)

And this is our "Greeting's" pose...I am working on memorizing a part of James and that is the hand gesture I always use when reciting James 1:1 " To the twelve tribes in the dispersion: Greetings"

If you are not familiar with discipleship below are two quotes that I feel sum it up well:

Disciple - One who embraces or assists in the teachings of another.

Discipler: “Discipling others is the process by which a Christian with a life worth emulating commits himself for an extended period of time to a few individuals who have been won to Christ, the purpose being to aid and guide their growth to maturity and equip them to reproduce themselves in a third spiritual generation.” ---Allen Hadidian

“It takes time to make disciples. It takes individual, personal attention. It takes hours of prayer for them. It takes patience and understanding to teach them how to get into the Word of God for themselves, how to feed and nourish their souls, and by the power of the Holy Spirit how to apply the word to their lives. And it takes being and example to them of all of the above.” - LeRoy Eims

We Believer that God's plan is to multiply our lives through making disciples of all the nations...and we are starting at ASU. 

Please join me in prayer for:

1. Each one of these girls (Mary, Bailey, Farrann & Amalie) I will periodically be putting up some of their prayer requests throughout the rest of the semester. Please be in prayer for Bailey and Farrann who will coming to Orlando this summer with CO to be disciple leaders. They will be leading a room of three to four girls all summer. Please pray for their development over the summer and for the girls who will be put in their room to be teachable and hungry women for the Lord. 

2. Pray that I would be a woman of the word. Pray that I would have a life worth emulating, and that I would bathe these women's lives in prayer, love, and encouragement. 

3. Please pray the same for Brett. He has a new D-group this semester as well. I will have pictures of them up next week!

4. Please continue to pray for my healing (and my families as well, my dad- Carlos, & brothers- Nick and Justin) as I am still grieving the loss of my precious mother. 

Larry Crabb

My day today has been spent mainly reading Finding God by Larry Crabb. If any of you have ever experienced a significant trial in your life I believe that it will minister to you the way that it is me right now. Dr. Crabb is saying so many things that I am completely relating with right now. He is some how taking what I am feeling and expressing it in words that I have not been able to. And he is saying things to me that probably nobody could right now, but reading them has been incredibly helpful. 

"Modern thinking encourages us to find ourselves, to heal our shame, and to pursue self-fulfillment. And as a consequence, we value healing for our pain more than pardon for our sins; we view Gods kindness as more appropriate than surprising, more immediately helpful than deeply humbling. (pg59, Finding God)"

"We need to see ourselves as more sinful than wounded. We need to face the ugly, self-centered energy present in all our conversations. (pg 59, Finding God)"

"The elimination of struggle and the ability to love someone else perfectly describe our lives in heaven, not maturity on this earth. No matter how well I come to know the Lord, until I actually see him, my life will still be a mess- and so will yours. Finding God in this life does not mean building a house in a land of no storms; rather it means building a house that no storm can destroy. Am I building that house? Are you? Are we moving through our problems toward finding God? Do we know what it means to dig deeply enough to discover something other than more problems- to discover Someone beyond ourselves? Have we hit rock?...But the more I wrestle with life as it really is, the more I am aware that loving a spiritually disciplined life develops at best only a nodding acquaintance with God. ... My countless hours counseling providing therapy for hundreds of people suggests that a focus in increased knowledge of self rarely leads to richer knowledge of God. Getting better acquainted with ourselves in order to find God-and do nothing more- is like endlessly studying an X-ray of spot riddled lungs without ever submitting to surgery. pg 72, Finding God" 

Man that's good for me...

National Conference

National Conference

Well, it's that time of year again! Campus Outreach New Year's Conference recruitment time that is. However, this year there are a few changes. Normally NYC is in Nashville, TN and there are about 5 CO regions that come together for 5 days to learn about the Lord, grow in their persoanl relationship, worship, and have a ton of fun! But this year we will be in Chattanooga, TN and wont be just 5 CO regions, it's going to be ALL of the CO regions! That's right, every 10 years we have a National Conference where all regions come together for a mega-conference! We are expecting about 5,000 students this year!

Please visit the CO National conference webstite and read about and watch a few of the teaser videos just to better familiarize yourself with the conference. You can find it at :

http://conationalconference.com/

Will you please now join us in prayer 

1. for the students who are going to spend 5 days of their Christmas break to develop their relationship with Jesus Christ. 
2. Will you pray that the students who come who have not accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and saviour would commit their lives to Christ during or before the conference. 
3. And would you pray for the students who are coming in who already have a relationship with God that they would come in with teachable hearts ready to learn and develop and grow in their sanctification with the Lord. 
4. Would you pray for the speakers and for their preparation of the talks that they are going to give; that they would speak directly to the hearts of the students and that it would be the Holy Spirit speaking through them for God's glory!

Unlikely location...

So I just got home from 858, which is our campus wide weekly meeting and I am so excited and had to share it with ya'll. Normally we have 858 on campus somewhere in a meeting hall, however this week literally everywhere that would work was booked. So we were not sure if or where we were going to have our weekly meeting this week. Brett and Russ have been spending a lot of time with the PIKE fraternity building relationships with them. And they mentioned to their president our predicament and he offered us the PIKE house to have our weekly meeting at. 

After praying about it we decided that it was a great option for a few different reasons. Looking into God's word we see Jesus continually meeting with the tax collectors and sinners, loving them, and sharing truth with them. We looked at this as an opportunity to come onto the PIKE's turf and do just that. We knew that we might receive some push back from the religious just as Jesus did from the Pharisee but we were just fine with that. Yes this is a house that most Friday and Saturday nights probably is not reflecting anything to do with the Lord, but this Tuesday night it was!! How exciting is that! And the cool thing, is that the Lord is really working there. The guys were all awesome and so welcoming to us and opening their house for a "religious" meeting. 

What a blessing the PIKE fraternity was to us tonight. Please be in prayer for them and their relationships with Brett and Russ. Pray for salvation for men in that house who don't know the Lord. 

Below are a few fuzzy pictures of the meeting. We had about 100 college students come and choose to hear God's word and a Gospel message. 

After the meeting tonight we enjoyed some hot chocolate and played some volleyball and got to continue building realtiohships with students and loving on them! All in all it was a great night!

Above is a very fuzzy picture of Brett that I wanted to share with ya'll giving a talk at 858. He spoke on the truth about Religion that night and really brought some convicting points out. We are trusting that the Lord will not allow his word to return void!! (Isaiah 55:11)

Lord's teachings...

Hey All!!!

So it has been a little longer than I thought it would be before i would write again! We have been in a continued state of activities on the campus and with students so much! The Lord has been doing so much in mine and Brett's heart lately. Although we are both learning two very different things.

This week we kicked off Chi O bible study and it was so great! There were 10 girls there which is a huge increase from last year so I am super excited about that. I pray that will just continue to grow as the semester goes on. Brett kicked off Pike and KA bible study this week as well, which both had about 30 guys at! So that was a huge blessing and it seems like the Lord is already doing a lot in so many of the students hearts!

I just finished having breakfast with a student this morning involved in our ministry. It was encouraging as I got to listen to her heart that wants to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He chooses. I am thankful for her openness in telling me how she was really doing and her openness to be vulnerable with me. She, like so many before is having to wrestle with the Lord in His area of goodness. And why things happen that we cant seem to see any good in at all. I have been through this and seen many people go through this. With perseverance we come out on the other side stronger for it, believing truth and simply trusting that the clay can not tell the potter what they should do with their creation and that God is good no matter what. (Romans 9:21, Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11)

I just got back from Murray, Ky last weekend visiting some of my old disciples! What an awesome trip it was! I was so thankful to spend time with them for a few days encouraging one another! At least I pray that I was an encouragement to them. Here they are below!

I actually am going to be traveling again tomorrow, heading up to STL to see my family for a few days. My brother and his wife and children are going to be flying up to my parents house for a few days. So of course I have to go up and see my adorable nephews and family for a few days as well. I am super sad to leave my hubby behind again for a few more days, but it's always so sweet when we see each other after being apart for a little bit.

I'm sure I will have plenty of pictures to show off next week after a weekend with the cutest little boys in the world!!

3rd post in 24hrs

So I guess I am trying to make up for only posting like once a month and now here goes...my third post in the past 24 hrs. But after I updated you all on our new home now I wanted to update you on our new friends and the campus ministry.

Below is Russ and Elizabeth Porter. Russ is the campus director here at ASU and his wonderful wife Elizabeth and I have become fast friends! We so enjoy the both of them and good thing because we spend a lot of time with them!!

Next we have Brian Evan and Mary Finley. These are two of the older students here at ASU. They have both caught the vision to multiply their lives into students while here at ASU and for the rest of their life wherever the Lord takes them. They have both caught individual men and women for the Gospel of Jesus and are both leading these students in discipleship groups now.
Below is two best friends, Shelby Qualls and Chelsea Domino. These two girls are Sophomores at ASU and are just coming off of our summer project down in Tampa. They both accepted Christ into their life last year and have been seeing radical changes for Christ. They are going to be heading up a Flag football team in hopes to share the gospel with their teammates and represent Christ to them.
Again underneath is Shelby and the girl on the left is Stevie Overby. She too is just coming off of her first project and fired up make God's name known on this campus. She is making a big decision to go through sorority recruitment with the plans to share Christ with her sorority sisters through life on life relationships with them.
So the Lord is already doing so much on campus and we are so excited to jump right in and be a part of it. Brett is going to be co-chaplain of the football team, and he cant even say how excited he is to get to know so many of the guys and start a bible study in there. He is also gong to be spending a lot of time with the PIKE fraternity, as well as with some independent guys who live in one of the biggest dorms here on campus.

Thank you all so much for your prayers! We are abundantly thankful for you all and have been praying for you as well. Just to end with a few specific prayer requests:

1) I am going to be leading the whole women's ministry in a Beth Moore bible study. We are really excited about joining all the women together for a semester to grow and learn similar things and have an opportunity for weekly fellowship with the whole female body of Christ.

2) There will also be smaller care groups before the Beth Moore time where there will be a little more intimacy and the girls will be learning in small groups from an older woman many topics on biblical womanhood.

3) Please be in prayer for Brett to be able to impact the Football, PIKE, and Arkansas Hall men. Please pray that he will have favor in those areas and that we will see 5 guys commit their life to Christ this semester through his ministry in those areas.

4) Please pray for me as I will be leading a volleyball bible study and spending time with the Chi Omega sorority. I am excited to get to know the girls in these two areas and excited to see what God will do in these areas!