Hello Hello..
I have been really busy and stressed this week. I apologize for not being able to blog and keep everyone up to date on what's going on out here in Colorado. The sun is shining and there's a slight breeze which equals perfect weather. That is one thing I have loved about being out here is the weather. The sun is always shining!!
Today the counseling practicum is going caving. I'm a little nervous because I don't really know what to expect. Hopefully I'll have some time later on this weekend to fill you in on some class content that we covered this week. I attached some pictures of a tour I took at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

............

" For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord," and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, " and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." -Jeremiah 29:11-14
Often times verse eleven is quoted by itself. I think at some point in our walk we are all guilty of quoting it by itself. The following verses intrigue me. " Then you will call upon me" hmmm....and then he goes on to say that " I will be found by you". Amazing that we are to seek him and that by us seeking him he will find us.

An Evening of Elegance

Thursday night we had a night of pampering. The guys at FFI hand delivered us invitations about a week ago inviting us to an evening of elegance. We were instructed to dress our best and be prepared to be served. We arrived at FFI and there was a group of boys valet parking. The doors were opened for us and we were escorted by a guy(Scott) to the International ballroom. Once we got there we had one of the guys( Bill) find our table number and then we were escorted in by Cam. They took our jackets and we were lead into the ballroom. The room was dark with christmas lights around the side. The tables were decorated with red, white, and candlelight. It was stunning. So we took lots of pictures. After we all got seated we began to be served. The guys did a great job of serving us and planning the whole event. They even provided us entertainment compliments of them. It was a fabulous night of being served. There are some great guys here with huge servants hearts. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

It's not about me...period

I love this verse from Galatians 2:20 " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Raise your right hand if you as a Christ follower believe this and live a self-less life. Sadly I can't even come close to raising my hand. I fail at this miserably. Yes, I understand that no one can honestly raise their hand and say that every day of their life they live it self-lessly. Now this is a result of the fall of man back in Genesis, but do we strive to live self-less lives is the question. These past lets say six or seven months the Lord has really been working on my heart about being self-less and understanding it's not about me. Now to alot of people this is just crazy...you may say well that's not possible b/c every way I turn people are telling me to do what makes me happy and to do what I want to do. Yes you are right. This world has become so self-absorbed and preaches the it's all about me mentality. This past fall in Auburn, Ashley and I took a class at our church called Perspectives: On the Christian World Movement. It was a phenomenal course. But something we learned and usually every time after we left we talked about it was: WOW I'm really starting to realize and understand it's not about me. Now coming to this realization was a big day...haven't fully accomplished this but I'm working on it and striving to make it part of who I am.

So what is life about then? Isaiah 43: 7 "..everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for MY GLORY, whom I formed and made." Hmm...so I'm here for His GLORY? Colossians 1: 16 says " For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and FOR HIM." For Him????? So there you go...life is about giving Glory to the one who created us.




Society has formed this Me Me Me attitude. We are ran by self-actualization. What is self-actualization? Self-actualization is: "What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."1
I'll let you ponder on this definition and form your own opinion what you think about it. Abraham Maslow came up with this theory of Hierarchy of Needs. Now this theory is taught in school and a lot of people go by this. Get this...research can not prove that this process is accurate or correct. Because it tickles peoples ears and it's about the individual people have fell in love with this idea. CRAZY!!!!!!

We are reading the book " In the Name of Jesus" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. It has some great quotes that I will leave with you. " But far more importantly, it is Jesus who heals, not I; Jesus who speaks words of truth, not I; Jesus who is Lord, not I."2 I thought Nouwen said this well as far as christian leaders " The way of the Christan leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said yes to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world."3

So as a believer living a life of counter-culturalism is the key. Not buying into the lies of the world about pointing all the fingers back to me. We are not here to store up and hoard everything we possibly can. I'm not saying you shouldn't have nice things or work towards bettering yourself educationally. I love nice things and seeking education is fundamental. But putting those nice things in front of God and making them your idols is what I'm talking about staying away from. This earth is a temporary place so why focus on the misery of it's all about me attitude. You are never satisfied when you seek the things of this earth. What are we doing with the blessing of nice things we have been given and what are we doing with our education? I lived this " all about me" life a long time so if you want to talk more then I can give you lots of insight to the misery that comes with living for yourself. So to Him be the Glory!! My prayer is that each day I die to self and live my life in a manner and way that honors and glorifies Christ.



1 Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50, 370-96.
2-3. Nouwen, H. (2002). In the Name of Jesus. 58.

What does rest look like?

Busy Tuesday has come once again and not quite over yet. I usually wouldn't have time to sit down and blog today but this weekend I worked ahead so I wouldn't have any homework. I'm actually going to make this short b/c I'm fixing to leave for small group. Yesterday class was canceled due to one of our professors being sick. Class today was good. Marriage and Family was today with the Pampeyans. I'm just going to touch on a couple of things we went over in class today.

We started out class going over a ministry styles assessment we took. I'm supposedly a researcher and refiner? Our passages came from Genesis 1-3 & Ephesians 5:21-33 for the rest of the material we covered in class. A quote from one of the books we read Intimate Allies p. 24 states " A marriage is no better than the vision we have for one another and the willingness we have to sacrifice for each other; to suffer to see growth occur". I love this quote from Dr. Arch Hart " It isn't about finding the right partner. It's all about becoming the right partner."

Building Blocks of Marriage
- God's love & grace
- Unity and diversity
- Love and respect
- Humility
- Trust and trustworthiness
- Acceptance and value
- Willingness to listen and change
- Fun
- Lifelong commitment to God and to each other

I'll end with a quote from Dr. James Dobson:
" The basic needs of each gender are straightforward. Women need to be loved, all year round. Men need to be respected, especially when the going gets tough...Love and respect: it's an unbeatable combination."

Do you really need communication??

Last night I went to Woodmen Valley Chapel to sit in and observe their premarital counseling class for my practicum at Focus. I actually believe that Woodmen is where I'm going to worship, while I'm here in the Springs. I went last Sunday and it was great, so I went this Sunday and it was amazing as well. So I think I have found a church home for the short three months I am going to be here. Anyways so back to the Marriage counseling. I went with a couple of girls from the counseling department. We got there and sat at a table with a mentor couple, which lead the table, and with actual engaged couples. The topic of the night was COMMUNICATION. How appropriate RIGHT??? since I'm the worlds worst communicator. Now let me clarify that I'm not talking about Steven and my communication skills. I'm talking about my everyday relationships and in general when it comes to communication...I STINK AT IT. If you know me that's true. BUT...guess what that's something I'm working on and I'm definitely going to come back refined in that area. So let me just tell you about a couple of the things that I learned or took in last night. All this might not apply directly to me right now but it will one day. So I mise well start learning now. :)))

~ Communication is the source and root of the relationship developing.
~ What makes up a message? Content-Tone-Nonverbal
~ 5 Communication killers
1. Starting out with assuming.= Women do a very good job at this.
2. Passive/ Aggressive Manipulation.
3. Nagging & Harassing. Just be direct. Don't try to be their mother.
4. SARCASM. - I'm not going to say anymore. This can KILL a relationship.
5. Blaming & Overgeneralizing. { Avoid using always & never-also try using I statements...I feel}

~ I haven't read the book above. I have heard it's good and I'm definitely going to try to read it after Focus (due to not having time to read it here). So when trying to explain the reason men answer the infamous question " What are you thinking about?" they answer " Nothing", they referred to this book. Now that has always been an answer I didn't like. I always thought they were lying because as women we don't understand how they can't be thinking about anything. So they explained that the book compared men to waffles. Waffles have those defiant boxes/sections that don't connect directly. Well they said that men have boxes that don't have thoughts or words in them. Strange I know and maybe once I read the book it will make more sense. But I was glad to know they weren't lying when they say that they really are thinking about nothing :)

Hmmm.....HOLY?????

Isaiah 6: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 6:3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 6:4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.6:5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.6:7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"6:9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 6:10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. [fn] Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." 6:11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 6:12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.6:13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

This passage intrigues me! My week has been great here at the Institute. It has been really really busy. I've learned so much. Every night when I go to bed...my brain is on overload because I have taken in so much during the day. Last night we got to take a break and have some fun. We went and saw a movie and just took some personal time. Today I'm back at it again. I have a lot going on this next week so I'm going to spend today and tomorrow getting ahead. Tonight I have to go to a marriage counseling session for my practicum, which should be interesting. I MISS EVERYONE!!!

I serve an AMAZING GOD!

So the Lord is teaching me so much. Honestly I don't even know where to start. It's so evident that I'm suppose to be here this semester. This is a time of personal refining, redeeming, and growth. The Lord is so good and FAITHFUL!!!

I have the world's BEST roomies!! They are so AMAZING and beautiful!!!!!! This is a picture of us at school today.