In the Vine

Here are a few things I'm really excited about right now- 1. Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden- Megan and I have started a discipleship study called Discipleship Essentials. Camarillo Community Church has been doing the study through small groups for a while now. The idea is to have intentional relationships in which you are delving into God's word, wrestling with His Truths, encouraging each other, challenging each other, and equipping one another to then go and disciple others. God has called us to have intentional relationships with each other and I am so excited about what this bible study is going to do for our friendship and our relationship with God. 2. Chipotle Ordering Ap- I have a love/hate relationship with this Ap. Basically how it works is you go on the ap and pick what you want, choose your location, and you can even pay online. Once you place your order, 20 minutes later, you can walk into the restaurant, skip the line, tell them your name, and walk out w...

My spiritual New Year's resolution- Know that I am loved, I am loved beyond anything I can ever imagine. However, even though I am loved, that should not bring with it a sense of entitlement to everything God gives. I have always been slightly bothered by people who think they are entitled to certain things. I have been super blessed in my life. I am blessed to have the family that I have, the things that I have, the friends that I have, and the education I received. However, I know that I am not entitled to any of it. I know that I do not deserve all that my parents have given me just because I am their daughter, so I have tried really hard not to expect things and be extremely thankful for the things that I receive. Well, that is my goal anyway. I know at times, I too have that sense of entitlement to things. I think I should receive things or deserve things because.... well, I always have. But that is not true and that is not the mindset I should have. I think this is the s...

"I Celebrate The Day"- Relient K And with this Christmas wish is missed The point I could convey If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve And from a lack of my persistency We're less than half as close as I want to be And the first time That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior And the first breath that left Your lips Did You know that it would change this world forever And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years To what this midnight made so clear That You have come to meet me here To look back and think that This baby would one day save me In the hope that what You did That you were born so I might live To look back and think that This baby would one day save me And I, I celebrate the day That You were born to die So I could one day pray for You to save my life

I went to a Women's Retreat last weekend. This was the first Women's retreat i've been on and as I realized, the first retreat or camp that I've been to in a long time that was for me and I had no leadership obligations. I was excited for a weekend to just spend refocussing on my relationship with God and also have some good time with my sisters-in-law. I did get some good refocus time and I did get some really good sister time. But like always, God had more in mind. Now, like I said, I've been to a lot of retreats and camps in my life. Being the good, Christian girl that I am, I got to this retreat, I looked at the lineup of the sessions and automatically assumed I knew everything that was going to be said throughout the weekend. Well, we know what assuming does....The thing with God is that no matter how much you think you know or have heard, there's always more and being imperfect and messed up, sometimes we can hear the same thing over and over and never get...

I LOVE my new job. I love what im doing and the people im working with. Everyone here is so Christ-minded and that truly shows in how this school operates. Every morning, one of the spiritual life people sends out a Daily Scripture. Today's hit me a little more than usual. I think this verse truly shows how we are supposed to live. My goal today is to find ways to live out each of the traits described in this verse: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness , and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on Love , which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Chrsit rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be Thankful " Colossians 3:12-15 Things to live in: - Compassion - Kindness - Humility - Gentleness ...

I may be only turning 24 on Saturday, but this article is really great. I loved everything it says about things to really be reminded of at the age of 25. If you are in that age range, take a look at this article. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/25956-11-things-to-know-at-25ishhttp://

One of the most asked questions by anyone, ever... Why does God let bad things happen to good people? With the one year anniversary of the loss of a dear friend coming up, this question has entered my mind constantly. After much contemplation, I finally came to this... What if God lets bad things happen to good people to remind us that this life is not what its all about? To remind us that death isn’t the end. To remind us that death is not the worst thing to happen. Unless, of course, you have not accepted His grace and His love, in which case, death is followed by the worst thing that could possibly happen… eternal separation. The biggest objection I get when trying to share my faith or when people question what I believe is why would God let the holocaust happen? To which I usually answer something about free will and how if God stopped things that are of human choice to happen, he would be taking away our free will, thus making us like little robots forced to worship. Who wants peo...