Revelation of the Spirit #62 - Time Well Spent

So I decided to make some changes in my life yesterday. I first deactivated my facebook account, crazy right?! Then deleted my myspace account and disable my twitter and finally I deleted 20 apps from my iPhone..I left some apps like solitaire, phase 10, some photography apps and my bible app of course. But I'd like to think that I somewhat cleaned out the things in my life that sadly I spend the most time on. My roommate will tell you that every morning that I get ready I spend my daily 20 minutes on facebook before doing anything else. How sad is that? Pretty sad if you ask me.

I realized I could be doing things far more productive with my time than stalking people on facebook. I've been one day without facebook and I went to all my classes, practiced my cornet for an hour, finished my theory composition project, ran a mile and swam laps. Productive? Yes! But most importantly I had a productive time with Jesus. Yeah!! Definitely my favorite part about giving up facebook haha. He reminded me of the Jeremiah 29:11, yeah yeah, I know you always here that. But it didn't really apply to me the way I usually find it. I usually cling to that verse when the future seems so unsure and as a college student I've gotten used to an unsure future. But the Lord reminded me how that verse applied to my past. He reminded me of how I was desperate to get out high school and how unknown that time of my life was and how much I prayed to go to Asbury. God was faithful and brought me. He delivered me. And what have I done since I've gotten here? Not practiced or focused on my studies nearly as much as I should've and I've neglected my devotional time with Him for facebook.

I really want to take this season in my life to soak in every second of laughter, happiness, worship and contentment. He brought me and now I owe it to Him to not waste my time here and focus on school and my devotional life. So that's what I hope to do by ridding my life of these unnecessary distractions.

So that's where I am now. Trading the entertainment of the world for the love of a wonderful Savior who has set me free and wants only the best for me. I am blessed!

Praying for you all!

Blessings,

Kathryn

Revelation of the Spirit - #61 Resting in His Will

Hey! Sorry it's been such a long time since I blogged last but my first semester of college has been crazy!

To top the list of amazing experiences I've had in life thus far is the trip I just returned from. I had the awesome privilege of representing the Salvation Army int he Tournament of Roses Parade 2010. It was such a blessings to meet new people and representing Christ to the world. It was truly a needed trip. Just to get away and take a step back and look at the life I've settled into the past couple months. I've really struggled on settling on a major and life direction in general but slowly with a lot of prayer and time I am confident that I will find exactly what the Lord wants me to do.

But overall what my trip to California taught me is that I am in the will that Christ has for me. Besides the little mistakes of my everyday life, I am living in the center of the will that Christ specifically planned for me and now I am settled in that. I am simply trusting in the Lord day to day to see me through and show me which step is next in His will.

I have many New Year's resolutions but to sum it all up they're just simply to live a more Christ-like life. To laugh more, love deeper and rely on God with all I have. I've decided my theme verse for 2010 will be Psalms 105:4 "Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually"

In all I do this year I want to rely on the strength of the Lord and no matter what I do or where I am I want it to be for His glory and done in His presence.

I challenge you all to do the same and I pray a blessing on your year and all your years to come :)

God bless!

Kathryn

Revelation of the Spirit - #60 His Strength is Perfect

His strength is perfect when our strength is gone

He'll carry us when we can't carry on

Raised in His power, the weak become strong

His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."

2 Corinthians 12:9

How true these words ring in my heart tonight. I've found the true beauty of these words this week. I was confronted with a great struggle this week that put in me a position where I had two choices. Ultimately it came down to was I going to be Christ-like or was I absolutely going to ignore everything I've been striving toward the past 17 years of my life. And for the first time I feel like I actively made the choice of Christ. I chose Him and I chose what He wanted me to do but couldn't do on my own.

I remember thinking, "goodness, Lord how the heck am I supposed to do that". But I did, in my weakness of just simply choosing what He wanted, His strength became perfect. He truly worked through me because not only did I begin to just get by with the bare minimum of doing what a Christian would but I began to deeply act on behalf of Christ and to love where there seemed to be no room for love of any sort.

His strength is perfect and I rely wholeheartedly on His strength this hour but not to just make through, not to just live on the edge of barely getting things done. His strength takes me to the deepest level of commitment to Christ and draws me deeper in relationship with Him.

Jesus, in this hour Your grace is more than sufficient for me, Your strength is more than perfect for my needs and my weakness is no more.

God bless.

Revelation of the Spirit - #59 Laughter

Wow. I can't even begin to explain how I feel right now.

On saturday I finished my time working at camp swoneky and can I just say that it was nothing I expected it to be. But at the end of the summer looking back I can truly say I've had the best summer of my life - by far (: I can for sure say I've never laughed so much in my life than this summer. The experiences and lessons I had with never leave me, that I am certain of. I made new friends abundantly who have each left a great impression on my heart and added greatly to my life.

By far this summer presented the biggest challenge of my life. I was a counselor- haha, yeah me, I was a counselor. It was a hard, challenging and very tiring job but very rewarding. I had great co counselors who supported me and stop me from going insane all summer (:

God has truly blessed me with a wonderful, exciting start to this adventure of my life. I look back on the summer and miss everyone so much but I know that God brought us all together this summer to send us out in to the world to change it. To the staff of camp swoneky '09, I love you all! Each and every one of you made such an impact on my heart that will not be soon forgotten.

As for me, I'm off to Asbury on Thursday the 20th. I'm excited for college and the new adventure it presents. I leave with this verse of praise to God.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter

and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."

Psalms 126:2

Revelation of the Spirit - #58 Change is a part of life

Woah. 

That's me finally getting a chance to take in the events of the past couple months. First I should apologize for not keeping up with this. I mean i've been pretty horrible at that.  The last time I wrote was in November and life has been ever changing since then. 

I'm officially a high school graduate (: It's such a ridiculous feeling, that I really haven't been able to wrap my head around it yet. I graduated June 1, 2009 around 8pm and before that I had a little graduation dinner with my closest friends and family (that could make it anyway). It was such a lovely day, really. It was nice to fellowship, laugh and sing karaoke with people that I won't see for a while. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention I moved? Yeah, right now I'm in Ohio. Camp SWONEKY to be exact, working as a general counselor for the youngest little girls that come to camp. We're just about wrapping up our week of orientation and are expectingly waiting for campers to arrive monday morning for Musicamp. 

Life has been crazy ridiculous, scary, exciting, fun, boring and every other word I can't think of right now (: But the Lord has been faithful and carried me through it all. He's leading me on a life of true adventure and whole hearted servant-ship toward Him and His people. But as the Psalms remind me everyday that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" and that in "His book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me". These scriptures have been my strength the past couple months. And today I feel very safe and secure on them today. 

I was reminded of the joy I have in life when reading my new bible I found a verse highlighted which is Psalm 20:4-5

May he grand you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

The Lord wants to fulfill my biggest hopes, desires and dreams and do more than I could ever dream of and I know he will do just that. My prayer for all who read this today is from Psalm 31:23-24

Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all who wait for the Lord!

I am patiently waiting on the Lord to relieve His plans for this life He has given me. So as I grow here at camp SWONEKY and continue on my journey to Asbury in the fall. I know my days have been written in his book and ordained and planned to every last detail. 

I stand strong in the faith of the Lord. 

Blessings to all!

Kathryn

Revelation of the Spirit- #57 My Love is His

About six weeks ago I started a new devotion routine with a book called Disciplines for the Inner Life and so far this book has helped me grow deeper with the Lord. 

I apologize for not blogging for over a month but I just needed time to grow deeper with the Lord and tonight I felt a deep connection with the Lord and I felt him saying I needed to share my heart. I can't possibly share all I've learned, struggled with and conquered over the past six weeks but I feel as though tonight's devotion really sums it up the best it can. 

My first reading selection of this is all i've been able to read so far because it has caused me to meditate on it for hours and I'd really like to share the reading with you...

"In solitude we can slowly unmask the illusion of our possessiveness and discover in the center of our own self that we are what we can conquer, but what is given to us. In solitude we can listen to the voice of him who spoke to us before we could speak a word, who healed us before we could make any gesture to help, who set us free long before we could free others, and who loved us long before we could give love to anyone. It is in this solitude that we discover that being is more than having, and that we are worth more than the result of our efforts. In solitude we discover that our life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared. It's there we recognize that the healing words we speak are not just our own, but are given to us; that the love we can express is part of a greater love, and that the new life we bring forth is not a property to cling to, but a gift to be received."

- Henri J. Nouwen

The whole passage sends shivers down my spine and moves my heart and spirit in a way I've never experienced before. I can' specifically point out what about this moves me but I love the way it moves me. One week in my devotions the Psalm was Psalm 139. It was a great week of growing in love for my creator. He who created my inmost being and knows me better than I know myself and loves me no matter what. I memorized the chapter and recited it through everyday experiences that week and continue to now and it has really just helped me grow in love with the Lord. I love in this passage how it says how the Lord loved us before we could give love to anyone. If he loved us first how dare we love something or someone more than him? He created my heart to love him and the love for Him comes before any other.

Our life is not a possession. It was bought a price...by blood shed. He died for our lives, so that we may be free. Why do we turn from Him and ignore His love for us? He truly wants to captivate us with His love and gives it freely. My love is His. His love is unconditional and no matter how hard I try I can never do anything to truly deserve that love on my own. We are worth more than our efforts....THANK GOD! If I was worth just the amount of my efforts I wouldn't be worth much at all. My efforts however heartfelt and true are little and weak. But God sees me as worth more than gold or silver and would give His life for  me and my love. My love is His.

"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name."

Psalm 91:4 (NIV)

Because my love is His, He will protect me and rescue me.  The passage goes on to say...

"He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him and show him my salvation."

Oh my. Do you see all you get for love? The Lord treasures your love higher than anything, I believe. He wants your undying love and He wants to love you, protect you, He wants you to call on Him and be completely dependent on Him. For this He will deliver you from evil and show you His salvation...

I want to see His salvation, I want him to be with me in my times of trouble and I want to be completely His. I want His love.

My love is His.

Come, Jesus, come, You the only object of my love, the center and supreme happiness of my soul.

I love you Lord.

Amen.

Revelation of the Spirit - #56 My Lifesong

"A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, and make staright the paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become staright, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "
Luke 3: 4-6


This is what my life is about. To prepare the way for the risen Lord to return to His people. This is my lifesong.

I've been called to be a preacher of the good news. A preacher, yes. While I was thinking about this tonight is what I like most about preachers. I really love when preachers are relatively informal with their preaching. I like when they're real with you. When they put the gospel bluntly before you. But what I love most is when they give a sermon that is based on their testimony. I realized why I love this so much tonight. It's because Jesus have put the gospel in each and everyone of us by every experience in our life. Our testimony screams the love of Jesus! It shows others proof that He lives and He has power and He is love.

So when I preach I want my testimony, my lifesong to show that yeah I've had struggles, yeah I've strayed a time or too and yes I've sinned and been forgiven but through it all I prevailed through satan's trap and have followed God's will for my life. That, that day I will stand before people and say "Haha satan you can't stop me from telling what God has done for me! Your plans have failed!" My heart is filled with joy to even think about that.

So preachers out there when you're a little stumped for a sermon....search your heart. Remember what the Lord has done for you and maybe just share a little bit of your personal testimony with your congregation. I know that is when I am most blessed by a preacher of the good news.

Thanks for reading guys. Sorry if none of this makes sense but this is what the Lord is speaking to me.

Bless you!