After coming back from Church today.. it's got me thinking, how much we take things for granted. God's been sustaining us and providing for us with so much things, and what have we been doing in return? The cry of my heart is just to be close to Him, and it takes effort on my part.
Psa 27:8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD , I will seek.
I want and need to follow Him whole heartedly, in my actions, in my thought process.. Meditating on his Word day and night like what it says in the first Psalm:
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psa 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
That firm foundation is needed, and to build it up, we read, meditate, listen, memorize, and study scripture.
I've been feeling the same way as King David did:
Psa 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD , this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
There is nothing more beautiful than to be in God's Presence. That's why worship, prayer, and spending time in the Word of God is so great. Let me end with these verses:
Heb 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Lyrics: How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom
Devotion at 7:00 AM leave afterward to our work site.
Work until Lunch
Then leave around 5ish to go back to the yellow house.
6PM Dinner
Devotions afterward
Chill
Sleep
Alex, Dario and I signed up along with three other ladies, to help tutor students from grades 4-5 on a Tuesday night. Kids are great, We helped them with their hw, and made it an enjoyable experience. What i love about this program is that after they do their hw, they play outside then theres a Bible study for the Kids.
[an abandoned school]
oh their school system there is crazy. Some schools have been abandoned. Not a lot of kids are going back to school. Majority of them are not passing the standardized test, few are making it into high school and college. Lots of the youth has had seen death in the family or with friends. But God is a God who protects, the area in which Castle Rock Church is at, gangs have been moving away, the drug dealers are moving further and further away. And more people are volunteering to help out the city of New Orleans. Praise God for that.
Now Wednesday was an interesting day, All the teams had met at a specific work site and we threw a block party. Serving hot dogs and snacks and water to any one who wanted anything. Lots of people came, tossed the football with some kids. I noticed some lady talking to what seemed to be a homeless man, poor judgment on my part, he had a shopping cart with all sorts of things in it, but mostly art utensils. So i decided to join this lady in conversation with this man. He was singing some gospel song that he made up, and honestly it was pretty catchy. We told him it was good. And we were just listening to what he had to say, and what he does is, he paints pictures and does lettering around the neighborhood. He's painted Dr. King on a street, he pointed to a blank space and said he will be painting Obama, and pointed to a wood piece that had lettering on it, but said he'll be changing Christmas to Easter. i thought that was funny. Then a friend of his came over, and this one "looked more civilized" he greeted the man with a hug, and me and David had a conversation with him. He mentioned he was a veteran, and served in two wars. And he met the artist in war. He said a lot has happened to the artist, people he loved died, and he was amazed that he was talking to us, cuz he would be the one who would start cursing at people. Then he asked us what we were about, we just said we volunteered to help people of New Orleans, and i don't quite remember how, but we mentioned God into the conversation. Then he pulled out a small worn out Bible in the back of his pocket, says he always carries it around. I was very pleased, and happy to know that but i really do hope that he reads it. then they left and the party was dying down, hot dogs gone, people starting to head out.
Then this one man with an army uniform, carrying a duffle bag was clapping down the sidewalk coming our way.(excerpt from what he was singing, and from what i remember)
"i want to be in the meeting" *gospel clapping* (if ya know what i mean, on the 2's and 4's)
trying to gather us in some sort of circle
"around the corner"
so i start clapping with the guy, echoing what he was saying, cuz thats what he seemed he tried to get people to do. couple of us joined in. Then he just continued to sing. then it was time to go, the dude was still singin. so our team just stays behind. So all the teams except us had left, and he was singing this one song that he had aparently made up, (i didnt know until the third time he sang it.) (these are some excerpts that i remember him singing)
"He took my mother He took my brother away"
"I'll be walking with them when I get to heaven"
so he sang that like twice. Then we were just there listening to him, appreciating his singing. Then the third time he sang it, he just broke down into tears. Now i could see and feel the hurt of this man. goodness, i was also heart broken, I knew right away that he needed to feel Gods presence and his LOVE and PEACE. I asked the guy if he would like for us to pray for him. So we gather on the sidewalk in a circle, i prayed with the guys and him, and then he thanked us. Then he told us that a lot of his family had died. and still very disturbed, he gently made his hand in a form of a gun, and pretended to shoot us, so he "shot" us one by one, around. then he said, he took them all, refering to his family [grandparents, mother and brother]. He was in deep reasoning, and was really wondering why God would do that. He was asking why would God just take my dear loved ones, and leave me. He should have taken me instead, they were good people. But he said, I know God has his reasons. But he just kept questioning, "why God?" "why??" and he had tears in his eyes. Then Alex was encouraging him by saying, that this may be a way to show God's glory to others, and that God can use him in this kind of situation. We told him to read the Bible and God will talk to him. Then he was like, "I read [past tense] the Bible!" Then he was telling us stories in the Bible, as if to justify what he just said. Then Greg asked him if he knew the Story of Job. He knew it well, but it didnt seem like he fully understand why he had asked if he knew about Job. Then to some point we got to the story of Paul, and he just was still for a second, like something just clicked in his mind. He was like, thank you guys, i think God is telling me im saul and i need to be changed to paul. Well this was very encouraging. And continued to encourage him. He asked if any of us had a dollar, we gave him a dollar, and he was greatful, for our time and money. So we left. Pray for this man, his name is Michael.
"It was Love Ro, D-Money, Paik, A-Riv Romans 1:16 We came, We saw, We drywalled SCF [Stevens Christian Fellowship] SEND ME - I'LL GO! [Check out Lecrae's Song called Send Me it was our theme song for this trip] We <3 PAT and the probability of us meeting him 1 in 208,000,00"
if you see the right hand side, i didnt want to include that on the shirt but some did. So that equation is:
[can't figure out how to put the limits 0 - M] ∫e^x =sin
Well it would be said like, The integral from zero to "M" of "e" to the "x" equals sine.
0 to M, M for marriage, and i think u see what the left hand side of the equation looks like. and sine in math is Sin.
whahaha ok.. WELL
Greed also known as Farkle? was a fun game, here David just bounced the dice on his forehead. Everyone had their "thing" going for them.
I <3 N.O.
Over all, I've grown closer to the Lord, and learned to Love Him more. I've learned that we need to listen to people around us, get involved with our own communities. Romans ONE : ONE SIX, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." I pray that all our hearts will be submissive to our Lord, and that we will never say no to what He wants us to do, and every thing that we do will be for His Glory. All praise to God, and all Honor to Him, The True Almighty and Awesome God, The Most High God.
Jesus, lover of my soul Jesus, I will never let You go You've taken me from the miry clay Set my feet upon the rock and now I know
I love You, I need You Though my world may fall, I'll never let You go My Savior, my closest friend I will worship You until the very end
Oh how I Love you Lord Jesus. Thank You so very much God.
Thanks for your prayers guys, let me tell you, New Orleans is an Amazing place but there are still lots of things to be done. When you go down there you can still see the effects of Katrina, "she came thru hungrehhh". During this trip, i just had the Love of the Lord grow stronger and stronger every day. I mean, I had fellowship with other believers and Jesus [1 john 1:3] and we were all out there together, showing the Love of God to others. And that Peace is like no other. We've met lots of broken people, but within them they still had hope, I pray that they put their hope in Jesus.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
- Psalm 42:11
I got to know 4 other brothers in Christ so much better. Its funny cuz all we had was Christian rap CD's, and now i can't stop listening to some songs. But it was a pleasure serving the Lord with these guys. Dario, Me, Alex, PAT, Greg, and David
Now Pat[!] is another story, He was our construction person. He told us how to do things in the house. This man is an Amazing man of God. So check it, we're down there with other colleges, they ask us what college we're from, we're like Stevens Instiute of Technology, they're like, "oh" lol, they never heard of us xD, plus we were the only non-Christian college that went down that week. So we meet Pat, and he doesn't want to learn our names at first, and I'm like, wow this guy means business. But a lil later he learnt some of our names. So we get to our work site, he asks us, where we were from, we're like, "Jersey" . He said he was from down there too, then he asked what college are we from, we were like, "I don't know if you have heard of this college, but its Stevens Institute of Technology??" He said nonchallantly, oh i from graduated there in 1970.
O.O
NICE! then we just hit if off, He called us his "Ragged" team, cuz RAGDD for Ro, Alex, Greg, Dario, David. This guy has a majored in Civil Engineering, and minored in Mechanical Engineering, and some degree in Divinity. So being the Nerds we all are, we calculated the chances of us meeting, of him being our Construction leader, at this time. He wasn't assigned to us cuz we were from Jersey or he from Stevens, it was just God sent. =] Oh yea, the chances of us meeting was, 1 in 208,000,000! I want to be like many people in my life, and he would be up there.
Every time we went to our work site, we would pray in a circle, in front of the house, and when we leave, we would pray in front of the house. We also wore our I <3 N.O. shirts every day, i tell you its like a walking billboard, ppl beep and thank us, and we can open up conversations with local people.
Our work site.
So when we first got into the house, we saw half the house, drywalled and the other half, just frames of wood. Now i never dry walled b4, and we expected to dry wall the house by the end of the week. Well God is good, and we got it done a day earlier. And then friday, we got to talk to the Joana the home owner, this was the most we ever got to talk to her becuase she left on tuesday to be with her family. Well we got to pray for her, and said our good byes, she is just a sweet woman, and she is a believer. I thank God we got to serve her, she's in a bad condition.
Im in class, and it just ended, i will post more when i come back!
I was looking at all of my old Xanga entries.. its been 5 years since i came on here. Life has changed so much. I've changed so much. I Thank God that He is continually working in my life. When I read back on all the comments, I saw so much encouragement from people, and many people praying for me, and i thank you so much. I also saw some bitterness on my part, and I'm sorry for that lol, I should have known a lot better. Man our God is an Awesome God. For some reason I'm in a reflective/thankful state. I thank God for my family, my friends, for tests and for trials, for His Word, His Love & Mercy, His Forgiveness, His Grace, His Patience, His Wisdom His Goodness and for so much Blessings He has given me and for many things he has done in my life. I pray that He can use me for His will, and I pray that I will accept it, and not complain, and not argue, to stay pure, remain in his Word, not onlyread it, but learn it, meditate, memorize and study it, day and night. I know for a fact, that our time in life is short, and that we should do all we can to spread the Gospel [Matt 28:16-20]. I pray that more opportunities with sharing the Gospel to my friends, that it may pop up in conversations, and that I will be ready, with God's help, to answer them. Sometimes I feel I should be doing more, but I very well know that I should have a good handle of the Sword of the Spirit. I'll admit it, I've been slacking off, I don't want school to be my excuse, my brother Rowan once said, if you can take 15 minutes out of your schedule to eat, you can take 15 minutes out to read the Word. It's something EVERY CHRISTIAN should be doing daily. This is the Book we should live by, and by reading/learn/meditate/memorize/studying it, we will Strengthen our Faith, Strengthen our Knowledge, and Strengthen our Relationship with our LORD. Many times we may ignore God and do what we want to do. That is SOO DANGEROUS. He gave up His life so that we may be with our Heavenly Father, and yet, we accept Him, then, follow Him only when WE WANT to?? My friends, we don't deserve His Sacrifice, His love for us runs SO DEEP. We need to fully surrender all to Christ, let Him renew our minds. Ask for His guidance daily through life's struggle. I can't possibly stress enough, maybe because I need this more in my life, that we need to pray and dive into the Bible. This is how we get closer to God and grow in Him.
Psalm 40:8-17
8 I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do notseal my lips, as you know, O LORD.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame.
16But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, "The LORD be exalted!"
17 Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 136:1-9
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
