Last night was my last night as a youth leader at Racine Bible Church; at least for now.
It was a very bittersweet night as I/we reflected over the last 5-6 years as I was in the
ministry. They had a little farewell for me with lots of cake, Nice kind words of eveidences
of grace in my life given by Michelle, Bethany, and my brothers. Such nice and encouraging
words, but all I want is Christ to be glorified in me, as I am just doing what He has called me to
do, and using my gifts for him, trying to show His attributes through me.
One of the leaders even made me a little scrapbook of memories through the years that I was
there, and most of the Middle School girls each wrote me a kind nice note of the impact that
I have had in their lives. It was also a worship night for the youth group, which I was glad that
was the way my last night ended. I love worship nights, Singing songs and worshipping the
one who gave it all for me, who deserves all the praise and glory. Then we wrapped up the night
with a time of prayer with our small groups. It was really nice. I am going to miss these girls, but
my prayer for each of them is that when I do come back to visit, I see them striving in the Lord,
knowing Him better, realizing the depths of their sin, and seeing the gift of grace that Christ offers;
and realizing the great work done for them on the cross. That is my hope, prayer, and desire for them.
I know that is the perfect time for me to leave the ministry, as I head into marriage and I get connected with other godly married women who will encourage me, and build me up, before
I head out and do this marriage thing. What a very blessed life I live. I am so grateful and thankful
for this journey of life that the Lord has brought me on, and the rich blessings of friendships that
were made through the youth ministry. My prayer is that the youth ministry at RBC will continue to flourish, that the Lord would bless it immensely, that the Lord will grant wisdom and strength to the leaders, and open the hearts and eyes of the youth. This is my prayer.
For the past week or so, I have been so amazed day after day at the free gift of forgiveness that Christ offers. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for me, the shed blood, for my sin, so that I may live eternally with Him. I am such an undeserving sinner of all the Christ gives me. Thank you Lord, I am unworthy to even come before such a Holy God. I am truly humbled....
"The LORD your God accept you. With what shall I come before the LORD, and how myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, then thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. There is none righteous, no, not one. For all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by HIS GRACE! through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set fourth as propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness,.....that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Accepted in the Beloved. You are complete in Him!"
2 Sam. 24:23; Mic. 6:6-8; Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10, 23-26; Eph. 1:6, Col. 2:10.
I got this idea of introducing my bridal party from my maid of honor who is also getting married, who did this on her blog, and I thought it would be a fabulous idea! So here is my bridal party and a little bit about each of them and why I chose them to stand up with me on this special day.
Roshelle Murray--Maid of Honor--Roshelle and I have been really good friends since high school, and has been my closest confidant through all of this. I can share everything with her, I tell her everything. In fact, I think I do tell her everything. She is my shoulder to cry on when Matt's gone, my sister, my relationship counselor, my twin, my advice guru, my fashion consultant, my best friend. What I love most about Roshelle is her love for the Lord, and how she wants her life to reflect Christ in all she does. Not only do we have a lot of memories together, we also have one more to share together. Getting engaged on the same day, just hours apart. We have become closer within the last year or so, because she understands all about this long distance stuff as she deals with it herself. Roshelle is such a great friend, always when it comes down to it, points me to the cross. Reminding me to pray and take it all to the Lord. That is why I love Roshelle. I am honored that she said yes to be my maid of honor.
Bethany LaPointe--Lets call her Yenta. Or the matchmaker. She is the one who introduced Matt and I. She thought we'd be perfect together. Who would have ever guessed that she was right? huh? Both Matt and I were hesitant to do this whole blind-date-set-up-thing, but we did it per Bethany who said, "trust me, its all gonna be fine." And well, look at us now. I am thankful for Bethany for that and for many other reasons. She is such a good friend, who encourages me in many ways, she loves the Lord so much, and just is so darn funny. And not to mention one of the best cooks in town. I love Bethany, Thank you for going to high school with Matt, and setting us up together. I can never say thank you enough.
Liz Nielsen--Liz and I have been friends the shortest amount of time, compared to the others in my party, but I feel like I have known Liz for forever. I love Liz, and she is like my big sister. I have seen her grow tremendously over the last year or so. She is one of the greatest people I know. I appreciate her more than she knows for letting me crash over at her and her husbands house more than once on a Friday or Saturday night because I was lonely and missed Matt. She even allows me to call her child..My baby. I love her daughter Charlize. She's practically my child ;) She and Ross have been amazing, and I am truly gonna miss her and Ross so much. Thank you Liz for being such a great friend.
Cortney Andersen--Cortney has known me since middle school. Both she and her husband Chad were my youth leaders in high school and we have become close ever since. They moved away for awhile, but when they came back its like they never left. Cortney was my accountability partner in high school, always making sure I kept up in the word, and was a Christ like example to all I knew. As I grew older it become more of a friendship, rather than just a leader-student relationship. Cortney has never been afraid to tell me just what she thinks of things, and I like that about her. I love Cortney, and so thankful that she provided me with a job that I love so much of watching her 3 beautiful children. I am gonna miss her and the kids, and maybe Chad ;) immensely when I am gone.
Kelly Schulz--I don't know even where to start with Kelly. Kelly has been such an amazing self-less friend through these last few years, always wanting to know about my life, and hardly ever talking about herself unless asked. She is somebody I wanna emulate my life after. Such a Godly wife and mother. Always quick to seek the Lord's guidance in everything, encouraging me with verses and Godly advice. Her submission and obedience to Steve is something that I hope I can pull from Kelly with Matt. I am thankful for Kelly and all her wisdom and encouragement. I love Kelly.
Heather Bergman--Heather and I have been friends since the womb. She and I are 23 days apart. Heather is such a smart and practical friend, who has taught me some crafty things over these years.. which I have failed miserably at, and then she just makes me a better one. She and I have so many fabulous memories together since her parents and my parents are such good friends. Heather and I did EVERYTHING together when we were in middle school and high school together. On Fridays we would watch TGIF on TV (remember that?? ;) and then talk about our crushes, guess which one of us would get married first, and what type of guy we would marry. Heather is now such an independent woman living on her own and working as a nurse. Heather and I still get together when its possible with our crazy lives and reminisce about old times. I have loved watching Heather grow closer to the Lord this year which makes my heart so happy, and pray that she continues to do so for many years to come! I love Heather.
Thank you ladies for agreeing to be part of my special day. I look forward to celebrating with you all.
I am still reading and thoroughly enjoying We Shall See God by Randy Alcorn and Charles Spurgeon. As I read daily, God gets bigger, and bigger. I think my view of God was so small, and I am slowly but surely realizing the vastness of God, and His holiness. That He would send His holy, perfect, blameless son to die for such a wicked, unworthy sinner like me. In this book its all about Heaven and what a glorious place it is. A place that God has prepared many mansions for those who believe and trust in Him. I am excited to get to heaven someday, to be with my Savior for all of eternity, to BE WITHOUT SIN!!!, and to worship God forever with fellow believers from ALL over the world. Its an incredible book, where it has answered maybe some of my questions about Heaven with Scripture, and I have seen that God is a God of detail, and love. This is one quote from the book that has struck me that I just love. It is from a dying saint...
"There is one crown in heaven that the angel Gabriel could not wear; it will fit no head but mine. There is one throne in heaven that Paul the apostle could not fill; it was made for me, and I shall have it. There is one dish at the banquet that I must eat, or else it will be untasted, for God has set it apart for me."
Oh to be with Jesus forever, What a glorious day that will be!
I have been MIA for awhile I see. All for good reason as you know. Life is going at 90 miles an hour I feel like. But I feel like things are coming together, and things are going well. Wedding planning is well underway as I have just under 5 months and it will be here before I know it. Some day's feel like its so far away and other days I feel like its tomorrow. But I have the big stuff done, the dress is found, and purchased, the bridesmaids dresses purchased, the church/hall booked. Tuxes underway, flower meeting set-up, save the dates- in my hand, guest list made, invitations being designed, decorations being looked into/priced. So I have a good start on things and I know it will all eventually come together. I have some help so I am grateful for that. I have been so blessed with great friends, and bridal party helping me.
I am still working both jobs and doing wedding stuff between jobs;dragging Leah around with me to different appointments, and while she is in school I am also able to get some stuff done. I am planning on working till mid-February and then being done so I can just focus on wedding stuff. Lord willing, Matt will be able to come home a week before the wedding to help with the final details. We have a wedding party of 6 on each side, 2 ushers, 2 flower girls, a ring barer, and a partridge in a pair tree :).
I am learning a lot from other Godly women from what it means to be a wife, and how to handle different situations, and to leave, cleave and weave. I am studying Titus quite a lot, praying a lot to the Lord on my concerns and my shortcomings on being a wife. I wanna cling to the Lord, through all this, and make sure that He is still my central focus in everything. I wanna daily run to the cross and lay it all down there. I am praying that He works in me making me more like Jesus. I want be a Godly wife to Matt, a Christ like example to him, and be that support and encouragement that He needs. To do what the Lord has called me to do as his wife. I am a work in progress, but God's grace overwhelms me daily, and I am daily humbled by the cross and what was done for me there.
Lord willing, I will be able to fly down to GA the week before Thanksgiving to see Mattand the house, scope out the area that I will soon call home, do some more wedding stuff together, and just enjoy each other again. I look forward to seeing him again. I miss him so terribly, but I am excited to be his wife soon! The Lord has blessed me beyond what I could have ever dreamed. To God be the glory.
