I <3 FpStudents!!!

I could not reach my goal without His help

(A couple of them are a little bit of a stretch but I could definitely defend them! I thinks it's a solid argument.)

This is one of my all time favorite songs. I pray that God would continue to mature my faith in him so that "on the road marked with suffering, still I will say... Blessed be the name of The Lord!"

I have been doing a study titled Diligence and the verses I read Saturday morning could not have been more appropriate. I ran a half marathon with my twin sister this weekend. I have run several before, but I have always trained for 12 weeks to prepare. This time, I didn't make time for training. The race was a fundraiser for a rare cancer my sister's friend is battling. I chose to do the race to support a good cause even though I knew I was not physically ready.

The course wound through the country passing gorgeous pieces of God's creation. I actually ran part of it with my eyes closed and arms stretched out praising God for his glorious creation. I thanked him repeatedly for the blessing of being able to participate, I sang hymns of praise in my head, and prayed scriptures I had read that morning. All of this gave me the ability to complete a very difficult 13 mile course in an hour and 55 minutes.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Don't ever forget that we do all these things because he loves us. (He doesn't love us because we do things for him... If that were the case, we'd never be enough.) No, while we were still sinners, he loved us in a way that was so wide, so long, so high, and so deep that it is beyond our understanding.

1 John 1: 5-10 from The Message

5 This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

6-7 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

8-10 If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.

Saturday night my cousin performed at Vienna Coffee. I couldn't make it for the whole performance but snuck in at the end and got to hear one song. But it was this... Perfect for adoring.

Woke up still feeling amazed to the point of tears at how God is working in our friendships. Girls, seriously... Beyond all we dare to ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20)

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

In case I wasn't the only now who needed it, here's the message version of 2 Cor. 5:18-21.  Reconcile= settle the relationship, drop our differences, makes things right between

All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

I am so excited to see you follow the path God has for you. He has big plans for you and He will have a big impact on others through you. I will continue to pray that you will be listening to His directions and continuing to trust in His plan. I love you!

It has been so great getting to know you this year! I wanted to share what lesson God taught me through you this year. At camp, you told me that you try to start each morning by praying, "Any glory that comes to me in anything I do today, let it be all for you!" It's amazing how your perspective changes when you start your day with that prayer! Thank for letting God work through you in teaching me how to glorify him with my life. I've been blessed by your friendship

This was my favorite verse when I was your all's age too. For some reason, it's so hard to remember sometimes that God is working things out for our future. I remember at 15 feeling like "the future" was so far away. That time has gone by in a blur and now here I am. I can look back over the years and see God guiding me in a million different circumstances to bring me to where I am right now- which feels like right in the middle of God's best! It's getting easier to look at the big picture and see God leading me towards a future and hope, but daily, in the middle of stressful circumstances, that can still be hard to remember sometimes! Thanks for reminding me of this great promise, Madison!

I'm so proud of you for your increasing confidence at school. You are beautiful inside and out. God made something amazing when He created you! I have loved watching you grow spiritually over the past year. I can't wait to see God's 29:11 he has for you!

I second everything you said! It's been an amazing year, and I'm incredibly thankful for my FP friends!

We will miss you in our group but we are praying for the next adventure God has for you. Keep trying to listen to Him.

I know in my life I can look back on moments when He was yelling, jumping, and waving flares and I chose my own path. It is not always easy to listen. I pray all the girls will be still and listen for His voice as He guides us through life.

I walked around in the spring of my senior year in a constant state of anxiety. I worried constantly about getting a job, my relationship, just generally being an adult. I am so thankful for the fact that God has already been teaching you this year to fully rely on him. I'm praying over this coming semester for you this morning- that you will show God's light to the kids you come into contact with, that you will have the enthusiasm to do your very best work every day, that you will feel confidence and peace in teaching math and science, that you will soak up every opportunity to learn during your student teaching experience, and most of all that you will have the calm assurance that no matter what happens with a future job, God is working all things together for your good. Love you, girl!

I am so glad that you've felt God's presence in your life this year! Also, that was a great reminder that witnessing is a privilege!

I feel like this has been a huge theme in my life this year too. The cool thing is, when I truly seek God's direction, he provides it. I was so glad to read this verse this morning because I had JUST finished praying for direction for our ministry in 2014. Girls, if you haven't yet, please join us in praying for God's direction in FpStudents in the coming year. As you've seen this year, he is doing something amazing in that ministry! But we can't afford to miss out on anything he's doing by allowing ourselves to drift along with complacency instead of actively seeking his will for us. Pray for his direction, girls, pray!

Working with you is a blessing God placed in my life. Kyna, I am praying I too will be listening and ready to go where God leads me. Miranda, prayers for the FP students ministry have been heavy on me. I continue to pray for guidance and encouragement.

All, what an amazing love God has for us. That He continuously seeks us, guides us, redirects us and holds us in His hand. How will we work for Him in 2014? I'm praying He wears me out for His kingdom!

I love both of those verses too! I think it's so cool that you both chose verses about the same thing. God is definitely working on that in all of us! I think that sometimes I tend to just accept anxiety as a fact of life instead of believing that God can do something about it. But he is a limitless, all-powerful, faithful God! And he is present and active in every situation. Knowing this, after fighting anxiety and panic since I was your all's age, I am starting to let go of it. We can live as overcomers!

Also, I love both of you all so much! Since meeting you both, I've been constantly impressed with how open and honest and willing to let me in that you have been! Man, I wonder how much further I would have gotten in my faith journey in high school if I'd been that willing to open up with my Christian mentors. I just think God is going to do AMAZING things through both of you! Love you!

Your post reminded me of one if my my favorite verses... Another version says "we are his masterpiece!" He created us for his purpose... Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks!

Isaiah 55:8-9