Gems & Thorns

There is a special time in life when we go through something hurtful and painful that God just passionately and lovingly pursues us to give our whole hearts to Him. There are days when we are so burdened down with life that we sometimes fail to hear God's voice and sometimes we even fail to acknowledge God's redeeming love. But yet He's there.

I have to share a little something that has been going on with me. I have been struggling with rejection from people who are in my life every day here at Bethel. They will remain nameless for the fact that I have forgiven them - but it is because of that forgiveness that I need to share this. Now, I have experienced a lot of hurt in my life; I've experienced rejection, harassment, bullying, teasing and it has almost put me in the grave by my own hands. Why am I still here you say? The answer: because God happened. He pursued me until I turned my whole heart to Him and discovered this unexplainable joy in my life and I found who I am in Christ and I've never been the same since. But that doesn't mean that I don't still experience the rejection and the pain that put me into that depression in the first place, it's just that I have a place to put my hope and my heart.

Throughout this entire situation here at Bethel (which by the way is still not over) I have discovered that God has placed gems in my life to comfort me and encourage me and to pray for me and just love me through it all. These gems have been such a blessing! These gems are passionately in love with God and pursue Him each and every day. It's so refreshing to find people like that and I really want them to know that I appreciate them.

This last Sunday I experienced something that I will forever cherish in my heart. There was a point that day that I just became so overwhelmed with this hurt in my heart that I was on the verge of tears and an emotional breakdown. But something that night told me to go to my Pray First friends. They prayed for an ear problem that I was having (which by the way was healed) and because they are so in love with God they knew that I was hurting and they gently and lovingly pushed me to tell them...and well the end result was a lot of tears. The love that they shared with me Sunday night was so comforting and exactly what I needed. My heart was healed that night because God loved me and because my friends saw the heart of God.

My heart was so overjoyed and blessed by that encounter that I (through some help from these friends) sought to return that blessing on the people who were hurting me. It is such a blessing to do something to bless someone else that I have just experienced this amazing week and I have felt God's arms surrounding me and I have laughed with God and it has just been an amazing week with the One I love wholeheartedly.

Jesus, thank you for these gems that you've placed in my life and thank you for being a loving God who doesn't let us go through life by ourselves but you are with us and in our lives. Words just are not enough...I love You Jesus.

Sweetness

Hit the alarm, make bed, jump in shower, jump out, make up, facebook (1 minute), email (3 minutes), hair, pack bag, run out door, get breakfast, most of the time run down to chapel, run to my first class, second class, lunch, third class, breathe, homework, dinner, homework, shower, Bible, relax, bed. This is generally the schedule that I have here at college. A full day's work eh? But amongst all this hustle-and-bustle God in His love has showered me with life.

Life here at college has not been easy. I have been challenged, I have been stretched, and I have been pushed to my limits. But there comes a point when you realize that you can't continue on without relying on God to help you get through. It is in these times of challenge that God reveals Himself to you in such a sweet and precious way. The sweetness of His love and peace in my life continues to grow by the day. There is not a day that goes by where God somehow sweeps me off my feet by just the little blessings in life or in just the way that He expresses His love to me. What did I ever do to deserve this...me a pathetic and terrible sinner? God's grace and His mercy are every-abounding and is always ready to overwhelm you in the best way possible.

I love God with everything that I have within me and there is nothing that I or anyone else could ever do to take me away from Him. As the psalms say, there is no place to go to hide from God and His love. Every day I go through some sort of struggle or challenge and every day God continues to walk beside me through it all. And whenever things in life get too hard, He picks me up and carries me through it all. It is God's peace and love that keeps me going. Honestly, I think I might have given up by now if God had not been such an important part of my life. His peace is overwhelming and His love is ever so sweet. Every morning is like waking up to a bouquet of roses laying right next to me. God knows the struggles and challenges that I will face each day even before I close my eyes the night before, and it is because He knows that I can trust Him to help me through and God has not failed me once!

When I feel tears coming on I become overwhelmed by the feeling of His loving arms wrapping around me. When I feel like screaming, I become overwhelmed by the feeling of God gently caressing my face and whispering "I love you." And when I feel like giving up,I become overwhelmed by peace and a renewed vigor to keep going, to persevere. God's love and grace and peace is sweetness in my life.

New Horizons

Mid-terms are done, multiple tests have been taken, many prayers and tears, and God is continually faithful and good. My life these last couple months has been extremely busy, tough, rough, and extremely good. The struggles that I've gone through are many and varied but the more struggles I go through and the more challenges I face the more I am continually aware of God's marvelous love and wonder and grace.

I've had to stretch myself to be accepting and loving towards people who are totally different than me. Some of my roommates are like this - just completely different than me but I love them anyways and I love them for who they are. I've run into many non-believers here on a Christian campus and I've prayed for many people. One thing that has continually been a blessing in my life is Pray First. I joined the intercessory group in August and have loved every moment of it. Oh praise report! I am going to Urbana 09 all because God blessed me through my church. My ticket ($395) has been paid for because God is faithful and good :)

My life has not always been all happy and cheerful and wonderful, but through it all God has shown His faithfulness. I've had to be humbled through almost failing a couple tests, have had to deal with some relationships, difficult classes, late nights, and everything else that comes with college. There's nothing though that can be too much compared to the love of God. He continues to bless me and give me the grace to keep going no matter what. Even when I want to give up God gives me the strength to keep going. God is my life!

Late nights, lack of sleep, friends, smiles, tears, frustrations, studying, movies, snacks, Chapel, Vespers, prayers, laughs, more frustrations, more tears, headaches, bad days, praises, singing, books and books and books beyond comprehension, more headaches, sleepless nights, Bible, more laughs, more tears, hopes, dreams and visions - it's all worth it because of God.

Unwavering Love

Well, it's been about 3 weeks since I moved into college and 2 weeks since classes started. I love being here at Bethel. I've love my roommates, all 5 of them: Ashley, Anna, Abby, Steph and Whitney. What amazing and beautiful young women of God they are, I was so extremely blessed with all of them. A couple nights since moving into college we've just barely touched the surface of some deep stuff that have happened in our past - but how amazing is it that we could share our lives and our hurts with each other! My suite girls and I have kinda made a little sorority pack with the suite across the hall (Jennica, Ashley, Emma, Cassandra, Irene, and Katie. Oh so many wonderful people I've met! Sydney - my ever faithful Chemistry lecture partner, Brittaney, Carissa, Will, Michael, Jenna, Lauren (the life of the party!), sweet Greta, Kate, Carissa, Brian, Matt, Amber, James (who I can always talk to about anything), my wonderful professors and the list goes on!! God is just so awesome.

Well, I wanted to share a little bit of the experiences I've had because you'll see how ever so faithful and wonderful and loving God is!

My first weekend after classes were done I turned in an application to Pray First - this prayer ministry/team run by students for Bethel. After this I just kept being attacked for the next couple days. Before I tell you all that has happened I want to mention that sometimes (not every time) when you get placed in a spot where God wants you to be to help advance His Kingdom (such as praying, worship, leadership, pastoral, ministry, etc.) the devil will do everything he can to steal your joy and make you fall away from God (even though it's your choice to fall away or not). So Thursday morning I turned in my application. My computer crashed right after that because I spilled a glass of water on it by accident (it's fine now!).

That night I found out some really extremely sad news about a friend from church. Friday morning I woke up sick only to find out that something else happened to another person in my church. Oh and God was so good as to answer my prayers and my computer was fixed and was returned to me (PTL!). Later that night I called my aunt to talk with her and she encouraged me with John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me." I spent almost my entire weekend praying though for various things that were happening. On Monday I found out I was accepted onto the Pray First team and then the next morning I lost my voice completely - I couldn't even whisper. I had completely had it with the devil but God filled my life that day with such a peace...I knew His hand was on EVERYTHING!

Later Tuesday afternoon I went to go pick up the new Barlow Girl CD and I was praying and believing for healing for my health and my voice. Then something totally miraculous happened!!! I turned on the radio and decided to show the devil that he has no right to mess with me, since I am a Daughter of Christ! So I started singing and ah there's my voice!

Sometime during the week I ran into a friend who I proceeded to tell about my weary weekend. She prayed "Lord, we ask for a breakthrough!" After that prayer I've been experiencing little break throughs here and there and God is just so awesome. When I go to spend time with God - I go down to the dock and sit there and sing and pray and do whatever...it's me and God time! I listen to worship songs on my iPod and I just feel God's arms wrap around me. He whispers in my ear "My diamond, I love you! You're so beautiful! You take My breath away. Let My love make you complete this day." God consumes me in His love and I am just amazed at His love!

Friends, I tell you this not as an update to how life is going for me, but I share it to help you see that you do matter to God! See, God's hand is on everything and He is in control. When all the world crashes around you go to your knees and cry out to God. He'll provide stability and unwavering love that will make your life complete. He'll be the only thing that never changes in your life...His love is always there and He will never love you more or less no matter what you've done in life. God loves you as much as He can, which is as far as the east is from the west! Look to God and you'll see how much He loves you! It will blow your mind! Look to His unwavering love this week and you will never be the same!

Time Flies!

Well, here I am, about to meet college face-to-face! God and me, well, we're ready! But I still can't seem to fully comprehend the fact that I'm going to college in 4 days!! It isn't that it hasn't hit me yet, it's just that I can't believe that I am actually old enough to go to college, that I've lived this long! My how time flies!

Looking back through the years I see everything that I've done - the good and the bad. Things I've had to ask God to forgive me for, and things that made me proud to be serving God. There are things that I regret and things that I wouldn't change - but actually, I wouldn't change a thing because every step along the way has made me into the person I am today!

But...I do have to ask...have I really made a difference? Has my 18 years on this earth impacted other's lives? I would hope so. It took me 17 years to finally lead my first person to Christ...a lot longer than I had wanted. You see, our time here on earth is only a breath compared to the expanse of eternity. One day we're here and the next we're gone. We've only got a short time on this earth and so we've only got a short time to make a difference. Don't let your life just slip away; you can still make a difference!

My way of making a difference is by being a servant of God. I want to serve God and serve people, I want to help make others' lives better. I want to do everything that I possibly can because you never know when your time has come. When I die, I want to go before the Throne of Almighty God and hear Him say "Well done, good and faithful servant!"...

Time flies, but you can still make a difference.

Forgiveness = Freedom

So I've learned a pretty big lesson these past couple weeks. I've just gone through an experience that left me pretty wounded and I was not wanting to forgive the members involved. For two weeks I woke up every morning and the first thing God said to me was "forgive them." Being a sinful and prideful human being I put my foot down and demanded that I would not. I needed to know "why" before I even considered forgiving them. But after experiencing God's amazing peace in my life for three months throughout the many trials and mountains that I've experienced I realized that for those two weeks I was not at peace. I was constantly thinking about how I would approach the members involved and tell them how wounded I was, but it would just cause more anger and unforgiveness in my heart. I was not experiencing the more abundant life that God claims that He gives to all who are found in Him. I knew what I was doing and why I wasn't experiencing peace and joy in my life but I kept putting my foot down. Finally, I went on a trip with the members and the tension grew in my heart until I finally "bursted". It was at that moment that God pushed my heart to forgive one more time. I gave in and forgave and instantly I was at peace and I found new joy - and my relationship with the members improved. But what's even more my Holy Spirit gifts were renewed and I experienced some pretty cool things - God used me and my prayers to touch other's lives. I hadn't experienced that gifting for quite some time and it was because I would not forgive.

I don't know what you've gone through in your life or who has hurt you but I do now finally understand how freeing it is to forgive. Forgiveness keeps the devil at bay - keeps the anger and revenge back - and allows for God to work through you in mighty and powerful ways. It's not easy to finally make that choice to just forgive, even if you don't understand everything, but I do know that you're life will be filled with peace and joy! I would really recommend forgiving - and forgetting - from the start of a situation. You'll become a pretty "mighty" person of God, and the devil will have a fit over it. Blessings!!

Touched by the Holy Spirit!

So yesterday was Sunday, and Sunday morning I went to church. We had an amazing speaker from Uganda who shared with us that we need to stop complaining when we have so much. He also shared that we need to stop all the negativity in the church, we need to speak positive life into everyone around us and into our own life. That basically summed up his sermon, although not quite as well as he said it. But it was still good. Then afterwards, we had a time of prayer for healing from negatives spoken into our life and breaking of bondages in our lives. I went up for the healing of the negative words spoken into my life. Even though I had forgiven all who had hurt me the wounds were so deep that I couldn't shake off the thoughts that came to attack me. No matter how much I forgave and asked God to cleanse my life and heal my wounds the devil kept coming back with the same exact things - "You're a tub of lard! Your name should have been Eliana-bellybana!! You're fat, you're ugly; no man is ever going to want you!" Most of the time I wouldn't believe them but there were the select few times that they would creep into my heart in such a way that I wasn't prepared for it. But no more!

So what happened next was totally unexpected. A dear friend of mine, Nicole, had just been blessed in front of the church with a calling on her life. I went up to give her a hug - next thing I know is she's praying for me, for all the wounds to be healed, for me to see myself as a Princess, and for my husband to come quickly and pursue me and fight for me; I was moved to tears. When I left Nicole I went over to where my dad was standing and I saw Jenny there and I wanted to give her a hug because I felt like she needed someone to bless her and I wanted to do that (Jenny and I both work with the kids - I in the nursery and her with the older children). Next thing I know, she's sobbing and I'm sobbing. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to find Joe - then he prays for me! He was speaking life into me about how my deep wounds are being completely healed as he was speaking and that God was going to give me a "ministry" of speaking life into people to the point where I can't stop myself (my hearts cry!!). I started sobbing and I went home a happy girl :)

But it didn't stop there....

That evening I also went to church. We had a guy named Terry who is a Minnesota missionary in Haiti. He brought back with him JP, a child sacrifice, who had been dead but God used Terry to bring him back to life - JP was amazing; amazing dancing and amazing seeing him walk around with part of his skull caved in. WOW! Terry told us a couple amazing stories and how God doesn't want us to carry our bondages anymore, but give them up to him. So he called the church forward - at this point I was totally excited, especially after the stories he told. So the music starts playing and we lift up our hands to God and are just standing there worshiping God. Then Terry starts walking among the rows - bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...!! People just start falling like a nuclear bomb had exploded! But it wasn't a bomb, it was the anointing of the Holy Spirit exploding across the sanctuary!!!! I got even more excited. Then Terry came down my row...people start falling just as fast (more like flying!)...next thing I know I fly through the air, extremely fast, and land on the ground - but it felt more like a cloud :) I'm on the floor just shaking and sobbing because it's just such an awesome feeling to feel "smothered" in the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is what is called being slain in the Holy Spirit - an AMAZING experience!! After a little bit I sit up and see that still more people are falling and a bunch of people are flying all over the place trying to catch all the falling people. My friend Sarah sits up next to me and we start talking. Then we notice this group of little girls behind us just worshiping God. We ask them if they want prayer and they just look at us and laugh and say no. I tell them it's nothing to be afraid of....Here comes Terry!...plop, plop, plop, plop...Sarah and I spend the next 10 minutes praying for the girls and one girl (I think) got filled with the Holy Spirit and starts talking in tongues!

Now I know some people may read this and think this is crazy, maybe even witchcraft - but it's NOT! This is what it's like to be touched by the Holy Spirit, to feel Love course through your veins, your skin, and every cell that makes up your human body - and it plunges deeply into your soul to consume every little bit of you with the true, righteous, and pure Love that is God. It's being "burned" by the fire that makes ALL things pure and new again. It's standing under a sky of God's grace and being soaked to the core with mercy drops from Heaven. It's being lifted up into God's arms and taken through a beautiful dance in the most beautiful dress ever! It is experiencing who God is! That's what it's liked to be touched by the Holy Spirit and I wanted to share it :) Blessings!!!

In Honor of Margaret Sauer

The tears are beginning to cease but the loss is still there. Such a precious lady, such a wonderful friend. She took me under her wing, a "stranger" to the family, and called me her granddaughter. What wonderful times we had, what amazing stories we shared. I loved her as if she really was my grandmother, and I loved her as a friend. She was brought into this life with death at the end, but in her death there is life. She was a lady of wisdom and an incredible prayer warrior.

I remember one time when I was facing the possibility of my own great-grandmothers death she was there to comfort me. I shared my fears and my memories with her and she returned it with a hug. She told me that we should pray, pray for comfort and that my fears are caste out, and to pray for the Lord's Will to be done and for peace for my Mommo and all she loves. I was comforted by her prayer and I'm sure she didn't stop praying for us.

I remember going up to a cabin with my "sisters" and she came with. We got out the wave riders...I can still see her now. Sitting on that thing behind her daughter, really enjoying herself, while we were on the docks cheering her on.

There are many other memories - sport games, holidays, etc.

But one of the most precious things to me was when she was losing her memory, she still remembered me. She remembered me even after the many months that had passed and I had not seen her. "Do you remember Eli?" "How could I not, she's one of my granddaughters!" was her reply. To think that she loved me as a granddaughter even to the end - I am so blessed to have known her. She impacted my life in such a great way.

I will never forget you Grandma! I loved you and always will. I miss you, but I know you're in a better place. Now go! Dance down the streets of gold and live eternity with your Heavenly Father!! I love you and goodbye...for now :)

My Dream!

So last Wednesday night I woke up after having a terrible dream and I went downstairs to get a drink of water and then went back to bed. Right before I fell asleep I asked God to give me a God-filled dream. Here's my dream....

There were two opposing sides just like in Get Smart or Narnia. The side I was on was the Christian side and our opponents were the non-Christians who hated Christians. The non-Christians were always starting battles with us Christians but the Christians would always win. I actually felt like I was in the battle and a part of the victory, and saw the scene of bodies all over the battle field. But the reason to our success was that every Christian had a gift to bring to the team and they all knew how to use it properly. My gift, which is one I really do have, is that I can feel other people's pain.

There was one point in my dream where I started questioning how important my gift was because it wasn't all that big, but God told me that my gift was special and that it was very important.

The next thing I know I see a whole bunch of the non-Christians running down the mountain into the valley where the Christian fort was. We Christians prepared for battle and I went out with my group to form the front lines for the attack. Then at the last second I got knocked off my feet because I became overwhelmed with the fear that I felt coming from the non-Christians.

Let me explain a little bit about the non-Christian side. The non-Christians had an extremely evil and very weird leader. This leader forced his team, through torture and threats, to do extremely horendous things. Basically everyone on his team was afraid of him. So one night a bunch of them, including his wife, decided to mutiny and come join our side to get away from him.

So back to the battle. After I felt the fear I screamed out "STOP!!" to my group because they were about to attack the non-Christians. I explained to them the situation and we were able to rescue the non-Christians from the hand of their evil leader. These non-Christians joined our side and became Christians....

This was an amazing dream that I had even though it was pretty dark at times. It almost felt like I was watching a movie but it was better than a movie. God had shown me something prophetic and I feel like it's my duty to share it with my fellow Christians.

Everyone has a gift to bring to the Body of Christ. Even though we may not believe it everyone is crucial to the whole of the team. I challenge you to discover your gift and ask God how you can use it - you'll be amazed what God will do with your gift if you're ready and open to Him. Blessings!!!

Jars of Broken Clay

There are times in life when we feel like a broken clay jar. We feel like we have no strength to continue on. We feel so helpless and afraid and sad and there looks like there is no hope for the future. This can happen when we go through something sad or even when we realize how imperfect we are. Well I'm going to share a little message for both.

When your life has taken you through something saddening you feel as if you should give up on your future. We become blinded to the escape door that is right in front of us. But don't fear. That escape door will lead you to a place of comfort and rest. A place of restoration for your body and your soul. The events and facts will not leave you, but when you walk through that door you will find a perfect paradise where you will fall into God's unfailing arms of love. It is in those arms that we are renewed and restored and we can see hope for our future. Once you're in this place there will be things that will try to take you out of there but remember that you have never felt as revived and whole as when you are in God's sanctuary. Stay in that sanctuary. Stay in that love. Stay in that peace. Though the things of life will try to destroy us we can stand on faith, hope and love to guide us through our life.

Now there's another image of a jar of broken clay. It's of a little jar, placed high on a shelf with cracks and holes. This jar cannot hold oil but it is used for something even more precious. Within this imperfect jar of clay is kept the most precious of diamonds, the most rarest of jewels; a one of a kind beauty! This jar is kept in a clay shop. The owner is unaware of the true jewel found inside this broken clay jar and so he placed the jar on the top shelf so that no one can look at it's brokenness and imperfection.

You know God does not look at our outward appearance but He looks at our hearts. He sees the gem within each of us, the priceless jewel that defines who we are. But God doesn't just want that gem, He wants all of us! He will come into that store, see that broken jar on the highest shelf, take it down and dust it off. He'll say "I want this one to be at the front of the house. I want to show this one off to all my friends and I want this one to be of great value in My house!" Then He will ask for a price. The owner will say it's free and God will say "No I will pay full price for this." The owner looks at him and says that the jar is worth $10, but God will place $100 on the counter. He will pick the little jar off of the counter and will tip it over. Then out comes the most beautiful jewel anyone had ever seen! The owner is shocked and ashamed at himself for never realizing that this jar contained something so valuable! Then God places the jewel back in the jar, thanks the man and walks out the front door.

God wants all of us, not just our hearts. What a beautiful thing, to know that God will take us just as we are.

The Penny

So some things happened recently that really got me thinking. I was praying for this "situation" that happened really recently when God kinda placed a whole sermon in my head in about 3 seconds. It was kinda neat.

Luke 15:8-10 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

So here's this woman who has 10 silver coins. This probably means that she wasn't all that rich. She had a family to feed, she needed to get the grain for the fields and whatever else she needs to get as a wife. So when she loses that one coin it's a big deal.

Think of this parable as if we, humans, were those coins. Sometimes we get bumped around, scratched, dusty and very worn down. We then get lost within the world and begin to feel very down on ourselves. Then we fall through a crack and are stuck there, unable to get out on our own.

Maybe you've felt like that sometime in your life. I know I have. But there is hope because you see you are very precious to God and He will light a lamp (shine light in the darkness) and come running to our rescue. Then He picks us up, dusts us off, rubs us down until we shine with our silver luster and places us in a permanent, safe spot so we can never get lost again. But He doesn't just restore us, He rejoices in our return to Him!!! The angels in Heaven celebrate when we return to Him with a huge feast because you are special, valuable, cherished, precious, and wonderful!! There is nothing that can give you so much satisfaction than being protected in God's arms of love :)

Blessings!!!

Faith + Works = Success/Happiness/Blessings/Joy/Rewards!!!

The Bible tells us in James 2:20 that faith without works is dead. There are two ways to interpret this, but both ways come to the same answer.

1.) Believing but not actually doing or working wont get you anywhere.
2.) Works with no faith will not lead to the true rewards & success!

I recently learned this lesson through an amazing experience.

Two years ago I had started asking God where I should go to college and the answer that I got back was Bethel University. A rush of emotions and thoughts bombarded me right then. I'm like "God Bethel is a GREAT! school but it's like $36,000 a year to go there (tuition is actually $24,000) - there is no way that I can afford to go there!" His reply "So you don't trust Me to provide for you?" Oh Eliana, how could you underestimate the Power and Might and Awesomeness of God?!!! So I changed my mind and heart and believed that God would provide for me...probably one of the best choices I've made in my life.

Shortly after this I was reading a book about drawing close to God and I came along this cool little quote, "Where God guides He also provides." So for a year and a half I prayed that every night, truly believing it. But in the mean time I spent my days working very hard at school. I knew that if I could get good enough grades I would get a great scholarship (a little foreshadowing here).

So it was this last April that my mom was driving me to a softball game when she threw a question at me, "What would you think about me getting a job at Bethel?" My reply "YES! - scream!" So my mom went through the entire process and she got a call back saying they would love to interview her for this amazing job in the Seminary at Bethel.

Two days leading up to her interview I had to really believe that this was what God wanted for her and for me. I fasted and prayed for two days.

May 9, 2009 - My mom came to pick me up from school, had a large Caribou coffee in the car, handed me a folded piece of paper. I opened it up to the words "Congratulations!!!" - I went hysterical! Lol!

So in October I sent in my application to Bethel. Got my acceptance two days before Thanksgiving!

Christmas Eve I received another letter from Bethel...basically said "Congratulations! We're giving you $9,500 scholarship! Your academics were wonderful and we just wanted to help you out."

God blessed me! Since my mom works at Bethel I'll get tuition break my second year there plus the $9,500 that is renewable every year!

Now I'm not sharing all this to brag about my success and my blessings and make it all about me. But I want this to show others that they need to have faith and work hard because that will reap the greatest harvest. But not just academically; you also need to do it spiritually. You need to walk your talk! You can't believe in what the Bible says and not walk it yourself - it just wont work. People will think you're a hypocrite and that there's no point to having a relationship with Jesus. Go out there and walk your talk! Remember, faith without works is dead! So keep it alive with faith & works. Blessings!