I must say that I am loving my walk with God. Truly a magical and wonderful thing. Never have I felt such love and been able to reciprocate it and share that love with others. I bought a journaling bible and I am really excited to sit down and record all of my thoughts as I go through God's word.
Christmas turned out pretty good for my family (despite my parent's worries). A generous family in the neighborhood (we are assuming) left us each a gift on our porch. We were very thankful and when christmas day came around that thankfulness magnified seven fold. They had not only bought us each a gift but had gotten us very generous gifts. My brother Patrick was given a full suit with 2 pairs of pants 2 ties and a jacket, they also prepaid for tailoring. That was magnificent, this is why we think they may be in my parent's church because my brother has been going to church diligently in his khakis and white shirt for years now. This family also got Brady a $50 dollar watch!!! Wow. They also gave the rest of us gifts but those two were the most stunning for me. It's amazing the generosity some people have.
Okay, I must confess...I did not finish my novel...didn't even get close...remember that post about pinterest?....yeah...that happened. I have decided that I need to have a lot more disciple when it comes to internet time. Not only is it taking away homework time, writing time and social time it is taking away my time with God. So I need to reign my self in on that. Wasting time is just useless.
I went to CRU conference last week. LIFE CHANGING. Not only being able to be surrounded by those who love me from my campus but also being surrounded by people praising God was amazing. There are a few things that hit really home for me. One this is the focus on sharing the truth of God. If any of you are reading this and are wondering what I believe in PLEASE feel free to ask me about it. I would be happy to share this with you, not because I want to "convert" people or because it will make me a better person (it wont) but because I want ever person to feel this joy and security that I have in my Savior.
It was really amazing because two days in a row we set out in small groups to talk to strangers about their faiths and if we could talk to them about ours then great, but we really wanted to listen to them and get their point of view, maybe then even if we didn't share with them they will have a good experience with christians. God truly made us some divine appointments those days. We spoke to one man in particular who was such a devout christian I felt blessed by the encounter.
We asked him if we could ask him some questions about his spiritual beliefs and he says "Yes you can, I would never deny that I live for Christ." It was amazing. He spilled out his love for Jesus onto us and when he found that we were christians as well he became so happy and asked for us to pray together. He told us that he had been out on this jog praying for something like this to happen. The divinity of this appointment was verified to me through his farewell statement. He talked about loving his brethren and sisters in christ. He especially mentioned Mary Magdalin and how she never left Jesus' side. It struck me because I had been thinking on Mary for the past two days after going to a session where she was talked about. God set up that meeting.
Another thing that I took away from conference was that God is both our friend and father as well as a great grizzly bear. My view of God has always been so misconstrued. He loves us individually and yet he is the greatest thing in existence. Through this I really learned what it is to truly worship God. To feel so small and insignificant that you could never measure up but yet still so loved because He cares about us! It is truly amazing. This great God can do ANYTHING!
One session that was really great was about how God is truth. This was really great to hear because there it means that by seeking knowledge you grow closer to God. It was really encouraging especially because sometimes 'ignorance is bliss' is sometimes over taught in churches. With academia being so against Christianity sometimes it is hard to see that you can bring the light of God into your areas of study, it is a beautiful thing.
Other things in my notes:
The ACTS of Prayer:
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
SupplicationSo often we fall into the rut of seeing God's goodness in other people's lives but not in our own. If we don't recognize God's blessings in our lives then how can we ever love him? It was a great concept to go over.
There is a difference between Rest and Escape. Rest is through God and Escape is the Enemy's counterfeit. This hit home with me and I really escape too much through media instead of resting in the Lord.
"If there is fear in your soul then there is a part of your life the goodness of God is not touching."
"You stop walking with God when you stop thinking He is good to you."
"Let God leverage your life."
"Spirituality is a relationship not a to do list."
"Love for Jesus leads to love for others."
"A claim to follow Jesus is not enough."
"Love for Jesus leads to love for others."
Be artistic with God, paint with him, run with him, imagine him by your side and talk, use your talents with God.
This conference was just so amazing. One unique experience that I loved was the New Years eve party. It was a clean fun dance with activities and photos and then 30 mins before the new year we started singing worship songs with the band. So we literally sang in the new year praising God. It was wonderful.
It was great bonding time with the people on my campus and I am excited to go back to school. I miss Hayley like crazy. I wish she could have been with us she would have loved the conference and portland its self.
Portland is such a cool city! Just an awesome hipster town! We ate at so many amazing restaurants and the town is just so cool with great public transit. It rained most of the time so I didn't take my camera out a lot but yeah...got some cool sunrise pics from our room:
We went to Voodoo donuts, that was cool:
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| Maple Bacon Donut=Evan's Dream |
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| So many Delicious Candy and Cereal Donuts |
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| Just a case with one of everything..wow |
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| This is what I got: Regular delicious fluffy donut with chocolate then Oreo crumbs then peanut-butter drizzle |
We also went to a sushi bar with a conveyer belt, it was way cool and it was way cheap!!! I was full leaving and it only cost me 8.50! We also hit up THE BEST italian in Portland. It's called Piatza Italia (I am probably misspelling...) and it is owned and operated by italians...speaking italian to each other in the kitchen. It was soooooo delicious! I mean it was worth it just to go for the bread!!! It was such a tiny little place, we had 20 of us (poor waitstaff) and we filled up almost the whole joint but it was so awesome. Oh and when we were in China town we went to a Chinese restaurant, best Chinese of my life. Also had the best coffee of my life :) it was a really good week for food.
Well there were lots of adventures in Portland and in getting there and back. We had some car problems some rainy weather some hydroplaning some questionable bathroom breaks but it was amazing! I will never regret going and am looking forward to next year!
I don't know what else to say...
Much love to everyone!
Carly
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