Today I cried like a baby

When God moves us, it is never a small, minuscule feeling that could be the equivalent of a pin prick on our fingers. No, when God moves us, it's like lightning has struck us and is surging through our bodies from head to toe. At that moment, we know that we are exactly where He wants us to be and the Holy Spirit takes over. If you've ever felt like this, congratulations you have been moved.

Today I had some errands to run around town. I was on my way back to my house and I decided that instead of getting my usual sonic meal I would go to Panda Cafe and get dumplings. Its a little more then my dollar choice but for some reason I felt like I had to go there and that if I didn't get my dumplings I would die!!! So I walked in and was greeted by a girl my age with a thick chinese accent. She took my order and we began to talk.

Candy told me she had just moved to lees summit from China 6 months ago to work here with her Aunt. She left her parents and siblings in hopes of finding a better life in the states, free of persecution. She told me of her hopes of going to a college and getting a degree and then the conversation took a turn. She asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told her about being in college to be a teacher and about my dreams to do mission work and ministry. Her eyes lit up.

That's when she told me about her new found faith in Christ. She told me that in China they are taught in school that there is no God. She said when she came here she was shocked at these people called christians and how they are so very different from anyone else. She said she has never felt more joy then when she is praying and trying to read her Bible. "He is always there when I need Him," she said, "and I wish I could share Him with everyone back home."

We exchanged email addresses and I told her that I would be praying for her and that I want to be apart of her journey here in America. My 7 dollar dumpling meal was well worth it.

When I got in the car I said to God, "Lord I want to pray for Candy..." and then thats when it hit me. I started crying like a baby. I was sobbing. It was intense. I felt everything Candy felt. The pain of being separated from her family and country. The hurt of being lied to her whole life about our God. Her desires to tell her family in China about her life and how He has changed her. I just cried it all out the whole way home.

If a 20 year old girl from China has to come to the United States to hear about God... what happens to the rest of the 20 somethings in China who are still living a lie?

Pray urgently. Feel what they feel. And do something about it. That's what God said when He moved me. I cracked my fortune cookie when I got home. It said "Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands." Have we trained our minds to see the world through Gods eyes? Do our trained eyes place desire in our hearts to do something about it?

It's been a long time friends....

Hello my dears,

I think about the different ways God has been using you all and impacting others lives and I think about how greatly I long to see you all live for Him. I miss you all so very much and if I could I would wrap up a hug and send it to you in an email I would.

I wanted to give you guys a little update on what's been going on in my life. I am at UCM, doing collegey type things. I will say it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be transferring from a small college to a big one. There are plenty of Christian groups around campus to get involved in, but none of them are as fun as our club. I've heard through the grapevine that club has grown even more since last year! I can hardly believe it. God is taking over Summit Lakes Middle School!

I'm still a youth leader at Eagle Creek and I would love for you guys to come see me. :) I am also going to update this blog every week from now on. I'm sorry I have let it go this long my friends. God has so much to show us and here I am dilly-daddling about.

Today God broke me into little tiny bite size pieces when I listened to Adam Young (Owl City's) version of In Christ Alone and read his blog post. How many times to go about our day and forget that we live for one reason, for Christ Alone. What are we doing to live for Him?

I will had a hyperlink that will send you to his post. Give it a listen.

I love you all so much it hurts!

http://owlcityblog.com/2010/10/25/my-hope-is-found/

Our last day- Farewell Friends

Today was our last day for the summer and my last day for Club 121. It was a sad day for me, looking at all of your smiling faces and knowing that when I left I'd cry the whole way home. Some of you gave me cards and gifts which was so sweet and made me feel special. I am happy to know that I impacted your life in such a way! I wanted to give you a bit of the speech I had prepared for today. Just some last words before I say goodbye.

I'm leaving you today hoping that you can realize what you have here. This is a rare opportunity to go through junior high and high school with a family of warriors fighting the same battle and taking care of each other. Are you going to throw that away? Two years in the making of this club will you let it fall 7th graders? 8th graders will you stick together in high school? You are my family and I can not go with you to the next step on your journey. I wish I could still be around every Friday cheering you on but the time has come for you to leave my nest and spread your wings! I am so proud of each and every one of you! I know that you will continue to let your light shine and show the love of God to everyone you encounter! Stand together my family and keep our legacy going.

God blesses those who do what's right and share his love with everyone. He is very proud of you for even just showing up to club. Continue to make Him proud and to make me proud. When we get to heaven we will all be together forever. The people in our club are apart of your eternal family. How you treat them and the relationship you have with them is very important. When we get to heaven and we are having a club 121 at my mansion, what will we be talking about? Will we be talking about how badly so and so treated whats her name and how good the donuts were or will we be talking about how great it was to have each other through our trails and the impact we made on this world?

What we will be talking about will be up to you. The relationships you have with each person in this club will be up to you. We are a family forever. You can not escape us. So I leave you all with this and I pray you think on these words every time you look at each individual face from our club: Love one another like crazy, forgive like you never held a grudge and when you hold each other, never, ever let go. Form a circle of love, this is your family.

Its all in the Name

God has many different names in the Bible that we have been covering in club. Today we talked about why he has so many names and what that means. God's names paint a picture of who he is for us. It is impossible to capture the entire essence of Christ in one name!

Names are important. If names were not important he wouldn't have changed Saul to Paul, Abram to Abraham, Simon to Peter, or Sarai to Sarah. What their names meant, meant a lot to God. He wanted them to be a picture of their name and their name to be a constant reminder of who they should be.

So where does that leave us? God has a special name for each of us, a 'secret name' that will be only between you two someday. But right now we have our earthly names that give us definition. How can we take our name and make it into a constant reminder?

Our challenge today was to research what our name means and then put it as our facebook status. For example mine will say: JoAnna- Hebrew: Gift from God. I will strive to live up to my name.
In class Kylie came up to me and said, "it would be hard to live up to being a boomerang." I laughed and then thought about it on the way home. Boomerangs are awesome because they are always coming back to their master. Kylie can live up to her name by being like a boomerang, and always coming back to God.

So this is our mission! Its called a facebook outreach. Go share Christ love! Even if your name means hill, be a foundation for Christ. Or if your name means Royalty show the Royalty of God! I'm sure when you think about it, God will show you what your name wants you to represent.

Something happened today

I don't know how to describe it but something happened today. I woke up late, frustrated, and unable to breathe out of my nose. I thought I'd be able to recover on my way to club but it only got worse. I was happier when I saw everyone, but then I didn't get to teach my prayer lesson because everyone was talking. Frustration raised and then boom.

I was blank inside. I had finally hit the edge.

After club I got in my car and wanted to cry but I couldn't. Its like my tear ducts went on strike. They were dry just like my passion for my ministry. All I wanted was to go home and stare at my ceiling.

As I drove down the highway I passed a large Keebler truck. I started to think about all of the cookies inside. I wanted those cookies. I quickly devised a plan to hijack the truck and take all of the snacks. It was a genius plot that made me laugh, laugh until I cried.

It was at that moment that I realized that those cookies would never be mine. That I would never have the skills to hijack a Keebler truck. And that I might be called to lead a normal life, free of such life and death adventures. I might be called to just go to college then get married, be a teacher, have kids, grow old, and knit sweaters on the front porch and die all in the area of Lees Summit. Any other day I would hate everything about that thought, but today something happened.

I was o.k with the thought of being normal. People who know me know that I am not your typical 20 year old but I am certainly not a Beth Moore or off saving the world one homeless child at a time. Things I want to be more then anything. I have been so set on making sure my life goes according to my plan that I told God that I refuse to be anything less then my dreams. But what about Gods dreams for my life?

If God wanted me to hijack a Keebler truck he would've equipped me with the means to do so. If God wanted me to be a speaker at youth camps and travel the world, he would provide a way. But what if he doesn't? Will I sit around and pout wishing I wasn't dealt the short end of the stick? No way, at least not after today.

Whatever God wants, I want for my life.

I become jealous when I hear about my friends off joining missions schools, teaching in Ecuador, and going to Hillsong United in Australia. Not giving up, but being able to give years of their lives to God before starting college and getting married. I keep crying to God, "when is my turn? Look at all I do for you here! I want to go to Lord, its not fair!." Today God finally got my attention. He said, JoAnna, If your off saving the world, who will save my people here?

Click. Surrender.

As long as I am completely surrendered to God, He knows whats best for me. The idea of leading a stereotypical normal life is no longer this scary monster that will feel me with regret. My life will never be normal, not as long as I am working for the King. I will have great adventures, I will love, and I will be the woman God wants.

I'm not giving up on my dreams, I'm just giving in to God.

Sometimes God just wants to know if your willing to go and do His work. I'm willing to be whatever God wants. No more wishing my life away, His ways and His plan are better then my own. So I will continue my work in my ministry and live my life with a knew attitude. It's not my ministry, it's Gods. I am just happy I get to be apart of it.

Ally Ross, Tough Questions about Death

This morning we talked about how to answer some of the tough questions that come with the death of Ally Ross. In the midst of our own pain over what has been happening at the school, we are bombarded with questions about Christ and God because we are known as the Christians. Here are some of the things we talked about today for a refresher:

1.) Show the love of God to everyone even teachers who are suffering from our loss.

2.) This is an opportunity to share God grace with our fellow students. Don't miss this opportunity.

3.) Don't question your own faith in response to questions flying at you. Stand Strong!

Why would God take someone so young?

~ God works through everyone's life differently. And when God chooses to take someone so young, he does so for a bigger purpose that we can find hard to understand. Ally's life and her story, being a 8th grader who fought against cancer, is inspiring. People will hear the story of her life and her courage and want to know more about her. We may not see it now, but Ally would count it a privilege that her own life story will help lead so many people to Christ. And also remember, Ally may be gone, but she now lives with Christ and she will never be in pain again!
Watch the reactions of people at her funeral, I'm sure you will find people turning to God just as we should.

What happens after you die?

~God asks that we confess with our mouth that we love Him and that He is the almighty God and that we believe with all of our heart that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again. If we believe this, we will spend forever in heaven with God after we die. On the other hand if we do not believe this, we will live forever separated from God in Hell. God does not want anyone to go to Hell, but because of sin He can not be with us unless we have been forgiven. He loves us so much that He sent His son to take care of the sin that separated us so that we could spend forever with Him.

These are the two main questions that you will be asked as the Christians at SLMS. Please let me or any of the Christian teachers know if you have anymore questions. Also ask your youth leaders! Invite those friends who are hurting to club on Friday. Pray over them, and pray for Ally's family.

I love you all so much, and I couldn't have been more proud of you this morning! All 42 of you!

The Roller Coaster of Christ

Today Pastor Paul came in and talked to us about how to truly experience Christ. He compared Christ to a roller coaster specifically the Orient Express that used to be at worlds of fun. This ride was amazing for all of us who got to ride its furry! But it was shut down a few years back for causing minor brain damage. Those of us who have experienced the ride know how amazing it was.

Christ is the same. I can take hours every Friday explaining to you guys about how amazing the Orient Express is and you still would never get to 'experience' it fully. Unless you were on the ride with me 4 years ago screaming like a wild person, you won't ever truly get to experience it no matter how many describing words I use.

We can not fully experience God through listening to other peoples accounts of Him. Sure sharing testimonies and stories of faith and miracles helps, but unless you experience God in your life personally, you will never really know Him.

So what can you do to get to know your God better? Why don't you pray about it.