Quitter doesn't start with F

I'm a quitter.  I must admit it.  I'm quitting the alphabet game.  Props to my sister and others who have prevailed, but it was having the opposite effect that I originally thought.  I thought it would be hard to come up with ideas to write about.  Who knew that my brain would so frequently think, "I should write about that...oh, nope - no word related to that topic starts with an 'F' - why does nothing happen to me that begins with an 'F'?'" Anyhoo, it was fun while it lasted...sort of.

So, I'm going to get you up to date on my life, since I haven't written in awhile:

I got bangs.  I'm regretting it.  They are really thick and were in my face all weekend.  I should have gotten bangs when winter started so that I could wear them straight with the rest of my hair (the few times that I actually straightened my hair) but now it's curly-hair-season and it's gonna look goofy having curly hair and awquard straight bangs.  Fortunately, my hair grows at the same speed weeds grow :)

Went to the Passion Conference this weekend.  AMAZING.  I'm trying to not idolize the speakers and musicians but God really spoke through them and used them to encourage me. The Passion movement is starting a world tour and trying to get the money together to do that. They're going to Hong Kong, Paris and several other places.  I love thinking about how different cultures worship and how Heaven is going to be so, so huge and the music is going to have to be incredible and indescribable because, I hate to tell yah, it's not going to be in English.  

I love my church.  It saddens me to just consider that I may not be able to go there for the rest of my life.  I've never been surrounded by so many encouraging people.  Pastor Shirley preaches the Word and doesn't hold back.  God challenges me through his preaching every week.  I'm leading our high school girl's Disciple Now weekend next weekend and I'm so stoked (not a word I typically use, lol).  I'm excited about getting to know them better and I know that God is going to do amazing things.  Please pray that I don't get in His way and that he gives me the words to use.  Next Saturday our church (including our disciple now students) is going around to the surrounding community and handing out light bulbs to let our community know that we're there and that we desire to be a servant church, full of people who shine His light.  

At church we've been learning about being the Church instead of just doing church and being busy doing things that don't glorify God or His Kingdom.  We've been challenged to get to know our neighbors and to be more intentional in inviting unchurched friends to Kingdom-building events.  Please pray for me.  There are some people at work that I want to invite to a women's banquet.  I believe some of them think they are Christians or just aren't interested in being involved in the typical church that acts more like a country club than a body of intentional Christians willing to sacrifice for their Saviour.  Who can blame them?  Also, I've been convicted that I don't know my new neighbors.  I live in a very friendly neighborhood but I make excuses about not having time (even though I find time to watch American Idol) to reach out to them or get to know any of them.  As a single woman (that 'w' word still doesn't seem fitting for me, somehow) I'm not sure how to go about this.  Please pray that God would give me opportunities and creative ideas about how to be a servant and share Christ's love to them.  

God has been convicting me for awhile about my physical lifestyle.  I've been reminded recently that my body is a temple.  I've heard that all my life and I've always thought of it in a physical sense.  I've never really put much thought into how my body now symbolizes what once was the "Holy of Holies" before Christ's death divided the curtain that separated us from being in God's presence.  At one time only the Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies but because of Jesus' death and his payment for my sins, and because I have put my trust in Jesus, I have been given the miraculous GIFT of the Holy Spirit.  My body is now a temple and the Holy Spirit lives in me.  When I choose to, I can be a vessel that the Holy Spirit can use to further God's kingdom. Again, my body is a temple.  I haven't been taking care of the temple and have been making excuses (I could be a professional excuse-maker, unfortunately) for not having the time to do so.  Thanks to my sister's blog, I have been encouraged to change and use this blog to help me. I'm going to start drinking only water, try harder to eat right, exercise more and not eat after 8:00 p.m.  I hope she doesn't mind that I steal her idea (I know she won't; we talked about doing this awhile back), but I'm going to use the blog to hold myself accountable.  I'll try and give periodic updates with success stories.  We started church softball season last week (we won our first game!) and our next game is tomorrow night.  I'm very out of shape but I love the game!  

Finally (thank you to the faithful readers who have read all of this), I'm hanging in there with school.  School has never been so hard for me and I'm struggling, but I don't plan on giving up. I have no idea what God's plan is and I get impatient so often.  I have one last prayer request: please pray that I would be diligent in doing my readings and writing my papers to the best of my ability.  It's so easy to just do what it expected and not get much out of the assignments.   I truly believe that Christians have the best advantage because we have God on our side.  Our contributions to society (including work, school, child-rearing, creativity, everything!) should be the best that there is and a witness of God's power in us.  God has a purpose for us all, including myself.  For now, my purpose is to serve him through diligent study so that I can be an effective witness of His power.