"I am coming undone"

What does it mean to follow Christ? Really? David Crowder says it perfectly in his song "You are my Joy." He says when the Holy Spirit's fire is burning within us, we "come undone." To come undone, we have to DIE. Not a physical death, but a spiritual death. The past week or so, there has been a constant theme of total surrender showing up around every corner in my life, whether it be sermons I hear, verses I read, songs I sing, or evidence I see in people's lives around me. And the more I am exposed to this idea of surrender, the more I am finding the peace it brings to my soul to know that my heart belongs to the Lord. But I am also learning that total surrender is not a one time thing that soon becomes a memory. It's a conscious, daily decision. There are so many situations in my life that I would love to take into my own hands, people I would love to make decisions for to make my life easier, and problems I want to solve my way, on my time. But that is not what I am supposed to do. Instead, God is placing me in a position where I have to make a decision. Every morning when I get out of bed, I have to decide. Is today going to be captained by Brittany or the Almighty. Days captained by Brittany rarely turn out well, (in case you were wondering) and these days I often go to sleep discouraged, frustrated, and spiritually starved. God doesn't just come into our lives one time at church camp and then give us a cheesecake of a life for the rest of eternity. No. When we make a decision to accept and follow Christ, we are committing to a daily death to ourselves so that we can serve Him and HIS ways, not our own. I'm not sure if this applies to anyone else right now, but it's something I have been dealing heavily with. Just taking my death grip off of my life and letting God take me and mold me into His plan rather than mine. It's not always easy or fun necessarily to step out into the unknown that is sometimes the will of God, but I can say that when I allow Him to have his way with my life, I end up more blessed and refreshed than I ever dreamed I would have been at the beginning. So with that, I challenge you, my friends and fellow siblings in Christ, that from now on when you wake up in the morning, start making conscious decisions to allow yourself to die, and God to take you on the wild adventure that is the Christian walk.

Count Your Blessings...Name Them One by One...

How often we forget how incredibly blessed we are! We're always striving for the next phase, the next class, the next weekend, the next year. The Bible tells us to let tomorrow take care of itself, and to worry about today. On Friday morning, God decided to wake up for a special date with him, and as I was reading my devotions, I ran across some verses that were a fantastic kick-off to the weekend, one of them going something like this:
       "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." ~Proverbs 24:27
Maybe I took this verse completely out of context, but it really got me thinking. There are some areas in my life that I "can't wait for." I so desperately want to be a college graduate. A teacher. A wife. A mom. And I believe those are all really Godly desires, and perhaps soon I will become those. But my purpose, my calling, is not to live in the future. My responsibility is to take care of the now so that when the time comes for those other things, I can be the best I can be. With this new mindset, I entered my first weekend of my senior year of college. Honestly, it was one of the most socially jam-packed and busy/stressful weekends in a while, but you know what? It was absolute bliss. I was living in, and for, the right now. I was connecting with and appreciating people that God has allowed to be a part of my life. I even met new people! God has so much joy for his children if we choose to not only live for Him, but if we choose to simply LIVE and EMBRACE this time we have been blessed to have. So get out there and plant your fields, friends, for tomorrow will take care of itself :)

How He Loves Us....

As I was spending some much needed time with a great friend tonight, we were surfing the net and I showed her the JesusCulture version of the song "How He Loves Us." This song has the words of my heart. I had never heard it until I started working camps this summer. And I heard it at every camp and conference I attended or worked. And no matter how many times I heard it, it never failed to leave me completely in awe of my Creator. Take a moment to think about those words.....he is JEALOUS for me...For who?? For ME. Who am I to deserve such love??? Who am I that the God of creation would fight for my affections, attentions, love, and service???? The song then goes on to talk about how beautiful the Father is, yet how great his affections are for us. Wow. God created everything, yet He still reaches out to us. He doesnt want to live without US. What a great big God we serve!!!

I had always been told how big God is, but honestly the past 6 months He has proved himself 100 times over. I can't believe it has been 6 whole months since I had to say goodbye to my best friend and brother, but I have been living a miracle, which has left me in love with the Savior of this world. God has been so faithful to meet me right where I am and just let me cry, laugh, or do whatever I need to. And He has brought blessing after blessing across my path, leaving even my hardest days filled with a million little love notes from Him. My Savior LIVES, my Savior LOVES...my Savior's always there for me!! Praise the Lord, we serve a God who is alive and reigning, and ever-loving toward His children :)

Be blessed, dear friends, and keep serving our God :)

Ahhh..snow, ice, freezing temperatures, and mountains of homework that actually have set due dates. Its, um, good to be back in America? Some days I'm less than enthusiastic about being back in the states. Bring me back that wonderful tropical weather, Omega blasting from next door, and yes, I'd even go for some mangu right about now.

But honestly, the transition continues. And not necessarily in a negative way. Each day I wake up in this country, I seem to remember, appreciate, or learn something new about my Dominican experience. It was hard to miss some of the lessons when I was carrying them out, and now that I have a chance to reflect and focus on what happened,God continues to reveal new truths about Himself and what he wants me to be.

Balance is so hard. So much of me is still stuk in Dominican mode. Schedule-free and wonderful. Unfortunatel enough, that doesnt fly in American college. So it's been a constant struggle to actually make myself sit down and do my homework. I would much rather be socializing...or doing anything really. It's harder than ever to really put my heart into my studies when its floating around elsewhere, even though studying is essentially the point of being in college. But I guess this is all part of the readjusting process, I just need to relax and go with the flow. God has it under control...

Es oficial! Estaria ir a la republica dominicana el otono luego! Estoy tan nerviosa y tan emocionada! Hable con Josh Hartsell ayer y me ayudo con los cosas siguientes. Y anoche, fui con mis amigos para mirar una pelicula. La pelicula fue The Dark Knight. Es una pelicula tan buena! Y tambien, ahora tengo un trabajo. Este domingo, estaria empezar de Bath and Body Works. Yo estoy feliz porque necesito dinero para la D.R. y tambien una computadora nueva. Esta fin de semana Amy esta viajando a su casa en Arkansas para una boda. Ella esta tan feliz. Enotonces, sin ella, no se que hacer para el fin de semana. Probablmente la tarea, pero todavia yo no se. Tengo mucha tarea esta semana, y tambien tengo mucho estres. Pero es todo bien, porque la semana luega tengo una vacacion a Illinois!!!!! Bueno, tengo que ir, porque tengo muchas cosas para hacer. Se quiero todos!!!!

~Frita

Hoy recibi una oportunidad magnifica! El otono luego, estaria moviendo a la republica domincana. Estoy tan emocionada, pero estoy nerviosa tambien. Estaria a vivir en la D.R. por tres meses...tres meses sin mi familia....sin mis amigos.....sin todo que esta familiar. Pero, yo se que esta es algo que dios quiere me hago. La parte que estoy mas emociado con es el facto que por cuatro semanas puedo trabajar en una escuela dominicana! Entonces puedo ensenar espanol mas facil porque estaria sumergido en espanol todo el tiempo....Estoy tan feliz que Dios me da esta regalo...esta opotunidad para servirlo. Por favor, me recuerden en sus oraciones. Se quiero todos ustedes.

En Cristo....
Rep

Realizo que nadie lee mis notas, entonces decidi a escribir todo en espanol. No tengo una clase de espanol este semestre, y yo necesito practicar todavia. Este semana soy muy preocupada. Tengo tres examenes y tengo demasiado estres. Este ano yo estaba haciendo toda mi tarea ANTES de yo tengo que hacerlo. Es una sopresa? Para, mi, si :) Tengo dos examenes en la manana, un de matematicas y una de gobierno. Para mi examen de matematicas puedo tener una carta de informacion, entonces no estoy muy preocupada con esta. Pero para mi examen de gobierno, no tengo nada....solamente la informacion que yo puedo recodordar :0! Bueno, pienso que es tiempo para salir, porque es la tiempo para frisbee! Abrazos por todos!

Con mucho amor,
Rep