MIDDLE CREEK

AHHHHH! The day finally came! Last night was new leader placement for Greater Raleigh Younglife.  All of us new leaders met at the Younglife house PUMPED about the adventure that was about to happen.  The anticipation was crazy! We made a tunnel to encourage each other as we left the house with our first clue.  When my name was called I knew it was the start of the greatest night of my life. I rushed through the tunnel, made by my dear friends, and grabbed my first clue.  Along with that was my crazy outfit to wear.  This consisted of a rock girl skirt, a hawaiian shirt and a sombrero. I was ready to run! I ran to the three wolves statue on campus where I found my second clue and an umbrella.  I then knew that my new teammate were hiding somewhere in the bushes and now knew that it was me that was being placed on their team.  I was directed by the note to sing Rihanna's "umbrella" at the top of my lungs in the middle of campus with the provided prop.  It was then I realized how many people were coming out of the near by popular eating spot.  But there I was, full of joy and energy not caring that I looked ridiculous because I knew I was never happier than in that moment when dancing with an umbrella.  I then ran to the volleyball court near by where I met my new teammate who was the boy placed with me. JAYYYYY!! Jay is so awesome and just happens to be a good friend.  He is crazy and always up for anything.  When I saw him, I couldn't contain my energy! Jay and I ran to each other and around the volleyball court screaming "THIS IS MY NEW TEAMMATE"!! Then we were directed to go to the student health center.  There, we found blind folds and a pillow case.  We put the blind fold on, the pillow case over our head and sat indian style waiting for someone to come.  Then we heard the car pull up, people run out of the car and KIDNAP us! It was crazyyyy! I knew I was around my new team but still had no idea who they were!
We then got to our stop and they led us out and stood us beside each other.  We took off the blindfold and there I was! MIDDLE CEEEK HIGH SCHOOL!!!
THE BEST SCHOOL AND TEAM I COULD ASK FOR!
I was so pumped I didn't know what to do. After meeting everyone we went to our sponsors house, The Marches, and had dessert with them!
I could not have asked for a better night!

KIDNAPPED

I am so blessed to be apart of this team.  God has already used this team to show the love of Jesus.  I know this because some of my BEST friends I have made in college went to Middle Creek and followed Jesus because of this amazing group that supported and taught them.

INTRODUCED TO MY NEW TEAM 

Words can't describe the way I felt when I saw Emily Kirby.  Emily has been apart of my life for a while, being from my hometown and her family being my second family.  I remember watching and hearing Emily talk about Middle Creek, the girls and her team.  I have looked up to Emily for years and to be able to call her my teammate for a little while and follow in her footsteps at Middle Creek is a blessing that I am overwhelmed by.  She has shown me the love of Jesus by the way she treated me over the years.  Hanging out with me, when people her age were around, getting me hype about being apart of the wolfpack, sharing her faith with me and introducing me to my best friends.  What better role model could I ask for.

EMILY KIRBY MY HOMIE

I seriously can not wait to see what crazy things The Lord does at Middle Creek.  I know that he has placed me at the right place at the right time with the right girls.  I pray that I would be filled with His word so that I can pour our the love of Jesus into this school.  This is not about me, but about these high schoolers experiencing the consuming love of Jesus.  I know he is looking down on Middle Creek smiling at the new things that he has planned and I can not wait to be apart of them!
Love my team and the way they shine the light of Jesus to me and to the kids at Middle Creek!
Lord, I know you are going to use my hands and feet at this amazing place.  You have designed me and molded me into a person who is ready to lead other girls to You. I am so thankful for the desire in my heart that is bursting and that I get to share with the girls at Middle Creek. You are so good.

MCHS girl Leaders

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile". ||Romans 1:16||

{beautiful place}

I am dependent
I am powerless
I am weak
I am drowning
All of these sound scary, but they put me in a beautiful place.  A place where I couldn't go a minute without crying out to my Father or I would sink.  A beautiful place where I understand the sovereignty of Jesus.

Paul says that he knows the secret.
He has been well fed and has been starving; he has lived in abundance and has lived with nothing.  His revelation? That "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" ||Philippians 4:13||

I am learning that the powerless, broken, dependent places are actually the places where the Lord is closest. These are the times when I draw near to Him.  
I am just an ordinary person following an extraordinary God.

come to the well

I am hungry.  I am hungry for more of you Lord.  I have starved myself on things of this world.  I am so humbled that Jesus laid his life down.  He loved us, wept with us, taught us, and then died for us.  That is the radical love of Jesus.
Jesus says to us, "CONSUME ME". He is the only way to survive.  Jesus is life.
I desire to crave more of you Jesus.  I desire to be hungry for you.  I hunger for knowledge from your word, guidance in my obedience, and patience in my life.  Lord I know that it wasn't me who invited you into my life, but you who radically invited me into your kingdom.  Your endless lavish on my life is constant.  You are constant.
I desire to consume the gospel Lord.  I want to pick it up with a fork and ear the bread of life daily in my walk with you.
Lord I know that I often consume the wrong things.  But I am so so thankful that you do not diminish me, but instead redirect my path to You.
I am spiritually hungry and crave the word of Jesus.
I want to feast on him and the things that he has lavished on my life.  I want to take the things he has given me and use them to glorify His name and to draw others near to Him.  He has equipped me as a disciple.  Allow me to be gracious for those things, just as you were gracious to lay down your life for mine.
I come to the living water where my thirst is quenched.  I run to the well where Jesus is standing waiting to pour into me.
I am satisfied.  You satisfy.

||Jesus said, "I am the bread of Life, the person who follows me hungers and thirsts no more.||             [John 6:35]

fully perfect

When I struggle, I am so thankful that I have a God that can say "It's okay Hannah, so have I". I often forget that I have a God who is approachable and can relate to me.  God put on flesh and came into this world through Jesus.  One of my favorite characteristics about Jesus was that he was fully God and fully human.  Jesus was tempted by Satan, yet remained in His Father. Jesus went through this temptation so he could understand what we go through and show compassion and grace upon us.  One of my favorite things about this story, is how Jesus fought back satan....with scripture. 

Jesus was broken by the death of his dear friend Lazarus and "Jesus wept"|John 11:35|.  Fully God yet fully human. The lose a friend was heartbreaking, yet Jesus took this time and created something beautiful by leading those gathered and lost to Him.  

Nothing I say and nothing I do is to big for Him.  How amazing is it that we have a God who is approachable.  Sovereign yet compassionate. Holy yet my friend.  

I follow a Jesus who is fully perfect.  A man, who came into this earth as a baby.  Lived a life that was pleasing and perfect to His Fathers will and died to set me free.  

Lord help me to fight satan with Your word.  Help me to run to you in my time of need, my time of pain and my time of joy, for nothing is more powerful and pleasing in my life than Your presence.

Fully God. Fully Human. Fully Perfect.  

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to emphasize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are- yet he did not sin.  Let us this approach God's throne with confidence so that we have receive mercy and find grace in our time of need."

 [Hebrews 4:15-16]

giving thanks

wow.  The past 4 months have flown by here in Raleigh.  So much has happened and so many new things have blessed my life.

I am so thankful for my family. I don't think I could ask for a better group of people to call mine.  My dad always providing a good laugh, making some...interesting food choices for us and never a step behind in my life.  My mom is the sweetest lady ever.  Don't think you could find a more humble or understanding person, unfortunately this does make her an easy target for dinner table jokes.  Sarah.  My not so little anymore squirt.  That girl can light up a room with that cute smile and crazy weird laugh.  Its amazing how much you appreciate people when you are placed out of your comfort zone.  If you had asked me this summer what I was most excited about for the upcoming year it would be living on my own.  Looking back, I couldn't have been more wrong.  I am so thankful for these people.  The first ones I call when something good happens like making an A on my calculus test, and also the first people I call for help....when I get stuck in an elevator.  Having a family that is rooted in The Lord is the most rewarding thing I could ask for and I don't think I have ever been so grateful for them.

windy gap

Carley and Kristin

Coming to college, the one thing on a freshman's mind is am I going to make friends? Well I don't think I could ask for better friends.  Our common passion for Younglife has brought us so close.  Having friends in your life that keep you accountable for what you do is so rewarding.  We are probably the weirdest, craziest and most dysfunctional people you will meet but one thing is for sure.  We love Jesus and each other more than anyone can imagine. Friends like mine don't come everyday.  I am truly blessed beyond words to have met all these people, and I don't               know if Raleigh is ready for what's coming next with us.

go pack

Carley and Sarah

best leader ever

The biggest change overall though through the past 4 months has been my relationship with Jesus.  I went from loving Jesus to falling madly in love with Him in these short 4 months.  It wasn't anything I did or the people I was with, but it was all Him grabbing my heart and not letting me go.  I have never felt so full of joy.  It is amazing how you can go from being so consumed by worldly struggles and things, to being fully consumed and fulfilled by the love and grace of our Lord.  Having Him call me by name and calling me His beloved is something that I took for granted before.  Now, I fall on my knees in thanksgiving to Him.  Through Jesus I have found a life that is abundant.  I have been radically pursued and radically changed by my King.  What more could you be thankful for that that?!

So many new things he has brought into my life.  Younglife, friends who are on fire for Him, a church that challenges me and helps me grow, a school that is seriously the BEST,  a calling in life, and a deep relationship with him.  

I think I can say I have much to be thankful for this year. 

 

Vintage Church

"Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the world know what he has done".
 1 Chronicles 16:8

death to life

Wow.  What an awesome day. I represented my renewal of life in Jesus through baptism. Through believing in Christ I was brought from death to life.  I was wrapped in the arms of my Savior.  It was not an act of me finding Jesus, but a celebration of Him finding and capturing my heart.  No other way would I have wanted to spend this precious time than with my brothers and sisters in Christ that I have met at NC State.

No amount of words can describe the joy that I feel after being bought by the blood of Jesus. I am now energized and eager to experience the Lord.  I thirst for his righteousness and his plan for my life.  Having a Father who loves me enough to call me by name and pursue me is enough to fill me forever.  I want to continue to yearn for Him and search in every nook and cranny of my life for Him to expose himself to me.  I admire his grace and persistance of me as a sinner. Being baptized has filled me with living water.  I no longer hold onto the temporary desires of the world, I am no longer spiritually malnourished but my thirst is quenched through Jesus and I cling to the unconditional love and mercy of the Lord. I was called as a discipline to lay my life down, before Him.  He has taken all my broken pieces and made a masterpiece in me.  I was Barabbas.  The sinner, wrong doer and human that deserved punishment.  But then Jesus showed up at my trial and fell on His knees, washed my feet and died for me.  How precious and humble of a Father do I have.  I have been set free by Christ and am now a fearless disciple for him.
I follow his command because I am called to obey and I obey because I have acceptance.  There is no greater pleasure in my life than pleasing Him.
I am madly in love with Jesus and being baptized this Sunday was crazy awesome. I am so thankful that Jesus found me, washed me, and calls me His beloved.

"Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable or responding to God.  God brought you alive-right along with Christ. Think of it! All sins forgive, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross". [Colossians 2:12-13]

hands

I can not think of anything better than sitting with great friends and having what we call "intentional talk."  A time to be vulnerable and share with friends, not only to better understand each other, but to also see a glimpse of how Jesus is working in each of our lives.  Talk could range from "tell me about your family", to "who were you in high school", to "How has Jesus grabbed your heart."  All of these are questions that my friends and I opened up about this weekend.  

I am not going to lie, I get really nervous when people ask me to talk about my past and how I found the Lord.  It is refreshing coming to college and telling myself that it is okay to tell others my story.  I am now learning that we all go through struggles, and what better support system could one ask for than an amazing group of college students perusing the love of Jesus.  

After this weekend and our talks, I found myself thankful that I opened up.  I now see that God has turned my scars and broken pieces into his masterpiece.  Now I feel as though God can completely use my life and my story in ways that I can't imagine.  God consumed my life and now I feel his call to continue to be bold and step out in my faith with my heart and my hands. 

Jesus,

I pray that you will take these hands and use them.  God help me to reach out to those who surround me that are lost.  We are often caught up in our own life and our own worries and stress that we forget to share the gospel.  Allow me the conviction to share even when I think it is inconvenient for me, because it is not.  

Lord I pray that you will continue to prepare my hands and my heart from the people in Honduras.  I strive to be a disciple for your Kingdom.  When I think about the children and families in Honduras that I will encounter that don't know you, I used to feel a hurt, but Lord now I feel an excitement and a joy that you will bless me with opportunities to share your Word and my story. I know I am not perfect Lord, but I am so thankful that I follow and am perused by a perfect man in Jesus.

Lord let me use my story to reach others and tell them of your nailed hands which tell the glorious story.  

"Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.  I pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Ephesians 6:19-20