In the Wilderness...

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil....

My thoughts come from that passage in Matthew 4 today (check it out). Jesus was taken out into the wilderness led by the Spirit. I think that's something of note right there. God led him into the desert. God wanted him to be tested, to be pushed. I have been led out here to the wilderness by the Spirit to be tested, to be pushed beyond what I thought were my limits, to grow. The devil is taunting me, I'm hungry for much more than food, what I hunger for is God, companionship, being able to serve selflessly, encouragement. God is my portion this summer. God wanted all of this for me, he led me to it, and now he is the one getting me through all of it. It's very cool.

This weekend we hosted family camp. over 150 people came to camp out and enjoy activities, worship and bonding time. It was A LOT of work for the staff students and interns and each night we were falling into bed. But it was really cool to see these families, all with their own unique stories and backgrounds, wanting to pull away from the world for awhile and enjoy each other and the love they share for one another. God filled a void for me this weekend as i struggled with missing my family (as usual) He provided encouragement in the "family group" i was placed in, he filled my heart with his love, and opened my eyes to see the love the families had for each other.

I think since being out here I have become more passionate about family. Almost all of the students here come from a very broken home and their parents are no longer together. And that's normal in our culture now. It's sad that people don't take their covenant with God seriously (now I understand there are extenuating circumstances such as abuse and infidelity and such but i'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the people who just stop working at their marriage when things get too hard). I want people to start taking responsibility for their promises and commitment if not for honoring God then for the kids that they bring into the family. These kids lives have been torn because of someone else 's irresponsibility and lack of commitment. It doesn't matter if the parents say "oh this will make their life better, they shouldn't live around the tension and fighting." and to that I say a big fat "bull crap." A kid needs a family, a sense of belonging and to be needed within that family. If you make a covenant...live in it. Period. So there's my two cents on marriage and family.

I had a major breakthrough. I was able to confront a student who was being disrespectful and guide him to seeing he needed to be aware of the way he was speaking to people. I hate confrontation...actually it's really new for me to have to deal with and it's always really scared me to think of being assertive and tapping into that part of me. But God spoke through me to the student's heart and softened it. So I have finally seen proof that God can make me a leader and he can make me bold. He has not given me a spirit of timidity. I'm slowly starting to believe that :)

The rest of my day off will consist of planning the devo I'm giving tomorrow morning and relaxing/celebrating my birthday with Nikki and Tiffany.


Praying/missing/loving you all more every single day :)