Another Step Closer to the school year!

Here's some clickbait

I am 75% to my fundraising goal! Thank you to everyone who has helped me get there! We have a couple weeks left so I would love your prayers that God continues to provide, like he always has.

Even though COVID is shutting down things, I am so excited for what God is going to do this next year. We will be trying some new things in the fall because of the flexibility that this new season will offer. There will be more one on ones and small groups and I am so excited about that. I much prefer small groups and I think it will be a great chance to build deeper relationships with more people. Since we won’t be doing large group meetings, it will free me up to meet with more students.

Jerry joins me occasionally for my meetings

We have started having conversations about who we want to lead core this next year and it is so cool to see the group of people that God has been preparing. I am excited about the group of girls (and guys but I honestly am more excited about the people I will be investing in) that will possibly be leaders in our community this next year. Prayers for them as they make the decision to either lead as a small group leader or in some other capacity. I think people will be refreshed to get out of their own head and invest in others, I know I am.

Before the second wave hit and we moved our staff meetings virtual again

We did a Student Leadership Training this month, in place of SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry, a training we ordinarily do by taking students on a trip) and that was a great opportunity to train those leaders. I was able to speak on the spiritual discipline of Lectio Divina. I would encourage you to try it out! I will put instructions at the end of the blog if you are interested!

We were made to need one another and despite the circumstances changing, that remains true.
My prayer is that our students can see how much they were made for community and seek it out
even when it is hard. I pray that students coming onto our campuses can know that they are loved
and cared for and pursued. Just because it is more inconvenient, doesn’t mean that God can’t work
through it. I think this is just a season of wandering in the desert. We don’t really see an end now
but we know there is one. We have to be faithful and trust that God knows what He is doing. We
trust God and follow him in this uncertainty. There is a line in a song that sticks out when I think
of these times :

"I know nothing has been wasted

No failure or mistake”

Some flowers from my sweet mom and friend of mine
that I received as I was recovering

Along that same note, I mentioned my surgery last time but I have lots of updates. We have figured out what type of cancer it is, it is a rare form of saliva gland cancer. It was all removed with the surgery but because of its aggressive nature and the area, I am starting radiation and chemo next week. It will be a bit annoying to have to drive to UT Southwestern 5 days a week but I am thankful that I have the chance to get treatment and have such good doctors. God has given me a lot of peace and shown me that he has me. I believe that God is creating stability and maturity in this season. It has helped me trust in him and give up control that I have been foolishly clinging too. I would love your prayers in this all! Thanks for your prayers leading up to this as well. If you are wanting to donate to help pay for all this, you can donate to the ministry at anyfocus.org/donate and just select my name

Lectio Divina:

1. Both of you pray to start, asking God to speak to you and clear your minds of distractions and to speak to you as you read the word.
2. You’re going to read this passage out loud with each other a few times, but this first time simply read it slowly, and think of this read as “getting to know you” read, even if you’ve read it before. Look for words or phrases that jump out, but don’t force it.
3. This second reading is about reflecting. Re-read the passage, and then focus in on the words or sentences that stood out to you in the first reading that you felt drawn to. Reflect on what you think God is saying to you about those. Try not to slip into “study mode” and over analyze it, but try to let God speak to you.
4. Read the passage one last time, and now engage with God on what you just read individually. It's okay to just sit o in silence for a few minutes while you each pray or re-read over the passage again silently.
5. After a few minutes, engage in discussion with each other about what you just read and what you might want to think about with this passage. Here's a few questions to help if you get stuck:

Questions to put you into the scene:

What does this passage say to me? 

Imagine I'm there, what do I see? What do I hear? 

Which character do I most relate to? 

Questions to reflect on something God may be trying to communicate to you to act on or affect your thinking about something:

What do I most need to learn from this?

How is God challenging me? 

Is there a good thing God is calling me to do? 

Is there a harmful thing God wants me to stop doing? 

What is a next step I could take, if so?