Classes done! May 7, 2012

Hello my fellow bloggers,

Believe it or not, but I don’t have a lot to say this week. I finished my first semester of classes, praise Jesus! I am currantly at starbucks attempting to study among friends, but instead I am hearing of how studying ancient languages is a great way to pick up the opposite sex… Greek 1, here I come!

Just kidding. This past week was really good. The Lord was so faithful to help me survive my first semester of seminary. The time has flown by and now finals are in sight. After finals I have camp. Thats right ladies and gentleman, Reba Smackentire is going back to the Bluffs for another full summer! I am slowly getting ready, and I feel like as soon I finish my finals I will be totally in camp mode.

I’m sorry I don’t have more to write about it. But I will give you a nice long post next week.

In Him,

Raychel

A Few of My Favorite Things April 30, 2012

Hello Blog Family!

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your week. My Monday has been ok. I’m a little tired, which always makes it rough to start out, but I know that I am blessed to be where I am, so I am attempting to choose joy today.

It is crazy, but this is my final week of classes for my first semester at DTS. I cannot believe how fast time flies. The Lord has been so good to me to allow me to have even this first semester of classes, and while it was difficult at moments, I look forward to 2 more years. Coming up next is camp. I report to Tyler, TX on May 18 (or 19^th) and I will be there until August 18^th. While I am so excited, I am sad that I will be missing opportunities to hang with my friends here in Dallas. But PC friends… I’m coming for ya!

So, today I’m going to write about something that is probably one of my favorite things to do, but one of my least favorite things to talk about. The reason I don’t like talking about it, is because I feel like people will think its strange or weird. But it has been such a blessing and learning tool in my life that I wanted to share it with you all.

One of my favorite things to do, is write letters to my future husband. I know, I know… how cheesy… how pathetic… how romantic… But I love it. I write it all in one journal, just things that come to my mind that I would like to remember to tell him one day. Sometimes I just write that I wish he was here and I can’t wait to get married. Sometimes its great marriage advice that I’ve heard, other times its random things such as a memory I have, or something in a marriage I hope to emulate. But lately, I’ve not just been writing random thoughts, but praying as well. I found this list on a website and it is called “31 Days of Praying for Your Husband”. As I was reading through the list I found myself anticipating the day that I could pray those prayers for my husband, and then a thought occurred to me “why can’t I pray now?”

So the past month or so, whenever I get a chance, I write down the prayer for the day and pray it for my future husband. The prayers range from praying for his sexual purity to praying for wisdom and leadership as he leads your family. It has been so neat on so many levels.

First of all, almost every time I am awed by the fact that I can pray. The thought that I serve a God awesome enough to listen to my prayers for a man that I don’t even know, and know that God will answer them in time, is so overwhelming. God doesn’t laugh or think its stupid, but He listens and I know that He is going to answer in time. Not only do I feel awed praying, but I feel empowered. I like to think of the Christian walk as a battle most times, and I see prayer as a part of battle. So every time I pray for my future husband I am doing battle with and for him, while apart from him. So we are fighting together, without him even knowing. How cool is that?! I think there is no greater honor than to pray for the person you marry, to carry them to the Throne of Grace. And how cool is it that God says I don’t have to wait until I’m married to do it, I can start now.

Second, this has transformed the way I pray for myself as a future wife. Something my camp director says when it comes to planning for your future mate, “be the type of girl, that the type of guy you want to marry would want to marry”. So in essence, if I want a great, godly guy I need to be the type of girl that a great, godly guy is looking to marry. That doesn’t mean I put on a façade or a show, but I pray to be transformed. And honestly, my desire is to be a helpmeet for my husband, not a hindrance. I want to be able to walk alongside him and build him up in his Christian walk, not hold him back because he’s waiting for me to catch up to where he is. So I tell you, when you start praying all these things for the Lord to do in your future husband, you realize how much of this you need to be yourself. How can I pray that the Lord would give my husband the wisdom and boldness to lead our family well, if I don’t pray to have the respect and desire to submit to that wisdom? Why would I pray for him to be the only one in the relationship who remains physically, emotionally, and mentally pure? Sometimes praying has shown me how much I need to be transformed to be a godly wife, for I truly do want to be a woman who does him good and not evil all the days of his life.

Thirdly, it has taught me to pray expectantly. Since I was little, all I’ve wanted to be was a wife and mom. I honestly wasn’t planning on graduating college because my hope was to be married with kids. But The Lord had other plans, and I wouldn’t trade where He has brought me for anything. But praying for my husband makes the waiting a little more bearable, because I feel like I’m doing something, other than just waiting for him to show up. But also, it makes me excited to see who this man is that I am praying for. I look forward to the day when I can hand a man my journal and say, “I wrote this for you, long before I knew you”.

So call me pathetic, call me romantic, all I know is, that God is using this to grow me. Although, I must admit, even amongst the praying right now, the “itch to switch” the last name is growing stronger. But if I’ve learned anything this year, it is that the Lord is faithful and knows what He’s doing. I just need to rest in His plan for my life.

I hope you all have a great Monday. Thanks for reading this far… Take some time to pray for your spouse, whether future or present… its fun!

In Him,

Raychel

Shining Brightly April 24, 2012

Hello Blog Readers!!

He is Risen! In case you’ve forgotten. We serve a living and faithful God, who does not leave us to our own devices but is always at work within His children, even when we can’t always see it. So incase you are doubting the Lord, or you can’t feel Him or see evidence of Him in your life, know that He is there. He is always there divinely orchestrating the lives of those whom He loves, just be His vessel.

This blog is a testament to that statement right there. I feel a bit strange writing about this topic, because I know it could come across as prideful and also I realize that I have a lot of growing to do, but I would like to tell you about the things the Lord has shown me about myself. This is a testament to the Lord, because one of my prayers this year is that I would get to know myself and the way the Lord has wired me, and that I would be comfortable with that and live that out boldly.

I would say that this prayer actually goes back to when I was 16. I have always been a people pleaser and I hate to let people down, but the summer of my 16^th year I was going to have to tell my dance teacher some news that I knew would cause her to be disappointed and upset with me. So instead of facing it head on, I waited until the last possible moment and with many tears and trembling in my boots, I broke the news. It was hard, and honestly, the Lord has given me many opportunities to let people down since then, and while it is still hard every time, but I’m getting better about it… sorta.

But this year, the Lord has shown me a couple of things: I am a leader, I am a visionary, I am a bold personality, I am a people person, and I am a little crazy and loud. The leadership has been something that I really learned and accepted this past summer with my job at Pine Cove. Having to lead the staff the entire summer was such a stretch and at the beginning of the summer I just wanted to give up. Its funny how the enemy can blind you with lies so thick that its hard to see the truth, but at the beginning of last summer all I could think of was how my camp director made a mistake. But about 5 weeks into camp, in a moment of brokenness and crying out for help, the Lord showed me how my past had prepared me for that moment to lead. I had been leading people for a long time, I just didn’t see it that way. I am a leader at home being the oldest of 10 kids, I have been a leader at several jobs as a manager, I have been a leader for kids in the youth group, and over and over the Lord brought things to mind of where I had to lead people. It was such a humbling moment, for being called to lead in a godly way is such a huge calling, and honestly there are times I don’t know why the Lord has called me to the task, but I desire to be faithful to Him and the way He has made me. Since coming to DTS, I’ve discovered different ways of leadership, leading is often walking alongside people, and being open and vulnerable enough that others feel comfortable to do the same. Often times being a leader means going places first in order to encourage others to do the same. I love the saying at Pine Cove, they say leadership is “followership inspiring followership”. As I follow Christ’s example I should be bring people with me to follow as well.

Second, this semester I have realized that I am a visionary. Or at least, I need vision. I still need to my vision-casting skills, but there have been several instances this semester that once I am given a vision or purpose behind something, I discovered that I can support it so much more. This discovery has inspired me to create a vision for myself, my desire for ministry, and my future family. I think having vision even in the small things such as school will help me tremendously. I’ll let you know once I have those vision/purpose statements down

Third, I am a bold personality. Again, I feel like this might come across as prideful, but I have no desire to hide who the Lord has created me to be anymore. I realized that the Lord has given me a rather attractive personality, my friend Paige calls it a “woo-er” personality. I like to engage people and draw them in and sometimes I do it subconsciously. I would say that most of the people in my class know who I am, mainly its due to my loud laugh, but that is apart of personality that is rather bold.

Fourthly, if you know me at all you know that I can be a little crazy, and I am most definitely loud. I am trying to work on knowing the time and place to let the crazy out, but for the most part I have come to grips with it and I am ok with it. There are things that I like that I’m sure people probably think are weird, in fact, the past couple of days I have been dancing in my car like a crazy person and enjoying every moment of it. But hey, I want to be nothing less than what the Lord created me to be.

So how about you? What are the ways the Lord has wired you? Are you embracing it, or wishing you could change yourself? There are moments that I wish I could change things, but why would you or I want to be anyone different than the Lord created us to be.

Thanks for reading this far. I hope you see more than anything the faithfulness of our God in this. This truly has been an answer to prayer and it is when I am being myself that I feel the most free and close to Christ. I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes from Nelson Mandella.

In Him,

Raychel

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure about you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Nelson Mandella

 

The Blessing of Friends April 15, 2012

Hello Friends!

I hope this blog finds you all well. It has been a good week. Nothing super eventful to report except for perhaps quite a few mosquito bites. My week was really good, actually the past couple of weeks have been quite good, and one of the main contributors to my good mood is what I want to write about today. This is something that the Lord has provided above and beyond what I even prayed for at DTS. That is friends.

Coming to DTS, one of the things I was most worried about was making, good friends at school. Undergrad I had trouble making good friends at the actual school, and so many of my friends were outside of school. It wasn’t bad and I was so blessed by my friendships in TN, but I really prayed for good friends on campus. I wanted to enjoy and look forward to going to class, rather than longing to go home. Well readers, let me tell you, the Lord heard my cry and provided so much more than I even prayed for.

So before I arrived at DTS I prayed for good girlfriends. It is very easy for me to get distracted by guys, and I honestly like hanging around them. But in the past few years I have learned the blessing and importance of good girlfriends. So I prayed and the first day of orientation I walked in the room and I found a table full of girls to sit at. The first girl I met was Megan, we was a sweet girl all the way from Portland, Oregon. As we talked tentatively, I realized that we could possibly click. The second girl I met actually approached me asking if I was Raychel McKelvy. Her name was Alisha, and she was a fellow Pine Cove staffer and we had many of the same friends in common. She and I had an instant bond through Pine Cove. I was later approached by another girl that day who was from Nashville and actually went to Fellowship Bible Church as well, her name was Sarah, and we both friends with a girl named Erin back at home. Later on that day during lunch, I sat at another table full of girls where I met Carol and Lyndsay. As I was talking to them I thought it might be fun to go to dinner with these ladies seeing as we were all new to DTS and we probably didn’t have a lot of dinner plans. As I went to ask for each of their numbers I was also introduced to a guy named Garrett who seemed into the whole dinner idea. We decided to finalize plans at the end of the day, and it ended up being me, Megan, and Garrett who all went to dinner. Megan and I actually drove together and it just provided more time for us to get to know each other and we found out that we have a good bit in common. Oh, but there were two more the Lord added to our little group. I met Denise the first week of school through one of the other girls and met Alan during WEC week.

The Lord has been so good and has knit us girls hearts together in ways I didn’t imagine. Every Thursday Megan, Carol, Lyndsay, Densie, Alisha, Sarah, and I get together to share parts of our story and pray for each other. We all have at least 2 classes together and sometimes we let Garrett and Alan tag along with us But seriously, these girls have been such a blessing in my life here at school. Since Spring break we have hung out so much outside of class. Most of it has been enjoying the weather outside while sitting on a blanket, but even on the weekends we spend time together. We have this massive group text going on where we send pray requests, share pictures, and attempt to tell funny jokes. And the guys are a great addition to our group and help to keep us girls sane sometimes.

And as grateful as I am for this core group of 8 friends, the Lord didn’t stop there. The provided Gospel Choir which I sing in every Thursday on campus. The choir has been a wonderful place to have a musical release, but also make more friends. And not only that, but He has provided even more friends that I am getting to know more and more…Monet, Laura, Matt, Joe, Jason, Kendra, Erica, Sparkle, Shelia, Luke, and probably more that I am forgetting. The Lord has just done so much for me in the area.

I always forget how social of a person I am and how I need good relationships in order to thrive, until I have them. But I can honestly say that having these friends has made the difference 100% in my view of the school. I look forward to going to class, I have plans on the weekend, and I smile every time my phone goes off. I have been blessed with great friends in Kansas City, Nashville and Camp and I don’t know why I doubted the Lord would do it again in Dallas, but honestly I did and He has blown my mind. Friends that like me for me, love me where I am, and laugh with (and at) me often. I look forward to spending time with them and seeing where the Lord leads our friendships and the other friendships He will continue to provide.

If you think about it, say a little prayer for my friends and me. We only have two weeks left before finals and these next two weeks will be filled with many papers, projects, and tests. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I look forward to sharing things that I have learned about myself this semester, and then the week after that the crazy thing that I have been doing.

Thanks for reading this far! In Him,

Raychel

Left to Right: Megan, Carol, Alan, Garrett, Denise, Me, Sarah, Alisha

Baking cake pops with Megan, Sarah, and Alisha

Hanging outside on the blanket at DTS with Lyndsay and Sarah

Study date with Sarah and Alisha (how we really study, laughing)

More studying with Garrett and Alisha (who is taking the picture of us and our matching MAC computers)

He is Risen!! April 8, 2012

Hello Blog World.

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!! Such a small statement for such a huge act. The fact that we as believers can say that our Lord is no longer in the grave, that death could not hold Him down, but that He is alive and moving is such a big thing! So to say He is Risen is not just a statement, it is a cry of freedom, of remembrance, of ownership. We know who we belong to and who we serve, let us live like it.

I must confess two things. First, I apologize again for not keeping up with this blog. Honestly, I worked at Pine Cove last weekend and by the time I got home I was so worn out and so overwhelmed by homework that I didn’t take the time to write you. Second, something a friend and I talked about, but every since spring break, my personal time with the Lord has been lacking. Now I know I don’t have to tell you that, but I wanted you to know, one so you can pray for me, and two, perhaps if you are in the same place you can relate with me. Before spring break I felt like I was learning so much and I honestly used my school reading as my “quiet time” for several of professors have pointed out that we are studying the Word of God, which is living, breathing and active. It was great and I felt like I was learning things about the Lord or putting connections together that I had never made before. But as soon as spring break hit, it became all about me. I wanted to rest, I wanted to do this or that. And ever since then, it has been difficult to get out of the mindset of pleasing myself. But the Lord has been good in showing and convicting me of this, and my hearts desire is to glorify Him and make Him known in everything that I do.

So, the Lord has been so faithful and done so much for me in the past 3 months I’ve been here, and I want to share that with you all, but in pieces, otherwise you’d be reading a book longer than the Lord of the Rings. J 3 things stick out the most in my head about the Lord’s provision: financially, friends, and finding myself. I’m going to focus on the first one today.

So, growing up, I heard amazing stories about how the Lord provided financially for my parents while they were at DTS, and I just kind of assumed that the Lord shows up in bigger ways for married couples because it’s harder for them to run home to Mommy and Daddy, but I tell you, that is not the case. My story if financial provision begins long before school started. I got word that I had received a scholarship to DTS, but it didn’t seem substantial enough, and when I wrote things out on paper it didn’t look like I was going to be able to go to school. So, I decided on Sunday, December 4^th I was going to make a decision and unregister all my classes. That day I sat down again to crunch the numbers and suddenly they all fit. I was able to work part time and make enough money to pay for school. I didn’t understand how all of a sudden the numbers worked when for weeks they hadn’t. As it turns out, I had been calculating the cost of living on campus, with the price of the school which added an extra $500 a month that I didn’t have to pay. So then I knew I was going to school.

Second story is the job. I knew I was going to have to get a job, and work a minimum of 30 hours at $10 an hour to make enough for school, living, etc. I assumed I would probably go back to working at Chick-fil-a, but I found a job board on DTS’s website where employers are allowed to post job openings in hopes of getting a seminary student. Well I applied for a couple of jobs and one of them was the nannying job I now have. The job posting though was only for about 15 hours a week paying more than $10 an hour, but I knew if I got hired for the job I would have to get a second job as well to make enough. While I was on the phone with the mom talking about the job opening, she asked me how much I needed to make a month to pay for school and such. I told her the amount and the next day she and her husband emailed me and told me that they would be willing to give me enough hours so that I could pay for everything and not have to find a second job! The Lord provided that job out of nowhere, and I was free on the weekends, which has been a huge blessing.

Third, when I got to Dallas, the night I moved in with the Johnsons is when they informed me that they were not going to charge me anything to live with them. They won’t even let me pay them for food! Not only has that been a huge blessing, but living with them has been so great! I feel so comfortable with them and they are willing to put up with my crazy schedule and I never feel out of place or like an inconvenience. They’ve also adopted me into their family, taking me along on family dinners, throwing me a mini-birthday party, and even today I got to spend Easter with their family as they ate and had an Easter egg hunt.

Fourth, the random gifts of money. I have received a couple of gifts since I’ve been here and they have helped in ways people don’t even know. One helped me to pay to go home for spring break, another helped me to make a school payment while I took a week off of work during spring break, and a couple more have helped me to continue to pay for school and still be able to do things with my friends (like see the Hunger Games).

The Lord has provided above and beyond what I need, sometimes before I could even ask. One of the things that my mom always says at home is “the Lord always provides”. And He does, in more ways than just money, but I did want to share that with you.

I pray that you have a wonderful week, and do not forget the significance of this day. I continue to covet your prayers, we only have 3 weeks left of school for the semester, so its crunch time here in Dallas. Don’t forget to let your lights shine so that people may see you and give glory to God in Heaven!!

In Him,

Raychel

Catch Up… I’m Sorry for the Delay March 25, 2012

Hello Friends!

I am SO sorry it has taken me so long to write. I have officially broken my New Year’s goal of blogging once a week… it only took me until the middle of March, I say that’s pretty good J. I know you’d probably like an explanation for my absence. 2 weeks ago I was home in Nashville for Spring Break and time just got away from me, and last week I wasn’t feeling well (I’ll explain further down) and I didn’t go to sleep until 6am Sunday morning, so all day Sunday I didn’t do much but lay around the house and sleep.

So, to catch you up on these past 3 weeks *big sigh * 3 weeks ago, we had WEC (World Evangelism Conference) and Spring Break. Those 2 weeks we didn’t have class and it was good to have a break. I went home half way through WEC week and stayed halfway through my Spring Break. It was so good to go home. Not only did I see my family, but I got to meet my brother Ross’ girlfriend (such an awesome girl, I give the sister’s stamp of approval), my aunt, cousin, and grandpa came in town for my mom’s birthday, and I got to go to a wedding of 2 of my Nashville friends. All of that, along with hanging out and seeing a few Nashville friends, made for a good time that flew past. I learned that a week is not long enough to see everyone.

I got back to Dallas Wednesday night, and Thursday I went to 6 Flags with a friend from school. It was a blast. The lines were super long because it was all of Texas spring break, but it was so good to get to ride a roller coaster.

Friday night I went to dinner with the Johnson’s and their family and they surprised me with a cake to celebrate my birthday. It was so great and as it turned out, it was the beginning of my birthday celebrations. The next day I got to go see one of my favorite musicals “In The Heights” in Dallas, and go to a question and answer with the cast. It reminded me of my love of musical theater. (As a matter of fact, I called my family and told them I was quitting school and moving to New York )

Saturday night I was hit with some really bad sinus pressure, which caused the whole left side of my face to hurt, hence the not falling asleep until 6am. The sinus pressure continued until Monday, and now I’m back to having continual ear pain. This has been going on for over a month, and I’ve been to the dentist, walk-in clinic, and an ENT. I’m hoping it will all get worked out soon. We’ll see…

Monday school started again, and the first couple of days of the week were pretty uneventful, but then… Wednesday… I turned… 23!!! That’s right folks. I celebrated my 23 birthday. And it was a great day! I woke up to beautiful tulips, a balloon, and a gift from the Johnsons. I then continued the family tradition of birthday pancakes by going to The Original Pancake House, which I must say, was a close rival for Nashville’s Pancake Pantry. I worked for a couple of hours, then stopped by Gigi’s Cupcakes where the girl gave me a free cupcake for my birthday. I got home to find a “birthday-in-a-box” from my family waiting for me on the porch. It was awesome! They made a cake, sent gifts, and even had pictures of my guests. I got to skype my family while I opened their gifts, which was a lot of fun… I love technology. That night, I went to dinner with a friend from school, only to find that she rallied all of my friends from school together, and they made me a cake and took me to dinner. It was probably one of my favorite nights I’ve had since being in Dallas. I felt so special and it was so great to hang with my friends outside of school. It was a great day, and I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for my 23 year!

Thursday ended with a bang, by watching The Hunger Games at midnight… such a good show. I love the books and if you haven’t read them, I would highly suggest it! Friday night I got to go to a show of excerpts of music from Schonberg and Boublil. They are the men who wrote the musicals Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. The Dallas Pops Orchestra performed along with musical theater stars Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Stephanie J. Block, Peter Lockyer and Marie Zamora. I was in hog heaven… I loved it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to today. Today has been a wonderful day of relaxing, worship, and enjoying the Texas sun. The Lord has been so good to me the past couple of weeks. Even though I’ve had moments where I really struggle with school and feeling like I’m supposed to be in Dallas, the Lord has been so faithful. These days I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for the place I live and the friends I have here in Dallas. It has been such an unexpected blessing.

I pray you all have a wonderful week. Remember the grace that you have been saved by and live like it. Give a smile to someone around you and spread the love and joy of Jesus!

In Him,

Raychel

My Friends and I at my Birthday Dinner

My Birthday Cake from the Johnsons

2 Week Break! March 4, 2012

Hey y’all.

This is going to be a short blog, this week was a good one. I got to hang out with some friends of mine who have a singing group called Mosaic. They have an amazing ministry where their desire is to teach scripture through song. If you haven’t heard them, you should check them out right now. Here is a link: Mosaic. They toured in Texas this past week and I got to have dinner with them and some of their friends. Such a blessing.

This weekend I was at Pine Cove at our Leadership Weekend, where the leadership of all the camps get together to plan for the summer and have sessions on how to be a leader. It was so great to spend time with my Bluffs family planning for the summer.

These next couple of weeks I don’t have classes and I am super excited. We have World Evangelism Conference this next week, where the students have invited a bunch of different world mission groups to come in and teach on world evangelism. DTS has deemed it so important that they have cancelled classes for the week and we are free to attend as many sessions as we want. The week after that is Spring Break, and I get to go home! I am super excited to spend time at home with my family.

In closing, if y’all think about it, if you could pray. I’m just trying to pray for clarity about ministry focus and the passions and gifts the Lord has given me. I want to continue to proceed with a purpose and goal in line. I know the Lord is in control, but I want to make sure that I am making wise decisions.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful week!

In Him,

Raychel

Midweek Musings February 29, 2012

Happy Leap Day!!

I love leap day, I think its so cool that it only comes once every 4 years. Its one of those rare occasions. And a little secret about me… I always wished I was born on a leap day. But alas, I was not, so I celebrate vicariously through people who were born on this day.

I decided to write another blog and share with you what I wrote in my journal last night. Yesterday was a great day of refocusing and reminding about what the Christian life is about. So here you go, a peek into my journal:

“Today was a good refocus/reminder day. First in Old Testament of being reminded of the significance of God giving himself a name. for eternity past He never had a name, but for the sake of us humans He gave Himself a name knowing that we would botch it up if we were left with trying to describe Him in our own terms.

Second, in Gospels, I was struck again of the depth of agony that Jesus suffered for my sin. I think being such a people person one of my biggest fears is abandonment, yet Jesus was abandoned by EVERYONE. Not even His own family was around to bury Him. Not only that, but the physical suffering, Dr. Allman was describing the cat of 9 tails used on Jesus… ugh. It made me sick to my stomach. My sin, my sin did that. Bu the point where I almost started crying in class was when we were talking about Jesus crying out to the Father asking Him why He forsook Him. Think about it. Jesus had perfect intimacy and community with the godhead for eternity past, and that was broken for my sin. Wow.

Thirdly, tonight at The Porch and J.P. was wrapping up his series on sex by describing the ultimate honeymoon. The one when the Bride is finally reunited with Jesus the Groom. He described a traditional Jewish wedding and the anticipation, excitement, and love with which the bride would wait for the return of her groom. I realized that I have been so preoccupied and chasing after other things. I am not waiting eagerly for my Groom. Rather I’ve been worried about things here and hoping for a human groom. I don’t act like a girl in love with Jesus. Dr. Allman also said today, “folks, if you really know Jesus you can’t help but share Him with others”.

I need to remember who I am and Whose I am and live for Him and in great anticipation for His return for me.”

I hope you have a great rest of the week.

In Him,

Raychel

Happy Birthday to Ravin and Ryland! February 26, 2012

Well, Hello Blogger World!

That’s right, today is my sister Ravin’s birthday and yesterday was my brother Ryland’s birthday! Its strange to be away when I would normally be there. Its official that I am now in a new stage of life

I hope you all had a wonderful week. Mine was good… a little crazy at parts. I worked on charting the book of Mark for a week and I finished it 15 minutes before the class it was due in, but the Lord was faithful and I got it done.

This weekend I worked at Pine Cove for a conference. I’ve done 4 so far and I have one more that I’ll go to at the end of March. I have to say, that has been a perk of living in Dallas. I love Pine Cove, specifically my camp the Bluffs, and it has been neat to be only 2 hours away verses the normal 11 that Nashville was.

So, I have only this next week of classes before I get a two week break. In two weeks, we have World Evangelism Conference, which is where we take a week off of classes to learn about world missions and the opportunities for that. The week after that is Spring Break and I am excited for that. I am going to use those 2 weeks of no classes to catch up on homework and see family and friends!

One of these day’s I’m going to write about my passion for purity and striving for it. I believe that it is something that is so lost in our culture today. We have bought into the lie that kids are going to succumb to being impure and so we find ways to fence them in rather than challenging them to rise above. But, unfortunately I don’t have the time to write something new right now, but I have written a 3-part blog for my friends website that I would love for you all to check out. You can click here and read: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Until next week!

In Him,

Raychel

God You Are Faithful February 19, 2012

Whew! Howdy! How y’all doing?!

I must say this has been the best weekend in a while. I am enjoying a weekend of nothing but homework, relaxing, and church. That’s right, this was a much needed weekend and I am grateful to have it and I am continuing to enjoy it.

This week was good. I am continually blow away by the Lord’s provision for me. Even though I only got 9 hours of sleep in 48 hours at one point this week, He sustained me so that I was able to make it through classes, and still get good grades on my projects. The friends at school have been awesome, and I am enjoying getting to know them more and more.

Unfortunately, due to my lack of sleep this week, I don’t really have anything to share with you from class. Right now, all I can think of is how faithful the Lord is. There is a song that my old church Fellowship Bible Church wrote, and the chorus lyrics say “never once did we ever walk alone, never once did You leave us on our own. You are faithful, God You are faithful”. That is something that I have been reminded of more and more lately.

Towards the end of graduation from college I remember thinking back on my journey to graduate college, and I had a moment where I asked God “why?” So much of my undergrad was spent in indecisiveness and doing things, that seemed a waste of time. But then I pulled out my journals from the last 4 and a half years of undergrad, and all I could see was the faithfulness of the Lord in every step. So many pages were filled with uncertainty, tears, fears, anger, ranting, joy, and happiness but through it all I could see the small nudging of the Lord to bring me to the place I am now. I am so grateful, so on days like this of weekends like this, all I can do and say is “God YOU are faithful, even when I am faithless!” Don’t forget His faithfulness to you! I pray you have a wonderful week!

In Him,

Raychel