Hey everyone
Sooo once again I have not posted on here for like a year. I totally forgot about this blog until I was reminded about it this morning. As most of you know I have been at a Christian rehab program here in London called Teen Challenge. I entered the program in January of 2013 and graduated in January of 2014. I am now working there as an intern for 6 months! God is so good I don't even know where to start. Before I came into the program my life was going downhill very fast. After Kaleo I started partying again and I was getting worse and worse until I finally hit rock bottom. I was getting involved with some heavy drugs again and this time I had so much guilt and shame because I knew God was real and that there was a better life for me but for some reason the overwhelming pull of drugs kept dragging me down. I cried out to God in December of 2012 and told him if I don't get out now that I will either be dead and in jail within a few months. I have no doubt that one of those two would of taken place if God did not rescue me from the pit I was in. I re-dedicated my life to God right then and for the next 5 weeks I was able to stay sober before entering the Teen Challenge program. The first few months of TC was extremely hard. I felt like I knew a lot more about God and his word than any other student here and satan used that against me. I had quick easy answers for everything and therefore looked like I had it all together. It wasn't until month 3 when I realized that I was helpless on my own strength and that I needed to surrender everything over to God and let him take control of my life. This is when REAL change started taking place. God started chiseling away old habits and thought patterns and replaced them with love for his word and his children. It's amazing to look back over my life and see how God was always there trying to direct my path and I didn't even realize it or if I did how I just ignored it. After month 5 I became a mentor. Meaning I had my own room (usually you are in a room with 15-20 other men and you sleep in bunk beds :P) and when a new student came into the program he would bunk with me for the first two weeks to learn about the program and ultimately about God. That's when I first saw the changes that were happening in my life and the first time in a long time that I started to enjoy life again. God has been molding me into the image of his son this whole time in Teen Challenge but I did not start realizing it until month 5. Being a mentor helped me to mature a lot and helped me to be a leader in this program. It's awesome how God can use someone like me with my past to now help others here in the program. I have had the privilege to be in the Teen Challenge choir for 10 months of my program as well. It has been an amazing experience going to different churches every Sunday around Southwestern Ontario to share my testimony through song and through spoken word. God has increased my boldness to share like never before. I have been given a couple opportunities already to share my testimony at youth groups and on the streets of London during our evangelism course. Teen Challenge is not just a rehab centre but also a discipleship program. One part of the program is going to the streets of London( many places I have been in the past using or selling drugs) and sharing the gospel with the homeless. WHAT A PRIVILEGE! I am in awe that God would not only save me from myself and my destructive lifestyle, but now is allowing me the strength to go back to my old areas and share the gospel with people who are hurting just like I was. AMAZING! The last few months of the program was a transitioning time for me. Getting ready to go back to society with new disciplines and a change of heart. That's also a big reason why I decided to do an internship. It's another 6 months where I can give back to the ministry but also continue my own personal growth here as well. After my internship is done I am looking into various bible colleges including Briercrest, Redeemer, Tyndale, and EBC. I am praying that God will lead me to the right one (as I know He will) and looking forward for what he has in store for me now! I will leave you guys with two big things that I have learned here at TC. First is that Jesus is much more a savior than I am a sinner. I hope by my little testimony here you guys can be encouraged that no matter what we do, God has already forgiven you for it! The second thing is that we can be somebody's breakthrough! People all around us are wondering if God is real, and we have a short time on earth to leave a legacy of what a man or woman possessed by God really looks like. A SHORT TIME. I am now realizing how short life really is and that our mission here on earth is to be the light in this dark world. To share the gospel and to ultimately just love on others. I always thought I needed to be on a missions trip to be sharing the gospel. I can't believe I thought like that! Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, that is out mission field. Who knows if you were called to work for this job or go to this school at just a time as this? :) God bless you guys and I miss all of you!
Nate
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
An Outrageous Proposal
So...
I am going to propose a wild idea here...
All of the K8 from Briercrest are graduating this year (except me.... my bad) so if anyone is interested you should come to the grad ceremony so we can have a mini reunion! Or come to YQ! Just a thought, the K8s here at lil' ol' Caronport were talking about it last semester a little bit. We would love to see you guys again!
That is all :)
I am going to propose a wild idea here...
All of the K8 from Briercrest are graduating this year (except me.... my bad) so if anyone is interested you should come to the grad ceremony so we can have a mini reunion! Or come to YQ! Just a thought, the K8s here at lil' ol' Caronport were talking about it last semester a little bit. We would love to see you guys again!
That is all :)
Saturday, November 16, 2013
An Ultimatum
First order of business: Congratulations Mary! I was very glad to hear this news :)
It is Logan here. This post is not overly well written, I had a lot of ideas swimming in my head, but I have been wanting to post on here since September, so here it goes. Life has been good but challenging for me over these last several months. I don't know if you guys will recall this, but I can remember sitting in gospels with Wes, and we were going through Matthew or Mark or Luke, when Wes presented Jesus' call to "pick up your cross and follow me" in a way that was much more real than I had ever heard it before. His asked us: "we are told to take up our cross and follow Jesus, but what does it mean for us to follow someone who is going to die?" His words hit me like fire, yet at the same time I had no clue what to do with this challenge. Even now I find that this call should belong to a much bolder person than I.
At the end of last year I took another class with a very brilliant professor named Carl Hinderager called "The Sermon on the Mount." Many times I have heard parts of this sermon used for evangelism:
The Bible says that "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Well who can do that? You need to repent!
Now maybe this isn't wrong, or even a bad way to evangelize, but when I hear this as a Christian man I often do not view it outside of the context of evangelism. Yet just a chapter earlier Jesus has already called the people to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The sermon then, from my understanding, is something which is applied to believers. Following suit, Jesus' commands then are commands addressed to believers. We are called to obedience. It may sound silly, but this was to me a radically new way of reading the Bible.
From here biblical passages started to speak to me and call me out in a much more direct way. Verses that I thought were to be intended for me when I got to be a better Christian turned out to have more weighty implications for me now. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness" (Col. 3:5) is a call for all Christians! "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions" (Rom. 6:12) is a call for all who have been baptized into Christ. I was more and more starting to realize that the Bible was calling out to me, challenging me to be something that I was not. The Christian life, as it turned out, was one of obedience.
This theme of obedience continued to appear as we read through the Sermon on the Mount. But this theme was equally matched by another in the sermon: Dependence.
While I struggle with this call to obedience, I find dependence to be an even more difficult task to deal with, primarily because it is a task which strips me of my power, my will, my independence. When I first read about a tree and the fruit it produced (Matt. 7:15-20), I regarded it as a call to live an obedient life: If I want to produce good fruit, then I have to try really hard. Yet as I have continued to reflect on this, I find that it has less to do with straight obedience and much more with being dependent on God. Apart from this dependency, I might dare to say that most, if not all of our acts of obedience only transform themselves into pride in our hearts. While we look good and even holy externally, internally we are dying and rotting. We are white-washed tombs, and our fruit is rotting from the inside out.
How do we escape the wicked grasps of pride and sin? And who will deliver me from this body of death? It is Jesus Christ, who allows us to live life in the Spirit. Acts has many themes within it, but one of the most prevalent themes is that of the Spirit among the early believers. I imagine that I am not unique when I say that when I compare the story of Acts to my life, I see a significant amount of contrast between the two. I rarely even hear about, let alone see, anything of a miraculous nature take place around me. That was why I was caught off guard several weeks ago by the testimonies of several individuals I spoke to who had been missionaries. Their stories felt like a rushing wind. One man had told me about how he had been driving with his friend in Moose Jaw when the Spirit told them to evangelize to a lady who was walking on the sidewalk a ways up. They pulled off, stepped out, and started talking to her about Jesus. In about 10 minutes she had accepted their message and gave herself to Christ. The next day they went to her apartment to give her a Bible. When she was not home they went to the tenants and asked to give the Bible to her. Surprised, the tenants asked if they were sure they had the right lady. When the men affirmed it, the tenants told them: "we have been praying for her to turn to Christ ever since she moved in." Another missionary told me about how he leaves his Bibles and tracts in clear plastic bags when he enters countries closed to the gospel. He told me that years ago he had tried smuggling Bibles across the North Yemen border (which is a closed country to the gospel) and had been stopped and inspected. When the border patrol opened up a crate with a couple thousand Bibles inside, everyone around looked in and saw them, and then simply continued to proceed as if nothing was inside and let them continue on. After he was back in the vehicle, God told him "don't worry about smuggling Bibles, I will do that. You preach the gospel." Now he does not worry about concealing God's word when he travels. I also heard numerous stories about missionaries who had ended up in impossible situations, having no money with large taxes or bills, and how God had provided for them countless times, sometimes through a random person who they had never met sending them money on a 'whim' (or possibly as an act of obedience to God), and how God had provided financially like this for years.
All of these stories sounded wild to me, and as I thought about these men, I noticed a trend: all these men seemed to be very dependent on God for how they lived. There was no concern in them about losing their jobs, being poor, being ridiculed, or even being killed when they were focused around proclaiming the gospel (and at least one man I talked to had experienced all of these in some form or another). They did not fear what the world might do to them, or what the day might bring, because they trusted in One who was with them in all of these things. They lived through the Spirit. They were dependent.
What am I getting at? Well, I think that I have been learning both obedience and dependence are integral parts of the Christian life. Yet this life is impossible without wrestling with what Wes had asked us in our gospel's class almost four years ago: "we are told to take up our cross and follow Jesus, but what does it mean for us to follow someone who is going to die?" We too need to die. C.S. Lewis, in "Mere Christianity" puts it this way:
Christ says, "give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work, I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self [with morality], but to kill it. No half measures are any good.... I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself: my own will shall become yours."
He continues on from here to claim that "this is the whole of Christianity, nothing else." This is where I am right now, standing at the ultimatum of life. Putting myself to death, crucifying myself with Christ, means giving up things that I so dearly find my identity in. Things like my pride, in which I can assure myself that I am smart or funny or a moral person or a good friend, or my lusts, in which I long after what I do not possess, or my anger, which I can foster when things don't go my way. The call to follow Christ requires that we die and let Christ make us new. A kingdom cannot stand divided, and I certainly cannot serve Christ while still serving my passions. Yet presently I still cling to these things. I feel torn between what I know is right and true and good, and this life which I have grown so comfortable in. I need boldness to commit to this call of picking up my cross and following Christ.
Thanks for reading guys, I miss you and love you all dearly.
Logan
It is Logan here. This post is not overly well written, I had a lot of ideas swimming in my head, but I have been wanting to post on here since September, so here it goes. Life has been good but challenging for me over these last several months. I don't know if you guys will recall this, but I can remember sitting in gospels with Wes, and we were going through Matthew or Mark or Luke, when Wes presented Jesus' call to "pick up your cross and follow me" in a way that was much more real than I had ever heard it before. His asked us: "we are told to take up our cross and follow Jesus, but what does it mean for us to follow someone who is going to die?" His words hit me like fire, yet at the same time I had no clue what to do with this challenge. Even now I find that this call should belong to a much bolder person than I.
At the end of last year I took another class with a very brilliant professor named Carl Hinderager called "The Sermon on the Mount." Many times I have heard parts of this sermon used for evangelism:
The Bible says that "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Well who can do that? You need to repent!
Now maybe this isn't wrong, or even a bad way to evangelize, but when I hear this as a Christian man I often do not view it outside of the context of evangelism. Yet just a chapter earlier Jesus has already called the people to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The sermon then, from my understanding, is something which is applied to believers. Following suit, Jesus' commands then are commands addressed to believers. We are called to obedience. It may sound silly, but this was to me a radically new way of reading the Bible.
From here biblical passages started to speak to me and call me out in a much more direct way. Verses that I thought were to be intended for me when I got to be a better Christian turned out to have more weighty implications for me now. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness" (Col. 3:5) is a call for all Christians! "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions" (Rom. 6:12) is a call for all who have been baptized into Christ. I was more and more starting to realize that the Bible was calling out to me, challenging me to be something that I was not. The Christian life, as it turned out, was one of obedience.
This theme of obedience continued to appear as we read through the Sermon on the Mount. But this theme was equally matched by another in the sermon: Dependence.
While I struggle with this call to obedience, I find dependence to be an even more difficult task to deal with, primarily because it is a task which strips me of my power, my will, my independence. When I first read about a tree and the fruit it produced (Matt. 7:15-20), I regarded it as a call to live an obedient life: If I want to produce good fruit, then I have to try really hard. Yet as I have continued to reflect on this, I find that it has less to do with straight obedience and much more with being dependent on God. Apart from this dependency, I might dare to say that most, if not all of our acts of obedience only transform themselves into pride in our hearts. While we look good and even holy externally, internally we are dying and rotting. We are white-washed tombs, and our fruit is rotting from the inside out.
How do we escape the wicked grasps of pride and sin? And who will deliver me from this body of death? It is Jesus Christ, who allows us to live life in the Spirit. Acts has many themes within it, but one of the most prevalent themes is that of the Spirit among the early believers. I imagine that I am not unique when I say that when I compare the story of Acts to my life, I see a significant amount of contrast between the two. I rarely even hear about, let alone see, anything of a miraculous nature take place around me. That was why I was caught off guard several weeks ago by the testimonies of several individuals I spoke to who had been missionaries. Their stories felt like a rushing wind. One man had told me about how he had been driving with his friend in Moose Jaw when the Spirit told them to evangelize to a lady who was walking on the sidewalk a ways up. They pulled off, stepped out, and started talking to her about Jesus. In about 10 minutes she had accepted their message and gave herself to Christ. The next day they went to her apartment to give her a Bible. When she was not home they went to the tenants and asked to give the Bible to her. Surprised, the tenants asked if they were sure they had the right lady. When the men affirmed it, the tenants told them: "we have been praying for her to turn to Christ ever since she moved in." Another missionary told me about how he leaves his Bibles and tracts in clear plastic bags when he enters countries closed to the gospel. He told me that years ago he had tried smuggling Bibles across the North Yemen border (which is a closed country to the gospel) and had been stopped and inspected. When the border patrol opened up a crate with a couple thousand Bibles inside, everyone around looked in and saw them, and then simply continued to proceed as if nothing was inside and let them continue on. After he was back in the vehicle, God told him "don't worry about smuggling Bibles, I will do that. You preach the gospel." Now he does not worry about concealing God's word when he travels. I also heard numerous stories about missionaries who had ended up in impossible situations, having no money with large taxes or bills, and how God had provided for them countless times, sometimes through a random person who they had never met sending them money on a 'whim' (or possibly as an act of obedience to God), and how God had provided financially like this for years.
All of these stories sounded wild to me, and as I thought about these men, I noticed a trend: all these men seemed to be very dependent on God for how they lived. There was no concern in them about losing their jobs, being poor, being ridiculed, or even being killed when they were focused around proclaiming the gospel (and at least one man I talked to had experienced all of these in some form or another). They did not fear what the world might do to them, or what the day might bring, because they trusted in One who was with them in all of these things. They lived through the Spirit. They were dependent.
What am I getting at? Well, I think that I have been learning both obedience and dependence are integral parts of the Christian life. Yet this life is impossible without wrestling with what Wes had asked us in our gospel's class almost four years ago: "we are told to take up our cross and follow Jesus, but what does it mean for us to follow someone who is going to die?" We too need to die. C.S. Lewis, in "Mere Christianity" puts it this way:
Christ says, "give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work, I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self [with morality], but to kill it. No half measures are any good.... I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself: my own will shall become yours."
He continues on from here to claim that "this is the whole of Christianity, nothing else." This is where I am right now, standing at the ultimatum of life. Putting myself to death, crucifying myself with Christ, means giving up things that I so dearly find my identity in. Things like my pride, in which I can assure myself that I am smart or funny or a moral person or a good friend, or my lusts, in which I long after what I do not possess, or my anger, which I can foster when things don't go my way. The call to follow Christ requires that we die and let Christ make us new. A kingdom cannot stand divided, and I certainly cannot serve Christ while still serving my passions. Yet presently I still cling to these things. I feel torn between what I know is right and true and good, and this life which I have grown so comfortable in. I need boldness to commit to this call of picking up my cross and following Christ.
Thanks for reading guys, I miss you and love you all dearly.
Logan
Monday, November 4, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Remember This Girl
I am one of them: a trip south; a final week of camp seeking out new students; I have my excuses. But I haven't been there lately for Anna, not in person and not even virtually. Today I happened to be in Victoria when I found out where she was, so I dropped in and talked and listened and prayed. And she gave me a message for all of us: "Right now, I don't need you as my counselor, but I need you as my friend."
After I left, I got a text from Anna, ending with "PLEASE pray for me!" And another asking me to write this blog. She has damaged her liver too many times, the doctor says; may need a transplant, and may not be eligible for one.
So I ask you to pray for Anna, maybe find a way to send your love this week - in short, please remember Anna. In her heart of hearts, she wants life. She had "Free" tattooed over her scars. Please join her in the cry of her heart.
In Philippians 4, where Paul tells us to "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God," the word petition refers to our heart-felt response to a deep and specific need. Can we please collectively reach deep into Anna's heart and join her petition to God: for Freedom.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Hey y'all! Bryan here.
First off I want to say congratulations to Anna on her engagement. I'm very happy for you. Any date set for the wedding?
So I think it's been quite some time since I've posted, so I will keep this concise. So much has happened and then at the same time seems like nothing has changed in almost a year.
Well if I remember correctly last time I posted I was in the middle of a pretty bad depression. So after some close calls I finally decided to go to my family doctor to get help. As I had expected he gave me antidepressants. The difference those made were HUGE. Best way to describe the burden being lifted was it felt like colours got brighter and life made more sense. Mostly because there was hope now. I continued those antidepressants all the way until, I think it was March.
Then I met Amanda. I wont say how we met but I fell for here head over heels. We dated for sometime and it was the happiest I have ever been in my life, even my parents noticed the difference in my disposition. During my time with Amanda I moved out of my parents place and into a single room suite owned by one my brothers friends. To say I love my place would be an understatement. At the same time I met Amanda I also quit my job and started working for my brother as foreman for his irrigation company, which has been really good for me.
But alas, all things must come to an end (or so I'm told). A few weeks ago I broke it off with Amanda feeling used and unhappy with the relationship. Thinking back on it it definitely was the right choice and I do not regret my decision, but wow it hurt to do the deed.
So that's about how my life has been in a nutshell lately. I'm sure there are things that I missed or just left out but that's the gist of it. Now I am working about 50+ hours a week, working weekends, with no goal in mind and living life the best I can with what time I have.
Thanks everyone for your support and prayers, they are much appreciated.
Love and miss you all!!!
- Bryan Converse
First off I want to say congratulations to Anna on her engagement. I'm very happy for you. Any date set for the wedding?
So I think it's been quite some time since I've posted, so I will keep this concise. So much has happened and then at the same time seems like nothing has changed in almost a year.
Well if I remember correctly last time I posted I was in the middle of a pretty bad depression. So after some close calls I finally decided to go to my family doctor to get help. As I had expected he gave me antidepressants. The difference those made were HUGE. Best way to describe the burden being lifted was it felt like colours got brighter and life made more sense. Mostly because there was hope now. I continued those antidepressants all the way until, I think it was March.
Then I met Amanda. I wont say how we met but I fell for here head over heels. We dated for sometime and it was the happiest I have ever been in my life, even my parents noticed the difference in my disposition. During my time with Amanda I moved out of my parents place and into a single room suite owned by one my brothers friends. To say I love my place would be an understatement. At the same time I met Amanda I also quit my job and started working for my brother as foreman for his irrigation company, which has been really good for me.
But alas, all things must come to an end (or so I'm told). A few weeks ago I broke it off with Amanda feeling used and unhappy with the relationship. Thinking back on it it definitely was the right choice and I do not regret my decision, but wow it hurt to do the deed.
So that's about how my life has been in a nutshell lately. I'm sure there are things that I missed or just left out but that's the gist of it. Now I am working about 50+ hours a week, working weekends, with no goal in mind and living life the best I can with what time I have.
Thanks everyone for your support and prayers, they are much appreciated.
Love and miss you all!!!
- Bryan Converse
Saturday, June 22, 2013
soon to be a mrs. WAHHH
Hello my dear friends.
Some of you have been nagging me for this for quite some time (*cough* holly). I've finally gotten around to it. As most of you know I got engaged on June 6th. So wild. I was pseudo expecting it cause I'm a huge spy and I knew he had asked my Dad two weeks before. I didn't expect him to propose until August though cause we're so broke and he's been really sick and things. But sure enough on the thursday I came down to hamilton and we decided to go on a date. We went to my favourite bakery, its a portuguese bakery and they have the best sandwiches I've ever eaten in my whole life. Like I LOVE these sandwichs and the whole day at work I was talking about how stoked I was to go eat one... So we had sandwiches and then we went to my favourite coffee shop for peanut butter cookies and mint hot chocolate (yum yum). It was like 9 at the point and prime lighting, getting dark but the nice glowy sun. Anyway I was tired so I asked if we could go home and watch friends or something. We started heading back to the car and on the way we had to walk by this big church called Christ's Church Cathedral. That church was the first place we ever met 2 years ago. He was dating someone else and I liked his friend... So he pulled me into the courtyard and me being SUPER lame said "is this a shortcut to the car?" even though there were candles everywhere... Sometimes I'm so dumb. Like SO dumb. Anyway he got down on one knee in front of this rock sculpture thing thats a fountain in the summer. This is the dialogue as I remember it:
Col - Do you know why we're here?
Me - Uh no
Col- 2 years ago I saw you here for the first time.... BLAH BLAH BLAH... Will you marry me?
Me - ???
I literally don't know if I said yes or I love you or anything. But now I'm wearing a ring and we're engaged.
After that a bunch of our friends popped out of the bushes. 2 were taking photos and they all hugged us and it was super excited. Colin had reserved a table at the first restaurant we ever went to with a bottle of champagne and my favourite appetizers. It was literally the best.
So life has been crazy since then. My mom has become a little intense. But I'm sure it'll get better. Colin has been pretty sick. The year after highschool he went to africa and got Malaria and when he came home and got C Diff. He lost a TON of weight and has been sick on and off since. He's been missing a lot of work and its been pretty discouraging. Please pray that we figure out whats wrong with him a little more and that the intensity with my mom tones down.
I love you ALL
- Anna
Some of you have been nagging me for this for quite some time (*cough* holly). I've finally gotten around to it. As most of you know I got engaged on June 6th. So wild. I was pseudo expecting it cause I'm a huge spy and I knew he had asked my Dad two weeks before. I didn't expect him to propose until August though cause we're so broke and he's been really sick and things. But sure enough on the thursday I came down to hamilton and we decided to go on a date. We went to my favourite bakery, its a portuguese bakery and they have the best sandwiches I've ever eaten in my whole life. Like I LOVE these sandwichs and the whole day at work I was talking about how stoked I was to go eat one... So we had sandwiches and then we went to my favourite coffee shop for peanut butter cookies and mint hot chocolate (yum yum). It was like 9 at the point and prime lighting, getting dark but the nice glowy sun. Anyway I was tired so I asked if we could go home and watch friends or something. We started heading back to the car and on the way we had to walk by this big church called Christ's Church Cathedral. That church was the first place we ever met 2 years ago. He was dating someone else and I liked his friend... So he pulled me into the courtyard and me being SUPER lame said "is this a shortcut to the car?" even though there were candles everywhere... Sometimes I'm so dumb. Like SO dumb. Anyway he got down on one knee in front of this rock sculpture thing thats a fountain in the summer. This is the dialogue as I remember it:
Col - Do you know why we're here?
Me - Uh no
Col- 2 years ago I saw you here for the first time.... BLAH BLAH BLAH... Will you marry me?
Me - ???
I literally don't know if I said yes or I love you or anything. But now I'm wearing a ring and we're engaged.
After that a bunch of our friends popped out of the bushes. 2 were taking photos and they all hugged us and it was super excited. Colin had reserved a table at the first restaurant we ever went to with a bottle of champagne and my favourite appetizers. It was literally the best.
This is my new and improved hand!
This is the proposal
This is us in michigan a couple weeks ago
I love you ALL
- Anna
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Dios le bendiga hermanos!
So what has happened in the life of Lynnea.... (I apologize for not being active on this for awhile)
I guess I will start with where I am at. I am still at good ol' B-crest and on the dance team, Refined Undignified. It has had its difficulties but I still love dancing. This semester has been really hard for me, but as hard as it has been, it has been good. In one of my classes about Exodus we talked about God testing the Israelites. The first time he tested them he didn't get angry with them when they failed, but it rather revealed the Israelites weaknesses. That's me, I am being shown my weaknesses, and they are not in lack, haha.
I was supposed to be doing my internship for 6 months starting this summer but things just weren't working out, and it was crunch time so I have decided to do another full year at Briercrest and do my internship next year. With not doing my internship – which I was dead set on doing – I have learned to give up control to the Lord. One of my biggest lessons I have been learning is to trust the Lord, in all things. So I have no idea what I am doing this summer, but that is totally okay. I have no idea what the Lord has in store for next year – because I decided not to do RU again – but I did apply for an RA for the high school dorm here. There are some great candidates for the position so I have no idea if I will get it but again, it is in the Lord's hands.
Another area I have been learning to trust God in, is the area of relationships. One of my close guy friends on RU and I have had an interesting past, and didn't end on the best note at the end of last year. Then, beginning of this year he decided to start pursuing me, which was pretty exciting for me – not initially though, because I had a disliking for him because of some stuff that went down the previous year, haha. One of the RU rules though is that you can't date team members so we were waiting for April to start dating. We were pretty positive that it would happen, and gave very little room to say that things could change if it was in God's will. Things can change so rapidly though. In January I would say we were in that 'honeymoon' stage but then all of the sudden he started acting different. It turns out he didn't like me anymore and that went on for a month. Then at MissionFest with our team, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. Every day was a battle for me, and most of the time he didn't even talk to me anymore. So I called it off. The last month has been brutal, I don't think I have ever gone through so much pain. It is really hard because we were really close friends before any of this began, and now I have lost a very dear friend and I really do miss him. We then had our 'closure' talk two nights ago. It is hard facing the reality that it is over and in time I will come to the full realization of it. I know that comes with time though. To be honest, I am hurt, really hurt for that matter, but I don't hate him. I really don't know the full reason for him not liking me anymore but I stopped wondering about it awhile ago because all that will do is create bitterness – and create division on our dance team. I still want the best for him, and I hope he finds a great girl who compliments him well and who will be able to do kingdom work together. It is a process, but I am trying to unconditionally love him even if he may not return that. So please be praying for me in all of this, as many of you have probably been in similar situations know, it is not easy. So yet I still remain in single land, which I am starting to like more and more, again. :)
In other news, I am going to Mexico for three weeks! My dance team was invited to do dance ministry in the area of Progreso, Mexico – near Cancun. I am so excited for the people, food, culture, and ministry opportunities. What might be real fun though is that I get to spend three straight weeks with the guy mentioned above... wahoo! (Take that last sentence as sarcasm, haha). It will be tough but again, it will be a growing and refining experience. In all seriousness though, I am really excited for Mexico because as you guys may know, I love cultures, people and languages.
I want to hear from more of you! I am glad to hear about those who have posted. Praying for you guys and I love you guys so much.
Lynnea
I guess I will start with where I am at. I am still at good ol' B-crest and on the dance team, Refined Undignified. It has had its difficulties but I still love dancing. This semester has been really hard for me, but as hard as it has been, it has been good. In one of my classes about Exodus we talked about God testing the Israelites. The first time he tested them he didn't get angry with them when they failed, but it rather revealed the Israelites weaknesses. That's me, I am being shown my weaknesses, and they are not in lack, haha.
I was supposed to be doing my internship for 6 months starting this summer but things just weren't working out, and it was crunch time so I have decided to do another full year at Briercrest and do my internship next year. With not doing my internship – which I was dead set on doing – I have learned to give up control to the Lord. One of my biggest lessons I have been learning is to trust the Lord, in all things. So I have no idea what I am doing this summer, but that is totally okay. I have no idea what the Lord has in store for next year – because I decided not to do RU again – but I did apply for an RA for the high school dorm here. There are some great candidates for the position so I have no idea if I will get it but again, it is in the Lord's hands.
Another area I have been learning to trust God in, is the area of relationships. One of my close guy friends on RU and I have had an interesting past, and didn't end on the best note at the end of last year. Then, beginning of this year he decided to start pursuing me, which was pretty exciting for me – not initially though, because I had a disliking for him because of some stuff that went down the previous year, haha. One of the RU rules though is that you can't date team members so we were waiting for April to start dating. We were pretty positive that it would happen, and gave very little room to say that things could change if it was in God's will. Things can change so rapidly though. In January I would say we were in that 'honeymoon' stage but then all of the sudden he started acting different. It turns out he didn't like me anymore and that went on for a month. Then at MissionFest with our team, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. Every day was a battle for me, and most of the time he didn't even talk to me anymore. So I called it off. The last month has been brutal, I don't think I have ever gone through so much pain. It is really hard because we were really close friends before any of this began, and now I have lost a very dear friend and I really do miss him. We then had our 'closure' talk two nights ago. It is hard facing the reality that it is over and in time I will come to the full realization of it. I know that comes with time though. To be honest, I am hurt, really hurt for that matter, but I don't hate him. I really don't know the full reason for him not liking me anymore but I stopped wondering about it awhile ago because all that will do is create bitterness – and create division on our dance team. I still want the best for him, and I hope he finds a great girl who compliments him well and who will be able to do kingdom work together. It is a process, but I am trying to unconditionally love him even if he may not return that. So please be praying for me in all of this, as many of you have probably been in similar situations know, it is not easy. So yet I still remain in single land, which I am starting to like more and more, again. :)
In other news, I am going to Mexico for three weeks! My dance team was invited to do dance ministry in the area of Progreso, Mexico – near Cancun. I am so excited for the people, food, culture, and ministry opportunities. What might be real fun though is that I get to spend three straight weeks with the guy mentioned above... wahoo! (Take that last sentence as sarcasm, haha). It will be tough but again, it will be a growing and refining experience. In all seriousness though, I am really excited for Mexico because as you guys may know, I love cultures, people and languages.
I want to hear from more of you! I am glad to hear about those who have posted. Praying for you guys and I love you guys so much.
Lynnea
Friday, March 8, 2013
Lil Message
Hey everyone who reads this!
Two years ago we all went on different trips and faced hard times but through it all we were able to spread God's love throughout the world. My hope is that you remember these trips and the things God taught you on them. Through these trips we used what we learned from kaleo, although hard at times, to accomplish some pretty incredible things. Although I loved kaleo and maybe didn't use it to its fullest potential, I still have doubts about doing it, but there are things that always remind me of why it was an important step. I thankyou for the memories and truly hope you are all doing well. As much as I would love to hear an update from you all, I know its hard to keep in touch, but i'm always open to getting a life update! Either through facebook or on here or a letter. haha. that may be stretching it. Anywho, all I really wanted to get out of this short post was that I'm just remember the mission trips we served on and just remembering some of the fun we had. God is good.
Two years ago we all went on different trips and faced hard times but through it all we were able to spread God's love throughout the world. My hope is that you remember these trips and the things God taught you on them. Through these trips we used what we learned from kaleo, although hard at times, to accomplish some pretty incredible things. Although I loved kaleo and maybe didn't use it to its fullest potential, I still have doubts about doing it, but there are things that always remind me of why it was an important step. I thankyou for the memories and truly hope you are all doing well. As much as I would love to hear an update from you all, I know its hard to keep in touch, but i'm always open to getting a life update! Either through facebook or on here or a letter. haha. that may be stretching it. Anywho, all I really wanted to get out of this short post was that I'm just remember the mission trips we served on and just remembering some of the fun we had. God is good.
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