Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Everyday!

Home sweet Home :)

After FOUR long, incredible weeks at Shiloh Bible Camp I'm finally home!!! Did you miss me? :)

I don't know how I can describe to you exactly what happened during that time, it would take much too long and I'm sure half of it wouldn't make any sense. You just had to have been there! I suppose I could just sum it up by saying this:

God works in amazing ways.

There you go. That's my camp experience, summed up into one sentence. 

For the first three weeks I participated in the CIT program. For those of you who don't know what that is, here is the description given by the camp:

"(CIT)  is a three-week discipleship program that is designed to help high school students, ages 15-18,  grow in their love and devotion to God, and to learn how to serve God by serving others.  This is accomplished by daily Bible study and prayer times (individual and group), training, daily work projects (cleaning, woodcutting, trail prep, painting, etc.), and other acts of service."

Basically, we worked hard, played hard, prayed hard and studied hard. In the process we also grew spiritually in ways none of us thought possible.

The camp's theme this summer was "Knowing Jesus Through the Eyes of John" so our CIT group studied the book of John in the Bible. Wow. Good stuff. Go read John, right now.

One of the things that I loved the most was all the prayer time we got to have. I was convicted about how much time I actually spend in prayer at home. During CIT we had a group prayer meeting and then our own special time set aside to go be alone with Jesus. Oh how I loved that! 



We had an incredible group of teens that were on fire for the Lord. The fellowship was so sweet! I loved every moment. I think that is what I will miss the most, the Christian fellowship was amazing! I had other brothers and sisters in Christ with the same mindset to encourage me, keep me accountable and worship the Lord with me! 

God is good.

In one of my last posts before I left I said that I felt like I had "Construction Zone tape all over my heart" and that God had been working on me in ways I hadn't thought possible. Well guess what? He's not done yet!    

He's working on me but I'm not finished yet! Praise Jesus!  I won't even try to list all the things He changed in my heart during that 3 weeks.  I couldn't! 

But I will share with you one of the biggest things that I'm learning. Here it is: I belong to Jesus. He bought me with His precious blood and I am His. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Completely and totally His.

Every moment of every single day belongs to Him. Without Him I am nothing. Do I spend my time in a way that is honoring to Him?  

Every morning when I wake up do I start my day asking "How can I serve you today Jesus? How can you use me? What can you teach me?" 

I should.

It's sobering how many minutes, how many hours, how many days and weeks of my life I WASTE by being distracted by the things of this world and not setting my eyes on Christ, the Author and perfecter of my faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

In one of my first blog posts I wrote about distractions in the Christian walk. Ouch. Where is my eternal perspective? Where is my focus every day? What is my attitude? What does my heart look like?

I want to be so completely and totally abandoned to Christ and His will that if you took Him out of my life I would have nothing left.

Jesus is the only reason I am alive. The only reason I am who I am. The only reason I don't have "GUILTY" written on my forehead! The only reason I no longer bear the burden and label of "SINNER". Christians, if your life isn't completely consumed by the cross, by Jesus Christ, then what is it consumed by? What's holding you back? Is it worth it? 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing worth living for. I was reminded of that again at camp. It's reminder we all need every single day.

We are here on earth to glorify and honor the God of the Universe. Everyday our lives should point others to the cross. Every moment.

When you reach the end of your life, which could be at any given moment, and you look back what will you see? Will you have taken every opportunity to praise, serve, glorify and honor God? Or will you have wasted   countless minutes, hours, days of your life on things of this world that don't matter in the end?

The fourth week of camp was High School Camp. The theme was "Don't Waste Your Life"

I'll be returning to camp on Sunday for my fifth and final week at SBC this summer. It's Girls Camp (3rd-6th grade) and I get to be a cabin leader! :) When I come back I will start doing 5 day clubs through CEF, I would so appreciate your prayers. God has lots more in store for me this summer and I can't wait to see it unfold :)

The God that we serve is amazing! Amen? He deserves ever breath from you in this life, every second of your time. It's what your made for! Don't Waste Your Life! 

Praise Jesus, tomorrow is a new day!
~JOanna


Hebrews 11

Mark:8:34-38

Romans 12:2

Philippians 1:21 

Philippians 2:14-17

Colossians 1:10

Ephesians 5:15-17 


"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -Jim Elliot