Do you know God well enough to...

Well?

Do you?

My Knight in Shining Armor....=)

Dear Friends Met...

Well, the time has come for me to introduce you to some of the people who had a part in my life over a 10 month span of time in South Dakota, Nebraska etc. I'm afraid I shouldn't do this for fear that I will leave someone out, but just know that each person I met is dear to me (even the people I met on choir tour who I can no longer remember the names of but can still see their faces are dear to me) and each person played a role in my life, whether big or small. If you happen to be one of those dear people, to you I say "Thank-you" and "I miss you".

The Entire Student Body (Well, almost. Doug missed this part)

The Freshmen Class

Freshmen Again... (On one of our outings...)

The choir! So many memories! More on that to come later...

My CBI Ladies - (Dorm meeting)

More CBI ladies (Taking Bethany out for her birthday)

Three Musketeers (-Bethany, Rachel and I (will introduce them further down.)

The Townsends (Wedding Counselors! j/k. Pastor and his wife who I stayed with each weekend. Generous, Faithful, loving couple who gave of their home, food, time etc. Very thankful for the chats and insight they gave to me in the time I had with them.)

The Baxters (A couple who both serve at school. Mr. Baxter - teacher of several classes, photographer. Mrs. Baxter - Teacher, Secretary, and Maker of Much Laughter. =)

Mrs. Charles (Music Teacher, Choir Leader and fellow Pennsylvanian! ;)

Mr. and Mrs. Friesen ("Mama and Papa" to us when they went on choir tour with all their "kids". Mr. Friesen - Seasoned Pastor, Faithful servant, President of the school. Mrs. Friesen - Dean of Women, checker of dorms, contagious laugher. =)

Marsha (Fabulous Cook, Friend and "Keeper of Dorm Students" on Friday nights when we needed a movie and snacks to unwind. =)

Mr. Shively (Aka: Uncle Phil. An enthusiastic teacher of many classes, a busy father who always found time for both his kids and his students, and the one who helped me understand more about God's grace. Also a missionary to Papua New Guinea for 11 years. In this picture he is pretending to be a native. ;) Also, not seen in this picture...his wife Charlotte was a blessing. She is the school accountant and her servants heart and sweet smile always made me think "Someday, that's the kind of woman I want to be."

Miss Haynie (Teacher who kept class moving and interesting, fierce scrabble player and also a lady who opened up her home for prayer meeting on wed. each week.)

Claudia Stepanek (Prayer Warrior, Faithful Friend, Encourager, Laugh Instigator and personal Massage Therapist. =) SO thankful for this girl! And yes....this is probably the only time in history that her hair has looked this straight. What did that take? Like two hours to straighten? =)

Bethany Franklin (My Roomie, friend, late night chatting companion, amazing piano player, blonde moment accomplice, prayer partner, etc. We never had the major roommate stress you can hear college students having and for that I am thankful! Generally speaking, she made my life easy!)

Abby Stepanek (Sarcasm reliever, encourager and friend. Sorry Abby, but I couldn't resist. This pic makes me laugh every time. Love ya...nerd! =)

Rachel Stanley (Listener, Diligent, Close Friend, Praying Comrade, and Accountability Reader for class ;)

Mr. and Mrs. Jones (A couple who own a ranch, took me on a cattle drive and had some of us over for supper several times.)

Pleasant Point Crew from CBI (The group I went down to the church in Nebraska with each weekend to serve with the teens, etc.)

My Pleasant Point Teens (So proud of them! Performing for the Senior Saints...=)

Enjoyed the challenges and joys of growing with these teens!

Pa and Ma Hamilton (The rambunctious, dearest, sweetest, most loving couple I think I have ever met. They gave of themselves through gifts, time and love. They hold a very special place in my heart and I am so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to meet them.)

There are others that I would tell you about (More Pleasant Point Church People, Black Hills Church People, Skype teacher, etc.) but for lack of pictures this post has come to an end. Coming soon from my time in SD, NE, etc.,.."So Many Escapades."

Lessons Learned...

Awhile ago I wrote a post saying that I hoped it wouldn't take me until Winter arrives to get back to you and that sometime soon I'd write out some thoughts and get some pictures up from school, the summer, and a bit of my life since being back home. Well, it's been over a month since that post and for fear of the snow arriving before I do so, here is the first of several posts in succession.

Cornerstone Bible Institute - So many lessons learned. So many dear friends met. So many escapades. So much scenery. So much laughter. So much encouragement. So many memories flooding my brain.

Let's start with the lessons learned. What did I learn in the 9 months that I spent in South Dakota?

1. I learned about God's forgiveness. I learned that when I sin/mess up I don't have to ASK God for forgiveness and then continue to grovel in my guilt for the next week, waiting for the guilt to go away and for God to grant the forgiveness. Instead, I confess to God (calling sin what God calls sin) and then THANK God for the forgiveness that He has already granted me at the cross. Understanding this has changed the victory I've been able to experience in my walk with the Lord. (Titus 3:5) "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

2. I learned about God's GRACE. I learned that I need God's grace just as much for my walk as I needed it for my stand. I received God's grace at salvation because of Christ and this freed me from the PENALTY of sin. Now, as a child of God, because of Christ AND as I yield to the Holy Spirit (Romans 6), I can also be freed from the POWER of sin. This has shown me the importance of walking in the Spirit (a term I'd never understood before) and has made Romans chapter 6 one of my favorites. From it I learned that walking in the Spirit is KNOWING (that sin doesn't have to boss me around), RECKONING (understanding my position in Christ to be true), YIELDING (my members as instruments of righteousness unto God.)

3. I learned that sometimes the most important lessons that God wants us to learn are not necessarily going to come from reading books, listening to sermons, or trying to be "oober spiritual" etc., but rather through simply living life. God has taught me a lot through the people He has brought into my life, through the circumstance He's led me through and the decisions He's helped me to make. His Word should be constantly before us (for if it's not, how easily we stray!), but He has also put us exactly where we are at this very minute, with struggles and victories, to teach us more about Himself.

While those three things are what stand out the most in my mind when I think about lessons learned, there were many other lessons as well....about how to teach a class, how to interpret the Bible, how to cram for tests, how to live graciously with others who have different preferences (and they learned vice versa), how to shoot my first gun, how to accept the fact that jackelopes are a figment of the imagination, how to ride a four-wheeler, how to memorize maps, how to write a tract, verses to keep at my fingertips, etc., etc., etc.

Ok, that's all for now...Next post I'll share with you about some of the dear friends met.

"In THY presence is fulness of joy, at THY right hand there are pleasures forevemorer."

In 386 St. Augustine found freedom from his life of sin in the superior pleasures of God. He said, "How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!...You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, You who are sweeter than all pleasure." - St. Augustine (~From Johns Pipers book "The Dangerous Duty of Delight".)

God's command for us is to "Delight yourself in the LORD." (Ps. 37:4)

So, how about you? Where/in whom are you finding your joy?

Thankful for our Troops

"Freedom has a taste that the protected will never know."

Psalm 145:7 - "They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness."

Sometimes it is good for us to look back over our lives in the past days, weeks, months and even years and remember how the Lord has worked and to remember how much He deserves our praise. I've listed a couple of things that I am thankful for and feel free to comment and list a couple of things that you're grateful for as well.

I'm thankful for-

1. Christian camps- God has used camp in my life in a great way. Without them I know for certain that I wouldn't be enjoying the blessings of my relationship with Him. Both the Wilds and Servants Heart camps have been God's way of getting a hold of my heart.

2. Changing Seasons- Maybe I'm being overly dramatic but can you seriously imagine what life would be like if it was always winter around here? I could go for a little more Fall, but even so, after a while I think it would grow rather old. Or even worse...can you imagine if everything was brown and white? Even the changing seasons shows God's creativity and care for us.

3. Answered Prayers- Its so neat to see God answer a specific prayer and know that He has heard your special cry. Sometimes it can be something as small as trying to find your glasses (the hardest thing to find is your glasses, without your glasses! ;) or to something as major as allowing my sister, Renee, and her husband, Jon, to have children. God doesn't always nescesarily answer the way we wanted but He still answers each request with our best interest at heart.

4. God's Forgiveness- Over and over and over I fail God and yet He never tires of trying to draw me back to Himself and to show me that His grace is sufficient. He died on the cross, knowing full well that I'd continue to fall. His mercy is amazing. Psalms 145:14- "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down."

5. The Bible- Specifically I'm thankful for Romans and Psalms. Two books which have been a huge encouragement to me. (Romans- because Paul asks the most basic questions and then proceeds to give the answer. Psalms- because David shares his struggles and then continues on to turn the focus to God.)

6. Christian Friends - God has given given me a whole storehouse of godly friends and there are times where I feel overwhelmed with thankfulness for them. Have you ever been discouraged and down but noticed that there came a point in your day where there was a marked change in your attitude, only to later find out that a friend was praying for you at the exact time? I have. A random text, an e-mail, a prayer, a verse, a word of encouragement, a laugh, or a smile from a friend...these are things that have lifted me up when I felt down. Ec 4:10 "For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

6. Free Salvation- "Complete in Thee, NO work of mine, can take dear Lord, the place of Thine. Thy blood hath pardon bought for me, and I shall stand complete in Thee!"

7- The Promise that Someday He's Coming Back for Me!- The more that I learn about God, and the more that I struggle with this flesh and the more that I see the sin and death of this world, the more I understand the words to that song "This world is not my Home, I'm just a passing through!" I can't wait for the day when I'll get to see Him face to face, put my arms around Him and tell Him in person how grateful I am for His love.


Psalms 145:2-"Every day will I bless Thee and I will praise Thy name forever and ever"

Chrystal