Obsession.

It's been a while since I last blogged and right now I am sitting at an internet cafe looking at the sun shining bright in the sky at 9:30 at night. God's been teaching me so much these last 4 weeks that I have been here in Canada, but a big thing He has shown me recently is where my mind is at, when I am at the place He has called me to be.

There are a lot of distractions going on right now within my mind. There's distraction of what could possibly be going on at home, things going on with my team, my friends and many many more. This past week I worked as a camp counselor and I had 3 girls in my cabin. They all came from the same village but they all had different but very tough backgrounds. Something that really stuck out to me was how much they obsessed over what they were going to where, if they would have time to do their make-up in the morning, the boys in the other cabins, if they would get a shower (because the camp as no running water). And it struck me as I watched them obsess over these things in the back of my mind i found the things I obsess over. Though they are different things, they still over take what my obsession should be and it is that of Jesus Christ.

So what as i to do, Thursday during our cabin time, I sat down the girls for our devotionals and I read them Matthew 13:44-46. I don't have my bible right with me but i will just paraphrase it for you. Basically this is what it says. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A certain man learned that the treasure existed and he developed a terrible obsession to possess it. He wasted all his wealth and secretly sold everything he had to purchase the field so that he could own the treasure. Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great price. When a man found it, he sold all that he had and purchased the pearl.

Now I told the girls that these men had a huge obsession for these things, and unless we, too, obsess after God's Kingdom, like these men did over their treasure, we will not find it. Now it's not an earthly obsession I'm talking about, not what you look like or what you'll wear or eat. but an obsession for God. God tells us in the Bible to Knock and keep on knocking, Seek and keep on seeking. When people roll their eyes, glare, and send us away. Again and again we must come back and see still again. Then we will find the treasure we seek.

You see God has a plan for each of our lives, and each and everyday He reveals it to us. I have this amazing opportunity to serve Him my whole summer, and I can't even begin to explain the past 4 weeks all I can say is God is at work!

All my love and may our God and King lavish blessings upon you all.


His and yours


Cami

God is my Life.

"I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." -Phil. 3:12


I'm here in Alaska, and I have been here for about a week. Tomorrow we get our assignments, our teams, and what villages we will be going. I can seriously not wait to get out on the field, and get going. Just pouring my life and my heart out for the One who died for me! God is so amazing, I can't explain all the things I have learned in just a week, and how in love I have fallen with Alaska, the people. and my team members. I am learning more and more that God is asking me to give up things, because He wants to give me better things. I have been praying and seeking God's face out a lot. And He is showing me where I will be heading next summer and maybe for the rest of my life. Where I will be going, where I will be leaving. It's just an adventure, and I am ready to give up, let go, and just let God.

Sometimes I have to ask, Why is He asking me to give up my rights, my things, my family, my friends, my life?

Because He wants to give me greater things. This is truly the rule of God's Kingdom: Give up something good and receive something greater. Give up your rights and you;ll recieve greater privileges with God. Jesus gave us the supreme example of giving up everything for a greater goal. Philippians chapter two says He didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the for of a bond-servant- a slave. Slaves have no rights, and Jesus became a slave for our sakes:
-He gave up the right to be with His Father.
-He gave up the right to a home, saying that while the brids have nests and the foxes have dens, He didn't have a place to lay His head.
-He gave up the right to money. He had to borrow a coin from someone for a sermon illustration.
-He gave up the right to marriage and His reputation. As far as most people were comcerned, He was an illegitimate baby, raised in a town that was scorned. The ultimate strike to His reputation came when He, the Son of God, was called a devil by the religious experts of His time. But Jesus went further.
-He gave up the right to life itself, becoming obedient to death on a cross. For what purpose? So that God might exalt Him, give Him a name above every name, that at His name every knee should bow. But there's another reason: Jesus was showing us how to live our lives. He was howing us how to beat the devil, which is the greatest job ever given to us- taking the earth from Satan and winning it back for God. Jesus was showing us that the only way to win is to lose; the only way to conquer is to submit.
Jesus wants us to follow Him, losing our rights and gaining the world. Only by taking Jesus' example into every part of our lives will we be able to win in life.
He spelled it out for us in Mark 8:34-35: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himseld and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever want to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."
The choice is ours. We can hold onto our rights, remian in mediocrity and miss out on God's greater purposes for us. Or we can give them freely back to Him for the greatest privilege of all-winning this world for the Kingdom of God.

It's what I have been taught by God, to give up everything to Him, because if I even hold on to one little thing, I will miss our on everything He has planned for me. And what He has planned for me is AMAZING! And I can't wait to see all that it is and all that He does in my life. I can't wait to be with my Father in Heaven, but for now I will spend my life serving Him and His people here and on earth.

In everything I do I hope you see Christ in me.

May the gravce of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.


His and yours

Cami

It's so Close!

"Hell fears holy ones that are sent from God. God wants to make you holy and then send you to spark revival." -Brian Beasley

3 days until I am on a plane to Alaska, where I will spend the next 2 and half months just being a servant. Being God's hands and feet. He has so much planned, I can't even fathom. I love serving my family and my friends, but I am ready to serve even more of God's people, no matter where they are. And Alaska is where I have been sent.

It will be a new and wonderful experience for me. And as God prepares my heart, I am learning where I am the weakest and the strongest. I am finding out that I am more weak then strong, but God's strength is made perfect in my weakness.

His love never fails me and as I walk with Him, He reveals the things He wants me to know and His light shines upon me. Glory be to God. Forever and Ever. I have never been more excited.

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever. . . He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness; and light dwells with Him." (Dan. 2:20-22)

His and yours

Cami

My heart.

My heart is where the orphans are. My heart is where the girls being sold in to sex and human trafficking are. My heart is where the youth are. My heart is wherever God has left it.

Dream: to build my own orphanage from the ground up, and house and take care of orphans. Where, I don't know, I guess wherever God sends me. My heart is where the orphans are. Also to build a woman's house from the ground up, to house and support and take care of all the woman sold as sex slaves and into human trafficking. Where, I don't know, maybe in the same place as the orphanage, maybe some place else. My heart is wherever those women are. God's got it all in His hands. He knows the desire of my heart and He know that plans He has for me.

I'm not worried about anything, whatever He asks of me, I will do. No matter the cost.
Because He is my God. There is no other.

Beautiful Song.

A song by Sanctus Real, I came across, the lyrics are beautiful and truly express God's love.

I'll Show You How to Live:
By: Sanctus Real.

I heard the sound of your first breath
A brand new life on your mother’s chest
A beating heart, expectant eyes
On the first day of your life
I saw you take your first step
And I watched you run with no regret
To chase your dreams and find true love
And the best is yet to come

So come with Me
I’ll show you life
Even better than this
Come with Me
I’ll show you love
You didn’t know could exist
Better than your first crush
Better than your first kiss
I’ll show you how to live

Remember how you felt from across the room
When you realized someone had eyes for you
And the way your heart sang cuz you believed
You were worth something

So come with me
I’ll show you life
Even better than this
Come with me
I’ll show you love
You didn’t know could exist
Better than your first crush
Better than your first kiss
I’ll show you how to live
Oh, I’ll show you how to live

Cuz I created your heart
That makes you feel
I am the love that makes it real
Oh, I am the One, I’m the One, I’m the One
I am the One, I’m the One, I’m the One

So come with Me
I’ll show you life
Even better than this
Come with Me
I’ll show you love
You didn’t know could exist
Better than your first crush
Better than your first kiss
I’ll show you how to live

Cause I am the One, I’m the One, I’m the One
I am the one, I’m the One, I’m the One

Jealous Love, Burning Desire. For Jesus.

I was created to burn.
In Songs of Songs 8:6 Jesus says, "Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame." Jesus' eyes are a blazing flame. His love is more powerful than the grave. Death hunts down every man, but here, God's mighty flame of love is eve stronger than death. It hunts you down. It pursues you until your hearts is sealed with a love that is stronger than any lust or addiction or distraction this world could offer.
I have this burning in my heart for more and more of God's love. I can't ever get enough, I am never satisfied, I hunger for more. His love quenches my thirst and feeds my hungry soul.
Our God is this jealous God. I love the God whose name is Jealous. His eyes are a blazing fire, burning away everything that seeks to compete with the affections of my heart. With God, my jealous God, nothing can win my heart like He has. He is the only one that can fill my void, my burning desire for His love.
Emilie Barnes once said "God has put into each of our lives a void that cannot be filled by the world. We may leave God or put Him on hold, but He is always there, patiently waiting for us... to turn back to Him." No matter how much we try to fill that void with lust, pride, sex, addictions, or anything else this world is selling, we will become more and more empty, because God and His abounding, burning love is the only thing that can fill that void.
But you know what the amazing thing is about this. Yeah, God made each and every one of us with this void, but He gives us the choice to choose. To CHOOSE. Him or the world. Free will, who you of thought. He doesn't need us, really, but He loves us, and He gives us the choice to choose. How can we not choose Him?
And once we do He is always with us, holding our hand, guiding our path, never letting go. Though we may turn away or ignore His calling, He is always waiting for us, because He loves us.
You see, God's hand is always there; once you grasp it you'!! never want to let it go. So "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilt conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:22,23.

God is love. He is all we need.

In Christ

His and yours,

Cami

5:33 in the A.M...

"God's holy beauty... stirs your drowsing soul... He creates in you the desire to find Him and run after Him- to follow wherever He leads you, and to press peacefully against His heart wherever He is." -John of the Cross.

It's a Saturday morning and I haven't slept at all. The weird thing is I'm not really tired and I know I'll probably feel it later on, or most likely Sunday, but don't you ever have those moments where it's like I can't go to sleep now, God's tugging on my heart. I love these moments because when it's late or early is when I am the most sensitive to what God wants me to hear. Because I can't be noisy and crazy, because everyone else in the house is asleep. How do I know? I can hear my dad and my mom snoring two doors down from me. I can hear my brother mumbling in his sleep, and my sister's light is still on which means she is still up, or just fell asleep with the light on again... I never really know.

It is at these times I get the most random thoughts or feelings, like how much I love the smell of my new Bible and how much I love the sounds of the crisp page as I flip through it looking for the scripture that has been tugging at my heart. Or how I love the sound of my music coming through my headphones right now, and how no matter how hard I try I can't help but sing-a-long. "You won't relent until you have it all, My heart is Yours, Jesus."

Anyhow, I feel like this is just a randomly rumbling mumbling blog, but I love these nights where I can't sleep until I pray, or I can't sleep until I've found that scripture that's been digging at the back of my mind. And when I do, no matter how late it is I feel refreshed. I feel relaxed. I feel peace. I'm at that point where now sleep comes last compared to God and I never thought I would get to that place. And now I don't know how I ever managed to get 7-8 hours of sleep in when there is so much to pray for, so many people that don't know Jesus. There is so much to study, so many book in the Bible. It's amazing how once, just one time, your eyes are opened and after that you never see anything the same again.

Like earlier today, I went outside after it's been a downpour for the past two or three days and the sun was shining it was warm and I looked up at the sky smiled then looked down at a little flower my mom had planted and cried. I cried at a flower! I am so overwhelmed with the beauty of God's creation how can I not cry at it? Is that weird? Yeah probably to most people, but for me it's a new way that I have began to look at things, at people, at situations. How would Christ look at this? It's pretty cool I have to say.

Anyway the prayers that have kept me up have been prayed for, I know I'm not through but I also found the scripture that's been tapping at the back of my head and I figure I should just close my ramblings with the Word of God. Because really what's better than the Word of God?

"The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:11.


In Christ love,

His and yours,

Cami