Living It Up in Colorado

Hello everyone!

I am so excited I have the motivation to blog nearly everyday right now! So awesome!

Yesterday we went to Walmart for the first time since getting here. The car ride there was awesome! I was talking to this person who is on staff at Ohio State University named Dan and he was telling me that even while he was frustrated with the church at OSU he still knew that he was being called on staff. All of a sudden I felt this the only way I can describe it is a huge hug from God. I just heard this thought in my head that said "Hey, Kristin. I have big plans for your life and you don't have to worry about what is going to happen in your future. Get excited because it's going to be awesome!". I could feel God's love pouring out on me and it was an incredible moment that we had. So good! God has given me so much peace about my worries. I feel like I talk about that every time I blog.

On our way back we stopped at this store along the dam on the way to Loveland because Peggy wanted Pheasant Jerky. Daniel and I bought some Huckleberry Scones and we made them for project group today. So delicious. But going back to Thursday night. John's talk was really good. It was about Philippians 4 so check that out and really read and study it if you want some awesome direction for leaders.

After church, Daniel, Amy, Sammy and I went to dance more. SO much fun. Amy went to bed but the coolest thing that happened that night was the epic talk that Daniel, Sammy and I had. We literally talked till 5:30am. We didn't even notice how long it had been till we saw the sun rising.

Crazy.

But it was so good. I feel like we talked about everything. I am so glad that I know them and once again God is showing me that He put everyone here at LT for a reason. Not only that but He is revealing to me the people He specifically chose for me to build into and the people who He specifically put in my life to build into me. It's quite amazing.

Today was project group. It was pretty hard waking up even though we didn't have to be anywhere till 10am. We had solitude time at Lumpy's Ridge. I talked to God for a while and then I found a great big rock and took a nap on it. I felt like one of the lions from The Lion King. It was pretty awesome. I woke up completely refreshed and ready for the rest of my day.

We had life groups as well today. It was really good to hear that everyone in my life group is doing much better than last week and to see praises to God as well instead of just things that people are upset about or struggling with.

Well. We are having a bonfire tonight which should be fun. S'mores, hotdogs, the whole nine yards. I have work at 6am so I don't know how late I'll be out because of my late night last night.

More later!

Well! So many fun things happening here in the big CO.

I got to see Brooke and Rudy because they are here for a while. That was really fun. Cornerstone staff is all here which has been fun. It's like being back at ISU. Sort of... haha

Last night's service was awesome. My voice was going out so I just really had to rely on God to get my through worship. We sang some awesome songs and you could just feel God's presence in the room. It was amazing when we started singing a cappella and we all dropped our microphones and you could hear the whole room praising God. It was so beautiful. 

John Drage talked about having passion and focus for Christ. The thing that hit me the hardest was that we should live our lives everyday remembering what God did for us.

Makes me think of Ephesians 2

 ¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 ¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

That is SO exciting and awesome and amazing and WOOT! God is so good. I can't say it enough.

But that was awesome and then after the LT service Daniel, Sam, Amy and I stayed up till 3:30 am and Daniel taught us some Latin dancing. There are a few pictures on facebook sooo check those out! Latin dancing is super hot. And soooo much fun. Daniel is in actual competitions and stuff so here he was, surrounded by 3 girls all fighting to dance with him because he actually knew how and he was the only guy around. So guys, if you want to get the ladies...learn how to dance. Seriously. It's a super attractive quality about a guy. 

Well I'm off to work so I will write more later! Have a wonderful day!

Everything's Fine Everything's Groovy...

...It's a great day!

Haha anyway.

Thursday was my day off. I didn't do that much during the morning but I did get to SLEEP IN! It was glorious. During the day though, I got to go to Emerald Mountain with Charis and boulder a little bit. Then we came back and I got to have dinner with my friend Rachel! She is awesome and from Texas which is pretty cool. We got to talk about life and stufffff.

Thursday night was the LT service and the speaker, the GCM pastor from Ball State, spoke about having faith through your fears. It was a really good conclusion to Tuesday night's talk about fears. We talked about how God is all powerful and that when we accept Christ, we have an unlimited amount of power behind everything thing we do which is incredible. We can do the impossible with God on our side! SUPER SICK! (in a good way).

Speaking of Tuesday night. It was pretty rough. I've never just been flat out angry with God and told Him about it. There were a lot of things that happened that night that didn't happen like they should have and I was really upset how a few conversations had played out. I just sat in my bed and said, "God, I'm really angry at you right now because I have been praying about these conversations that I just had and this was not how they were supposed to go down. I hurt some people and I'm really upset that you allowed it to happen like this." I have never done that before but it was so good that God met me where I was at and gave me peace about all of the situations I was in within the next few days. Crazy awesome.

Anyway, after church on Thursday night, my project group went to see TOY STORY 3!!!!!!

You. Must. See. This. Movie.

I was prepared to be disappointed but I laughed more than I have laughed in any movie in a long time. It was so well done.

Then we had project day and heard a few testimonies. I love hearing people's christian journeys from the very beginning till now. It's really cool. Then we went fishing and I walked across Glacier Creek. It was pretty cold and I fell because Glacier Creek basically has rapids in certain places so I got pushed over. I have a sweet bruise on my knee haha. Then Karissa, Daniel and I decided to scramble some rocks but we ended up free climbing/bouldering halfway up Eagle Cliff in no time at all. It was crazy because climbing is so much less tiring than hiking up Eagle. Karissa and I went barefoot which was really good for climbing but really bad for walking down the mountain. P.S. As we were walking down I was in back and I put my hand on a rock for stability down a steep portion and the rock went tumbling down towards Karissa and Daniel. Daniel jumped out of the way and everything. It was probably a 50 lb rock sooo pretty intense.

Now I am at work, on my lunch break blogging for you beautiful people! Soooo maybe I should go back and actually work before I get fired... That would suck.

I love you guys a ton :)

It's only for a moment you were mine to hold. The plans that heaven has for you will all too soon unfold. So many different prayers I'll pray for all that you might do. But most of all I want to know you're walking in the truth. May passion be the wind that leads you through your days. May conviction keep you strong and guide you on your way. May there be many moments that make your life so sweet. It's not living if you don't reach for the sky. So if I never told you, I want you to know that as I watch you grow I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams. And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things. Don't ever forget that I'm here for you whatever this life brings so let my love give you roots and help you find your wings.

Sometimes a song says everything you need to say to every person in your life.

I'm sorry for not always being there.

I love you all.

"Find Your Wings" by Mark Harris

Sleep... no I never get enough.

Well. That's the theme of my life today.

I didn't get that much sleep last night but I still got a normal amount. I went to work and was super tired all day and then got back at 2:30 and slept till 8:00. CRAZY! That's when I remembered about the tick bite and yea, the bite mark is getting bigger and has a rash, I have swollen lymph nodes and I'm pretty tired. All of the symptoms at this point point to Lyme Disease but there have been no reported cases of Lyme Disease in Colorado ever ( read that when I first looked up stuff about tick bites). I could be the first, people! Woot! It is probably not Lyme Disease but I am going to go to the doctor in the next few days just to make sure that everything is alright. So Mom and Dad, if you read this, I am going to try and call you tomorrow. For some reason, my cell phone is not working at all in my room when I had lots of service before.

Besides that, everything is great! I read the Bible for like an hour and a half and I didn't even know it had been that long which was really cool.

I also had a great discussion with one of my co-workers about relationships. She has been dating this guy that she has known for a year and a half for a month and she already knows they are going to get married. She knows that it will be a few years but she says they just know. She was telling me about her and her ex-boyfriend and how even thought she dated that guy for two years, she knew she wasn't going to marry him. And now this! It's so so so cool. The coolest part of the whole thing is that she knows that her boyfriend loves God more than he loves her. That is amazing and that is what I want-a man who loves God more that he loves me. Along with other things but that is the most important.

God is so good people! And he loves us even though we are screw ups... so awesome. Have a wonderful day!

RAWR!

I am sitting here after work and I am upset because I cannot go outside and boulder like I wanted to!

The reason I can't is because it is thunderstorming. Rain wouldn't bother me as much but thunderstorm + me on a mountain =  asking for trouble.

But speaking of the weather, today is June 13th and it snowed today in Estes Park Colorado. Though brief, it still did happen. Crazy!

Working in food service has been both a blessing and a curse.

It's a curse because you get to see how all of the food is prepared and let me tell you, cooking for about 1,000 people at a time means low low low quality food.

It's a blessing because you lose weight really fast because you never want to eat! haha perfect weight loss plan and I don't even have to try. 1,000 people is definitely different than 22,000 people so the food at school... I don't even want to think about it.

Anyway, I think that's all I got for you all today. We had a roomie hang out last night and Karissa, Katie and I were all SO goofy. We played UNO but we were just acting so ridiculous. Haha. Love it. Well hopefully I'll have some fun stories for you sooooon!

Much love!

Shmer Shmer. So Much.

SOOOOOOO.

On Friday we had project group which was awesome. I really can't believe that another Friday has past but that's beside the point.

We learned more about evangelism and stuuuuuuffff and this upcoming Friday we are going street evangelizing in Boulder, CO. I'm actually super nervous about it because I don't really know how I feel about street evangelism. We also hiked up Bible Pointe (yes that's pointe with and "e") as a group and we got to hear the testimonies of two people. I love hearing about how God transforms lives.

Saturday, I thought I had the day off.... but I didn't so I ended up just skipping work but my boss was okay with it because there was a misunderstanding. I got to meet up with Michelle from ISU (she's the pastor's wife) and we went on a walk near Glacier Creek, a sweet creek near Eagle Cliff. I got to hang out with her and her kids till lunch time which was awesome.

Sunday we started our workshops. The one I chose was Questioning Evangelism. It was pretty cool. Different than I expected.

Tuesday through Thursday, Jonalyn and Dale came and talked to us. It was pretty cool because they talked a lot about the gender gap in the church. Interesting stuff.

Well. That's all for now!

God is GOOOOOOOD!

So so so much to talk about people! Long post....again :)

So the day after my last post (climb up Thunder Mountain) I climbed Eagle Cliff after work with Chelsey and we had dinner at the top. It was beautiful and if you haven't seen the pictures from that hike yet, check them out on Facebook! Unfortunately I got a tick but I found it before it buried itself in my skin. I told Karissa and Katie and they have now decided my nickname is Love Bug....great... haha

Monday night, Katie (my other roommate) came and Karissa and I got to talk to her and just hang out and stuff which was a ton of fun! I love all the people I have met here. They are all very amazing.

Tuesday was the first night I got to lead worship with Eric, Jared, Tyler, Karissa, Ricky and Brett. It was amazing and I was TOTALLY filled with the Holy Spirit. I was not nervous in the slightest because I knew that I had to completely trust God and sing my heart out for him, not the people in the audience. I love when that happens, when you really connect to the words of a song and I love watching corporate worship. Just looking out into the crowd and seeing all of these people praising God and giving them all they've got is the coolest thing to see.

Wednesday, I had work....again. haha. And I was pretty ill but that's alright. I took a nap which was so nice. That night Katie, Karissa and I just had another incredible talk about guys and making sure that we aren't sending the wrong message and just how to have pure, intentional relationships with guys. Katie left to go to the Admin and Karissa and I grabbed dinner (at 9pm haha) and then continued the best talk. It is crazy when I talk to her because she has so much wisdom about God and I feel like we are SO similar it's crazy. I thank God for putting her in my life!

God made me realize that I am not alone in my struggles. He showed me that even when I feel like I'm the only one failing in a certain area that there is probably someone else who is at the same place.

People, I'm on fire. I have this burning passion to go out and share the overwhelming joy I have in my heart that makes me just want to scream like a little kid. I want this for all of you and I pray for you every night, that you would see the areas in your life that are holding you back from God and a passion for Him and His kingdom that surpasses everything you could ever dream.

I am very excited even to leave Colorado because I know that even if I left now, I would have a solid group of Christian girls that I could go to and talk to. Those same girls I was afraid to talk to are the girls who are becoming such close friends. It's amazing and I'm SO excited that God has given me the courage, even in the last week and a half to be myself. It is so freeing.

I am reading through the entire New Testament this summer and already it has been an awesome experience! I have never read the Bible in such big chunks before and it gives a whole new perspective to what I am reading. I love it! I know God is really challenging me to read through the whole Bible in 1 or 2 days. I mean, I did it with all of the Harry Potter books, why shouldn't I be able to read through the Bible in 12 hours? It's less pages. Haha So I'm planning on doing that eventually. I just need to have a free weekend...

Man! I really need to start doing this everyday because I just have so much to talk about and when I have 5 days worth of thoughts running through my head, it is hard to sort them ALL out and put them all into writing. I will try my best.

I would also love to hear from you guys! Feel free to comment on anything I have said or tell me about how God is working in your life by leaving a comment or shooting me an e-mail or facebook message! I would say just call but I have really bad service here since I'm in a valley sort of. I get fantastic service on top of the mountains though! Haha.

Have a wonderful day! :)