hm. Immigration.

(btw africa part 2 will be coming soon still)

I got this in an email and decided to share it:

A lady wrote the best letter in the Editorials in ages!!!

 It explains things better than all the baloney you hear on TV. 

Her point:

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress 
is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration.

Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests. 
Let's say I break into your house.
Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave.

But I say, 'No! I like it here. It's better than my house. I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).

According to the protesters: 

You are Required to let me stay in your house

You are Required to feed me
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan 
You are Required to Educate my kids
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me & to my family

My husband will do all of your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest. (except for that breaking in part).

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there. 

It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house 
And what a deal it is for me!!! 

I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.

Oh yeah, and I DEMAND that you learn MY LANGUAGE!!! so that you can communicate with me. 

Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?!  

America is populated and governed by idiots.

My trip to Africa - Where it all began

  So, now that it has been 5 months after my trip to Africa.. I figured it is time to tell everyone who hasn't heard yet all about my trip. My original plan was to type up a letter to send to people, but that would be too long the more I got typing. So, I am going to share with you today as much as I can in 20 minutes and then if I do not say everything I want to... I will blog about it again soon...

My trip to Africa - Where it all began:
   My trip didn't begin on December 19th 2009, like one would expect.  My trip started way back in march of 2009.  You see in March, I knew over Christmas break I was going on a mission trip. I told my parents that I feel like God is calling me somewhere over Christmas break... but that could have been just take a week off of work and volunteer around here somewhere or physically go somewhere else. I knew God had big plans for me around Christmas.  If someone would have told me Africa - well I probably would have laughed at your joke and thought you were hilarious. 

      You see... I've never really had a drive to go to Africa. Don't get me wrong - they need to be reached as well.  But my heart was more towards city folk who think they can take care of themselves - like Europeans or Australia.  That could very well be because I'm high maintenance, but you always hear of people taking their trips to Africa or Mexico-the third world countries.  But you NEVER hear anyone going to places that are built up and have electricity and such.  Places where physical needs aren't really needed.  Those are the places I wanted to go.  The place where it seems no one really goes.

    Well, on with my story.  At the end of May, I was working at Camp Victory.  I think it was staff training and my friend Becky asked me if i wanted to go to Africa with her this Christmas. I said no way - i'm not made for Africa. (I told you I did not have a heart for Africa then).  She said okay and left it at that. I didn't think about this conversation again until later because to me it was a done deal - Africa=No!

    About 2 or 3 weeks later, I was really feeling convicted that I was holding onto something and I needed to give over to God 100% surrender to his will.  So, while my kids were in Bible class - I got on my knees and told God he can have everything, whatever his will is I will do.  Whatever he wants from me this Christmas - I'm all HIS and no one else's.

   That is when things started changing. Every few days I'd hear something about Africa and I could see God chiseling away my desires and replacing it with his desires. It wasn't until last year did I fully understand Psalm 37:4 - 

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

    This verse isn't saying if we delight ourselves in the Lord we'll get whatever we want - even if those are good things. No, what this verse means is if you delight yourself in the Lord he will give you His desires in your heart.  The desires of your heart are what he gives you when you delight in Him.  That is what was happening to me, my desire was changing for Africa. Crazy cool huh?

   

    The last weekend of camp.. Becky, my friend Lydia, & I were hanging out in the pool and Becky brought it up again and I told her how God changed my heart  and how I now wanted to go and for her to get me the details.

 

    Well, the whole month of August, I was constantly texting Becky trying to get the details.  But I didn't limit it to just with who she was going with.  I just KNEW i was supposed to be in Africa over Christmas break.   So, I googled everything trying to find a trip to Africa over Christmas break... but there was absolutely nothing. God was shutting that door.  

    Well, I think this is all for now.. that is A LOT to read .. so until another time! I hope you enjoyed this! 

In Christ,

Jen

.Capture Your Every Thought.

Do you actually realize what you think of yourself?

"I am my own worst critic." That is one of the truest statements ever. We can say what we want when we speak to others because we like others to feel good about themselves and to be encouraged. And yet, what we say to ourselves the majority of the times are the things we would never want to say about anyone else.

At my church, the ladies are doing a study called, "Me, Myself, & Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild. The study is about your "thought closet" and the things you tell yourself. The first day had us think about the I am's we say about ourselves, like:

I am a daughter.
I am an airhead.
I am a procrastinator.
I am caring.
I am ______

Fill in the blanks about yourself.

The point is... what we tell ourselves, will eventually come out in our actions, then in our habits, and then in our character. It all points to how we need to be capturing every thought, before it becomes something more.

At first, when I read through, I told myself that I was half positive and half negative about myself. That I was just being realistic. But God got me thinking and he pointed out that I have some serious destructive thinking and it really is coming out in my life. I see it mainly in my attitude. When I am destructive in my thinking, I pass it along and become braver in what I say to others.

Since, the first lesson, I have seriously been trying to capture every thought and train my thoughts to honor and praise God. Not to destroy his child.

What about you? Are your thoughts destructive?

One more thing....


We read the verse Psalm 139:1-4, which hits me every time I read it. And we had to put our name in each blank to make it more personal, and it hit even more.

"O Lord, you have searched __________
and you know _________.
"You know when _______ sits and when ______ rises;
you perceive _______'s thoughts from afar.
You discern _____'s going out and _____'s lying down.
Before a word is on ______'s tongue
you know it completely, O Lord."
Psalm 139:1-4

Put your name in the blanks and say it out loud. It changes it more.

Wow, this doesn't just mean that He knows me like our friends and family or even know us like the closest person around. He knows us far more deeper than any human get get. Wow. Can you just imagine someone knowing your every thought and your every intention. Even the thoughts and intentions that you don't even realize, He knows them. He knows them before they even come around to you. THAT is someone who truly knows you.

That scares me like none other, but it also gives me so much peace and comfort, that I cannot hide anything from God. Even if I wanted to. Wow.

So, as you continue through your days... capture your every thought.

First Blog, First Thoughts

So, I'm not sure if anyone will actually read my blog, but I'm going to continue on with this anyways. =)

Today did not go as I had planned, but that pretty much happens everyday. My plans never go the way I first wanted them to. But it is my greatest sin, my laziness that ruins it most of the time. Today, was no exception. My plan was to be awake at 9:30 and get a jump start on homework, clean my room a little, and plan my lesson for Bible Blitz. Well, I did wake up at 9:30, but I still wasn't feelin so well, so I used that as an excuse to sleep a little. Of course, I was going to be groggy and not want to get up, I took Nyquil last night to help me feel better (which btw did not work, for some reason I feel worse). But on with my day, I ended up waking up at 11, still feeling the same. YUCK! Normally, if I get up and get moving I feel better... hmm that could have something behind that.. more on that later. But for an hour I got up and got moving, still felt terrible and my voice kept going in and out. Guess I had to cancel Bible Blitz. I love my Bible Blitz group of kids, I hate having to skip a week because I only see them once a week for an hour and these kids need more Jesus in their life. So, I've been trying to focus and do homework for about two hours or so and I got one thing done (that only took a half hour). Procrastination at its finest.

Sometimes, I wonder why God still loves me. I mean yeah, I'm a "good girl" in the worlds eyes, but really I'm not. God sees more than any other human can see in me, he sees my laziness, he sees my jealousy, he sees my every thought, every move and every intention. Yet, he still loves me. I'm sure a lot of people, if they could see everything God sees and gets the lack of attention he receives from me, then they would not love me. I don't deserve that, yet he does still love me.

Now, some maybe thinking, Jen, everyone is like that, everyone has sins below the surface and blah blah blah. It's time I stop comparing myself with everyone and compare myself to God and his perfection. If we are to strive to be like Christ, then why do I compare myself to other humans? I want to be like Christ, I so eagerly want people to see Christ in me. I don't want to be remembered as Jen Harwood. I want to be remembered as that one girl who showed me who Christ is. I want to change this world and turn it upside down for Christ. Yet, I can't even give him 15 minutes of my day to spend with him. Ugh. I've been making myself sick because of that.

I have decided though, how I am going to fix that problem. I have a tendancy to go on facebook for a good hour at least everyday. How can I find an HOUR to spend on facebook, but not even 15 minutes to God. For those of you who don't know, I love listening to sermons, I'd rather listen to a sermon than read a devotional book. So, I am going to do everything I can to listen to one sermon a day, then spend some time in prayer afterward. I will no longer get on facebook, until I have done that.

Oh, back to my when I get up and get moving I start to feel better. In life, when we are not focused on Christ and we do not give him the time of day and we become almost like "sleeping Christians". It is so difficult to get up and get moving. We start out feeling groggy and extremely discouraged. And then when we give ourselves the little push it takes... and we finally get up and get moving... we feel so much better. But all it takes is that little push. Listening to a sermon a day is that little push for me. Please hold me accountable.

In Christ,

Jen

.....