.I'm Home.
Oh man...the amount of time people have to spend on planes and in airports before arriving home is just a little bit INSTENSE for me....when in Atlanta, the only place I wanted to be was home. But now...I am....HOME!!! Yeah...Hood River Hard Core....hahaha. Sad to say, I miss The Shelter already. I miss the work, the ministry and the people. To all my peeps there,,,,hello, much love and I MISS YOU LIKE A BEACHED WHALE MISSES THE OCEAN!!!! HAHAHA!!!!
Seriously..it's been a day...and it feels like I've already been gone for weeks. It's crazy how all that works out. But being home is also nice...I got to ride in a car (and drive MY CAR) for the first time in three months.....riding was fine, but driving,,,,oh man...I love to drive me sweet subi. Yeah I definetly missed that. But I also miss my lavender lucky #4 ghetto stylin' bike from The Shelter.
Weird. My dad offered me a beer tonight with him....that's never happened before...but you know now that I'm a mature 21 year old adult I can handle the whole alcohol thing right....haha..whatever....I turned him down. Beer is discusting.
What else....oh man,....fun. Being home is super fun because you get to hang out with friends...I've seen a couple already...not enough..but I'm still just chillen with my family and SISTER!!!!(who aparently thought that I was going to be really huge when I got home,....because my parents were trying to guess what I did to myself in Amsterdam....like Tattoos, peircings, etc....and Rachel guessed I was going to be really fat....isn't that mean!!!!) I proved all of them wrong...I didn't get any ink or new holes in my body, and my joey is just as big as he was before....haha.
Well...I'll be peacing out now for some lekker dinner.
In Him, Sarah
p.s. that's my mountain...MT. HOOD!!!
.Prayer is SO COOL.
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Megs and I went on a really random camping trip to North Holland a few nights ago. It was amazing because we just rode our bikes around the park camp site area to find a good spot, then once we found one, we kept riding our bikes around and took some cool pics until it got dark. When we rode back to the spot we picked out to sleep that night, there was a couple there arguing near some of the other picnic benches. Meghan and I decided to read a little bit, but the fighting proceeded and got much worse until the guy was really yelling at the girl like hardcore. It was really lame, so Meghan said we should pray for them. We did. It was amazing because whatever we were praying for God was answering. We just prayed that the guy would find forgiveness and that he would stop yelling at the girl and that the girl would have angels of protection around her. It was amazing. We prayed for him to stop yelling and he stopped. Then we just praised God for answering immidiatelly. Then when we would stop praying, the guy would start yelling again. So we started praying over and over for peace and protection. And love and grace and forgiveness. It was so so so cool to see. By the end of the night...we were praying for salvation of their souls and for God to reveal Himself to them and for their lives to be changed and for Christians to be in their lives and to share the Gospel with them. It was one of the coolest times in prayer I've ever had.
.school school school.
Today at school the topic was Missions and Prayer. Missions, Crossing a cultural boundry to bring the Gospel, helped to re-affirm all of us at the shelter as missionaries. Not that the title is of any importance. But more just to re-affirm us in what we are all doing here. We are all here, from around the world, crossing a cultural boundry to spread the Good News to the travelers coming here and to preach the Gospel to those who don't know Christ. Wow. I'm blown away sometimes at what a priviledge that is.
During class we talked about how it doesn't take a ton of people to start a revolution for the Lord. It only takes faithful believers totally sold out to whatever and willing to go wherever the Lord wants us to go. It's not about what we can do or say, it's all about what the Lord's plan is for our lives and His goals for us His children. And the best thing we can do is to offer up our lives and our hearts for Him and His Gospel to be freely revealed and shared with others through our lives. It's about having a heart of obedience to the Father and having a heart that says:
Lord, I'll go anywhere and do anything at anytime for You. It's about having a heart for the Gospel and being totally sold out to the Lord. How awesome is that?!! Man...it's such a challenge, but it's an amazing challege. A challenge that is more than worth living up to and living for. Man, I want my life to count. I don't ever want to be in a position anymore where it's me first. I need to rely upon God for my strength in all of this, but I really really want to be devoted to spreading the Gospel for my whole life. Wherever God needs to take me and whatever He has for me to do in that specific time, I pray that I'll be open and willing to do it wholeheartedly in the name of Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. It's all about The Gospel. Spread the love.
.Good Stuff.
Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, Brother, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think of such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. ~~Philippians 4:6-9
Today I was thinking about the past two and a half months. About my time in Amsterdam and at The Shelter and about the aspects and blessings from God here. I think more than anything, I have more passion about my faith, people, and loving others through God's grace and mercy. It's good stuff you know...when God lays different people and ministries on your heart and when you get to have an effect on people for the eternal Kingdom of God. It's such an amazing blessing. Oh man. I really desire to be in the ministry for my whole life now. I want my whole life to be dedicated to preaching the Gospel. I want God to be praised with everything that's in me and everything that He wants me to be. I want my life to be pure, noble, praiseworthy, and all of the traits God gives us. I just want to find a full time ministry opportunity to get involved with. But more than that, I want God to prepare one for me. One that's perfect for me and one where I'll be used most effectively.
So...if you think of it, you could pray for me in these areas:
~School this fall; for me to get a full time job when I go back to the States and save enough money for school and rent and books this fall and all that jazz. Also for ministry opportunities this fall to get involved with when I move to Portland.
~For reBEL, the clothing company I've been semi trying to start up for the past few years that's never really gotten anywhere. I really would love to use this passion for God and for a career someday, and someday soon.
~Snowboarder's For Christ. I think it would be super rad to get something started in Portland for SFC this fall, and I'd be more than happy to be a big part of this ministry if it's God's will. Hood River, Portland, Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor, and Oregon need to hear about the love of Jesus Christ.
~Pray for growth in my life with the Lord. Pray that I wouldn't forget what I've learned here or forget what I am passionate about and about the grace I have in the Lord. Pray for discernment in my life to know where and when and what God wants me to do with my life, and for patience while I wait to see it all happen...
dank u wel!!!
loves, Sarah
.Water Washes Over.
In Revelation it talks about Jesus being like an abundant stream of living water. A pure, clean source of light and life.
A stream is constantly washing over the rocks and plants and animals in a riverbed, making them more refined. Over time the rough or dull spots are made smooth and shiny. It is never an imidiate process but one that takes time and persistance. The source of the stream comes from an abundant source of water, always supplying the streams ever flowing water. This constant source is God.
God refines us the way a stream refines rocks. We all start out the same and as Christ comes closer and closer to us and to our hearts, he starts to refine the dirt from our shell. He starts to rub off all of our muck and mire and makes us smooth for Him. If the stream did not exist, the dirt would not come off. Just like, if God is not present or evident or dwelling in our lives, we won't be made pure and we won't be transformed into His likeness. God longs to purify our hearts and minds and bodies for His glory. He wants to remove the dirt from our lives. He longs to make our hearts pure like His. His constant living water and love washes over us.
.Belgium Day Trip.
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For mine and Becky's day off we went and visited Antwerpen Belgium for the day. It took about two and a half hours to get there and we stayed the whole afternoon. It was a really beautiful city. All we really did was walk around all day long and take a bunch of sweet pictures. We also got to eat real fresh Belgium waffles and they were AMAZING!!! Yum. So lecker!!!
.Isaiah 40.
I read Isaiah 40 today and it just struck me how BIG God is. Like whoa. Seriosly how cool is this.....
"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed Him as his councelor?"
~Isaiah 40:12-13
This is only two verses of scripture....but they are so powerful. It's amazing. I loved being humbled by this verse. I just think it's funny how humans think that
we're it.....when in actuality we are more like ants living in a world of T-Rex sized love and grace from the power of God. Power that is continually revealed, even through a couple verses. It's crazy. But it's cool. Really cool.
What the Willemstraat does when bored.........
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So......we here at the Willemstraat(my house) sometimes get a little bored. I know what you're thinking right?!..."What did we do?!!?" Well.......let me tell you a little story; it all started with Joshua and Jacoline getting some big trash bags out and putting them over their heads and then wrestled with no hands!!! The rules are as follows;
1. No hands.
2. You must spin around three times prior to the attack.
3. If you get shoved off the rug, you're out.
4. Best out of 5 wins.
5. Shelter Jordan against Shelter City
=Y.H.M. SMACKDOWN!!!!!!!
