Final Week... Already!

This is my last week of lecture phase. It has been so amazing here in Maui and I can't wait for OR to begin and to start putting to use what I've learned here. Last week was thanksgiving and we got to have a 4 day weekend, which was filled with much needed rest! So we started up this week with lecture, of course, and tonight we had commissioning night (prayer to be sent off to our selected locations). I am super excited to tell you that I am going to Thailand for the 1st week of OR with all the teams! I'm so looking forward to it! We leave on Friday evening so please keep me and the other students in your prayers, God is about to do amazing things! He has brought us all so far; He has refined us as silver (Zechariah 13:9) and is now leading us on our way after providing finances for everyone- some at the last minute! Only one student who had visa issues is not going with our teams, and instead going to do his OR in Hawaii. God is sovereign though, and has a perfect plan for him so at least we have hope in that.

Awe God really is so good!! I can't imagine life without him leading the way. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers the last 3 months, I only have 3 months left to go and then I'll be coming home!! This will be my last blog until I am back in the states, so thank you all for following my journey so far. I know it will only get more challenging from here but I know God is holding my right hand and guiding me through it all. He has prepared me and I am just so excited to serve and pour out to everyone I meet. Please pray for my health and safety on OR, and courage to do all God leads me to. I love you all so much!!! Goodnight =)

Isaiah 41
9 I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

13 For I am the LORD your God
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.

PS~ Pictures of me on my 1st Thanksgiving away from home and without family, but it's oh kay cos I had my school family! =)

The Secret Life of Prayer

Yesterday I did my chapel talk and it ended up being on Prayer. I did an emphasis on thanksgiving and praise and added a little on the end about the power of prayer. I choose this topic because I have been so convicted of making my prayer life all about me. "God I'm really struggling with this, please help" and "Please help me Lord!" etc, etc. God's really spoken to me about the importance of praising him and thanking him for what He's ALREADY done and for who He IS. If my prayer life is all about me me me... what's the point of that? That's not love. Don't get me wrong, James chapter 5 talks about praying when you need to, but most of the time we focus on that and forget about the important things (aka praising God for his amazing-ness!) In Luke 11, the disciples ask Jesus how to pray and even teaches them to praise God FIRST when he states "Hallowed be thy name." Hallowed meaning to be regarded as Holy. PRAY PRAY PRAY, God answers prayers of the righteous. Remember to remember all He's done for you, when you need something again. Our view of God should not be based on the circumstances we are in but on the Truth of the Word, and we can even remember what we have experienced in past situations. This is what I have been convicted of over the past couple weeks and a little about what I spoke on during my chapel talk ; )

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
-Mark 11:24

Two more weeks flashed by!

So I guess I sort of skipped 2 weeks... Week#7 was on Basic Christianity, This week was on Holy Spirit, and I must say both weeks were absolutely incredible!! I've learned so much and also have grown so deep in a relationship with the Lord! I wish i could blog ever last detail and every note I took during lecture but that would probably end up as an epic novel. For everyone at home, you will probably get the whole spiel when I come back home ; ). God is working in my life beyond anything I ever imagined. He is just totally refining me from head to toe. Funny how "refined" happens to be the theme for our school... It's really cool too because you can see it in everyone here. I love it! I love being surrounded by people who are going through the same thing and not having to focus on any responsibility so we can completely focus on the Lord. So next week I believe our lecture is on Spiritual Warfare, which will probably be very good for me to learn on! So Monday I have to do something called Chapel Talk, which is a 30 minute mini sermon- I guess you can call it. AHH!! I'm kind of nervous but I know it will be good! First, I thought God wanted me to speak on Praise in a Thanksgiving way, but it's kinda changed to how we can make our Christian walk about us and what God can do for me, so from there we should change and be praising God and showing thanksgiving. So we will see how it goes...

Prayer Requests: I've been having killer headaches, so please keep me in your prayers. Good news and total blessing beyond belief!! I was able to go to the chiropractor today which will hopefully help a lot, compliments of my fabulous family!! <3
Also, just please continue to pray for unity of my team, it is getting a lot better but it will be really important on OR because boys and girls will be living in separate places, which is not the case for all the other OR teams. Thank you for all your prayers! It's been so great and you are seriously making a difference in my life and the work of the Lord.
Love & Blessings,
Samantha

PS~ Picture of all the girls on my OR team!! =)