October 26, 2013
Well ya’ll I am officially done with my first quarter of
senior year. I have a feeling this year is going to go so quickly. I apologize
for the lack of update until now. This quarter was definitely the hardest one
yet and when I say I had absolutely no free time because of homework, I am not
exaggerating. My classes were the book of Isaiah and the Life of Christ in the
Gospels. Each class on its own is a hefty workload and as far as I know no
other class has taken them together before. In fact when seniors from last year
found out they were all shocked that they would do that to us. While it was
extremely hard, it was also so good and having the combination of both classes
at the same time was really cool.
In the Life of Christ the teacher opened up the class by
stating that the reason the gospels aren’t read more is because we don’t get
anything out of them. Most of the time, if we are honest, we read the Bible to
find some application for our own lives or to get our daily devotional for the
day. The first week he said we are often guilty of being more in love with idea
of Christ than with Christ Himself and I really had to take a long hard look at
how true that might be in my own life. Jesus is a real man and how can I be in
love with someone I don’t actually know? I think one of the things that
impacted me about the class was the idea to ask Jesus questions as you’re
reading different stories in the Bible. Jesus lived 30 some years on earth. He
has memories of all those things that happened. I have to be honest because although
I had heard that before I didn’t really try it because I didn’t think He was
gonna talk back anyway. My teacher said He probably won’t answer back, but He
might. But either way ask the questions because it makes it more real to your
own heart. It was so encouraging! Whenever anyone has said that in the past, I
understood them to mean ask Him because He’ll talk back. But this was the first
guy to be real and say actually no He probably won’t answer. It may seem silly
but I feel that gave me the permission to start doing it and it’s been really
fun to think about what He may have been feeling or thinking when certain
things were happening.
The book of Isaiah was also really good although very
overwhelming. I mean the book is 66 chapters so it’s hard to cram it all in 8
weeks. I have read through the book of Isaiah several times and was somewhat
familiar with it. I think my biggest take away from the class was how merciful,
kind and tender the Lord really is. We see over and over again how Israel was
constantly rebellious against the Lord and did their own thing. But no matter
what they did, the Lord continued to go after them and chase them down with His
loving-kindness. I have heard people say they don’t like the Old Testament because
God is so mean, but honestly after this class, all I could see was how tender
and compassionate He is. The way He deals with Israel is the way He deals with
us. He is gracious, slow to anger, rich in love and good to all. He is just so
kind. Even when I am faithless, He remains faithful. It’s so comforting to my
weak little heart!
It’s really interesting too because this quarter I have
Minor Prophets with Dave Sliker who is the same teacher I had for Isaiah and He
said His goal for this class is for us to see God rightly. It looks like God’s
just gonna continue to break down my wrong understanding of Him as mean, harsh
and distant. Praise the Lamb! The other class I have this quarter is the book
of James. I am so excited about this class! It is taught by Dale Anderson and
he actually used to be on the nightwatch. Last year when the class was offered,
he was still on the old nightwatch schedule where all the students are on the
new. So it was not a nightwatch friendly class. But all the nightwatch students
prayed and asked God to make it work for us this year and He totally did! He is
so kind! Dale is just so tender and has cried every class period so far. It’s
so beautiful to see an older man cry when He talks about Jesus. This one may be
my favorite class…too soon to tell though.
I made a big change this year as well. I switched my
concentrations. I had signed up for CEC again this year but about a week before
school started I had a conversation with Bobby who is the guy over the nightwatch
students and I expressed how I felt really left out by not choosing house of
prayer leadership last year. I loved CEC but I didn’t really learn anything
that I hadn’t previously learned in my other schooling and the one reason that
I chose that concentration, he didn’t even cover all year. Bobby actually
apologized and told me that the way that I was feeling was not my fault but a
design flaw with the school and that he would take full responsibility for it.
Then he made it super simple. He said go where you’re going to have the most
fun. So I switched to the House of Prayer Leadership concentration and have not
regretted it or felt like I made a bad decision. I’m still teaching my 5 year
olds on Sunday mornings though and loving it!
The school is also doing something new with juniors and
seniors. They started a student led prayer room at IHOPU. It’s like the one in
the normal prayer room, but it’s manned by students only. We were all placed on
a team and we also have a harp and bowl (the model that they teach in the music
school and what they follow in the normal prayer room) lab each week with our
team. I am my team’s admin so I get to serve in more of a behind the scenes
kind of way. I love it! I haven’t sung on the mics yet, but we’ll see if I get
the courage up to do that at some point this year. I also get to lead my own
d-group of freshman girls. I was so excited to be asked and it is so fun so
far. I make them a home cooked meal every week so we eat together and then they
just share their hearts and we pray together. My goal has been to create a safe
loving environment where they feel they can share and be vulnerable. From what
I can tell they all seem to feel that way. I would appreciate prayers as I lead
them and disciple them though. It’s a big responsibility to shepherd other
people’s hearts and I really want to love them well.
I know that was a lot! Thanks for reading =)
Prayer requests:
Vision: Next month is my birthday! Last year I asked the
Lord for vision for my life and He answered in a powerful way the whole week
after my birthday. I am asking for that again this year, but even greater because
I have a huge life transition happening when I graduate and at this point I don’t
really know what I am doing yet. So clarity for my next step would be
spectacular!
My heart: Just prayers for continued healing. My biggest
desire is to be confident in God’s love when I walk across that stage in May.
Pray that He would encounter me in a deep way in my remaining time at IHOPU.
Senior year: As the leaders of the school, we have all been
feeling a lot of pressure and warfare so far this year. Please feel free to
pray however you feel led about that.
