A personal update: I am an engaged woman. Why I feel this deserves a spot on my blog update is because ministry is extremely personal; we share life together. The girls I have had the honor of serving alongside or studying with are a part of my every week. We talk about Jesus and our lives, and this weekend, I saw how those very ladies were there when Graham proposed. We have a lot to rejoice about. God is good.
Something exciting to share is that I will be teaching for the rest of the month. I am teaching on Mark till our students go on Thanksgiving break. I love talking and people listening to me, but this has been very new to me. I simply have been working through a commentary (New International Version Application Commentary) and teaching through it. My first sermon was on Mark 7:24-37. That passage is about the story of the Syrophoenician woman where Jesus calls her a dog. Just from preparing for that sermon I was taught a lot. That passage is more about Jesus and him painting a bigger picture of the inclusion of the gentile people. I’m finding as I read the commentary this reminder to love scripture. God’s story to us is amazing. My encouragement: read your bibles folks.
Things at DBU have been going well. We have a group of about 7-8 students who have been coming around. I have started studies with all the ladies there. We have been focusing on growing up in our faith and encouraging the community to support one another. We did an evangelism small group recently and it actually went quite well. The point was to go up and meet new people. My group ended up praying for some students we met on campus. Naturally, everyone said yes to prayer. I am still learning the culture of DBU. I was proud to see our students be bold on campus.
Lastly, I want to highlight a student who shared an encouraging story with me. I asked her to write a short blurb about some friends she made while in school:
Hi! I am a student leader at UTA and several years ago I was able to start building friendships with two students who are practicing muslims, and their relationships have become some of the sweetest and most meaningful friendships to come out of college. Becoming close friends with them has challenged me and grown me immensely. They in many ways are some of the first people I’ve had actively to entrust to God, as they are some of the first people I have deeply loved, that do not know and love Jesus. Yet God has been so kind to me and given so many signs of answered prayers and indications that he is stirring. In the past six months both of them, without prompting have casually asked me questions such as “I have heard you say salvation before, can you explain what that means to me?” Or “ do you believe Jesus is God and the Son of God ?” Or “ who is the Holy Spirit and what does he do?”. These questions have been so encouraging to my trust in God and are such a neat opportunity to look like Jesus. Loving them has brought me face to face with several truths that I regularly have to wrestle with; God is using me to pursue people deeply, God has been chasing their hearts long before I was on the scene, and he will continue to chase them more fiercely than I ever can. I’m so excited to see how our relationships continue to grow and see how God works both in my heart and in theirs!
Be praying for our students as they wrap up the semester. Pray for our students who are coming to know Jesus through our ministry. Pray that they will continue to seek Him during the Thanksgiving and winter break. Thank you for your support. You make what I do possible.
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