God has taught me that I need to quit gathering information about how God relates to me and focus on who God is! The universe and all that is in it revolves around the God we need to know. So my focus in bible study has changed the way I study. My quest is to know my God and savior.

Another thing that God has been showing me this semester is that God gives us strength, supernatural strength to so the impossible when He calls us to do anything for Him. Just pray and move. Don’t think. We see Jesus not with our mind’s eyes but as we hear and move in faith.

Lastly, that I am an evangelist, that evangelism is not a gift, it is a right and privilege given to everyone God has given His Holy Spirit to. Believe that God will use you, pray, then open your mouth and God will fill it, I have experienced this and it has changed me.

It is amazing to see how God has worked in my life this semester.

Father,

From the start You put me in a place where I’ve been utterly dependant on You, and You have provided abundantly. You have shown me that I build walls around me that You want to tear down because in building them I am not surrendering my whole self to You. You want all of me, You want to heal me and use me for Your kingdom. Father God you have shown me again that the blood of Your Son is thicker and more binding than any blood I may share with my relatives. You have given me a family here that is strong and more unified than any group of people I have ever seen. Lord, You have shown me that You are my Father and that You will care for me, Psalm 27:10,13 “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me…I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” You have revealed to me the pride and false strength I cling to. You have told me that it is okay to be weak, because in my weakness You are made strong- I don’t have to be the strong one. You have helped me to be more open and trusting and You want me to be even more open. You have shown me through my classmates that vunerability takes strength and courage and that I am lacking in that area. Lord You have opened my eyes to how much I am missing by trying to do things on my own; that You are everywhere when we take the time to look around and You want to be involved in every situation in our lives. Father I will never forget this semester, all of the times of laughing, crying, traveling, Worshiping, growing, and seeking Your face together as a family. Lord, thank You for this place, Father, thank You for these people, be with us as we continue on in new paths, guide us and help us to never forfeit what You have taught us here at HSE. I love You Lord and I am so thankful for all of these things. We are Your vessels, Lord, use us and keep us. Amen.

This semester at HSE, God has revealed Himself to me as Father, and redeemed a lot of hurt due to the former misrepresentations I had of that particular characteristic of His. Through this I also learned a great deal about my role/calling as His daughter! I’ve been confronted with a lack of trust and willingness to relinquish my control to Him. Yet even in the midst of learning, failing, learning, failing, failing, learning; God has so gently and without relent, reminded me to just stop…and to abide, to rest, and be filled with His love, to surrender all to Him, and just humbly be there at His feet waiting on Him in all things. I think during this particular period of refinement in my life, God has used HSE to shine light on a lot of issues I was too prideful to deal with before. Then as the process continued, as I understood more fully, the depths of the cross, and the character of God- I understood so much more clearly, who I am in Christ. This has involved a great deal of challenge, but produced so much genuine growth; I am overflowing with thankfulness for each and every challenge. I have experienced in this first semester, true healing. In putting myself and my issues aside, I’ve also come to much deeper understanding of what it means to live out servant leadership…not just on outreaches or practicum but in every day life, wherever I am. This season has been one of great transformation to say the very least! Mainly because I have made a big switch between knowing what I know, believing right belief, and then LIVING IT!

I would like to encourage my class to never allow the love of our Father to become mundane or ordinary. We have seen this powerful love revive and heal our classmates, family members, church body, and strangers all over the country…that love is worth giving everything for, worth picking up our cross and being willing to be utter humiliated- daily. May we all not just live this way now when it is easiest, but even in the hardest times of trial! May we always be thankful even in affliction because God loves us so much that He uses all things for good, that we would not stay the same, but one day be perfect and complete lacking nothing. Following Jesus and letting the world know of this beautiful love we have, is always worth it- at any and all cost.

This past semester at HSE has been one of the most impactful and formative experiences of my life. God has given me a clearer picture of what community united by the Spirit looks like. Apart from God uniting us, it just doesn’t make sense that such a diverse group of people could come together like we have. I have also never seen people so willing to serve each other in love. The way that I love others and serve others has been changed just by observing this HSE community.

Through HSE, God has also given me much more boldness in loving others. This past semester I found myself, especially on practicum, loving others in ways that I have never done before. I have also shared the Gospel more openly than I ever have, which I think has to do with the Good News becoming “better news,” in my own life. The gospel was good news in my life before, but as God has been changing me, it has become much more precious and real to me.

If I could encourage HSE in any way, it would be to keep taking HUGE risks for the kingdom of God. God will come through for you, and give you abundant life. Love Boldly!

This semester was a time of vulnerability, brokenness, healing and joy. God taught me so much through shining His grace, truth, and love into my heart. I realized that the refining in my heart was beneficial and necessary to better glorify His kingdom. Through learning about the sins in my heart I was able to see myself in view of God’s grace and I was astounded by His glory, to say the least. Through what I have learned in HSE, I can walk in freedom and I have been healed of the guilt I held in my heart. I have fallen more in love with Jesus and learned to truly seek His face. I am His beloved and He is worthy of my whole life. I have found that that is the most important thing that matters in my life and I strive to be faithful to continually laying my self and my desires down to glorify His name.

Man oh man, God is so good! This semester God has taught me many things that I hope to cling to the rest of my life. One thing would be to be bold for the Lord because you do not know how God will use you or what affect you’ll have on those around you. Being bold is very important to me because there were so many opportunities to help someone that I let pass because I would believe a lie that God could not use a normally quiet and shy guy to do His work. But God showed me that he can use anyone if they are willing to be used for His work. Another thing God revealed to me is the importance of fellowship. Before I would separate myself from people all the time, but during practicum He showed me that I cannot do everything on my own for I can only do so much. Yes it’s awesome to have solo time with our Father, but there is a point where it becomes “me” time and is solely focused on you rather than the Lord. He showed me that I need to get to know more about my brothers and sisters and  have that relationship with them like the relationship I have with God our Father.

“Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me :”Behold, I have put My word in your mouth.” Jeremiah 1:9

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” Psalm 133:1

What hasn’t the Lord taught me? It’s so hard to narrow it down to one statement. I think the biggest thing He taught me and is teaching me is that in order to be on a team, I have to trust the team. I must give people the benefit of the doubt. I must purpose to find the good in them instead of being fearful and convinced that they will hurt me. I must purpose to look at the people through His yes; as man will fail me and I will fail them and that’s okay. As we fall short of his glory, I ought to not consider myself higher than I am because it is God that works in all of us, to will and to do for His good pleasure. To realize where we all come from and who He is.

At the beginning of the semester, God challenged me to step out of the boat like Peter did and have faith. Now He is simply asking me to trust. With every step taken, He is constantly teaching, constantly progressing, and constantly spurring me on. He sums it all up in just trusting Him.  I have seen God move through each one of us. He shows up and establishes divine opportunities, time and time again, but the coolest thing is watching all my classmates be ready to step up and stand to allow the Lord to work through them to give a reason for the Hope that is in them. God is soooo good.

Pray. Listen. Be still. Obey.

Listen to the voice of God.

My life. Not mine. Everything I am for the kingdoms cause.
Pray. Listen. Be still. Obey.
Listen to the voice of God.
Be still. Be still.
Humility is vital, my identity doesn’t need a title.
Smile. And enjoy life to its fullest.
Cause every trial is like a bullet, it will try to bring you down and drown you in thoughts of self. “I’m tired. I need some rest.” But who are you? Who are we? Who am I? But dust in the wind, the very embodiment of sin, that the Prince of Peace would stoop down to call us kin… no… He did not stoop, but raised us up… or maybe he stooped to raise us up. Be still.

Mercy Grace Love. So I serve, with all that I am, everything for the Kings cause. Only stopping to rest when I deserve it. Do I deserve it? What if I mentally, physically, spiritually exhaust myself? But the joy of the Lord is my strength. Then again, God Himself set aside a Sabbath day… But my flesh never ceases to make war. Be still.
In peace I find my rest. So I die to myself and continue to serve. For Jesus served. And though serving doesn’t always come with ease. I die to myself and rest in peace.
Serve in love.
Pray. Listen. Be still. Obey.
Listen to the voice of God.

My experience here at HSE has been exactly what God is to me- indescribable. I have learned and encountered more in these past five months than I have my entire life. One thing that God has really stuck in my heart is to serve Him wholeheartedly, without whining or complaining- just as it says in Colossians 3:23, and Philippians 2:14-15. On our practicum trip to Indianapolis, God gave me an incident where I was able to practice this. I was in a group where we were given the task to clean up the bible college facility we were staying at. During this job, I was reluctant, lazy and tired- and it all showed. It wasn’t until later that my team leader called me out- saying how halfheartedly I was working. With that in mind, I looked to God in prayer, asking for strength and willingness to complete the assignment. Shortly after, I found myself with energy to finish cleaning and to remind myself who I was cleaning for-not myself, but God. Through this experience, God helped use my team leader to remind me where my heart and trust is, and where it should be- in God. I didn’t even consider that people from the outside looking in on me could be influenced the wrong way. It was a gentle reminder to always be an accurate expression of the love of Jesus Christ.

Other than myself, God has definitely been moving within my classmates. Throughout the semester, I’ve seen God bond a group of strangers with His love into a family. Our class has unified and grown spiritually together. Through all the different struggles and trials thrown at each of us, we all have been able to overcome them with God’s love and faithfulness. I’ve seen classmates, as well as myself, step out of their comfort zone for God’s glory. One thing we learned in our classes is that “there is no spiritual maturity without some level of discomfort,” and I believe that’s true. If we keep our trust and patience in God, everything will fall into a place where we can eventually become comfortable with His presence. Through HSE, I’ve learned that worries and problems are all part of God’s plan to help mature our relationship with Him- cause
that’s all He really wants, for us to spend time with Him. A relationship is two ways, we need to talk and listen. By being faithful and communicating with God, we will begin to slowly comprehend the vast wonder that He is.

“Delight yourself in Him and He will give the desires of your heart.”

-Psalm 37:4

Upon coming to HSE, I could feel the passion of every speaker we had and I knew that I was missing many things. I noticed that I wasn’t growing at my church and knew that I was going to have to prepare for a new season in my life. I was taught in class to be a good steward of my time and money, really second thinking everything I do. I was excited for the wilderness trip but after an hour out there every step was a challenge and I found myself opening up to my group. I started to let go of the baggage I was carrying inside of me and to stay broken so I can be dependent on God. It just got me ready for practicum when I was sitting at Starbucks in Indy, I remember through a talk I was ashamed to share my whole testimony, but if I didn’t say the whole thing God wouldn’t use me. I made an impact in many people’s lives on practicum through my testimony and it was such a blessing to actually have people come up to me and say that they need to hear my testimony. The first morning we woke up in Wisconsin I was shocked to see the pastor sleeping on the same floor as me and really showing me that a pastor is supposed to smell like his sheep. Seeing the second semester students put in work and lead the group was a blessing to see because they were making sure to be a great example for me so I can be equipped for next semester. These last 5 months were definitely something I will never forget and I wish we didn’t have to break up but I find joy to know that you guys are going to be out there saving the world.