"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1, NIV)

Hi friends. :) Again...I'm not really sure how this whole blogging thing works. haha. But I want to share with you what is on my heart.

As I mentioned, I'm part of a campus ministry at my college called Cru. I can't tell you the influence these guys have had on me, the grace God gave in blessing me with them. They speak the Gospel into my heart on a regular basis, they love me when I'm messy and difficult to love, we're family in the best sense of the word. :)  Family has always been very important to me, and even in preparing for this trip it has been kind of difficult as I have met opposition from blood family members. (This whole “missions” concept is pretty foreign in my family, many of whom don’t yet know the Lord.) But family the way God intended, I believe, is family the way we experience it in Cru. Support toward all things God-glorifying, rebuke when necessary, forgiveness and crazy love. Tonight was an emotional night for me as we thanked one another for the love they have shown us in Christ and said good bye to some members who are leaving next school year. It was hard. Especially because a lot of the people who are leaving are people who have poured into me, whose lives are have heard and loved in detail, for 2 years. They’re my brothers and sisters.

But the crazy thing is…I didn’t know any of them 2 years ago. The idea of them scared me a little, and I needed some secure ground to stand on. I was only an hour outside my hometown, so it was easy for me to continue to cling to my old youth group and my blood family while I figured out if these guys were ok… It can be really scary for me to meet new people, allow myself to be totally vulnerable around them, love them and trust them to love me. I generally revert to a couple of different methods: I either attempt anxiously to get to know people or hide behind some false sense of security (mm…pride?) so that no one realizes I’m freaking out. And then after I spend some time with them, as a sister in Christ, it never fails that they in fact are not terrifying and are rather an incredible gift from our Father. So it was with Cru. And I can already feel the love and support radiating within this group.

In truth, I am nervous to meet everyone. Like I said, it’s hard to let go and trust, especially in a case like this, where I have no other group to lean on while I get to know everyone. (Though I have to say thank you to all of you for the blessing you have already proven to be…) But God, in His grace, chose to make the church a family, us all His children. Based on what I’ve seen from all of you, I’m blown away that He is gracious to make you all my brothers and sisters. He loved us that we would be His children, each other's siblings. And we are! And as totally excited I am about all of the outreach we’ll get to do (and I really am!), I’m also excited to see our group transform from a group of basically strangers to a family. I trust the Lord to do this, and, as hard as it may be, I look forward to the day when we realize with heavy hearts how much we’ll miss each other, how much we all love each other, that we’re brothers and sisters. This may be so corny... haha. But really…so excited to see the glory of God blow us away in all this. I already love you all and I’m praying for you always. Thanks for reading. :)