Felix, a dear friend from Lilongwe passed away this week adding to the rawness of my heart. Started drawing again...yesterday. In high school and my first years of College I would write poems ...though I do still write, it seems as if that has turned into drawing and painting..mmm water colours. Today was a good day, relaxed and did homework. Went for a walk with a good friend. Read for Hebrew Poetry and Wisdom. Organized my file folder of my papers. Finished a drawing. lol...good chill day. Tomorrow starts a super busy week of papers! and classes...and not working at Starbucks..for a while till I catch up in my homework. Then off to Canmore from March 28-April 4th! BOOYEAH! hehe. Learning to pray, to come before the Lord in earnest, to be me. may Christ be glorified in everything

"If you want to know how rich you are add up what you have that money can't buy and death can't take away." -Pastor Rick Duncan I was thinking about this as a friend of mine was talking about the gifts of the Spirit and wondered how rich am I? Do I have to posses many of the gifts of the Spirit to be rich? Or is eternal life and freedom in Christ being rich in its fullness? Don't know if I'm phrasing my question correctly. What do you think?

I Listened!

Yesterday was the beginning of Mod week...sheesh! you'd think I'd get some sort of rush out of taking 3 mods and four classes this semester....I think I kinda do..hehe. Good day, wasn't feeling 100%, felt like my head was about to explode during the Mafia game at the Point so left a little early. Got to my room and talked at bit with my roommate Ellen. Shared our frustrations of the day. I don't feel good and I think I need to go into the walk-in for my wrist that is keeping me awake with pain almost every night. Got into bed and shot up a few prayers, mostly for myself and shut my eyes... ..I couldn't sleep. Though this is nothing new, it was different. I couldn't get my friends name out of my head. I asked God to protect her and be with her and told Him I'd call her today. As I drifted off to sleep...No! I couldn't sleep! I didn't know her number but remember her writing it down for me a few weeks ago. I got up, telling God that I'd call her right then IF I could find her number..randomly I did. (quite a surprise as I had no clue where it was!)It was 11:30pm..."But God, she might be asleep!?" But I knew. I was worried. I had no idea what happened. I dialed the numbers saying I'd wait for a certain amount of rings and hang up. She picked up! I told her what happened. I heard a sniffle on the other side. "I'm so glad you called". And she proceeded to tell me what happened yesterday. After hearing her heart, we prayed together and hung up the phone. I went to sleep. I'm still in shock! I was afraid I would wake her up just to hear her say, "no, I'm fine, and you woke me up" but God knew! God knows! Yeah, (sigh) He's pretty great huh.

21 Random things from a 21-year-old:

1) I want to hike the entire Trans Canada Trail. 2) I have always wanted to write a book. 3) I have never hitch-hiked. (and kinda want to) 4) My love for the game of soccer only started my first year of college...and yet I still don't know all the rules. 5) I make a mean Eggs Benedict 6) If you want the rainbow, you're gonna have to put up with the rain. 7) Chieftess Teresa Malila is one of my hero's "...the church needs to be a threat to injustice." 8) When I know I'm completely alone, I will sing and dance. 9) I believe one makes the choice whether or not to be optimistic and have a good day. 10) Every time I go back to visit my parents I rearrange my room and thoroughly clean it. 11) My DISC personality test told me I'm adventurous...I agree :) 12) I am not afraid to try new things, I may be afraid of that which I am trying for the first time, like the first time I jumped off a cliff or picked up a snake, but the adventure and conquering fears is worth the risk. 13) "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt 14) The two items in my fridge are homemade grape jam and a water bottle. (and I'm soo hungry right now!) 15) I still have nerf gun wars with my brother 16) The furthest I have been from home is Malawi, Africa..and I would love to go back. 17) When I was little, I wanted to be a farmer. 18) I have always wanted to backpack across Europe. 19) I took hip hop in high school 20) I hope to run a half marathon in the near future. 21) climbing trees is one of my favorite things to do...getting down isn't.

Quote of the day:

Laurie: "I always hug people before they leave so they remember how much they love me and come back."

Nothing's wrong with me..

The only thing that has ever been wrong is that I have believed the lies of the world and of the devil that something is in fact wrong with me. This hit me hard tonight. Honestly, thinking back to why I didn't do/haven't done certain things is because I thought something was wrong with me. Meaning there has always been an excuse: I'm too slow, too much, not smart, fast, good, strong, worthy enough, I don't "have the time", I'm too sore, tired, mad, sad, cold or even old. LIES... all LIES. It frustrates me to think that I have fallen into this trap of such obvious lies that I have let hold me back from reaching my full potential in Christ. I hate to think that I have wasted so much time. I know that God has been and is glorified in the life I have lived so far; He wouldn't have it any other way. But just to think what it can be now that I know that those lies have been and I guess still are a part of my life. I am rejoicing over the fact that our Father has alerted me to these lies...time to fight. This battle never ends; if we haven't realized that yet, it's now time. What do you think it would look like if every time one of these lies started to come into our minds, we would fight it and do the opposite. I think it was Jim Eliot who decided that when he felt tempted he decided to always to the opposite. You can't go wrong in doing the opposite of what the devil is telling you to do. What wise advice. Let us strive to live in the freedom that is waiting for us to step into. Be bold in Him. Never say no to the Father. In His love Keerstin

What an amazing God I serve!

I feel a bit like rapping a gift in toilette paper as I say that..not that I am attempting to downplay the greatness and glory of God; more so that I can never do justice to His name. I find myself frustrated at times, wanting to let God know I love Him, but feel that I can never do enough. A while back, two friends and I spent some time in a field praising the Lord. We ran with our eyes closed, sang His praises, we marveled at the beautiful night sky and the many different colors. What great fellowship it was with one another and our King. What a privilege it is to be able to go 'straight to God'. We don't have to go through the process of sacrifice as they did in the Old Testament, or anything of the sort; He's here all the time waiting for us to come to Him. I don't thank Him enough for taking my place on the cross. How great is this God! The one True God, Who is constant and Who is Truth. Blessed be His name forever. Though we don't have to do as they did in the Old Testament, we are to sacrifice our lives... I have been seeking what it means to sacrifice one's life. I feel like I am only now, just beginning to get a glimpse of what it meant for God to sacrifice His Son for the world. This only makes me want to live for Him more. It is so easy to let the things of the world get in the way of loving and living for only Him. I know I can never repay what He has done for me, and what a blessed people we are to know that He does not expect us to. What does it look like to sacrifice our lives for Him? Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." 1 Peter 2:5 "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." These verses come to mind. I don't know why I am writing all this, but I hope it may resound with someone..as well as myself.