Hey everyone!
I hope you all have had a wonderful Easter weekend!! I can't even explain how special it has been to be able to spend Good Friday and Easter here at Hillsong where my relationship with Christ first began exactly two years go.
Although it isn't something we should ever get used to, it is always great to be reminded of the incredible sacrifice Christ made for us - to save us, to set us free - so that we could live and walk relationship with Him. Pastor Phil shared this statement during his message:
"Because of Jesus. You have nothing to prove and everything to live for."
Do you ever find yourself trying so hard to prove something - to yourself, to others, to God? I do. For me, it comes back the aspect of thinking that I have to be "good enough" that I still struggle with sometimes. It's something that God is constantly working on in me. Just a few days ago, I was out for lunch with a couple of friends and one of them asked me to pray before the meal. I honestly can't remember another time that I have unexpectedly been asked to pray out loud in front of a group of people before. Instead of giving that moment to God, I found myself being so worried about what they were going to think of my prayer. Even while I was praying, I was thinking, "Oh, this sounds terrible. They're probably going to judge me for this."
My tendency to worry about and over-think everything is such a frustrating part of my personality. It never does anyone any good and only causes more stress. Philippians 4:6 is a verse that I have been focusing on for the last couple of weeks - "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything."
We don't need to prove anything. We don't need to worry. We just need to rest in Him, walk with Him and let Him take the lead from there.
Hillsong recently released a beautiful song that tells the story of Jesus. We've been singing it a lot at church over the last couple of weeks. The photo above captures a few of the lyrics. Listen to it here!
Our evening services last night were reserved for baptisms. One of my great friends who also interns in HAF, Norbert, was baptized. It was so amazing to be able to see him take that step in his faith! I absolutely love this photo I was able to capture of him right after he was baptized. Around 200 people total were baptized, and it was such an exciting and encouraging night!
Norbert's roommate, Phil, has also become a really great friend. I should just go ahead and introduce both of them now because I'll likely be mentioning them both a lot as the months go on. Phil is from Ireland and he is also an intern at church. Having friends to walk along this journey with was something I had been praying about a lot before I came here. God sure has answered those prayers!!!
I also want to quickly mention that I was able to visit the Semester at Sea ship, the MV Explorer, while it was here in Cape Town last week! I hadn't seen the ship since we debarked in Spain two years ago, and it was so surreal being able to step foot on it again. It brought back so many memories and emotions. The photos on the left are just a few of the many I took as I got to take a "tour" of the ship. Although it is sad that this is the last semester that they will be using this ship, I'm so glad that they were able to find a way to keep the program going strong!
If any of you are interested in reading about my time on Semester at Sea or watching my voyage video, you can do so here: sp13voyagearoundtheworld.blogspot.com
Things here are continuing to go better than I could have expected, and I can't wait to see what God has in store in the coming months!!
I hope you all have had a wonderful Easter weekend!! I can't even explain how special it has been to be able to spend Good Friday and Easter here at Hillsong where my relationship with Christ first began exactly two years go.
Although it isn't something we should ever get used to, it is always great to be reminded of the incredible sacrifice Christ made for us - to save us, to set us free - so that we could live and walk relationship with Him. Pastor Phil shared this statement during his message:
"Because of Jesus. You have nothing to prove and everything to live for."
My tendency to worry about and over-think everything is such a frustrating part of my personality. It never does anyone any good and only causes more stress. Philippians 4:6 is a verse that I have been focusing on for the last couple of weeks - "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything."
We don't need to prove anything. We don't need to worry. We just need to rest in Him, walk with Him and let Him take the lead from there.
Hillsong recently released a beautiful song that tells the story of Jesus. We've been singing it a lot at church over the last couple of weeks. The photo above captures a few of the lyrics. Listen to it here!Our evening services last night were reserved for baptisms. One of my great friends who also interns in HAF, Norbert, was baptized. It was so amazing to be able to see him take that step in his faith! I absolutely love this photo I was able to capture of him right after he was baptized. Around 200 people total were baptized, and it was such an exciting and encouraging night!
Norbert's roommate, Phil, has also become a really great friend. I should just go ahead and introduce both of them now because I'll likely be mentioning them both a lot as the months go on. Phil is from Ireland and he is also an intern at church. Having friends to walk along this journey with was something I had been praying about a lot before I came here. God sure has answered those prayers!!!
If any of you are interested in reading about my time on Semester at Sea or watching my voyage video, you can do so here: sp13voyagearoundtheworld.blogspot.com
Things here are continuing to go better than I could have expected, and I can't wait to see what God has in store in the coming months!!
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