Where God is Working and I am Learning!

Baby it's cold outside!

    Hope everyone stayed warm and was able to rest a bit given the snowy circumstances in Texas this week!

    I have been doing everything virtually (meeting with students, large group fellowship, etc.) for the past 2 days, and I am just SO thankful technology can be such a help to us in times like these. I know technology certainly has its downfalls, but man it is a great tool to connect with people when in-person is not an option.

Core Wednesday night!
We watched an Episode of The Chosen together

Thursday Night Fellowship on Zoom

GOOD NEWS:

1. Winter Camp went really well!

    - Thank y'all so much for praying. I really believe that made a difference and we had pretty minimal spreading of sickness! 

This is me and my co-fa, Sam at Winter Camp!

2. Ministry at TCC is going SO well!

    - It is evident that God is on the move here and wants to work on this campus. He's been growing it with students who are hungry for God's word and community. I can't believe it's only been one semester, and I'm so excited to see where this current semester goes!

This is our consistent crew!

What I'm learning... 

    Being a follower of Jesus means being a life-long learner. "Disciple" after all does mean "student", so here's what I've been learning lately. 

Right now I'm reading a book called, Why Emotions Matter by Tristen and Jonathan Collins. In addition to this, I've been listening to a podcast called Cultivated from Christianity Today (I've been especially influenced by the episode featuring Tish Warren). These resources, along with personal experiences, I've been learning a lot about my feelings and the need to process them. God created humans with emotions and emotions are GOOD. We are mistaken if we think emotions are unnecessary in the Christian faith. We also often think that following Jesus means being really happy all the time...or what I've heard called and "emotional prosperity gospel." This is just not true- our Lord does not reflect this! Emotions that are seen as more negative like grief and shame are certainly uncomfortable, but if they are left ignored, we leave ourselves and those around us in a destructive place. I'm definitely still figuring out emotions and find them super interesting, but there's some of what I've been thinking through recently!

Lastly,

PLEASE COME TO SPRING SHOWCASE! It benefits students who will go to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry this summer in Seattle to learn how to effectively make disciples on the college campus!

It's going to be an AWESOME show with music, dancing, and improv! Plus you can buy art made by some of our staff and students- prints, ceramics, jewelry and more.