Time to get Beautified

*Old beautiful roommate, and the gorgeouse girls I share a bathroom with*

*These two are the girls across the hall...two of my best friends at CBC*

This was on the night of our Christmas banquet at school. It was an absolute blast and I loved every minute of the night! I have more pictures that I will download and show you later. But this is a quick update for ya'll. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

It's so weird to think that I was writing on this a year ago right about this time about Thanksgiving and spending it with friends at home. So much has changed from last year. But changed for the better! It's amazing to see all that the Lord has done in my life this past year but have no fear, I will explain these things more after January 1st. Seems a little bit better to do it then:-) But this Thanksgiving I spent it with my friend Jason and his family here in B.C. They're from Washington, and moved here to lead up a church here in Surrey. So basically, they are still an all American family, WITH a mini wiener dog:-) So I spent this holiday with many things that reminded me of home. It was such a blessing! This next weekend I will be in downtown Vancouver B.C at a Youth Workers Conference, so that should be a blast. I'm really looking forward to it!

Things are going fantastic:-) I love school! Workin hard in classes, doin alot of singing, and keepin busy with lots of stuff. I'll update with some pics and interesting stuff soon.

God Bless all!

Suffering....just for a little while

Biblical Hermeneutics...

In all reality, I'm a nerd. But NOT to the point where I love being about to take a passage from the bible...and disect it...in the library...with TONS of commentaries and concordances surrounding me. Apparently though, times have changed my friends. Last week I spent hours upon hours in the library doing research over 1 Peter. Now, part of the reason I was in there so long was because I didn't get the homework done ahead of time, but I also enjoyed it so much! There was so much amazingly encouraging things that came out of the study.

As I researched Peter and his personality in the text, I learned so much about how God uses people, even after they make just about the WORST choices. Here we have a man that wishes to please Jesus and do everything right. But then at the opportunity of actually taking that step to stand up for Him, he cowards down and basically says he has never even seen him.

The amazing thing that comes from this is the fact that he takes this experience and turns around completely! He goes from being a coward of a man, to one of the most influentual leaders in the book of Acts.

PRAISE GOD FOR FORGIVENESS!

No only was Peter renewed from forgiveness, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promise the disciples. He promised that as he left them and went to prepare a place for them in heaven, he would leave his spirit with them so they would have Him with the at all times. So beautiful!

I'm not sure if this makes sense at all because it's a jumble of thoughts from the intense study I did. I'm just trying to sort all these thoughts out:-)

But I was reminded of this verse in 1 Peter.
"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." 1 Peter 5:10

As I read over this verse many many times, I was taken back by this, "after you have suffered a little while..." Often I think, oh God will heal me if I ask him too, or he will take me out of this hard time right now. But really, just as it says right there in 1 Peter, he just might let me suffer for a bit. But he WILL come and restore me and make me even stronger than I was in the first place. I will leave you with these thoughts:-)
There's a group of people that just came to distract me in the caf. So I shall continue later:-)

Britt

Let me know if you have any thoughts!

Surely We Can Change

Last night as I was sitting in the audience of the David Crowder Concert I was overwelmed with an amazing joy. God has blessed my life in so many ways that I cannot understand.
Why have I been given such an amazing family that has been here for me from the moment I was born. I don't tell them how much I love them enough. Thank you Lord for my family.
Why have I been given such amazing friends that encourage me on a daily basis even when I don't deserve it? I don't tell them thank you enough for the blessing they bring to my life.
Why have I been given the ablity to sing? Someone once told me that you feel the most alive, the most joy, the most fullfilment when you are doing what God has called you to do. That's what I feel when I am worshipping the Lord. Thank you God for this gift. I pray that I will bless others with this for the rest of my life.
Why have I been given countless opportunities to make a little money so that I am able to live well. Why has my family been blessed so that we may live comfortably? Thank you Lord for this blessing from the day I was born. Thank you Dad for instilling these morals and standards for me so that I work hard for my money.

As I go on to thinking about the many different blessings I have in my life, I am reminded of the song Surely We Can Change, by David Crowder. I feel that I have been given these things so that I am able to bless others with it. I am able to bring the joy the Lord has given me, into others' lives. There is so much pain and suffering in this world.

Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change something
Surely we can change something

Where there is pain
Let US bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let US be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring the relief
And surely WE cna change
Surely WE can change something
(David Crowder; Surely We Can Change)

This was the prayer at the end of the concert the band sang. This whole year as they are on tour, they are collecting socks and towels from everyone that attends the concert and bringing them to homeless shelters. They told us a story of how two men from one of the shelters came to pick up the socks one night and broke down and cried at the site of all the gifts. They just couldn't understand why OTHERS wanted to help THEM. That's exactly why we are here! We may not be able to change the whole world. But we can change SOMETHING. There is so much going on in this world and there needs to be more and more joy and peace. I feel like today...I need to change something. I want to bring love like this into the world.

Not sure if this makes sense, just a few scattered thoughts from last night.
Have an amazing Sunday.

Surely, YOU can change SOMETHING in the lives of others that you come in contact with. Bring joy, bring peace, and love into others lives TODAY.

Surely WE can CHANGE something

Britt

David Crowder Concert Pictures: Seattle

AMERICA!!

Once again, I have to CROSS a border to get into my homeland....how crazy! A few weeks ago I was LONGING for the land of the free...home of the brave...;-) So Nikki and I made a girls day trip to the states. I had to run a few errands and clear things up and we wanted to shop. So we get all girlied up...swapped out of our sweats and headed to the border. Little did we know we would be sitting in the line for two hours. But we made a fun trip out of it:-) Here's some pictures of us goofing off and enjoying ourselves while sitting in the car...forever...

Chai Tea and My Latest Thoughts

At about 1:00 this afternoon I had the strongest craving for a Starbucks Taizo Nonfat Chai Tea Latte, my absolute favorite drink in the world! So I ran and got my girly Nikki and we honestly made the fastest Starbucks run IN HISTORY! We had class in 10 minutes...and we made it back just in time! Amazing...I know:-) Anyway, now I am sitting in the library working on absolutely nothing but the blog. It's important to keep you all updated on the craziness here isn't it? Plus, I leave tomorrow afternoon to go home and spend the weekend with the family AND doing lots of homework. I'm not too worried;-)
But as for the latest, I'm just full of joy:-) God....He's amazing. Have I told you this before? I mean often we get so caught up in the busyness of life and the things that need to get done that we forget the see the little blessings in our lives. I've been learning to JUST BE lately. I have so many dreams, and goals, and other things that I want to get done or get started. But God didn't create us and our life to fret all the time. There is so much I am learning about the will of God lately that I HAVE to share a bit.
When it comes to my direction for next year, I'm so worried that I may not go along with God's plan. But after talking with some close friends of mine, I was told that God's plan is like a BIG cirle. We always think and hope to be smack dab in the circle doing EXACTLY what he wants us to do. But the rang is alot larger than we think. Don't get me wrong, he does have plans for us and does have a path he would like for us to take because it's the better way. But what I'm saying is, when it comes to things like choosing a college or a church to intern at, God may not scream from the clouds the ONE church I have to work out. He may have a few places I could go that either way, will be an amazing exoerience. Each one will bring its own lessons and blessings if I am in it for the right reason. And I think right now, I am feeling drawn closer to home for next year. At least an hour away so I can come home as often as I possible can. So basically, I feel that God is going to use me wherever I go and bring people into my life in all areas. Now, He does open and close doors to direct you to one place or a different direction. I'm just saying that there's a lot to learn about the will of God...or just God in general. I'm just sorting through thoughts so let me know of your opinion!
I'm so thankful for the people that God has placed into my life this year. It's such a blessing daily and I look forward to seeing how God uses them in my life. Either way, it'll be amazing!

Blessings:-)