Never More Than We Can Handle

Because I want to be an elementary school teacher, I was a little scared when God called me to work with junior high and high school students this summer. Don't get me wrong, I was beyond excited to be working up at Ponderosa at Mount Hermon, but I didn't know how God was going to use me this summer of if I'd even be able to connect with students. Last week was our first week with campers and I had eight girls in my cabin. They were all sophomores in high school. GOD. DID. AMAZING. THINGS. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all pretty cool and there was a heavy mist most of the day. Pool games on Monday and field games in the water on Tuesday were pretty cold but we still had a ton of fun! Wednesday we went to the beach and it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day. We took all the campers to the beach for the afternoon and we couldn't have had better weather! Thursday and Friday the weather was really warm. On our last night together as a cabin, at midnight we went up onto the field and went stargazing. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed just laying on the grass looking up at the stars:) One thing I love about being in the mountains is that we can see the stars and vastness of the sky. It reminds me of how powerful and amazing our Creator is.
This last week God taught me a lot. He reminded me of how he NEVER gives us more than we can handle. Each day I had to rely on the Lord's strength for every little thing. I knew that as I led small groups and did activities with my cabin, I need the strength and energy that only comes from God. Each morning I could not get up after only a few hours of sleep on a roll-away bed without knowing that God would provide all I needed. Throughout the week I heard and witnessed so many amazing conversations and students who moved one step closer to Jesus. I was amazed at the power of Christ in the lives of all the students here. Even though some days and moments were hard, God was at work. He was moving in all of our hearts. Not only is God working in the lives of students this summer, but he is working in the lives of our staff. It has been so cool to be encouraged and loved by and to encourage and love others on a phenomenal staff. This summer, I have seen the power of the body of Christ. I am so thankful for the people God has placed in my life this summer.

Learning to trust the Lord more everyday,
Amanda

One Step Closer to Jesus

Last Thursday, dad and I left at midnight to drive up to Santa Cruz for me to work at Mount Hermon Christian Camps this summer as a junior high and high school counselor at Ponderosa Lodge. Dad and I drove all night, stopped and slept in a random hotel for a few hours, and then continued driving. When we pulled into Mount Hermon, it was so beautiful and I couldn't believe that I actually get to spend my entire summer here!! For the last 8 days of training, we have been doing ropes course, skate park, paint ball, and lazer tag training as well as going through our daily bible studies for the summer and learning about how to work with students and what our ministry will look like this summer. It has been so much fun getting to know a phenomenal staff of 50 people! We've laughed a lot, done some crazy things, and prayed together a ton! Almost everyday since I have gotten here, I have been moved to tears at how amazing this place is. Yes, it is beautiful, but on one of the first nights we were here, we got together with the rest of the summer staff from the other camps at Mount Hermon and took communion together and had a time of worship. A few days ago we had the opportunity to meet the board of directors for Mount Hermon and pray with them. Such a moving experience! Each Sunday, the entire summer staff meets at one camp site and worships together and then prays with members from other staffs. It is so cool to see so many eager people excited to serve the Lord and meet the campers that are coming just a few hours later. Not only have we been be learning about how to help students move one step closer to Jesus, we have been able to and been challenged to move one step closer to Jesus. I really appreciate how important our personal relationship with God is so valued here at Mount Hermon and is a crucial part of our ministry. Each morning we have 30 minutes of alone time to spend in the Word after we start our training off with worship. Side note: the band for the summer is AWESOME!!!! Each night, we listen to one of our leaders give a talk about this summer and what it will look like and are challenged to talk to God and given time to sit alone and listen to Him and then end the night in worship.
Students arrive on Sunday afternoon! We have 195 high school campers coming to Ponderosa Lodge for our first week of camp!! Our summer theme this year is UPSIDE DOWN, Live Like You Belong To a Different World. We have decorated the entire camp with bright colors and fun decorations to make the Upside Down world come to life. It is kind of an Alice in Wonderland look. Last night, we all dressed up in crazy clothes and went to downtown Santa Cruz and had a scavenger hunt looking for our leadership staff who were dressed as people on the street. As we were running around, people would stare, laugh, and ask what the heck we were doing. We would tell them wer are camp counselors and they would just nod their head and laugh. This definitely helped show me what it's like to live the Upside Down life and that as followers of Christ, we do not belong to this world and we live our lives like we belong to another world, the Kingdom of Heaven. As we teach students how to live the Upside Down life, our goal is to help students move one step closer to Jesus. This one step looks different for everyone. This week you can be praying for our students to receive what the Lord has in store for them, for the staff to have energy as they serve the campers, and for all of us to learn more and more what it means to live the Upside Down life!

Learning what it means to live the Upside Down life,
Amanda

Relying on His Strength Alone

Eleven days ago, I ran my first half marathon. It was the most exciting I've ever done!! My goal was to finish in under three hours and run the entire way without stopping. I crossed the finish line at 2:21 and ran the entire way! Over the course of the last four months, I trained, I got hurt, I was frustrated, I failed, and I relied on the strength of the Lord more than I ever had before. A year and half ago I ran a 5K and it was fun but really hard. When I started getting into running I told myself that I want to run a half marathon before I graduated from Biola. It seemed like a pretty lofty goal and I secretly thought I'd never reach it. In January, I decided that I was going to register for OC Half Marathon. After I registered, I sat on the couch and thought "This is the stupidest thing I have ever done. What was I thinking? You've never run more than three and half miles at a time before and your measly little one mile run was brutal this morning." Needless to say, I never thought I could do it. I did not run much last semester so starting up running again this year was difficult. On January 2 I couldn't even run a mile without dying. I found a 16 week training plan and it helped me gradually increase my milage.
Throughout the course of my training, God so graciously surrounded me with amazing people to encourage and help me. For this first race, I did not do it with anyone or train with a friend. At first I thought this would be hard because I did not have anyone to drag me to the track early in the morning or motivate me on long runs but I found this time to be a perfect time to talk to God. I also learned that I prefer to run without music so I can focus on my breathing and praying. Before I started my training, I talked a lot with my friend Jeremy who runs like a crazy man, my high school calculus teacher who ran her first half in February, my best friend who used to run cross country, and her sister who is also a seasoned runner. These people were so encouraging and I am so thankful for their help and insight. When I started my observations, an aide who works with a special needs student in the class told me that she was running the LA Marathon and it was great to get advice from her too! Training was hard and the first week when I had to run 6 miles I thought I was literally going to die. Before each run, especially the long runs, I prayed and asked God to help because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to do it on my own. Each week as my milage increased, I was amazed that I had made it as far as I did. After each mile I would track how far I ran, how fast I was going, and if I liked the run or didn't or any other things I wanted to remember about the experience. Surprisingly, my shorter runs (2, 3, or 4 miles) were more difficult than my longer runs because I thought I could complete short runs relying on my own strength and each time God reminded me that I couldn't.
After about a month and half of training, I got hurt and had to take a break. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to run the race. After lots of foam rolling, prayer, ice, and rest, I was able to slowly begin running again. On April 3, I ran 12 miles, my longest run during my training. Then after that, from extreme pain in my knees and legs, and being busy with Chrysalis, RA, and a TPA, I had to take another two weeks off from running. With less than a month to go, I was starting to worry if I would be able to finish this thing. 13.1 miles sounded so daunting! And my 12 mile run was killer, how was I going to add another 1.1 miles onto that? I started doing runs on the treadmill and pushing myself but I still thought it would be difficult to finish in under 3 hours if my 12 mile run took me 2:45. But with God by my side, I was able to finish almost 40 minutes fast than I thought I could!
Because I did most of my training without music, I didn't want to bring music with me on race day. I am so glad that Ari had me make a playlist just in case because I turned it on about mile 3 and listened to it the rest of the race! Right after I had reached mile 3, I was so overwhelmed by God's grace and faithfulness and goodness and sovereignty and blessings that I started crying and was in awe of where he has brought me this semester. I couldn't believe that I was actually there running a HALF MARATHON!
The journey of training and running was long and hard but so great at the same time! The Lord taught me that I must rely on his strength always and in all circumstances. I found that my days were so much better when I started it with a run. I loved the feeling of wind in my face and breathing deep and hard as I ran. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have run this race and glad that God has blessed me with a body that can run and bring glory to him!
On October 13, I will be running the Long Beach Half Marathon and I'm excited that I'm running with friends this time!

SOOOO thankful for my family who had a busy weekend and had to get up super early to come and support me. It meant so much to me:)

Even though she is busy with school and doesn't like getting up early, I so glad that Emily got to come and be there when I finished! Hopefully we can run one together someday:)

My best friend and my inspiration to start running, Ari, motivated me to push myself and made me meals after my long runs at the beach and encouraged me every step of the way! Excited to run October with her!!

Maker of the Universe

With it being the middle of the semester, Missions Conference last week at school, Chrysalis training, floor events, and observations at the elementary school, there is so much going on. It is so easy at this time of the semester to fall out of our disciplined routine of doing homework, going to bed early, running, and staying up to date on friends’ lives. Usually my time with and awareness of God fall by the wayside and I start to feel like I’m drowning..mostly because I’m trying to do it all on my own, not relying on the Lord.

Yesterday in my Methods of Teaching Science class, our professor had us watch a video on YouTube of Louis Giglio. I had never heard of him or seen anything of his online before but I was amazed when I watched this video in class. It is kind of long but I highly recommend watching it! It gave me chills. The wales, the waves, the wind, all declaring his beauty! WOW. How can that not make you stop and marvel at the greatness of our God?!  This got me thinking about how great our God really is. Like really. It is so hard to fathom that the God who made the universe…like THE UNIVERSE, and everything in it, loves me. Not only does he love me, but he is working all things together in my life. He is bringing glory to himself through the work he is doing in my life and he is working his plans out for my life each day. I have been reading through the Gospels for the last few months and it has really brought to a place of being reminded of who God is. Who he is and what he has done. It has been so great to be reminded of these things. Each day as I read stories of the work of Jesus, I am in awe of his power. His greatness. His compassion.

Last week during Missions Conference I was also thinking, God is SO creative!!! Everywhere we look there is so much beauty. With yesterday being the first day of spring, flowers are blooming and the weather is lovely! Oh how I love feeling the warmth of sun on my skin and seeing flowers and sun dresses everywhere! But when God created everything, think about how much fun he had!!! Creating so many different kinds of flowers and weather, and people! Just think of all the different kinds of people he created! WOW. And he loves them all. Every nation, every tongue, every tribe. This alone is amazing to me. When I sit in my elementary classroom and look at the students, I think about how different each one of them looks, and that’s just the outside! On the inside they each have a different heart, different abilities, and different stories. Our God is so great!

When I was thinking about how great God is and reflecting on the video we watched in class, I couldn’t help but think of this Psalm:

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings^[b]
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

                        Psalm 8:1-9

Amazed by my Creator,

Amanda

The Orange Cone

It really is the little things in life that make our day. One of my teachers this semester said we should “redeem the little moments” in life. So often people look for or want to dwell on the moments that “take your breath away.” Is God only present in those moments? No! He is working in, revealing his love for us, and bringing glory to himself in every moment!

For my education classes this semester, I have to spend 40 hours in a classroom observing this semester. We got out field placements a little late and it took while to get into the classroom. I prayed and prayed about where God was going to place me. I was worried about having to spend so much time in a classroom with a teacher that was difficult to work with or a school that was uncooperative. When I got my placement, I was at the same school I was last semester, which doesn’t normally happen. Lake Marie Elementary is a quaint little school in Whittier with one class per grade level. Last semester I had the chance to meet a few teachers during elections and I was a little worried about who I might be placed with. For my Elementary Reading class, they try to put us in kinder or first grade classrooms and I had been placed in a third grade classroom. I was a little bummed but I really feel like God has been softening my heart towards older students. When I let the idea of third grade settle in, I was excited to learn something new working with an age I didn’t have much experience with. When I got to the classroom, the teacher made me feel very welcome and after being there for just three weeks, I feel very welcome and comfortable. It has been such a blessing to spend time in Miss Fuller’s classroom and I have fallen in love with the students. They are so sweet! Last week I got to teach my first lesson to the whole class and the students were so kind and cooperative:)

When I get to the school, I park on the side street right next to the school. Usually when I am walking in, I run in to the custodian and always say good morning. He is so sweet and earlier this week he asked why I park on the street. I told him I wasn’t sure if I could park in the parking lot and it’s no big deal. He said I should park in the lot because I work there (kinda)! The next day I tried to park in the parking lot and there were no open spots. I see him everyday I go, and he asked if I got a spot and I said they were all full. He asked when I was coming next and that he would put a cone in a spot for me. This morning I was running late (since three people needed to shower at the same time:::the joys of dorm life). When I pulled up to the school and saw an orange cone sitting in a parking spot, it made my day! Jose had saved me a spot! This custodian who doesn’t even know my name remembered I was coming on Thursday. I saw him when I was leaving and he said I’m glad you got your spot! I didn’t mind parking in the street whatsoever and he really wanted to make sure I could park in the parking lot. As I drove away today, I was reminded of the way God shows his love to us and provides for us. I was so touched that someone went out of his way to make me feel accepted at a school. Lake Marie Elementary has been so wonderful and I am so thankful that God has placed me where he has. It’s been really cool to share my faith with the people he has put in my path there! Why do I get so worried about what my future holds? God’s got it! He cares about the little things. I’m so thankful for the beautiful weather today and the way God reminded me of his love today.

Blessed by the little things,

Amanda