Beautiful Times

 Owl City's new song "Beautiful Times". I swear Adam Young prays over his songs, because they bless my life every time. I love how he always manages to have a hidden message about or to God.

This life is a journey, filled with pain, joy, disappointment, sadness, excitement, happiness. It's so beautiful. God has been showing me the beauty of pain. The beauty of sacrifice. It's all for Him. He uses it in our lives to teach us, to make us stronger. I've realized how weak I have been, tossing and turning on every wave. It's time to be strong.

When did the sky turn black?
And when will the light come back?

We all suffer
But we recover
Just to discover life where we all are.

I fought all through the night,
Oh oh, but I made it alive.
The sun's startin' to rise
Oh oh, these are beautiful times.

This fight of my life is so hard, so hard, so hard
but I'm gonna survive.
Oh oh, these are beautiful times.

My heart's burning bad,
And it's turning black
But I'm learning how to be stronger,

And, sincerely,I love You dearly
Oh, but I'm clearly destined to wonder.

 We are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith - being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed. 1 Peter 1:5-7, 4:12.

I've had to make sacrifices as I look at my potential future in China. There are things I want that I cannot have if I want to follow God's call. But then I realize that this sacrifice of will and desire is sharing in Christ's sufferings, for Jesus sacrificed His will to the Father because of His incredible love for us, and so that He might suffer and die and then rise again for each and every one of us. Mark 14:36 - "Not my will, but yours be done." I can do no other.

Be strong Christian. Soon we will be with Jesus and it will all be SO worth it.

Smile. :)

Bethany

Tired Talking

Hello all, how are you? :)

We're now in Newton, Iowa at Community Heights Baptist Church. We arrived here last Friday and this is the second day of the summit (the night of, that is - I'm going to bed like as soon as I'm done with this :))

Let's talk about the time that I forgot that I was supposed to play a song last night, so I went all the way to help in kid's clubs, only to be tracked down by team members, urgently telling me that I was on to play right then. Yep. Ran into the sanctuary to hear our main revivalist, Steve, stalling by
talking about "replacing the team's violinist if I don't come back from China", etc. ;D Needless to say, a humbling experience, but kind of fun in the sense that it was a way to break the ice with the congregation. :) Anyway, the song went well, and everything turned out fine. :)

Also, I woke up at 9:48 this morning when my roommate and I had to leave the house at 9:45 to get to church on time. For your information. Let's talk about a good wakeup call. #sleepyheadstatus

I just HAVE to share pictures of these adorable pandas that I saw at the Memphis zoo the other day.  They were literally the best animals there, even though you all know I love animals. :) Red pandas are ranked #1 in my world. And then black and white pandas. And then cats. Or horses. But yeah, like all of them, after the pandas.

Well, this is tired talking now so I should probably go and spare you from any more randomness. Just wanted to keep ya'll caught up a little bit on the past week. :)

By the way, preparation for the China trip is going very well. I finished my partnership letter; I sent it to my mentor for him to check it over, and as soon as I hear back from him, I'll send it out. If you haven't given me your email or snail mail address but you want to get the letter, you can still just drop me a comment on this post or send me a Facebook message. :)

Love you all! God bless! Keep Him in your focus always. :)

Bethany


P.S. For your enjoyment, a picture of beautiful Iowa scenery:

P.S.S. It snowed this morning.

Begin in Me

I felt like writing, and hasn't it been a while since I've posted on here. Like, it been forever and a day. :) I don't quite know what happened - on the road, time just flies by and it's busy and though there's a ton of stuff I could post about, I don't make time for it. Forgive me for keeping you, my friends, in the dark. 

I guess I just wanted to share what God has been bringing me through and showing me through various trials, joys, and everyday living. I should never grow weary in doing good. As I have been in Life Action, yes, I've tried to do everything right. Being on a ministry team, your life is defined by ministry to all those who see you. It's your job, and they know you as Christians who have given up a year to serve the Lord. But I have grown weary. I've bent under the pressure that comes with being a Christ-follower, to be a good example to everyone who is watching me and to give Jesus a good name. I am discouraged when nothing goes right when I'm convinced I'm doing everything right; I expect to be rewarded. How selfish of me to think that in the presence of our holy God. In this past week or so, I realized that this weariness and discouragement comes from a lack of being in the presence of God. I have not sought Him fully and have not labored in prayer. It was I who was the one who had lost the power of God in my life and needed revival, and here I am on a revival team that encourages the people of American churches to be revived in The Lord. The Life Action slogan is "Begin in me". I understand that now.

But, this doesn't end negatively at all. :) For the past several days, God has been calling me out of this spiritual desert into a place of springs. He has made me lie down in green pasture (not suggested - made) and He has restored my soul. The valley of the shadow of  death was long but God knows how much I can and can't handle, and He has brought me forth into a land of abundance. He has restored His power and presence in my life by giving me strength to pray, patience to wait in Him in His throne room, and grace to continue on in studying and memorizing His word. I tell you what guys, you NEED to pray, if you feel in the pits. Take TIME to pray, don't just send up a little snippet prayer. Well yes, God hears all prayers and He answers everything asked in His name, but we cannot just rush into the presence of God. I saw a quote on twitter today that said this, by @david_krstevski: "You don't take time to "spend" with God. You take time to "invest" with God. When you spend you have less. When you invest you gain."  This may or may not be fully accurate, but still - you must invest in God. Our treasure is in heaven. Why do we focus on the petty things of this earth when there is a prize to be won in heaven - Jesus. I'm preaching to myself. Abide in His glory. When you say "Amen" and get up from your knees, don't think, "I'm done praying". Live a prayer-filled lifestyle, and Gods power will rest on you. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2. 

My brain runs at a thousand miles per hour, thus this scatter brained paragraph or two. But I hope you understand and I pray that God would use it to speak to you.

Random fact: the sweetest girl ever from the church we just finished a summit at (Bartlett Baptist in Bartlett, Tennessee) gave me such a sweet gift yesterday. It was a lovely fan her mom brought from China and a Chinese/English bilingual Bible. The Lord used her to be such a blessing.

For your information, I have already raised $230 of my support for the teaching English in China trip, and that is not including those who are waiting for info about how to support me! God is so faithful, how can I doubt Him? I will be sending out a support letter within the next few days, so if you would like to receive one, comment with your email address, or if you're facebook friends with me, just drop me a message with the aforementioned item. :) The letter will contain more details about the trip, how you can support me financially and through prayer, etc. Thank you so much for taking the time to be interested in this new adventure God has brought into my life. 

I pray God finds you all well and that He will flood your life with His grace and peace that comes through His presence.

God bless!

贝萨妮