The CRUX

Hello darlings - Wow... God could not have blessed us with a more beautiful day in Western PA! It's so funny how once the sun comes out (since we soooo rarely see it) we jump up and down and talk about how much we want to get done. Well, today has been one of those days for me - praise the LORD!

Speaking of praising the LORD - I have a huge praise to lift up, and it is for our Student Leadership Team - The CRUX. They are a group of 14 students who are on fire for the LORD and want grow in their leadership ability while serving our community. These students are just inspiring to me! To be a part of The CRUX team, they had to fill out a 9 page application, get 3 references, and go through a face-to-face interview with JD, Chance, and myself. And after all that... they are now working hard to become the best God honoring leaders they can be. I was laughing at myself the other day as I thought about how much this team is like a baby to me! I want to nuture them and help them grow in any and every way possible.

Anywho, last Thursday we went to Shirley Teck's house (a woman from our congregation) and we helped to clean up her yard and mulch around her house. Shirley is an awesome woman and we were just as blessed by her pepperoni puffs (which she so generously served us after we were done working), as she was blessed by the students' hard work! You can see (to the left, above and below) are just a few pictures of the students working hard to make Shirley's house look beautiful!

Here are two of the girl's (Jenna and Molly) trying to spread out the mulch perfectly. The funny thing about that mulch was how it left both of your hands a nice stained-red color!

After we finished mulching, weeding, etc. we headed inside and did a short leadership training will the team, where we talked about an idea called "The Hollywood Effect". In short, The Hollywood Effect says that it is a lot easier act your way into a feeling, than feel your way into an action. For example, there might be someone in thier life that they don't respect and are even annoyed by... but if they act (with the right heart-attitude behind that action) as if they like that person for long enough, they will eventually start to feel that way. Often times when we follow our emotions, we are drawn off course by satan because he works his way into our emotions. Anyhow, I must get going... but here is one last picture of the whole crew at Shirley's house:

Love You!

~Susan Elaine

THANK YOU!

Hey Ladies! I only have about 10 minutes until the kids get here... but I just wanted to send out a quick thank you for all the prayers you have been sending up for JD and me! We have been so blessed by the LORD and I can seriously feel his voice calling me - something I have been begging him for, for the last 8 or 9 months! God is good baby! whoot whoot :)

Hurry Up and Wait!

Hey ladies! I am so glad to have a few moments with you this morning :) Most often I am rushing from here to there and just can't sit down and put my thoughts down... but today is different. Make no mistake, I still have an entire day planned out, but I was able to steal a few moments to ask for prayers. I titled this post "Hurry Up and Wait!" because that is truly what God has been calling me to do - wait. How boring! haha But I know that I am waiting on the Lord for something great. My prayer for you today (and I hope yours for me) is that God will end any periods of waiting that we might be going through. You know, often I will pray to see God's will in my waiting period - but I truly think I have seen it and now I am just eager for the next step He chooses. Anyhow ladies, I have to go fight for the bathroom, but I love you and have you on my heart always!

-Suz

Forever & A LIfetime!

Wow ladies - it has simply been forever since I have been able to get on here and share my thoughts with you... and I have missed you so very much!

Well, jumping right into what has been going on in life - - JD and I have just reached the information age. Let me explain: My whole family is on a phone plan together and my oldest brother manages our plan for us. Well, he had been doing some calculating and figured out how we could get a better deal for our money. Needless to say, I now have unlimited internet access on my phone! I know for most people this is not very exciting, and you are probably muttering "what a drok" under your breath. Well, you'd be right - that I am! Never the less, I am completely amazed at what I can do from basically anywhere in the U.S. and I keep finding new stuff every few hours... it's like a new adventure for me :) With that said, it is my hope to learn how to access my blog from my phone so that I can update you ladies more often. There are probably 20 to 30 times a day that I feel God put something on my heart, but carting those thoughts home and typing them out on a screen just isn't conducive to my busy lifestyle. Therefore, with this new found informatiom... I am hoping to be able to connect with you more.

And since I have such a crazy lifestyle, I want to share with you some thoughts that I was having on Saturday... (I told you it was hard for me to get to the computer!)

Saturday, being the day after Good Friday and the day before Easter Sunday, was such an amazing day of in-betweens for me. In fact, I was just telling JD this morning how much of an impact this Easter has had on my life. I think that this past week has been the most meaningful Holy Week that I have ever experienced... God did a major work in my heart... a work of explanation. You see, there are so many things going on in my life that I just don't undrstand and where it is so difficult to see God's hand at work. But starring at the cross this past Saturday... He really just showed me that I am in-between two very special times in my life. I am not sure exactly what He has planned for me, but I know it's gonna be good!

Are you at that time in your life beloved? Are you in a time of in-betweens? Well, if you are I want to encourage you to take heart and know that Jesus Himself has already overcome the world (John 16:33) and cannot wait to show you what lies at the end of this season of your life!

I love you dear ones, and my prayer for you today is that you will find hope in our Savior who indeed also had a time of in-betweens.


All my love,
Suz

Precious Trials

Hello darlings!

Well, the Winter Retreat is over ~ I am oddly enough flooded with joy and tears at the same time. I can't help but think how wonderful our God is... and how we were all able to experience Him in such a real way over the weekend. Something else that just tickled me... we ended up having 99 students at camp (since some had to cancel at the last minute).... and when I heard that we had 99 going to camp, the Lord threw Matthew 18:12-14 into my mind:

12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

How awesome is that? I just love how we can tie that to the youth group - and to our lives for that matter! So though we had an awesome Retreat and I would do it all over again in a second... I cannot wait for this Sunday to roll around and to minister to that 1 student who couldn't come on the retreat! Praise God for what He is going to do in the coming days! :)

Here are some Retreat pics:

(Sara & Liam)

(Josiah - always a ladies man)

(Our whole group - what an awesome site!)

(Cleaning the 9 inches of snow off our cars!)

(Joey during Praise and Worship)

In the meantime, I would like to share how our Beth Moore Bible Study is going. We have our first table of high school girls... and we are just loving the study of Esther! The main point of our Monday night lesson was that we become the women that God created us to be not inspite of the trials we go through... but because of them. It is taking everything I have inside of me not to put an exclamation mark at the end of every single sentence in this blog!! I titled this blog "Precious Trials" because though our trials may not be fun or enjoyable... they are indeed precious - they help mold us into the Christ-Centered Women that we desire to be!

I love you ladies!

-Susan Elaine

Retreatin' With Some New Tunes

Hello My Darlings!!!!

First off, I would like to point out the new tunes that I added to the blog- Some of my favorite songs in the world! I particularly love the first song... I just think it grasps how a woman (or young lady) should feel about her presence in God's kingdom.

Secondly, I would like to ask for prayers for this weekend... In T-minus 2 hours we will be leaving for our 180 Winter Retreat. The weather is extremely cold, and J.D. is up at the camp setting up even as we speak. We have been praying like crazy for the Lord to show up in all His majesty, and if you could pray that with us this weekend it would mean so much to us! Truly, we want this camp to be a time where everyone involved can refocus themselves and get back to the basics with our Lord and Savior. Thank you for your prayers, and I will post some pics of the weekend when we get back!

Serving an Amazing Savior,
Susan Elaine

Bringing in the New Year

Hello Ladies! Wow has the Lord been working like crazy already in 2009!

First off, I would like to start by saying that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that Christ's Birth is shining on you more than ever before! Secondly, I would like to ask for quick prayer requests - My mom just went through a PET scan on New Years Eve to scan for cancer through the rest of her body... we haven't received the test results yet but we are actively praying for God's guidance and clear result. If you could also keep lifting my mom up as she has been pretty sick for over a year now and is so badly wanting to be better again.

Now... onto the good stuff...

Our first 180 of 2009 was amazing! Our students cam out and worshipped Him with all their energy - it was incredible to watch God moving through that sanctuary! It truly was a place of worship! :) We heard a message about living in the NOW and not missing the moments that God has given us to relish in 2009. JD and I am extremely excited about what God is going to do in 2009!

We were sitting up last night and doing our Bible study... and I wanted to share with you a little bit from what we gleaned:

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:23-26

The first part of this verse is the verse that you will see at the very top of this blog, and the reason I love it so much my dears is because of how true it is. Sadly, we often think that we have to wait until January 1st, until the "New Year", to have a "new start"... but the truth is darlings that our LORD gives us a fresh start each and every morning - I love the Casting Crowns song as it states that He has removed our sins "as far as the east is from the west.... from one scarred hand to the other." What power there is in those words!!!

My prayer is that we will use this day as it is the only one that matters... and that in it we will know that the Lord is looking on us with fresh eyes, through the fresh blood of Jesus Christ!

I love you girls - get in the word. study hard. be blessed.

With Everything I Am,
Susan Elaine