30 days ago, I was challenged to give up something that took a lot of my time. Not just to see if i could do it, but to spend time in God’s word. We were at the Leadership Rocks conference with the middle school leaders, and we were all in this together. I’m amazed at these guys, they gave up their cell phones, the TV, AND the computer! But my downfall is facebook. I can spend HOURS on facebook doing absolutely nothing, it ridiculous. So i did it. I haven’t been on facebook in 30 days, 10 days left. The time flew by so quickly. Since then, i’ve been going to bed at 10:30. No big deal, except i used to stay on facebook til 1 in the morning! I’ve also been spending more time in God’s word. But i couldn’t help but wonder if i actually got anything out of this, or if it was just a wasted effort. I started to believe that God hadn’t told me anything, and that I hadn’t gotten any closer to him. But that had to be satan talking to me, because God has said so much. He told me that He wants me to talk to Him all the time, not just during quiet time and before a test. He showed me that our High School leadership is stronger than i thought and has amazing potential. He has, in so many ways, confirmed my calling. And He is continually answering even my smallest prayer. He has reminded me that He is a BIG God, and that He doesn’t need me, I need Him. He’s shown me, that when i stray away, even in the smallest bit, He doesn’t decrease, He doesn’t go anywhere, He just calls me back to Him. He has, once more, opened my eyes to the destruction of this world. And the wickedness I’ve seen in all humanity binds me to His throne, all the while pushing me to show His love. I have, again, come to realize that God’s nature is love. And He doesn’t get angry with me when i am wrong, He forgives me, and prompts me to do better. My heart has been broken because I am completely loved by a Holy God, but I am so full of Earth. And I am compelled to run so far from lukewarm, because if I don’t, I might just thrown up myself. I’ve experienced how Peter felt when He denied Christ, then how He felt when God used him to advance His kingdom, even after he did it. And more importantly, He’s shown me that I have grown so much in the past couple of years. In fact, me and a friend were talking about “Jesus Highs” and how thats always what we strive for. On trips, we want the euphoria of “GOD IS AWESOME AND I’M GONNA GO TELL THE WHOLE WORLD ABOUT JESUS, WHOO HOO!” But we know that that “feeling” is temporary. And the times we don’t have it, which is most of the time, we mistake for not being able to “feel God” which drives us to search for sin, maybe where there is none, and to create experiences with God instead of letting the Holy Spirit work. And at times when we just can’t get that “feeling” we begin to doubt everything. But i have come to realize that my relationship with God has gone past the “Jesus high” That could have possibly been infatuation. but this is pure Love. I am in love with Jesus, and the crazy thing is that He loves me back. And its bringing me to tears, and i’m so awestruck, and i can’t wrap my mind around the very glory of the Creator, whose has His hands on my life. And when I fail Him, and when i neglect Him, when I stray, when i sin, when i’m broken, when i’m happy, or when i just don’t think i can do it, He whispers to me “I have always loved You, I always will. I’ll walk right with You as you do My Will. There is no need to be afraid, because everything that you owed has already been paid” Amazingly, thats probably not even the half of what He’s said and what’s He’s done. And thankfully, there are 10 days left. And ironically, I don’t know if I want facebook back.
—-Anteneshia Sanders, Youth President

I have not wrote for a while. Not that I have not had anything to say, just that I believe people get tired of hearing me. Well this week I had to write. This week started like every other week…. I have been trying very hard to be more organized, Franklin Covey Method, To Do List, Organizational planning charts, basically trying to cram two weeks work into one. It has been working pretty well for the most part. Well Tuesday my plan got split open. A mom and daughter were in a bad wreck, Spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Vandy… (Side note, they are both getting better…Praise God!)

Ok, this weekend was hardcore and amazing. The sessions were like awesome - God was there and Matt Papa was great! His last name means potatoe! random, I know… But God really spoke to me and there was this song based on Isaiah 6, and it’s saying like God is on His throne and the angels are praising and God says “Who will I send? Who will go for us?” And the song says “Here I am, Lord, send me!” And I really felt like it was my calling. Like, I was bawling and weeping - totally broken and then our speaker hit us with Psalms 119:16b and it says I will not neglect your wrod - so he said we were gonna fast from something that us time consuming - immediately - I was like PHONE! And when I thought that - I felt chills and I knew that was what had to happen and whats gonna happend instead of filling time with something usless, were gonns study the word. So that His word wont be neglected - I was like WOW! I was unsure at first about if I could survive - but hey, Jesus did it for us, so why can’t I give up something worthless to Him so I can read and meditate on the word I’m supposed to be in. WOW - God’s power never ceases to amaze me. I’ve learned so much about being a leader and I am blown away. I hope you can experience something great like this. I’m so ready for this 40 days. I’m ready to learn about the God of the word and the word of God. Love, Sara Brth, Middle School President

I didn’t know what to expect from this except to be with middle school leaders. But this weekend was more than amazing. There were so many confirmations of my calling for example: this entire week I have been reflecting on Ephesians 4:1 that says “Therefore, I beg you to live a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” And in one of the sessions it popped into my head right before the spekaer said it! Worship was amazing and there is no way the presence of God was not there. The middle school leaders are amazing and through them God has spoken to me. I can’t thank God enough for this weekend.

Leadership Rocks was amazing! I did not expect this weekend to have SO much IMPACT! The first night I was so pumped because I knew who the worship leader was and he was GREAT! The first song we sang got everyone pumped. Then after worship the pastor spoke and was directing the message toward the lost people. But at the end when he called the people who wanted to know Christ, God told me alot about worship and different stuff to do different. When I lead worship… to just WORSHIP!! :) When we went to the hotel, Sara Beth and I had a real good talk. Everything we tried to explain about God was indescribable. That’s how everything about God is. This morning (Saturday) when we all went to the next session, I wanted to make sure God was reakky talking to me about worship. SO I ask Him to tell me something to make sure He was. A little later He put the Chris Tomlin song (Made to Worship) on my mind. It was awesome! This weekend God showed me that if I just be quiet and listen He will really talk to me and it was just… uh… INDESCRIBABLE!!! Also, what Bill helped me realize, is that when Matt Papa (The Worship leader) worshipped, he didn’t care what people thought or said. There still so much more to say but other people have to blog so the last thing I’m going to say is it was AWESOME!