God at work

God has been doing some amazing things in my life the past few months!! In July, I began volunteering at an inner-city church in Indianapolis. I helped out with two weeks of W@Ki Week, which is a VBS for the neighborhood kids to come and learn about Jesus and have an awesome time doing it! It was a very tiring two weeks running around with a bunch of kids in the middle of summer with no air conditioning, but it was so amazing to have the opportunity to talk to these kids about Jesus. It was so neat to see God working on their hearts. They were all so adorable and loving (most of the time)! I wasn't planning on helping out both weeks, but I ended up falling in love with the kids and I just had to go back! God was also working on my heart during those weeks--helping me to be patient and show the kids His love for them, which many of the them don't receive at home. It was nearing the end of the second week, when Paul asked me if I would be interested in being a camp counselor for treehouse camp at Allendale the following week with some of the high schoolers. I was a little hesitant at first since I only had a couple more weeks at home before moving back out to Colorado, but I agreed and I am SO glad I did!! God worked in HUGE ways during that week not only in the lives of the campers, but also in my life!! I am an elementary ed major and I had never dreamed of working with high schoolers--they are much older and more intimidating!!  He stretched me so much during that week, and it caused me to grow in my walk with Him. During that week at camp, I realized that I would rather teach in an elementary school, but I think I can connect better and minister more effectively to high schoolers. I wish I could write everything I experienced that week, but I will save that for another day. One of the highlights of that week for me was that I had the opportunity to baptize three of the high schoolers! It was definitely one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life! I felt so unworthy because of all the things I did and the times I failed in my past, but I know that God has renewed and restored me and I am a new creation in Him. The fact that MY testimony and what God has done in MY life impacted these teens in such a way that they wanted to turn away from their old ways and start living a new life, was absolutely a blessing to me. After that week at camp, I had one more week at home and I stayed connected with some of the girls who had gone to camp (took them out for ice cream, gave them rides to Hang Time and church). I was so amazed that God would use ME to reach out to these girls, that I had almost nothing in common with. I have been blessed with a family who loves me and is always there for me, and many of these kids don't even know their father. I have always had more than I need in life, and many of them have close to nothing. But because I was faithful and willing to do what I feel like the Lord has called me to do, he has blessed me abundantly.

At the beginning of summer I had been praying for leadership opportunities to help prepare me to be a captain on the volleyball team this year. The Lord definitely blessed me with many leadership opportunities but not in the form I had expected!! When these opportunities came along for spiritual leadership and discipleship, I decided I would rather be a chaplain on the volleyball team this year. It has been great so far! Before I went home for the summer, I met with my old assistant coach, Crystal, and she challenged me to find a passage of scripture and read it as often as possible over the summer and then live it out during my senior volleyball season. I chose Philippians 2, which is about imitating Christ's humility. So, for my first team devotion before the season had really begun I decided I wanted to wash everyone's feet, just as Christ washed His disciples' feet as an act of humility. It was an amazing and emotional experience for everyone. I just wanted to let my teammates and coaches know that I am here to serve them and to love them this year.

I started helping with the Wednesday night youth group in February last year before I went home for the summer. Before I left, the kids all seemed very immature in their faith; but when I came back I could see a HUGE difference in all the kids' lives!! Before, they would never raise their hands during worship and most of them were relatively uninvolved in discussions. But when I came back, they were all really authentic during worship time and they began to contribute more and they were even praying for each other. It was very cool to see how they have grown and matured in their faith!

I also found out about this inner-city tutoring program called Whiz Kids. I just started helping out with that last Monday. Each tutor gets paired up with one student, we work with the same student all year so that hopefully we can build a meaningful relationship with these kids. I am helping out with the Spanish site. Most of the kids know some English, but their parents know only Spanish. A lot of these kids are behind in school and need help getting caught up. We have about an hour of tutoring every week, and then the last half hour there is a Bible lesson. It is a very cool thing to be able to talk about Jesus with these kids who may not otherwise get it at home.

On Tuesday nights, I am in a Beth Moore Bible Study with upper-classmen women, led by Heidi Ross. I have already been blessed by this study, through the weekly videos, the daily devotionals, and the other girls in the study. Heidi has been an awesome leader--she opens up her apartment every week for us and takes time away from her family to lead and disciple us. 

I am also getting ready to start an FCA Bible study this week with a man who is going to lead some of the CCU athletes through this book and prepare us to lead high school athletes through the same study. I am very excited about it, because it is something I definitely missed out on in high school and I think it is so important! If I had been involved in some kind of youth group or Bible study in high school, I probably wouldn't have done a lot of the things that I did in the past. It is so important to me that I pour into high schoolers so that they don't do the same things I did. God calls us to be His disciples and I think this is one way He is calling me to do it.

That is my life in a nutshell these past few months. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Have a blessed day :)

Cassie