Post Project Life

Well Project has ended.  Us “projecters” have all gone our separate ways and are trying to adjust after a life-changing experience.  I look back on this summer and sometimes it seems like a blur.  At other times I remember such details my brain thinks I’m still there, living with 50 other college students, sharing a room with 3 precious girls, and serving the public greasy fries etc. etc….  It’s weird now, being in the real world.  On project there was such a tight knit community and a great sense of purpose.  Not to say I don’t have that at school, it’s just different.  The Lord taught me priceless lessons about Himself and living life here on earth.  I want to say a special thank you to all who supported my trip and prayed for me!  I wouldn’t have had these great experiences were it not for y’all. 

 

Over all, Project was great!  From work, outreaches, and from just talking with people, we had 1195 spiritual conversations!!  From those conversations, 34 decided to follow Jesus!  I praise the Lord for all His work in Charleston…what He did and what He is still doing! 

 

I hope to post many memories of Charleston here, reflecting on all God has done.  But for now, thank you for going on this journey with me!  May the Lord bless you!  If you have any questions or would like more details about my trip, just let me know!  

the Life

I am just going to jump straight into my life.  Staff has left and has asked some of the students on this Project to step up and take the positions of Project leaders, D-Group leaders, and team leaders.  It has been such a blessing to have been chosen to lead my D-group.  I have learned so much.  But especially I have learned of the importance and necessity of humility and of asking the Holy Spirit to fill me.  I meet with them all individually and have seen the Spirit move in such great ways.  If you all would pray for the Spirit to continue to move and work, that would be wonderful. 

Work at McDonald’s is still going on as well and it has gotten harder, as energy is low and sleep is limited.  The cool thing about this whole thing is that the Lord provides strength and energy supernaturally! 

As the work load from McDonald’s and Project increases it is easy to focus on the future and the time of rest I will have when I get home.  But please pray I continually live in the present rest in the Lord as I serve.  The Lord can do SO much in a manner of seconds and we might miss out on what God has for us if our focus is not on Him. 

God has really cool, crazy, out-of-this-world things planned for us.  May we be responsive to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who holds all things together, knows all things, and loves us unconditionally.  All praise be His.   

remembering

Well, today is Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and my name is Sarah Elizabeth Massey.  It is currently 10:29 pm and I am sitting in my home for this summer.  During the school year I go to college and for this summer I am attending a Summer Project with CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ).  I have three wonderful roommates, a solid job, and am blessed beyond the moon and back. 

Sometimes I just have to take a step back and live in the moment.

Outreach

Folly Beach!

On Saturdays we do something called Outreach.  It is where we go out and talk with other people to see what they think about God and Spiritual things.  So far we have been to Folly Beach twice and have seen God work in Big ways!  What we do at the beach is set up a tent with a sign that says, "What does God mean to you?"  People can come up and write something down and receive a free popsicle.  They also have the opportunity to take a picture survey CRU has created to get a spiritual conversation going.  Many people have walked up to the tent and have had spiritual conversations with the students there.  Only so many students can be at the tent.  The majority spread out on the beach and just approach people, asking if they would like to take a survey (it's technically called Soularium and it's really cool).  Through pictures, people answer questions about their life.  It's a good way to get into a spiritual conversation quick, but not in an awkward way.  Many people have made God Lord of their life and many have started to think more about Jesus and His awesome plan for their life!  Please pray for the people we have talked to and those we will talk with.   God is so good and faithful to bring people to Himself and it is so cool to be a part of what He is doing!!!

Without Walls!

We also do Outreach with an organization called Without Walls.  They are a part of a church in Downtown Charleston.  We split up and go out into different neighborhoods giving out clothing, food, and playing games with the kids.  Please pray for Charleston, there is a lot of crime, broken families, and a lot of needs...but nothing to great for our God!  Please pray for the church who is heading this up, that they would have wisdom from the Lord and that the Lord would provide all that is needed.  Please also pray for us as we do sidewalk Sunday school with the kids, and minister to the elderly. 


This is a brief description of what we do every Saturday, if you have any questions just let me know!

Real Life

Tomorrow will be four weeks!!!!  I'm well into my job at McDonald's now and have started some really solid friendships that I hope will last post project.  I feel like just bulleting some points....I'm not the best writer and I don't have all that much time right now.  So here goes! 

-We have done a lot of training on how to share the truth of Jesus with others and have been blessed with opportunities to share! We have gone to Folly beach 2 times and have connected with a local church in a program called Without Walls.  I hope to give more detail about these tow types of outreaches we do real soon!

-My D-group is AMAZING!  We are talking about the Bible and how to apply what God says in a realistic way.  It's been challenging being real with people, but so very rewarding.  I challenge all who read this to be open and honest about your life with a mentor, discipler, or anyone who you can trust.  Trust me, it's hard...I've done it and hope to continue doing it...but the Lord demands holiness and real talk.

-There has been a lot of fun things we have done too!  Like swing dancing, games night, prayer and praise on the dock, and much much more.

Please pray that as I continue working at McDonald's, going out into the nearby Charleston community, and grow deeper with Jesus, I would find my strength in Christ, pray consistently, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for your prayers and support!  Hopefully I will do some more posts about specific things we are doing here!   

Jesus is Everything

“But from that Garden beginning, God has had a different purpose for us.  His intent, since He bent low and breathed His life into the dust of our lungs, since He kissed us into being, has never been to slyly orchestrate our ruin.  And yet, I have found it: He does have surprising, secret purposes.  I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced.  It’s hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real.  His love letter forever silences any doubts: ‘His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory’ (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB).  He means to rename us –to return us to our true names, our truest selves.  He means to heal our sole holes. From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, His secret purpose –our return to our full glory.  Appalling –that He would!  Us, unworthy.  And yet since we took a bite out of the fruit and tore into our own souls, that drain hole where joy seeps away, God’s has this wild secretive plan. He means to fill us with glory again.  With glory and grace.”  - One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

I read this today unexpectantly at the Young’s house.  Natalie (one of my precious roommates this summer) and I weren’t able to spend the day with our host family, so Chad and Elizabeth Young welcomed us to their house so we could do laundry and chill.  When I was checking out their movies I saw the book One Thousand Gifts on the shelf and read the first chapter.  What truth marks these pages!    

The Lord has been teaching me much of Himself this past week, giving me glimpses of what He loves, what He hates, what is true of me, and what is true of Him.  And I have come to this conclusion: Jesus is the only One who gives me true joy, satisfies my soul, and will never leave me. 

Since my last post, we have done much in Charleston.  We went out on Folly beach and gave out free popsicles, talking with others about God.  We shared with them about CRU and what the Lord has done in our lives.  As a group we have also worked with Without Walls.  This ministry builds relationships in the community by giving out groceries and food.  My group went out to a part of downtown and played with some precious kids –they were so much fun! 

On Sunday’s I go to a church called the “Dream Center.”  I am helping out with the kindergarteners.  They are so precious!!!  This church is awesome and helps the community out in BIG ways!

Work for me started this past Tuesday.  It has been hard, exciting, fun, tiring, but most of all it has been such a great learning experience already.  The Lord has granted me opportunities for talking to my coworkers and I have started making friends!  Please pray healthy relationships form at work so that others will come to know the Lord!!!

Another thing we do at Project is Discipleship.  Through group time and one on one time the Lord has shown me what it looks like to walk in the light, be held accountable, and what community looks like. 

Praise be to the Lord who has brought me here.  Please continue to pray and I work at McDonald’s and share the love of Jesus. 

It's a McDonald's life!!!

Today was our day of orientation for working at McDonald's. It was great! Learned a lot and start work tomorrow at 8 am!!! So surreal!

Blessed.

I want to start off by thanking you all who supported me financially and who are bathing this trip in prayer.  I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for y'all being faithful to the Lord.  God is SO faithful!  I am $213 over the amount I needed to go on this trip.  The extra money will go to someone else on the trip who is struggling financially.  Praise the Lord!!! 

Throughout this summer we will be doing and going and sharing (we have already started this!), so I desperately need your prayers.  Three major things I am involved with this summer is McDonalds, the Outreach team, and D-groups.

McDonald's hasn't happened yet because I have orientation Monday.  I am supper excited to work here and share the love of Christ with my co-workers and customers.  Please pray I have a teachable heart and am filled with the Spirit every single day. 

The Outreach team is AWESOME!  The sixty of us college students who are on this project each have a team and these teams coordinate and plan different events.  For example we have a Development team who plans CRU meetings, a Community team who plans community time, and there are many others.  I was placed on the Outreach team and this team plans outreaches in the community of Charleston.  Knowing Jesus is the most important thing on earth and we all want to share His love with others and so each week the sixty of us go out and share with others this treasure we have.  Of course we don't limit when we share the love of Jesus, this is just a time to build relationships with the community and talk with others.  I love the way CRU teaches us to communicate with others what Christ has done in our lives.  CRU has provided great tools such as Soularium (a picture survey about life, God, and spiritual things) and some booklets that work through the Gospel.  They want to make conversations as natural as possible and encourage us to share our own stories with the people we meet.  Please pray for people on our team to be filled with the Spirit and for those we meet to be open with sharing. 

D-groups is another way CRU has created a safe place for us to be open and vulnerable with some really great people.  My discipler's name is Cristin and she is awesome and so filled with the Spirit.  There are also some really great girls in my group as well.  Pray we will hold each other accountable, live in the Spirit, and love each other in a Christ-like way. 

Over all it is truly a blessing being here.  To be able to have a summer where I have 10 weeks to focus on Jesus and learn what it means to grow in Him is CRAZY awesome!   

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this warm summer!  Here is a verse that the Lord showed me this morning. 

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.  Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare Him fearlessly as I should." -Eph. 6:18-20

Grace and Peace to you all,
Sarah Massey

The Adventure Begins...

I leave for Charleston on Tuesday!!!!!  It’s so close!  So many things are running through my head…am I ready? Do I have everything I need? What is it going to be like?  And then I think of the verse about not worrying, asking God to help you, and then He will grant peace (Philippians 4:6-7).  How great is our God who will give us peace? What, What!!!

Throughout the summer I hope to update you through this blog and share what God has been doing in my life.  For now, I know I will be working at McDonald’s during the day and at other times we will be having Bible studies, CRU meetings, and outreach events, and working with the local church on the weekends.      

I desperately need and covet your prayers as I depart and start this adventure!  There is a subtropical storm on its way…its name is Beryl if anyone was wondering.  Please pray for the 50 plus college students to make their way safely to Charleston.  And if you would also pray for us all to have the right perspective going into Project –that we would live to honor Christ in all we do, say, and think – putting Jesus first, others second, and ourselves last.  And lastly if you would pray for me, that I would have the mind of Christ, serve others with a loving heart, and focus all my attention on Jesus. 

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26

7 Things I've Learned

I am done with my first year of college and I can’t believe it!  Over the past school year I have learned and grown so much it’s crazy!  Here are just 7 things that I have learned… if I had known these things going in, I wonder what a difference it would make…. 

1.      If you have an issue with someone, don’t discuss it behind their back.  Be an adult and have a conversation with them about the issue.

2.      Pray with expectancy.  God is HUGE, GIGANTIC, and UNMEASURABLE; who are we to limit Him? James 1:5-6 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

3.      Boys are my friends.  Yes, at times they are a little confusing and sometimes I think they are aliens; but nevertheless, the Lord has blessed me with some pretty great guy friends.  They have all taught me different lessons.  Through them I have learned a lot about boys, theological insight, and most of all SPORTS.  I think I have learned more about sports at my time at CSU than any of my other years combined!  But I think most of all, what had blessed my heart the most is the way they make everything light-hearted and fun.  I have seen through them that everyday is a miracle, anything can happen, therefore make every moment count.    

4.      Growing up is weird.  Yes, weird.  I can’t describe it very well, but it’s weird.    

5.      Jesus is everything.  Period.  It’s not about attending church, or how many good things I have done or said.  Rather life is all about Jesus, the One who died so I wouldn’t have to.  He took all the punishment I deserved on Himself; He died, was buried, and then was raised to life.  Now I find life in Jesus, freedom in Jesus; I have become a new creation.  My eternal destination is not determined by what I do, rather by what Christ has done for me.  And He has made me blameless!      

6.       You can never have too many quarters!!  The laundry machines here at CSU require quarters and so I have to go to great lengths to possess quarters to have clean clothes.  It’s always nice coming home to free laundry.  :) 

7.      Talk to people!  Don’t be afraid to walk up to someone and say, “Hey! My name is Sarah, what’s yours?”

What Christ has done!

 ^9-12Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
 ^13-14God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. Col. 1:12-14

Praise be to the LORD who loves us even in our sin.  He has made us alive! He has refreshed us! He has brought us into His Kingdom!  He will keep us!!! We are new creations in Christ! 

OVERWHELMED

hey there!
If you are anything like me, right about now you should be going crazy with finals and finishing up the things of college life --READY TO BE DONE WITH IT ALL.  But the Lord has been teaching me much over the past week and has revealed my need of Him.  In Luke 10:41-42 it says, "'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" 

Jesus + Nothing = EVERYTHING

We only need Jesus, but I forget this everyday...I have tried to fill my life with school, friends, organization, and food and have be left feeling worn out and overwhelmed.  Acts 3:19 says, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord..."  When we come to Him, confess and repent of sins, He is faithful to take all the junk and sins out of our lives. AND we will be refreshed!  Praise be to the Lord! 

May we all see and understand that Jesus is all we need!



Historic Charleston, SC

 Hey y'all!
This is my first post to my first blog ever!  I will be using this blog to share prayer needs and update y'all on what's going on this summer in Charleston, SC.  Stay tuned!