Snow.... finally!

After many different forecasts for snow (non of which actually resulted IN snow), tonight it finally started to snow... and stick!  It has actually been raining ice and snow all day, but it didn't start sticking until dinnertime.  Everyone here is groaning and complaining about it, but I am loving it.  Literally.  I just took a walk around the campus, just so I could feel the snow on my face.  It is so beautiful.  A gift from God, I believe.

One of my friends, Leslie, trying to act excited about the snow.  :-)

With one voice, glorifying Him.

This morning I went to church at Immanuel Baptist Church.  It was such a good day of worship.  I have been surprised at how much I've missed the community of being with the unified body of Christ.  This church has recently changed its structure, so that there is about an hour of prayer before the worship service, as opposed to Sunday school.  I attended the prayer service first, which was just a small gathering of about 20 people.  We prayed for missionaries, the continent of Europe, and the leadership of the church.  It was set up very nicely, where one of the elders was introducing each topic and corresponding specifics, and then getting volunteers to pray for each one.  It was so encouraging.  As we prayed for the missionaries, and even the continent of Europe, it was so evident that there is such a global need for the gospel.  Putting my small Christian life into perspective is so eye-opening.  There are so many people in desperate need of the gospel, and yet, we are not in competition with the other "religions" of the world, for Christ has already won the victory.

The worship service was also incredibly encouraging.  All the music was similar to Grace Heritage, so it was nice to worship with songs I was already familiar with.  The pastor preached on 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, about the importance of the unity of those within the church.  It was ironic, because that is so much what I've been needing.  Even though I didn't know anyone during the service, it was so encouraging to feel unified with them, just knowing we all partook in the blood of Christ, that we all were clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that we all were seeking to live lives for the glory of God.  The sermon was actually more focused on telling the members to be of the same mind with others-- a very good and needed point indeed.

One of the biggest prayer concerns for me right now is that I'll be able to get connected with other believers.  I would be very thankful if you would lift this up before the Lord for me.  I am going to try and go to a Care Group from this church this week, and possibly attend the ladies Bible study on Wednesday.  I am also finding that it is harder to have deep relationships with people at school than I thought-- perhaps this is because of my lack of effort, though.  

I pray that everyone is having a good day of worship.... "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9

My Room!

Here are the picture of my dorm room... finally! 

 My bed and dresser...

 The sitting area... (the door you see is to the closet).

 My desk.  The bright colored paper you see behind my desk is actually my roommate Amanda's.

 Close-up of the reading nook.  The view from our window is amazing.  I'll have to get a picture of it when it is light outside. 

 The corner wall between my bed and the reading nook. 

 This is Amanda's side of the room.  (The reading nook is full of her stuff as well... don't worry... I'm not hogging ALL the space. :-P)

Close up of the pictures above my bed.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my "this semester" room!  

Start at the very beginning...

...a very good place to start.  Before I left for school I told a few people that I'd update them on how things were going- what God was teaching me, how I was being challenged, what fun I was having, etc.  I decided to take the easy way out and just create a blog, so that I won't clutter your inbox with an e-mail unless you absolutely CHOOSE for me too, and to avoid leaving out one or two important people from my e-mail list.  So, here goes! I'll start with a very brief overview of the week, and then try and stay up to date with weekly posts after that.

I arrived in Louisville, Kentucky on the 21st of January, in my little Hyundai Accent, loaded full of all my important belongings, me and my sweet mom (with Dad trailing in the truck).  We got things unloaded/somewhat unpacked, and then headed into a weekend of Boyce College orientation.  Fast forwarding until Saturday morning, when my parents left, then to Saturday afternoon, where there was end of orientation, and then finally to Sunday morning, when I was able to visit a church. 

I choose to visit a newer church called Crossing, which is part of the Acts 29 network of churches (headed by Mark Driscoll).  It was practically much different from Grace Heritage, but foundationally and theologically very much the same.  I might visit one or two more churches, but honestly, I am very interested in seeing the way that Crossing operates as a body of Christ.  I am praying for good opportunities to serve, and good fellowship as well.  We will see where the Lord directs me!

My first week of classes went very well, although there was a slight diversion created with a mixup of class schedules and types.  So actually, classes only went well after I got my schedule sorted out.  I think it is going to be a good semester.  I am taking 15 hours, which includes: Advanced Public Speaking, Great Books Seminar I, Introduction to Psychology, Spiritual Life Dynamics, and Baptist History.  They are all interesting subjects, and I am excited to learn more about each.

My second week of classes has been tainted by some sickness that I came down with on Friday (28th) night.  I was in bed almost all day Saturday and Sunday, and part of Monday.  I've had flu-like symptoms, but never run a temperature.  Now I just have a bad cold, and am a little dizzy and my vision is a little disoriented.  The intensity of the sickness really varies, but it hasn't gone away completely yet.  I'm hoping to be well by tomorrow morning... but is that wishful thinking?