So I've been here for exactly four weeks now, and real life has begun. I'm in classes all week, homework and beach in my free time. Here's a glimpse of my schedule as of now:
Monday-
8-8:45 Devotions( No class today yay!!)
HOMEWORK
5:30 Life (college group)
Tuesday-
8-8:45 Devotions
9-11 Sermon on the Mount
12-2 Apologetics
Cleaning day! (We get checks every morning, but our major condo check is on wednesday and our whole condo has to be cleaned from top to bottom! We can't have ANYTHING laying out!)
Food Run! We go shopping once a week- every other week we alternate between costco and walmart one day, and safeway the next week.
Wednesday-
8-8:45 Devotions
9-12 Revelation
1-3 Women's Discipleship (Girls Bible Study)
6-9ish Mid-Week Church Service
Thursday-
8-8:45 Devotions
9-11 Church History
12-4 M199 (we each are required 4 hours of ministry work- my job is called "green thumb", along with 3 other students, I do gardening and maintenance at the church and at our condo's)
5:30-8:30 ish Street Witnessing in Lahaina
Friday- 8-8:45 Devotions
9-11 Systematic Theology
1
2-2 Joshua
Saturday- Our one day to sleep in...
Beach- Homework- Explore!
Sunday- 8- 9:30 Church (Yes I actually choose to go to first service!)
Usually all of the students go to "Big Beach" after second service, and then of course cram and do homework before monday!
For those of you who have lived with me, you know that I have had lots of trouble sleeping in the past... well as you can see from my schedule, I'm always busy, and am happy to say that I no longer have ANY trouble whatsoever trying to sleep at night, its usually a very exciting time of my day :)
Now for the important things- What God has been doing in my life.
Wow where do I start. He has taken me so far already. To be honest, I was struggling for the first few weeks. I didn't feel like I was really getting to know God, I just felt like I was going through the motions and trying to focus so hard on focusing...that it was all i could focus on. (Make sense to anybody but me?) It was probably the most frustrating thing i've ever experienced. I prayed through it, and little by little, God's showing himself to me. I'm learning a lot about humility- and that it's not just a humbling circumstance, or a prayer relationship with God about being humble, it's a character trait. It's something you show to God, through putting others before yourself. I've started to put this to practice, and I've already seen a change in my relationship with God. He has also been showing me the bigger picture of my life. Its hard to come to maui and see the same 40 students every day and not get distracted by the beach and activities, drama, boys, etc. Even at bible college. So you can imagine how the first 2 weeks went, it was like a frenzy of everybody trying to figure out which boys they liked, exploring the island, deciding which friends clicked... Ahhh it was ridiculous. I am sad to admit that I was a part of that frenzy. However, God has shown me a lot through that. Of course, coming to Bible College, there's a stigma of people finding their husbands or wives. So being a girl, I prayed real hard about that subject. And what God has told me and what I'm excited to say is I don't want a husband right now, It's just me and God, and I'm okay with that :) Many of you know I'm interested in being a missionary, and God has also spoken to me in regards to that life. I'm realizing the enormity of that job, and really understanding that the lifestyle of a missionary isn't some cushy fluffy life. It's dangerous, dirty, self- sacrificing, and so many other things. To be honest, when that all hit me, I was scared to death. We're studying persecution in a few of my classes, and I had to write a paper on it. I realized this isn't just something we hear about or read about in the Bible, it's something that happens right now. I had to ask myself, would I be willing to die ...possibly a traumatic death... for Jesus Christ. I would love to say that I jumped up for that one, but to be honest, I was terrified of that thought. I pictured a life with a house, a golden retriever, and a white picket fence instead, and decided that would be safe. Then I wouldn't have to go through that. But God of course spoke to me and said, "Giselle, don't compromise. I'm calling you to a life higher than that." One of my teachers was talking about the subject, and said something that really helped me. He said. "Every single person on earth is going to die for something." I heard that and realized, that having the safe life doesn't mean I'm not going to die, it just means that I probably won't die in honor of Jesus. Now i'm not saying that God's calling me to die for him, Its bigger than that, it's just realizing that this life is bigger than just bible college, getting married, and deciding what i wanna be when i grow up. It's about furthering the kingdom of Christ no matter what it takes. It's scary now, but I keep reminding myself that God doesn't tell us to worry about the future. He gives us what we can handle RIGHT NOW, just today. And we will deal with tomorrow, when tomorrow comes. What he has in store for my life, I still have no idea. Our pastor of the church here just felt the call to Oxford, England to plant a church there, and perhaps teach at the Bible College in York. He said they're going to try to have a team from the church come over this summer. I've been praying about that, and feel God tugging on my heart. Weather i'll end up going, I don't know! But its something to be praying about!
Well, for those of you who actually read through ALL OF THAT, I have one last praise report. As some of you know, over the last year God has been doing something with me musically. I started taking piano lessons, and singing- something i'd never really been able to do. Well I get the privilege of playing around on the piano between classes- its on stage for anyone to play whenever you want, and sometimes I sing and play with some of the kids who can play guitar and sing as well. All just for fun of course. Every single message at church has been about stepping out in faith, and doing that thing you feel like Gods telling you to do, even if your scared and don't know how to do it. Every time I heard that message, I felt God speaking to me about doing worship. Of course I concluded that I was imagining it, and that I wasn't good enough to do something like that yet. Well, after 4 weeks of that, God made the message undeniable to me, and I spoke with the dean of the school, and he told me to talk to one of the students who currently leads worship for our morning devotionals with the school. I talked to him, and he said that the worship team for the CHURCH services actually want to take a break soon, and the pastor had asked him if he could put together a student band. So tomorrow is my first band practice! I don't know if or when we'll start playing for real, what i'll be doing, or HOW i'll be doing it, but all I know is that God is behind it and he is stretching me so much farther than I'm comfortable with and it's awesome. However, I am still terrified...so prayer would be much appreciated :)
I'll try to update this more often so you don't have to read through a novel next time!
Day in Lahaina!
Just watching the sunset and doing homework on the beach :)
So I've come to the realization that I suck at keeping up my blog. I apologize for that. But I am excited to tell you guys about what God's been doing! I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks left. And I don't know where to start right now, God is SO amazing, and I'm learning soooo much. Not necessarily just because I'm in Bible College or from classes (not that I don't learn from those), but honestly the biggest things I've learned are the things that God's revealed to me himself. As some of you may know, I am transferring to Murietta next semester. That was the LAST campus i thought i would ever go to, but literally one day God just changed my mind. And I know that it's not Maui, and that I'm incredibly lucky to be living here, and that it won't be as nice. But when i was in a sense making my claim to God of why I didn't want to go to Murietta (its a bigger campus, I'm going to miss the atmosphere, I'm going to miss maui, I'm going to miss the church here, etc.) God just laid into me and was like, Giselle, Are you in Bible College to be comfortable or are you here for Me? And that has been the thing that keeps me focused on following where God wants me to go. While I know that it may not be as great on the outside, there's a reason God wants me there, and following His will should be a privilege, not a duty. So with all of that said, I have felt a peace about going back to California, and am actually really excited. I will be sad to leave, I'm trying not to think about it. But i feel like God is preparing me for a life of moving around, and I'm just going to have to get used to it :) Along with that, God has been showing me the bigness of the world around me. he's really putting things in perspective, making me see how tiny I am in the grand scheme of things. We've had some speakers on missions come and show videos and I have a few teachers who are Military Veterans and have shared their experiences from overseas, and I keep getting this overwhelming sense of embarrassment. I'm embarrassed because i spend SO MUCH of my life worrying about the dumbest most selfish things in the world. Being in a Bible College of only 40 students, there's bound to be drama, and I just look at the stuff that's going on and I'm just embarrassed that these things even matter to us. There are people facing death, murder, sickness, starvation, and abuse everywhere. It's more than just watching a missions video. Its REALITY to some people- it's the only way of life they know. And yet i'm worried about if my roommate did her dishes before dorm checks this morning. I love this new perspective on things, because it helps me get over me really fast. One of my friends back home (who's an atheist) asked me my stance on drinking now that i'm "religious". And my response actually surprised myself. I kind of learned my answer while i was answering him. I said that my choice in not drinking at first, was because I am a Christian, and Christian's aren't supposed to drink. but now it's more of a choice between selfishness or selflessness. Yeah, I could party and drink with my friends if I wanted to. But regardless of if I give into that temptation, all it does is show my lack of focus on somebody other than myself. If thats still a battle that I internally have, then that's just more of me that I'm not devoting to something bigger, regardless of if i act on it or not. Not to say that we won't have struggles or temptations, or that i think that I'm not subject to that. But more just that I'm done engaging in a selfish battle, one that won't benefit anybody. I have bigger things to think about and work towards that don't revolve around me. I realized that a life revolved around me is a life that i don't want to live. And it's not the life Jesus is calling me to live either. I know that this will by far be my biggest challenge, but it is my goal. It's not something I think i'll achieve anytime soon, but at least it's something that i've become aware of, and that in itself has changed me the most. There are so many more things that I could talk about, but I think that has been the most impactful thing so far. As far as fun things go, I got the opportunity to go on a retreat to Hana on the other side of the island over my birthday, that was so much fun! Best trip ever. I also got to 10,000 feet up to the top of Haleakala to watch the sun rise. That was gorgeous. I felt so blessed to have gotten to do those things. Every day life still consists of homework, more homework, church, and the beach on the side. Currently, its been about 3 weeks since i've been to the beach, but I'm hoping to squeeze that in a few more times before i have to leave! However, I have lots of packing, christmas shopping, and finals to tend to. But I know that the Lord will get me through it, just one day at a time! Hopefully I didn't bore you all to death with my latest novel, and I love you all and hope you have an awesome Christmas :)
