Hey People...God is Good! (just in case you didn't know)

Hello everyone...I'm going to wait a few more days until I post more about what is happening in everyday life while in Turkey. But first...I want to say happy birthday to my big Momma, and for those of you who are still confused, my mom, Tracy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I will be sharing my story/testimony/whatever you want to call it at the Turkish Youth Group Service on friday. I just wanted to share with you as well (it's still a rough draft and could be atleast 50 more pages but I can only speak for 6 mins.) So here you go and continue to pray for me as I talk at the service, and as our whole team continues to serve the people of Turkey. Jesus is freaking awesome! God Bless

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I wanted to share about how Jesus has changed my life and is still changing it. I grew up in a Christian home and my father was the pastor of the church. Almost every morning until I left for University we would read scripture and pray. I knew that God existed and that Jesus was his son. However, I hadn’t fully accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But as my friend Theo likes to say, “God is Good!” And at University I found Jesus and he became my best friend! As we’re talking about our identity tonight, I look back at my life before I knew Jesus and realized I had put my identity, who I am, in everything but him. I put my identity in my friends, my relationships, my possessions, my happiness, and even my sins. My happiness and complacency with life identified me. I thought I could be happy without Jesus. I thought I could do it by myself. But I have to say again, God is Good. He fills me with inexpressible joy, love, peace, and comfort. My grandmother likes to say that Jesus was always in me. He was like a seed and one day he sprouted... And he continues to grow. He continues to reveal himself to me. He is not the complacent, distant God I knew before. He is always changing me. Always loving me. I like to picture him as a mighty river, always flowing, always changing, always powerful, and always beautiful. He is always with us. Psalm 139 Verses 7-10 says: “Where can I go from you spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” He is always present. If we put our trust in him he will love and protect us. He cotinues to amaze me. Even since I’ve been in Turkey he has provided. He has loved. He has forgiven. I just pray that I can forever be in his presence. As I said earlier, my identity used to be in earthly things. But now I put my identity, my trust, my life in Jesus. He’s just really awesome. Thanks for listening.