I have not forgotten you...

Hello...back again. May not be back for another year or two...who knows with me and my blogging. :D

Despite leaving this blog for years...It is not for a lack or crazy adventure in my life or the incredible work of God changing me into HIS image and showing me more of the greatness of who HE is and my inability on my own to accomplish eternal things!

God works to accomplish that which you ask Him to. Don't forget when you cry out in desperation "God, do whatever it takes to bring me to a place where I truly am emanating Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit so people actually see "Christ only, always, living in me." God will take you up on that. He crushes all the "I can do this myself" until you realize...yes, I can do things...but they will never have the lasting, deep impact that can only be through abiding in the Vine. Finding my life-source in Christ, and Him alone.

At the end of the day...really all that matters is to know that if my heavenly father is pleased, that's what matters. I will spend eternity in His presence and if I don't love his voice now, I won't then. There is joy in obedience and total surrender!!



Last summer along with my mom and sister Hannah, we went all the way to Columbia in South America. It was an eye opener for me as I hadn't been out of the country except for Canada or when I went to Norway as an infant. The latter, I do not remember. :D In Columbia we went to visit an orphanage as well as different indigenous tribes. I was overwhelmed by the giving hospitality of those who have so much less but have a heart of giving. Many were true born-again believers. One incredible story of one tribe was that they were given these extra houses and plots of land from the government and the Christians in the tribe decided to give all theirs to the un-believers that they might be a testimony of Christ and win them to Jesus!

There are so many other examples...I was blown away. Going to Columbia wasn't for helping them...it was to help me. That my eyes would be opened and I would see a bigger picture of what God is doing all over the world with those that are seeking him with all their hearts and being totally available for HIM to use them as his hands and feet here on earth.

 God work in me a selfless love and willingness to always walk in obedience and have that joy. "The joy of the Lord is your strength".

   Our drive on the way to visit some mountain indigenous people groups <3

Below is the view I had when I went on walks with mom at the orphanage down to the little village.

They had such colorful houses in this part of Columbia.

The beginning of this year I went to Guatemala with Sam, Hannah and mom also my good friend Chandra .

 Dear dad and the kids have been so gracious letting us go on these adventures and leave them all to fend for themselves. ha! We went to a beautiful language school to learn Spanish for a month. It was a total immersion where you were surrounded by Spanish speaking people everywhere including the family where you stayed.

The ancient small city of Antigua is known for it's many Schools and it's a town of the old ruins of cathedrals and a place of intrigue, beauty and adventure. The market is so big you get lost if you're not careful and the vendors shout to one another at the top of their lungs. It's comical. By the end of that time, I'd say Hannah and I became fierce negotiators. And our Spanish was good enough to converse. We had loads of fun...and the vendors did too, let me tell you!. ha! I have stories...:D

I was able to really connect with my teacher and she was a born-again believer and towards the end I was able (by God's grace) to really encourage her in the Lord using Spanish! God truly multiplied what I knew and helped me put it into words. I was blown away by her hospitality in inviting me to her humble home...She was such a courageous and strong women who was holding onto God's promises despite a heart broken moment a few years prior when her husband left her. She said she was weeping one day...completely broken and she felt God held her in his arms and a peace and love washed over her..."Jesus is my husband and a father for my children". It was incredible beautiful to see and hear her testimony. May God continue to lead and guide her and as she prays faithfully for the salvation of her Husband may he be born-again and come back a changed man for the glory of God!!!

   

 

All of us with our teachers <3 It was so cool how you had your own personal tutor for 6 hours every day and had your own inside jokes and good times together. Ahh...the memories!

  

May the Love of Christ sustain you, and no matter what you do or where you go...make sure God is the one sending you, not you sending you. There is a whole difference and the effectiveness for eternal souls being changed forever weighs on God being in something and anointing you with the power of the Holy Spirit...equipping you for doing what you naturally couldn't do...but what you CAN and WILL do when the Holy Ghost has come apon you. Wait upon the Lord and He WILL renew your strength and you want him to work and speak through you...get alone and get that living water from heaven so you have something to give which is not from you, but from the throne of heaven! Turning back, is never an option for the follower of Christ!

What has happened in the past few months!

Hello wonderful people. :) Did you realize I haven't blogged for MONTHS!!! So much has happened since then, and thankfully, God has been continuing to change things for the better as I allow Him his rightful place on the throne of my heart!
       First of all, I've been busy with G.E.D. classes which I've been taking for the last few months. I thoroughly loved them. If you are thinking of getting your GED, I'd recommend taking classes in your local town. Not only have I grown academically, but I've also prepared myself for the actual GED tests, knowing what to expect. If your teachers are anything like mine were, you would love the experience. To me they were like family in a way; very supportive and encouraged and helped me succeed and reach my goals. Being there also gave me a chance to be a witness-- not so much my words necessarily, but my actions; showing forth the love of Christ! My teachers are normal people, and they have bad and goods days. God gave me a burden to pray for them, especially my main teacher. I didn't want to be just any other girl going there, but that there would be a difference! I wanted that difference to be Jesus Christ! So many nights I'd pray and cry out to the Lord for him to fill me with HIS love for them, that they could taste and see that God is good, just, merciful and I love him with all my heart; He is my passion, my one true love; I want nothing else! God gave me words to pray, and filled me with His compassion for them. May they see from me that God is worthy of all praise. You know that the most you can do for someone is by spending time alone with God yourself! I've seen time and time again how people react differently to me when I've really been in the presence of the Lord. All of a sudden people want to be around me. They want to talk with me. I can then smile genuinely with a light in my eyes that only Jesus could put there!
         
 I've also had a couple litters of puppies born in the middle of February, and gone by the beginning of April. That kept me pretty busy to say the least, but it was good. Those nights I had to stay up with the mother dogs, exhausted and tired, that's when I really needed God to be me strength in a reality. You know you will never know God truly as your strength until you're weak and can't do it yourself! I realized how much I needed God; I couldn't do it on my own. Some of those nights became incredible opportunities to spend in prayer with the Lord for others, and just singing songs to the Lord out there in the barn alone. Just me and God. The dogs loved the worship songs, and I read aloud the bible to the dogs actually. Believe it or not, reading of the bible and singing songs of worship to the Lord really effected the dogs. Whereas they were hyper, and nervous, they became calm, relaxed and scooted closer to me. The baby puppies would all go to sleep peacefully. Even dogs can sense the greatness of God.

I wasn't sure I wanted to share this, but I will so God can be glorified! Some of you may already know that our little home fellowship had a split a couple months ago. Naturally, when things like that happen, you have questions like why God? When I saw that things were getting tense, I did alot of praying that this divide wouldn't happen... I know I wanted the Lord, and it seems as if everyone did, but it appears people get focused in on a single issue instead of seeing God in his greatness. When divisions come in churches it is easy to become bitter and resent those ones who disagreed with your family. I found the greatest healing in forgiving, and asking the Lord to fill me with a love for each one. HE DID. I still love those families that we not longer meet with, and am good friends. Satan wants to use any and every situation to turn your heart away from God; bitterness is something he uses alot. One amazing thing is this: Darkness CANNOT defeat light. God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all! Praise Him! What my I wants is that everyone would really know the Lord and let Jesus be everything and have everything. My family prays that those families continue on in the Lord, and that is really what is important! People don't have to meet in our home with us in order to be saved and walk with the Lord! What individuals need, is to truly KNOW who God is, and allow that one and only true God to come and be everything.

Well, this has been one loooong post, and I wonder if you read this far yet :) If you have that's awesome! I hope it has blessed you in some way to realize there is no other like Jesus Christ!

Love to you who are reading this now, and all I can say more is this:

SPEND QUALITY TIME ALONE WITH GOD.

When do I need God?

This past week, my brother Isaac has been gone as well as Ryan. They both kinda run 'USA Freedom Diesels.So for the time they are gone, it is my job to ship items, try to fix problems and take down orders.... 
First I all I really know practically ZERO about diesel parts for Dodges ,Chevys or Fords. And I have to talk with these people, and try to help them if I can, like look up parts online for them, find prices etc.
So you can imagine that I did ALOT of praying, and you're absolutely right! I did, and the reason I did was because I really truly needed him! Each day became a time where I would talk with him throughout the day, and he would just give me such a peace calling up the manufacturers of different parts asking them questions. So yesterday evening I was wondering why I just felt so empty and just kinda "dead" feeling, and I realized that that whole day I really didn't spend any time with him, and the reason for that was, I didn't need him!  I had had such a slow day, nothing that thought I needed God for, and the day slipped by slowly, and I didn't even read my bible all the hours of being down there.
It is so sad how it's easy for me to  pray and seek God's face when things are going hard, and I need him, and it seems like he's always there.  then there are times when  things are going better and I forget about him!
One thing that I should see, was this: In the hard times God IS the blessing, and in the good times God IS the blessing.... It's not that he blesses us with something necessarily but that HE is the blessing!
I must always be in a state where I need God! And if I think I can do it all on my own, then I'm relying on my own righteousness and what I can do!
But God I pray that always in every situation, I can be hungering and thirsting about you!!
 Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.


We can't already be full, or he can't fill us himself!


Like that song says :
"room for Jesus king of glory, hasten now his word obey! Swing you heart's door widely open, bid him enter while you may."


That is just the chorus, the whole song is powerful!


So, how much do I need Jesus?
All the time and everywhere and in every situation! I want to always be in need of him, want to have a deep love for him that I can't stand to be away from him!!
                              
'



                  

Powerful message with clips from 3 Godly men!

This is something you should watch!!
Here are some things that are said in it:
 "If he cannot control ALL of you  then he can't control any of you"
" you have to go through hell to get to heaven"
"Christianity hasn't been tried and found wanting, it's been tried and found difficult and rejected"
"A force of evil can only be overcome by a force of righteousness!"
" The church today is helpless without the Holy Spirit."
" It's not a struggle that I'm trying to be a Christian, it's LIFE!!" 
(I have come that you might have life, and that you might have life more abundant)
"give God the right to be God 24/7  7 days a week!!"
  
You MUST see this for yourself!!! It was a gigantic eye opener for me! It is so convicting and serious, but if you really want God , you will be not only convicted by it but hopefully changed!!

The Glory of God

YOU ABOSLUTELY MUST SEE THIS ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!
If you have seen it it won't hurt to see it again.

-Prayer-

Prayer is something  I've never done faithfully....  I guess I've not really [truly] loved the Lord in the past and wanted to spend time with him, sure there were moments,but nothing lasting!.I would talk ALOT about praying and spending time with him, and have such good ideas ;) But nothing ever came out of them since I always had tons of other "stuff" to do and so much of it was a TOTAL waste of time!! 
The reason we don't want to spend time with him is because we have other things that are more important than him!
If you're in a relationship with someone, and never talk or spend time with that person  and spend lots of time with other people and let other things take up your time; then when you see that person again tell them how much you care about them it's probably not gonna mean anything to them!(That that is probably the end of your relationship.) Your actions must show what your words say!! 
The Lord has been always there for us and we are the ones that are "cheating" on him in a way  by  living the way we want to live , and  doing what WE want. And then we will talk about how much we love the Lord(on sunday){if that} and  say a little prayer and feel good about ourselves! 
And yet when we have a problem or things are really going bad for us or a friend or relative is sick we want him! 
My desire is that I would want to spend time with the Lord the good days AND the bad! And that it wouldn't be something that is something I force myself to do to be this "good" christian!
Btw am I really "Christ-like?" I don't really think so! If I was  like Jesus there would be no greater joy then to spend time with my heavenly father!! I would greatly appreciate your prayers for me in that!
I know it's probably hard to understand alot of what I say, it's usually so scrambled up! Anyways that's not important...
Yes, and I've seen so much how if we are faithful in prayer and have FAITH in Jesus Christ that he WILL perform that which he promised! He has answered so many prayers of mine and I know I don't deserve for him to even listen after all those times I've not listened to his pleading voice!


Don't lose heart when something doesn't happen right away!  there is a quote from somewhere that says " that we would pray until we pray"


                                   *katie*

*Thursday Night Witnessing*

I just got back from a freezing cold night on the streets down town in Missoula MT.
I hadn't went witnessing for quite a long time since my heart really wasn't right with God for some time, and I really couldn't go down there and talk to people without feeling guilty.
So this time It was for me actually something to look forward to! After a time of prayer together we went drove to town.
We usually go in two's there,  Isaac went with Hannah and Manny went with Tim Ranger our neighbor, and then Mom and me went together.
 When I go with Isaac I usually don't get a chance to talk, haha So I learn alot ,but I thought that I shouldn't hide behind someone else, so I went with mom, this way I am more likely put in a situation where I will have a chance to say something.
So I did , and I really realized something ; going out on the streets and seeing these lost people for yourself really gives you more of a burden for them and understanding  of the unhappiness and no hope they have. 
It is so sad how hardened some people are, when you look into their face. How was their child hood? So many of the people you talk to know about Jesus Christ or went to Sunday School, but do they really know the REAL Jesus? I don't think so!
Lord,  fill my mouth with your words and give me your love for these people! I was just convicted this evening for judging people just by what they look like or if they are poor and ragged.....anyone could lose their job and be thrust out onto the street and it could not be their own fault! How easy it is for me to be proud and look down on people! 
Lord, may I see these people through your eyes! 
I did get a chance to talk with some people and hand out a couple good tracts that have really blessed me, I pray that they read them, if just one person reads it and comes to God that would be amazing! The important thing is this, that I obeyed God in going out tonight... I believe some seeds were planted! It is not up to me to make anything happen!
Anyways, God bless you! Don't be afraid to share the gospel with others! 




                                       KATIE CLINE