Growing Pains

We brought around 600 students to camp this year!

Happy February (one day early)! I’m honestly feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of writing my blog this month. There’s so much to talk about! January has been filled with a lot of neat things and I’ve gotten to see God work in big ways. Yay! Let me tell you all about it.

Winter Camp

Samantha and I at camp.

Around the middle of January we invite the FOCUS ministries from every campus (UNT, TWU, TWU Dallas, UTD, Richland, Collin College both Spring Creek and Preston Ridge, NCTC, and UTA, that is :) ) to come together for 4 days for our annual Winter Camp. Camp is truly one of my favorite things in the world. This year, our speakers spoke on the Church (if you’re interested, check out their sermons here). I was so encouraged by what they had to say. One of the most memorable things coming out of camp was when Garrett, campus minister at Collin College, said that God uses broken people to heal broken people. That’s what the Church is! We’re all just beggars just telling other beggars where to find food. God’s redemptive work in His beloved Church is awesome and big and it’s happening right now! Gosh. On top of hearing speakers, our students participated in worship, got to bond over card games, play indoor volleyball, jump on a giant pillow, play outside, eat, laugh, dance, and learn from one another for the 4 days we were there.

I asked a girl in my Core, Samantha, to share about her experience at camp and this is what she had to say:

"Going to camp, I was excited. Returning from camp, I was free. Truly, I felt encompassed by the Holy Spirit throughout the entire weekend. I felt love toward everyone and equally felt that love back. I learned amazing insight by those with both great and tough life experiences. My camp experience encouraged me to break from the fear that has held me back and empowered me to be a fool for God. "

Outreach

Tuesday morning at Preston Ridge

This semester at Preston Ridge has been so awesome! One of my big prayers going into this semester was that God would bring us more girls. We have a solid group of girls who have grown so much this semester and I am so beyond thankful for them in my life. But I’ve also been really encouraged to dream big and trust that God is capable of really big things, we simply have to ask Him! And let me tell you, IT’S BEEN GREAT. This semester already, we’ve been meeting so many girls, have had new girls come to be apart of our Core, new FOJ studies starting up, and generally more friendships being made. It’s been so cool to watch our girls reach out to their peers and invest in one another. I’m so proud of them and so thankful for the Spirit who is at work within them!

Growth

This month has been challenging for me for a number of reasons. If I had to describe my feelings about the Apprenticeship for the past month in only one word it would be refining. A lot of my friends who have done the FOCUS Apprenticeship told me that they felt this way. They experienced so much growth and shed many many tears in the process. I definitely believed them, but I was kind of in a place of “I’m doing fine. I know I’m going to grow but like… probably not that much.” Maybe that was coming from a place of pridefulness, maybe it was not believing God would have any interest in growing me, or maybe a mix of both. But MAN was I wrong!! All throughout the Apprenticeship, but this month especially, I’ve been face to face with my own issues, sin, and ways of thinking that are not honoring to God. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am hopelessly flailing about in life without Jesus, and I am totally desperate to simply be faithful to Him. I think I’ve experienced the many tears shed part, but I’m really hoping that God uses the remainder of my time as an Apprentice to refine me and grow me into the woman He wants me to be. But listen to this totally awesome fact: I’m not doing this alone! I have people surrounding me who care about me so much and who want the best for me. I am way too blessed by the amount of time, money, and emotional energy people have given me. Again, God uses broken people to heal broken people. Man, that is good news.

As always, thank you so much for joining me in this work. All of what I wrote is possible in big part because of how you’ve chosen to invest in this me personally and ministry in general. Please let me know how I can bless you.

I wanted to leave you with a song that has been a comfort to me through the Apprenticeship. Sometimes I doubt God’s goodness, I question why He’d want to work through me and draw me closer to Him. But I cling to this truth: “I may be weak, Your spirit’s strong in me. My flesh may fail, My God you never will”. I’m praying this song ministers to you in the ways it has ministered to me.

Much love,
Hannah

P.S.,
Pictures

On Sunday nights, a group of students goes running (It's called Running Club and it's really cool). Look at these sweet athletes!

Preston Ridge crew getting off the bus from camp

Two girls I've gotten to spend time with this semester made the decision to get baptized! This is Leenu...

And this is Ma'Jestic (in very poor quality mode). Join me in praising God for the work He's done to draw them close to Him!