Ok, so I don’t really know where the summer went!!! God has
been doing so much and it is hard to keep track of it all. It seems that daily
I am coming to know God in a deeper way and am able to witness His blessings at
so many different levels and in so many different people’s lives…GOD IS SO
GOOD!
So yes, I am still doing prison ministry in the state of
Florida. God has been teaching me so much over the last several months. It
seems like once I get what He is trying to teach me, He moves me on to another
area of my life that needs work. I honestly wonder at times why God has me ministering
to others when I have so many problems and short comings of my own…God is SO
merciful to me!
I can definitely say the last several months have been by
far the most challenging, but at the same time the most rewarding. I have been
finding that the greater the trial or test, the more of an opportunity I am
given to experience a level of God’s grace I have never known. This fills me
with joy and excitement, knowing that no matter the situation I face, I have an opportunity from God right before me
to intimately know Him in a way that I have never before.
When God takes you to
a deeper level in your walk with Him, it seems as though you start all over
again. But if you take a closer look, you will find that the truth is actually
quite the opposite. With every time that you “start over”, the “basics” of
Christianity (trusting in the Lord, waiting upon Him, having faith, abiding and
meditating in the Word, prayer etc.) become more and more the core of who you
are and they eventually determine the way you handle everything in life, no
matter how great or small it is. We must never get away from these simple but
foundational truths which KEEP a relationship with the Lord growing.
So as the summer comes to a close and autumn moves on to the
horizon, my prayer is that I would decrease and that Christ would increase. It’s
not how much I can get done for God that counts, that is secondary. God desires
that I at all times fully surrender my all to Him that He may be ALL in and
through me. Yes, this is easier said than done, but it is the only way that God
will be able to accomplish His perfect will in me… “Christ in you, the hope of
glory” (Col. 1:27b).
Here are some pictures from the summer…
God's AWESOME Creation..
Summer FUN... :)
Time with Family and Friends...
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| Carson and Me!!! |
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| Joey |
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| Johnny |
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| Grandpa and Grandma Toedt and I |
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| Brandon Keilen's Wedding |
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| !FLORIDA! |
