More to Come

So, I hope to add more to My Story... the part posted is basically just what I wrote for an assignment.. but I figured it was long-winded enough to go ahead and post it anyway. :)

My Story

My sense of God’s call on my life began when God prompted me to switch from a Christian school to public school towards the end of my sixth grade year. I was not aware that God would call a woman, let alone a twelve year-old girl, to ministry. Despite the fact that I had no concept of the depth and longevity of the call I had received, I had never been so certain that I had heard from God. It was through this transition that I felt God asking me to surrender all that I had to Him. During a revival service, I went forward asking God to sanctify me. My knowledge of sanctification was limited, but my heart’s desire was to be and do all God wanted. The next six years in the public school system were some of the most amazing years of my life, as I grew in intimacy with the Lord and was able to lead many of my lost peers into a relationship with Him. I started a devotional group that would meet on the playground during lunch break. At one point, up to 30-50 kids were coming, some to cause trouble, others honestly seeking. I found myself standing on a park bench, screaming out the Gospel in order for all those gathered to hear. I also began to take leadership positions in my church and youth group.

As I worked with my peers over the next six years, I found myself constantly immersed in ministry. Evangelism and discipleship were my passions. The devotional club in junior high led to other ministries. I was president of an IMPACT devotional club in high school along with being active in Fellowship of Christian Athletes. At church, I took the responsibility of getting transportation for teens to services and discipling them outside of services. I began leading worship at my church with a worship band of other teenagers, along with being a part of a traveling music ministry whose goal was to reach teenagers for Christ.

The summer after my senior year, with a declared major at Indiana Wesleyan University in Chemistry Education, I volunteered at a junior high youth camp as a counselor. I began to desperately seek God’s direction for my life. Some of the events that took place that week could easily be labeled “mystical.” For example, another counselor whom I had never met before approached me half-way through the week and said, “Amber, this is going to sound weird… and I know I don’t even know you… but I feel like God wants me to talk to you about considering youth ministry.” I spent hours that week wrestling with the Lord in prayer. Still, my first semester at I.W.U. was spent studying Chemistry while volunteering in a local youth ministry. I could not sense a peace about my life and continued to seek the Lord about my call. God sent the final confirmation I needed when my father, who had previously disapproved in general of the idea of women in ministry and specifically of the idea of me pursuing full-time vocational ministry, told me that he recognized God’s calling on my life and was willing to support me in it. The following week, I changed my major.

The summer after my freshman year of college, the church where I had been serving experienced great changes. The ultimate result was that I was asked to come on staff the next fall as Youth Director. I spent three years of college leading ALIVE Student Ministries. Discipling those students and watching the ministry grow was one of the most incredible, rewarding experiences of my life. God stretched me beyond what I ever thought possible. I served in several ways even outside of the student ministry, from preaching on Sunday morning to directing Vacation Bible School. When God directed me to Wesley Biblical Seminary for more ministry training, it was extremely difficult to leave behind the church and my students. However, I am now here—more open than ever before to whatever ways God might ask me to serve His Church. My greatest aims are to love Him more deeply and serve His people through His strength.

Update and The Christian Mind

So... this isn't my testimony yet. It will come. I'm pretty sure I have to write it up for a class in the next couple weeks anyway. For those of you who don't know, I got a job at KOHL's. YAY for clothes discounts! One of the guys who lives in the dorm was already working there and got me on. I'll be working app. 15 hours a week, which might be enough to kill me. hehe. The job at Starbucks just never panned out. I was sad, but this job pays more and there's possibility of medical insurance through KOHL's if I need it. I doubt it's as good as Starbucks, but oh well. My classes are intense, and I'm in Hebrew now which was an unexpected surprise. But anyway, I'll have money. For that I am thankful. Life is good but overwhelming! I read... all the time... and then read some more!

Also thought I'd share this excerpt from The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires with you guys. I'm reading so much, sometimes I have to stop and reflect on something... and this made me stop. "What price are we paying, in terms of intellectual clarity and integrity, for the continuance of easy co-existence of the Christian mind with the secular mind? Ponder the violence of the concealed collision. One the one hand is the assumption that all is over when you die; that after sixty or seventy years, sheltered and cushioned by the Welfare State, you can sign off for good; that eating, sleeping, growing, learning, breeding, and the rest, constitute the total sum of things; that in worldly prosperity and well-being lies the source of all meaning and value. On the other hand is the almost crushing awareness of a spiritual war tearing at the heart of the universe, pushing its ruthless way into the lives of men--stabbing at you now, now, now, in the impulses and choices of every waking moment; the belief that the thoughts and actions of every hour are moulding a soul which is on its way to eternity; that we are choosing every moment of our lives in obedience or disobedience to the God who created and sustains all that is; that we are always responsible, always at war, always involved in what is spiritual and deathless; that we are committing ourselves with every breath to salvation or damnation." 6:26 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove