See You At The Pole

Tomorrow is an AMAZING day for Christians to declare their faith publicly to their peers! It's See You At The Pole! It is a prayer group at your school's flagpole so you can pray for your school or anything else you need in a group. If you haven't heard about it, get a couple friends together and go pray at your school's flagpole! Matthew 18:20 tells us:
               "When two or three of you have come together in my name, there I am among you."
So declare your faith tomorrow morning! I know I'm so excited for this! It will be my first time! I will do a post-pole post about the experience, and if you share any stories or pictures with me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com, I will post them on here. Let me see your love for Christ!

See you at the pole!

In Christ's name,

Kayla

Christ's love is EVERYWHERE!!

Did you ever think you would find Jesus's love in the most random place ever? I definitely never expected to see his grace during swim practice! This summer, I was at a swim meet and I bought a grab bag cap (a cap that the printer messed up on, or the company misdesigned) that said "PROVIDENCE HOSPITAL". I thought it was funny. I mean really, who goes into the ER and says, "Oh, Dr. Smith, while you're taking my appendix out, can you set me up with one of those swim caps?" No one. So I got it and threw it into my locker and forgot about it. But today when a friend borrowed it because her cap broke, I noticed that on the side, there's a cross on the cap! And not one of the equal length crosses, like a plus sign, but a cross which, as we all know, is a HUGE symbol of Christ's love! Who would have thought? Where have you seen God's love in an area you would have never thought of?

Have a great weekend! Love you all!

The Bible Verses we need...

So everyone knows how stressful school is (and if you don't, you either go to the best school ever or don't go to school). Then throw in church/youth group, sports, activities, social time (football games, hanging out with friends, etc.), and family, and you've just created a brew destined for stress. And trust me, I know how much it sucks. I am trying to be more and more involved with my youth group (especially because I want to be a youth pastor), I am on a varsity sports team, I play flute for the top band (which means I travel, which is so fun, but will be stressful driving across the country), I am on the speech team (again, flying across the country to compete. Way fun, but catching up on classes will suck.), and I am a ballerina. Did I mention school, especially those pesky AP classes?
I want you to know this is NOT a pity party for me, because I chose all of this as my life. But I want you to understand that I get stress, anxiety, and anger. I understand depression. Even as a Christian, Satan tries to attack me, and I want to fall into a pattern of slacking off, giving up on my goals, and not caring anymore. So if you're ever feeling like this, please don't keep it bottled up inside; you are more than welcome to email me, write on the Mission: Faith's Facebook wall for community support, or tweet me @Mission_Faith.
I have been having one of "those weeks" where everything is freaking me out to the max. I can imagine a lot of people have them as well, and so it's a good idea to have a collection of Bible verses we can turn to for comfort and strenght. Some days, it may feel like God isn't speaking to us. That is not the case at all. God has an entire book written to us with His voice in every verse. He is telling us different things with each verse. So what are your favorite verses to turn to in a tough time? Let me know! And if you need a prayer, you can also post it in the comments, or if you'd rather it not be public, email me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com, and I will pray for you and try and offer you the best advice possible. Please don't keep anything bottled up inside. You need to tell someone.
Have a great week, and I can't wait to hear from you!
Kayla

Declare your faith!

It is so important as a devoted Christian to declare your faith! I love artsy stuff, so I'm making a collage of Bible verses to put on the front of my school binder. My friends and I talk about how much we love Jesus in Subway. Whenever someone has a problem and comes to me, I tell them about how God has a plan, and it will work out if we have Jesus in our hearts guiding us! Missions are so important, I cannot even begin to put it into words! That's why I call this blog Mission: Faith; my mission is to bring a brighter, more beautiful faith into your life. I want to spread Jesus's love! What are your ways to spread your faith and love for Christ? What do you like to do to show the world you're a Jesus freak?

Do something in the name of the Lord!

How many of you can say you have really made a difference in the world in Jesus's name? If you can, good for you! Keep it up! If not, I recommend that you start. The Lord has given us talents to spread Christ's love and make a difference in his name! If you're looking for something, talk to your youth director about doing World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. I did it for the first time this spring, and I cannot wait to participate again this year and years to come. Raising money to give food, water, shelter, and education for children who are living in third-world countries may seem hard, but in 2 weeks, I raised enough money to support a child for 7 months! Plus, we did missions around town-- giving out free lunch, telling people about Christ's love, and learning about poverty that attacks even in our small town.
Right now, World Vision needs help more than ever to help these countries, plus the famine in Somalia is awful, and their goal to no longer have hunger in the world is not impossible. Talk to people about sponsoring you in your church's famine (I really encourage you to do it!); you won't have trouble finding those who want to help you in Christ's name!
God has such an amazing plan for you, and doing things in Jesus's names will absolutely help you get on the right path! What have you done to spread Christ's love? If you have a story, email it to me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com. Like Mission: Faith on Facebook, and follow @Mission_Faith on Twitter. Also, follow @WorldVisionUSA and @30HF for information on 30 Hour Famine and their work in Somalia!
Have a blessed day! God send!

Kayla

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor day weekend everyone! Hope you've been having a great weekend! May God bless you and give you a wonderful day with family and friends. What are you doing to have an excellent weekend? I'm going to the fair and Train and Maroon 5 concert with my sisters tomorrow, and I've spent the weekend out at my grandparents house. Tell me what you're up to in the comments!

Also, I'm looking for testimonies and articles, so if you or a friend want to send them to me, email them to me: missionfaithblog@gmail.com. Can't wait to hear from you!

The Power of Prayer

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you've had a great start to the week!

Today I truly discovered the power of prayer. I took part in I am Second's phone prayer group today, and there were 3 other people who prayed this morning for about 30-40 minutes. We broke the Lord's prayer down and asked for specific things that Jesus tells us to pray for. I feel so open and free; God heard my prayers and broke chains. Jesus poured his grace over me again. Every time you pray, you become a new person-- free and beautiful. It doesn't matter if sometimes you fall short of God's glory, He knows that you won't be perfect. That is why He gave us His son to forgive those sins and be our link to our God. Like Jesus says, all you need to pray each day is the Lord's Prayer. Break it down, ask for what you need each day.

Matthew 6: 9-13 is the Lord's Prayer, and if you honor God (Matt. 6: 9), ask to show the word of God and Jesus Christ as it is in Heaven on Earth (doing missions, essentially) (Matt. 6: 10), to give us what we need to be sustained (Matt 6: 11), for forgiveness in ourselves and in others (Matt. 6: 12) and to deliver us from evil (to keep Satan out of our lives in whatever form he may come in) (Matt. 6: 13) during your prayer each day, the Lord will give it to you. It isn't a very hard format, and your prayers can change daily for you or anyone else you are praying for.

Prayer is, for me, one of the best ways to feel close to God and Christ. Our God does so much for us when we don't deserve it, but Christ has forgiven our sins so that we can walk with Him. Thank Jesus everyday for that! Christianity is really more a relationship than a religion. Prayer is how it becomes a relationship. I will pray for all of you so that you can see the beautiful relationship we have with Jesus if you haven't seen it already. If you have any prayer requests, you can post them below in the comments (and I'm very sorry if it takes a while for me to moderate them, I'm trying my best!), or you can email them to me (missionfaithblog@gmail.com), post them up on our Facebook fan page, or Tweet them to me (@Mission_Faith). Have a blessed day! Love you all!

Be a Missionary!

Lately, God has been putting it on my heart to do more missions and make my living in Christ by being a youth pastor. I have been listening to that and looking into it, but yesterday, He confirmed for me that this is what He wants me to do.

A good friend of mine who lives about an hour away was up in my town, and so I was showing her around and we passed the very big cathedral downtown. We decided to go in and check it out (I'd never been in there), and there was a service going on. Neither of us had been able to go to church that day, and so we stopped in and listened for about half an hour. The entire time, they were talking about missions. How important it was for EVERY PERSON to come to know Christ. And at that moment, I knew God had put me in that church pew for a reason. So He could tell me to go out into the world and teach about Jesus.
I have a knack with languages, and so learning them to be able to travel the world and tell about Jesus Christ is a gift God gave me. I work well with children, so youth ministry would be really great for me. God has given you talents to be able to go out into the world and spread the joy of Christ. What are they? Comment below and tell me, I would love to hear about them!

God bless your week!
Kayla
missionfaithblog@gmail.com
Facebook:   Mission: Faith
Twitter: @Mission_Faith

Something for Facebook (:

This is a great status that I just posted on my Facebook account, and I think you should too! Show the world how much you love Jesus Christ!


Can anyone tell me why it is so hard to pray, but easy to swear? Why clubs are growing and churches are shrinking? Why it is so hard to re-post a Christian status, but easy to post gossip? Why we can worship a celebrity, but not Jesus? Gonna ignore this? The Lord said, if you deny Me in front of your friends, I will deny you in front of my Father. Re-Post if you're not afraid of what your friends will think

Back to school tips!

Hey everyone! Hope everyone has been enjoying their summers, or if you're back to school, I hope it started off great!!!!

For those of you who have yet to start school, or even if you just want to make it better if you have started, here are some awesome tips for back to school that everyone should take note of!

1) Dress modestly!  You make a great impression on the teachers if you aren't showing off all your skin, and it pleases our great God! What is modest? Wearing clothes that aren't meant to show off your body. Keep skin above your knees covered, for the LORD says that is naked, and He does not appreciate that! (Isaiah 47:2-3) Also, for girls, make your best effort to try and always wear skirts and dresses. Why? Because in Deuteronomy 22:5, God tells us, "A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God." Do you hate dresses and skirts? I see that as a good thing; make a sacrifice for God! Please Him, and plus, it makes a GREAT way to start working on some missions! If you know me, you know I have about 5 dresses and 3 skirts that I wear ALL THE TIME! Wear them for your wonderful God to please Him and so He knows we take his word in and want to serve Him.

2) Pay attention in class! God has given you the opportunity to be learning and taking in what He has put in this world! He gave us all this amazing information to learn, so take it in! Be glad you are in a place where we get to learn SO MUCH COOL STUFF (even if you don't like it, I know I'm not excited to start up my precalc class, but the LORD gave it to the world to learn, so take it in!) Just remember at the end of the day, your most important textbook is your Bible, so close everyday on that, even if it is just a few verses of Psalms or Proverbs.

3) Have fun! Sports, classes, friends, family. All of these things can definitely be a source of stress, especially when you're trying to balance all of these while keeping Jesus Christ as your number one! But it can be done, and because Christ is your number one, you will be a lot less stressed than if you didn't have Jesus! But your school years go by so fast, so enjoy them!

God bless your school year, and I want to hear from everyone how your first week of school goes! Comment or email me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com. Have a prayer request? Email me! Know anyone who would like to share their testimony to the world? Point them to Mission: Faith! Love you all!

Happy Sunday!

Hey everyone! Hope your week has been great, and that you have a great Sunday. A couple quick things:

1) I am trying to make #Jesus a trending topic on Twitter. Help me out, and follow me @souldancer1996.

2) I need more ways to get Mission: Faith out. I have a Facebook fan page (recommend to your friends), Tweet about it, Facebook post about it. Any other ideas?

3) I want to start a newsletter and need people who are interested in getting it. Also, columns and other things to put in it, what do you want to see?

Help me out! Comment and email me (missionfaithblog@gmail.com)!!! Can't wait to hear from you! God bless!

The Final Commandment

Tenth commandment! It's fairly simple, yet I find it is the hardest one to remember. God tells us "Thou shalt not covet". Do not want material objects. This one is the toughest one for me, but I remember I can only want one thing: Jesus Christ's love. So what are your earthly wants? Give them up! You don't need them! One of my best examples is my want for food. I'm from the Midwest, and here, we eat. But this spring, I participated in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine (if you don't know what it is, look it up online and suggest it to your youth pastor!) I raised over $180 for the hungry around the world and didn't eat for 30 hours. Hard? Heck yeah! But through prayer and busying myself with witnessing around town and helping the less fortunate by handing out food, I realized something. The Lord and His Son are the only thing I need to fill me. I did not feel very hungry during the 30 hours (although the food I ate to break my fast was some of the best food I have ever eaten (: ) I do not need an earthly thing to fill me, I only need the Lord to sustain me! You're probably thinking, well I need to eat to survive, and yes, this is true. But you do not need objects and frivolous things to make your life full. It is full with the love of Jesus Christ.

Alright everyone, I really need new ideas to write about! What do you want to hear about? Do you have a testimony you want to share with the world? Do you need a prayer? Send them all in to me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com ! Can't wait to hear from you! God bless you!

How to think of God, Jesus Christ, and Christians

Hey everyone! Today I was thinking of how to explain God and Jesus Christ to others, and watching my brother's football game, it hit me. A Christian lifestyle is like a football game.

God is our coach. He lays down the rules, He tells us how to win. He knows how to do this, and no matter how much me may or may not like His decisions, He is right. Always. Jesus Christ is our captain. He helps the coach get the message out to the players. He also knows the game, and is right. He wants us to win. He links us to our coach. Without our loyal and loving captain, we would not have the connection with the coach. And then the Christians are the team members. We will be knocked down by the opposing team, but our coach and captain will be there cheering us on and wanting us to get back up. We cannot be discouraged when not everything goes the way we want it, because we know our coach has a plan, and He will make sure that our plan follows through. We are a winning team, guys! We can pull through in the end! Sure, we may end up with a few bruises and injuries, but we cannot be discouraged! God knows we will win! And Jesus Christ is our way of knowing this! Christ assures us of this, just like any team captain should!

I am a huge football freak, and so this analogy that God gave me made me smile so big! Do you have any other ways of thinking about it? Email them to me at missionfaithblog@gmail.com, and if they're really good, I will post them!

The Ninth Commandment

Here we are, home stretch of our game. The ninth commandment!!! His Ninth Commandment is to not bear false witness. Don't lie! It's a bad  habit, and ends up being so much more difficult than just telling the truth! God wants us to live in the truth (which is why we walk with Him and Jesus), not to dwell in darkness!

Hope everyone has a great Monday! How was your weekend? Tell me about it! Email me this and testimonies, prayer requests, questions, and ideas for my next "sermon series". Can't wait to hear from you!

Email: missionfaithblog@gmail.com
Facebook: Mission: Faith
Twitter: @souldancer1996

This one's for you, girls!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD.

~*~ Never give the Devil a ride, he will just want to take over the driving. ~*~

Dear Woman of God:

Be still for a while and praise God for His favor, His grace, and His awesomeness. God is able to do the impossible and is always near. He loves you unconditionally. Please forward this to every woman you want God to bless. Let's all say this prayer during this hour.  Dear God: This is my friend whom I love very much and this is my prayer for her. Help her live her life to the fullest. Please promote her and cause her to excel above her expectations. Help her shine into the darkest places where it is impossible to love. Protect her at all times, lift her up when she needs You the most, and let her know when she walks with You, she will always be safe. Amen

Thanks to Carmen for sending this in!

The Ten Commandments: The Eighth Commandment

Hello everyone! Hope your Sunday is going fabulously. I'm making my post about the eighth commandment, which I feel is PRETTY OBVIOUS. You shall not steal. You heard Him. Don't take what isn't yours without permission.

So as I'm coming close to the end of this little "sermon series" as you might want to call it, and I need a new topic to work with. Also, I am thinking of starting a weekly/bi-weekly newsletter, and I need people to sign up! If you want to be a part of this newsletter group, send me an email at missionfaithblog@gmail.com with the subject "Newsletter". Send in your testimonies, prayer requests, articles, and/or questions for me at the same email! Like the Mission: Faith Facebook page, and pass it on to your friends.

Have a good night!

Something Quick

Hey everyone! I don't have time for a long post right now, but I wanted to let everyone know how to get in touch with me to send me testimonies, prayer requests, tips for my posting, articles, or even just to talk about life. I love hearing from you!

Email: missionfaithblog@gmail.com
Facebook: Mission: Faith (like it, and tell your friends to like it too (: )
Twitter: @souldancer1996

God bless your weekend! Hope to hear from you!

Carmen's Testimony

Yay! Another testimony! Thanks so much for sending these in! I love hearing from you guys! (:

The really cool thing about being a Christian is there is always someone looking out for you. No matter how badly you screw up or how unloved you feel, you are ALWAYS loved by God. You have to really know that. And you know what? Jesus loves hearing from you. Talk to Him. He loves you no matter what. Do you love Him? Tell Him so. Sometimes it's really hard for me to fall asleep. When that happens I just talk to Jesus. Usually just telling Jesus I love Him over and over puts me to sleep. It's comforting to know He is always there listening.
The other thing about God is He is such a gentleman. He respects our space so much, that if we say "go away!" He will until we're ready to talk again. If you close your heart off to God, He will stay out. Similarly, though, if you let Him be a part of you and your life, He will and the most amazing things will happen. The easiest way to let Jesus in, is to just talk to Him. Let Him know you are ready to let Him in.

The Ten Commandments: Seventh Commandment

I cannot believe how far we have come in learning the commandments! This next one is fairly easy: Thou shalt not commit adultery. So really, 1) do not cheat on your husband/wife or girl/boyfriend and 2) don't do anything sexually immoral before marriage. God made us for ONE other person only, so you can wait until marriage! Simple enough?

There isn't much else I have... what is everyone planning to do over the weekend? Comment, I would love to hear back from you! Email me testimonies and prayer requests at missionfaithblog@gmail.com

Jessica's Testimony

Here's another wonderful testimony sent in from Jessica!

I've always gotten unbelievably nervous when it comes to singing solo, or even in a small group in front of people.  I reached out to the music minister at the church I go to, to help me with this.  She said she would cantor with me until I got the confidence to sing alone, and we did.  The first time cantoring went great, and I thanked God many times for that.  However, the second time we sang, what I was afraid of happening, happened.  My throat paniced under the nervousness and I sounded like I was trying to sing while dying.  I could feel all of the eyes on me, I was so embarresed!  I kept asking God the rest of that day: why would you give me such a wonderful voice if I can't show it to anyone? It made me even more nervous for cantoring again the following weekend to the point where I didn't know if I could do it.  Some point while I was asleep God came to me.  He spoke this verse from the bible:

 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Ecc. 3:1-8

 

I woke up in the morning and thought about it, everything happens for a reason.  What happened when I was singing HAD to occur so I could realize the only reason I was nervous was because I was only thinking about myself! He gave me the strength to get up and continue the mass after any confidence I did have had vanished, and now hes given me loads of confidence for this weekend.  Sometimes things happen to us that at the time may seem horrible, painful, and unfair, but in reflection we realize that without overcoming those obstacles we would never realize our potential, strength, will power, or heart.