Unrelenting Prayer

So sorry I haven't blogged in forever. Life has been moving so fast! Can't believe it's almost October of 2011. Crazy. I've been reading Unrelenting Prayer by Bob Sorge for school and it was so good that I thought I would quote it here. =)

God bears long with His beloved elect because He has strategic purposes in the wait. We must become convinced that God has redemptive purposes in waiting to avenge us against our adversaries. He waits to show his wrath and his glory, to accelerate our learning, to shape and deepen our faith, and to produce patience in us among others.
He uses the waiting season to accelerate your learning curve. When God wants to put you on the fast track, He brings everything in your life to a grinding halt. Everything stops and all you can do is wait on him. To do the quickest work in you, God waits. He puts you in His crucible, sticks you into the fire, turns the flame on high, and then says, "Wait on me." There, in that place of intense heat and pressure, He will change you fare more effectively than if there were no fire. Through the crucible, God can do a deeper and more comprehensive work within you in 3 years than in 15 years with no pressure.
Waiting has a way of changing everything about you. I said to the Lord, "Okay, Lord, if You're so intent on changing me, go ahead and deal with the matter at hand. I realize You want to touch my pride. So lets stay on task and deal with my pride." I could imagine him responding, "Yes, Bob, I'm going to deal with your pride. But I'm also going to visit a host of other issues in your soul at the same time." When God has us waiting on Him, he messes with every compartment in our being. He leaves no stone unturned. He starts at A and doesn't give up until He's made it all the way to Z.
But I complained, "Lord, this doesn't have anything to do with A or Z. You're dealing with P right now. you're after my pride. Deal with P, and then let's move on to Kingdom exploits." He came right back, "Oh yes, we'll take care of P, all right. But while we've got you here, let's go ahead and hit everything else while we're at it." He uses the crucible to change everything about you, so that you might be conformed to the image of Christ. And how does he accomplish this? Simply by bearing long with you.
God doesn't seem to be quite in the rush that we are. He has taken an eternity to get to this point, and He knows He has an eternity ahead of Him. So if He takes, as in the case of Abraham, 25 years to birth your destiny, then what's the big deal? When you look at how God wrote the stories of His greatest saints-like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Hannah, Naomi, David, Jeremiah, and many others-one of the common denominators of their lives is how God took many years to craft and complete the story of their lives.
On one occasion, when I was keenly feeling both the duration and the pain of the wait, I asked the Lord to hurry up and finish His work in my life. That's when I heard, "I call fast boring." God is a good Author, and He likes a good plot. He's into dramatic flair, story lines with mounting tension, and climactic conclusions. He wants to build some suspense into your story, together with some intrigue, and a good splash of romance. By the time He's finished writing the story of your life, Joseph won't be the only one with a tale to tell. You'll also be able to say, "Let me tell you about the time....."
God doesn't measure the journey in days or weeks or months. He shapes the broad strokes of your life with a brush called "years". So when it seems that God is taking years to complete His work in your life, don't be alarmed or thrown off balance. Stay in the place of persevering prayer, and pace yourself for a lifetime of adventure with God.

Isn't that good? =) God is so good to us! He waits on us because He wants to make us more like him and knows we can't handle the answer if he gives it to us when we want it. God is so faithful to our hearts!!!!

New Blog Page

I don't know how many of you know, but I am planning on going to China on a mission trip this summer and have created a blog to post updates about my trip. You can follow it at http://summerinchina2011.blogspot.com.

Have a blessed day!!!!

Ashton =)

College Graduation!!!!!!!!!!!

Well........I have some pretty exciting news for you! March 23rd, 2011 is a very special day. =) Today I took my Introduction to Educational Psychology CLEP test and passed. This moved my credits up to 120 which means.......

I'M A COLLEGE GRAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

I now have a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies. =) I won't actually graduate until June but I've done all the work, so for me it counts as graduation! =) I'm so excited I'm about ready to burst! My parents and Mallory met me afterword and took me to eat Chipotle! =) It's still very hard for my brain to comprehend that I don't have any more school! As for the rest of my year I have lots of things to keep me busy! I am currently working on our dance performance we are doing in June called Firstborn from the Dead and Sleeping Beauty. =) So that takes lots of time. I get to start playing piano again as well as do Calculus I and II for fun! I miss math so much, so I am going to do those and then I'll probably be done. =) I am also preparing to go to China this summer! I'm still working out all the little details but so far it looks like I'll be going for about a month. So I am starting to learn Mandarin Chinese. =) And then in August, I'm going to start my second degree. I will be attending IHOP's Bible school, IHOPU, and getting a four year degree in Biblical Studies. =)
Another exciting thing is I'm getting a facebook! I don't have time to set it up today, but I'll probably have one by this weekend......so look me up! =)

Hope ya'll have a fabulous day!

Love,
Ashton =)

Praying for Japan

Most of you know of the current status in Japan from the earthquake that happened a little under two weeks ago. Just wanted to post some prayer updates:

>Dacia Bostrom (the student from Japan living here with the Kawase family) went back a week ago to visit her family for a month. While she is there they are planning on visiting Sendai, the epicenter, and providing hot meals and the good news of Jesus Christ! =) Pray that they will be safe from everything including the radiation!
>Mr. and Mrs. Kawase left this morning for Japan. Mr. Kawase was cleared as a Doctor to be able to go into Sendai and minister to the people there for 10 days. Mrs. Kawase will be assisting him as well as helping with the Bostrom family. Pray that they will have traveling mercies, especially since they are traveling with lots of medical supplies. Also pray they will be safe from radiation since they will be driving past the nuclear plants.
>Pray for Grandma Kawase as she was alive during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is really hard for her seeing her son willingly put himself near the radiation in order to help other people.
>That God's purposes will come forth in Japan through this crisis. God causes all things to work together for his glory! Pray for the hearts of the Japanese people that they would turn to Christ as the only savior to help them through this massive crisis

Thank you all for praying! My heart hurts for our Japanese brothers and sisters. But God holds all things in his hands!

Much love,
Ashton =)

All About Your Gaze

 

Eyes never cease to amaze me. I love looking at people's eyes. Ever heard that phrase, "The eyes are the window to the soul"? Well, it's very true.....at least for me. I can tell a million things about a person just by looking at their eyes or a photo of their eyes. I can read how they are doing in an instant. Whether its been a rough day, if they are excited, tired, genuinely telling you the truth how they are doing, whether they have something on their mind, their personality, something exciting just happened to them.......anything and everything is expressed through the eyes. =) Eyes have an indescribable depth. Some are cloudy, some are clear, some are vibrant, some have a soft warm feel.....they are all mystifying.


I was thinking about the different color of eyes. Green, blue, grey, brown, chocolate swirl color, yellow, hazel, mixtures.......all different, incredibly unique designs by God. What color do you think Jesus' eyes were? Knowing He was from Jewish descent, I've often pondered if they were brown or had a color swirl in them. The Bible tells us what they look like. Revelation 1:14 says His eyes are like flames of fire. What does this mean? Do they look yellow/orange/bronze-ish or are they constantly moving and changing like a fire is? I'm not sure of the answer but I do know His gaze is probably intense! 

And God obviously cares about our eyes because He put so much detail into creating them, making them one of our 5 senses, and talking a lot about how to guard our eyes. So what do you think? Why is it that God made our eyes to show how we are doing and to be the window of our souls? What is it about eyes that God has so highly valued them? It says in Psalms that we were created to gaze on beauty. Our job for eternity is to gaze at God in his indescribable holiness. The seraphim were created with eyes all around to gaze at God. As were the four living creatures around the throne who never cease to cry out "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come." since they were created. That is their job description.....how awesome is that? =) Eyes are so small, yet so important!


So my question to you.....what do your eyes say about who you are? What are your eyes fixed on?

Eating grapefruit

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time!!!!! I found this on the Yahoo news page....

~ashton

January 9th!!!!!!!

Today is January 9th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which means.......IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! =)

I have had quite a busy last couple of weeks with Christmas, OneThing, Lizzy staying with us for a while, and then my birthday. A big group of people went ice skating yesterday downtown at Crown Central for my birthday. It was really cold, 11 degrees without windchill, but it was a lot of fun. Then we went back to my house to have dinner, cupcakes and icecream, play games, hang out, and watch a movie. Some of the girls got to spend the night and this morning we went to church, came home and ate lunch, and took a much needed nap. After we woke up I got to open some presents. =) And now we are preparing for this next school semester. 


All in all it was a pretty fabulous birthday! I can't believe I'm 19! I'm really excited to see what God is going to do in this next year of my life!

Here are some highlights of my past year:
>I went from having 27 college credits to 105
>I was able to perform in my friend Kirsti's graduation for dance
>I got my first real job working at Holiday Inn Express as a breakfast hostess

>I got to go on a mission trip to Taiwan and Japan
>I got to visit Georgia this summer for 4 weeks
>I went to summer camp as part of the rising college women (my last year of camp as a camper)
>I got to go to Branson, MO on a trip with my family and grandparents (Tablerock lake.....absolutely beautiful!!!!)
>I went on a cruise paid for by my grandparents to the Bahamas with my family, aunts, uncles, and grandparents
>I was able to have an incredible part in the Christmas performance for dance that I had wanted (I got to represent the Spanish speaking nations by performing Spanish)
>I got to go back to Georgia for Christmas and had our first White Christmas in Georgia since the 1800s (and see my old studio's dance performance!)

>I got to have one of my good friends from dance and another good friend whom I've known since 2nd grade come out for OneThing 2010
>And I got to finish out 2010 by participating in the best New Year's Eve party ever with 30,000 of my closest friends! This was my 8th year to be at OneThing for New Year's. I wouldn't miss it for the world. There is just nothing greater than to be worshiping Jesus finishing a year and starting a new one!


So now I have 364 days left of being a teenager.....a very odd thought. =) But I am excited for the new experiences and things God has planned for me for this year!


Hope you've had a fabulous day!
Ashton =)