Refiner's Fire

God is good and his steadfast love endures forever!

 (Weber State Thursday)

Here's the update: 

            The Filers are back east in New Jersey and West Virginia spending time with loved ones and raising support. They are gone most of April which is so exciting for them! Joe has been feeling great, praise God!

            Last week I went to Temple Square a few times and had some good conversations. When I was going down to Salt Lake with the group from my ward I kind of realized my mission field is LDS girls specifically, because I hadn't been able to open up relationships with LDS guys. However, this weekend I did! I had a game and movie night with a few guys from my ward at the Blue House and it was really fun. I'm glad God continues to break my expectations!

This past Thursday-Saturday I got to hang out with Meghan Cassidy, a girl from college group at LBAC. She was traveling to Wisconsin to go raise her niece and nephew. I was so encouraged by her dedication to being Jesus to this family. It was SOO cool to hang out with her for a few days and be able to encourage her as well. We spent time together watching Zac Efron movies (HSM3 and 17 Again!), singing songs from Tangled, going to Intervarsity, exploring Temple Square, hanging out with the LDS guys, and having people over for pancakes on Saturday. It was a joy to have her here and I hope God makes it happen again soon!

            Sunday I went to my ward and in Relief Society (girls' club) we were told to not give into sexual temptation because we are daughters of god and are future goddesses. From here on out, I will use a lower case "g" when referring to the god of Mormonism. I did not like hearing that crazy doctrine said so nonchalantly, but it does open me up to addressing the blasphemy to Mormons, because I heard that from attending their meetings and not from reading "anti-Mormon" literature. 

            Something to pray for: Joe asked me to move forward with a new thing for the blue house. We basically want to make it a living community centered on loving God and people. Please pray for God to do a miracle with this whole thing and how to not make it interfere with what God is doing with Intervarsity. I'm impulsive but am horrible at making things actually happen. Please pray that God will put this vision on the hearts of those he wants involved and that Ogden will be changed.

            Tonight I got a really cool place marker for where I am at spiritually. What people here observe in me is not anything like I was last year. What I took pride in before seems empty compared to what God has done in me now. He has made me a new person. He has brought me through the Refiner's Fire that I may love him. When asked who Jesus was, the man born blind said, "One thing I do know, though I was that though I was blind, now I see." My “testimony” of Christ is that though I was proud, now I love. I get to bring my new self back home for Easter (how fitting)!

(My backyard Friday)

            It has been snowing here which is a cool illustration for the blood of Christ. It covers up a dead land with the whitest stuff you ever saw. It’s the most peaceful in the world. When the sun comes out, it nourishes the land and out comes healthy plants, deeply green and hearty. Though we have to go through spiritual winters, I hope you find the peace, purity and nourishment that come from Jesus alone. When you are made new, may you be hearty and healthy and glad for even the coldest nights. It has been a really tough process for me because some parts of it still hurt, but I thank him all the same for freeing me from myself.

 (This week at Temple Square)

Isaiah 42:5-10 and 43:1-5

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,