The Cornerstone

Well I haven't posted anything lately-sorry about that. Things have been crazy here! Let's see...

Three weeks ago we had the first of our 2 Colour Conferences, which are women's conferences put on by Hillsong and hosted by Bobbie Houston. All the college students served in the first conference, which we had in the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and I served in HMA (Hillsong Music Australia). Basically, I had to manage a table of journals and bibles from our Resource Center, it wasn't too hard of a job. I was very tired though, we would catch the bus from here in Glenwood at 6:30am and got home between 10:00-11:00pm, and then get up and do it all over again the next day! It really was good though, the women [all 11,000 of them =) ]so appreciated our service. It was great to see all kinds of women from across the world, come together to receive a vision for this year and be equipped spiritually to change their world.

The following weekend we had the second conference, which we held here in our Convention Centre at church, and there were about 5,000 women this time. The 1st year college girls got to attend the 2nd conference! It was so nice to be able to dress up, relax under umbrellas on the lawn, and just be with friends. The whole 2 weeks was a great experience.

Last week we got back to regular classes and everybody was pretty happy. In college, we're spit up into Tutorial Groups, so there's about 20-25 people in a class, and I absolutely love my tutorial. We're used to being together everyday, so being spread out for 2 weeks seemed like an eternity! So when classes started back up, everyone was really glad to see each other.

God's just teaching me so much. I feel like I've been stretched, changed and learned more in these last 2 1/2 months than I have in my whole life! There's been hard moments and God's still pointing out areas that I need to work on, issues having to do with trust and submission, in particular. Things that He's been working in me for the last 3 years... It's a process, but such a good one. One thing that really got my attention was at Sunday night church, on March 14th. Priscilla Shirer was preaching (She's brilliant!) and she read Matthew 21:42, where Jesus talks about the stone the builder's rejected becoming the cornerstone. She was saying that the hard times in our lives-the 'stones'- will teach us foundational truths. And in that moment, I felt God say to me, "Your time here will be the cornerstone for the rest of your life.", and it really got my attention. It's actually been really hard being here, and I always knew that this experience would forever alter my life... but after God specifically spoke this to me, I realized how crucial it was that I pay attention and engage in what God's doing right here in this season of my life. So over the last couple weeks I've been doing my best to really live in the 'now' and learn and grow in every way I can. It's been so good. I still have my moments, but my perspective has changed a lot, and I'm really looking forward to what God will do in and around me in these next 8 months.

There's been so much more, but I couldn't possibly write everything that has changed in me or everything that God is doing or speaking. It has been such an amazing experience so far. I'm really looking forward to coming home, but I'm more looking forward to the changed person I'll be when I get there. =)