After September....

Wow. Its been quite some time since I have written on this blog! Sorry everyone! :]! Anyway, school has started and I am ok with it. It is a very very *very* different experience....public school for the first time....but I'm really learning a lot about people in general and everything cool like that. Sweet. I got an iPhone a week after school started and I LOVE it! :D Its amazing!

I found a new favorite verse.... Jeremiah 1:7-8. It says "But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD." Such an amazing verse! It really helps to remind me that even though I am young, I'm still supposed to be very active in my faith. I don't need to be afraid of anyone because God is for me. And if God is for us, who can be against us? :]

Some major prayer requests....

• Callie, one of my very close friends, mom was diagnosed with leukemia in May of 2009. She is currently undergoing treatment and a bone marrow transplant. This is so incredibly difficult to go through as a family, but they continue to trust God and remember that He has a plan and that He works all thing together for the good of those who love Him.
• Michael, a friend that I know from school last year and through church, dad just passed away from cancer. This is obviously a difficult and tragic time for their family, and I am just praying that they would find comfort in Jesus and that they would just remember that Jesus loves them and has a plan for their lives, although it is so hard to see what he is doing.
• After those sobering items, I feel rather petty asking for this, but I am asking for prayer for myself and my school situation. Being surrounded by so much junk is so difficult and prayer that I can continue to trust God and be a light to those around me would be great.

Thanks for reading this everyone! Please continue to keep these families in your prayers!

Em

Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation for everyone who believes...."

I think this just might be my new favorite verse! It such a great reiminder of why we need to not be worried about what other people are thinking of us or what they might say to us. As Christians, we need to be unashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it IS the power of God!

Worldiness

Hey everyone! Today was our final ministry team meeting with youth group, and through the summer we have been reading a book called "Worldliness" by C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, Dave Harvey, Jeff Purswell, Craig Cabaniss, and Bob Kauflin. This is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone who really wants to figure out how to "be in the world, but not of the world." Now...here are some quotes that I like!

"We will never be useful to the world if we are being deeply shaped by the world. And we will be shaped by the world without intentional efforts not to be." -John Piper

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." -the apostle Paul, (Phil. 4:8)

"In the end, the sum of all beauty is Christ, and the sin of all worldliness is to diminish our capacity to see Him and be satisfied in Him and show Him compellingly to a perishing world."-John Piper

".....it was a gradual weakening, a subtle contaminating, and an eventual conforming to this world." -C.J. Mahaney

This book is full of great quotes like that- check it!

:]

So I'm awful at ever updating this. lovely. http://eemills20.blogspot.com/.....I accidentally made 2 blogs, and I update the other one more. But I don't have any followers there, so I guess I'l just update this one! So...this is the recap of my summer!

So here I am....reflecting on summer in general and thinking about all of the fun things that I have been able to do! :]! So wayy back.....in like, June......I went to family camp with my best friend's family. We had like the best wek ever, and I am so glad that I went! It was a really fun week and I met so many new people and did some pretty crazy stuff :]. it was.....epic. So yeah....I got home and was like "MOM! Book you calandar for family camp next year! :D! We are going!" and she was like ".....ok?.......'' fun stuff.

Now that my story has gotten to the lovley month of July, I am about to tell you of one of the funnest [its a word. don't judge. :)]. things that I did! Aren't you excited?.......no. actually, in July I did like nothing. and it was amazing. I *did* go to volleyball camp, which was super fun, although I was so sore :P. After volleyball, I was lazy.....untill the 20th, which was when I realized that I was leaving for Camp Barakel the next day. ooooh yeah. I am so smart. great. OH! Before I left for Barakel, I went on a day trip to Ann Arbor with my grandparents and Calvin. We had one of the most fun times ever! We ate lunch at Zingerman's Deli, which is like SO GOOD. Then we shopped around downtown, went to Borders, and then on the way back to Lansing, we went to Cabela's and REI. I am now officially in love with REI. just for general knowledge.

Now on to my great Camp Barakel story! I went with Lindsay, a girl I know from church. we had a blast! :] We were the Totally Terrific Tan Mini Wheats, and we were awesome. Our tribe was sweet at soccer, we like crushed the competition in this egg toss thing, and we were all around pretty much the coolest group of people you will ever meet. :]. Now you are aware.

After Camp B, I went home and wanted to sleep for like a week....I didn't though. I helped at fair because Megan was showing, and I went to shack and pretty much hade had an amazing time. Next Saturday I leave for Charlevoix, which could possibly be the best week of my summer. Annnd thats awesome.

So I tried putting pictures in and...they went in backwards. So sorry! The bottom one goes first...
And.... riding Eddie for the first time. So cool.
This is Megan and Julia, along with Mom and Dad's christmas gift to the girls- Eddie, a beautiful palimino gelding. What an awesome surprise!

First blog!

So...yeah. Here I am, with a blog, because a bunch of people said that I should get one. Today I did some science and attempted math (notice the attempted) and thought about future life professions. Oh, and I watched old SURVIVOR episodes!!!! And I went out to the pasture and took off Eddie's winter jacket thing, which promptly got stuck on his foot and he was freaking out. I also freaked out because I thought he was going to blot, and asked (well, screamed) at Megan what to do. She jumped into the pasture and helped me get it off....he snorted as us when we were done, almost like "get out of my pasture!". Well, yeah. Thats what I did today. OH! One of our cats got run over the other day....pretty sad.....