It's All About You, Jesus

I have been here in Hampton Beach almost 5 full days now. This week has been slow, but I have enjoyed it. I have been able to get all settled into this new town and into the house--which is awesome!

It is this great old boarding house/ hotel that a wonderful couple bought in order to keep the Hampton Beach Summer Project here for a few more years. So great of them to follow the Lord's leading. It has been a true blessing to see them work so very hard all week in order to get this house just right before all of the other students arrive on Tuesday.

I have one roommate during project, and she is also babysitting another family this week. We love the room that the staff picked out for us and are making it feel like home little by little. Leopardy is already comfortable on my bed! And the Tiffany/Robin-egg blue that all the bedroom furniture is painted is SO ADORABLE! I am in love….

Also, we are SO incredibly close to the beach! 

And do I LOVE the New England coastline.

This song came to mind as I was working on this post, so feel free to listen as you continue reading!

So Wednesday evening I wrote out a post, and actually ended up posting it. I will go over briefly what the post was about and then explain why I deleted that first post. Wednesday was my birthday, and it was hard. I woke up and the first thing I did that morning was cry, because I wanted to be at home, running down MY own stairs and seeing balloons on MY chair and having some presents of MY own waiting on the table for me. It was all about ME! ME! ME! After I cried for like a minute I shook myself out of it and said to myself, “Rachel, what are you crying for? Are you 4 years old? Seriously, you are going to cry over this?” But Ben Folds has it right when he sang, “Everybody knows it hurts to grow up.” I turned twenty. That’s pretty old (or feels old). And I should not be worried about silly balloons and presents. But even more importantly, it’s not about ME. I would not even be celebrating if God did not have some purpose to bring me down to this earth. And so that changed the whole mindset of my day.

Immediately following that little epiphany I went downstairs to read out of my devotional (let me just say, if you are looking for a good devotional Mornings with Tozer is phenomenal!) and what do you think it was about? Oh yeah—it was talking about how we need to live our lives so that in EVERYTHING we may glorify our Lord, Jesus Christ! I Peter 4:11 reads: “whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Even though it was my birthday, it was neat to really not have people showering my with gifts and constantly saying happy birthday.

The funny thing about the first post, however, was that I wrote about how I had no celebration. Everyone was busy all day, my roommate had no idea it was my birthday, and only one of the staff members said anything to me. I wrote about how even though that was rough, it really made me grasp what God was showing me—that every thing that we do, say think, needs to ultimately bring Him all the glory. We should not desire any glory to come to us, because He is the one who enables us to do anything. So…minutes after I posted that about how even though I was bummed I got no celebration, it was still an ok day, what do you think happened? I heard some whispering outside and then ALL of the women on project came through the door singing happy birthday and kidnapped me for a trip to get some ice cream. I was so very thankful for that—mainly just for being able to spend some time with these awesome women who love the Lord with every fiber of their bodies. While I am grateful for them, I will still work on realizing that it truly is all about Him. The sooner I am actually able to wrap my selfish mind around that fact and then put those thoughts into action, the better. 

Collin and Cora!

I have been babysitting these two cuties all week. Let me just say, anyone out there who is thinking about having kids, seriously just babysit some little guys for a couple days and then ask yourself once again if you are ready. Kids are tiring. They are a WHOLE LOT of work and they will use up every single ounce of energy in you. My little guys are great an lots of fun, but they wear me out! I should actually rephrase what I said before: those of you who are thinking about having a second or third child, rethink. While having one child can be difficult, trying to keep an eye on two little boogers is near impossible—especially when we go to the park! Talk about some anxiety! Ha. Serious props to you parents out there with several little tikes rompin’ around everywhere. Not sure how my momma did it!
Here are a few photos of the precious little ones:

 Cora is a honest to goodness BEAUTY!

 Collin's smile warms the depths of my heart!

Now here is a very neat little something I wanted to share with you all. My sister gave it to me the morning I left to come on project, and I think that its worth everyone’s read:

“A young figure skater with a dream of winning an Olympic gold medal does not just read about skating, watch videos about skating, sing songs about skating, listen to advice about skating, and hang out with other skaters. She devotes her heart, soul, mind body, energy, and time to skating. She gets up before dawn, practices tirelessly for countless hours, and spends every spare moment of her days, nights and weekends on the ice. That kind of passionate, unyielding dedication is a picture of what it means to build our life around intimacy with God in the inner sanctuary of our hearts. Don’t settle for hearing about intimacy with Him, singing about intimacy with Him, or reading about intimacy with Him; really discover true intimacy with Him by building your entire life around Him!”

Thank you so much Mary for sharing that with me! It really gives an interesting perspective and encourages me to press forward, full-steam ahead, into a deeper relationship with Christ. 


Please continue to pray for me here: that the Lord would continue to work in my heart, and that the rest of my support would be raised! If you want to donate a few dollars ONLINE, please do!
Blessings to you all!
Rachel

Hello New England!

HELLO ALL! I am sitting in the Logan International Airport in Boston at the moment waiting on my ride to HAMPTON BEACH! I don’t know if I will have time to blog tonight or not, but I just wanted to say a couple things!

First, even though I have arrived (almost to the beach) I am only one of two students here. I am babysitting the children of one of the couple’s who are on staff with Cru. This was a HUGE blessing to get this job because it lowers the cost of my project!

Speaking of cost, I will still be raising support through the summer until I have met my goal (I have about $700 to go!) So if you feel led to support me, you can donate ONLINE (by clicking here) or send a check (made out of Campus Crusade for Christ—this makes it tax deductable, WHOOHOO!) to this address:

Rachel Hrovat

Campus Crusade for Christ

20 G St.

Hampton Beach, NH 03842

I also have a TON of stationary that I brought with me and I MUST get rid of it by the end of these 11 weeks—that means SEND ME LETTERS! 

Here are some cools things that happened to me on my trip up here to Boston that just show how God is walking along side me and cares about even the smallest details in my life:

Right as I walked out the door of my house this morning (at 3:00am, mind you) I received a text from one of my good friends (who is currently in Hawaii) telling me how excited she was for all that God was going to do in my life this summer—I was so encouraged by her showing her support, but also it was AWESOME that I received it just as I was setting out.

Ok, so I have only ever flown once (to Hungary) and LOVED it…but traveling by yourself is a much different experience and I now can honestly say I am NOT a fan of flying. Whew. Its been stressful. I was almost in tears on the way to the airport because Dad and I were running a bit late. However, God got me to the front of the looooonnnggg baggage check line and I basically sprinted through security with about 15 minutes to spare for my first flight! THANK YOU, LORD!

Then I had a layover of about 2.5 hours in JFK. I got some breakfast, settled in, and then was just resting. Not long after, they made an announcement that my fight was delayed by an hour and a half. This meant NAP TIME for tired Rachel! So I dozed off for awhile, then went and checked on my flight status, and we were still scheduled to leave at 11:50. So at around 10:30 I found a cozy little corner in the terminal, set my alarm on my phone, and fell asleep—pretty much was zonked out. Because of this, I missed the announcement that my flight was actually leaving at 11:00! By the grace of God, he woke me from my slumber. I then had to go to the bathroom VERY badly (which was weird seeing as I had already gone twice since landing) so I was walking towards the restroom when I saw the passengers to my flight BOARDING! Fifty minutes early! I would have missed my flight---again, THANK YOU, LORD!

The third thing that was neat was that for both of my flights, no one sat in the seat next to me. I will say at first I was bummed because I was excited to meet people, but it turned out for the best because I was able to get some rest this way and have some space to stretch out. And one more—THANK YOU, LORD!

Alright, well like I said I will not be starting the actually project until next Tuesday when the rest of the students arrive, but would very much appreciate if during this week (and continuing into project) if you could pray for me in these areas:

1. Ezekiel 36:26-27—“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

I do have a very hard heart and I desire for the Lord to take it and soften it towards His children, those who follow Him and those who do not. I want to be led by His Spirit and follow His lead while I am on project and continuing throughout my life.

2. That the rest of my support would come in for this trip.

Thanks again! I am really looking forward to starting this project and for all that God is going to do! I will keep you all posted and hopefully will be adding pictures and such to this blog! Love each and every one of you. I miss home madly already, but am still so grateful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity!

The Final Countdown...

This is my 5^th attempt at writing this post…heavens to Betsy! I would start, then stop because I had written too much, then would try to cut it down to a more reasonable length, but never was able to complete it! Yesterday I talked to my friend Megan, and she said to me, “I want to know all about you!” and she encouraged me to just write everything and leave nothing out. Here goes!

Right now I am sitting in the children’s section of the public library. I probably look very strange to people walking by, but I would much rather sit here than upstairs in complete silence with boring old adults all around. The laughter of children and hearing parents reading to their kids is much more peaceful to me than any quiet place. I remember coming to this place when I was a wee lass. This now feels like the perfect place to write this post!

This post is all about how I came to this point in my life—leaving for Summer Project in less than a week (5 days!)—so being here in the library, where I would come when I was little is so cool! I kinda just ended up here because I don’t like working in coffee shops and needed some internet in town. Ha. Love the way He works. I wanted to give you all a glimpse into my life since all of you have been such a big part of it!

I very much appreciate my parents, and growing up in a home that was centered around the Lord. They encouraged us to read our Bibles and spend time with God. We memorized scriptures and studied the Old Testament. Every day during my home school years, we would begin with reading the Bible. We moved during the summer before my 7^th grade year in order to go to a private school. This school was a Christian school and we had an entire class devoted to studying the Word. So to say the least, my whole life up until college, I was constantly being fed information about God. Learning about His love, truth, forgiveness. Studying the miracles of Jesus and learning about other religions as well so that I may defend my own beliefs. Some of my friends said that I would go crazy in college because I would not know what to do without rules (my parents could be very strict at times—I’m thankful for that though, now). I could not say whether I would or not, but just waited for that time to arrive to see how I would react.

God was totally evident in directing my steps to CNU. My prayer during my senior year was “God, please leave open the door to the school you want me to be at, and close all of the other doors”. He did just that. When it came time to choose a school, CNU was basically my only option. So glad it was—I am in love with this school!

I was shy at times during my freshman year. I tried to get involved with various ministries on campus, but left the meetings feeling rejected and forgotten. So I gave up on making friends who were believers and in the “Christian community” and harbored bitterness towards many individuals within that community for some time. With just a few weeks left during my freshman year, my friend Eric invited me to Cru, which I had never been to. The first meeting I went to was great—just what I needed. The group was small, the message good and then there was a discussion afterwards. I started to get involved in the last few weeks of the semester, and was so thankful to make some friends that I could talk to about scripture and things that God as doing in my life. It is said that "Good things come to those who wait" and if the Lord wanted me to wait longer, I gladly would have, and it would have been worth it because I completely loved Cru's ministry.

Then came my sophomore year. What a year of growth this has been. I just think back to the summer right before I came back to school, and when I left for summer break 2011 a few weeks ago and am astounded by what God has done in my life. I have had SO much prayer from friends and family. A family at my church back home started sending me letters, verses, cookies (nom nom) and encouragement which always seemed to come at just the right time to lift me up when I was getting down in the dumps. Along with this family at my home church, God also led me to Hope Community Church where I attend while I am at school. Again, God's hand working in leading me there is another incredible story! He also began to work in my heart and removed the bitterness that was there by placing those who had hurt me in my life to heal those relationships. Now many those same people are dear friends of mine.

These friends are irreplaceable. I cannot even describe how blessed I am to have them in my life! They encourage me in my walk with Christ and are there for me when I slide into sin and start complaining about so many stupid little things. I could go on for another million paragraphs about them, but seeing as this post is already quite lengthy, I will resist!

I am sitting, trying to think of certain events that I could pinpoint as times where “growth” occurred, but is has been a long process and it is only when I step back and look at where I was, can I realize how far He has brought me. During the fall, I would never have thought about going on a summer project. Even at the beginning of this semester (after hearing all about various projects at Radiate-a winter conference) I thought some about going on a project abroad, specifically to Slovenia, but it was never more than a passing thought. I had no summer plans but thought about working at a camp or continuing to teach swim lessons. Then God brought a person so very dear to me into my life—Sara Lockhart.

Sara started talking to me at a cookout Cru had and asked if we could meet sometime (maybe once a week) to go through scriptures. I was thrilled! What an opportunity. So as we kept talking, she asked me about going on a project, and I just said that I had thought about one abroad. She then started talking about Hampton Beach and for some reason I became very interested. I do love America, but I feel like my heart DEFINITELY lies overseas (especially in Eastern Europe). Nevertheless, I started feeling pulled towards Hampton Beach (wonder Who could be responsible for that?) and the next thing I knew, I had applied and was accepted!

Then, over the past couple months, I have (with the help of you all!!!!) raised $2,000 to go on this trip! If you would like to DONATE, you still can! I still have a little ways to go to meet my goal, but know that He will provide! God is sooooo very faithful, and I am honestly just so so SO overwhelmed with his provision. I know I say that in almost every post, but it is so true. I am just dumbfounded.

Now only 5 days stands between me and Hampton Beach! I am sick with anticipation and am both nervous and excited. Definitely an equal mixture of both. PLEASE continue to keep me in your prayers! I still have some money left to raise, but more than financial, just that the Lord would prepare my heart! It is so close and I feel so unprepared! Love to you all!

Two Weeks Notice

Two weeks is all that remains between me and Hampton Beach!

Because of the title of this blog, I thought of the movie, Two Weeks Notice, with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. A great line from that film, said by Bullock's father in the movie, is "As long as people can change, the world can change". I am excited to see the ways in which I grow and change (for the better!) this summer as I embark on this project!

Since I’ve been home this past week, I have talked with many friends about this trip. It is hard for me to put into words exactly what I am doing in Hampton Beach because I am not even exactly sure. I probably sound crazy to some as I say, “I’m going to New Hampshire for 10 weeks….not sure exactly what I am doing yet!” But this is true. I know that there will be some focus on building or sharpening certain leadership qualities to enable us as we return to our various campuses in the fall. We will also learn about evangelism—something that I have had mixed feelings toward, but am excited to learn more about since sharing the great news about the love and forgiveness that comes with knowing Christ is one thing that God commands Christians to do. It will really be a time of learning, growing, and sharing. Your prayers are very much appreciated as I know that at times I will be overwhelmed!

Now I just want to take a moment to, once again, say THANK YOU to you all who have supported me. In the short time (just a little over a month) I have raised around $1600, which is truly incredible. The generousness of individuals astounds me and I am so thankful for each of you.

One thing that I have already started growing in is my trust in the Lord. Sometimes my dad will ask me what I am going to do if I, for some reason, do not get enough money for the trip. My response is always the same: “I’m not worried about that, Dad. I know that God will provide”. And He has. Even at times when I am starting to doubt that I will get all of the funds, one of you all have written me a check or have expressed your desire to help me out financially. And to those of you who are keeping me in your prayers, I also want to extend my thanks to you! John Wesley once said:

“Prayer is where the action is”

and I believe this to be true. Prayer is a powerful thing. Your prayers for me are moving others to give. Stirring someone to come up and talk to me about my trip and encourage me as I step out of my comfort zone. It has been incredibly wonderful to be home this past week, and I am looking forward to my last 2 weeks in beautiful Augusta County—it truly is spectacular in the springtime! Paul said in Galatians 1:26, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers" and I feel the same way about those of you who have supported this trip and are praying for me. Every time I think about each of you a smile crosses my face and I am so encouraged!