New Life and Old Reminders

 

About 100 students from UTA and TCC came out to Cedar Hill to spend a weekend together learning about God and getting to know each other! Such a fun weekend that is so crucial in solidifying friendships early in the year. This is a picture of everyone at camp!

        Hey Everyone! Welcome back, this month was JAM PACKED. I have a lot of pictures to show you all from this month so I will mostly let those do the talking. However, I do want to preface with a reminder I've been thinking about a lot this month: 1st Corinthians 12:3 "No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit." So many cool things happened this month, including two baptisms of girls that are very special to me. As I thought about those and all the other things this month I was reminded through this scripture, that this is all the work of God. This so encouraged me. The fact that you give generously so that college students may come to know Jesus is an act of the Holy Spirit within you! The fact that students say yes to studying scripture every week is an act of the Holy Spirit within them! The fact that two girls decided to follow Jesus the rest of their lives this month, is an act of the Holy Spirit within them! Praise God for faithfully working in us and through us to create beautiful pockets of his kingdom on Earth. Praise God he lets us be a part of this. 

Baptisms!

    As I prepared for the baptisms of both of these girls I felt like God reminded me of a few things. God has drawn these girls to himself and now etches into their personal story the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, through baptism what is true of the messiah becomes true of them. What incredible news. 

    God not only binds them eternally to himself, and seals them with his Holy Spirit, but God is now also binding them to all of us who are believers. We are all partakers of the one baptism and are all also sealed by the Holy Spirit. We all have this shared story, Molly and Cassidy are now apart of your family, they are now apart of mine, they are now apart of ours! Our unity as believers under the shared Spirit and one baptism is something I think God has really reminded me of this month. I'm reading a book right now that put it this way "How quick are we to forget our shared story, we are knit closer to fellow believers than our marrow is knit to our bones." 

        Molly got baptized at the very beginning of September, she has met with me weekly since last August. She essentially didn't know any scripture, and did not know much about Jesus when we started meeting. Through the work of the Holy Spirit she came to know the Jesus that has gripped my heart, she decided she wants to call him Lord the rest of her life. Molly is one of the best question askers I know. This quality of hers has such a close resemblance to Jesus. So much of his ministry was done in question form, so cool he has given this to Molly. I can't wait to see her continue to walk with God and watch how he will use this gift of hers. 

        Cassidy got baptized at the very end of the month, what a way to bookend September! I also started meeting weekly with Cassidy last August. Cassidy was familiar with God and had wanted to follow him from a pretty young age, but had hit some bumps in the road that had knocked her off course for a bit. It has been a special thing to get to watch God draw her back to him. Cassidy has an acute awareness of where God is working and is quick to passionately share about it. I think this is a gift from God, that closely resembles Jesus. We need people like her in our body to not let us forget what God has done for us!

Meet Some New Faces

        Both of these girls are freshman at UTA that I get to meet with every week and study the bible. I included some details about them in the pictures and some ways you can pray for them. Pray for me as I continue to meet with them and get to know them. 

    The last new face I want you to meet is my friend Katherine! She has quickly become one of my best friends as we have gotten to know each other over the last year. This is us at a wedding recently. The picture has some more details you can read!

Other Fun Pictures From This Month

        As I was drawing on all these pictures I thought the thought bubbles were so funny, I hope you do as well. I want to close with one last reminder, please don't forget these are the faces that are being impacted by you!! Your generosity will continue to reach UTA far beyond the years you choose to give because the people in these pictures above are catching the vision to make disciples wherever they go. Thank you for being so faithful! 

Love, 

Sophie