December Update

 

Happy Holidays! 

    Grateful to have made it to the end of another semester of ministry, I am excited to share my final update of the year with you! Thank you for making another month, another semester, another year of campus ministry possible. I hope when you read these you hear and see both the ways God is actively changing lives at UTA, and the ways you are impacting lives at UTA. Your impact is vast, and it's effect will be felt for generations of college students. 

Reflecting: 

    As this semester has come to a close, I have found myself reflecting on the students God has entrusted to us this year. The faces of the people we prayed for in the summer were finally revealed this fall. I wanted to remind both you and I of who some of these people are. Starting with my core, the picture up the top, Briana, Zariya, Precious, Maddie, Lindsey, Taylor (not pictured), and Lauren (not pictured) all just finished their first semester in FOCUS and college for majority of them. Please pray for me to continue to honor God and those girls by being faithful and attentive to them. It is such a privilege to get to take part in what God is doing in other people's lives, pray that my care for them over winter break is just as obvious as it is during the school year. 

    This is Laurel and Alisa's core! I get to meet with Laurel and Alisa every week, our time together is always something I look forward to. Both of them are earnest, diligent, and eager to do their best for God. The three girls in the very back, Haylee (gray UTA shirt), Emily (Raptors shirt), and Melody (bleach blonde hair), all have just completed their first semester in college and in FOCUS. Please pray that girls would continue to encounter God at UTA. Pray for Alisa and Laurel as they continue to be shepherds in these girls lives, and that they would remain connected over break! 

    This is Skylar and Laura's core! I also meet with them weekly and I have loved getting to watch them lead core for the first time. They are some of the most tender-hearted earnest girls I know. This has really shaped their core. The two girls in very back, both wearing glasses, have both completed their first semester in FOCUS, their names are Gaby and Jessie. I was hanging out with Gaby (Blonde in the back right corner, with glasses) and she shared something that I just thought was so touching, and so spoke to Skylar and Lauras humble leadership. She said: "Normally when I pray, I say God if you never give me another good thing, thank you for my wonderful family. Now when I pray, I say God if you never give me another good thing, thank you for my wonderful family, AND the best core ever." Join me in praying for Jessie and Gaby, and Skylar and Laura. Pray that God would continue to grow and nourish faithfulness and friendship among them. 

    Lastly, this isn't a core haha but so worth praising God for and praying about. This is Haven, she is a freshman at UTA, she came over to do some pottery with me lol. She is also one of the people we were praying for in the summer that God connected us with at the beginning of the school year. Pray that she continues to experience God and his love in our community in the four years to come. 

    Join me in prayer that all of these girls would become pillars of christian community on UTA's campus in the years to come. Pray with me that we would be faithful shepherds and friends to them over winter break and over the next 3.5 years they have with us. Pray that we are able to lay a rock solid foundation of faith while they are here, so when they graduate they are well positioned to be life long disciples, ready to be faithful in the workplace. 

So thankful for you and your heart for Jesus' mission in the microcosm that is campus ministry, thank you for modeling faithfulness well to me and so many others. 

Until next month, 

Love, 

Sophie