I have been blown away by the faithfulness of God. Not just for me but also for my teammates.
Thank you for donating to help me reach my goal of $3,000 before Sept. 28th.
We did it!! We have met the first financial deadline!
I am now able to attend training camp on October 12-19. Woohoo!!! Thank you for all of your love, support, and encouragement! I'm so grateful to be able to call you my friends and family. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I've been trying to prepare myself for training camp by checking out current racers blogs. I've even stalked alumni racers blogs to see if they would have a bit more info of what camp is like. One thing was certain in every post, God showed up and did something incredible in their lives. So that's my mindset going into training camp. I just want God to change me from the inside out.
Our sermon on Sunday was exactly what I needed to hear. My church, Englewood, is starting a new series called Grace Place. It will focus on experiencing God's grace and expressing God's grace. This weeks topic was entitled The Masterpiece of You. It was such a wonderful sermon!! Pastor Doug did an excellent job of telling us all about the goodness of God's grace.
Our text was found in Ephesians 2:1-10 NLT
2 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
I love these verses! They give me so much joy and make me want to shout! I love that I serve a God, who loves me so much, that He sent His one and only son to die for me. Even when I was still in my sin. It is only by His grace that I am saved. And it wasn't by anything that I did, so I can't even try to boast about it. And here is my favorite part:
"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
I'll be honest. There are times that I don't feel like a masterpiece. What does being God's masterpiece even look like? Here is a video Pastor Doug showed in service and it helps answer that question.
After watching this video, I realized that the only way for me to be an effective missionary in 2014, is for God to chisel away Benita Townsend and replace me with the image of his son Jesus. So that is what I anticipate will happen at training camp. That's what I'm wanting to happen. I know it will hurt and it will probably be super uncomfortable. But I want to be God's masterpiece and I want to be all that he intended for me to be.
The journey won't end at training camp. It will be just the beginning. We launch in January 2014. In order for me to launch with my team, I am still in need of $1,985 before December 18, 2013. If you are willing to give, please click the support me link on the left or at the top.
Thank you so much for partnering with me on this journey.
Love you all!
Benita Christine
