Journaling Session on The Day, I Believe, Changed My Life

Here is my Easter morning journaling session. I'm just late posting it, but I hope its still a worthy late post.

Four years ago today God saved my life. He saved me from a life of hoping I was good enough to go to heaven, a life of doing everything on my own, and a life of going to hell. That day he gave me true life, and life way better than I had ever had. Life has never been so good. Even in the hard times I know that He is there, that He understands and cares, and that He is going to carry my through. I have learned through every hard time that He is faithful in showing up, and through that I have experienced how much he cares about me. Never has He left me side to walk through life alone, even in the grimmest of times, when I don't know how I'm going to make it through, He's been right there, always pulling me through. For that I thank Him! I thank Him for the love He has for me. That He saw my brokenness, my unrighteousness, and made my righteous. God sees the people of this earth, and despite our harsh words against Him and/or our decisions to not follow Him, He still loves us.

Romans 5:8-9 

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 

Four years ago is when I began my journey of discovering what this meant. I had parents and grandparents on both sides who knew the importance of going to church, so we went every Sunday.(which I am so thankful for!) However, even through that, my life was the same as someone who didn't go to church. I was no better off in getting into heaven than they were. My prayers were out of fear because I wanted God to see I was trying to be a good christian, but at the same time I wasn't following His commandments. All my going to church, all my prayers, my volunteering of time, I could never do enough of that to get on God's "good side". You know, the side we want to be on, the side that hopefully means we get to walk through the gates of heaven when our time comes. 

John 3:16 says this:

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But what does that mean for us? Why is it so important and said so often? This verse talks about the greatest gift ever given. A gift we know is something you receive, you did nothing for it, someone just bought it for you and gave it to you. That's exactly what God did for you: He gave you the free gift of eternal life, He gave you a free way into heaven. Sin separates us from God, and the punishment for sin is death/eternal separation from God. Jesus paid that punishment for us. Jesus died on the cross, was separated from God the Father, just as we should have been. Because Jesus paid the penalty of sin for us, now all we have to do is accept the gift that God has given us. It's not enough to know intellectually that God is real and that Jesus died on the cross. We must believe that He died on the cross for us personally, that "my" sins were paid for. 

Four years ago is when I believed this. I went to church on Easter night and in one way or another said those words, but it didn't stop there. I now was saved I had eternal life, but there was more waiting for me. I started going to a bible study and learning what the bible said about God. I began to understand who He was and His words brought peace and understanding to my life. I began to understand who God really was and is: the characteristics of Him, how He really thinks of me and how He wants me to live. I realized everything He set in place, all His commandments were out of love. As my creator, He knew what was best for me, and what wasn't. Just like a cell phone creator knows water isn't good for a phone and tells you to keep it dry, because the phone won't work properly. The same is true with our lives, what God tells us not to do is because it's not good for our lives. Our lives are the best when we follow His ways. We can follow them and still live, but it won't be living life to its fullest or greatest, and that I can say I have come to know is true. I lived my life how I wanted, and when I started following God's ways I saw the beauty in which He created life, I finally found true life,and true joy!

If you don't know Jesus I challenge you to begin finding out. Find a church, a bible study, someone you can ask questions and dive into it with all your effort, I promise you He's worth it.

Today Jesus is Risen, He died for our sins, and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death! Amen!

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"I have found the one whom my soul loves"

" I have found the one whom my soul loves" such a deep statement, yes?

When I read that line my heart flutters, it gets excited, and it melts. I think of the fairy-tales I grew up on of the princess' getting saved by their prince charming and living happily ever after. I think of the desires I have as a women to be cherished, loved, known, valued, and wanted, all in deep intimate ways, all the days of my life. Intimate in the sense of someone knowing the depths of my soul, and as they know these depths seeing me as worthy, precious, vulnerable and yet still so loveable. I say this not in an arrogant way but as someone wanting to be seen in these ways.

I think of my day to day life and how I long to be noticed, to be called beautiful, to be found important in life and to someone special. I want to have purpose in life and to know I make a difference, I want to be noticed. Noticed in a way that I capture someone's breathe, that they see me for who I truly am, and yet see no flaws, they see perfection. Of course there is no such thing as a perfect person, but yet I long to be seen for who I am and to be accepted for everything that I am and everything that I am not. I long to be loved, loved in a way where all of these things are true and never end. Each and every day to be passionately loved, noticed, and cared for.

Now again I'm not trying to be selfish or arrogant I'm simply speaking from the depths of my heart and the love it longs for. Now if your the same as me the question is how do we go about filling this void? I use to seek to fill this void in relationships, mainly, but also in friendships, and by seeking things that could become a passion, so much so, that it would consume my mind and have me forget about everything else. Then the time would pass and nothing would be satisfying. Nothing was enough, it always left me wanting more, having to work at things harder. No matter how hard I worked though, or what relationship I was in, it was never enough. I was still left with this yearning, this wanting.

Now I'm not saying that I was never loved in my life, that would be a lie if I said so. I was most definitely loved by my parents and family, and and a number of close friends who I knew would be there for me, throughout my life. Even with these people in my life, though, I still had a desire, again, to be know to my core and loved in a way, that now, I don't think is capable by any human. Which begs the question, for me and for anyone else with these desires, how do I or you, how do we, fill these feelings and is it even possible?

All my life I grew up in the church. I was very blessed to have two parents who believed in God and found Him to be of importance, so much so, that I should be raised with faith. Even though I was raised in the church and knew about God it wasn't till I was 20 that I decided to fully discover what the bible had to say, and what God had to say, about Himself. It was in this search that that I found my answer to my question " is it possible?". As I began to seek more and more about who God truly was and what he offered, it was then that I began to understand this unfathomable goodness, peace, comfort, and love that people where talking about.

The first taste of love that I experienced from God was discovering His never ending pursuit of me. Even though, throughout my life, I was going to church every Sunday I wasn't following God, I wasn't living for Him, and I didn't truly know him. I came to find there is a difference between knowing of Him and truly knowing Him. It's like knowing a person but you don't know the intimate details about them like you do your best friend, you know of them but you don't truly know them. So as I took on this journey of discovering what God's characteristics where, the more I came to understand Him, and the more I came to understand Him, the more I could see Him working in my life. Even-more-so, I began to see the times He was in my life, when I wasn't pursing a relationship with Him, and in those moments He was trying to show me who He was and the love He had for me. As I realized this my mind began to explode. This Almighty God, The Creator, The Most Powerful, The One of true royalty, the King who is above all kings, this God, chose to pursue me in order to establish a relationship with me when I wasn't even trying to know who He was. In all of history there is no such thing as a king who lives in constant pursuit of his subjects, for the only reason but to show his love for them and because he wants to establish a pure and true relationship with them. So what kind of king is this? More so what type of love is this?

Then it went even further because then I began to understand what the cross meant. Growing up I knew that Jesus died on the cross for us but, I guess, I never fully understood. When I finally grasped that the one and only God, the God above all things, the Royalty of royalties left His throne so that He could re-establish a relationship with me, I was amazed. What love is this that a King would leave His throne to walk among those who choose not to follow Him, and then He dies for them so that they would be washed clean of every sin they ever committed or will commit? When I found out Jesus was sent to take my place to pay the penance for my sins, that I should have bore God's wrath on that cross, but instead Jesus did so that I wouldn't have to, and to show His love for me, I feel to my knees in understanding of this overwhelming agape love.

I came to understand that I am in the midst of a true love story; that this isn't some fairy-tale. From the beginning of time I was thought of. Through the time in the garden when man failed, I was thought of. God knew that in the garden of Eden man would choose to sin and not follow God, but yet He didn't let the story end there. Instead He made history a story of love and redemption. Throughout history God's chosen people time and time again would decide to not follow Him but yet time after time God restored the relationship; all the way to the birth of Jesus where God would show His redeeming love for the whole world. ( For God so loved the world the He sent His one and only son, so that who ever believed in Him would not perish but have eternal life John 3:16) It's in this story, when looked at from the beginning of time, I see where this desire for such love I spoke about in the beginning comes from.

Since God is my creator and I am made in His image, I carry His characteristics, then why should I assume anything less then to have a desire for such a strong and passionate love such as He? God's love is in constant pursuit of His people, to have a relationship with them, and to love them. So wouldn't it make sense that I, that we, carry this very same driven and compassionate make up- a longing for pure and true love? God shows us who He is, to know the true Him, and gives us a choice to love and follow Him. So doesn't it also make sense to want to be loved for everything that we are?

As I've continued this pursuit of Christ I've also come to understand that the only love that can quench this longing, is God Himself. Yes, we can have relationships and find love in them, absolutely! But, If we don't fully know God, have a relationship with Him then this quench can never be filled because we were created to have a relationship with God. When we deny our very make-up then we begin to fill it with all other things, whatever we can make up and pursue. Or, the love that we do share and have is capable of so much more because without God's love, and an understanding of it, there is a miss in being able to live out love the way God intended it to. Furthermore, we miss out on the joys of experiencing a never ending agape love and blessings that God wants to share with us through having a relationship with Him.

It's in this story that I find an ever fulfilling love and hope. This is where my soul lies, this is where my soul is poured into with a never ending, ever flowing love. As I accept, pursue, and make it first in life, then it flows to all other avenues of my life.  In relationships there is a capability to pour out love greater than I ever could be myself and also to receive it in that same way.

The decision to hope in this love may seem scary. It's a decision to stop having control of the details of life and no longer be in the drivers seat and to be able to see what's around the corner. However, to decide to hope in this love and to follow it means a life in eternity, a life starting now on earth where you will always be cared for, provided for, and filled with a love that leaves you never wanting or needing anything else. To get this love all you have to do is accept it and declare it over your life, and there your journey will begin...

Hope: The Ultimate Gift Given at The First Noel

Joe got to experience a Christmas this year unlike any other year. As I was talking to Joe he was sharing some of the hard things him and his son were going through. During our conversation Joe mentioned that through everything he was trying to be a good person in life, to do good deeds, and make it to church when he can. All in hopes of being good enough so that when his day comes he will be able to enter the gates of heaven. Joe tried to keep hope and said that God was helping him and his son to survive, but I could tell he still was carrying a huge weight on his shoulders. I felt the nudge so  I went forward and asked him: "Joe, have you ever heard of assurance of salvation?". Joe's reply was " I'm not sure I have". I proceeded with sharing with Joe what the assurance of salvation is...

See I too use to contemplate if I were to die today have I been good enough that I could go to heaven. I would wonder have I done enough good deeds, been good enough and gone to church enough. The truth is we can never be good enough, do enough good deeds, to assure our salvation into heaven. Why? Because that's not the key to getting into heaven, and if it was, well, we would all fail MISERABLY. How do you even try to begin to please a God who is perfect, holy, and can have anything simply by saying it? (i.e "let there be light, and there was light" Genesis 1:3), You can't. Which is actually a blessing because working to get to heaven would be a never ending job, and again, we would fail miserably. No one is perfect. So then that leaves the question, how do we get to heaven and is it even attainable? The answer is YES. In order to explain this let's travel back, once again, to the beginning, back to Genesis. 

 God created this world with intentions to have relationships with us.  When Adam and Eve decided to go against God by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they ultimately where saying that they didn't want to follow their creator and all he had set for them. They wanted, instead, to do what they thought was best, which actually was going against God, which then released sin into the world. From that point on nothing God created flourished or lived like it should have; everything fell short of God's glory. There was now a separation between the perfect and Holy God and man. God, however,  had a plan to bring the relationship he had built with his creations, man and women, back. This plan is the Christmas story. Jesus was born to bridge the gap between God and humans. The pinnacle of Jesus life here on earth was His crucifixion. When Jesus died on the cross what He did was take our place. "For the wages of sin are death" Romans 6:23. This is the price that needed to be paid for all of mankind's sin in order for the gap to be filled between man and God. Jesus took our place on the cross and bore all of God's wrath that was due for our sin. Jesus lived a perfect life and was the only one that should not have endured God's wrath but instead He came into this world as a lowly man and bore the sin of man. This then turned the tables for man, because Jesus took our place.So now when God looks at those who believe and accept Jesus is the Savior of their life and gives Him control of their life, He sees them as holy, perfect, clean, worthy to walk with Him, His precious children, heirs to the throne, and citizens of His kingdom. He sees the perfection of Jesus when He looks at us, because Jesus' blood paid the price of our sin. He paid a debt that wasn't His to pay, all so we could have a relationship with the Father again. 

We were suppose to be on that cross, where Jesus bared more pain then any man could ever withstand. He endured more suffering than a human life could take because He knew His suffering was the only way for mankind to be free of sin. When we accept this truth when we believe in God the almighty Father who created heaven and earth, and in His Son who took our place, We also believe in and receive The Holy Spirit.

 The Holy Spirit is the living God that lives inside our bodies as our Holy Counselor and strength. God provided us with the Spirit so that we would have His wisdom and strength to live a life worthy of what He has called us to. The Holy Spirit guides us to the will of God and gives us strength to follow Him.

There is a purpose for each of us, no one is a mistake, God sees you as perfect, and loves you. He desires a relationship with each one of us. The Christmas story, The Gospel, is all evidence of this. Proof of a loving and almighty God. This story is the redeeming story of mankind and also the greatest love story ever to be told and ever to actually happen. God lives and reigns to this day and always will. He will never force His love or relationship on anyone but gives us a choice. Having made this choice I proclaim the goodness of God. We live in an unfaithful world, but I know everything will be ok because I have chosen to follow a faithful God. A God who has promised my salvation, eternal life, a room in His kingdom, true life. My life has changed drastically since I decided to start pursuing a relationship with Christ, it's not always easy, but, even in the hard times God makes it worth while. He is a living hope that keeps me going each and everyday. A Father that will walk through the fires with me and not let me be harmed, a Father that will never forsake me, this is the Father I will forever follow, and I invite you to, too.
This is what I got to share with Joe this Christmas season. Joe had never heard of assurance of salvation. Joe invited God into his heart that day and proclaimed Him as Lord and Savior. Tears of joy were shared and Joe said " What a great hope this is". Joe was exactly right. No matter what we go through here on earth, we know that this isn't are true home and that it's only temporary. When we accept Christ as Lord of our life and give Him control we look forward to a life in eternity.

If you have the desire to follow Christ I encourage you to speak with God, repent of your sin, acknowledge Him as the One true God, your savior, and know ruler of your life. Begin to seek Him in prayer, by reading the bible, and by getting connected to a church and community that serves God and helps one another grow through fellowship.

I will leave you know hoping you had a Merry Christmas and that this New Year you grow in knowing Christ and that you find the many blessings He has awaiting you.

 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

Knowing healing

Have you ever been in a place of utter brokenness? That place where your heart just aches and turns in your chest and you can't breathe. That place where your just trying to save yourself from going over the edge of no return because you think once you cross that line of letting go the tears won't stop. They will just keep flowing out like blood out of an open wound that can't be sealed shut. So you think how do I avoid this nasty entanglement? If your like me you push it back, you suppress, you occupy you mind with other things. The last thing you do is let your mind go there, whatever there may be.

All this that I've just described, you see, I've been there and on some days in fact it's usually a battle with myself to not let myself  bottle things up and bury them deep within myself. This hindrance can go for things big or small but the more they are bottled downed..you guessed it.. the bigger they become.

 I have dealt with this issue since I can remember, it's always been a huge struggle of mine to surface things to the top and to be able to speak about them.I tend to let things being to boil till I can't control them anymore then they boil over like a pot of water on the stove that you forgot about. In fact, that's exactly what I do! I push things down and forget about them (or try) and then they boil over. It's a terrible thing to do, if you've never done it don't start now. (your not missing out on anything!) It takes you on constant emotional roller coaster rides and on top of that, if you follow society it makes things even harder. Society says your suppose to fight hard and stand strong, always. As a women your suppose to fight the urge to be emotional so that you can prove your strength and stand tall in this dog eat dog world. As a man, you can't let your emotions get the upper hand on you or else your looked down upon and looked at like you don't have strength like a man is suppose to. All together this world tells us we are suppose to deal with things ourselves, figure our life out, pull ourselves up by our boot straps and continue going. I use to agree with all of this. I use to think I was so strong that no matter what I came I across I was going to over come it by my own strength. I wanted help from no one. Especially being a women, there was no way I was going to let my self ever look weak and especially not in front of men. My pride ran me and at times it still does it's a constant battle but there's this thing that was revealed to me called grace. Grace is a gift from God. Grace is what God gave to all human kind and what those who follow HIM experience. Through Jesus Christ dying on the cross we are able to have this beautiful gift. A gift that provides you strength, wisdom, mercy, and love. All of these are found in Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. Surrendering my life to HIM was the greatest thing I ever did. All that brokenness I discussed above; that drove me to Christ and what I found in HIM was forgiveness and freedom. Forgiveness for myself form the hard things I put myself through, forgiveness for those who hurt me and freedom from it all. Freedom is the best part because no longer I am weighted down by all that heartache, no longer do I have to carry  all that junk and unnecessary baggage. Instead I am free and I am free because I agreed with Jesus to hand it ALL over to HIM. I agreed with Jesus that I was only hurting myself by holding on and not processing through things. I opened my heart up to Jesus and He did some major renovating and landscaping by uprooting all the bad things and throwing out all the heavy and not needed luggage. That first step is the hardest thing to do, I know. Opening up your heart to let everything flow freely form it is quite scary when you know you have a lot of locked away feeling in there. But Jesus says this in 2 Corinthians 12:9:  " For MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY strength is made perfect in weakness.." This grace given from God has been my saving grace through everything. From experience I can say that God doesn't expose our hurt to have it be a never ending water fall of tears but actually quite the opposite. Tears still may come but there is an end. He brings freedom and healing, Joy over takes sorrow, and happiness over comes pain and fear. It's theses beautiful things that I have come to find when I have allowed myself to unleash the toxic waste I have kept inside to HIM. HE is my Jehovah Rophi- God who Heals and  my Jehovah Shalom Prince or Lord of Peace.

Just as 2 Corinthians 12:9 says HIS strength is made perfect in our weakness. Meaning we don't have to fear being weak because that's when our God's strength is best in us and when HE does HIS best work. Remember above when we were talking about society and how weakness is bad? Well it's actually a good thing! The rest of that verse Paul says this "Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." and the next verse " Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distress, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, than I am strong." God is a father of love and compassion. He has such a longing to see HIS children loved and happy that HE finds great joy in lifting us up in our weakness and hard times. Not only is the bible a written testimony of this great love but in my own life of experiencing Christ in my most heart broken moments, it was in those moments, where I truly got to feel the love of God as HE enveloped me with HIS love,strength and power. It was in those moments when HE was my Jehovah Shalom my Lord or Prince of peace. In that moment when I thought I had reached the end of all self control and when I thought I was going to keep barreling down this hill with no end in sight , That's when MY Prince of Peace came. What He brought was comfort, what He brought was an end to tears. But that's not all, He didn't just take things away He gave me things as well. HE gave me peace, comfort, joy, happiness, and HIS strength to carry on.

See I always thought I was strong, as I said before. I always thought I could carry myself through anything but the truth is I can't. I can fake it to others and I can fake it to myself but reality is that's not how humans were built to live. We are built to surrender, we are built to surrender it all. Which I know is completely against the world and leaves us completely vulnerable. But that also gives us freedom, God didn't build of this way to suppress us God built us this way because HE loves us. Think about it if we are called to surrender all and follow Jesus what heavy burdens are we carrying? NONE, Jesus is carrying them all for us. The cross, HIS crucifixion and resurrection, isn't just a symbol of HIS undying love for us but is also a symbol and proof of HIS almighty power. That power  is one that lives today and is still working for us. It's the power that I surrender to. It's the power that is there not just to carry all my burdens but all yours as well. looking for a job? surrender it to Jesus instead ask HIM to guide you. struggling financially, good news God is provider, surrender to HIM and HE will provide. Being held down by pain, betrayal, self inflicted hurt? God wants to take care of you, HE wants to heal you, but you have to let HIM in. We were meant to carry and worry about nothing and if you truly think about that what a blessing that is! Jesus wants to carry all of our burdens, all of our hurt, all of our worries all we have to do is surrender it to HIM. That can be the hardest step but I promise you once you take it you won't regret it.

Jesus is the complete opposite of the world, HE'S not going to push you down HE'S going to lift you up, wipe away your tears and give you strength, HIS strength. Which I don't know about you but since HE has the power to resurrect I know I sure want that well over my own "strength". We need to stop measuring up ourselves to society and start measuring up ourselves to Christ. There we will see that all the glory be given to HIM because HE is all powerful and glorious  but at the same time HE is meek and humble. He came to die for our sins, HE was all God but fully man meaning He had all HIS strength and power but yet HE came as man to feel as we feel. Therefore, HE knows pain, and HE knows hurt, and yet HE still wants to carry all of ours for us.What a glorious thing and all we have to do is surrender. Surrendering can be a constant battle but it's one I would rather do then to try and carry my own burdens. That's a whole lot harder.

Maybe your struggling today with pain and reading this struck a cord. I know exactly how you feel and it sucks. But I'm here to tell you there is another way and maybe you know that but you just haven't been able to let go and surrender, today can be that day, now can be that time. Don't let yourself or satan build up those walls to keep you held down any longer instead let's humbly bow down together and surrender to Jesus.

"Lord, we come to you today broken, we come to you in pieces. Some of us have been carrying things for a very long time but no matter how long we have been carrying them, Lord we know that you can set us free and today, right now, we are going to declare that. Lord we confess that we are weak, Lord we confess that we have been trying to do things ourselves but Lord we have failed. So Lord we come before you now in complete humility and awe of your almighty power. We sit at your feet knowing you love us and were just waiting for us to surrender. We sit at your feet of mercy and thank you for being so loving, caring, and uplifting. We sit at your feet asking for forgiveness. We ask for forgiveness for ourselves as we built up our own walls against you and your healing, we built up walls against your love and kindness entering our hearts. Lord, we also ask forgiveness for putting ourselves on the throne and thinking that we could do all, all be ourselves. Lord , we confess this all to you and we confess that we are hurt and ready to be healed. Lord in this moment we declare that we are surrendering all to you! We declare that we no longer want to hold onto any of our baggage! We declare that it is no longer going to hold us back but that we are going to open our hearts up to you and let you do some deep cleaning and healing! We thank you for the cross, we thank you for your blood washing us cleaning each and every day, Lord. We thank you for being our King and Savior and today we pray that you give us the strength to continue to keep out hearts open to you and allow you to take root in every room in there; in every part of our lives may we surrender to you. We thank you for you love and kindness and all this we pray in your mighty and victorious name, Amen!"

I hope that you got some healing from this. Remember I am right there with you in this constant battle but keep surrendering, continue to be humble and I pray the love of Christ continues to flow through you and consume you.

In HIM,

Courtney
courtney.huebert@cru.org
Destino Intern
destinomovement.com
give.cru.org/0741519

who am I and why a blog?

Hello all,
My name is Courtney and I decided to start this blog for several different reasons. To begin, though, I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself first. I am a recent San Diego State College Graduate with my Bachelor's in Recreation Administration. I'm a small town girl who moved to the city after two years of junior college in my home town. I love the outdoors and I love adventures and I thought it was about time for a new one and that's why I decided on San Diego State. It would be a beautiful place for a new adventure, great weather and somewhere where I could hopefully dive more into of my Hispanic roots.

Easter day in April of 2012 I decided I was going to go to a new Church called The Rock, in San Diego. Without knowing it this was the day my life was going to completely change. I was so captured that day that I decided I was going to give my life to Christ entirely and pour every ounce of me into building a relationship with HIM. From that day forward my life has never been the same, it like black and white, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I still have PLENTY of struggles in my life, don't be fooled it didn't become perfect. What I have found,however, is that walking with Christ I have never had to endure anything alone and the assurance that He will never forsake me and only has plans to see my prosper is such a reliever when going through anything. Burdens haven't become far and few between but they have become bearable to get through and great lessons have been learned to make life so much better. Christ is my true Savior and King and I wouldn't have it any other way. He has shown me such great love, that to serve HIM for a life time is not only my way of saying thank you but such a blessing, as well. It leads me to fall more and more in love with HIM each day, which then encourages me even more so to live as much as possible for HIS sake. I love HIM and am able to because HE showed  me GREAT love first (and continues to day in and day out no matter what the circumstances may be.)

Within the amount of time of a single year my life as done a complete 180. I no longer live to gain the acceptance of other people, trying to achieve success for myself, and trying to find out what life is all about. Instead now I live for the Son of man who breathes life into me. Everyday is quite a blessing with new wisdom and love always being poured into me the more I ask for it and truly seek HIS face. Now instead of seeking to live a life solely that benefits me I seek to live a life where I can pour into others and aid them in whatever they may be going through.

 As I entered my final year in college it wasn't till close to the end of it when I discovered what I was going to do after I graduated. During the School year I had joined some students on campus in the decision that God was calling us to pioneer a group called Destino on SDSU's campus. Destino is a culturally Latino center for Christ and falls under the organization called Cru or Campus Crusade fro Christ. Cru is a globally known organization that started on the campus of UCLA in 1951. From there God has expanded it to reach all over HIS beautifully created world. Destino, is a baby when compared to Cru, although it is growing rather fast by the grace of God. Destino was created specifically for the Latino community because it was seen that students of this culture needed a place and organization that they would be understood and be able to aid them in their specific needs spiritually and also in life in general.

With God, Destino, and a passion to pour into others all capturing my heart it made perfect sense when God opened the door and placed the desire on my heart to join Cru by becoming an intern for the Destino team. I am proud, blessed and excited to announce that I will be joining the Long Beach and Fullerton University campuses to impact the lives of the students for Christ. When there, it will be my full time job to do outreaches on campus to reach the students, join the team in bible studies and weekly meetings, pour into the students through mentorships and discipleships, and travel with them to conferences and retreats. I am so excited to see the students grow and blossom as they are molded more and more into who God created them to be! It's such a beautiful sight and I so excited I get the opportunity to be a part of it!

As I begin to prepare for this next journey in my life I embark now on a new task called MPD or ministry partnership development. What that means is I am working to prepare a team of partners who would like to join me in this opportunity to impact the lives of others. (This team however doesn't have to uproot their lives and move to Long Beach with me.) This team is filled with those who want to be involved by being faithful financial givers and prayer warriors. The reason for financial partnerships is because Cru has no central funds for paying salaries and ministry expenses. Like many other mission organizations Cru depends upon the consistent financial support of concerned individuals and churches. This contributors are used to fund the ministries of our staff members. As a partner, not being in Long Beach, however, doesn't mean they won't get to see or reap the benefits of their faithfulness. Our God is a mighty God and I know He has great plans and blessings for ALL those who take this step of faith with Him. As well as, I will be committing myself to being a diligent worker to impact the lives of those on the campus so that in the monthly newsletter I send out my partners will get to live out all the blessings God is doing on those campuses, through it. This is truly a great partnership in that so many lives will get to be impacted because of those who chose to financially and prayfully partner.  As, this new adventure draws near I can't wait to see what God as in store for me,those who will be joining me through partnership, the staff already in place, and all the students who will be walking on those campuses.

This is the reason I have started this blog: God has done and continues to do great things in my life. He doesn't just do them in my life, though, He does that to all who choose to follow HIM. I hope that the stories and revelations He takes me through can inspire others to start their walk/relationship with Jesus and/or continue their walk with HIM.

In what ever you do I pray that He is the light to your steps and you find great joy and consoling in following HIM. And I am always here to answer prayer request or questions.

If you felt the tug on your heart after reading this to join my team in raising up Latino leaders for Christ and/or would like to know more please don't hesitate to email me at courtney.huebert@cru.org.

If you feel lead to start giving now you can go to cru.org/give and inter my staff account number : 0741519

Praying wisdom, blessings and Guidance for you all.
In HIM,
Courtney