Blooming

"A sail can catch the wind and be used to maneuver a boat only because it is so frail. If instead of a sail you put a solid board, it would not work; it is the weakness of the sail that makes it sensitive to the wind." - Beginning to Pray, Anthony Bloom  

My peer team is learning so many things this semester. Many of them are working through their insecurities, learning to find their identities in God's word for their lives. Still others are beginning to learn that his power is made perfect in their weakness (1 Cor 2:9). The quote above, I think, gets at that some. I picked up this tiny little book that has given me language for things I never knew to articulate. As God reveals to us our insecurities, so he reveals our weaknesses - our propensity to run to the wrong thing for value, our disposition for sin. In light of all of that, he has also been speaking to us about humility. I'll leave you with another quote from Bloom on the subject before blessing you with the faces of these beautiful girls that you all provide for through prayer and financial gifts. They are learning to be as solid as the earth, thanks to your investment.

"The word 'humility' comes from the latin word 'hummus' which means fertile ground. To me, humility is not what we often make of it: the sheepish way of trying to imagine that we are the worst of all and trying to convince others that our artificial ways of behaving show that we are aware of that. Humility is the situation of the earth. The earth is always there, always taken for granted, never remembered, always trodden on by everyone, somewhere we cast and pour out all the refuse, all we don't need. It's there, silent and accepting everything and in a miraculous way making out of all the refuse new richness in spite of corruption, transforming corruption itself into a power of life and a new possibility of creativeness, open to the sunshine, open to the rain, ready to receive any seed we sow and capable of bringing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold out of every seed." - Beginning to Pray, Anthony Bloom 

As promised:  

Here's Hannah, happily chomping on some chips during our 1:1. She's one of the TWU student leaders that I get to meet with every week. I'm consistently encouraged by her readiness to learn what God is wanting to teach her. Right now, the Lord is freeing her from people-pleasing, and moving her into a place of pastoral-action. 

Bridgett and I were kindergarteners for Halloween. Getting to meet with her every week has been so fun. She's learning to be bold, and that she's got something worth saying. 

This is all of us at our Halloween FNF. My peer team is about as wacky as they come. See if you can figure out who they're dressed as! 

We're having such fun at outreach this year. This is our Mirror-Mirror tunnel. We invited students to walk through and reflect on these two questions: 1. What do you see? and 2. What does God see?

I try to take pictures of them without them realizing it. Here's Eryka, a girl from NCTC who I've been meeting with since the summer. She's learning to seek Jesus on her own. 

Thank you all for your steadfast support! May God bless you.

Yours,
K Stroud