it's a new year. it's a new life.

winter break went by too fast. i'm still trying to swallow and digest everything that happened. but wow... it's crazy how timing works out. God really plans out everything for a reason, and me going to onething was not a mistake.

after being to so many conferences, i wasn't really sure what i was expecting from the ihop conference. i guess i was hoping just for something different because i've been to so many ubf retreats and conferences. but basically these are some things i learned from the conference off the top of my head:

- Christianity 101 has become lost (a life of prayer, fasting and reading the Word ~eating the scroll) so, i really need to focus on and commit to going back to the basics

- my understanding of who God is... was sooo small (God is so much bigger than i ever imagined) and He really planned everything out so perfectly from every event in history to everything going on today

- i really repented for getting sucked into a humanistic mentality. my life has been full of compromises, i felt really convicted by lou's message, how the Nazarite spirit and John the Baptist spirit is so important in this age, as this generation is drunk with entertainment and pleasures. (i am going to struggle with this sooooo much this year)

- Jesus is my bridegroom. my heart has been split in two for all my life... i tried giving half to this world/people and half to God. (Misty's message reallllly spoke to me. God really used her to bless me at the conference. She is cool.)

- Life isn't meaningless, because everything we do transcends into the next life... and as a Christian, I am called to prepare the way for Jesus' second coming. (this is something i never thought about, and began to think that everything is meaningless if we just die eventually and float off to heaven) ... i had a very shallow understanding of God's kingdom, which will actually come to Earth after Jesus' second coming. So it is time to be a John the Baptist generation and prepare the way!

So. I made a pretty big decision at the conference. It's something that's going to REALLY challenge me daily for the next ten years or so. This is God's grace, I'm so blessed to be called by God to struggle before Him in humility at age 18. Uhm... there's a lot in my head and heart still, also in my notebook on thoughts and questions from the conference. Overall, I'm really thankful i was able to go. I was encouraged by my sisters i got to see and pray with, and that my family/church were able to attend together.

It's not only a new year, but it's a new life.

(i love editing my pictures from california. i edited these on the way to KC)