Seek the Lord

"From the moment a soul has the grace to know God, he or she must seek."

Keep seeking the Lord. Praying for you all :)

Brussels: T-2 days!

Hello my questies,

I am departing for my month abroad in Brussels on Friday. Please pray for me that I will be a light to the girls I am living with, to the children in the school I am teaching in, and to the people in Belgium and everywhere I end up traveling. Pray that I continue to follow Christ's call for my life and shine like a star in the universe by His light. Pray for safety as well.

I think of you guys every day. Not a day goes by where I don't think of Quest with such fondness, memories, and thankfulness. I pray that God is rocking your worlds right now. It's not promised to be an easy road as Christ follower, but the reward is far greater. Read Psalm 73:23-26. I found it the other night and it made me cry, it is so beautiful.

While I'm gone I will have a blog, if you're interested in reading: www.whitleyinbrussels.blogspot.com

Truth

God does not choose the equiped, He equips the chosen.

Hiatus

Hello Quest,

My many apologies for not being on this for quite some time. I got discouraged towards the end of last semester because I was frequently reading my own posts and I didn't want to do that, but that was a pitiful reason to stop posting! It doesn't matter how many people are reading our posts or if anyone does...it's cool because God is reading them and knowing them before we even type them, which is who we are aiming to glorify anyway.

I also have been without computer for over a month now and just got my laptop back up and running, score!!

So, in other words, I'm back and am excited to continue this journey with you.

I challenge you all to spend at least 5 minutes per day being still before God. just be still. no thinking, no typing, no texting, no phone/internet/facebook/twitter, no music, no tv, no driving, no eating, NOTHING. sit and be completely still. and if you start praying in your head, stop...and just keep repeating, "Be still and know that You are God." I think it is so important for all of us in the midst of our busy lives and schedules to know to be still before God and to never compromise our time with Him. do you think He enjoys it when we miss a single day without spending intimate time with Him? i don't think so.

i love you all...

Prayer Requests

If anyone is still reading this, is there anything you'd like me to pray for?
Comment and let me know! (:

God bless!
-Haley

imperishable beauty and waiting for the good to win

I know most of you aren't really checking this anymore, and that's okay, but I guess I'll just keep posting anyway because it really helps me get the most out of each passage I read. And yea, it's pretty late right now to be posting, but I can't sleep! Here are a few things about 1 Peter 3 that really stuck out to me...

1 Peter 3:3-4 ~ "Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God."...And God's "sight" is definitely the only sight/judgement that matters. I think girls in particular should really listen to these few verses. It seems like everyone gets too wrapped up in things that don't matter in this world and, for some reason, they think that they have to be perfect on the outside for everyone to like them or accept them. Try not to focus on those kind of qualities too much. (: And don't look for those kind of qualities in other people. Love them for whom they are on the inside.

1 Peter 3:17 ~ "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil." It's crazy how much this verse applies to my life right now (especially tonight). It's such a powerful verse, though. I guess it's basically saying that good always wins. And here's a quote I read this morning that is really connected with this verse..."Like an old gold-panning prospector, you must resign yourself to digging up a lot of sand from which you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold ore." - Dorothy Bryant. Kind of a cheesy comparison, but it's really true. We might have to keep digging through all of that sand for some time before we find the gold, just as we might have to wait a while for the good to overcome the bad, but in the end, it's always going to be worth it. Sometimes it may seem like the "bad person" (I don't know how else to say it...) is winning, BUT just wait a while, keep on fighting for what you know in your heart is right, and you'll most definitely find that good really does win - - ALWAYS. That's something my parents have told me ever since I was little, and I'm never going to forget it!

You're in my prayers,
Haley

1 Peter 1

Hey Quest, I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

So here are some pretty cool things from 1 Peter 1:

1 Peter 1:6-7 ~ "In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." I love these verses so much because they are so encouraging and uplifting. The truth is, we're ALL going to go through struggle after struggle after struggle in our lives. What really matters is how we handle them, how we react to these struggles. They are really God's ways of testing ("the genuineness of") our faith. And they almost always make us and our faith even stronger...so something good can definitely come out of something bad. "Every set back in life is a chance to rise up even stronger."

Here's part of a poem that goes along with/has the same message as 1 Peter 1:6-7. It's called "Heavy" by Mary Oliver...

That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying

I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had His hand in this,

....................

Then said my friend Daniel
(brave even among lions),
"It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it-
books, bricks, grief-
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down."
So I went practicing,
Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?...


1 Peter 1:22 ~ "Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a [pure] heart." This is the verse that Whitley put on my award for "sincere spirit" at camp. Always remeber the importance of sincerely and genuinely loving one another. "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~ Plato

Hopefully more people will start reading/posting on the blog again... :/
And are there any prayer requests out there?

God bless! And happy 2010. (:
-Haley

Forgiveness talk relived...

I read Philemon this morning and it reminded me of you guys. I don't know if you guys remember my story about the person that sexually abused me when I was younger or not but over Thanksgiing I saw this person for the first time in 5 years. I know that I forgave him this summer with the power Christ gave me to forgive but it was another thing to walk up to him and talk with him in complete forgiveness. The Lord was so good though, I was able to walk up to him and give him a big hug and I truly felt Christ giving me love and forgiveness for him. It was really cool. This morning in Philemon reminded me of this. I hope you all are having a wonderful break!

Sharing your faith

Hey Quest! I meant to tell you this a while ago, but I'm just now getting around to it...it's been a pretty busy first semester of school! But now we're all on break! Woooo get excited! (:

So, way back in October my class and I went on a retreat to a camp near our school. One of the priests from our diocese came with us, and later, I told him about my key and the story behind it. He was amazed, and immediately he said he was going to tell his school and his parish about my key. And, just a few weeks ago, I saw this priest again, and he told me that he has never told so many people a single story before! Can you imagine how many people have heard it by now! I don't know about you, but I think the fact that so many people know is just unbelievable. And pretty much every person in my grade at my high school knows the story as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is just how important it is not only for you to simply live your faith by yourself, but for you to share it with everyone in whatever way you can. I shared my faith and my story with that priest, and he shared it with his family and friends, and now so many people are probably inspired by God's grace and compassion in that situation. And of course I'm not just talking about people with keys around their necks everyday who need to share their faith. You really don't have to have something like that to teach people about their faith, but it's definitely helpful! Everyone should try to make that their new, lifelong goal. Trust me, it takes courage and wisdom, but know that God will always be there to help you through. You'll notice that He will give you that courage and that wisdom to share your faith with more people in your life. It's truly a blessing! Right now, I'm working on sharing my faith with my dad, brother, and sister...like I said, it's challenging, but it's definitely worth it, and I'm not giving up!

I hope you all have a great Christmas!
-Haley

falling in love

i love evi's post below. christ IS strong when we are weak. and guys, we are always, always, always going to be weak. we are always going to fall short. so instead of seeing God as this almighty being in the sky that will strike you down and be sad if you don't take up your cross daily and follow Him, be disappointed that you didn't open your bible for a few days/weeks/months now...He doesn't care. He just wants you to come to Him, open arms. I encourage you to let yourself fall in love with the lover of our souls. We were bought with a heavy price--and all He expects in return is LOVE.

To be weak, is for Christ's power to be made perfect

hey quest
i haven't posted in too long, say, 3 months? yeah, too long.
actually, i have a long story that came about recently that's relevant..so if you're dying to hear it ask me but basically i want to encourage all of you with this passage about how Paul had some ailment from satan that he prayed the Lord would take away, but ended up finding contentment in it when the Lord spoke to him of His power and grace...
2nd Corinthians 7-10:
So to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

basically, i love every one of you and hope you remember that in your weaknesses, Christ's power is made perfect, so don't be afraid to have weaknesses- nobody's perfect-it's fine to aim for it, but His grace brings Him glory!

prayer

my prayer for you all and myself is that:
-we will take the readings we have been studying and apply them to our lives
-that God's living, breathing, active Word will become flesh in our lives
-that the apostles and martyrs we are reading about become examples of how we should live like Christ
-that the boldness these people have will be found in us, that we will have boldness to proclaim our LIVES for Christ
-that you realize that God loves you not in SPITE of your sin, but in the MIDST of your sin...He loves us imperfect sinners, He loves us as we are, He delights in our joy
-to live is CHRIST and to die is GAIN...this is what Paul writes in Philippians. I think we forget the first part, that to live a Christian life does not mean that we are dead while we are living, but that we are CHRIST while we are living.

i love you all.

Amazing Chastity Talk!

Hey Quest! First, I just want to say that I'm so happy that the blog is alive again! It's great to see some more people posting on here. Keep it up! (:

So I go to Catholic school, and we have religion class every other day. And for our religion homework we had to listen to this chastity talk by a guy named Jason Evert. It's so good! If you find some extra time this weekend or this week, I encourage you to listen to it. It's about an hour long talk, but Jason's really funny and easy to listen to, and he gets the message across perfectly. Here's how to listen to his talk if you're interested: go to www.chastity.com/node/442, scroll down to the "Romance without Regret" section and click on whatever talk you want to listen to (since I'm Catholic, our school had us listen to the Catholic High School talk). So if you get a chance and you want to learn more about the kind of stuff that goes along with chastity...listen to his talk! It's really good!

Have a good weekend!
-Haley

the past repeats itself

when i say the past I dont mean like wayyyyy back then but i do mean sky ranch past. It was really cool seeing some of the verses come up recently in Sunday School at church. Recently weve been doing a quick runthrough of all 66 books in the Bible just to get them memorized and have a brief understanding of them all and although I cannot point out all the verses we've come across, I can tell you that a lot of what we learned at camp has come up week in and week out. The greatest thing about it is that I'm already familiar with a lot of what we've been talking about!

Keep looking for the past to repeat itself. It will show up if you look! That's my two cents for today.

Read some Acts this morning

I am a few chapters behind but plan on being caught up shortly. This morning I read Acts 21 and 22 and was blown away by Pauls courage. He went into the heart of persecution in Jerusalem because HE knew that is exactly where he was suspose to be. Everyone was telling him not to but he listened to the voice of truth isnside of him. He had so much credibility as a Jew and as a Roman and yet still they would not even listen to him.

I am encouraged to be courageous in the face of stress, persecution, failure, lack of confidence, or whatever the devil may throw in my way for I KNOW I am where the Lord wants me to be

paul inspires me daily.

can i just say that paul's willingness to follow where the Lord is leading him, through persecution, beatings, and trials, just brings joy to my soul? how inspiring. may we all be this way. be joyful and patient in persecution, trusting in the Lord to bring us through in perseverance. it's all, ALL of it, for His glory. :]

can i get an amen??

Giving Thanks

Hey Quest,

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and this time of year I feel really grateful about everything that I have. And so I was wondering if all of you would like to comment or post, and just share what all of you are thankful for. You don't have to if you don't want to though. Please feel free to write anything you want!

sharing

hello quest,
i have begun the reading plan over with a friend at school, we are in the gospel John right now, and it is SO COOL to be able to do this over again with someone outside of Quest...and to teach them and help them along the reading plan, and to see them get to fired up for the Word and hungry for it! she is blazing through it, she loves it and she is diving into it...it is the coolest thing to witness. Also she is kind of new to the Word so she is learning SO much through this reading plan and things about Jesus that she didn't ever know...like the fact that people witnessed Jesus's miracles and still didn't believe? the fact that they questioned Him, "well what should make us believe you?" and he's like "uh...have you not seen? obviously you do not know GOD..." amen to that Jesus.

It's just really cool, how people sat with and ate with and walked and talked with Jesus like He was any other human being. I think so often we think of Jesus as this being up in Heaven (which, He is) but forget that He was real, He was birthed into this world in a humble state, He walked and talked and ate and performed miracles in front of people's faces...and yet they still had disbelief?! It goes to show how much stronger and larger our faith has to be, that we don't and won't witness Jesus in the flesh nor His crucifixion or His miracles like they did, but we still believe. Thank you Jesus for allowing me into YOUR kingdom and for helping me in my disbelief!

Check and Mate

"the God who brings you peace will soon defeat Satan and give you power over him"
thank you Lord! Hallalujah! I don't know about you but that makes me want to kick something, its so exciting!
Heres some thing I have learnd about Satan:

1.) He hates a spoken word.-How many of you know that when we think something thats cool, but when we profess it to Jesus, the devil gets angry! how angry? ANGRY! Start speaking, when you pray and when you think something or you want something to happen...START SPEAKING IT INTO EXSITANCE!

2.) He hates it when we confess, sometimes I don't want to confess I am wrong, I'm extremely stuborn. But when we confess that we are wwrong and we grow from that, He gets steaming mad! There is power iin confession guys! You don't even know! When you confess that something, it's not entirely gone, its there for you to start working on and for the other person to hold you accountable.

3.) He corrupts-remember when a few months ago when I was totally convinced that the Devil was the reason for sickness and he was sickness. Well I was wrong, I was asking and researching this a few weeks ago, and heres the thing "the devil is the king of corruption" The Lord may let us get sick to test us, but the Devil will corrupt that and take it to the next level. Its like a big game of chess between the Devil and God. The last pwan the Devil will try and use is God, He will try to fill your minds with "God doesnt love you' and "he's not real", but can I tell you something? The KING has one more move! It's not over until Check mate!

Those are the things I have learned about the Devil but hahah OH! man! GOD HAS GIVEN US POWER OVER HIM! I AM PUMPED! Next time you Speak something into exsistance, confess something, or Remember the love of the Lord and how real he is, The devil will get fighting mad, and will try to corrupt some more, but THE KING HAS THE LAST MOVE! and the KING has given us power over the Devil!

checkmate.

Just want to say...

I have been so encouraged by this blog this past week. You guys getting on here and posting about how God is teaching you through his word is absolutely incredible and inspiring. I love each of you and cherish our friendship. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to post on this thing... don't stop