16 days

Wow.......16 days. Well, soon to be 15 since it is late tonight. I'll give you a quick update on life. My dance studio just performed Firstborn from the Dead this weekend. The performances went really well and I'm so blessed that God showed up in the performance! The show begins showing a picture of what the throne room looks like with the Trinity, 4 living creatures, 24 elders, and angels. It then shows the incarnation, the shepherds in the fields, the birth of Jesus, him growing up and preaching in the temple, his baptism by John the Baptist, the temptation of Satan in the wilderness he overcame, the calling of the disciples, the feeding of the four thousand, the little children coming to him, him as the healer, the sinful woman/woman at the well/woman with the issue of blood, Mary Magdalene sitting at his feet listening to him, him calling Peter to walk on the waves to him, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the last supper, Gethsemane, the crucifixion, the saints rising, the veil in the temple being torn, the burial of his body, his time spent in Sheol and him taking back the keys of the kingdom, and his ascension. It's a full and impactful performance!!!!! (In one show alone I was in 16 pieces!) One of the things I was pondering throughout the performance was the humanity and real-ness of Jesus. He was a real human being with real siblings; with real friends. Seeing one of my good friends, Stanton, play the role of Jesus made it really easy for me playing the role of a disciple to see how after 3 years this was one of my good friends and my leader whom I trusted. It made the Bible so literal and real to me. Sometimes I think we forget that Jesus wasn't just a nice story book character. But he was an actual man with actual flesh who really suffered and died for us. It was really cool to be able to place myself as an actual character in the stories from the Bible. Especially since the disciples were all my good friends and we were actually a band of friends like the real disciples were.

Another thing I have been pondering is that God also knows every desire of your heart. It says in Ps. 37:4 that if we delight ourselves in God, then He will give us the desires of our heart. That has been one of my favorite verses for years. Because when you delight yourself in God, His desires become your desires! It also says in Ps 38 that He knows all of our longings and that they lie open before him. So even though sometimes we think God doesn’t know what’s going on inside of us and inside our mind, we can take confidence in the fact that He knows us completely and knows all our thoughts, desires, and life problems. He created us with those desires! I’ve been learning lately to stop trying to run my life and let God run my life. It’s so much easier when we know God is in control! He wants all of us, our time, money, energy, dance, school, work, hang time……He wants to be the center of attention. =) And if we live our lives as arrows pointing to Him throughout our daily activities, we have accomplished a great goal.We were made for His glory!

Just some food for thought. =) Wow, I still can't believe I leave in 16 days.....so much to do! Pray that I am able to spend my time wisely and all the preparations go smoothly!!!! The intern that will also be there while I am there, Amanda, left today.....so exciting! Pray for traveling mercies for her! =)

Blessings!
Ashton