Redeemed

As I was walking down the road one day, God said to me along the way,  "Life's a journey, baby, and I want you to go far.  Always know that I am with you whereever it is you are.  I am with you every second, of every single day.  I am with you.  I am with you.  I am with you all of the way."

God You Are So Good (poem) Dear God I thank you for this day. I thank you that you aren't far away. Thank you for your revelation and for breaking through my hard heart. Help me God, for I am gentle and lowly, broken and contrite in heart, which you will not despise. Lord, fill me with your awesome might! On my own I run out so quickly, but with you God, I could go on infinitely. I want an unbroken connection with you. Help me to humble myself and seek your truth every day. I know that you love me. Thank you for your forgiveness. You have refreshed my heart by a new revelation of your acceptance, love, and care. You are so faithful to restore me. Even when I'm faithless you are faithful. You are healing my heart and binding up my wounds. You are Restoring My Foundations. You take my sins, pain, all my iniquities, my anger, worry, fear, feelings of abandonment, the cycle of control, rebellion, and rejection, you take my loneliness, hatred, and unfor...

Hello!  I hope you are well.  : )       God has been using the song "Let Love Win" in  lately to teach me more about His love and grace.  Another thing God has been using in my life to teach me more about His grace, has been the story in the Book of John chapter 8 of the woman who was going to be stoned (killed by having a bunch of huge rocks dropped on her head) for being caught in the middle of adultery (sex outside of marriage, esp. when married) .  The people who were going to stone her asked Jesus what they should do about her, trying to trap him.  Jesus just sat and drew in the sand for a while, but when further pressed, said, "Let you who have no sin cast the first stone."  Eventually all the leaders left.  These were the ones who carefully kept the law.  They were they ones who "had it all together"  and "did everything right", looking all holy praying l...

This is my letter for upcoming mission trip to Baja.  : ) June 22, 2011 Hello! I hope you are doing well.           This is Jasmine Fairbanks, daughter of Frank and Heather, granddaughter of Bob & Pat Brittain and Jack & Jackie Fairbanks. The Evangelical Covenant Church is my home church in Bemidji (and has been for eight years). I graduated from Bemidji High School last year, 2010. The internship that I’ve been doing this year here in Texas at Teen Mania Ministries’ Honor Academy has been going well. I have learned a lot and can hardly believe that this year is almost over! I’ll be graduating in mid-August. My fellow interns and I have worked hard, 31 hours per week, in our ministry placements here at Teen Mania Ministries, doing most of the work necessary to put on the Acquire the Fire youth conferences at 33 locations nationally, Extreme Camps summer camps here in Texas, Global Expeditions mission trips which over a thousand...

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers! A special thank you to my mother, thank you for caring for us and loving us!  I love you!  Wow.  So today is a good day.  It's Mother's Day!            I'm really realizing how much I need family and I need to have a base and people to be connected with.  A lot of times I'm just trying to help others and do things for that, but I hardly ever let them like pour into me and be like a family or really talk about things.  I think a hard thing about the Honor Academy is learning so much but not really having a place to pour it out.  For example just having people to tell what you are learning and how your day was.  Of course telling those things to God, but even time with God is like being poured into and not you pouring out.  I don't know if this makes sense, but anyway.  I have to learn to "build community" in like being connected with people fo...

Hello!  I hope you are doing well.  : ) Here's a poem I wrote the other day:  God, please help me to be strong and apoligize when I'm wrong. I know if I hang onto bitterness I won't last very long before breaking into pieces.  It's like a rotting disease-- like leprosy. But, God, I know that you can heal me! You heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.  God, make me whole!  I want to be made whole in you, set free and fully redeemed. Please drive out of me all that isn't from you-- all my sin that is keeping me captive within. Free me to live for you God and to love you. Free me to speak truth and cultivate peace. Help me to live in humility and harmony. God, break down these walls that I build up in my heart. Break my cynicism, anger toward others, and hatred of myself.  Lord, please help me to see myself as you see me-- as righteous, loved, valuable, beautiful, set-apart to you and set free. ...

Hey,   I hope you guys are doing well. So this year...well it's been going pretty well here. Yeah, this year has been good. A lot different than I expected, but good. It's busy, challenging, sometimes really frustrating, but also a really good experience and I think I've learned and grown a lot. I've learned that growing in your faith is more than just a pretty idea, but is difficult with like overcoming struggles, etc. Yet as I press more into Him I find that things I struggle with are easier to overcome. I've realized a lot of how much Jesus really expects of us and that he wasn't all dying for us to just accept Him, but He actually wanted us to count the cost first and really decide to follow Him. It's like whoa. Sometimes even being here I'm like what have I gotten myself into with this whole following Jesus thing? But it's really good. And He's faithful even when I'm not. He has to keep showing me that over and over. I've also...