Beautiful Days. I

I am posting this, technically, on April 12, but in this post I am speaking about April 11, aight? haha

I am so filled with joy right now; today was & is so beautiful & God was evident through my entire day. This morning (granted I woke up late) I went for a bike ride all over town with my friend Mikey, then this afternoon I came home from my bike ride & organized recital music for my piano students, taught a piano lesson outside by having fun with chalk, listened to one of my best friend's practice her testimony ( I cried), led my small group, & was blessed with going to a movie with a friend & her mother.

God has been blessing Colorado with some wonderful weather lately & I am so thrilled that the Lord blessed me with the freedom to ride my bike in the sun, all over town with a good friend. I had a blessed time just talking & enjoying the weather. After my piano lesson, I came home to prepare having my small group over to my house (well my awesome roommate, Rachel, blessed me by putting the living room together for me while I organized my thoughts). 

I just want to take the time to tell you how RAD my small group is: they are THE most beautiful girls & when I look at them & spend time with them, I see the love of Christ radiating off of them. They have gorgeous souls & I wish you could meet every single one of them; they are my best friends. . .& I don't use that term lightly with them because they are the epitome of my soul sisters. Monday nights are my favorite because I get to spend this night with them & learn from them. 

Tonight at small group, one of my best friends, Betty (she is in the photos of the previous post), practiced her testimony because she will be giving it in front of everybody at our campus ministry meeting on Thursday night. I could not be more thrilled for her because her testimony is POWERFUL. Seriously, the minute I heard it, I knew God was going to use that to reach girls ALL over this world. She is so beautiful because of her testimony (& for many other reasons) & it has impacted my life tremendously to hear it & to watch God transform her; that's why I cried when she practiced it tonight. Every girl in my small group has a bomb testimony, ha ha! I was blessed with the opportunity to not only host my small group tonight, but also to lead it (my small group leader, who, by the way, is an amazing woman of God who I admire beyond measure, asked me to last week). I was incredibly nervous, but once I started, God filled me with His courage & I enjoyed it so much. I spoke about being devoted to the Lord; I chose this topic because it is something the Lord has been teaching me the past few months. I pray it touched the girls' in my small group hearts, as it has mine. :)

After small group, I got on facebook (lame, I know ha ha), but it was perfect timing because my good friend Elnaz (I met her in French class earlier this semester & she is from Iran) popped up on chat & asked me to go to a movie with her & her mom (who is here in Colorado visiting)! They blessed me by treating me to the movie "Hop." It was cute & I enjoyed spending time with Elnaz & her mother; they are both beautiful inside & out. God has blessed me with such generous & loving people in my life. As well as encouraging people; all day, people have been encouraging me. . .to my face, over facebook chat, & by being a living example. Wow, Jesus is wooing me & it brings me such joy!

I am grateful to the Lord for this day; He blessed me beyond belief & gave me the eyes to see it that way. Not only did the Lord bless me with awesome weather & gorgeous people in my life, but also the Lord surprised me with a financial blessing in the mail today! My cousin from out of state sent me an Easter card with a generous offering toward my Costa Rica trip, praise God! Deep gratitude & love go out to my cousin, as well as my Father for providing. Another thing to give glory to God for. . .my roommate from my freshman year of college has needed a lot of prayer lately & God has answered all of our prayers! Of course, the prayer is still needed (we should pray unceasingly anyhow), but God deserves all the praise & honor for the answering of this prayer! He is always, always, always faithful to His promises. 

click me por favor!

(this song is a great example of being devoted; it is sang for a lady, however, I like to sing it for my Jesus)

"Guard my life, for I am devoted to You. You are my God. . ." 

-Psalm 86:2