As we are coming into the new year I thought I would leave you all with some quotes from what others have taught me this year.

"Pursuing God's will takes great sacrifice; however, God will give you a future greater than you ever imagined."

"You'll know if marriage and this individual is right if your ministry together is more effective than your ministry as individuals."

"Reality, in fact, is always something you couldn't have guessed. That's one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It's a religion you couldn't have guessed."

"God seems more faithful when the bad things are happening and He's holding your hand than when life is good and your not looking to the Savior for help."

"I need the Psalms."

I really needed this. I often...ok always have this same adittude. I pray that God would work in my heart and create true worship.

Worship Frustration

I love listening to this lady. I may not always agree with everything she says, but she is very funny and I agree with a lot of it.

I awoke this morning
I awoke this morning to find
I could no longer be who I had been
Change had come
Change come but why
The person I was could never return again
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger but it hurts
Yet a broken heart can mend, must mend
I awoke this morning
I awoke this morning to find...

Thank you Mrs. Lynette for sending this to me. This is so cool. How can this not be created? How can this have just evolved?
Check this out

These are the lyrics to a song by Lisa Gungor. I heard them this weekend and I was touched by the message.

Paradox of Faith

She prayed for Your healing
She prayed that Youd be revealing who shes gonna be
She prayed for Your peace
She prayed that Youd heal the pieces of her family
She quoted the word
Said, whatever we ask in Your name we shall receive
And You opened the door
And You gave her what she asked for

He got on his knees
And said Father, would You please hear me tonight
She doesnt have long
Her lifes almost gone
Would You please heal my wife
He quoted the word
Said, whatever we ask in Your name we shall receive
But his wife passed away
And hes left everyday with the questions why

Why do some prayers seem to be unanswered
In return they cause our hope to falter
May hope be found
Not in what I pray for
My hope is in Your name
I will trust Your name

David was pleading
He was believing for God to save his son
But his faith wasnt shaken
When it didnt happen
And he chose to worship God
So much faith and so bold of Mary its told
When she reached to touch Your robe
It was counted as faith
As she went away to worship

Why do we formulate our faith
Provide our answers
For your unexplainable ways
May faith be found
Not in what I pray for
My faith is in Your name
And I will trust Your name

Lord I choose right now to trust You
Not for what You do
But for who You are
And though I dont have all the answers
I know that I will trust Your name
I will trust Your name
My hope is in Your name

Here is a portion of scripture that I think is very appropriate for 9/11.

Psalm 27

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, ^[a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

Romans 8
19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that^[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

I too am am eagerly waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. I watch in awe and amazment as I see the works of the sons and daughters of God in this present age. May we are we rejoice in our glorious freedom that God has given us.

This is so cool!

This is the church in Bugambilias.

This is the church in Santa Ana.

This is Iteso University and the Football field where we played soccer at Iteso.

This is the road that we had to drive to get up and down the moutain.

Matthew 20:28
28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

It has been a while since I have posted, but as many of ya'll know I was in Guadalajara, Mexico for a two month internship. I learned a lot while in Mexico. Here are some of the things that I learned

-To speak a little espanol(Still working on this though)

-To serve a little more like Jesus (I'm still working on this one as well)

-To put a tomato on a cut the is bleeding profusely to stop the bleeding(I don't know why this works, but I would love to find out if anyone knows)

-To tell kids no and then tell them what they should be doing

-To cook a few Mexican dishes

-That I can't wait to do that for the rest of my life

Someday I would love to go back as a missionary. Please pray that God would guide me and show me His will for my life.

-

Oh, my Child
Come and weep a while
Cry on my shoulder
Till your eyes have run dry
But listen as I say this
I want you to understand
Never has anything happened
That I did not plan

Psalm 146

1 Praise the LORD. ^[a]
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,

8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

I love how it says,"Do not put you trust in princes." As a girl I cannot wait until my prince comes and just sweeps me off my feet. But here it says that I should not put my trust in that. To often I get my hopes and dreams wrapped up in the idea of being married to the most wonderful guy in the world, yet here it tells me that my prince will let me down. My prince cannot save me.

That is why I take comfort in the fact that there is one man who can and has saved me.

Thank you Father for saving me. May I put my all my hopes and dreams in you and not in mortal men. May I trust you for the future. Amen.

Isaiah 54:16-17

16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;

17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD.

I´ve been reading from Isaiah for the last few weeks. This realy popped out at me. Think about it. When a warrior is going out to battle he isn´t thinking,"Okay, I need to find out who made my opponites sword so that I know how good his weapon is. I need to find out who this guy trained with so that I know what fighting styles he is use to. I need to..." A warrior is not thinking of all the little things that made his enemy a warrior. Instead he is concentrating on the moment. He doesn´t have time to think big picture just then.

We have such a great God that he does that for us. When we are going through a spiritual battle, He knows exacatly what we need to keep up the good fight. He created everything and He can sure stop it if he needs to. He knew eacatly what we need to serve Him before we were even born. God is amazing. ¿Verdad?

To My Father

Dear Dad,

This is a letter thanking you for being such a great dad. As the f ather of five girls, you have undertaken what many men would dread. When I´m telling people I am one of five girls, no brothers, people will often say,¨Your poor dad.¨

When I was first started to hear this reaction, I would try and come up with a snappy come back to make people laugh. But lately I´ve come to a realization. You are probably the best man for the job of raising five girls.

You are kind and understanding, but you also push us to be tough and strong; therefore you have raised some very stong women as your daughters. You have taught us to lead and think for ourselves, but have also taught us to follow and help those in athority get their job done. You´ve taught us to think through things and us our minds, even when we don´t want to. Have have been an example of what we should look for in a husband. And most of all you have passed on your faith. Thank you for raising strong, smart, God-fearing daughter.

Now when people say,"Your poor dad," I say,"He is really the best man for the job."

Love,
--Rie

Deuteronomy 11:19

19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Wow! so much to tell so little time to tell it. I´m now in Mexico. Lauren and I are have been working for the past few days in a preschool in Santa Anna from 8:30am to 1:30pm. Then we go back to the Trotters house for lunch.

Santa Anna is a very poor part of Guadalajara. Think lucky that some of them have indoor plumbing poor. I will be taking pictures, but I can´t find the USB cord that loads my pictures onto the computer. So you guys might have to wait a while on the pic front.

The kids at the preschool are so darling. I love them so much. One of the kids is retarded and I am having a hard time knowing how to deal with him. Pray that God will show me how to deal with him in a way that will help him to grow and understand.

I need to work on my Spanish. The kids at the preschool don´t speak my English, so I have a good warm up in the morning. But I´m still a little hesitant to speak to adult and teenagers.

This Sunday I¨m singing for worship in the English service and singing an offertory in the Spanish service. The offertory is Be Thou My Vision in Español.

Galatians 5:19-21

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Exodus 34:10-14

10 Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. ^[a] 14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Here we have to examples of Jealousy. Though these words may appear at fist to be the same that is not the case. One of these jealousies is our own human jealousy. The second example is God's jealousy.

I struggle alot with jealousy and I'm not talking about the kind that God has for us. I struggle with being jealous of others. But I have been warned if I live in a constant state of jealousy I will not inherit the kingdom of God.

My jealousy causes a multitude of problems. It causes me to sin against others, myself, and God. It makes me bitter, hate the people I'm jealous of, angry, despair of being good enough, makes me guilty over being jealous, and causes strife between others and myself. When I am jealous of others, I'm not being content with what God has blessed me with.

My sin that seems just to be just inside my head where no one can see wreak havoc on almost every part of my life. I don't want that.

Father, I come before with a great load on my shoulders. I need You to change my heart. I need You to make me not jealous of others. I do not want to live my life in a jealous state of being. Make me more like You and Your Son, Father. Amen.

I hope to write more later about God's jealousy later.

Proverbs 31:30

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

A woman to be praised. What a wonderful thing. I have know many women who have been worthy of the kind of praise that this verse says we should give them. I would like to thank all the mothers and single ladies who have lived their lives devoted to God. It is such an awesome thing to see.

My sister wrote this. She's awesome!

The Trees
By:Noelle Pruitt

What do you think of when you see a tree?
I think of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Why?
Because we always have room to grow.

What are the larger trees?
They are those who are wise and strong in the faith.

What about the littler trees?
Those are the ones who are young and untested. Pray for those.

What about the trees that are bare and have no leaves?
Those are the ones that have bo fruit. Who believe but never flurish.

What about the ones that have flowers?
Those are the ones that have gone before us, and now light our way with their bright colors.

If we are trees, what are squirells?
They are poeple that test our paitence with their ceaseless chater!

What about the wind?
thos who would have us bend and never grow. Those who would try to uproot us us and knock us down.

What about the birds?
Birds are angels, sining out for God's glory and cheering us on sky ward.

If we are trees, then what is God?
God is the Sky, big and beautiful. Giving us water to drink and sun so we can grow. God is the sky because we could never reach him ain a million years without Jesus.

One last question, what are the trees with all the little pods on them?
Those are the ones planting God's word into the hearts of others.

1 Peter 4:11
11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

As Christians we are called to be "little Christs." Are we doing that? I looked up faith on biblegateway and one of the things that came up was "GLORIFYING GOD » Accomplished by » Faithfulness." We were made to praise and glorify God. We are told in this verse to do everything to glorify Him. How amazing would it be to have God so on your mind that you think about glorifying Him in everything.

Father, my heart does not glorify you, yet that is what you created me to do. Pleasese turn my heart. Make it into something that longs to please and serve You with everything in it. Amen.