Discovering The Spirit

  Today was just another life changing day in Seattle. In the morning we had homeless ministry training again. We also had a talk about a Spirit-filled life by our director, Tom. It was such an amazing thing for me personally. I have been living my Christian life for a long time, but have really lost myself along the way recently. It was like a brand new beginning for me because I've finally accepted that once you are saved, you are always saved. Jesus can't unadopt you, and truthfully accepting what he has done for me has been really difficult for me, which I have never realized before. I've always struggled with feeling good enough, and worthy to be loved etc. So living in the Spirit (as in the Holy Spirit) is something really new for me. I've obviously always known who He was, but I've never realized how much He can help me. (It's also thundering here right now, sweeeeeeet)
   We went out into the streets again today to give out some lunches, and just hang out with whoever wanted to hang out with us. Literally the first thing that the first guy my group walked up to said, "You guys are Christians aren't you?" And we were all kinda like how'd you know, and he said, "I can see it in your faces." And that was probably one of the most touching things I've ever heard. I would love to be recognized as a Christian just by the way I looked. His name was Richard, was also Christian, and he basically was preaching to us the whole time. It blows my mind how many homeless people are Christian. In my mind it would be soooo hard to be Christian, or even the motivation to believe in something if I had nothing, and if life was such a struggle all the time. He really touched my heart, and he even volunteered to pray for us. He said the Spirit was really working through us, and obviously the Holy Spirit is really working today since it's been the topic on my mind the whole day. We also talked to a man named Theo, whom some of us knew from Saturday during our homeless simulation. He also brought up the topic of God right away with us. The last person I personally talked to was a guy named Joe. The guy in our group, Jake, was also with me. Joe is waiting to go back to live in Alaska, and has been homeless here for 8 months. We never talked about the Gospel, but we gave him a lunch, and spent the time talking about things he was interested in. He basically carried the conversation. We talked about camping, fishing, and the bears that are in Alaska. He really enjoys the scenery of Alaska, and if anyone knows me they know I'm OBSESSED with Alaska and really need to go someday.
   We aren't going to talk about Jesus with every homeless person we talked to, which is TOTALLY fine. Yes, it's great if you can talk about God, but really all these people want is to be recognized, not ignored, spoken to, and not looked over. They just need human interaction, and communication. I learn so much about so many walks of life just by listening. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to do this because not many people do. They seriously impact me way more than I do for them. I also want to mention the guys on our trip. They are such unbelievable gentleman. They really have the standards of what I'd look for in a husband. They are just Godly men that protect us like sisters. I'm especially thankful for them while we're downtown with the homeless.
   I'm basically just waiting for dinner now, and we have DNA groups later to just debrief about our day. I'm really starting to like my group, and we're all just growing closer. It's only been a week and a half and I love it here. Tomorrow we are going to a mental hospital, and I'm STOKED!!! I think we're just talking to employees, touring the hospital, and seeing what types of people/programs they have there. I'll be blogging the details of what went down tomorrow night.