Leaving for Dallas!

Well... this is it! Tomorrow I will be packing my suitcase and preparing to embark on a brand new adventure in Dallas, once again. On Saturday morning, my mom is going to drive me down to Dallas (we are leaving at a very ungodly hour but, the sooner I get there the better so, I don't mind that much!)

As you can imagine, I'm incredibly excited about this! I've never worked on staff anywhere before so this will be quite an adventure and something that I'm really looking forward too. God has just totally opened the door for me to be able to do this so I know this is of Him and I am so grateful that He is allowing me this incredible opportunity. I'm just in awe of how amazing He is!

However, I am not merely going because I want to see my sister and my friends who are there. I'm going there to serve in whatever way I can. I'm going there to be an encouragement to the girls going through EXCEL and to lift them up in prayer.

I would so appreciate your prayer for me while I'm there. I'm going to be there for six weeks from Oct 3rd-Nov13th. When I went to Advanced EXCEL, the training period was for six weeks and... well... I didn't make it six weeks so I would definitely appreciate prayer for my health to hold up while I'm there.

If you would also please pray for me to be an encouragement to the girls while I'm there. I want to write an encouraging note to every EXCEL girl and Team Leader and Assistant while I'm there, even if it's just a sticky, just something to let them know that they are being prayed for and that someone thought of them.

I also want to be bold enough to ask if there is anything I can be praying about for them and then just pray right there with them, if time allows. As I said before, I want to lift these girls up in prayer. I don't want to be shy or get scared of messing up or worry what someone will think of me like I have done before... I want to pray and be bold in my faith in Christ. How big is my God? Do I believe He's that big? Do I believe this enough to show it to the world? Yes... my God is big enough to work through a fearful little girl to impact this EXCEL class.

I know this is a lot to ask for prayer for but I have one more request. I really want to work on specific areas in my life where God has revealed to me that I have a problem. I need to work on self-discipline (i.e. rising early, going to bed on time, daily devos, exercise, etc), being completely dependent on God for everything, being content with where God has me, cultivating a servant's heart and a willingness to work hard, openness with others and to develop a genuine, Christlike love for others.

Ok, so to quickly sum up just in case I lost you with all of my explanations, here is what I'm asking prayer for:

* Health needs
* Being an encouragement to the people around me and, specifically, the EXCEL girls
* Developing self-discipline
* Learning to be completely dependent on God
* Being content with where God has placed me
* Cultivating a servant's heart and a willingness to work hard
* Openness with others
* Genuine, Christlike love for others
* To grow in my relationship with Christ :-D

And I think that is everything! Thanks so much for praying! I will definitely be needing it and so will these girls. God does so much in the lives of the girls that go through this program and I am so so grateful for the opportunity to help further this ministry that God is using so powerfully.

As a side note, before I end this, I would like you to know that I am dedicating my time there as sacred and set apart for God to use as He chooses. It's only by His divine planning that I am even going anyway so I know that He has a reason for allowing me to be there and I want to use this time to really grow in my relationship with Him and let my vision of Him get even bigger.

So, because of that, I will not be getting on Facebook, even though I have that privilege. I will stay in touch through emailing and I have been requested to send out a weekly newsletter (if I can) so that my friends can keep up with all that is happening. If you would like to be included... email me! All of my friends already have my email address and, if you don't, you can contact any of the people whose blogs I follow and ask them for my email address. :-D

Have a wonderful day and a fantastic week!

See ya in six weeks!!

~Kristin