Are the choices I’m making today taking me in the right direction?

Am I pretending to be somebody I’m not or do I know who I really am?

Many of us don’t ask these questions until we have gone too far.  I know I was one that never took a second look at any of them until I put myself in the position to get challenged on it all. For me, God was a part of my life but I had walked away for a period of time and lived in the world where many of these questions never got asked.  I lived with my walls up, building them around as a way to protect only to find those walls closed me in, leading me to not let anyone in including God.

In the process of building walls I ended up hiding behind the lies I built to keep those walls from coming down. The lies which I only let get worse and worse until I began to believe myself -that my life was mine and no matter what people said nothing could change that mind set. My mind set changed when my life hit bottom;  I had no job, no place to go, I was going out almost every night and asked the question, was this the life I wanted to live? Did I want the rest of my life to be about going out drinking and partying & to live by what the world said was a good life or did I want to make a stand and turn my life back around? After pondering these questions, the next week I came home and back to church.

God had a plan for my life and not even a month from being back at church, he brought some amazing people in my life to help me and show me that I was trying to live in both worlds. They began to show me that I needed to be all in before God could do anything in my life. After mediating on all I was being challenged with I decided to go “all in” and I Enrolled in Formation.   By being a student in Formation, it has helped me see so much about myself and my life and face the questions about my life I had been avoiding.  Along the way I discovered answers about the walls I had built up and discovered how hiding behind the lies of who I really am robbed me of living out my destiny.  I’m realizing as I give up my will and life in exchange for His, I get a better life worth living.

God has taken me through a lot in this program and I have come out from behind the lies and the walls- both have been broken! I have completely turned my heart back to God. There are many things that you can do to change your heart but first you must be brave enough to ask the questions, and even braver to seek the answers.

So go ahead, I dare you to look within, behind the mask and walls and ask, seek and knock those walls down! The answers to those questions you ask will lead you closer to the changes you need to make that will bring you closer to God and the life you were called to live.

Melissa Thurman

Formation Student

One of the great things about the christian perspective is that its not about what ”WE” see now its about what” God” see in us. This is why we are extremely excited about the Journey that’s about to take place in 3 days, FORMATION begins! God has given us 9 students to make this dream of raising leaders a reality; these student are about to start a journey that is similar to the joruney I spoke of earlier. They are raw, un-shaped and un- formed lives; there is fear and uncertanty about their future but FORMATION is about shaping and forming the potential that God sees in them.

So where are you in your journey? How is your life and potential being shaped and formed into what God sees? or are your friends and family saying ” Idon’t see him/her doing much”? I want to encourage you, get into a environment that will grow and challenge you so your life can be transformed. IT WORKS!!

If you have been in any type of leadership training, team building exercises, school or youth programs you have all seen the illustration where the speaker asks for a volunteer from the crowd. The volunteer comes up to the front, then the speaker begins to instruct the volunteer to turn and face the opposite direction and close their eyes. The speaker than whispers into the volunteers ear “Now slowly just let your self fall backwards….Don’t worry, I WILL CATCH YOU WHEN YOU FALL!” At that moment the crowd becomes silent as they wait to see what the volunteer will do; does he trust the speaker? or does he open his eyes and just walk away?

We have all seen this illustration, we use it to demonstrate Trust and Faith in our lives and the hands we put our lives into. whether or not this illustration becomes old in your eyes  the simple truth is our Trust and Faith will always be challenged. Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, just gave your life to Christ or have been serving God for years, there will always be a time when you have to say “God i have no other choice but to close my eyes and trust that you will “CATCH ME WHEN I FALL”

Its not a statement that your life is falling into deep sin but a statement that you have to put your current situation, Family and Life completely into Gods hands. Rhea and I are relearning that right now as I type, we have to hold each other by the hand close our eyes and begin to fall back into the hands of the Lord. There are plenty of people watching to see what will happen, waiting to see how we respond and Jesus is whispering into our hearts “ Commit everything you do to ME, Trust Me and I WILL help you”Ps.37:5        

 If “CATCH ME I’M FALLING” is currently in your vocabulary today, than hear the whisper from Christ, close your eyes turn around and fall; He will Catch you.

There was a day in your life when you closed your watery eyes, tilted your head to heaven and opened your heart to God and with a faint cry invited Jesus Christ into your life. From that moment on your life has never been the same, actually you have spent the bulk of your time discovering the PURPOSE for your life! Maybe you have discovered your heart is to Sing, or maybe its feeding the homeless or maybe even teaching children…nevertheless you now have a PURPOSE and now you want to go and save the WORLD!!! WAIT before you go and save the world and PRODUCE your hearts desires don’t forget a crucial step “The PROCESS”

Luke 2:49″why do you search for me? don’t you know i must be in my fathers house” this is where Jesus at 12yrs old discovered the PURPOSE for his life, but did He go out and start producing in the world? the answer is no. He spent the next 17yrs of his life ENGAGing His purpose, learning and training Himself so that when the time came for Him to Produce He would be as fruitful as he could with His time on this earth.

Formation exist to create an environment for you who have discovered a passion to serve Jesus for the rest of your life to ENGAGE that purpose. That your life may be shaped an formed with the training and relationships you need to be as fruitful with the time that has been given to you in this life.

Don’t sit on your Purpose…its TIME to ENGAGE it!!

- Site Admin