i can feel You all around me.

so, no one reads this, but i’m writing anyways.

coldplay’s new album is rocking my world this week! check out Viva La Vida pronto!!!

i have my uncle, aunt, and 4 kids coming into town today AS WELL AS my cousin, her husband, her 4 year old, and her mom (my great aunt). so yeah. wow. lots of family this coming week – i’m so stinkin excited!!!

i absolutely cannot wait to go on vacation. it could not come soon enough to me. i am in a desperate need for a break from life. seriously.

God’s teaching me so much it’s ridiculous, but i don’t have time to write about it. my post-camp experience has been…frustrating for me to say the least. the Lord did absolutely AMAZING things beyond what i can comprehend. and i have a constant craving for people to be around me who know exactly what i am talking about. i don’t know…it was the BEST camp i have ever been to as a student or a leader. yeah.

also, check out my friends the Morgans [Andrew, Emily, and the adorable Cole] and the Deuels [Matt, Erica, and the cutie Caleb] at Broken Voices – they are on an INCREDIBLE journey, and you should be a part of their story! they’re in the business of AWAKENING a generation who longs and yearns for God.

proverbs 21:21 – whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, & honor.

houseboat.

so i just got back from houseboat, which was this year’s high school summer camp location at dale hallow lake! woohoo! it’s SO SO beautiful there. and it’s cool, cause we live on boats and worship outside under the stars every night. i got to co-lead a group of 11 girls with my best friend, megan faulk! and the Lord did some AMAZING things in my life, meg’s life, the girls’ lives, and every other person’s life there. He truly did. and it was awesome. i seriously am in awe of all He has done in my life over the past week. i am changed. and it’s so freeing. basically, we spent 3 hours a day in our small groups (our boats) and then we had free time, dinner, then a night meeting with worship & teaching. it was exhausting, but so much fun and so de-toxing. no internet. no phone. no music (other than worship). no tv. no contact with the outside world. and it ROCKED my world. just me, a boat, the water, nature, and God. and all the other people. such community was formed. i am so humbled.

this weeks theme was ROOTS. basically, in a nutshell, it was talking about bad “fruits” or sin and the root of why we struggle with the things we struggle with. the first three days were EXTREMELY emotional. and the rest of the week was talking about finding freedom in the grace that God gives us no matter what those fruits & roots are. words do not even do this subject justice, really. the Lord was working in a way that i had only experienced a few times before. and it was, literally, AWEsome. it was so much fun, too. we got to hang out, swim, hike, go boating/tubing (my personal FAVE), and just be together. it was such a blast! and my boat freaking rocked! we had the best boat. i love this retreat because it forces you to be together all the time. we cook together. clean together. sing together. sleep together. hang out together. bathe together (in the lake). shave together. everything together. awesome. we also had a baptism ceremony on the last day, and of course a night of sharing, and the things that God did in the lives of these high schoolers as well as leaders was amazing. i am just on a high, but i seriously think it will last. i don’t know how it couldn’t.

the “theme” song of the week that we sang every single night we were there was “beautiful the blood” by steve fee. and it’s a freedom song, proclaimed true in our lives this week from now and forevermore.

I never knew
Death could be so sweet
I never knew
Surrender could feel so free
I never seen
Such meekness in majesty
That the blood of Jesus
Was bled for me

And now I sing
Freedom for all my days
It’s only by
The power of the cross
I’m raised
The King of Glory
Rescued me

How beautiful the blood flow
How merciful the love show
The King glory poured out
Victorious, I’m weeping

Never knew through these nails
Would love unfold
And never knew these wounds
Would heal my soul
I’ve never seen
Such beauty and sorrow meet
The blood of Jesus
Was bled for me

And now I sing
Freedom for all my days
It’s only by
The power of the cross
I’m raised
The King of Glory
Rescued me

[Repeat Chorus]

Now I’ll sing
Freedom for all my days
It’s only by
The power of the cross
I’m raised
The King of Glory
Rescued me

[Repeat Chorus]

How beautiful you are
How merciful you are
How glorious you are
Christ the Savior
How beautiful you are
How merciful you are
How glorious you are
Christ the Savior

i love you guys – rachface