Passionate People

God has given me such a passion for Him recently. A passion that is just so overwhelming that I don’t understand how I went so long being numb to Him. It is kind of incredible looking at the people God has specifically placed in my life to encourage me in my passion for Him. Three specific people have come to mind and for my first blog I just want to write about the encouragement they have been in my life, and they don’t even know it!
First off is a young man named James Frey. I met James in March when I went to New York on a trip with Linn Benton Community College’s choir. During this trip I wasn’t really expecting God to move in my heart, however God surprised me and awakened my spirit more then it had been in months. James is living in New York working with teens in YWAM, his passion and love for God was just so moving to me. The way he talked about God just made my heart yearn to have the same relationship with the Lord that he had. I wanted to know God so intimately, hear Gods voice and follow Gods commands more then ever. The crazy part about how James influenced me wasn’t one specific thing; it was just the fact that he lived whole heartily for God. He was real about everything and just refreshing to me. I praise God for meeting him and the influence he had on me. Even though I’ve had very few encounters with him. He blessed me immensely.
Another person who has majorly influenced my life is Sarah Nelson. I’ve known Sarah for numerous years now because our families have been incredibly close, but I was never really close to her. Recently God has just been putting her on my heart, so I have been reading her blogs a lot. She has http://frills4thrills.blogspot.com/ which is always an encouragement to me. But I recently discovered her new blog http://sittingsolo.blogspot.com/ This blog has just touched my heart. Watching Sarah just bloom into this beautiful woman just showed me that I can do it too! Seeing Sarah’s heart in her blogs just has shown me the beauty of being a woman, the grace of just being real with God and real about the struggles I am having. I don’t even know if I can explain how much Sarah, all the way in Portland has blessed me on a regular basis. I’m so grateful to God for giving me this beautiful woman to influence me.
The next person I have talked to twice in my life. And the conversations I’ve had with him have been very very short to say the least. His name is Nate Uttely. I met Nate at Fall Retreat this year. However, before I met him, I saw him. Not in a creepy way, my eyes were just drawn to his love and passion for God. I eventually talked to him and I don’t even think we had an important conversation, because I don’t remember what we said. However I do remember just seeing the love of God pour out of his mouth. I was very moved by how beautiful and real his relationship with Christ is and INCREDIBLY blessed by it. I just know that God is using him so much because just my quick little encounters with him changed my life.
I guess what God has been showing me is that my Passion for Him doesn’t need to be perfect. I just need to live it. Live life for Him and share what He is doing in me. God has giving me such a joy and I am so grateful to have it. I’m excited to see where God takes me and to see what God has for me to say in my blog.