Being Refined!

Friends and Family, Hello! Sorry it has been a while since my last update, but I am alive and doing well! Thank you for continuing to lift me up in your prayers--I am so beyond grateful! This past week in particular has been a bit challenging, but in a good way. I can feel my heart being transformed and refined by God to be made more and more like his each and every day. We are being loaded up with so much wisdom, encouragement, information, and counsel that it is becoming overwhelming. I am having to trust that God will help me retain what He wants me to retain and that He would also make me okay with not retaining everything. As I mentioned in my last update, I have adored the community that is here at City Project. The way that people love and encourage one another and are open and vulnerable with each another is such a gift, and it is so clear that it is from God. I am learning what it feels like to be known and loved by a body of believers. To think that this is only a taste of how much God loves me is mind-blowing. We had Men's/Women's Nights last week, and it was really sweet and special for all of us who were involved. To be able to grow closer in unity with my sisters in Christ in a way like that was so impactful. Although I have loved the community here, my overstimulation and wanting to get to know people better has caused a disconnect in my one-on-one relationship with God. I have recognized how, if I do not have a right relationship with God vertically, I will not be able to have freedom in my horizontal relationships with the people around me. Please pray that God would give me the strength, discipline, and joy to be in close communion with him and make that a priority, even if that means giving up the comfort of sleeping in or going to hang out with people just for fun. Every Wednesday, we meet in our family groups (small groups of 7-8 people) with each of our college campuses. This week, within our family groups, every person went out in groups of two to their college campus to go and pray over people and/or share the Gospel with people who were on campus. Sadly, I did not get to go because I had to take a Spanish test, but there were so many remarkable stories that were shared and it was so awesome to see how God moved and how many prayers He answered! As college students, we are so pumped to be able to take what we have been learning this summer and bring it back to our campuses in the Fall. We are boldly praying to see a dozen Hindu students and seven students from Greek life (fraternities and sororities) come to know and accept the Gospel. Please join us in these prayers! At our local Summit campuses (NC State at Blue Ridge and UNC at Chapel Hill), we have also been serving at a service and attending a service. We are learning more and more about what it means to serve the body of Christ and why we are called to actually serve. We've also discussed how God has intentionally given us each a gift and we need to use that to serve the larger body. It has been such a joyful experience, and I am excited to see what else comes of it! My absolute favorite session thus far has been a session on prayer. Taught by Chris Gaynor, one of the most faithful servants at the Summit Church, this session was such an eye opener to what prayer actually is and how important it is. Prayer is the way that we get to know the living God himself; it helps us experience and express communion. Just like an earthly relationship will not grow if communication is not built up, our relationship with God won't either. We have access to God by prayer because of Jesus' death. Are we taking advantage of that gift and pursuing a personal relationship with God, or are we just pursuing prizes from God? We went through the details of the ACTS model (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) of prayer, and Chris challenged us to be so saturated by the ACT parts that we barely have anything to say when we get to S. Rather than asking Him for so many things all at once, we need to be giving it to God to do what He wants to do with it. To help with this prayer process, I have started writing my prayers out to help drive it into my heart to be more articulated when I am praying, and I am excited to see how God is going to continue to reshape my heart posture towards prayer. Again, thank you for your continued prayer and support! Love and Blessings, Katie Parler