Orientation Week Complete!

Friends and Family, Hi! I safely arrived at Southeastern Seminary this past Wednesday, 5/26. It is Sunday, 5/30 as I am writing this to you, and we have just finished our kick-off/orientation week. I am just overwhelmed with how many emotions I am feeling, and I want to share how God has already started transforming my heart, as well as ask for some more prayers in a few specific areas. Coming into City Project, I was a bit worried with the whole community aspect since I have come into this as a transfer student. However, there was truly nothing to worry about. Since I have arrived, I have been accepted and loved on with open arms by so many other college students from UNC, NC State, and Meredith. God has opened my eyes even wider to the fact that I am a functioning part of the Body of Christ; I get to experience a glimpse of God's love through the way that the people around me love, and I have been extremely humbled by that. On a related note, our first night here, we had a session taught by one of the Summit College staff members on Healthy Friendships and what those look like. We talked through so much with that, but God revealed two specific things to me more than ever before. One, Jesus calls us to love our brothers AND our sisters equally. With the worldly stigma surrounding guy/girl relationships, I (and the majority of us) tend to stay away from loving my brothers in Christ because I don't want it to be viewed in the wrong way or turn into the wrong thing. However, I have felt like God has really started to challenge me when it comes to this. I am asking for your prayers that God would continue to refine my heart when it comes to being a more loving and compassionate sister. Secondly, our friendships with one another can be testaments to the lost world. John 13:34-35 says "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." When I am with a brother or a sister, God wants the outside world to be so taken aback by how we are loving on and encouraging one another that they just won't be able to help but see the way that God loves us. Please also pray that God would just continue to grow me in my compassion and joy for being in community with my brothers and sisters. Pray that the Holy Spirit would give me the confidence to continue to build relationships with those around me. Please also pray that God would start to break my heart for the lost people around me. Ask that He would unveil my eyes to the urgency of sharing the Gospel and that I would be obedient to the call that is to get the Gospel heard among all the nations. Since I am naturally an introvert, evangelism has always been a challenge for me, but as I have been consistently reminded that I have the Holy Spirit of the living God inside of me, I have seen that I can truly do anything that He calls me to do. God has specifically chosen me and His children to be the way that the Gospel gets heard--nothing else can get people to hear the Gospel except through His children. God took the people that were His enemies (us) and made them ambassadors for Him. How crazy! As we are learning what it looks like to be a disciple-making disciple, we have learned what those specific identities of being a disciple are--a worshipper, family member, steward, servant, and witness. Please ask that God would continue to reveal to me what each of these identities look like and that I would grow in being more Christ-like when it comes to these five identities in particular. Ask that I would be overwhelmed with the feeling of grace when I recognize that I am not perfect at all of these things--there is only one person who is, and that's Jesus! We've also been learning what it looks like to read the Bible and just how important the Bible actually is. We have been working on a bit of scripture memorization and getting to know what it looks like to have verses hidden in your heart to be able to encourage yourself and others with. On Friday, we spent two full hours in solitude in a park just reading and reflecting on God's living and active word in Ephesians 1. When I was reading His Word that day, I felt Satan continuing to attack at my heart; I would continue to get distracted and my mind would just be running non-stop with excitement, worries, questions, anxieties, and everything in between. I had to continue to turn to God in full submission to Him and ask that He would just open my eyes to what He wanted me to see that afternoon. As I continued to bask in the freedom of knowing that I can turn to Him to rest my soul like Matthew 11 says, I slowly felt God quiet my mind and reveal to me what He wanted me to see, and that was the fact that He has chosen and adopted me, and that I have been created to praise Him. The joy of being in an intimate relationship with Him should be so overflowing and evident to those around me! God has truly done wonderful things as I have been surrounded by this body of believers for not even a week yet, and all of us are so beyond excited to see what else He has in store for each one of us. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement! P.S. There are now photos in the gallery! Go check them out :) Love and Blessings, Katie Parler