Growing Closer to GOD :)

Hey there beautiful ladies! 

We hope you are having a fabulous year at school and with your families. :) You all are too sweet! We miss ya lots and we'd love to hear any updates about what's going on in your lives. We love praying for our komos!!

When we left kamp this summer, many of you were very excited to learn more about God and what it means to have a relationship with Him. That's so great!! I hope all of you have learned so much since kamp and that you are developing habits that will help you grow closer to Him. I just wanted to share a little bit about what I've learned in my walk with God so far. Maybe it will help you all as you build a relationship with God, too!


God Knows Us!
"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well" (Psalm 139:7-14).

Isn't that cool?! God created us and knows our every thought and feeling. He created us exactly how He wanted to, according to His perfect will. And, even though we may become busy and forget about God, God never forgets about us. He loves us and protects us and forgives us always! So that means that if we want to grow closer to God, all we have to do is seek Him. He's ready to be found!

Pray!
"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1 John 5:14-15).

We can talk to God whenever we want! He will always hear us. Isn't that amazing? Even if millions of people are praying to God at the same time, He can hear our prayer. Wow! It's important to talk to God if we want to know Him better. Think about your best friend- how often do you talk to her? Do you think your friendship would change if you stopped talking to her? Now think about your relationship with God- don't you think your relationship with God will change if you talk to Him more? IT WILL!

When praying, you can ask God for help, you can ask for specific things, you can praise Him for being the wonderful God that He is, you can thank Him for all that He's blessed you with, and much more! Just get in the habit of talking to Him every day. :)

Read the Word!
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:14-17).

The Bible is the most important book in history! If prayer is us talking to God, then the Bible is God talking to us! We need to read it, learn it, memorize it, and live it! We encourage you to read your Bible every day, that way you are constantly learning new things that God has to say to you.

Walk the Walk!
"He who says he abides in Him [Christ] ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6).

We can't just READ God's Word- we have to APPLY it! In order to have a really close relationship with God, we need to put our faith into action! What's great is that we can follow Jesus' example. Jesus lived a perfect life without sin, and we are meant to strive for that kind of a lifestyle! 

We also need to repent of our sins. For example, if I have a bad habit of lying to my parents, I need to pray and ask God for forgiveness for that sin, and then I need to repent and decide to stop lying for good. What's awesome is that God ALWAYS forgives us- not because we deserve it, but because Jesus came and died on the cross for all of our sins! In order to have a close relationship withGod, we need to ask for forgiveness and start walking the walk!

Bottom Line: GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU!

Well, komos, I hope this helps! Comment or email us please! We'd love to hear form you!! We love you all!!

Love, Abbi

You will never guess what happened this weekend!!! ABBI CAME TO VISIT ME!!! It was amazing!!! It was about a 9 hour drive...INSANE! I'm so happy she came!! How many of you girls have really awesome friends? Aren't they SUCH a blessing?? Abbi and I want to encourage you to pray not only for great friends who love Jesus but to also ask the Lord to teach you to be a good friend!

Do you have a friend who you haven't spent time with recently? Go see her! See if you can have her over to hang out!
Do you know someone who needs a friend? Sit with her at lunch! Have her over to your house!

Jesus was the best of friends, he spent time with his disciples. He also spent time with God. That time with the Lord is crucial for us learning to be a good friend like Jesus was.

We love you girls! Now...it's time to learn to be a great friend! We miss y'all! (Sorry we haven't updated in a while, my fault!)

amy campbell

How to be a LEADER

Hey girls! Can you believe it's already getting to be fall weather? It seems like just yesterday we were all burning up at kamp.. haha time flies by!

Today I wanted to share with you just a little bit about what is means to be a leader in your faith. Once you ask Jesus into your heart, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit! That means that He lives in you, and helps you make decisions and helps you to grow. As time goes by, the Holy Spirit makes you more like Christ. How cool!

So what does that have to do with being a leader? Well, as followers of Christ, we can be leaders in our faith for other believers. Remember that verse we learned at kamp? 1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself and example for those who believe." Girls, no matter how young you are, if you have Jesus in your heart, He can help you to become a leader in your faith!

Now what does a leader do? A good leader must be willing to SERVE. Jesus set this example for us! He was humble, bold, gentle, and he loved everyone. He was a leader in the way that he LOVED others, not by being bossy or by looking down on others. In the same way, we are to love others and serve others by putting their needs before our own. In this way, we will lead others toward Christ.

Most importantly, as leaders, we must remember that it's not about us. We are not trying to get others to follow us so that we will feel important. To do so would make us prideful, which is a sin. Instead, we are leaders so that we can show others to JESUS. This means that we must first follow Him!! We cannot be leaders in our faith unless we are first following Jesus Christ. So be in the Word and in prayer so that you can grow into a closer relationship with God. Then, God will use you to be a leader for Him!

So girls, go out today and be LEADERS!
- SERVE your family and friends
- LOVE others like Jesus loves
- READ your Bible and PRAY to God
- Remember that it's all about JESUS!!

Love you! Have a great week!

I is for INCREDIBLE 'cause that is what YOU are!

Good morning komos!!
          Here's a little wake up song from Abbi and I: "Rise and shine and give God the glory glory, rise and shine and give God the glory glory RISE AND SHINE AND give God the glory glory children of the Lord!"
         We hope that school has gotten off to a great start. I don't know if you all have a day off from school tomorrow but I bet a lot of you do. I do too and I am so excited about a long weekend! If you don't, that just means you will get out one day earlier than the rest of the bunch, probably:).
         How are y'all doing? Please don't hesitate to email us and tell us what is going on with you:)! We LOVE to hear from you girls! And I mean we just absolutely love it!
        Abbi and I hope and pray that you girls are spending time with Jesus everyday, reading your Bible, telling Him everything that is on your heart, and just sitting with Him and letting Him tell you how much he cares about you. "Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7  
       I thought that this week I would give you girls a few ideas for ways to show the love of Jesus at your schools, you should all comment with any other ideas you have that way all of our sweet junior deal girls can just help each other out like sisters in Christ do:). Here ya go! I'll put some verses by these so you can look them up in your quiet times or just when you want to, but you don't have to put verses by the ideas you comment with.

•       Sit by someone who is by themselves at lunch or alone at recess. (John 15:12-13)
•       Ask your friend if they have ever given their life to Jesus, if they have ask them to hear their story and be excited because you just met a sister or brother in Christ! If they have not, then ask them if you can tell them your story and if they want to do it too, you can tell them how! (Matthew 28:18-20) (If you are not sure how to tell someone to ask Jesus in their heart, email us and we will tell you how!)
•       Listen to your teacher and do what they say, as long as it does not go against the Bible. (1 Peter 5:5, Romans 13:1)
•       If someone falls or drops their books or tray, help 'em out. (Ephesians 4:32)

Okay, YOUR TURN!:) Give ideas for us and other komos to read, let's help each other to be more like Christ!

We love you girls! Take some time today to spend with Jesus, you will not regret it for a second.

Amy

Here's a picture that is so silly it just makes me smile!

Have a great day:)

Heyyy there all you beautiful komos!!

How in the world are you?! Firstly, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been emailing us and commenting on the blog page- Amy and I just LOVE hearing for you all! It is such a blessing to us to hear how God is working in each of your lives, so keep 'em coming!

Today, I want to encourage you in what is called humility. What is humility? Humility is the opposite of pride. Being humble means not being prideful. But, as humans and sinners by nature, we are all tempted to be prideful. We are tempted to think of ourselves as better than others. And we are tempted to think that we can be good on our own- that we don't need God.

Being HUMBLE starts when we understand who we are in relation to Christ. JESUS is Lord, and He is perfect! Jesus has no sin. WE are sinful. But because God loves us so much, He sent Jesus to die for all of us! (John 3:16) We become humble when we realize how much we NEED Jesus and his forgiveness for our sins.

Jesus set a great example for us on how to be humble. If anyone deserves the right to be prideful, it is GOD, who created the whole universe and knows everything that has happened and will ever happen (WOW!). But God sent His son Jesus to earth to become a man. Jesus was humble by becoming a human and walking the earth among all the sinners in the world, even though he was perfect. And not only did he live as a man, but he was ridiculed and beaten and hung on a cross- all for us.

If you can, grab your Bibles and turn to Philippians 2:5-8
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!"

Jesus loves us so much! These verses show us that Jesus was selfless. And as Christians, we are called to be like Christ. Look again at verse 5: our attitudes should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. So how do we have the attitude of Christ? When God decided to send Jesus to earth to die on the cross for us, what was Christ's attitude? Did he say, "God, I am perfect and holy, I am way to good to serve these sinful humans." No! He was HUMBLE and he made that sacrifice for us. Jesus was willing to put GOD first, OTHERS second and himself third.

Think about ways you can be more humble this week, and ask God to make you more like Jesus. Here are some things to think about:

1. How can you be a better servant to God?

2. How can you be a better servant to others? (look at Philippians 2:3-4)

3. What are some areas where you need to be less selfish?

We love you SO MUCH, girls! And we miss you!! Comment with any questions or feedback, or just to let us know that you read it!

Keep seeking God with all of your hearts, girls! :)

Abbi

Hey girls!

                   How are y'all doing?! I wish we could be having this devo in the teepee and just seeing y'alls sweet faces and listening to your input but since we can't this will just have to do:).
                   I bet you girls have started school or you are about to start. We miss you girls so much and we just can't wait to hear how God uses you and your hearts for him at your schools!!! I always LOVE the start of a new school year. I love finding out who my teacher's are and what friends are in my class/classes. I love buying a new folders and notebooks and pens. I love telling my parents about my first day. It is just fun! There is just something so refreshing about "new". It is fun to experience new things because it is full of surprises, but it can also be a little bit scary!
                   I don't know how you girls are feeling about your new school year, maybe you have a mixture of emotions, but there are a few things that Abbi and I want you to store in your heart and let sink down deep into your soul, it is these exciting truths that I cannot wait to share with you, so here you go:)...

(These are from my Pastor Stephen Davis's sermon)

Truths from Romans chapter 8

• God is FOR you! 
• No matter WHAT God is for you in ALL things! He's on your team and he wants what is best for you. Romans 8:31 says "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" 
• How encouraging is this? We know that God is ON OUR SIDE! We don't have to fear anyone because we are HIS children once we have accepted Him into our hearts!
• Christ DIED for you!
• This reveals the DEPTH of God's love for you (John 3:16)
• He freely gave His only Son for you!
• God has JUSTIFIED you!
• Now this is a big word, but it means that God has made you right with Him. Not because of anything you have done, but because He loves you! All you have to do is accept Him as your Savior!
• You don't have to live judging yourself on how many good things you have done versus how many times you have messed up-God has already made you CLEAN before Him! He has washed you white as snow. Although we do sin after we have accepted Christ we can never lose our relationship with Him. The sin in our life causes our relationship with Him to not be as strong, but all we have to do is confess that sin to Him and he is faithful to forgive us. Our relationship with Him is secure though, a once and for all thing! You only have to ask Him into your heart ONE time and he stays forever, you can't get rid of Him. :) Of course, why would you want to?!
• YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS ETERNALLY SECURE!
• Christ's love makes it where you can have VICTORY over sin!
• What sins do you struggle with? Because Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins and conquered sin through God raising Him from the dead, we can have victory over our sin through Christ. Think about the sins you struggle with. For me one thing is selfishness. I put myself before others instead of them before me. Another one is that I am quick to get angry with my siblings sometimes. I need to find some scripture verses to memorize to help me to fight this sin and I need to confess them to God and ask him to help me to overcome them! (OVERCOMER COMIN' OVER!) We can do this because Christ has VICTORY over SIN! 

I hope that these truths help you to understand more about our faith in Christ! Here are some questions we would love for you to answer, either on the blog or in an email if you want it to be more private to abbiandamy@gmail.com :) :

1. Have you shared Jesus with anyone since you have been home? Who? Tell us about this! If not, who would you like to share with?
2. How are your quiet times going? (Reading your Bible and praying.) Are you confused on what to read? Do you like to keep a prayer journal?
3. What verse/verses have you memorized since you have been home?
4. How can we pray for YOU specifically?:)
5. Do you have any questions?

Hope to hear back from you girls! Love you all SOOOOOO MUCH!:)

Amy

Our first post!! Hope you girls have a great start to school! Remember to RISEUP in your schools, with your friends, and with your families!

R-renew your minds through prayer, Bible reading and memorization! (Romans 12:1-2)
I- remember that you are created in God's image & it's your inside that counts! (1 Samuel 16:7)
S- stand for truth and for what God loves! (Ephesians 6:13)
E- encourage others with your words and actions! (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
U- live a life unashamed of the gospel! (Romans 1:16)
P- be passionate about what is eternal: God, His Word and the souls of other people! (Romans 12:11)

We would love for you to name one thing you learned at kamp that has changed your life at home. Comment below! Please? :)

We love y'all! Email/text/write/contact us in anyway soon! Miss y'all already!
<3 Abbi & Amy :)