Hannah Maria Joy

I've bween reading The Insanity of God  by Nik Ripken (if you haven't read it you NEED to!). The book is about Nik's journey of ministry throughout the world; while he is in China interviewing believers there he hears a message from God saying this: "If ten million believers in your movement cannot take care of four hundrd families, do you have the right to call yourselves the Body of Christ, the Church, or even followers of Jesus?" It really struck me. It does not just apply to the Chinese believers, but it applies here, in the United states or wherever you may be, as well. I have always thought that the Church should play a big role in taking care of families, specifically women and children. James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." However, it never hit me that by not taking care of the widows and orphans that we are not truly being God's church until

With Thanksgiving just having passed, I have been thinking about and have been very aware of the many blessings God has given me. 1. I have been blessed with a wonderful Christian family. Not just my immediate family, but my exstended family as well. I do not know of one family member that is not a follower of Christ and I never realized, until recently, how incredibly rare and awesome that is! 2. The relationship I have with my family. I love them so much and it fills my heart with joy everytime we are ALL able to be together. 3. New friendships. The friends I have made at Rochester College have been and I know will continue to be encouraging, God serving, stretching, and fun. I know that they will be there for me no matter what. 4. Old friendships. Though I have grown apart from many of my friends that I had in high school, anytime I am able to catch up with them and be with them is a special moment. 5. My lovely ladies of Οmicron Ωmega Ζeta. I really do not know what I wou

      This weekend I joined RC's Campus Ministry in our annual Shak-a-thon. This was my second time participating in Shack-a-Thon and I can't even begin to say how thankful I am that I decide to join in on it again this year.  Before I go any further I want to apologize for how scrambled and messy this post will be; I have a lot running through my mind from the weekend and am still trying to process it all.  A bit of a back story: The summer of 2012 I went on a mission trip it Knoxville TN. While we were there we fed hundreds of homeless people through Lost Sheep Ministries, we helped Angelic Ministries sort clothing and furniture for their homeless(or almost homeless) program, we also worked on a few painting projects. Working with and for the homeless/at risk people there sparked a passion within me that I had no idea was there.  The trip to Knoxville was the reason I decided to study Christian Ministry with a minor in Social Work.  Now to this weekend: For those who

This is my first blog post and I am exhausted from the weekend. That being said, this post will be scattered and messy, but I knew if I didn't post it now it wouldn't happen.         The past five days I have been staying at my church, Valley Church of Christ, for our annual mission "trip", MISSION:POSSIBLE. During those five days, we camped out at the church building, eat together, and serve the surrounding community together by helping people at there homes by painting, building decks, doing yard work, roofing, putting up siding, etc. This was my fifth year being involved in MP and it just may have been my favorite one yet. MISSION:POSSIBLE changes lives. Seeing a transformation in a person in just five days is such an incredible thing to witness and I believe it is safe to say that every single person who was involved in MP was touched and changed in one way or another.  The spiritual energy high at church this morning was just awesome! This summer I have