School Shmool

Post two of two for the day. Unless of course I go again. Which, I don't think will happen.

Welcome Week starts today. I'm super excited because I'm going to be at a new school with different people. The Lord blessed me this way. Let me share with you why this was such a blessing.

On Tuesday I went to Irondale (my high school) for a meeting. I pulled into the parking lot and I started to sweat, my heart started to pound, and I was really nervous. I sat there in my car for a couple minutes asking the Lord to give me strength to go inside. I'm not scared of the building. I'm scared of the memories I have there. Not all of them were caused by other people hurting me. Some were caused by me failing to take an opportunity to share the gospel with friends. This really pains me. The fact that I was too prideful to ever take the time and share with my friends the good news of Christ hurts me and it hurts them. The fact that I didn't call any of my school friends all summer and try to take advantage of having time to share, hurts me and it hurts them. I've also been hurt by people at school and I'm very excited to start a new experience at a new school. Although I will be at Bethel I know not all the students will be believers. I pray the Lord will give me strength and humility to open my mouth and proclaim Jesus name.

Well I walked into Irondale and the memories kept coming but I looked around and didn't see any signs for the meeting. So I called my mom and asked her if we got the date wrong, she didn't know. I went home and looked it up and sure enough the meeting wasn't until Wednesday. I didn't understand why God made me do that. Why he made me go through all that pain and be wrong about the meeting. I sat in my room and tears rolled down my face. It was good tears. It was God tears. I was crying because the Lord was showing me my sin. And He was showing me His blessing of a new school. He's giving me a chance now to watch for my sin and attack it at a new school. I just wonder if I were at Irondale would I watch and attack my sin there? And I think the answer is yes. Because the Lord has worked many things in my life this summer and He's given my strength.

I'm excited for this new blessing.

I've read many blogs the last few weeks about how summer is/has come to a close. I don't want mine to close because it went too fast. And because school shmool. But, the Lord has a plan for each life that is going back to school, and I pray my friends will see God's grace and plan in this new school year.

Friends- you know who you are- I love you. The Lord bless you and keep you.

Working hard at school (maybe),
Greta

Grandma ShuShu

I might blog a couple times today because this is an important week. Here is blog one of possible two.

We celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday yesterday night. Today is the actual day. All her kids, grand-kids, grand-kids in-law, and future grand-kids in-law wrote something to her. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Grandma,

Others would say that theirs is greater.
They would be wrong.
Mine cleans the dishes because,
That’s what her grandma did.

Others would say that theirs is younger.
They would be wrong.
Mine still goes places,
Like she is forty.

Others would say that theirs is sweeter.
They would be wrong.
Mine loves talking about all,
Of her grandkids and their greatness.

Others would say that theirs is nicer.
They would be wrong.
Mine wonders how I am,
What I’m doing and where I’m going.

Others would say that theirs is funnier.
They would be wrong.
Mine says funny things like,
“If you put ice-cream and root beer together it tastes really good.”

Others would say that theirs cooks better.
They would be wrong.
Mine makes cheese potatoes,
And scrambled eggs like no ones business.

Others would say theirs takes them places.
They would be wrong.
Mine goes with me,
Wherever we go so that she can see us perform.

Others would say theirs is prettier.
They would be wrong.
Mine has silver hair,
And little feet that make her beautiful.

Others would say theirs cares more.
They would be wrong.
Mine cares about my life in Jesus,
Which is of prime importance.


Others would say theirs is awesomer.
They would be wrong.
Because mine loves Jesus,
Worships Jesus and is in awe of His love.

Others would say theirs is sixty.
They would be right.
But mine is eighty,
And oh so much wiser.


Grandma I love you for all of these things and more. Happy Birthday! I pray that the Lord give you many more. You bless me more than you know.

Love,
Greta Joy

This night again reminded me of the brevity of life. Many tears of joy and sorrow were cried because of the good and the bad we talked about. It reminded me of James 4:13-15:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into
such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and
make a profit"-- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little
time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord
wills, we will live and do this or that."

We are just a mist even if we live 80 years. Live your life for Christ now so that if your mist disappears tomorrow you won't be left empty. My grandma does live for Christ and that was emphasized many times last night. Love you grandma!

Striving to live for Christ,
Greta

My Mom has Jeri

Mom and Jeri

Me and mom

Ever since I can remember my mom has had Jeri. Jeri is her best friend. They write letters to each other and they talk on the phone every couple of weeks. Jeri used to live here in Minnesota, but then her husband was transferred to Houston, Texas. That was probably eleven years ago. Jeri has two biological sons and two adopted daughters. I have two biological sisters and two adopted brothers. They met when the Privet's adopted Anna and the Johnson's adopted Spencer, about 15 years ago. Ever since then they've shared in their toils and joys of parenting. Spencer and Anna are half-siblings, meaning they have the same birth mother and different birth fathers. This shows the connection our families have are not just by love, but by blood. I love that. But we have a further connection. One of the greatest parts of Jeri is that she and my mom talk about Jesus and his grace. They hold each other accountable. Jeri is the greatest person for my mom. She loves visiting (she comes here once a year and my mom goes there once a year) and going fabric shopping, she loves making things, she is very funny. My mom and I are very close but going fabric shopping and making things are two things that I neither enjoy or do with my mom. I get bored and tired. My dad loves Jeri because he does not like doing those things either. He is so thankful that my mom has Jeri to do girly things with because if she didn't he would have to try and do them.

My point in telling you this is that I pray that one day I too will have a Jeri. I pray that when I grow up I will have someone who calls me and writes letters to me, someone who visits me and we do things together. I would say that my whole life I have not had someone like Jeri. Of course, when I was younger I had a best friend, in middle school I had someone that was like a best friend. But, I've never had a Jeri. I've never had someone who would hold me accountable and worship Jesus with me. Who would love doing the things I loved doing. I pray that someday I will have a Jeri.

Please don't misunderstand me. This is not a pity party. I do not want you to feel bad that I don't have a Jeri. I want you to pray with me that you too will one day have someone who cares that deeply for you. I know many of us will one day have spouses, but men and women are different and just as much as we need our spouses to be our best friends we need a best friend of the same gender. Pray with me that God will one day, sooner or later, give you a Jeri. Also pray that I won't idolize this best friend because Jesus is a better friend then anyone on earth could be. He sees all my crap and he still loves me. Human friends see my crap and get annoyed and have to work harder to love me. Jesus, what a friend to sinners.

In the name of the only one who can fill my need for a best friend,
Greta

Pain, loneliness, family, conversations, death - all for His Name

Since my last blog, which was way too long ago many things have happened to me. I won't bore you, but I will breeze over a few that the Lord has used to work for his glory.

1) I had shoulder surgery. The surgery went well. I'm feeling good and getting better. The hardest part is not the pain. The hardest part is not being able to drive. The Lord is teaching me that it is okay to be at home. I get to read a whole lot more and I reflect on what I read. That is a grace of God because I'm not a great reader or reflector and now I have hours to do it. Another hard part about not driving is not seeing my friends. The Lord has used this to show me that too often I make my friends my god. This is so hard. I'm a people person and knowing that I've gone too far is a hard reality. God is showing me my sins and giving me new joy in things. PRAISE GOD!

2) Many of my friends went on missions trips. The prayer requests I've heard and read amaze me because they are so Christ centered gospel spreading. They have convicted me of my need to be bold. As my friends have been gone prayer has been the one thing that has kept them going. How awesome is that? Super awesome!

3) My big sister came home. My sister goes to school in Greenville SC and has only been home for about 6 weeks out of the last two years. It is such a blessing to have her home. She is home for a week. It is amazing to hear what the Lord has done in her life in her evangelism training at Leadership Project with Campus Outreach. Again the Lord convicts me of my need to be bold.

4) I have had many conversations with friends that didn't go on missions trips and I'm amazed my the maturity of their hearts. When I am with people I love to ask two questions; 1) How's your life? 2) What is prayer worthy (besides everything) in your life? That way I can know really what is going on in their hearts. I love doing this because each time I praise God for the work he is doing in each heart and the prayer requests that are given are so God honoring. Then when I go back and get feed back I see what the Lord has done in answering prayer. WHOA!

5) My grandpa died. He is the first of any of my grandparents to die. He was almost 91 years old and he was declining quickly. The death wasn't a surprise and it wasn't too painful. The painful part was knowing that he probably died an unbeliever. He didn't say anything in the last several weeks of his life and the Lord could have been doing a work in his life then. We pray that He was doing a work and we trust in His grace, but that is all we can do. The last couple years my mom has gone over to his apartment everyday and helped him eat and talked to him. She shared the gospel with him several times and oftentimes would just read the gospels to him. When she would pray or share sometimes he would grunt out of frustration of not understanding it. I remember my mom coming home one afternoon and saying that grandpa heard her talking about the gospel and he said, "I don't get it." And she just kept going over the gospel again and again. We just trust in what the Lord was doing. If He called him we will worship the Lord together someday. This is by far the experience the Lord has used the most. The night before his death my family went over to his apartment, had a picnic on his floor, and had family devotions. My dad talked about how our lives are a breath. And we listened to my grandpa breathe with great struggle. We prayed that grandpa had Jesus Christ as his savior. We thanked God for what a great dad and grandpa he was. And we mourned that he would be gone. It was an awesome experience to see my family in tears for a lost person and possibly a lost soul. I will not soon forget that. Coming out of that experience God further convicted me that I need to share the gospel now because a life goes fast and a life might go by without hearing the gospel.

I ask you to pray that my family will be able to tell my aunts and uncles the truth of the gospel. I ask that you pray I get better at sharing the gospel. I ask you to pray for yourself and those you love because you will see your prayers answered and it is awesome. God uses big stuff and little stuff to convict us of sin. I praise God for that.

Psalm 24:5
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his
salvation

God promises to bless us and to give us righteousness and salvation. That is great when it comes to sharing the gospel.

Sharing along with you,
Greta