Psalm 37:4

Before God did some work on my heart, I would have bet my life on this famous verse: 

"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.." Psalm 37:4 (NIV) 

I would tell myself, "okay, my desires are to have this guy, be married, have a good job etc....so if I follow God then he will give me these things.."  Not selfish at all right? It's scripture...

Well as the years have went on and God has continually knocked at my door, through bold people in my life that shared hard truths with me, I have come to see this verse differently. I asked myself what are truly my desires: 

1. I desire to be loved, don't we all? I desire to have someone that cares so much for me that they would be willing to die for me to just be able to live one more day in their place. 

2. I desire to be comforted. I am a baby sometimes and I want someone I can run to and them tell me that it will be okay. 

3. I desire to be accepted. I want to be liked by someone that has a higher place in society than me and having their acceptance will satisfy some of my deepest desires in the world. Don't play, you want to be accepted too. 

4. I desire to be taken care of and forgiven. I make some dumb choices sometimes. I want to have someone that will forgive me and beg me to run to them even when I make the same bad decision over and over again. 

These are only a few of the things I came up with. When I look at these heart desires (compared to the outside desires) I see God's humor in it all. He is like "HELLLLLOOOOOOOOO, I have been here the whole time...Your the one running to so many other things to try and have these desires filled...how's that going?" 

Love- "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
Comfort- "God is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion" Psalm 116: 8
Acceptance- "...and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." John 6:37
Forgiven- "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us.." 1John1:9

But the thing is, the verse does not say "I will give you the desires of your heart and then you will delight in me..." That would make our delight in God based on what he gives us. That's even more selfish than before (hint our selfishness here).  But instead the verse says "Take delight in me...." In HIM! Not in his wonderful gifts, in his promises, or in his forgiveness but just Him and who he is for who he is, God. 

I have once been asked would I be happy in heaven if Jesus wasn't there? My first reaction was, no of course not. But would I? Golden streets, no tears or sadness, all Joy? 

We are so quick to use God for our good, happiness, comfort, and to make everything go back to normal or just be 'okay' again. I mean of course I want to be happy, don't get me wrong but...

That's not worship to God. 

Worship is seeing everything around you as negative, dragging, discouraging, and what seems like hopeless feeling alone...and still saying "Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 106: 1 

Why do you think Christians in the Bible had so many trails? So they can be seen as victorious when they overcame them--no--it's so the Power of God can shine through all the more.

If I ever get to that point in my life I hope God shows me enough love to allow my heart to praise him even if my emotions and situations say life sucks, but my lips can say God is good and he is eternal, therefore I will praise him.

Even early on in my walk with God I see Psalm 37 :4 differently each year. That's the funny thing about God. He does not leave us in our sin- he promises to change and sanctify our hearts. So when he says that he will give me the desires of my heart, he also means that my desires will become more like his desires as time goes on (Romans 6:17-18). I will begin to hate the things he hates and love the things he loves. Then how easy is is for him to satisfy my desires if they are his own? 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Lord, my heart is so prone to wander away from you. Would you melt my heart of stone and allow me to love the things you love and obey you out of a deep love for you! 

What God has done through 32 Steps of Faith

Well I have been home for about two weeks now. I wanted to give everyone a short summary from what the students have done this summer. With God's guidance, boldness, and Holy Spirit working through them...

We were able to approach 595 people, have spiritual conversations with 291 people, share the Gospel with 129 people and we have seen 11 people ( I think) trust Christ so far! 

Most of these people that have trusted Christ are still meeting up with the college students on project weekly. They are being prayed for specifically and are being loved and guided on how to grow in their faith by 32 college students who would give their lives to see them Love the Lord more each and every day! 

Please keep the CBSP students and these young Christians in your prayers! Most of these students you are praying for are from NC State University, App State, University of KY, East Carolina University, and many more colleges around the US. 

God is not done yet! 

CBSP 2013-- 32 students & 16 Staff and Families 

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For me, I am staying at home for the remainder of the summer until I move in my new apartment in Greenville, NC to begin my Senior yr. at ECU! 

I pray that I can spend meaningful time with my family and friends here. I pray that I continue to worship God in the way I live here at home even though I make mistakes. I pray that I can show my family and friends that I am NOT perfect just because of the things I do--I am a broken, not perfect, yet redeemed, child of God through Jesus' death on the Cross that needs to learn how to show as much Grace to others as God shows me everyday!! 

August 1&2 is when ECU CRU Leadership will meet up to plan out the Fall events, freshman move-in outreaches, and bible study materials! 

Aug. 17 &18  The ministry will help move freshman into their dorms in hopes of finding freshman Christians that want to lead with CRU and serve the campus while they are in college-and also to seek out students that have never heard the message of Jesus Christ! 

-Pray that this will go well and God will prepare our hearts for these events! Thanks yall

I am most excited for going back to school for:  

1. Meeting with my girls that will be Sophmores this year!- Having learned direction about how to disciple girls back on campus I pray that God will use me to help them Love Christ more each and every day.

**Pray for their summers, that God is giving them a desire and motivation to spend time with Him on their own time.

**Pray for their future schedules that they will have time to meet up and attend a bible study to have a fun loving community of girls

2. Serving with Jessica, a girl that went with me to CBSP- and is still there growing--her redemption story that God has written out for her is going to make such an impact on girls at ECU and in CRU for her last year in college! 

3. Beginning my student teaching for Elem Education-- I will really see if teaching is what I wanna do--at least for awhile

Talk to yall soon! 

"A Product of God's Grace"

Hi Fellow Bloggers (or just followers),

Its already only 3 more weeks till Clearwater Beach, FL Summer Project will come to and end for me...

The highlight of my first Blog was spending time with our Amazing Staff Team- and I would say it still is- but I also have to mention how wonderful all my Bible Study girls are! Every one of them are so intelligent, mature, loving and teachable. I am learning from them just as much as they feel they are learning from me and/or simply having the opportunity to be here.

The Single Ladies of the Staff Team (not married)

Theme of the Week

This is an interesting thing to write about because we actually do not have a weekly theme. God has revealed to us that- ironically (by His sovereignty) all of our talks, bible studies, and men's and woman's topics have been centered around one thing-- Passive Righteousness 

When we think of "passive," the Christian culture tends to place a negative attitude on someone who is passive (esp for the men). This is because we want to be thought of as strong, a "go-get-er", or someone who takes charge when leadership is needed. But the thing is, in Romans 3 we are told our righteousness comes from God only by Faith.

Martin Luther writes: "It's called passive because we do not have to labor for it..this passive righteousness is a mystery that someone who does not know Jesus cannot understand. In Fact, Christians do not completely understand it...The person who wanders from Passive Righteousness has no other choice but to live by "works" righteousness..If he does not depend on the work (already done) by Christ, he must depend on this own work..." 

-Gospel Centered Life (our bible study lesson)

During this same week that the students are going through this amazing chapter of bible study that is all about Jesus' work on the cross, God's grace, and our faith being the only reason we are redeemed or changed outwardly, the Staff team is learning about a few similar things in the book were reading: Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller--

Keller tells of a few different (false) views of Christianity: 

1. That God blesses and takes to heaven those who try hard to live a good and decent life (the moralistic belief)

2. The central goal of life is not to sacrifice, or to deny oneself, but to be happy and feel good about yourself--these people will outwardly look like they are sacrificing (with good intentions) but will only go as far until they feel they will be harmed, uncomfortable or they will not benefit ( the therapeutic belief).

3. Even though God exists and created the world, he does not need to be particularly involved in our lives except when there is a problem (that is deism). 

All of these Theologies are wrong according to the Bible-- Timothy Keller writes in regard to the story of Daniel in the Old Testament, " ..anyone who is successful is simply a recipient of God's unmerited favor (because we have earned nothing in this life)..what we have is the result of grace, not of our own "works" or efforts." 

In other words, God knew that we could never earn perfection on our own so he sent Jesus to do ALL the work for us so we can be seen as righteous--Ephesians 1:3-14 

Setting up for Prayer and Vision on the Beach =) 

"We are the product of three things--genetics, environment, and our own personal choices--but two of these three factors we have no power over." 

-Keller, Counterfeit Gods

....just think about that...Romans 3, 1 Cor. 4: 6-7--we are the product of our God given talents, intelligence, family, good health, location of birth, and God's grace ALONE. 

Prayer for Disciplship- Matthew 28:19

A huge emphasis on this project is making disciples. Through meeting with each of these young girls once a week we cover lots of materials along with sharing our faith. Some of the things that we are covering and will cover before the end of my time here is :

How to share the Gospel using tools and conversation starters , How to walk in the Power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18) , How to share their Testimony (story of how they became a Christian) 1 John 5:9-12 , and Leaving them with a Vision Plan of their strengths and things that they could work on to take stewardship of their ministry back on their college campus . 

Please keep these last few weeks here in your prayers! Specifically for students to stay focused, that their workplaces will provide ministry opportunities, they will get their support money $$$ completed, and most of all for God to be at work in their hearts (mine as well), because only God's spirit can soften our sinful heart. 

Love, Danielle

CBSP 13' 

A Slave that is Free from Bondage to Sin and is now a Slave to Righteousness

Hey Friends! 

Two weeks into Clearwater Beach Summer Project 2013 and I'm finally blogging a little!

The first week being here on Student-Staff was pretty humbling and fun! Me and Chelsea (friend and other student staff) are here among 14 other staff members: full time and part-time families, as well as young adults who have devoted their lives to reaching out to college students. 

Just in the first week of hearing their stories, joining in the devotions, being a part of planning the vision for the summer I have grown a heart for what they do. 

These men and women have experienced things in life that I might never face while still holding tight to their love of Christ and what he has done for them-setting them free from bondage from sin. 

Overall the vision of CRU on our college campus' and of this Summer project here in Clearwater, FL is for these 32 students (mostly sophomores and Jr.s in college) to 

Love the Lord

Learn from each other

 Live for the Lost

 and Look to the Future

This vision will be lived out through a community team, prayer and vision team, lifeline (weekly meeting) team, and Evangelism team. Through all of these aspects of the project students will be in small group bible studies learning how to live a Gospel Centered Life. They will also be being discipled by a staff member weekly learning how to share their testimony, communicate the gospel effectively, and how to go through the grey areas of life with a Gospel Focused view of life. Additionally, and possibly most importantly, they will be taking imitative to share what Christ has done in their life throughout the week around Clearwater Beach and leaving the results of those people's hearts up to God. 

I am humbled to lead a bible study of 5 girls along with a Staff-mom being my co-leader. I will begin (starting next week) discipling 4 of these 5 girls, weekly. 

My intention is not use this blog to post their own personal growth, but my own while being a part of this journey on Staff with CRU for 7 weeks. I use this as a way to look back on my own personal life and see what God has been doing in my life and also to give you supporters an account of what your generous gifts are going to in my own personal life, much less others that I am growing along side with! 

~~ The thing that sticks out to me the most when I think about what I have learned this week as I reflect on the first week with students here is the talk one of our staff did about the Spirit-Filled life!

He told us first about his experience in Senegal where he saw where slaves were bought, used up and sold for a price to buyers. These slaves were in bondage and they had no other choice to obey their masters. 

Then something wonderful happened, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed all slaves. But do you know what happened after the slaves were free for awhile--they went right back to their slave masters. They didn't know any other way to live but in service and bondage to them. 

He compared this event in history to most Christians who have accepted the Gospel and are free from the bondage of sin because they believe in what Christ did for them--but they now don't know how to live as free people. Most of them try to "live the Christian life" by going to church, praying, and doing 'better' things than they did before. The others go right back to their old ways, going to their old slave masters for direction, comfort, significance, and meaning in their life instead of looking to the one who has freed them! 

Paul (The speaker, not the apostle) told us how these people, and even us sometimes (actually a lot of the time), are not walking the Spirit Filled life. This does not mean they are not saved and it does NOT mean God loves them any less. But  they are simply not allowing God to be a part of their daily and moment-by-moment walk with Christ as their Savior and Lord who has freed them from the bondage to temporary satisfactions such as guys/girls, gossip, pride, jealously, heavy drinking, etc. It says everywhere in scripture to be spirit lead and kept in step with the spirit, and I think this is what it means.~~

Thank you so much for your support and continue to keep the Clearwater Beach CRU Summer Project in your prayers as they try to reach this community with the Gospel while also learning what it looks like to live a Gospel Centered Live where ever they are placed in life. 

****Special Prayer Request: Unfortunately, one of my bible study girls (Jr. in college), on the first night here, was rushed to the ER because of sever pains from Kidney Stones. Among passing a couple stones already (with several left to go), visits to the doctor, and painful nights, she is still participating in the project as much as it is possible. Please, Please keep her in your prayers for her pain and mostly for her heart that she can still constantly look to God during a hard and unexplainable time in her life. Thanks! 

Also pray that God will work in my own heart and teach me to love Him more as I have this experience to live with 14 full-time Missionaries for 7 weeks in action! 

Please contact me for anything--even just to say Hey! 

Danielle Cassidy
Clearwater Beach Summer Proj.

c/o North Sunrise Resort

669 Mandalay Clearwater Beach, FL

33767

910-540-5789

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"If you had a greater view of God's Holiness or a greater understanding of your own Sinfulness, how would it change your outlook on every single situation in life....?" 

-Gospel Centered Life 

April Showers Bring Spring Flowers

Hey guys! Thought I would catch anyone who is reading up on what has been going on this Spring Semester! 

Just one story from my Bible Study can really show how God has been at work on ECU's campus, CRU and my personal life!

 (names will be changed)  

A couple weeks into Spring bible study a got an email from a freshman that said her and a couple of her friends were interested in coming to the study. They had seen the flyers in their dorm. I gave her the information and told them I was looking forward to meeting them the next week. That following Monday I met the three girls as soon as I walked into the room for Bible Study.

That following week me and my co-leader got lunch with them separately to get to know them better. During lunch with Jenny I tried to get to know her by asking her questions and telling her about my life. I slowly shared how I came to know the Lord and asked if she had ever done that before. She was unsure what I was talking about. I turned the conversation back to more general things such as classes and schoolwork. I eventually just boldly asked what she believed in, hoping for a spiritual response. She looked at me with a blank stare so I elaborated a little more. I think I said, “Like, would you say you’re a believer and if so why would you say that?” I again got nothing but a chuckle. I quickly told her it’s fine if she does not believe anything, I would love to share with her what I believed. I tried my best to share the Gospel and how Jesus is in my life personally without a track or anything in my hands. I think of this as getting her feet wet in the Gospel because it was probably hard to grasp with just me talking even though I know God was at work even before then. My Gospel presentation was not well done at all so I am glad to know that the Lord does all the work!  We ended our conversation with her telling me that she had never heard “Christianity” in that way before.

Jenny along with the other two freshman girls continued to come to our Bible Study as we went through Ruth and talked about how Boaz is a beautiful image of what a Godly man looks like. I met with Jenny that next week over lunch with a good friend of mine, Amanda. I told Amanda that I planned on going through the KGP (Knowing God Personally) booklet with her for a better presentation of the Gospel. Amanda was happy to join in the conversation. After us all three caught up with each other and chatted for a while we moved into the KGP with hope to ask Jenny some questions. While going through the Gospel, having Amanda by my side was defiantly God planned. She easily asked Jenny questions that I didn't think of. I felt as if with three of us there it made the ‘meeting’ more of a girl-to-girl conversation. As we got to the end of the KGP and asked if everything was easy or hard to understand, she said that it was different but she defiantly understood. I then told her that if she ever comes to a point where she would like to accept Christ Personally then I would love to know when she does it. She quickly asked, “does what?” Through chuckles I repeated how we have to personally asked Christ into our lives and admit that we need a Savior. During this time Amanda was looking up Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe…” This verse was perfect to leave with her as we had to end the conversation for classes.

That next night I received a text that said she has just accepted Christ into her life. I read this as I was so amazed how quickly (our time) God was working in her life.

I met with Jenny the next week after bible study and we talked about her time with God that night. We looked at some scripture about what the Word tells us about what it means to be a believer: adopted, loved, cleansed, forgiven, and how she can now have Eternal Joy. This was all very exciting to her as she dug into the Word with me. That next Sunday she joined me and others at church where she took communion for the first time as a Believer of Jesus. After church she was happy to tell me that she went with her mom to go buy a bible to start reading. She even showed me the verses we had read together and how she had already highlighted them! So exciting to see her already have a desire for the Word~ 

Jenny along with the other freshman have continued to come to bible study and meet with older girls for spiritual conversations although being open and talkative with others is difficult for a couple of them. Please pray that these girls will open up their hearts (and mouths) to be able to experience the beauty of a community of girls who have the same heart for Jesus. Let them personally grow from humility  vulnerability, openness and being able to have truth spoken into them through the conviction of the Word. 

 I know that God is going to do so many amazing things in her heart and through her walk with him.

Please continue to pray for me as I prepare to leave for Clearwater, FL on May 12th for STUDENT-STAFF SUMMER PROJECT !! Please contact me for more questions, support info or just to chat!!

Thank you so much for reading!!! 

cassidyd11@students.ecu.edu

NEW NUMBER:  910-540-5789 

In love, Danielle Cassidy 

Setting Sea in the Storm

Feb. 17th 2013

I sent out my support letters for Summer Project in Clearwater, FL today. Sending out letters today was different for me than last year. Last year I had the mindset that "I need money to go on this trip." But this year, tonight, as I was praying over my letters before putting them in the mail, I really prayed in Thanksgiving of having an opportunity like this, in having time and money to write and send letters, in having these people in my life to send letters to, and that when these letters reach their destination that people will be filled with joy at an opportunity to invest their wealth in something eternal. I prayed that God will allow them to see this as a wonderful opportunity to worship Him through their wealth. I prayed that the money I get back will be used for his kingdom in bible studies, outreach in Clearwater, and building me up personally to use for a lifetime of missions wherever I am at.

If you are reading this and you are supporting me either through prayer or in giving, Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for worshiping God with your wealth. You will be blessed.

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Setting Sea

This semester on leadership we are reading The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. When discussing chapter 2 tonight in our meeting, I had a huge day dream about how as believers we are constantly fighting sin. We were talking about the parable of this book, The Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Like the younger son, we are constantly running away from our loving father because we face sin and then coming back to his unconditional Grace and Love once we realize what we have done.

I started to think, do we really pick up and move away from God every time we sin? Do we then travel all the way back to God when we ask for forgiveness for our sin? If you have not read the parable, this is what the younger son does when he realizes he has made a mistake, he goes back to his father's unconditional love for him to be forgiven. But does our life consist of traveling back to God, away from God, back to God and away from God every time we make a mistake?

I then got an image in my head of a person traveling and what this would look like. I then moved my person to be traveling by sea, on a boat, in a storm. I thought that this would make more since of our lives. We are not going back and forth from land to land across a body of water (life) from sinning on one side and being "close to God" on another. But we are on one single constant journey across life hitting hard waves along the way but constantly moving to the other side where God resides.

I think this makes more since. Once you realize the purpose for your life, you get on a boat and set for sea. Your boat might have a hard time leaving the dock and getting out of the no wake zone but if you truly see your purpose is to set sea, then that is what you will do. Once you get on sea with God you will face many many hard waters. You might get stuck for a while, maybe a year, going against a hard wave but you will break through the waves. You will never turn around and go back to land if you are truly set on reaching the other side. You will be discouraged and want to give up but you will not go back. We do not live on a works based salvation. Our boats keep moving only by the motivation that God is on the other side of the storm.

I will never travel back to land. I will never have to face life again without my new heart that knows that I am chosen to set sea for God and his kingdom. No matter how much I sin, and I will sin, I will know that a wave does not compare to the Paradise, love, joy, and rest that awaits me on the other side of this world that surrounds me until I see Jesus' face! 

<3

New Year- Same God- Forevermore

Happy 2013!

This year has flown by but I have to say it has been the best out of the past few! Loving Christ is the hardest thing to do in this world that is known for sin. My family and I have had many struggles this year but have been truly blessed. This year has also allowed my eyes to be open to things I have never seen before personally and in the world around me. But one things is true, this past year and the years to come, God is still good and will continue to be good forevermore!

This past week I attention Passion 2013 in Atlanta GA (google it). It is a huge Christian 4-day conference in the GA Atlanta Falcon Dome that held 60,000 college students for worship, speakers, and small groups. My heart was stirred by the messages from Fransis Chan, author of Crazy Love<Amazing book, John Piper, Beth Moore, and many more. Passion focuses on the awareness and ending movement of modern day slavery and sex trafficking. YEAH I KNOW, it is real TODAY in the US!
We listened to stories and were educated on organizations that have partnered with enditmovement.com to STOP slavery and sex trafficking. Please, if you have 5 min, go to enditmovement.com, ijm.org, or love146.org and listen to one, real persons story, and ask God to break your heart for these men, woman, and children as I did.


This is just one girl out of 27 Million that are being enslaved and sex trafficked right now >>
http://love146.org/videos/love146-overview

I am in it to end it !! I pray that God works in your, and my heart to seek justice as God's people!

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Topics that have stirred my heart this week:

"We were made to admire Jesus' excellence which leads to our soul's satisfaction and God's glorification." -Piper

"Our freedom is for others freedom"-Louie G

"Jesus, just like the early Christians, and just like Moses, CHOSE to embrace suffering rather than enjoying the pleasures of sin." -Piper
(Hebrews 11:24--, 12--)

"Jesus didn't ask God to heal his crusifixiation scars because they are embarrassing but he embraced them to show others how he was healed---Don't show off how big your "bibles" are but show off how healed your scars are." -Louie G

"Worship is the echo of God's worth--does your life worship show off God's worth?" -Piper
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Convictions of mine:

"Why do we believe God's promises of blessings but we act like God will not keep his promises of wrath against us if we do not follow him?" -Fransis Chan

Do unbelievers see the Church as any different than another community?

"When we break our promises God still keeps His" -Chan

If Jesus has to be lead by the spirit to move through darkness, and comforted by the spirit to embrace the suffering he faced--why don't we understand that we can't do anything without God?
(Luke 4)

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Prayer:

Summer Plans-- Student-Staff with CRU in Clearwater, Florida
Spring 2013 (school, CRU bible studies, seeing people come to Christ)


In love,
Danielle Cassidy