Brasil Here We Come!

Hey! We are getting ready to head to the airport! We fly to Detroit then We fly 11 hours (all night) and arrive tomorrow morning in Brasil! I will update when we can! Pray for us! There are storms headed towards us!

CMP Brazil 2012

Good Morning! I just wanted to write a short note to let everyone know I made it to Nashville for our training and we will be flying out tomorrow afternoon. I have a wonderful team and I think this is going to be an amazing trip! I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through us the next two weeks!

P.S. In other news, I got to meet with the director of field operations and got some very exciting news yesterday! Pray for God's wisdom as I am making decisions about my future!!

I will try my best to update this daily while I am away!

Love
Bethany

"The Word is ALIVE..."

As I sit here on this beautiful Sunday morning I can do nothing, but praise my God! This time last week my grandfather was on his way to the hospital and the prognosis was not good. People started praying and just one week later he is home and starting his recovery. Thank you God for keeping him around for a little while longer!

In just 48 hours I will be getting in my car and heading to Nashville to meet my team and begin to get ready for our trip to Brazil. It has been amazing how this all worked out for me. All I can say is God is so good to me! I do not deserve it! I get the wonderful privilege to be used by God on the other side of the world! I am so excited, and nervous, and happy all at the same time. I cannot wait. The cool thing about this trip though, is that we are not going to see missionaries, we are going to serve side by side with the national pastors! This will definitely be an experience I will never forget. As I began this post the song "The Word is alive came on Itunes. I am going to leave you with the words to this powerful song as a reminder that God is alive and working in this crazy world! We get the amazing opportunity to be used by him!

The Word is Alive

by

Casting Crowns

Looking out from His throne

The Father of light and of men

Chose to make Himself known

And show us the way back to him

Speaking wisdom and truth

Into the hearts of peasants and Kings

He began to unveil

The Word that would change the course of all things

With eyes wide open all would see

The Word is alive

And it cuts like a sword through darkness

With a message of life to the hopeless and the frail

Breathing life into all who believe

The Word is alive

And the world and its glories will fade

But His truth it will not pass away

It remains yesterday and forever the same

The Word is alive

Simple strokes on a page

Eternity's secrets revealed

Carried on from age to age

It speaks truth to us even still

As the rain falls from heaven

Feeds the earth before it returns

Lord, let your Word fall on us

And bring forth the fruit you deserve

With eyes wide open let us see

The Word is alive

And it cuts like a sword through darkness

With a message of life to the hopeless and the frail

Breathing life into all who believe

The Word is alive

And the world and its glories will fade

But His truth it will not pass away

It remains yesterday and forever the same

The Word is alive

The bible was inscribed over a period of 2000 years

In times of war and in days of peace

By kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fishermen, singers and shepherds

The marvel is that a library so perfectly cohesive

Could have been produced by such a diverse crowd

Over a period of time which stagers the imagination

Jesus is it's grand subject our good is designed and the Glory of God is its end

The Word is alive

And it cuts like a sword through darkness

With a message of life to the hopeless and the frail

Breathing life into all who believe

The Word is alive

And the world and its glories will fade

But His truth it will not pass away

It remains yesterday and forever the same

The Word is alive (The world and its glories will fade)

The Word is alive (His truth it will not pass away)

His Word is alive (His Word is alive, His Word is alive)

God is so Good!

Hey friends!

 I am so excited to report that I have been able to raise all of my money for my mission trip to Brazil! Thank you to all who have supported me! It is hard to believe that I leave for Brazil in just 10 days!  I am so excited to see what God has in store for me this summer!

As I was driving home from Nashville after a stressful semester I prayed. I gave this summer to God, to teach me, to stretch me, to use me, to do whatever he wanted to do with me. I want to be a changed person when
August comes around. I am setting goals and keeping my eyes on God.

It is hard for me not to get impatient. In my eyes, I am sick of school and I am ready to be on the mission field. I am ready to do whatever God has called me to do. I am getting antsy I feel like I am on the brink of a grand adventure and I am ready... or at least I think I am.  It seems like God is saying wait a little bit longer. I still have a year of school left before I can even start the process of candidacy for career missions. I have a ton of school debt that I have to take care of before I can go. But if I haven't learned anything else over the last 4 years of my life it is that God is good! He is the great provider. He will never leave us. I know that He has a plan and that His timing is PERFECT.

So as I set out this summer on this small adventure I know God is good. He is with me and He is going to teach me and show me things I cannot even  imagine! Please keep me in your prayers as I set out on this new adventure!

Brazil

Hey guys,

I am about to start out on a new adventure this summer. I have the opportunity to go to Brazil this summer with CMP. I need to raise 3000 dollars by the middle of May. if you could help in any way please let me know and I can send you more info and one of my support letters!

Thanks!
Bethany

In His eyes

In your sight I am special, I am beautiful

You fill my heart and You are all that I need.

You supply all of my needs and most of what I want.

You are a loving, giving father.

I am special to you.

I am a prized jewel and You created me for a purpose.

Help me not to lose sight of the things that are important.

I want to fall more in love with you today than I ever have.

I want to grow

I want to draw nearer to you and you promised to draw near to me.

Show me your plans for my life in the right time, when I am prepared to handle it.

Thank you for loving me, for EVERYTHING you have blessed me with, there are too many to count

Help me to keep the future in the future and live every day to its fullest for You.

Lord I trust You!

Forsaking All I Trust Him

By

Bethany Dawn Shope

My Heart

My heart cries out to you

I love you with all that I am

I stand on a road with nowhere to go

I know you won’t leave me, but I feel so alone

You have blessed me so much

So how can I complain?

My life is a cakewalk compared to most of the world

So why is my heart all broken and torn?

And why am I lonely with no motivation for more?

I want to be the girl that everyone knows about

Not for my glory but so Your’s is shown

Please set me on fire so the whole world will know

You are the one to whom my life I devote

Please search me and cleanse me,

Take away all my filth

Make me clean in your eyes and a light to the world

Give me a heart for the people that I see all around me

Take this judgmental spirit that I know is within me

Help me to see them through Your eyes of love.

Help me be Your hands and feet so that they come to know You

You are the one that I live for.

You are the one that my heart longs for.

You are the one that I am giving my life for.

I want them to know You for who you are.

They are so broken

They are searching for the answers

You are the answer

I want them to know

Give me the words to put their hearts at ease

Help me introduce them to Your infinite Peace.

Lord please help them see you in me.

By
Bethany Dawn Shope

Lord, I Trust You

Chorus

I’m letting go

God, You are in control

My life is in Your hands

Lord I trust You

Verse 1

Lord, I will follow You with reckless abandon

I lay my life at your feet

Mold me and make me into the woman you want me to be

Give me a fire and a (new found) passion for You

Lord I trust You

Chorus

Verse 2

Take all my fears and all of my failures

Take all my dreams and all of my plans (desires?)

I give them all up to follow Your will

Make me beautiful in your sight, and make my life a sweet fragrance to You

Lord I trust You

Chorus

Verse 3

I am Your daughter

I know that You love me

You will never ever let me go

Through all of my storms You are my strength (strong tower?)

You hold me (safe) in Your arms

Lord I trust You

Chorus


By
Bethany Dawn Shope

My inspiration

Stress seems to be overwhelming me lately... my answer: get mad or WRITE. So that is what I am doing. My head and my heart are going in so many directions. I seem to have more questions then answers, but I have learned that that is ok. God doesn't always give us the answers he just asks us to be patient and trust Him. When we are ready to handle the next step, He moves us. We have to stop focusing on the past and the future and see what He has for us to do today. Enjoy where you are! Enjoy who you are in Him.  You will never get this time back! Are you going to waste it or live it to the fullest? Seize the day! Wait upon the Lord for His timing. He will renew Your strength and make your life something beautiful.

I am going to post a poem and a song that I have written. I  haven't written in a while so they are a bit rough, but I hope they are an encouragement to you!

"Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14