All Praise to the Lord Most High

Two full month on campus have come and gone! August was full of adjusting to new places and meeting new people and September has been all about starting my core, beginning my FOJ studies (a one on one bible study), and diving deeper into my classes. While reflecting on what God has been up to this month, a recuring theme came up that I can be so focused on my scheduled tasks and day to day responsibilities that I forget to acknowledge God working in all of it.

I have gotten two really great opportunities to be reminded of this recently. First, my friend and coworker, Casey, has been hosting an hour of prayer for our ministry to attend. These meetings honestly make me so uncomfortable- the idea of asking the holy spirit to put something on my heart to pray out loud over our campus is so scary- which really reveals the strong desire I have for control and structure. But, as I have attended each week, I have been astonished at how much I love campus ministry and how much I long for every student to know that they are loved. Coming from that place makes it easy to let the holy spirit prompt me in prayer, and this practice has been such a valuable time for me and so many others! The second opportunity I had was to share at leader meeting about the axiom think pastorally. I wanted to encourage our student leaders to point people to Christ rather than to the “quick fixes” we have in the world. My favorite line from this talk was “a face mask might heal your skin, but only Jesus can heal your heart.” Preparing for this helped me reflect on my own life. Am I pointing people to temporary fixes like face masks and pop psychology books, or am I leading them the transforming power of Jesus- the only one who can truly shape their hearts?

This month in class, we have started to really dive deep into each topic of our classes. I read four books, six books of the bible, and listened to somewhere around 8 hours of lecture not including the in person class time! It is a lot of work, but I have loved it so much. The best classes have been Evangelism and Body Stewardship. In so many ways, God has been bringing things to life—concepts I’ve heard or thought about before are suddenly expanding, deepening, and growing roots in my heart. Our Evangelism class has really stretched my idea of what the “good news” and how we might live our lives in a way that invites trust and curiosity in friendship with Christians and Non-Christians.

I’ve always lived in a bubble surrounded by people who have very similar beliefs to mine- most of you included! But through this class I have felt convicted by the books we’re reading. How do I start to live my life invitationally, inviting trusting and curious relationships with people who don’t think exactly as I do? For me that has a lot to do with college students that I can outreach to, but what might that look like for each of you? Neighborhood relationships, engineer relationships, schoolteacher relationships, classmate relationships, these are all places where someone could need a good friend and to know the healing power of Jesus. The only limit is our willingness to try.

My house is starting to feel like home, my roommates are starting to feel like friends, my core is starting to feel like family. I could not be more thankful to the Lord for this. Moving to Denton has been sweet, simple, and fun in terms of my work, but it has been complex, confusing, and sometimes just sad in terms of relationships. Anyone who has ever moved (probably all of you), knows how hard it is to balance the old friendships and the new ones. I want to stay connected with everyone from UTD, but I also want to integrate and build community here. I won’t pretend that it has been easy, but I also can’t ignore God’s gift to me of the sweetest and most invested group of girls in my core ever. On a prayer walk a few weeks ago, I realized just how much easier this has been because of the girls that I have been entrusted with to lead and develop for Christ this year. They have stormed the gates of my heart (and often my actual front door) and they can’t leave without me happy crying and praising God for how good he is and how much I adore these girls.

One of them is named Ava, but we call her baby ava because there are three Ava’s in our core! She is a freshman hoping to get into UNT’s pretentious graphic design program at the end of this semester. She is also so expressive, loves to make fun of me for not being able to eat spicy food, and will beg on her knees in an ice cream shop to convince her friends to come to an after event with her. She is learning what it looks and feels like to lay down her life to follow the Lord- including things like accepting help and not seeing her family every weekend so that she can build community here. Would you be praying for Ava that she would see her life not as her own, but as a living testimony of Jesus Christ- that she would know how her story is so impactful for others, and that she is so loved by the God who created everything?

The song My King Forever by Bethel Music has been stuck in my head for the last few weeks, reminding me that that Jesus is not only worthy of my worship but that He is the one who brings life to everything I offer Him. Even my full schedule can’t hide the ways God is moving, and he is the treasure I find even in the ordinary days of my life. As I study, lead, and build new friendships, He keeps bringing things to life in me: old truths feel new again, ordinary moments become sacred, and even the hard parts of change turn into places where He meets me with his goodness. I hope that this can be an encouragement to all of you!

Thank you so much for being here! I am so grateful for you all in partnering with me in ministry this year. As always, reach out if you want to hear more or have questions about what I shared!

Love, Hannah <3

And finally, you may have received an email from our director of focus outlining some concerns we have with a new law that went into effect on September 1st that could impact our ability to do ministry on public universities in Texas. More can be read about it in this article from Christianity Today. Nothing has changed and we are still able to operate as normal, but please be praying for the lawmakers, lawyers, and student organizations involved.