FROZEN

Hey, hey, hey!

Wow....what a storm we just had! I hope you all enjoyed how beautiful the snow was. I also hope you went outside and played. I know I did. I had a blast. Playing in the snow makes me feel like I'm a child all over again. And honestly, I'm totally okay with that. If you missed the snow or aren't from around this area, here are some pretty sick pictures I got Friday Night

Oh and that's my brother and his beautiful girlfriend. I love them.

Anyway, these past two weeks have been crazy like I said in my last blog. I was in a car accident last Tuesday (I'm okay). Thankfully that accident was not as bad as it could've been. I'm very thankful for the Lord. He was looking out for me that night. Also, my internship at Drayer Physical Therapy ended. Which was a bummer because I really looked forward to all the awesome people I got to intern with every Monday-Friday. My Drayer team taught me so much about physical therapy and life. They encouraged me to be myself and to fulfill my dreams. Once I talked to the Drayer team about my mission trip this coming summer they were ALL so supportive and were willing to do anything to help. On my second to last day of my internship at Drayer I got a notification that the team had gotten together and raised money for my mission trip! Getting that news was SO, SO, SO exciting! Thank you again Drayer team, I love y'all! With leaving Drayer that meant I had to start a new internship somewhere else. I started an internship at Country Meadows Retirement Home this past Monday. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it. This wasn't something I necessarily wanted to do in the future. But momma Moore told me to put on a smiling on my face and enjoy it because I know you will. How come mom's know everything...? I really enjoy giving elders their breakfast and seeing how happy they were to get bacon. Bacon is what the elders needed to be happy. Something so simple, something that will be gobbled up in a minute, but bacon was it. You may ask where I'm going with this other than making you want bacon, but I have a point. I want God to be my bacon. I want to be presented with something that has God written all over it. I want to trust, love and endure God for all he's worth. I want to look at God and be as happy as those elders were to get bacon. I want God to fulfill my hunger and thirst for something more. The only thing is, lately I haven't been feeling like that elderly person getting bacon. I've been feeling blah with my faith. But I really want to be as happy as the elders were. I want God to work in me. But again, I've been struggling and honestly I'm not exactly sure how to love God for all he's worth. I guess this is a struggle most Christians go through. I'm just not understanding how to get out of a "frozen" relationship with God. I have been doing my devotional and learning, but something just isn't clicking. If you could please pray for me and my "frozen" relationship with God, that would be awesome. You could pray that I won't feel stuck anymore and that I will look at God the same way the elders looked at their bacon. Thank you for reading my blog this week. Hopefully, I didn't make you want bacon. 

"I am the bread of life. he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." John 6:35 

Talk to you next week,

Lauren Moore 

GO FUND ME: https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77

If you would rather not use the GOFUNDME page to support me, feel free to write a check instead. In doing that, I will receive all the money instead of GOFUNDME taking 5%. You can send checks to 982 Homestead Ln, Hershey, PA 17033. 

Young Life Hype

Hi,


I know I haven't posted in a while and I'm truly sorry. I haven't been on top of things lately. Life has been a little crazy. I wanted to talk to you about this past weekend. I was attending Young Life winter weekend and let me tell you, it was AMAZING. I love Young Life! This past weekend I created new friendships, grew closer to old friends and skied like an Olympian (not really).  Going into this weekend I had lots of things I was struggling with. Things I haven't really talked to anyone about. This weekend I was looking and searching for answers about my mission trip this summer because I've been doubtful about the trip. Ive just been second guessing myself if this trip really is what I need to do. I've been worried that if this trip wasn't for me, what was I going to do with my future? I was depending on this past weekend to give me answers, and I think it did.

During Winter Weekend we have club. Seriously, club is so lit. You get together with TONS of high school students to sing Justin Bieber, dance like you're in the shower and scream like you're trying to talk to a friend that's a thousand miles away.  If you haven't heard of Young Life I HIGHLY suggest you look into it. It has changed my life. Anyway, after singing a speaker will talk about the awesome things Jesus has done for us. Our speaker this year was AWESOME. He connected with the students so well. He spoke about Jesus with such enthusiasm. You could tell he really loves Jesus. He kept speaking about the Good News. The Good News the Jesus has saved us, that He loves us DEEPLY and that he wants us. The speaker also told us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That we have turned our backs on God. That sometimes we use God only to our convenience. But the speaker kept referring to the Good News. Again, that Jesus has saved us. Jesus loves us even if we've sinned, Jesus loved us even if we turn our backs on Him. Then it hit me...like a hard smack in the face. I'm to go on this mission trip. I'm to continue to share the Good News. I am suppose to go because I understand what its like to turn away from God but more importantly I understand how to turn my life around to praise God for all He's worth. I can be like the speaker from this weekend and teach kids and teens about the Good News of Christ and how it changes you. After our speaker spoke Sunday night he gave all the students 15 minutes to sit outside and think and look at the beautiful camp. It might have been cold and my butt might have been frozen to a rock, but I couldn't fathom how beautiful the sky lit with stars looked. How the frozen lake with a thin layer of snow looked. It was beautiful to have 15 minutes with the Creator of the stars, snow and the beautiful Young Life camp.  Within the 15 minutes, God told me this mission trip is what I'm ABSOLUTELY supposed to do. This is why this past weekend was the best weekend I've had in a while.

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Reflection of 2015

Hi friends,

I hope you had a Happy New Year! I know I did! Going into downtown Hershey with my friends is always fun! And this picture really shows how my night went....

My night was spent with my favorite couple. Obviously you can tell I was enjoying myself. I was also surrounded by my awesome friends. 

With the New Year it always calls for a reflection of the previous year. And thats what I want to talk to you all about today. Last year was a year of highs, lows and a lot of in between. I struggled a lot last year with many different things, one being myself. I've always been that girl who's sensitive about everything and always took things way out of proportion. I would cry if someone would look at my in a "hurtful" or "judging" way. I would cry because I assumed people talked about my all the time. I would cry because I didn't love myself. I wasn't confident. I cared WAY too much about what others would say.  I didn't like how my body looked a lot bigger than every other girl in my school. Looking in the mirror everyday and telling myself I was beautiful was often a struggle. I didn't believe myself when I would say it. Little did I know.....

 Now reading through this now I'm upset. I'm disheartened because last year I was missing something in my life that I so desperately needed and it was a relationship with God. Thinking back on in now the start of 2015 God was the last thing I wanted. I had a boyfriend, friends and fun. I didn't want anything in my life that was going to be "hard" because we all know that having a relationship with God can be hard. It can be frustrating at times and I thought I didn't need that in my life. Unfortunately, when the fun stopped, my friends drifted away and my relationship ended life seemed pointless to me. Instead of crying out to God for help I was mad at Himm for allowing my life to turn to turmoil. Little did I know.... 

August-November 2015, was a time where the depth of my loneliness was noticeable. I thought I had no one. Little did I know....

I thought life couldn't get better. Little did I know...

I thought I would never come out of this loneliness. Little did I know...

I thought I was would never love myself. Little did I know...

Little did I know that even though I felt far from God he still loved me. God was working in me through all the hard times I had throughout 2015. I chose to ignore how God was working through me. I prolonged my anger, hurt, loneliness and the way I felt about myself because I didn't cry out for help from the Lord. It took me till November to realize that I needed Gods help to work through my struggles. That's when God has spoken to me about the YWAM missions trip. That I needed to do this mission trip to learn and grow. But little did I know that praying, crying and talking to the Lord would help with the loneliness and my self-worth. Little did I know, that reading my bible taught me how to start loving myself. Little did I know, growing a relationship with God was already changed my life. That start of 2016 has been great. I've cleared the unhealthy thoughts and actions of last year out of my mind. I'm starting fresh and boy that feels good. My confidence in myself boosted! HOLLA to that! My loneliness is little to none. I know that with God and my family I should never feel lonely. Past experiences can hurt. They can actually crush you but, the advise I would give my 2015 self is stay strong in your faith, don't push people away, let family and friends know whats happening. I would've also told myself that in the end it would be okay. With God things were AWESOME. 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 

Thanks for reading!

Lauren Moore 

CONTACT ME

laurenemoore97@gmail.com

GO FUND ME - https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77

Joy

Hi!

Sorry I didn't update my blog on Sunday.  I was in Pittsburgh enjoying time with family. I hope  you had an awesome Christmas with loved ones. Hopefully, you didn't gain twenty pounds....I know I probably did. Anyway, I wanted to update you on how things are going with my missions trip. Now you might want to hold onto your hats people, I have some exciting news. I"M NEARLY HALFWAY THERE WITH FUNDS FOR MY MISSION TRIP!!!!! I hope you held onto your hat, that was some big stuff! I'm so grateful for all the support that got me to where I am now. Thank you, everyone,  for your prayers. God has truly blessed me over the Christmas season. I really don't know how to put into words how much joy and excitement I'm feeling. I'm speechless (and for me that is rare). Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We have such an awesome God!

Moving right along....I wanted to also tell you about a New Years resolution I have for myself.....

 I want to be in the Word more!
I've decided that I'm going to do the Bible in a year with the help of a devotional called She Reads Truth. This app has many different devotionals on it. I've done one on She Reads Truth  already and it was awesome! I highly recommend looking into it. I wanted to start doing the Bible in a year so I can be very knowledgeable going into my mission trip. I want to be able to understand what I'll be learning in classes and I feel that me starting a devotional will help me comprehend what I'll be learning. Also, I want to start this because I want to have a better relationship with Christ. I want to have a stronger relationship with Him. I also want God to teach me about myself and who I am supposed to be in Christ. I've always struggled with self-worth, self-appearance and self-confidence. I'm hoping that doing this devotional with help me become more confident in God which will ultimately lead to me becoming more confident in myself.

Thank you for reading my blog! Talk to you soon :)

Lauren Moore

GO FUND ME:
https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77

a week to remember

Hi,

How has your week been? I hope it has been just as lovely as you are.

OMG ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS! GET EXCITED!! I know that I am :)

Anyway,  I wanted to share with you some big news.....I PUT MY DOWNPAYMENT ON MY MISSIONS TRIP!! I'm so excited that God had provided that money for me to be able to make this payment so early in the game. I wanted to thank everyone who supports me through this! I'm so excited I really can't put it all in words. I'm so thankful for friends and family and especially God. Trusting God through this process was somewhat difficult, but to know that He was hearing my prayers makes my heart so happy. God is so good.

Sorry for such a short post this week. This was just such a big highlight in my week.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS FULL OF LAUGHTER AND COOKIES.

Talk to you next week,

Lauren Moore



Contact me
laurenemoore97@gmail.com
GO FUND ME
https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77

This is my Story...

Hi,

I thought it was about time to tell you about my testimony. So here it goes....

I have wonderful parents, grandparents and siblings. I had the privilege to grow up in a strong Christian home. When I was little my family would go to this Christian camp every summer. At night, there was an adult worship session and a kids corner. Every night at the kids corner for five days in a row I asked Jesus to be in my heart. I REALLY wanted to make sure God was sticking with me. After that nothing really changed, I mean I was 4 and living the 4-year-old life. I didn't really have a relationship with God. I prayed with my parents every night, but that was about it. I also went to a Christian school and had bible classes and learned about God almost every day. I loved learning about God! When I hit 4th grade my parents decided to have Kayla, Ben and I move to Hershey Public school. Little did I know that everyone at Hershey wasn't a Christian. I asked my fourth-grade friend if she was a Christian and she said no. I blatantly told her she was going to hell, but then we went on and played. I TRULY thought everyone was a Christian. Having that experience was a wake-up call for sure.

When 6th grade hit I was not prepared for the torture that was middle school. I was bullied and made fun of a lot in 6th grade. I was made fun of for basically being me. Being bullied was a hard hit for me. I often thought to myself, "God, why are you allowing this to happen to me? I'm your child." In thinking that, my relationship with God was almost nothing. I was doing what I wanted, I was allowing people to torture me with their hurtful words. I was allowing my relationship with Christ to become almost nothing.

 My relationship with God seemed to be almost nothing until sophomore year of high school. Sophomore year was a year of growth for me not only growth with self-worth and self-confidence but, growth in my relationship with Christ. I started going to Young Life and boy did that change a lot. Young Life met every Monday. We would sing songs, bowl turkeys and talk about God. I got to know many awesome people through Young Life. I had two leaders who walked with me to regain my relationship with Christ. They invested so much time in me and I grew because of Young Life and my awesome leaders.

Then, this year happened. This year threw me off guard. I got distracted. I decided that something else was more important in my life than God was. That decision was evident. I was making decisions that did not reflex what a Godly woman was to be implementing.  God was the farthest thing that I wanted because God would have drawn me away from the something that I wanted. I was not willing to give that something up for God. I relied on that something for confidence and self- worth. For guidance and "truth."  In the end, that something did not satisfy me. I was lost and alone after that something left. The depth of my loneliness was at a new extreme. Again, like in 6th grade, I didn't want anything to do with God because I thought, "God, why are you allowing this to happen to me." But, this time, I knew exactly why God had allowed this to happen to me. God wanted me to see what I gave up. I needed God and I didn't realize how much I needed him. God made me feel pain to be able to understand what His joy would feel like. God showed me what loneliness feels like to make me understand that with him I will never feel lonely. God showed me who I was after this something had torn me apart. God has shown me how strong I am with him. I also think God used this situation to show me that he wants me to do missions. I want to build a relationship with God that will NEVER be torn down again. God wants this missions trip for my growth. And I'm so passionate about the mission trip already! I cannot wait for God to stretch my faith and  I can't wait for this new chapter in my life.

Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Thanks for reading my testimony! Talk to you next week!

Lauren Moore

CONTACT ME
Email-laurenemoore97@gmail.com
GO FUND ME- https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77
Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/followmymissions/

A BIG DAY

Hello!

How has everyone been?! I hope your week has been just dandy! 

So,  friends and family, I have a BIG prayer request. Tomorrow at 7 I will be speaking to my church's missions committee. I ask that you pray for God to give me the words to say and if his will be done that my church will support the missions trip I'm going on. I've been very nervous about speaking to the missions committee (which is weird because I REALLY like to talk). I know that God will be with me the whole time I'm speaking. But I worry that I'll mess up or I won't say the right thing.  I'm just so passionate about this missions trip. I think God will use me in ways that I have never experienced before. God is going to stretch me and challenge me. I am SO ready to be challenged. I want to spread God's word. I want to be able to experience a third world country. I want to be humbled. This is what I want the missions committee to see. I want them to see how passionate I feel about this upcoming missions trip. Words can't describe the excitement I have for this experience I've been offered. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for the prayers. I'm so VERY thankful for you. I cannot wait to tell you all about what will happen tomorrow at 7. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. 

"Don't worry about anything; instead prayer about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience Gods peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Jesus Christ." Phillippians 4:6-7 

It's funny because I've been worrying about this meeting all week and I found this verse last night...ironic. God has a way of working. 

Also, If you'd like you can go visit my facebook page that I've created. I'll be posting updates and blog links on my facebook page. Here's the link https://www.facebook.com/followmymissions/

CONTACT ME

Email laurenemoore97@gmail.com

GO FUND ME: https://www.gofundme.com/fe7ypy77