Girls in the Sisterhood!

I've been speaking at family camps in Michigan for two weeks. Before that, I came off of our annual SUSIE Magazine international missions trip. We went to Guatemala this year.

It's easy to serve God on a missions trip  

or at camp, isn't it?

Blue skies.

The sun on your back.

Giant swimming pools.

Shimmering lake.

Jet skis.

Snack shack.

The smell of a crisp campfire.

The sound of the flames crackling.

The best music.

Challenging messages from speakers.

Everyone's in worship mode.

But when the missions trip is over . . .

When everyone has packed up and gone home from camp

how can you keep the campfire burning?

God yearns for our praise 

our devotion

our being sold-out and excited to serve Him

24/7.

When the skies are gray and cloudy

and you think the rain will never stop.

And the thunder is so loud you wonder if there's a message inside the crash.

God wants our devotion when there are no friends surrounding us with raised hands

and when there are no worship songs playing.

In your hallway at school . . .

or at your desk in home-school . . .

God wants YOU 24/7.

But oftentimes we use a missions trip

or a camp

as our mountain

then we go home and simply wait for the next mountain.

That won't work.

That's not what following Christ is about.

The GOD of our mountains

HAS 

to be

LORD 

of our valleys.

We 

must

be

consistent.

Or the world won't want what we have,

So think about it, Girls.

How can YOU keep the campfire burning

long after the last smore has been eaten

and the songs have faded into the night?

I love you.

Susie Shellenberger

Girls in the Sisterhood:

Here's what I'm reading in The Message. Check it out:

"It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message 

on stage in a theater 

in which no one wants to buy a ticket. 

We're something 

everyone 

stands around and stares at 

like an accident in the street" (1 Corinthians 4:9).

* * *

How does that hit you?

Know this: When you truly start to live

in radical obedience

to the Lordship of Jesus Christ

you'll be made fun of.

And sometimes you'll even be made fun of

from your Christian friends!

We expect it from the world . . .

but it hurts even more when it comes

from the Body of Christ.

So as you begin preparation to head back to school,

jobs,

whatever . . .

go into it with the knowledge

that you're seen

as an "accident in the street."

Be prepared to be gawked at.

That's how they treated Christ.

By the power of His Spirit within you,

you CAN remain strong!

I love you!

Susie Shellenberger

Will finish speaking at family camp at Indian Lake near Kalamazoo, Michigan today and will head to another family camp outside of Howell, Michigan to speak all next week.

Will write more later.

It's a beautiful God's Day on Sunday, July 19!

Susie

Girls in the Sisterhood!

Our missions trip to Antigua, Guatemala was literally amazing. I really hope you'll pray about coming with us next summer. We'll have the info posted on the Web site in August.

Right now I'm in Michigan for two weeks. I'm speaking at two different family camps, and it's exciting to see God moving . . . especially in the lives of teens who are so on fire and sold out to Christ!

But today, July 17, is Obie's birthday. So I'm really missing my furry little four-footed friend. He's at home in Colorado Springs. Darin and Brenna Gregg move into my home when I'm gone (so Obie can stay in his own surroundings) and take care of him and love on him and even let him sleep with them! 

Even though I know he's having a great time with Darin and Brenna, I can't help but miss the little guy on his FIRST birthday. Yep. Today little Obie turns one year old!

This may sound a little emotional . . . but as much as I'd love to hold and cuddle Obie right now, God wants to hold and cuddle me even more! I've been away from home forever (it seems like . . . I mean Guatemala and now two weeks in another state) and I'm missing it. (That's the whole month of July.)

But God wants to comfort me and strengthen me and just hold me. What a Father!

Thank You, Jesus, for loving me more than I deserve.

More than I can articulate.

More than I can even comprehend.

I love You, too, Jesus!

Susie

A few days ago, I posted some thoughts about all the news coverage on Michael Jackson and the fact that his Thriller album went platinum 100 times worldwide (meaning the album sold 100 million copies).

We talked about the difference between platinum and gold (see my older blog post for the scoop), and that platinum is more precious than silver and 30 times rarer than gold.

So in order for us to "Go Platinum" in our relationship with Christ, what would that entail?

Here are a few of my ideas:

1. Welcome Him in right now! When Jesus visited Mary and Martha in Bethany, they immediately welcomed Him in. They were excited to let Him use anything and everything they had. It's as if they were saying, "Our house is Yours, Jesus. Come right inside and get comfy. Whatever You want. We're simply here to serve."

They DIDN'T leave Him standing on the porch. So many Christians have simply left Christ on the porch . . . keeping Him at an arms length . . . never experiencing true intimacy with Him.

Jesus wants to come inside and bring us into genuine intimacy with Him. He doesn't want us to settle for being close to Him; He wants us to become part OF Him.

2. Sit at His feet. Mary sat wide-eyed like a child at Christ's feet just soaking up everything He had to say. Think back to when YOU were a little child. Remember how excited you were to have a parent watch every new thing you tried? "Watch Mom! Watch me jump over this log! OK, now watch me run. Are you watching?"

Jesus doesn't want us to lose that wide-eyed excitement of a child when we're with Him. Just as we want to show off for a parent, God wants to show off for YOU! If you're faithful, He'll show Himself to you in ways you can't even imagine. But be willing to sit at His feet.

Be willing to soak in His teaching. Read the Word. Become saturated with Him. Get obsessed with becoming all He calls you to be.

3. Define yourself in Him. I can quickly think of three people who have defined themselves so closely with what they do, that the person and their career have become synonymous. For example:

Michael Jordan is synonymous with basketball.

Tiger Woods is synonymous with golf.

Michael Jackson is synonymous with king of pop.

What if YOU could become synonymous with Christianity? When people hear your name, they automatically think of Jesus. 

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Define yourself in Him.

I'm striving to do these three things in my platinum relationship with Christ. 

Will you do the same?

GO PLATINUM with Jesus!

(For more spiritual growth vitamins, subscribe to the printed, monthly magazine SUSIE Mag. You can call 1-888-81-SUSIE or you can subscribe at: susiemag.com)

Love you!

Susie Shellenberger

WOW!

God is doing amazing things here in Antigua, Guatemala on our SUSIE Mag "Never the Same" missions trip. Today one of our teams presented the Gospel to a crippled man in a wheelchair. He accepted Christ and began walking.

Two girls and their leaders from another team led a prostitute to Christ. So far in our two days of ministry, we've seen more than 300 people give their lives to Jesus.

Tonight in FUAGNEM--our evening service (Fired Up And Going Nuts Every Minute!), I spoke on Judas, the progression of sin, and obedience. Students died to self and committed to become 100% obedient.

As they decided to live in radical obedience to the Lordship of Christ, several came forward to testify about how living in total obedience specifically will unpack itself in their lives.

• Aaron said he's ready to physically die for Christ.

• One girl shared that she's going to start respecting her family.

• Another said she would start a Bible study at her school.

• Someone else said, "I'm going to start seeing myself through God's eyes instead of thinking I'm worthless."

Probably 75 students came forward to testify specifically about what they'll now do differently because of their commitment to living in total obedience to Christ.

A few days ago, I asked you to think about how we can "Go Platinum" in our relationship with Christ. (See earlier blog entry.) I've enjoyed reading your comments, and I'll share in an upcoming blog my ideas on going platinum.

I'd LOVE for each one of you to begin praying NOW about being a part of our SUSIE Mag missions trip next summer. We'll be coming right back here to Antigua, Guatemala the first two weeks of July.

We'll begin posting information in our August issue of SUSIE Mag about the trip, and will continue with information each month from August through March.

It's beyond words what God is doing! I truly yearn for you to be a part of something so amazing! I promise you'll never be the same.

Love,

Susie Shellenberger

Girls in the Sisterhood!

Have you been watching all the stuff about Michael Jackson on the news? It has me thinking about some things I want to share:

—We know his Thriller album went platinum 100 times. (That means it sold 100 million copies worldwide. When a record goes gold, it has sold over 500,000 copies. That's good, but it's not great . . . like platinum.)

Because I've always thought gold was great, I did some research on platinum and have discovered that platinum is waaaay better than gold!

• Platinum is one of the most precious metals known to man. It's more precious than silver, and it's rarer than gold!

• King Louis XV of 18th century France, declared that platinum was the only metal fit for a king. And now . . . a thousand years later, platinum is still considered the most exclusive of all jewelry metals.

• Platinum is rare; 30 times rarer than gold! And it's found in very few places throughout the world.

• Platinum is really tough to mine. Get this: It's a difficult and extremely time-consuming process. In fact, 10 tons of ore have to be mined and processed to get one single ounce of finished platinum!

WOW.

So here's what I'm thinking: I don't want to settle for a gold relationship with Jesus Christ. Many folks have gold. Though it's beautiful and worth some money, imagine how richer their lives would be if they had platinum instead.

Let's challenge ourselves to GO PLATINUM in our relationship with Christ. How do we GET a platinum relationship with Him? It may be a difficult and time-consuming process.

I have a few ideas, but I'd like to hear what you're thinking first. After hearing from you, I'll post how I believe we can GO PLATINUM with Christ!

Loving you!

Susie Shellenberger, Editor

SUSIE Mag

Girls in the Sisterhood!

Am in Ft. Lauderdale, FL doing missions training for our 500 participants for this summer's missions trip. And I'd LOVE for you to start praying NOW about joining us next summer!

That's right! Through SUSIE Mag, we'll continue our annual summer missions trip. Next summer's dates are: June 28 to July 11, 2010 and we'll be going back to Antigua, Guatemala.

Anyhoo . . . yesterday I broke away from missions training for an hour to head to the mall with one of the leaders who needed a pair of shoes. So we go into the shoe store, and I'm waiting for her as she's trying on a variety of shoes.

Suddenly, the sales gal started screaming (she saw my name badge that I still had on from missions training) and said she used to get Brio magazine. So I got to tell her about SUSIE Mag. 

She's 21 now, and when we told her we were here for missions training and getting ready to leave for Guatemala on Thursday. And she said her cousin was on the trip WITH us. So I invited her to FUAGNEM (Fired Up And Going Nuts Every Minute--our evening service at the hotel), and she came.

Fun time! Great to meet her.

Bottom line: Even though we're not all wearing a name badge each day . . . we DO wear the badge of Christ.  And we never know who's watching our actions and reactions.

Here's the challenge: Live up to His badge!

Love you, Girls!

Susie Shellenberger

PS: Are you enjoying the July issue of SUSIE Mag? If so, pass on the word! Get your gal pals to subscribe at: susiemag.com or by calling: 1-888-81-SUSIE